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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“Mr Speaker, Sir, I seek clarification from the Hon. Minister for Labour on a couple of questions. First, would he have information regarding the extent of the implementation of the National Wages Council's recommendations from year to year, particularly for last year? My impression has been that it is only the unionised sector together with the public sector that implements these recommendations in full. Secondly, would the Minister inform this House about the current work permit policy? Sir, I raise this question because from the Economic Survey which was introduced to this House by the Minister for Trade and Industry, it was noted that last year there was a 6.6% increase in our labour force. Natural increase of population, together with increased participation in the workforce, could not have accounted for more than 3 to 4%. Therefore, there must have been a very substantial inflow of foreign workers into Singapore. Sir, Government's announced policy is to upgrade our industries and therefore to encourage employment of more skilled labour. I would like to know the increase in the number of work permit holders in Singapore. Are they mostly skilled labour or unskilled labour? Are they blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, or a combination of both? Are they day-to-day work permit holders, i.e. they commute to and from Malaysia? Do these workers have to reside in Singapore and, if so, are there accommodation problems involved? Does the Minister envisage placing some annual quota on work permit holders coming into Singapore?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, to my knowledge, our hospitals do not apply a means test for 8 class patients. As the Minister pointed, that he has created a new B2 class to take some pressure off the C class wards. I am just wondering whether, in the interest of the lower income groups and in order to prevent further increases in ward charges for C class patients in future, an income ceiling might not be imposed for C class patients. This would prevent those who are able to afford to pay higher ward charges from taking advantage of the relatively low rates for C class.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, when this concession was given last year, that is, raising the exemption limit on dwelling houses to $200,000, I thought that was appropriate and timely. It was a good concession. But in view of the fact that since April last year property prices in Singapore have risen further and very considerably - even the Housing and Development Board is considering raising its property prices - and since the Hon. Minister for Finance is very generous in accommodating inflation, as he was earlier in respect of capital allowance for motor vehicles for business firms, would he be as generous in raising this exemption limit further to, say, $300,000?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to seek clarification from the Hon. Minister in regard to clauses 4 and 8 of this Bill. As I understand it, Sir, the Ministry of Communications has been trying to limit the number of motor vehicles in Singapore, and yet here we find the Minister for Finance giving a more generous capital allowance for motor vehicles owned by companies. Would he please explain?”
“Sir, the policy of encouraging more womenfolk to join the labour force so as to meet the labour shortage in Singapore is a good one. But what are the incentives? The Minister for Trade and Industry has not indicated what concrete measures there are to put this policy into effect. Our women choose to stay at home mainly because they are tied down to the children. Domestic help is not only difficult to come by but also very expensive to engage. The Government and those concerned should set up more creches to enable womenfolk to feel at ease to come out and work. There are also other measures to encourage the women to work, such as making them work for only half a day so that they have the other half of the day to attend to their household chores and their children. Of course certain tax concessions for women can also serve as a further incentive for the women to enter the labour market. Mr Speaker, Sir, on the whole, the 1980/81 Budget statement is enlightening and encouraging. I would therefore give it my full support. 5.43 p.m.”
“Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea have been described as the "four tigers" in Asia. Of course, there is reason for such labelling. But we must not be complacent with the small economic achievements that we have made. At the same time, we must also pay attention to the other member-countries of ASEAN and share our economic fruit with them, whenever possible. Last year, we achieved outstanding growth in our manufacturing industry. We must thank the workers from foreign countries, especially Malaysian workers. The Government's policy is "to match income with expenditure" whereas the policy of the people in general is "to match expenditure with income". Because of materialistic temptations and the influence of certain Government policies, the people of Singapore seem to have forgotten this maxim of frugal spending. Instead they are spending more then is necessary or have taken to living permanently on loons. For example, many people have bought motor cars not out of necessity but out of a fear of possible increase in car prices. The periodic hefty increase in road tax, registration fees, ARF, etc, have drawn the people into buying cars to avoid further increases. Furthermore, the Government-owned Development Bank of Singapore and the Ministry of Finance have also granted loans liberally for the purchase of cars thereby giving the people the wrong idea that if they do not buy cars now they may not ever be able to join the ranks of car-owners later. So the people stinge and save in order to be able to buy cars on loan. Thus, the people in Singapore are on the way to living on future savings, on hire-purchase, in the same way that Europeans and the Americans are doing. Whether this is healthy or not certainly needs a review.”
