Augustine H.H. Tan
Singapore
“There are instances when reserves should be used, but the govern- ment has to make a case to the President and if good arguments are used, the President is expected to concur. I therefore end by asking you, as you have done in your speeches, to support this Bill with a very loud "Aye" when it comes to the vote. [Applause].”
“We must have confidence that in the end, as Singaporeans, we know what is overall best for ourselves. We are a community of free citizens committed to making Singapore a great city to live in and for foreigners to come visit and admire.”
“There is such a thing as initiative. Who initiated the project? What was the objective of the project? And there is such a thing as economies of scale, the benefits of which are passed on to the taxi drivers. Let us not forget those elements. An hon. Member: They do not pay tax on their income.”
“They can still enjoy the seafood regardless of the indigestion. They can do the shopping and do other things in Johor Baru. I believe that what is important for us is that we do not preclude ourselves the option of setting our own national policies.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister stated that it is undesirable to employ foreigners to run child care centres because they affect the values of our children. Is it not also true that by having foreign maids in our homes that they too directly impact upon the values of our children?”
“It was a point which I brought out much earlier when a similar matter was debated here in Parliament. Because the government could borrow on the basis of the reserves even though the President has one key to the reserves because there is such a thing as credit-worthiness of the country.”
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“I submit to you, Sir, these are peanuts in the R&D game and I think we have got to step up efforts accordingly. We did not even manage to spend the $50 million block vote. Of course, there is a Science Park which the Minister made mention of and I hope that becomes a success. We really need to go all out to stimulate R&D consciousness in our firms in Singapore. Coming next to tax changes. The reductions in personal income tax are generous. But the question is: Will these reductions lead to higher consumption, especially on motor vehicles? If it does, it will be defeating what the Minister for Communications is trying to do. I have a suggestion. It is not going to make me popular but I will say it. Why not retain such future tax savings for housing and for education for the children? In other words, Government gives it to CPF in a special account and allow the people to withdraw for their needs in these areas, because I believe that if we give money back to the people there is a high marginal propensity to consume. I welcome also the reduction and simplification of estate duty. Yes, I agree with the Minister that this will encourage greater savings but what he did not say was that it would discourage flight of capital from Singapore. Those who feel they are due to die begin to arrange their assets out of Singapore, and by lowering estate duty we will help to prevent this. Furthermore, I suspect there has been very substantial tax avoidance in the past already through the setting up of foundations and trusts so that the really rich have gotten away with it and it is only the middle class who cannot got away with it that have been taxed. So I really support this move. In fact, I would think that we should abolish it altogether. Thirdly, on the enhanced child relief.”
“The Minister is suggesting in his Statement that there should be greater promotion of investment in internationally tradeable services. I would like to support that idea and I believe that as protectionism gains momentum in the developed countries, perhaps it is in certain types of services that we can go in and have a comparative advantage and so be able to bypass some of these protectionist policies. I welcome his policy now to give accelerated depreciation allowances within three years for all industries, whether they are services or manufacturing, and I believe this will allow the markets to sort things out so that the more efficient will survive. The Minister also mentioned the need for energy conservation and he pointed out the doubling of the rate of increase of electricity consumption last year to 10%. I would like to impress upon this House that we should not be fooled by the declining oil prices of last year and this year. I believe this is a temporary phenomenon. I believe that as economic growth takes place in the advanced countries and population growth world-wide, the energy problem will rear its head again. We need to pay special attention to this area, perhaps helping industries when they are in the process of automating and mechanizing to choose the most energy saving equipment. And I think we are at a good juncture where we can do this because of the various incentives that the Minister is giving out to various industries. Then in the area of Research and Development, I believe that the efforts we have done so far are really not good enough. The Minister mentioned that $1.9 million was given to the Product Development Assistance Scheme and $18.6 million for 23 research projects.”
“We do not service as regularly as we ought to and mainly it is because I think the workers cannot read instructions and they are not taught to be careful about these things and a lot of wastage of capital occurs as a result. So I hope something can be done in this direction. The second suggestion I have is for training centres to be set up for service industries. I know ons or two have already been set up for the hotels and so on. I think we really have got to do it much more comprehensively and aggressively. Thirdly, as I look at the grants and the use made of the Skills Development Fund, I suspect that quite a lot of these programmes are really substitutes for on-going programmes. In other words, employers would have provided training even without the SDF. Now we are just giving them bonus, cream as it were. They do not really need the incentive. So what we really got to do is to use the SDF much more imaginatively in order to get the results that we want. Now I come to the service sector. Sir, I have long argued in this House for attention to the neglected service sector in Singapore and I am glad that the Minister is finally giving attention to this sector. Firstly, we do not even have proper data about much of our services sector. If you do not believe me, look at all the figures in this Economic Survey. All the net invest- ment figures and so on pertain to manufacturing. But there is nothing said about services and yet we are building hotels. We are building a lot of things in the service area and, as the Minister mentioned, services account for 70% of our gross domestic product and 60% of employment and net exports account for $12 billion in 1982. So it is a huge sector and quite neglected in the past.”
