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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“Yes. I am just wondering why these important statements of fact are not properly analysed.”
“The first point concerns the percentage of good schools: "71% of the good schools are government-aided schools and 84% of the poor schools are government schools ...". Dr Goh Keng Swee: These are statements of fact.”
“Chapter 3, pages 5 and 6. There are quite a few offending paragraphs there. The Minister has the original copy. I am quoting from the printed version. I will give the paragraphs. They are paragraphs, 5.1, 5.3.2. 5.3.3, 5.4 and 5.5.”
“Mr Minister, are you referring to the Bible or to your Report?”
“Today we have Lecturers, Associate Professors, Professors, and now Senior Professors. The British system is one thing. The American system is simply -”
“Yet the very finding that 71% of the good schools are Government-aided schools should give them plenty of food for thought. Why is this the case? Why do the Government schools perform so badly? But no explanation has been provided. Another paragraph deals with the pupil-teacher ratio and it simply dismisses the idea because the finding was that despite the fact that there was a higher pupil-teacher ratio in the good schools the results of the good schools remain good and, therefore, there is no need to look into this pupil-teacher ratio. Absurd, is it not, Sir? If we are serious about raising the quality of our education, we should not base our reports on such spurious findings. There is such a thing as spurious correlations which simple human commonsense can tell systems engineers about. Now, Sir, we talk about market value. Let me just give an illustration from the University. After obtaining a first degree, a First Class Honours, a man goes off and spends four or five years to get a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He comes back and joins the University. When the time for promotion comes and he is not promoted, he starts asking questions. He is told, "But what is your market value?" Of course, after teaching Philosophy for 10 or 15 years he would have no market value. That should be rather obvious. But he has got a special value - educational value. Look at the effect this has on the young graduates! The University is getting very short of staff. The brighter young graduates are not going to pursue higher degrees. What is the point? You slog away for four or five years to get a Ph.D. only to be told at the end of it that you have no market value. We had a better system before: Lecturers, Readers and Professors - just three grades.”
“I therefore explained to them and said, "Look, why don't you take your parents with you and then let them apply for a flat for themselves? It may take one or two years. They have put up with you for 24 or 25 years. Why can't you put with them for another one or two years?." This is the kind of attitude which our young people have. I am worried and I am sure the MPs here are worried too. If you have five or six children and half of them are not filial you will still be taken care of in your old age. But when you have one or two children, and half of them are not filial, you have had it. If I may turn to page 6, Chapter 3 of that Report. There are some interesting findings here. One is that the Government-aided schools seem to have performed better. I will quote from paragraph 5.3.2: 'While only 44% of all the schools are government-aided, 71% of the good schools are government-aided and 84% of the poor schools are government schools ...'. Surely, Sir, this is something for us to pause, think, and ponder at length. Why should this be so? What is so special about the Government-aided schools? Paragraph 5.4 points out to "Other Factors - Dedication of teachers. Teacher's teaching method, and Quality of pupils." But these are dismissed in a sentence: 'Besides those factors that have been considered in the previous paragraphs, there are many other factors which are intangible and yet important. They are:' They are simply dismissed in one sentence. Sir, these qualitative factors - dedication of teachers, teacher's teaching method and quality of pupils - are obviously important. They are crucial elements to be considered. But since these are not amenable to the computer and the systems engineers do not know what to do with them, they have simply been brushed aside.”
“We admonish parents to have small families so that they can have more facilities and more time for their children. Yes, they have more facilities and more money. More time? No, not for the children because the extra time is taken in working for the mother so that the parents can have greater leisure outside. They can go out dancing and gambling. They do not mind the children. What the children have are the school's ECA, homework and TV. So the consequence over the long term is greater selfishness in our younger generation. I have had countless cases, Sir, of young men complaining to me at my "meet-the-people" sessions, furious with the Housing and Development Board for refusing to let them change the tenancy of their flats which they were about to buy. They had registered three or four years previously, to buy these flats, using their parents' names, brothers' names, and sisters' names because they were as yet single. But since then they have got married. And now the wife says, "Let us live alone by ourselves. There is a nice new four-room flat. Why do we want to bother with our parents, your parents especially?" So the young man went to the Housing Board and said, "I wish to take out the names of my parents, my brothers and sisters. Let them live in the rented flat where they are right now, and my wife and I will go to the new flat." The rented flat might be a one-room flat or a two-room flat. The new flat is a four-room flat or a five-room flat for two people. Of course, the Housing Board would say to them, "This cannot be done. If you wish to get a new flat, you have to take out a new registration number because you were not married at the time when you registered to buy a flat." They got mad with the Housing Board and came to me.”