“Income tax is being reduced while taxes on expenditure are being increased. The objective is to reward enterprise and encourage maximum effort. Even as we welcome the tax concessions, we should be prepared to take the unpleasant medicines in the course of the year when rents, fees, charges and expenditure taxes are raised. I would hope, however, Sir, that Government will monitor carefully the regressive effects that expenditure taxes and charges may have on the lower income group to ensure that they do not suffer a decline in their already low standard of living. Sir, with these few observations, I give my support to the motion standing in the name of the Hon. Minister for Trade and Industry. 5.38 p.m. Mr Ho Kah Leong (Jurong)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Budget statement presented by the Hon. Minister for Trade and Industry on 5th March, 1980, can be said to be a most welcomed Budget statement by the various people but for the earlier announcement of tax increases and increases in PUB tariffs as well as the announcement of the increase in medical fees by the Minister for Health on the same day. Sir, in spits of the generous income tax reductions announced by the Minister to give real income increases to hard working people, the Government ministries and departments as well as statutory bodies have resorted to increase revenue just by the issue of an order, thereby giving the people the impression that the Government is taking back through various means whatever tax concessions that have been generously given or will be given. As a result, the benefits derived from such concessions have been eroded. Our economic performance lost year registering a real growth rate of 9.3% is very encouraging and a source of pride.”
“Between December 1978 and June 1979 the cost of living rose by less than 1% while between June and December last year it increased by 6.4%. Furthermore, between December 1978 and December 1979 the general wholesale price index rose by 23.8%. The latest reports also indicate that the US cost of living index rose by an annual rate of 18%, and the Member for Kolam Ayer referred to the US wholesale price index rising by 20% in the latest report. Sir, quite clearly we are in for much more severe inflation this year. In this connection, I would like to urge the Hon. Minister to look more closely at the construction of our GDP deflator. I shall be glad to supply suggestions for improvement. The sixth problem area, Sir, is this question of removal of tariff protection for our industries in Singapore. The removal of such protection on a large number of items must have come as a shock to the firms involved. It is, however, a policy consistent with the export orientation of our economy. Nevertheless, Sir, the timing is a bit unfortunate as we face a world economy on the brink of economic recession. What could be done is to help firms affected to develop export markets and perhaps switch to other types of production. Undoubtedly, the Hon. Minister has some idea of the viability of the firms affected by the withdrawal d tariff protection. Most Ministers for Finance would regard the removal of tariff protection with considerable trepidation. It says something for a bright young Minister that he describes his policy as an act of confidence. The seventh problem area is in regard to tax concessions. Few Ministers for Finance would be able to produce tax concessions at this time of economic uncertainty and certainly not as many as we have seen.”
“Firstly, the fact that 25% of our global exports are covered by the Generalised System of Preferences concessions of the US, EEC and Japan renders those exports vulnerable should we be reclassified as a developed country and that day cannot be too far off if we are galloping along at the rates that he is planning. Secondly, the lesson of the 1974-75 recession is that at the beginning of such a recession when inflation is a more serious problem than unemployment, protectionism is muted. However, when unemployment becomes a more serious problem than inflation, pressures will arise for erecting trade barriers. I would not be surprised, therefore, Sir, if protectionist sentiments rise after the middle of next year when unemployment will increase significantly in the industrial countries. Right now, the recession that was forecast has been postponed because of elections in America and in other countries in Europe and Canada. But the postponement means a higher price in terms of inflation and a subsequent recession promises to be deeper than would have been the case. Thirdly, despite the Multilateral Trade Negotiation, non-tariff barriers, that is, barriers other than tariffs, are going to be more serious impediments to trade than tariffs per se and they are the more difficult ones to overcome. Fourthly, we will have to contend with a world in which beggar-my-neighbour policies through manipulation of monetary and exchange rate changes are more difficult to identify and to offset. The fifth problem area, Sir, is inflation. The Hon. Minister reported that on the average our cost of living went up by only 4% last year. However, we should note that most of the increase occurred in the latter half of the year.”
“Sir, I would like to urge caution here and perhaps we can learn from the mistakes of others. South Korea has been pushing very ambitious schemes to establish more sophisticated industries, including petro-chemicals. I understand that recently she has run into some problems, not the least of which is over-capitalisation. Sir, ours is a small economy. A mistake in a project involving billions of dollars is a very costly one to bear and extremely difficult to correct. So far, Sir, our diversified economy has stood us in good stead. I would, therefore, hope that we do not get over-extended in any direction. In an increasingly uncertain world economy we need the flexibility, that agility, to shift our patterns of production if we are to survive and prosper. I would consider the Hon. Minister's goal of increasing the manufacturing sector's share of GDP from the present 22% to 31% by 1990 as ambitious. Similarly, his vision of developing Singapore into what he described as "a financial supermarket" needs to be somewhat more restrained and balanced. Do we have the financial sophistication to monitor financial institutions, such as the Asian Dollar Market has brought to Singapore? In the word of the 80's, Sir, one can expect financial turbulence reminiscent of the 1930's. Such conditions will be a far cry from the orderliness of a supermarket. The fourth problem area, Sir, is protectionism. We are getting into an era of increasing protectionism. In this respect, Sir, the Hon. Minister is too sanguine about the favourable impact of the Multilateral Trade Negotiation on trade in the 80's.”