“I myself believe that this is one area where we really need to accelerate our efforts because it is one thing to upgrade the schools and the tertiary institutions and the vocational institutes. That takes care of the young pupils - the additions to the labour force. But we have a huge stock of labour and I believe a figure of half a million was mentioned by the NTUC of people who are quite illiterate and not numerate at all. If that figure is really correct - half a million - then I think we should have a five-year programme to really give them the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. We can train 100,000 a year and I believe we can do it. So far, as I read the Economic Survey, we have relied upon PAP kindergartens. We have relied upon VITB resources and so on. But why cannot we open the schools at night? Why cannot we make use of the teachers that we have, give them special allowances and get on with the programme? And I believe returns are going to be real because until and unless our workers who do not have these basic skills acquire them, they are not going to be able to upgrade in terms of other areas of training. They are not going to be able to look after the machinery well. They are going to spoil the machinery. In fact, one of the things which I observe about Singapore and other developing countries is the poor state of maintenance of machinery and of buildings compared to America and Europe. If you ever travel to these countries, you find that people have a better sense of maintenance, better dedication to maintenance. Here, we allow things to rust. We do not oil.”
“So as an economy picks up without too much addition to labour, there would be a more substantial gain in productivity. At the same time there were a number of measures which help to increase productivity. First, the efforts of the National Productivity Board which make people so conscious that they even complain about it in this House. Secondly, the successful restructuring of manufacturing going into higher value added, higher technology products which imply higher productivity. Thirdly, the success of the programme to automate and mechanize; again spelling higher productivity. Fourthly, more realistic wage increases in recent years which help the labour market to adjust, which help employers to be more realistic in their employment of labour so that they are not too wasteful. In fact, here I feel that in terms of utilization of manpower there is a lot more that we can do. If you just look at the Establishment List of the various Government bodies and the Government itself, you find that there is a lot of wastage in manpower. Too many peons are being employed, for example. Too many clerks. Maybe some of these can be phased out over the years through automation and mechanization. Then there have been substantial efforts at upgrading of our manpower. The Minister mentioned the doubling of output by tertiary institutions by 1985 and within a space of five to six years. This is commendable. One only hopes that the standards are properly maintained. I have, however, a few suggestions to add to these efforts. Firstly, the Minister mentioned the BEST programme last year which trained about 22,600 workers in basic English language and Mathematics. This year he would like them to train 40,000.”
“If you and I had to travel, there is no limit to the amount of foreign exchange that we can take out. But look at even neighbouring countries. Look at the Philippines, the same story is repeated. Look at Brazil, look at Mexico. Look at those countries which are in tremendous debt. Why are they in such difficulties? They are in such difficulties because of wasteful government expenditure. An economics friend of mine recently said, and there is truth in it, that what a good government can add on to economic performance may be that little but what it can subtract may be that much. In other words, any government has the potential to destroy an economy, and it can add a little to the strength of the economy. So I say that our rate of inflation is nothing to worry about. There is no cause for alarm at all. But having said that, one also needs to look carefully at sectoral impacts to see whether the lower income groups, lower income workers, have been affected more than the other groups. That is something which we have to pay attention to, and I am sure the Government will do so. Next, let me comment on productivity and manpower. Sir, my students understand what productivity is all about. And I have no difficulty with the concept. And I have faith in the figures produced. I am sure the Minister can justify. In section 1, cols. 503-4 of his Statement, the Minister said that productivity increased by 5%. I would just like to add some words of caution here - that we should not be too euphoric over that because there is normal gain in productivity during an economic recovery. I believe the Minister mentioned the hoarding of labour in the last year or so by various enterprises.”
“It is so important because, as I tell my students, if you, as economics students, do not understand the fundamental basis of what makes Singapore tick as an economy, what makes it so successful as an economy, then how can the public at large understand the whole process? Any other government is likely to look at the figures and say, "Well, we have got plenty of reserves. We have got plenty of savings. Let's spend and spend, and let's give and give." In next to no time, I think within three years or even in two years you can turn this whole economy upside down. If you do not believe me, look at France. President Mitterand upon his election decided to reverse all the policies of Giscard D'estaing. He spent. He gave higher wages. He gave higher welfare payments. He tried to create jobs by government expenditure, any expenditure will do, not just good types of expenditure, development projects, but any expenditure. Within less than two years, what has happened to the French franc? It has been depreciating all the time. High rate of inflation, unemployment is even worse than before. And any Frenchman wanting to travel today has got to pay a special tax, and he is allowed to take out only a minimum amount of foreign exchange. Do we want that kind of country? Some hon. Members: No!”