“Another factor we have got to bear in mind, Sir, is the role of parents in monitoring the performance of their children. Here we seem to contradict ourselves in terms of policy. The Ministry of Finance says that we need more labour, particularly more woman power, so that we will not have to rely too much on immigrant labour. So try and get more women to do the work. It will be good for the economy. But is it good for the soul of the youngsters who are going to be left behind? Is it good for their education? Is it good for their values and attitudes when their mothers slog away at an eight or nine-hour job per day? This is something for us to think about. Yes, there are economic benefits, but what about the social costs? Why do we not think in terms of providing half-day work for women? If women doctors watch the clock because they have to rush home to cook the evening meal, then there is a legitimate reason for them to do so. Why do we not let the women doctors work half-day at half-pay? It is a simple solution. Sir, another consequence of our policy is the small family that we have today. We are constrained by land - economic circumstances, no doubt. But have we stopped to think about the long-term implications of small families? Many of us here in this House come from large families. We have many brothers and sisters. There were fights, there were quarrels. There was deprivation in many cases. But there is one thing we learn from large families, that is, to share, to give and to take. I am afraid, Sir, that too many of our youngsters today do not know how to give. They only know how to take. They have too much pocket money, too many toys which, in any case, destroy creativity, and too much freedom, even freedom from parental control.”
“Now, Sir, if we really want to give everybody an equal opportunity, I think we should stop and think in terms of that 20% who are going to be relegated to the lowest stream of the primary school and study what are the factors affecting these poor children. I think there have been studies which show that diet plays a very important role in terms of the concentration level of children when they are in school. If the children do not have a full breakfast, their concentration level suffers a severe decline by about 9 o'clock. The child gets fidgety, becomes mischievous and is penalised. He is simply unable to concentrate for the simple medical reason that the glucose level in his blood stream has fallen below normal. Are we doing anything about this? Do we realise that there are still many poor people among us who are struggling along and cannot provide proper food or a proper diet for their children? Many MPs have pointed out the need for study facilities. I have also pointed that out and I was therefore aghast when the National Library banned students from studying in the Library - a most unwarranted step. We simply evade problems when they become too great for us to face up to. If the ratio of library facilities to student population is too low, well, raise the ratio. Then, Sir, children who come from the middle class or upper middle class homes have got the benefit of tutors. We are therefore going to see an accentuation of income or wealth disparities under the new system, because there will be pressure to provide more tutors for the children so that they will go to the first two streams and not the last. What about the poor? They will be left behind.”
“These groups may be minorities in terms of voting power but they too have rights. Their principles are principles. Truth is truth. In the case of these medical students, there can be no question that the principle of bonding is correct. But how they go about doing it is important, and the "how" tells us whether we have got the refinements that Confucius told us we ought to have, or we simply rub people's heads into the dirt. University lecturers too have their grouses. It is not uncommon for university lecturers to be hauled up by a petty administrator at the university, sometimes even a former student who has assumed the position of Assistant Registrar, to be told what to do and what not to do, or which agency to turn to buy a particular plane ticket even if it should cost twice as much as some other agency, and so forth. Sir, I could tell this House endless tales of this sort - where people feel that they are not treated properly and that they are not given their due. Sir, if Singapore were to survive as a state respected by others, we need to produce people who can stand up for their rights. So to those people whose rights are trampled upon but who have the guts to stand up and point out what is wrong, I say, more power to them. Now, let me turn to page 35 of the Goh Report. I am sorry. It is a very confusing system. It is Chapter 3, page 5. The last paragraph (5.1) talks about the "Pupils' Home Background", and I quote: 'Good schools have higher percentages of pupils from better home background, in terms of pupils' fathers' occupation and educational level than the other schools. In both the Chinese and English streams, the differences in the percentages between the good schools and the poor schools are significant.' Note, Sir, "better home background".”
“Are you happy with your principals and officials of the Ministry of Education? I would be rather hesitant to be frank and honest in conveying my true feelings and views. It would have been better if a questionnaire had been sent out to all school teachers and principals anonymously. I would think that the result would be drastically different. On this question of proper treatment of people, since we are making much use of Confucianist ethics, I would like to quote the English translation of The Analects of Confucius by Arthur Waley: [page 88, paragraph 3] 'The Master said, Govern the people by regulations, keep order among them by chastisements, and they will flee from you, and lose all self-respect. Govern them by moral force, keep order among them by ritual and they will keep their self-respect and come to you of their own accord.' Interesting, is it not, Sir? An hon. Member: Very wise. Dr Augustine Tan: We subscribe to Confucianist ideals but why do not the people who govern, the people who hand down orders, listen to what the Master has to say? If people are treated with proper respect and given their proper due, their creativity will be released. They can flower in their professions. We have the recent example of women doctors being berated in this House for watching the clock. We might advise them to buy watches instead. But they came out with a reply to the Minister for Health. They stood up to him like a man! Sir, the medical students were chastised by the Member for Anson and reminded of their debt to the ground. It is a valid point. We can turn around and chastise and scold many other people, professionals, intellectuals, academics, teachers, and any small group that does not have the voting power; we can do that. But let us remember one point.”