“The average energy consumption for the industrial countries is 0.81 kilogram per dollar of GNP, i.e. roughly the same. Among the industrial countries, however, energy consumption seems to vary enormously. At the lower end of the scale is Switzerland with 0.41 kilogram per dollar of GNP. At the higher end is the United States with 1.39 kilogram per dollar of GNP. Sir, the point is this. Can we learn something from the wide disparity in energy consumption in the industrial countries? In 1975/76 Switzerland had a higher per capita GNP of US$8,880 compared to the United States with US$7,890. Yet her energy consumption was less than 30% of the United States. I would suggest that we make a careful study of energy utilisation in relation to the type of industries in the advanced countries before we mortgage ourselves to an energy-intensive future. Maybe I worry too much, Sir, but I do worry every time I see a new shopping complex complete with central air-conditioning, escalators, high-speed lifts and artificial lightings. What is the Government's thinking on energy conservation? What fiscal incentives and disincentives can we devise to ensure conservation? Is it always a good thing "to mechanise, automate and computerise"? Is it always necessary to do so? Are we diversifying our sources of energy? Are we doing all we can to decentralise facilities and factories so as to minimise transportation? Or are we doing the reverse? The third problem, Sir, is the problem of over-capitalisation. Related to the energy problem is the capital intensity of new industries. We are getting into a huge petro-chemical project, costing billions of dollars. The Mass Rapid Transit System is being studied and that will run into several billions of dollars as well.”
“Are these workers skilled or unskilled, blue-collar or white? Is not the new high wage policy designed to economise on labour and promote growth in productivity? Why then the big influx of foreign workers? Sir, the Economic Survey noted that 23,900 new jobs were created in the manufacturing sector and yet productivity in that sector rose by 5%, higher then in 1978 and the national average of 2.6%. Government itself increased employment last year by 4.5%, but no productivity indicator is available. Indeed, Sir, the important subject of productivity rated only three paragraphs in the entire Economic Survey. The national and sectoral figures on productivity appear to be too volatile from year to year. I would therefore recommend to the Hon. Minister that careful studies be made on productivity so as to give us an accurate picture of our economic performance. As he rightly pointed out, our people are our only rich resource. Hence our standard of living can only go up as we increase our productivity, properly measured. The second problem that I wish to draw attention to, Sir, is the problem of energy. Apart from casual references to the energy crisis, the Minister seemed quite oblivious to the energy implications of his economic proposals. His formula for our growth in the 80's is to induce employers "to mechanise, automate and computerise." This will undoubtedly make our economy more energy-intensive. Sir, it is interesting to note, from figures supplied by the World Bank, that our energy consumption per dollar of GNP is already equal to the average for the industrial countries. In 1975/76, for which figures are available, we had a per capita GNP of US$2,700 and we consumed 2,151 kilograms of coal-equivalent energy, or 0.8 kilogram per dollar of GNP.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to join in the congratulations offered to the Hon. Minister for Trade and Industry. The Budget presented to us last week is a bold, imaginative and forward-looking one. It is difficult to improve upon, but perhaps the few comments I have to offer may help to clarify the issues we face. Sir, by any reckoning, last year was a difficult one for the world economy. The US economy was on the brink of a recession. The OECD countries grew by only 3 1/4% compared to 3.9% the previous year. An inflation rate of 10% in the industrial countries was exacerbated by a number of factors. By the end of the year, the price of petroleum had risen by at least 70%. The prices of gold and other precious metals skyrocketed, even as inflation eroded confidence in paper currencies. Interest rates have broken historical records in America and elsewhere. Against this international backdrop, our growth in GNP of 9.3% accompanied by an average inflation rate of 4% is quite remarkable. It was also a year of balanced and healthy growth with few distortions. Hon. Members can refer to the Economic Survey to read the account for themselves. I propose instead to highlight some problem areas. The first is Productivity which the Member for Buona Vista made reference to earlier. The Minister pointed out in his Budget address that while employment increased by 6.6% last year, productivity growth was only 2.6% compared with 4% the previous year. However, he did not reveal which sectors were responsible for the poor productivity performance. He admitted that there was a significant inflow of foreign workers. My estimate is that there were probably 23,000 new work permits issued last year. Presumably these workers went into manufacturing and construction.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, will the Hon. Minister inform this House in how many countries do we have trade representation abroad?”