“Now the correction is taking place and it must take place in the future. Another feature which we may note about our economy is the very high savings rate of 40%. The gross national savings rate is 40%. Many people complain about the Central Provident Fund. They complain that Government is taking their money out and they prefer to spend and to have more money. But look at what it is doing to our economy. Look at what we are able to provide in terms of pUblic housing. Even private residential properties are now financed out of the CPF. Look at the savings which are generated nationally by the CPF and a substantial part of the money is used by the Government to finance development projects which will be good for Singapore in the future. So it is not surprising at all to me, when I look at these figures, that our inflation rate is low, one of the lowest in the world probably at this point,1.2%. I am surprised that the Minister made a statement that we have got to watch out about the domestic trends of inflation. I mean if any other Finance Minister had to cope with 1.2% rate of inflation, he will be euphoric. If any other Finance Minister had to present this kind of budget, the whole country will be euphoric. Can you imagine what would happen in Britain or in America or Europe, or any of those countries in depression or struggling out of their depression to have 7.9% real rate of growth and 1.2% inflation and over-full employment and having to import labour? We do not know our blessings when we see them. This is something which I believe we must teach the younger generation of Singapore. These are the principles which we have learnt over the years.”
“That is why our Finance Minister is in the happy position of being able to give income tax rebates for a number of years now. A lot of credit is due to him but it is really credit due to his predecessors, to the entire Government over 25 years. Some people may query about the deficit that we have, and it is projected that we are going to have a deficit of $3.9 billion this coming year. But here again, the deficit is more apparent than real because it is meant to finance development projects which will have economic return. And secondly, it is higher than what it is because typically revenue is under-estimated and expenditure is over-estimated. It is a conservative policy, and I think we should continue. The overall public sector, if we take all the statutory boards inclusive of the CPF, generates a substantial surplus from year to year. And that is a hidden surplus in the sinking fund provision. Every year I notice that what we budget for by way of sinking fund provision we end up doubling at the end of the year. That is hidden reserve, hidden saving, all to the good. Therefore, Sir, it is no mystery that the Singapore dollar goes on from strength to strength because what the Government does to the entire budgetary policy, inclusive of statutory boards and CPF, is to ensure that we have net savings every year. And these net savings are salted away abroad in terms of foreign exchange reserves. The Monetary Authority is in a very happy position to intervene to keep the Singapore dollar from being too strong. It is easy to run the Monetary Authority of Singapore compared to the Federal Reserve in America when you have to finance real government deficits and print money to do so. That is a different job altogether. The rise in the US dollar is only temporary.”
“Witness, for example, President Ronald Reagan in America, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Britain. Both of them, I think, have the right attitudes and policies but they are unable to implement their policies fully. They would like to restrain government expenditure, as we have been successfully doing so here. They would like to reduce taxes; they would like to reduce social welfare payments and expenditures and costly subsidies, but the political constraints are too great because the whole system has been corrupted to the point where everybody has a vested interest in the handouts. So it becomes an impossible situation. I see a no-win situation for both of these leaders. The American budget deficit not only threatens the health of the American economy but it threatens our health as well, and the health of the world economy. That's how serious the matter is. But looking at our own situation, Sir, if we look at the proportions of Government expenditure, we find that over the years that proportion devoted to development expenditure has been increasing. This coming year the proportion is projected to be 54% as compared to 43% last year. Furthermore, what is not mentioned at all in the economic textbooks is the type of government expenditures, development projects, which are very important. If you just build for the sake of building, Without thought to the economic return or viability of a project in later years, then you need to finance the cost later with higher taxes. Secondly, you are eating up social capital in the process. So one thing which we have done over the years is to ensure viability of projects, the ability of our development projects to pay for themselves in the future.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, our Hon. Minister for Finance must surely be the envy of his colleagues worldwide. One has only to look at Table I of the Economic Survey to look at the growth rate of OECD countries, Asean and selected newly industrializing countries, to realize that we are a top achiever except for South Korea with 91%. And even in 1982, a year of deep recession, we did 6.3%. This, of course, has been due to hard work, very wise leadership, with the blessings of God on those who help themselves. In his Statement and in the Economic Survey, the Minister mentioned that consumer prices rose by 1.2% on the average last year, as measured by the cost of living index. In cols. 531-2 of section 1 of his Budget Statement he says, and I quote, 'The strength of the Singapore dollar is a reflection of the Government's prudent financial policy and the soundness of our economy.' I believe, Sir, that this is a true statement and it is something which every economics student ought to know. In fact, I am telling people, my colleagues at the University and my students, that many economic textbooks need to be re-written. I hope to show you why with the following points. The countries in the world which are in trouble typically have the following scenario: government expenditure on items which do not bring any return whatsoever, largely subsidies and welfare payments which rob workers cts their incentive to work hard; high income taxes to support those subsidies and welfare payments which rob entrepreneurs of their zeal to work hard and to reinvest, The result is ballooning government deficits, high inflation, high unemployment. And govern- ments got locked in to the system because subsequent governments dare not remove the social welfare system.”