“Are you happy with your pay? An hon. Member: No.”
“Sir, this is something which we want to pay particular attention to and many Members of Parliament have complained that the question of teachers' morale has been dismissed too easily in the Report. If I were a teacher and I got this bright young systems engineer coming to me asking all sorts of questions: are you fed up? An hon. Member: Yes.”
“For all the good intentions and all the good objectives it is the implementation which is going to be crucial. Here the Prime Minister put his finger on the problem correctly. If I may quote him: [page vi, paragraph 30] 'However, the more fundamental principle of good education is recognition by the Ministry that the basic teaching organisational unit is the school.' Here again, one would have thought that this was a rather obvious point but it took the Prime Minister to bring it to the attention of the Ministry of Education. The problem is that there has been too much concern with the exercise of power by civil servants in Singapore. Just look at the principals and teachers having to hurry to some obscure counter at the Ministry of Education to receive a circular or the most recent order on what to do and what not to do, or the latest changes to be implemented. Little account was taken of their views and reactions. Little account was taken of their morale and, more fundamentally, no account was taken of the values and attitudes of the teachers themselves. Even the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Labour, a man whom I respect for his linguistic and other abilities, in pointing out the problem of teachers' morale and the need to do something about it, referred to them as "digits". Perhaps his encounters with the Prime Minister have resulted in some of the terminologies rubbing off on him.”
“I find the wastage shocking, not merely in terms of literacy as pointed out but, as on the first chapter, page 3, that there seems to be a correlation between illiteracy and drug abuse, delinquency, attempted suicide, and court martials. In other words, there are disciplinary problems of various kinds. We have got to stop and think not merely in terms of why or how this illiteracy has come about but, more fundamentally, why the products of our schools are so prone to such delinquency. There is one point which the Report did not cover. Perhaps the sheer size of the task did not provide enough time but which we ought to look at over time, that is, what about those 39% who eventually attain three GCE 'O' level passes and the 40% who fail to attain three GCE 'O' level passes. What kind of students are we producing here? What are their values and attitudes? One Member brought up an important point, namely, that we seem to be hearing and reading reports about very highly educated people, professionals, who are criminals. These are the ones who surface and get caught, but how many countless others have gotten away? Sir, it will be interesting to find out what the graduates' values and attitudes are. The Motion standing in the name of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education is one which, I think, most of us can support. It is harmlessly stated and has some utility in terms of highlighting that each person should be given the chance to proceed at his or her own pace, which should have been obvious many years ago. It is quite strange that we have only now paid attention to this problem. I think one can improve the Motion in various ways as some of the Members have done, but what is more fundamental is the process of implementation.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, over the last few days we have listened to many speeches in this House on the subject of education; some eloquent, some wise and some humorous. But if there is any one factor which emerges from the presentation of the speeches, it is this. On the subject of education, as on no other, everybody considers himself an expert. The objectives which have been outlined by hon. Members have been many and varied, recommendations profuse. If I may just draw attention to three points brought up by three Ministers for illustration. One Senior Minister thought that having two languages, like English and Chinese, involves a cancelling out process. However, he seems to have been affected by the New Mathematics which he has been studying together with his daughter. One minus one does not equal one, but equals zero. He said that because one language cancels out the other, therefore you get a monolingual product. Another Minister wants the standard of the second language to be higher than that provided for by the Goh Report. Yet another wants more time to play marbles. We have got to be realistic. We can be wide-ranging in our objectives but we have to look at the resources available to us. We cannot turn the Education Ministry nor the teachers into supermen and superwomen. We cannot achieve everything that we desire even if these objectives are all valued and worthy ones. There is a time constraint. There is a nerve constraint on the part of those who are being subjected to the process. Perhaps the value of the Goh Report is in pointing out the tremendous wastage of our system.”
“If the National Library were to insist that we should prevent students from using our facilities for private study purposes, I would say to the National Library to take its books out and we will run the place ourselves because, to me, what is fundamentally important is that students should be provided with study facilities and the reference books, both of which are necessary. To say simply that the number of rooms is woefully inadequate in relation to the size of the student population is to admit that we have to build more branch libraries.”
“Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Culture quoted figures to try and justify the policy of the National Library in preventing the students from using the Library to do their homework and private study rather than as a reference facility. First of all, how would the National Library be able to distinguish between legitimate users of libraries, either students or the general public using the library properly as a reference facility, and students and others who use the library for private study? I think it is an unenforceable kind of distinction. I can see the point that if students are allowed to squat between the stacks then the legitimate users of the libraries will not have proper access to the books. But the use of tables and chairs, I think, should not be denied to the students. What we all, and the Parliamentary Secretary in particular, ought to realise is that there is demand for study facilities because many people live in one-room and two-room Housing Board flats in which students do not have proper study facilities, I am glad he noted that there is now a greater provision of such study rooms in many constituencies. In Whampoa we have tried to provide a library, air-conditioned, fairly big in size and initially I was rather happy when the National Library offered its cooperation in extending to us its branch facility. But now I am rather doubtful whether it is a blessing or not.”
“Sir, I just wish to clarify a point. There are plenty of young people who find difficulty in climbing the stairs of a six-storey flat. They pant more than the old people. Would the Hon. Minister consider such requests in the event that people do have difficulty in climbing a six-storey flat at least twice a day?”
“We keep on complaining that Singaporeans do not like to do blue-collar work or heavy jobs but if the pay is so miserable that they cannot even sustain themselves and their families, who would want to do such work?”
“The Housing Board has been overly kind in one respect in allowing tenants to owe rentals up to two years. In the end, this is more cruel to the people concerned, because I have encountered many cases where the arrears amount to thousands of dollars, and especially when the case has gone to court, judgment costs and so on are added. I have requested the Area Office to inform me as soon as people are in arrears of rentals of three to four months, because it is easier to tackle the financial problem at that stage rather than later. So I would appeal to the Housing Board to refrain from taking legal action to recover such arrears until the Member of Parliament has been contacted to see what help he can render. On the question of transfer of flats within the same area, I would agree with my colleague, the Member for Toa Payoh, that if our interest is to promote neighbourliness and community spirit, then every effort should be made to relocate people who desire to do so to remain in the same locality. Many a time the answer has come back from the Housing Board in response to such appeal that the flats concerned have been reserved for resettlement cases. Why cannot they resettle people in a newer estate? If the Housing Board were not building any more flats, then I take the point of the Minister that by allowing old residents to relocate in the same locality they will be depriving other people from getting into the area; but such is not the case. The Minister then mentioned the difficulty that Housing Board has in hiring cleaners on a daily-rated basis. He has not offered us any explanation why this is the case. Obviously, to me, the major reason must be that the wages paid are too iow.”
“Sir, I did not get a satisfactory reply to the problem of lifts at Jalan Bahagia. One problem was that the Housing Board took nearly a month to repair the lifts, and even after the repairs were carried out the lifts were still out of order. He did promise to instal an additional lift in some of those buildings there which are 10 storeys high. So I requested him to expedite the matter, but he kept quiet on the question. I have four blocks of emergency flats which were converted. The conversion was done in the early 70's. These are six-storey flats. Two years ago when I asked the Senior Minister of State, who was then in charge, for lifts to be installed in these buildings he declined probably because, being a younger man, he could climb up six storeys without too much difficulty. But my challenge to the new Minister is that if he can climb those six storey flats without panting, then I would not request for lifts to be installed in those buildings. He might bear the same point in mind should he do further conversion in other flats which are similarly affected. On the question of conversion of one-room flats, I do agree with the Housing Board's policy of a slow phasing process mainly in the interest of the tenants themselves because these flats, for all their deficiencies, do offer cheap rentals to the people living there. However, what the Housing Board could do to speed up the process is to refrain from filling up those flats which are vacated by people transferring out from those flats. So they should not dump resettlement cases back into those areas so that eventually where sufficient vacancies arise the remaining residents could be regrouped into one or two blocks so that the conversion process could take place expeditiously.”
“If this is properly phased out, I would agree with the idea but at the same time perhaps the architects should take a look at the entire layout of the old housing estates. It is not only the one-room flats which have got congestion problem but the sheer layout of the old estates themselves gives an impression of tremendous congestion, namely, even the three-room flats or two-room flats are built too closely together. In other words, there are too many blocks in the estate. Would the Housing Board look into this problem to see whether or not some thinning-out could be done to take out even some of the blocks of two-room and three-room flats so as to provide greater areas of open space for breathing and for recreational facilities? I was happy when the Minister began talking about swimming complexes but was rather disappointed when he did not mention St. Michael's Estate. If the Hon. Minister is hard-put to look for a piece of land suited for the purpose, I can direct his attention straightaway to a stretch of empty land along Whampoa Road, right beside our new Whampoa Community Centre. There is ample land suitable for a vast swimming complex together with other suitable recreational facilities, such as tennis courts and so on, Sir, I hope the Hon. Minister will pay special attention to Whampoa.”