“Sir, is the Hon. Minister not aware that there are other alternative measures which could achieve the same aim of keeping down the car population and yet, at the same time, permit Singapore to save on foreign exchange?”
“Sir, would the Hon. Minister not agree with me that, from the point of view of the economy, it is cheaper to import second-hand vehicles rather than brand new vehicles because it means a saving in terms of foreign exchange?”
“Sir, would the Minister not consider that if the export of such second-hand vehicles from Singapore is on a substantial scale, say, in the order of at least 600 cars per year, it will be a counter-balancing factor to the import of similar second-hand vehicles from Japan?”
“Sir. does the Hon. Minister have any evidence of the export of second-hand cars from Singapore to other countries?”
“Sir, is the Minister not aware that if a simple question were to be put to employers that, "Is the CPF a hindrance to your employing a person older than 55 years?" the answer is going to be yes? Would he then take that as evidence that there is a penalising effect of CPF on the employment of such workers?”
“Sir, a supplementary question. What sort of evidence is the Acting Minister considering gathering in respect of people older than 55 years? He was mentioning the possible penalty effect of having to pay CPF in deterring employers from engaging such workers. So what sort of evidence is he thinking of gathering?”
“If that is so, then it is tantamount to a tax on the development of skills because apprentices, properly construed, are people undergoing training in a particular skill. So that would seem contradictory to the policy. Secondly, I would like to know the relationship between this Skills Development Fund and the various schemes of training administered by the Economic Development Board on the one hand, and the various training programmes administered by the Vocational and Industrial Training Board on the other. The third point I would like to raise is the scope of action under the power of the Minister provided by this Bill. In the first place, under clause 4 the Minister may by order vary the amount of levy, at present 2% or $5 whichever is the greater. I think this particular provision may cause some concern on the part of employers in that, on some future date, the Minister could just arbitrarily increase this particular tax. I think it would be wiser for this matter to be brought up either through the National Wages Council or even directly to this Parliament for endorsement before such a move is made. Furthermore, under clause 8(2)(d) it is stated that the Fund may be used "for such other purposes as may be prescribed by the Minister." I think there should be a limitation there to note that "such other purposes" should be consistent with the objects of the Fund as spelt out in sub-clause 8(1).”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would just like to raise a number of points for clarification. First, if I heard the Minister correctly, the definition of "employees" includes all apprentices.”
“Sir, the question really at the back of my mind is how effective the new wage policy is going to be if, over the next three or four years, employers are allowed to have as many work permit holders as they wish? Secondly, if such is the case, then would there not be greater wage distortions in the economy? Thirdly, because of these wage distortions might the employers not have the incentive of getting rid of more senior workers in favour of immigrant workers so as to save their wage costs?”
“Sir, what is the likely nature of this restriction? In other words, what is the percentage decrease? Can the Minister give us some order of magnitude?”
“Sir, is it not the intention of the Government over the next three years to allow employers to have as many work permit holders as they desire?”
“Sir, is it then the intention of the Government to impose an annual quota of work permit holders that can come into Singapore?”
“A similar Bill will be introduced soon to cover the Dental students. Sir, I beg to move. 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. - [Mr S. Dhanabalan]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. REGISTRATION OF DEEDS RULES 4.00 p.m.”
“MONEY-CHANGING AND REMITTANCE BUSINESSES BILL "to provide for the licensing of persons who carry on money-changing or remittance business and for matters connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. WOMEN'S CHARTER (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Women's Charter (Chapter 47 of the Revised Edition)", presented by the Acting Minister for Social Affairs (Dr Ahmad Mattar): read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. MEDICAL REGISTRATION (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 3.56 p.m. The Acting Minister for Health (Mr S. Dhanabalan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Medical students who commenced their course in 1978 signed a bond before enrolment to serve the Government for five years. Those who had commenced their course before 1978 were given the option in 1978 of signing either a bond or an undertaking to serve the Government for periods ranging from one to four years. The majority signed the undertaking. The student agrees in the undertaking to serve the Government diligently during his housemanship and for a prescribed period after full registration under the Medical Registration Act. He also agrees to cease the practice of medicine and surgery if he fails to fulfil his obligation to serve the Government. For the effective enforcement of the undertaking, the Medical Council should have the power to remove from the register the name of any person who defaults his undertaking. The Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide the Medical Council with such power.”