“In clause 12 (b), it says the Board may "promote and assist in the export of services to carry out construction works overseas". I think this is a farsighted move because we are accumulating a lot of expertise in building, in laying out designs of industrial estates, Housing Board estates, port facilities and so on. This expertise is in great demand internationally. And the Koreans and people from other countries have been quick to capitalize on this kind of export services. By organizing this Board in this manner, I think we may be able to capture part of that market. Of course, unlike the Koreans, we do not have the skilled labour to export but we can organize other people's workers and provide the managerial expertise. There is one small matter - small in the light of the functions of the Board - but important from the point of view of a lot of home owners, and that has to do with the renovations which many people have to do, whether in HDB flats or in private dwellings. They have encountered, and I also have encountered, cases of contractors who cheat them in terms of materials used, in terms of time required to be taken to finish the particular contract. In one instance, the contractor got hold of the deposit of 30% or so and then disappeared without doing anything for that person. So I would like to urge the Minister to consider under the purview of this Board to get contractors registered properly and then have an accreditation list so that only those contractors with a good track record would be able to undertake renovations. And that some compensation scheme be devised so that home owners are protected in the event that contractors do not fulfill their part of the contract. Sir, I would like to congratulate the Minister once again for this Bill.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, one of the consequences of rapid growth in our economy is the burgeoning construction industry and the enormous demands which have been put on the industry, especially in terms of skilled workers. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this is that buildings are put up very rapidly and standards of finish are less than desirable and in some cases the work has been shoddy. From this point of view, I think the setting up of the Board is a good thing. It is a timely thing. It is a necessary thing. As I look at the functions of the Board and the vision which is provided in this Bill, I can only congratulate the Minister. Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!”
“I had heard that he had conducted a Deng Xiao-ping-like purge at the MAS. As a result, it lost many senior officers. Coming to the point on deposit insurance, Sir, I would urge the Hon. Minister to give serious consideration to this. The reason why I drew his attention to the vulnerability of exposure of Singapore banks to sovereign risks was his amendment to section 56 and his talk about the event of a winding up of a bank. Why should this provision be there unless there is some cause for concern? Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Goh Keng Swee]. Bill considered in Committee. 4.06 pm [Mr Speaker in the Chair] Clause 1 -”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the complaints give me cause for concern because I had heard that shortly after the Hon. Minister took over --”
“What is the average age of the senior officers of the MAS, excluding the First Deputy Prime Minister and his Managing Director? I say this purposely, Sir, because it has been brought to my attention that when foreign bankers of note and of position visit Singapore, if they are not big enough to attract a lunch or an interview with the First Deputy Prime Minister or the Managing Director, they are shunted off to some senior officer who is in his twenties or early thirties. I am just looking at it from the point of view of the visiting banker who is usually in his fifties or sixties having to deal with very young officers.”
“I am talking about clause 14. The ranking of deposit liabilities in terms of their claims on assets in the event of a wind up of a bank is such that domestic depositors have first claim, which means that the deposit liabilities by the Asian Currency Units would have a last claim because these deposits do not require any reserve requirements with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. My question is: what impact would this have on the ACU market in Singapore? Would it destroy confidence on the part of depositors in our ACU banks? Secondly, in the event of a bankruptcy of any bank which is a branch of a multinational bank, what is the liability of the head office, say, in New York or in London, towards the local branch? Thirdly, what is the exposure of Singapore banks to sovereign risks. In other words, when we read of the tremendous debts of Brazil, Mexico, Philippines and so on, to what extent are the Asian Currency Units in Singapore committed in terms of these sovereign risks? How concentrated are they? How vulnerable are we? Fourthly, Sir, we do not have any insurance for depositors at all in Singapore. Is it not time that the MAS went about setting up a system of insurance for depositors, at least up to a certain limit, to protect the small man in the event of a bank failure? Next, may I turn to clause 15? It is surprising to me that there was no statutory provision at all for the Monetary Authority of Singapore to establish ACUs. Do I take it that they are all illegal up to this point? The Minister has been there for some years already and this is the first time that he is bringing this issue before this House. Finally, Sir, it is all very well to introduce a lot of regulations, but do we have the manpower to implement these regulations?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, all fee increases are painful to bear but my questions to the Minister are designed to find out whether these particular increases are bearable to the patients involved. The first question is: since the Medisave is not to be introduced until April next year, why can he not wait until then to implement his fee increases? Why is he so impatient? Secondly, what is the rate at which he is reclassifying the wards from C to B1, B2, A and so forth? Because this would have a direct bearing on the people who can enjoy the Class C wards at the lower rates. Thirdly, does he have any figures to show this House what is the percentage of workers and their families who are covered by company medical insurance schemes? Yet another question is: when does he intend to implement the means test whereby patients will not be admitted to Class C wards because they are able to pay for the higher class wards?”
“I do not need any help, please. And here the problem may well be with the Ministry of Social Affairs if they unduly tighten up on their welfare criteria. Then the net result would be that few people will benefit from the provision. I think he should spell this out very clearly. Under what circumstances would people who face financial hardship be allowed a waiver of these fees? To be fair to the Government, at the moment there have been cases that MPs have written in for waiver of fees and they have been granted by and large, provided they can satisfy the hardship criteria but I still feel uneasy that the criteria are not known. So it is like a shot in the dark whether or not these needs are going to be met.”
“Further, to the extent the charges of Class C wards are allowed to rise, the cost of chronic illness cases will also go up and these cases, as the report emphasized, will not be covered by the Medisave Scheme at all. So the people of Singapore will end up much worse off as a result of the Scheme. The last point I have to make, Sir, concerns those cases of financial hardship. Here I would like to urge the Minister to again reveal to this House what are the principles that will operate in determining cases of financial hardship. Is he going to limit himself to simply social welfare cases?”
