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.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,269 lines we hold for Augustine H.H. Tan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 21 of 26.
“Mr Tan Cheng San (Paya Lebar)( In Mandarin): Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether the Government has the intention to strengthen the knowledge of the students on tripartism, that is, the fostering of relations and cooperation between management, labour and Government, in other words, to include the subject of trade unionism and tripartism as part and parcel of the curriculum in the Secondary school or Pre-university level.”
“Sir, the Senior Minister of State made the point that school teachers are giving every encouragement to pupils to ask questions so that they would have a discerning mind and do not receive ideas very passively and indiscriminately. Sir, I am also a teacher at the tertiary level. I teach in the University of Singapore and the students that I get are the end-products of our school system. I am very disappointed to report to this House that after nearly 10 years of teaching I find that there has been very little improvement in this regard. The students who attend lectures, tutorials and seminars are very passive and they have to be prodded to ask questions. This is something of fundamental importance to Singapore's survival because we face external circumstances and challenges that have to be met not by Singaporeans who are easily indoctrinated and very passive-minded but Singaporeans who have a discerning and inquiring mind and are able to choose and discriminate between the good and the bad. So I hope that instead of dismissing the point with a one-statement sentence, the Senior Minister of State would give very serious and long thought to this problem and devise ways and means of getting the right message across to our teachers. Perhaps the teachers have become too docile, being recipients of umpteen regulations. I think many Backbenchers have continually impressed upon this House on the number of regulations that teachers have to face. Maybe there is something there that the teachers themselves are somehow brow-beaten into a submissive frame of mind that they are no longer capable of thinking for themselves, let alone stimulate the thinking in their pupils.”
“Sir, obviously there is room for much improvement.”
“Sir, what about educational programmes on TV and radio and in the schools to teach people that they must give way to ambulances and fire engines in the interest perhaps of their beloved ones in times of crisis and in terms of citizens in general?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to recall a matter which I raised previously under the Ministry of Health, in regard to traffic regulations pertaining to drivers of motor vehicles who fail to give way to ambulances and fire engines. Would the Minister ensure that better enforcement in this regard is effected? Furthermore, he would perhaps like to consider giving authority to the staff of ambulances and fire engines to issue summonses against drivers who fail to give way. 3.00 p.m.”
“Sir, a supplementary question. Since the daching particularly can be used for cheating purposes, is the Ministry considering banning the daching?”
“Sir, the instruments may be correct but the people who read them are dishonest. Has the Minister got any such cases?”
“Sir, having faulty instruments is one thing but having correct instruments but dishonest reading -”
“Regarding the spirit of self-reliance and dynamism, we can all see that the present people engaged in various kinds of businesses, including hawking, are not imbued with the spirit to work hard and they lack the drive of the older generation. This is what everyone can see. Let me give another example. Why do we give double pay for work on Sundays? This is to make it easier to get people to work on Sundays. In the past it was easy to get a lot of people to work. But now, on Sundays or holidays, even with double pay or triple day, it is difficult to get the workers. When we ask these people why they do not want to work on Sundays or holidays in spite of the double pay offered, the answer is very simple. It comes as a great surprise, "If others do not have to work, why should I work? Am I a second class person?" That is the answer one gets today. This is the present trend. This is what I mean when I say that there is a lack of dynamism and a lack of a pioneering spirit that was obtained in the past. In the past, so long as there was some benefit to be gained, whether it was a holiday or not, people worked all the same.”
“In the private sector, not to mention new shopping centres, the rental for stalls in coffee shops and eating house premises is charged at $400 or $500, or even up to $800 per month, for a small portion of about one-quarter or even less than one-quarter of the space in a coffee shop in a HDB housing estate. Yet they are still able to carry on their business very well. In HDB estates the fees or charges are merely a fraction of these and yet businessmen find it difficult to maintain their businesses. It is all due, as I have said, to a lack of the spirit to strive to do better for one's livelihood. How is it that hawkers in the private sector can make money whereas those mentioned by him cannot make a living or carry on with their business? It is a matter of the spirit to survive. If one has no dynamism in him, and if there is nothing for him to overcome or there is no challenge, then he will stagnate and his actions impaired. If there is no pressure on him, there will be no corresponding reaction. It is only natural. There is another point in my answer on which he is mistaken. He has said that I am against hawkers looking up their MPs for help. Indeed, it is just the contrary. But some MPs complained that we are passing the buck and make the MPs do the job of our Ministry. I tend to think that the people concerned can deal with their own problems relating to minor matters. It is not necessary for them every time to look up their Members of Parliament. If MPs, like the Member for Whampoa, are keen to help their constituents, of course, we welcome them to do so.”