“Sir, what you get as a result is a demotion in terms of status. Money is one thing but status is another. If you just measure everything by the amount of money you get, then I think we are a very sorry kind of society indeed. BILLS INTRODUCED 3.53 p.m. PHARMACISTS REGISTRATION BILL "to provide for the registration of pharmacists and for purposes connected therewith; and to repeal the Pharmacists Registration Act (Chapter 223 of the Revised Edition)", presented by the Acting Minister for Health (Mr S. Dhanabalan); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. EVIDENCE (CIVIL PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS) BILL "to make new provision for enabling the High Court to assist in obtaining evidence required for the purposes of civil proceedings in other jurisdictions and for matters connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Law and Science and Technology (Mr E.W. Barker); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. STATE IMMUNITY BILL "to make provision with respect to proceedings in Singapore by or against other States, and for purposes connected therewith", presented by Mr E.W. Barker; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Act (Chapter 46 of the Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Chua Sian Chin); read the First time: to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.”
“I am sorry. It is a slip of the tongue, Sir, but it is easily explained. Sir, we seem to be in the habit of demoting people by creating new grades. So even if I had demoted the Hon. Minister for a moment, it may come in the future if there is a super Ministerial post being created. Everybody in the civil service has been demoted because of the additional grades created at the top. Those who thought they were already at the top of the ladder now are three rungs below the top. I mention this, Sir, because at the University people are reacting this way. The Professors who are already at the top now find another rank above them, super Professor or Senior Professor. There is no guarantee that in the years to come there might even be higher ranks of civil servants or Professors.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think we can agree in general with the observations made by the Senior Minister of State - Some hon. Members: Minister for Trade and Industry.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. It is a serious point which I am pursuing. It is no laughing matter. What I am concerned about is: how do we produce better schools? How do we produce better students? If the finding is that there is something in the Government-aided schools that tends to produce good quality students, then we had better examine what these qualities are. Off-the-cuff, the Minister gave several reasons, and I say, "That's it." And they are very crucial points. There is the dedication of the teachers, dedication of the principals, the values, the attitudes, the morals of the teachers and the principals. These are critical. This is no toy-shop syndrome, Sir.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. Sir, I was not advocating that the education officials, the Systems Engineers, embark on a Ph.D. exercise. Far from it, Sir. I am concerned with commonsense approach, that is, if the finding is that the majority of good schools are Government-aided schools and no explanation is given, why this is so? If no attempt has been made to explain why this is so, then I say, they lack commonsense. That is all.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. My point was that the finding, legitimate as it is, does not point to any policy conclusion that there should not be improvement in the teacher/pupil ratio. It is as simple as that.”
“" Just as what I think the Member for Jalan Kayu had quoted in Chinese some two days ago, "Gong yu shan qi shi, bi xian fi qi qi" ( ), that is to say, if we want to do a good job we must have good tools. So, if we give the Deputy Prime Minister adequate time, and I think we should, he will then be able to spot talent. There is no lack of talent in the Ministry of Education. I know there are many. Even if he is not able to spot the talents we should let him have the opportunity to develop the talents. Only when he has developed enough talents can he make use of them. Then, we Singaporeans Will be able to achieve what appears to be unachievable. In introducing his Motion the Deputy Prime Minister has said that Singaporeans are a resourceful people and have got out of many a desperate predicament. Therefore, I express my support for the Motion and I also express my confidence in him that step by step an ideal system of education in keeping with the needs of our multi-racial society will be established. 3.38 p.m.”
“In this way, we shall be able to produce, on the one hand, good teachers and, on the other hand, various experts needed as good educational administrators. Such outstanding teachers and personnel can be sent overseas for further tudies to acquire new knowledge. But, it will serve no useful purpose to send those con- descending and hardworking good teachers and good principals abroad. Some who have gone abroad in search of treasure have come back but have not become good teachers and good principals. I feel that if the Institute of Education is well organised, its success will provide the main pillar of strength by enhancing the upward development of our education. Sir, in short, I would say that this Report on education together with the letter from the Prime Minister, embodies the sum total of our experience on which to build our multilingual education system. With this foundation and under the insistent direction of the Government on bilingualism, we can build up our new, multi-channel education system. If our educationists can do well by matching the rich educational experience and thesis of the Report with all the views presently suggested and expressed in this House and apply them with speciaL methods in their educational specialties or through any measure considered best by them, they may be able to set up a good educational system in this complicated and plural society of ours. Sir, the Deputy Prime Minister has taken over the portfolio of the Ministry of Education and this has been well received by members of the public. Everybody is glad. Everybody is full of confidence. However, as Sir Winston Churchill had said, let me quote him in EL3, "Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”
“He was unfamiliar at the beginning but later on he became familiar with the business of giving orders and instructions, directing people around. However, we soon began to see deviating results from this. We see some good principals faithful to their duties had become bad principals working to rules. Some good teachers dedicated in their profession had become bad teachers by following bad examples. Once this vogue was set, then in the educational circle very few people would want to talk about how to be decent persons and very few people would want to talk about moral education because nobody talked about moral education. Therefore, few of the teachers interviewed by the Education Study Team talked about moral education. That is why there is very little mention of moral education in the Report, and this has caused the Prime Minister to jump on his feet. I would suggest here something which has not been mentioned by other Members. One is that we must reorganise the Institute of Education. The Institute of Education was formerly known as the Teachers' Training College. The name has been changed, and the signboard has also been changed. But in my view, generally speaking it is still a case of old wine in new bottle. The Institute of Education has not been able to shoulder its sacred tasks. The basic requirements of the Institute are good teachers, good principals and good staff. In my view, the Institute of Education should get in touch with some primary schools and secondary schools and other establishments where there are educational facilities to set up some primary experimental classes and educational research centres at those places.”