“Maybe there is a need to put a lid on the amount of export of such services through such private hospitals, otherwise we are going to see ever-escalating medical costs for Singapore. The alternative, of course, is to simply produce more doctors if we have the manpower but apparently we are not producing the right type of people, that is, brains. A fifth point, Sir, I have to make concerns the pricing of third class wards. In paragraph 46 of the report it is stated that a computer simulation was done on 9,935 households and the results showed that a monthly saving rate equivalent to 6% of wages should be sufficient in most cases to cover hospitalization expenses for Class C wards at the hospitals. There are a number of questions that I want to raise in this regard. Firstly, what were the costs of these Class C wards which were put into the computer simulation? That is a really critical input because I have a feeling that the next step that the Ministry of Health will take would be to raise charges for Class C wards and that would raise the cost for the people, and I am sure therefore that all your computer simulation results will go haywire and you find that most people in Singapore will not be able to have enough funds to meet even Class C wards. So I think it is a point of utmost importance for the Minister to clarify before this House and before the people of Singapore, what are the principles that he intends to implement in determining the cost of Class C wards. Only then are we in a position to say whether the people of Singapore will have enough funds in their CPF Special account or Medisave account to meet these charges.”
“Secondly, when one visits the Singapore General Hospital, one is very impressed with the decor, and the amount of expenditure that has gone in to make the place very comfortable. It is rather like a first-class five-star hotel. Sir, I just wonder whether we need such extravagance in providing health care. In paragraph 24, it is mentioned that the new Kent Ridge Hospital will cost about $300 million, again a colossal sum of money. I would urge the Minister to implement what he says in paragraph 26, the second last sentence, which says: 'The Ministry is therefore considering an intermediate iow-cost alternative to the conventional sophisticated hospital complex.' I say "Amen" to that, and I hope he would implement this and thereby lower future cost of hospitalization and medical care. A fourth point which I would draw his attention to has to do with paragraph 29 on page 6 which mentions the 13 private hospitals that we have at present. I feel that these private hospitals have helped in some measure to raise the cost of medical care in Singapore, The reason I make this statement is this. If a study were to be made of the services provided by these hospitals, I am sure a fair amount of these services are being provided to foreigners, people who come from neighbouring countries, especially those who fly in, and who pay exorbitant fees for their surgery and other medical attention. How does this affect medical costs in Singapore? Well, by making it very attractive for private practitioners to engage in export of such services, the public sector will lose the talent by way of doctors and even nurses because they are drawn out of the public sector by the more lucrative earnings that they can make in these private hospitals. I would urge the Minister to study this pro- blem.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir,[ wish to speak on the principles underlying this National Health Plan. The document appears to have been well thought out and researched. However, I do have a few qualifications. Sir, we see in many countries run-away budgets, huge deficits, which necessitate the printing of money to finance the deficits, thereby lowering economic growth resulting in unemployment, causing stagnation and difficulties to those countries, with depreciating currencies in addition. But having said this, Sir, let me point out my qualifications. The first question I would address the Hon, Minister for Health is this: Why is he in such a hurry to implement the Plan? Why can he not wait until the extra 6% can be added to the Central Provident Fund contributions? Second, as a consequence of the hurried implementation, a number of older people who are due to retire shortly are going to be heavily penalized because, in accordance with the provisions outlined by the Minister in his speech yesterday, for the purpose of this Health Plan a minimum balance of $10,000 must be maintained in the account beyond the age of 55. Sir, those people with $10,000 or less in their Special Account will upon retirement in the next few years, be penalized. They will not have any money to withdraw at all when they reach the age of 55 unless they have something left over in the Ordinary Account. The third point that I would raise has to do with the escalation of hospital costs. Here, I must point a finger at the Ministry of Health. In paragraph 23 on page 5 of the Report, it states that the Singapore General Hospital cost $260 million to build. I am sure, compared to the original budget, this was considerably higher in the first place.”
“Sir, I just want to make a comment on clause 7, in particular the provision to increase the relief to $1,500 a year allowed to a tax-payer for maintaining a parent, a grandparent or a great grandparent who is living with him. There are two conditions which underlie this allowance. First, the parent or grandparent concerned has to live with the taxpayer; and secondly, the parent or grandparent concerned has to have an income of not more than $1,500 per year. I believe that many retired people would have $15,000 to $20,000 in the bank and interest on this sum would give an income of $1,500 or more. Therefore, I would think that if people are honest not many people would benefit from this particular provision. Furthermore, many tax-payers are supporting their parents or grandparents but are unable to live together with them and therefore do not benefit from this provision. Would the Hon. Minister consider relaxing these two conditions?”
“(2) That the sum to be allocated for Head V be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead VA-01 of the Main Estimates.”