“Sir, Whampoa constituency has one of those old housing estates mentioned by the Hon. Minister, namely, St. Michael's Estate. Therefore, I can sympathise with the Member for Henderson who waxed very eloquently on the list of problems of such old housing estates. I welcome the plans which the HDB has drawn up to modify and improve these old housing estates. I think what is important for us to consider is not only the amount of money which is going to be spent but the time profile within which this money is going to be spent. If HDB is going to take five years or 10 years I think that is too long a time. We would like to have a greater sense of urgency injected into the programme. We were promised a year ago that these improvements would be undertaken but to-date we see very few signs of such improvements. Regarding the matter of lifts in the old housing estates which the Hon. Minister mentioned, we have very serious problems in the St. Michael's Estate, particularly in Jalan Bahagia where there are three-room flats which are ten-storeys high. Recently the lifts have been breaking down one after another and the Housing Board has undertaken some major repairs. But unfortunately the repairs took a very long time indeed, in some cases three or four weeks, and old people have to climb up the 10-storey building. I hope, therefore, that when these repairs are undertaken and if the lift mechanism is really so bad, the Housing Board would completely demolish the old lifts and instal some new and better lifts. He also mentioned that he is going to introduce second lifts into such buildings. Here again, I would urge him to do it as quickly as possible and not wait for five years. He mentioned that the Housing Board is planning to eliminate the one-room flats.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the use of the term "Pan-Island Expressway" seems to be a misnomer in our context because the volume of traffic is so large that the traffic is not really able to move at the speeds that are possible, say, on the freeways of America. If this is the case, I think not building the U-turns along such designated expressways or allowing pedestrian crossings, would really cause greater amounts of energy to be used, more petrol to be burned up. This is especially the case with traffic along the stretch of Jalan Toa Payoh, where a motorist if he has made a mistake has to drive right down to Serangoon Road in order to turn back into Jalan Toa Payoh. 5.30 p.m. I think some rethinking ought to be done about this concept of the Pan-island Expressway. If the volume of traffic is so heavy, then make allowance for mistakes by motorists by allowing proper U-turns, and give some allowance to the pedestrians by giving them proper pedestrian crossings.”
“Sir, I notice quite frequently that PWD road graders are on the major roads, for example, Bukit Timah Road, especially the stretch of road between the 7th and 10th mile. These road graders are on the road during the peak hours of the morning and that stretch of road has got only two lanes. These vehicles are causing undue obstruction to the flow of traffic. Would he make sure that such road graders refrain from using major roads during the peak hours?”
“My understanding is that his Trade Department officials ride herd on INTRACO so that before INTRACO can change their prices of rice somebody from the Ministry has to give a particular directive on what to do and what not to do.”
“Sir, I did not intend to suggest introduction of price control in Singapore. I agree with him that price controls are self-defeating in the end. The point I was making was that the example of the soft drink bottlers and the coffee shop owners' association was one of price fixing. So the argument is not to control prices by Government but to have legislation against collusion, getting together and agreeing on a common price increase, either on the part of bottlers or retailers or whatever. This is a kind of exercise of monopoly power. In the advanced countries they have very good legislation against this. Let me give another example in connection with this soft drink industry. When the Whampoa community centre wrote to several bottlers some months ago to request for a drink vending machine, Fraser & Neave complied with our request, but Yeo Hiap Seng refused to supply us with a drink vending machine. The reason given to us unofficially (that is, over the telephone) was that they were afraid of the coffee shop owners' association, because the coffee shops around the community centre were putting pressure on the bottlers not to supply the vending machine to the Whampoa community centre. Sir, we cannot allow such practices to go unanswered and I would think that it is the duty of the Government to do something about it, not to control prices but to control those who attempt to control prices. On the matter of pricing of rice, I am very surprised, in fact, I was astounded that the Minister proclaimed ignorance or innocence in the matter of pricing of rice by INTRACO.”
“Sir, I rise to give my support to the points raised by the Member for Boon Teck. What is important for us to remember is that here is a case of very blatant price fixing by, first, the bottlers and, second, by the coffee shop owners' association. I think we ought to have a law, if we do not already have one, against such price fixing. There is no reason why, in a situation of free competition, different bottlers should raise prices by exactly the same amount. There is no reason why coffee shops which are dispersed all over Singapore and with different cost setup should increase the price of bottled drinks by exactly the same amount. The Hon. Minister also mentioned the price of rice within the control or purview of his Ministry. Could he also explain to this House why INTRACO is selling rice, for equivalent grades of rice, at prices higher than the private wholesalers and distributors are able to sell?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I just inject a comment into the debate on the question of cooperation between the Police and community leaders? But before the Hon. Minister gets too concerned, I am here to offer a compliment. For several years now, the divisional headquarters of the Police in Toa Payoh have been sending a representative to the monthly meeting of the Whampoa Citizens' Consultative Committee and we have found this to be a very useful means of cooperation between community leaders and the Police. The community leaders are invited to bring up complaints and cases before the Police and this has led to a number of cases/action taken by the Police in respect of drug enforcement and other crime prevention, gambling and traffic offences. In fact, Sir, because of this rapport built up and the cooperation shown, the Police have shown great understanding and tact in terms of the work which they are undertaking. For example, in clearing Whampoa Drive of illegally parked vehicles, the Police first of all announced to the CCC meeting that they were going to take this measure and then they proceeded to issue warning notices before finally issuing the necessary summons. I think this has been a great step towards better cooperation.”