“The next point I wish to raise is that we must not only have teachers and principals who are dedicated, we must also have Ministry officials who are equally able and dedicated to the cause of education. For example, take myself. I studied in primary 3 up to primary 5 before I took the enrolment examination to join a middle school. I spent another five years from lower junior school to senior middle school before I took the university entrance examination. During this course of schooling within this prescribed system, if I had not come across good teachers, good principals and good Ministry administrators, then a problem child like me who did not fit in properly with the prescribed standard in the formal education system would long have become an illiterate nondescript. Therefore, Sir, I would like to point out that the bilingual policy stipulated all along by the Government has been a correct one but because of the lack of expertise in educational administration, it has resulted in everybody having a say in education and everybody having a finger in the education pie. I am not saying that the Ministry of Education is lacking in experts. I am not saying that our schools are devoid of good teachers and good principals. What I am saying is that an officer who has not studied education at all was sent to work in the Ministry of Education. For example, I met one officer one day and he said that he had just gone to work in the Ministry of Education and he was reluctant to make any decision on educational measures. Under the civil service system, he had to work under established rules and regulations. So he would do just as he was told.”
“So when such people write the textbooks, although the textbooks to the adults appear good in phraseology and very beautiful, however, they are more suitable for adults than for school children, because to the students such textbooks would be too difficult to comprehend and a heavy burden to them. I once looked at a lesson in a textbook on Education-for- Living. The title of the lesson was "We go to school." wo men dao xue xiao qu ( ). I remember when I was a primary student, I had also a lesson whose subject title was in these words shang xue ( ) "Going to School". I thought to myself, why should the term dao xue xiao qu ( ) be used, which is a longer term instead of shang xue ( ) as commonly used? Why not the other way round? Those who are knowledgeable in linguistics or who are educationalists can perhaps enlighten us on this. Sir, if I may recommend one, our Minister of State for Labour is an educationist as well as a linguist. Am I correct, Mr Sia? Another is the Member for Delta who is also a linguist. If they can say which one is better: shang xue ( ) or dao xue xiao qu ( ) it will be good to our children. If shang xue ( ), fang xue ( ), shang ban ( ), xia ban ( ), shang ke ( ), xia ke ( ), etc, are better and more familiar terms, we should use this sort of brief and pithy terms rather than using lengthy and circumlocutory terms. One should not try to be too smart by creating innovations to replace commonly accepted terms of usage. So I say textbooks are very important, because without good textbooks the teachers, the principals and the students will face difficulties and a host of problems and we may find ourselves back to square one.”
“Many students after leaving school have not been able to converse in English nor in Mandarin or Tamil or Malay. So much so that when the Deputy Prime Minister was the Minister of Defence, he had to set up a special Hokkien platoon in the national service in order to enable certain soldiers unable to converse in English or Mandarin to converse in Hokkien on military strategy and other matters. Therefore, the Report advocated a multi-stream or multi-channel system in order that schools could allow students of different abilities to develop at their own pace. This will enable the younger generation to be taught according to their talent and capacity and not become illiterate in this modern age. For example, it has been found that certain students after studying for 10 years still know nothing and are good for nothing. Therefore, other than what many Members have considered to be difficult to implement, theoretically I think that the multi-stream system is a very sound method. All the principals, teachers and Ministry officials know that this is a good system. If we can succeed, it will mark a significant progress, a progress which has not been achieved by other developing countries. In fact, there are many difficulties ahead. I would just like to cite two examples. The first prerequisite is to solve the problem of the syllabi. We cannot use the same textbooks for all students of different streams and levels. They should use different textbooks. The writing of textbooks should be undertaken by those who are well-versed in education as well as in the languages. At present, there is some fault in this respect. That is to say, some people who are well-versed in languages may not be equally good at education.”