“Sir, the Hon. Minister asked whether having motor cars will make accidents more likely. There is a much more intimate relationship between abortions and permissiveness. The availability, the legalization of abortions, has definitely contributed to greater permissiveness in Singapore. Secondly, he said that the Family Planning Board does not encourage abortions. Let me prove him wrong. Page 27 of the Annual Report, 1981, of the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board, states: 'Staff of MCH & FP Clinics continued to assist women in obtaining appointments for menstrual regulation and abortion in Government hospitals. During the year, 356 women were referred for menstrual regulation and 1,565 for abortion.' Those are the cold facts. Thirdly, Sir, the Minister accused me of being bigoted because I made the point against abortion. But I was very careful, Sir, to make my points on grounds of social morality and the kind of ethics that Singapore would like to see among its people. I pointed out that while it is expedient for the Government to take this measure, there are certain social consequences that we have to look at. If the moral fibre of our people is eroded, we are going to pay the price for it. We say we cannot afford those 116,352 unborn babies, but we are having work permit holders well in excess of the figure. There are certain inherent contradictions in our system here. One Ministry teaches something, another Ministry undo what the other Ministry is trying to do. I think maybe sometimes you people ought to get together and thrash out your problems. One final word, Sir, and that is, when we try to have morality without God, without an absolute, we get into all this kind of contradictions. And on the day of Judgment, you will know who is right. 5.45 p.m.”
“Furthermore, Sir, we have the Ministry of Education which is trying to inculcate moral education, moral values, in our school children and among the moral values that are being taught to children is respect for life. They are taught that to kill is wrong and yet we have the Ministry of Health providing all the facilities at public expense for the most part, of killing life in the womb. I know, Sir, that there is a lot of controversy on whether a foetus is a human being. But I ask you, Sir, and this House, what exactly is a foetus? Is it a vegetable, is it an inanimate object, is it a piece of pork or beef or some other animal meat, or is it a human being being created in the womb of a woman? If our women in Singapore can just tear out the unborn babies from their wombs or allow the doctors to do so so callously, what can we expect in terms of moral values? What can we expect in terms of moral attitudes on the part of Singaporeans? What about the effects on the women? Many studies have been done to show that women who have had abortions suffer infertility subsequently, miscarriages, get menstrual problems, and get all kinds of growths in the womb. I say, serve them right. But this should be brought home to our people in Singapore that there is a very heavy price to be paid for doing this awful act, this crime against humanity. And yet we are told, when the Bill was introduced in this House, that it is on social and humanitarian grounds. We are excluding the rights of the unborn babies absolutely. This is not right, Sir.”
“The Minister for Health in 1969 when he spoke in this House said the following [Hansard, 23rd December, 1969, Vol. 29, col. 2841: 'The basic aim of the Bill is to reform and liberalise the abortion law so that women with unwanted pregnancies may, on social and humanitarian grounds as well as on medical and eugenic considerations, have their pregnancies terminated safely and cheaply in approved institutions and by approved doctors.' The emphasis was on social and humanitarian grounds. Sir, I suspect that it is not the case that people in Singapore cannot afford to have children but that we have imposed a lot of penalties on having more than two children and so if a woman has a third child on the way, she panics and the husband panics and gets an abortion done. I think this is something terrible that we have imposed upon our people. Another point, Sir, and my question is whether or not this increased rate of abortion is a result of greater permissiveness in our society, in our culture. That is something which can only be discovered if the detailed statistics of the abortions which are carried out in Singapore are given to this House. Quite clearly, Sir, abortion seems to be rapidly accepted as a means of birth control. On page 26 of the Family Planning Report, this is what we see. Table 16 on this page gives the number of new acceptors, revisits and total attendance at the family planning clinics. In 1977, the new acceptors were 16,158. In 1981, the figure dropped to 14,534. The total attendance in 1977 was 339,965. But this had dropped drastically to 250,075 in 1981. Something clearly is going on in this regard that people have adopted a very callous attitude towards abortion and using it as a means of contraception.”
“Sir, this table is obtained from the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board 1981, Chart No. 8. It shows the number of legalized abortions between 1971 and 1981. Members will note that the latest figure available for legalized abortions in Singapore is 15,275. This amounts to one abortion for every 2.8 live births, and if we include the cases of menstrual regulations of 3,615, the ratio is one abortion for 2.2 live births. On 28th November, 1980, when I spoke on abortion in this House, the total cumulative figure stood at 88,499 cases from the time the first Abortion Act was introduced in this House in 1969. The latest count as at the end of 1981 is a total of 116,352 cases. In 1970, the total live births in Singapore were 45,934. In 1981 the total live births were 42,250 and the crude birth rate had gone down from 22.1 per thousand to 17.3 per thousand, and this, Sir, despite the fact that the female population between the ages of 15 and 44 had risen from 446,000 in 1970 to 655,900 in 1981. We can see, Sir, the tremendous impact that legalized abortions have had on birth rates in Singapore. 5.15 p.m. The Family Planning Report also says that the average age of women who had abortions was 28 and they had an average of 1.4 children. Sir, an average spans quite a distribution of ages and women with different numbers of children. Unfortunately, no information is given to us on the unmarried women who had abortions but it is also clear that there must have been cases where women had already had two children and had abortions. The question, Sir, is whether the women who had these abortions could have afforded to carry the babies and to rear the extra children.”
“Sir, with your permission, may I circulate copies of a table? [Copies of table circulated to Members.]”
“(1) That the sum to be allocated for Head P be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead PA-01 of the Main Estimates.”