“Sir, I would like to make a comment here. If these people in the above $4,000 per month income limit were allowed to use the CPF to purchase private houses, then I agree with the Minister that this would raise property prices in Singapore and, therefore, benefit developers and some speculators. But then the argument applies symmetrically to the purchase of SBS shares because the owners of the shares, no matter who they are, will benefit from the increase in demand for SBS shares. So profiteering still goes on and unintended benefits are passed on to other people as well. As to the possibility of loss of private savings because of demand and supply fluctuations - private savings in the form of CPF invested in private housing - adequate safeguards can be built into the system by allowing, say, no more than 50% of the cost of such houses to be underwritten by CPF money.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. My suggestion was to freeze the current level of contribution by people above the $4,000 income limit, not to raise it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I refer to the Minister's reply on the use of CPF savings for the purchase of privately built houses. The crux of his argument was that this would give a lot of benefit to the property developers, and speculators would try to cash in on the situation. Sir, he must try to understand the grievances of the category of people who are affected, people above the $4,000 per month income limit. They are faced with a property market which requires them to save a rather substantial sum of money before they can even make a booking for a terrace house, let alone a semidetached or detached house. The Minister also stated that the purpose of the CPF is to provide for old age. Sir, for people in this category, I think there is over provision by the CPF for their old age. In fact, I think they would be better off in their old age than they are now. Thirty-three per cent of their salary, of course, with a limit a year is very substantial, together with the accumulated interest over time. I think the Finance Ministry has taken a little step towards alleviating some of these grievances by raising the tax exemption in respect of CPF contributions from $4,000 to $5,000 next year. But still, perhaps the Minister could consider, in any future upward revision of the CPF and of the limit for CPF contributions, exempting those people who are not eligible for HDB or HUDC housing from any further increase in the CPF.”
“Here, I would hope that the proposed Trade Development Council would really get off the ground and explore these possibilities. Sir, there is another point at the back of the mind of the Member for Serangoon Gardens when he looked at the economic potential for ASEAN, that is, people tend to look at the EEC as the example to follow. ASEAN may have land area and population equivalent to or exceeding that of the EEC's totals in these categories. But what really counts, in economic terms, in size of market, is how much purchasing power, how much per capita income that ASEAN has. And if ASEAN does not really have that potential, let us scale down our expectations, because no amount of exhortations, no amount of meetings and goodwill and so on, is going to turn ASEAN into another EEC. It is like telling five small thin men to take on Muhammad Ali. By coming together, their muscle power, their punching power, will never equal one punch from Muhammad Ali.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do agree with the Member for Serangoon Gardens that there is probably additional scope for economic cooperation within the ASEAN countries if the various member countries are prepared to be more flexible in their attitude towards cooperation. For example, one of the ways could be a trade off over time that certain countries get better projects in the immediate future but at some later stage in the future, more desirable projects are given to the other member countries who lose out initially. But, at the same time, I should like to warn the Member that ASEAN, no matter what the amount or degree of cooperation that we can get in economic terms, will never be a substitute for our links with the rest of the world in terms of trade, access to technology, capital and so on. We might have to look to other avenues. One of the possibilities is a link-up with countries in a similar stage of development as Singapore. I am thinking of the middle level developing countries. If you look at the trade of nations, Sir, you will find that the largest is not trade between developed and developing countries but trade between countries at similar stages of development. Particularly among the advanced countries themselves, they trade a lot in similar products. For example, let us take motor vehicles. Japan and Europe export motor vehicles to America and they import American cars as well. It is the same for television sets, appliances, motors and a wide range of products. Therefore, why do we not look at the possibility of a link- up with other middle level developing countries to share maybe technology and increase trade? To my mind, a lot of trade does not occur between nations just because of a lack of information and sufficient contacts.”
“Sir, I do not quite understand the point which the Senior Minister of State made about day-care centres, and saying that he hoped I would cooperate. Is he implying that he wants my services? I have never objected to day-care centres. 4.45 p.m.”
“This is the grant for PUB bills and other charges, and I believe it is only a paltry sum of $600 per quarter. In view of the greatly increased expenditure that we have to incur in running a new community centre, would the Hon. Minister get the People's Association to substantially increase the grant and with retroactive effect?”