“So after having carefully studied the Report, I asked myself, if the Education Study Team had not been led by Dr Goh Keng Swee, our Deputy Prime Minister, and his Study Team members had not been officials from Ministries other than the Ministry of Education, would we be presented with a Report that is both self-derogatory and not painting a good picture of the Government? I do not think so. In a developing multi-racial society, language education is a common problem. It is a thorny problem as it seeks to streamline or accommodate all the languages or the various ethnic groups into a unified education system. This is not easy. However, we have done quite well in this respect. Let me give some examples. Yesterday, the Minister for Labour mentioned about the Government changing the 3.3 system of the Chinese stream to the 4.2 system so as to enable the Chinese stream secondary students to sit for the same examination for the English stream. This was good and of advantage to them. The atmosphere then was quite different from what it is today. As related, what the Senior Minister of State, Mr Lee Khoon Choy, experienced in those days none of us new MPs here, including myself, could have experienced. Second example. The Nanyang University changed its four-year system to the three-year system so as to put the Pass Degree students on the same footing as the students in Singapore University, thus giving equal treatment. This was also good. So I can say that we have done quite well. After independence it was decided to embark on bilingualism. In addition to learning English, students of various races have to learn and master their respective native languages. So far, we have not been able to boast of any great success.”
“'The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: That men may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight, receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; that prudence may be given to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth - the wise man also may hear and increase in learning, and the man of understanding acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction.' Amen. 3.18 p.m. Mr Lai Tha Chai (Henderson)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, having listened to the one hour long discourse about Jesus Christ and Confucius, it causes me, the one who intends to speak in CL1, to wonder whether I should speak on Confucianism further without taxing the patience of my colleagues. May I perhaps be allowed to use a few sayings from the Western philosophy so as to counterbalance the Eastern philosophy of my colleague who has just spoken to help mutual interchange. Sir, the Report on the Ministry of Education presented to the House on the 16th March, 1979, by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education is one of the most important historic documents after the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore since our independence. The Report makes special reference to the most complex language problem that exists in our multi-racial society. At the same time, it has also boldly and fully by self-criticism disclosed the seriousness of mistakes made by the Government in this respect in spite of what it has achieved in other fields. All these errors have been enumerated in detail in the Report.”
“Thirdly, Sir, our students should have the ability to cope with stress that comes with competition, rapid change, and the stress that comes from the compact living environment. It must be a great sense of tragedy to us to read from the newspapers from time to time of young students committing suicide on the eve of an examination. Are we giving them sufficient to cope with such stresses? Then our students have to be tolerant of others, but most important they have to be cultured individuals, not people who look towards a philosophy of crass materialism, not people who eventually assume positions of power and exercise power in petty fashion. Above all, students must be moral beings. Here, there is a dilemma of a secular state where we cannot teach religious values. We have to take ethical values distilled from various religious systems. The Ministry of Education should set a good example. I have here some problems with the English. On Chapter 1, page 2, in the middle of paragraph 4, there is a sentence which reads as follows: "The retention being between 2-5% in most cases." It is a sentence that does not have a verb. In Chapter 1, page 5, line 4 of paragraph 3, the sentence reads: "But in Singapore, much of the problems ...". It should be, "But in Singapore, most of the problems ...". In the fifth line of the last paragraph of page 5, Chapter 1, it reads: "One way to overcoming the dangers ...". Not only is the word "overcoming" spelt wrongly but the proper word is "overcome". Sir, we are all human. So perhaps we can be forgiven. We make mistakes but God does not. May I be permitted just to end by quoting from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter One.”
“Here, I go back to my good friend Confucius, and I quote him in CL3 (Chinese as a Lower Second Language): xue er bu si ze wang ( ) si er bu xue ze dai ( ) "He who learns without thinking is lost. He who thinks without learning is in great danger." I might add, "dangerous to others and to society as well," Our students also need to have the ability to select. Singapore is a small open economy. For all our educational efforts, unless the proper values and attitudes are instilled in the students, these efforts can be undone through the TV, through magazines, through the movies, through contact with tourists. Let me turn to The Analects of Confucius, page 206. This time I will quote in EL2. Master Kung said: 'Highest are those who are born wise. Next are those who become wise by learning. After them come those who have to toil painfully in order to acquire learning. Finally, to the lowest class of the common people belong those who toil painfully without ever managing to learn.' I quote that, Sir, not to discourage the working class but tO show that not all Confucianist values and ideas are valuable. We have to be selective. Do we know, for example, that in the Confucian scale of hierarchy, the scholars and officials are at the top followed by farmers, artisans and merchants. In a developing society, we value the entrepreneurial class. The status must be there. But in a Confucianist system, his class is at the bottom. That is obviously not what we want. In our society, we need to have much respect for technical and physical or manual labour. But the Confucianist value system relegates them to the bottom. Sir, I quote this because, as high a regard as I have for Master Confucius, we need to be selective in adopting values either from the East or from the West, or both.”