“And worse still, Sir, if you have eight children and half of them are not filial, you still have another four to depend upon. But now you have two children and if 50% are not filial, you are left with one. If both of them are not filial, you are left with none. I am just wondering whether CPF or the Ministry has done any projection at all to look at the possible scenario, because I would pity whoever is in the Ministry of Social Affairs at that time.”
“You have products that break down after a short time, and that will really damage the reputation of Singapore abroad unless we are thinking of very short-term profit-taking and short-term markets, which I hope we are not, but we are trying to build up a long-term reputation for Singapore. Coming next to the question of the CPF. I keep hearing all kinds of suggestions not only from Members in this House but also from the man-in-the-street, in newspaper forums, advising the Minister on what additional uses CPF could be put to. I wonder whether anybody has sat down to do some basic calculations. 6.30 p.m. Firstly, how many workers in Singapore are not covered at all by CPF? What will happen to these workers when they retire? Who is going to be responsible for them? For those who are covered by CPF, what would be their average balances by the time they do retire? They are now taking out substantial amounts for the purchase of houses and, at the rate the prices of housing are escalating, I can imagine that big chunks of CPF would have been withdrawn by the time the worker retires? Who will be responsible for people when they reach retirement age with very low CPF balances? Surely something has to be done on this score? I am especially concerned about this problem, Sir, because we have been encouraging people to have two-child families. When you have seven or eight children, by the time you retire these children are grown up. They may not be earning very much, but if each one were to give you $20-$30 at least you can live on their contributions. But when you have two children, what can they give you if they are not well educated or highly educated and do not earn very much? If they give you $20-$30 each, you will starve.”
“Sir, I think the Member for Leng Kee is quite right in suspecting that there is a link between low productivity performance and immigrant work permit holders. One can ask quite a number of questions in this regard. First, from the more so-called traditional sources, what kind of stability or instability has been experienced by employers? In other words, after training these foreign workers in whatever skills or experience imparted to them, on the average how long do these workers stay with these companies? Sir, I think this is a matter of some concern to us because if we have an unstable situation, a high turnover, whereby foreign workers are trained in Singapore and then go back to their home country to take up better job offers after having gained the new skills, then we are really serving as a training ground and getting very poor quality labour here in return. I have noticed that the quality of the construction here is really appalling, no matter which building that we happen to go into, whether it is the plumbing, or the tiles laid, or the smoothness of the walls and the ceilings, and so on. Could something be done about this? Perhaps we should not allow these foreign workers to start working at once without testing their skills, thus making sure that they have the requisite quality of workmanship that we desire. I cannot think of the appalling damage that can be done to the reputation of Singapore if these workers with a couldn't-care-less attitude were to work in our factories. They are here today; they are gone tomorrow; as a result you have a lot of defective parts.”
“(5) That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IE-01 of the Development Estimates.”
“(3) That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IA-02 of the Development Estimates.”
“(2) That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $1O in respect of Subhead IA-O1 of the Main Estimates. Mr Eric Cheong Yuen Chee:”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his assurance and I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Mr Tan Soo Khoon- (7) That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead JD-01 of the Development Estimates.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do recognize that censorship policy is a difficult policy to implement. At the same time, our children must be protected from a steady diet of horror films. We all know the devil is very real but when we glorify him and we put him in films, this can lead to a lot of fear being instilled in very young people. Perhaps the Hon. Minister could liaise with the Ministry of Health, the psychiatric wards, to find out how many people have been subjected to fear or have a lot of fears and nightmares as a result of horror movies. I do not mean to simply refer to children because I have seen cases of adults having such nightmares and fears. Perhaps this House should also be aware that there are many examples of rock music where there are attempts at subliminal influence. There are certain tapes which if played at very fast speeds, messages are conveyed across that way. I am also told that there is this thing called backward masking where, if one plays the tape or the record backwards, one can hear messages like "smoke marijuana, smoke marijuana" or "heroin is good" or "worship satan, worship satan." I have personally heard some of these things being played. So I just want to draw this to the attention of this House.”
“Thirdly, there are a lot of martial arts films being shown both in the cinema theatres and on TV. These films typically exhibit a lot of violence and encourage negative feelings of revenge and hatred.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead JC-03 of the Main Estimates.* Sir, 15 months ago the Jayakumar Report on Censorship was submitted to the Minister for Culture. If I may quote some sentences from that Report: '12.1 Singapore's most important resource is its people, The discipline and moral fibre of its people is vital, An erosion of discipline and standards of morality is detrimental to the national interest. We thus cannot afford the permissiveness associated with certain aspects of life in some other countries. 12.2 Singapore, like most other societies, recognizes that children and young persons are the most important group in need of protection. Thus our censorship policies must pay special attention to children and young persons and must not undermine what we are seeking to achieve in schools through moral education.' And paragraph 18, on excessive violence: '18. It is often thought that the main focus of censorship is on sex exploitation. While that is an important concern, there is also cause for serious concern over films which show excessive violence, gory scenes, sadism as well as horror. The frequency of such matters being depicted in films is objectionable.' Sir, my purpose in raising this amendment is to seek some figures from the Minister for Culture and to ascertain from him the policy of censorship in the following categories of movies and video tapes. First of all, horror movies. It has been my impression that we are plagued by many horror movies being exhibited in our theatres. Secondly, there are movies involving discotheques or rock music being shown in our theatres. Such movies or such music are often associated with drug culture and permissiveness.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, just to clarify with you, I have an amendment under Subhead JC-03 but it is on a different topic. I prefer to move it later, with your permission.”