“Sir, despite the problems that MPs have in fund-raising to provide the new type of community centres, we all applaud the provision that the People's Association has given us so that in the new community centres we have substantially improved facilities like indoor badminton courts, library facilities, study rooms and so on. But the hours of opening for community centres are from 2.30 p.m. to 10 or 10.30 p.m. I am just wondering whether the People's Association should not open these community centres from 8.00 a.m. or 8.30 a.m. instead because there are many school children, attending afternoon schools, who would like to make use of these community centres. The Whampoa Community Centre made representation to the People's Association on this point, but we were turned down. We were told that there was no manpower provision in the current budget. We counter-proposed that we ourselves would hire just one extra clerk who could come in to open the facilities in the morning; and we would pay him on our own. Yet this was turned down by the People's Association on the ground that this has never been done before by the People's Association. Would the Hon. Minister look into this problem to see whether or not he could make the manpower provision and, if not, whether he would be more flexible in allowing us to make our own manpower provision so that these new facilities could be more optimally utilised by the residents? The second point which I wish to make is that since July last year we have moved from the old community centre at Jalan Tenteram to the Whampoa Community Centre. But up till now, we have been receiving the same old maintenance grant from the People's Association.”
“Sir, since the Senior Minister of State is also in charge of the People's Association, I am just wondering whether I would ask him to allow the staff of the community centres to also service the CCCs and the RCs, because there seems to be some reluctance on the part of some of these organising secretaries to do so.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, may I say that I welcome the attempt to get greater participation by residents living in the Housing Board estates so as to promote the various worthy social objectives outlined by the hon. Senior Minister of State. However, I just have a little reservation about a possible overlapping of functions between the Residents' Committees and the Citizens' Consultative Committee. Would not membership in the Residents' Committee be considered second class as opposed to the other, namely, the Citizens' Consultative Committee which is an older and more established committee and which is based on the constituency as a whole? Residents' Committees with fewer members may thus not be considered first class and must be considered second class. 4.00 p.m. The other point I wish to raise, Sir, is that I welcome the secretarial support being given to the proposed Residents' Committees. I think it is very timely and necessary. But would the Hon. Minister also make similar provision for the Citizens' Consultative Committees which have long had to do without any secretarial support whatsoever? Sir, if we examine the scope of activities of the Citizens' Consultative Committees, we find that they are engaged in very wide-ranging activities, from social welfare projects, educational projects, to consumer clubs, and so on. There are plenty of minutes to be typed and tabled, plenty of errands to run. And all these are done on an entirely voluntary basis. Is it not about time that we gave recognition to these committees and provide them with decent secretarial support?”
“Sir, would the Hon. Minister agree with me that it is not so much a question of ability to converse in simple English but recognition of street names, hotels and important places of interest. If such is the case, would he consider lowering the standard of English required for these taxi drivers?”
“Would the Minister consider giving exemption from this Proficiency test in certain cases, bearing in mind that not all taxi drivers serve tourists?”
“Sir, would the Hon. Minister explain why an English proficiency test is mandatory for taxi drivers?”
“Sir, would the Hon. Minister also consider the plea of a detainee with good conduct for an early release to study further in Singapore?”
“The National Wages Council has emphasised moderation and the need to match wage increases with productivity increases. This is imperative for us if we are to survive and prosper, as we face an increasingly hostile world economic environment. Members are aware of the increasing protectionism in the industrial countries, not only for manufactured goods but also for services. And the new Member for Anson has reminded us with new examples of protectionism in the shipping industry. We welcome all multilateral efforts to reduce trade barriers, but we should not be too hopeful of the outcome. Domestic unemployment and inflation in industrial countries are making them inward-looking. Every one of the 98 countries involved in the GATT-sponsored Tokyo round of talks at Geneva has a long list of industries and projects that it wants exempted from the impact of the proposed tariff cuts. The lesson for us is clear. Hard work, discipline, hard- headed policies and thrift are vital for our survival in the years ahead. Sir, I am glad that the Singapore public has been alerted to the energy crisis, at long last. After the initial scare of the oil embargo in 1973 and the subsequent dramatic increases in the price of petroleum, we seem to have become profligate again about using energy. The Iranian situation is a harbinger of things to come. Unless there is a dramatic breakthrough on the energy front within five years, the world economy is headed for turbulent times. We would be well-advised to adopt strict conservation measures and to accelerate the diversification of our energy base from its almost total dependence upon oil. Sir, I give my support to the financial policies of the Government as expressed in the Budget. 6.08 p.m.”