“But at the same time I am just wondering what the end result would be if the parents all sign for their children to be admitted to the higher streams of education. Is there indeed sufficient room for the late developer? Let me get down to the objective of education. The Goh Report simply puts it that the basic objective is to achieve literacy in at least one language. The Prime Minister is more ambitious as usual. In the second paragraph, he says: 'It was, and is to educate a child to bring out his greatest potential, so that he will grow up into a good man and a useful citizen.' I have no quarrel with either the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister on the stated objective. I would just like to emphasise a few points. One is that from my observation, even university students do not know how to think for themselves. It is a surprising statement but it is a statement of fact. Because they have been programmed right throughout the school system to be recipients, to be like a computer taking in some input and providing some output. When students organise seminars nowadays, they turn to lecturers and also to people outside, established in their fields, to come and speak. In my time when we organised seminars, we were the ones who were the speakers at the seminars. When we had debates, we thought through the ideas ourselves. I took part in many debates. We thought through. We did not go up to lecturers to ask for ideas. But now the university teams come up to us and say, "Can you give us ideas on this subject because, if you don't, the other team will win because they are approaching Professor so-and-so." It is something serious for us to think about.”
“These lecturers are teachers to teachers. If the morale of these lecturers is low, then they can only present glum faces to the teachers who will, in turn, present glum faces to the pupils. Now, what about the so-called brilliant 8% that the Report extols? Here, I think there is a danger that because they are recognised as brilliant, we might overload them. The proposal to introduce a third language at some stage is one which I would not support. What about the values and attitudes of these people? Having the bilingual capability, having eight distinctions and so on do not necessarily make these people good leaders. If I may quote from one Minister whom I overheard in the Member's Room, he said, "What good is it to me to have a First Class Honours Permanent Secretary if that fellow is not practical?" He has a point. Another person in an exalted capacity said, "Under the new system, I would not have survived. I am a monolinguist." How many people in this Chamber would have survived? Do we make enough room? In other words, is there a necessary correlation between intellect and linguistic ability? And if there is none, is there sufficient leeway in the system for transference or for emergence of the brilliant monolinguist, or even the above average monolinguist? I have trouble as I read through the Report on streaming. To go from the higher step down to the lower step, yes, it is very easy. It is like falling off the ladder. To climb up the ladder, both primary and secondary, the language is quite a barrier. I think the Education Ministry should look more carefully at this problem. On the flexibility which is given to parents, it is a good gesture.”
“I am sorry. Thank you. There is a Senior Lecturer. So we have Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor and Senior Professor. The intention behind this system was good, namely, the University was losing too many staff and therefore greater pay should be given to the teaching staff. However, if we look at the actual promotions, we find that people like doctors, Business Administration lecturers, lawyers get promoted more rapidly, not because they are intrinsically better in terms of education and educational value but because their market value is higher. This is one more example to illustrate this problem. The Member for Anson recognises this problem, Sir, and emphasised that we should look for quality of commitment and, I should add, professional excellence, academic excellence. Titles matter to people. Professionals are not so much concerned with pay if they are accorded proper status, proper respect. But if teachers and professors do not get the social esteem which they think is their due, then they can only feel aggrieved that they have lost out somewhere along the line. And if we add to this the huge discrepancies in pay between the civil service and the teaching profession, then I think the discontent gets all the greater. I think what is important for us to realise, Sir, is that from the point of view of new graduates, what are the inducements for them to go into a particular profession or career? In other words, the concept of opportunity cost is more important than market value. What has the person got to give up to pursue a University career, to pursue a career as a teacher? Just the other day, one Institute of Education official complained to me that their lecturers were being paid no better than teachers themselves.”
“Sir, I was talking about some problems of the University. The British system is simply Lecturer, Reader, Professor. The American system is Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor. But we have a system which fits neither one. We have Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor and Senior Professor. An hon. Member: Senior Lecturer.”
“Paragraph 5.4 pointed to three important factors: Dedication of teachers, Teacher's teaching method, and Quality of pupils. I was just complaining that these factors were simply stated as "intangible and yet important." I was pointing out that this should be related to the difference in performance between the government and government-aided schools. That is one. The other point concerns the pupil-teacher ratio. The finding is perhaps spurious and should not inhibit the Ministry from pursuing the improvements to schools and lowering the pupil/teacher ratio. May I continue?”
“I do not suffer from lack of enlightenment. But I think the Ministry perhaps could do with some.”