“Sir, the Member for Boon Teck can take comfort in the fact that I am not exclusively blaming taxi drivers and trishaw riders, I am prepared to blame him as well. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I resent that insinuation. If the Hon. Minister were to take such an attitude, nobody on this side of the House would dare to ask any question.”
“Sir, for the next financial year I notice that the Ministry of Home Affairs has provided for 27 posts in respect of Anti-Vice Enforcement and will spend about $587,370. First of all, Sir, I am sure this House will join me in congratulating the Ministry on its successful programme to root out vice in the Collyer Quay area. But, Sir, it is well-known to many people, especially to tourists, that the Orchard Road area which is the hotel belt is well-known as an area where there is a lot of prostitution, pimping and solicitation. It is also well-known that many taxi drivers and trishaw riders serve as pimps. I have friends who visited Singapore and who have complained to me that the moment they enter into a taxi from a hotel, they were asked whether they wanted certain services. Sir, we are going to be vastly expanding our supply of hotel rooms in the next five years - an additional 18,000-plus rooms are going to be added to the existing 15,000-odd rooms. This will really tax the resources of the Ministry, particularly the Anti-Vice Enforcement Unit. Perhaps the Ministry should request for additional funds and additional personnel so that more stringent action can be taken against the people who are involved in this racket.”
“Sir, I accept that assurance of good behaviour on the part of the Hon. Minister, and I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“There are tremendous repercussions which I feel the Government has not looked into because with booms in property prices, rentals. begin to go up, both rentals on residences as well as commercial properties, and when rentals go up markup on goods go up. So inflation is generated. Already I am told by many tourists that Singapore is no longer a cheap place to shop in. I think we have got to do something about it. One can also look at the frustrations of Singaporeans who are aspiring to own private residential properties. When such approvals are given to foreigners for bungalows and semi-detached houses and such like, the property market is pushed up. Condominium prices will also be pushed up because, in the first place, foreigners can buy them very readily as well as apartment buildings more than six storeys high. So, again, I would like to appeal to the Hon. Minister to be more tight-fisted in the application of his criteria.”
“Sir, I also have a table which could be distributed to inform Members of this House as to the number of units or bungalows and semi-detached houses and terraces which were constructed in the years 1973 to 1981. This is Table 8.2 of the Year Book of Statistics (1981-82 Volume). Sir, I am presenting these statistics for comparison with the number of applications approved by the Ministry of Law, because I am concerned at the imbalance which has been created in the market for residential property by such approvals. For example, Sir, in 1973 the total number of new bungalows commenced was only 282; in 1974 147; 1975 122; 1976 67; 1977 43; 1978 42; 1979 82; 1980 118; 1981 185. If one were to look at the semi-detached houses, except for 1973 when 1,007 units were commenced, all the other years have much lower figures. 1974 525; 1975 165; 1976 76; 1977 77; 1978 95; 1979 180; 1980 294 units; 1981 132 units. I shall not bother the House with details about terrace houses. They can look up the table for themselves. But the figures involved are also very small. So it is a matter of concern to me and it should be a matter of concern to this House that the total cumulative approvals as shown in the Minister's table is 2,585 and compared with the paltry number of new buildings built in respect of bungalows and semi-detached houses over the same period, a tremendous imbalance has been created in the domestic market for residential properties. I would like therefore to urge the Hon. Minister not to be so generous in the future so that the interest of Singaporeans can be better looked after. We all should be concerned over the uncontrolled boom in the property market.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head S be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead SB-01 of the Main Estimates. My purpose in moving this amendment is simply to seek information from the Hon. Minister for Law as to the number of approvals the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit has given to foreigners to purchase residential property in Singapore, other than condominiums and high-rise buildings, higher than six storeys. I would also like to have the number of disapprovals and the criteria that are used in the process.”
“Sir, there is one other point mentioned by the Minister which I seek clarification. He mentioned that many a time when applicants on hardship criteria were offered stalls other than cooked food stalls, they turned them down saying that they preferred to have cooked food stalls. He thinks that this is because it is more lucrative to sell cooked food. I beg to disagree with him. There is a simple reason why they choose cooked food stalls, and it is that that is the only thing that they know how to do, i.e. cooking. In order to sell fish, pork or any raw produce, you need to have some business sense. In fact, to sell fish or pork, you have to wake up at two or three o'clock in the morning, and for a widow to go all the way to Jurong or to the abattoir, and come back, is quite a job, and I do not think she can undertake that. So I hope he will be more sympathetic in future when requests are made to him. But I know the difficulties he faces and, as I said, I stand ready to give ammunition to support the case that I was trying to make, and I thank him very much for his reply. With this, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment by leave, withdrawn.”