“One is the loss of some degree of freedom to set our own interest rates which are at variance with those of other financial centres. The other is the increased need for vigilance to avoid financial tidal waves from swamping or denuding us. Here, I would urge that special attention be paid to the Asian Dollar Market to ensure that it is not overly extended and that the integrity of the domestic banking system will not be compromised in any way. We have rejoiced over the phenomenal growth of the Asian Dollar Market from year to year, but we should be mindful that financial crises worse than those experienced during the last recession can be expected in the future. Our exchange rate policy has been, by and large, correct. The problem is usually to adjust to external changes, for example, the decline of the US dollar, the devaluation of the Indonesian rupiah, and so on. We should be aware that the exchange rates are crucially affected by domestic fiscal monetary and wage policies. Profligacy in fiscal matters, over-expansion in money supply, and unduly large wage increases lead inevitably to devaluation. Hence, countries which pursue such policies are forced to devalue. We need not follow such devaluations, because we have a conservative fiscal policy, and our monetary and wage policies are moderate. If we choose deliberately to under-value our currency, our foreign exchange reserves would accumulate unduly fast, causing an over-expansion of money supply. This would in turn cause inflation, leading to a devaluation. It is then back to square one. The temporary export advantage is eroded subsequently by inflation and devaluation. Wage factor is another important factor in our economy.”
“In particular, purchase of goods and services rose by 16%, the bulk of which, according to the Economic Survey, was "for current operational requirements such as stationery and office supplies, public utilities and maintenance of lands and buildings." I would seriously urge our civil servants to be more restrained in such expenditure in the future. In the private sector, business image and sales promotion require glossy prints and pamphlets and expensive stationery. Government departments have no real need for such frills. What the public wants is prompt and courteous service, not glossy reports extolling the achievements of the various departments. Another point which Members may wish to note is that the total expenditure of the seven largest statutory boards amounted to $3 billion or 76% of Government's expenditure of $4 billion. Yet Parliament does not scrutinise the details of the statutory boards' expenditure. The budget which is being presented to us in Parliament constitutes only 57% of the expenditure by the entire public sector. It is about time that Parliament made up for the serious neglect. To return to my discussion of the factors that have made possible our steady growth with minimum inflation, three other national policies deserve attention. One is monetary policy. Sir, we have followed a moderate course in expanding money supply to meet the liquidity requirement of growth without triggering inflation. This is a delicate task in view of the openness and smallness of our economy. It is a fine tribute to the health of our economy and the confidence we have generated that we were able, last June, to remove all exchange controls. By doing so, we have added to our attractiveness as a haven for investment. However, the price we pay is two-fold.”
“Members may also note from the Economic Survey that South Korea enjoyed a 12 1/2% GNP growth last year but she suffered an inflation rate of 16.4%. Our consumer prices rose by only 4.8%. In other words, higher economic growth could have been achieved only at the expense of price stability. It may seem like rationalisation but, in my view, it is undesirable to attempt double-digit growth rates not only because of the inevitable inflation but also because unduly high growth produces severe distortions in the economy. We faced such a situation in the early 70's when cost of land and construction mushroomed so rapidly that the property market became severely distorted. It became impossible for many people who did not qualify for HDB flats to own their own homes. Hence Government had to build executive flats and start HUDC. Furthermore we may note that it is not really possible to gain experience or imbibe new skills too rapidly. 6.00 p.m. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] However, Sir, given the unfavourable world economic situation, we need not worry about the undesirable consequences of too rapid a growth. We do need to remind ourselves nevertheless that steady growth is achievable only by a necessary combination of factors. Government fiscal policy must be prudent. Out of a total estimated expenditure for the financial year 1979, 43% is for development. This is a healthy percentage. Moreover, unlike many other countries, our development projects are carefully screened to ensure that they are able to pay for themselves in the future with the exception of the social-infrastructure type of investment. A point of criticism is nevertheless warranted here. Last year Government current expenditure rose by 22%.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in his first Budget statement, the Senior Minister of State for Finance said that, "All in all, 1978 was a satisfactory year for us." This understatement of our economic performance sets the tone for the cautious and balanced presentation of the Budget. In my view, Sir, we have done rather well indeed. The GNP growth rate of 8.6% was the highest for the region and was more than twice the growth of the OECD countries. This performance was all the more satisfying because our rate of inflation was among the lowest for the world. It would be well for us to consider the policies that made this economic performance possible. By conscious choice we have built a well-diversified economy. This diversification has provided us with the necessary resilience so that, in the last world economic recession, we managed to have positive growth rates while most other countries went under with negative GNP growth. Members will recall that in 1974 our GNP growth rate was 6.3% while in 1975 it was 3.9%. The diversified nature of our economy has enabled us to enjoy satisfactory overall growth rates even when specific sectors falter. In 1977, for example, the manufacturing sector was over-shadowed by the performance of transportation, communication and trade. Last year, transportation and communication was again the leading sector, although manufacturing had recovered somewhat to be a close second. Of course, diversification has its cost. Economies which are less diversified or are more specialised like Hong Kong enjoyed higher growth rates last year. However, such countries suffered more than ours during the 1974-75 recession. As we face an increasingly uncertain and difficult world economy, our diversified economy has more to commend it. Sir, hon.”