“Furthermore, they are restricted by regulations. If they so much as put one box a few centimetres away from where they are supposed to put it, they are immediately served with a summons. And whom do they see? The hapless MP again. What is there to talk of the lack of dynamism? We would like to see a little more dynamic policy on the part of the Hawkers Department. Mr Chor Yeok Eng( In Mandarin): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Member for Whampoa has raised a few queries. First, he says that he has not got a calculator to calculate the rental for the few additional square metres, but he then calculated the figures manually. However, the present charges are calculated by computers. Bills are computerized and are sent out after calculations by the computer. It is not practical to adopt his method because of the varying sizes and different factors which would lead to mistakes and complications. Regarding a change of stalls, he has complained that this will increase their financial difficulties. But in the reality of our present society, I believe that whenever a person wants to make a living he will have to face certain difficulties. If he is unable to face them, it means that he would not be able to face the changed situation, society or environment. Therefore, if he is not willing to face the challenge of a new situation, to settle in a new environment, and instead he wants to stay put in his old place, then we will of course not object to his remaining in his present state. In passing, I would like to quote some comparative figures to show that our rentals and charges together with the arrangements are not giving the hawkers or the stallholders any difficulty at all. Perhaps some of them may face a certain amount of difficulty. Let me give an example.”
“It so happens that they cannot be transferred within the same market because there are no stalls which are less than 10 square metres. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary should appreciate that there are difficulties in a transfer. First of all, the hawker has to move away from an environment which he has been used to, the clientele that he has built up would be lost, and there is also the proximity to home. Furthermore, the expenses of moving. And not least of all will be additional stamp duty which will be imposed for the change of a licence. He also made a very curious remark about the hawkers being less dynamic than before. I fail to see what he means. Is he referring to hawkers roaming lustily in the streets? Obviously they cannot roam any more because he has confined them and therefore they are not dynamic. That is agreed. If he means that they should be able to change their location, forget it, because they are again similarly confined. If they happen to be in a poorly located hawker centre or market, that's it for them so far as their business is concerned. If he means that they can improve their business by building more car parks in proximity to the hawker centres, they are not in a position to do so. The land does not belong to them. They therefore have to have recourse to the Member of Parliament, the hapless MP that is. These hawkers are resourceful people. They are politically alive and they seek the MP because there is no other recourse.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I respond to a few points raised by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary? He made the point that there are some poor people who, even if given licences, may not have the capital to set up business as hawkers. I hope he will not use this as an excuse to deny the poor people hawker licences. In any case, he need have no fear about such would-be hawkers who come from Whampoa, because we do have a welfare fund. We can make loans to such hawkers. I know that several of my colleagues also have established similar funds. Then he made the point in reference to the stallholders occupying cubicles on the first floor of St. Michael's Estate market. I complained that those occupying more than 10 square metres, or specifically from 11.1 to 14.8 square metres, were made to pay double the rent, and in view of the great increase in the rental, they were made to pay an exorbitant amount. There was a jump from $20 to $150 a month. On this, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has made a curious point that he finds it administratively difficult to calculate on the basis of so many square metres. I do not have a calculator with me here. But I did a little bit of calculation while he was speaking. For 11 square metres it works out to $82.50 instead of $150 per month; for 15 square metres it works out to $102 instead of $150 per month. This can be worked out by any clerk, indicate it on the licence, and every month all that the poor hawker has to do is to pay the fee indicated on the licence. Where is the administrative difficulty? I think he is evading the issue. Then he suggested that perhaps those who are in this unfortunate position could transfer to smaller stalls in the same market or in other markets.”
“A further point I wish to make refers to the classification of markets and cooked food centres as either Class A or Class B. Members are aware that Class A markets attract higher rentals than Class B. Would the Minister concerned tell us, first of all, what is the basis of classification and, secondly, how many markets and cooked food centres are in each category; and thirdly, why should the market and hawker centres in Whampoa constituency suffer the classification of Class A?”
“Another category of hawkers who suffered greatly are the piece-and-sundry vendors who had their rents raised from $20 per month to $50 per month, a 150% increase. I had a case recently of a widow who is selling textiles at Raymon Market. She came to me in tears saying that she was barely able to make ends meet. Perhaps the Minister concerned should visit such markets so that he can appreciate the smallness of the stall with its consequently extremely limited area for display of such items as textile goods. Moreover, there is plenty of competition in the market in question for such goods and elsewhere so that not only is the turnover small but margins of profit are also very thin. A third category of hawkers who have been badly affected are those who occupy the small cubicles on the first floor of St. Michael's Estate market. I understand there are markets elsewhere which have the same problem. These hawkers occupy areas ranging from 11.1 square metres to 14.8 square metres. Since the standard fee is for stalls up to 10 square metres, they end up paying double the rental. For example, for piece-and-sundry hawkers in the upper floor of St. Michael's Estate market, the increase was from $20 per month to $150 per month, a fantastic increase. For preserved and dried goods, the increase was from $60 per month to $135 per month. This is patently unfair. Why can the Hawkers Department not pro-rate the charges, i.e. if the rate is for 10 square metres, then every square metre in excess of 10 square metres should be charged at a rate which is the rental divided by 10 square metres times the increased number of square metres. In any case, the increase in the basic rental rate is already exorbitant enough.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to add to the comments of the Member for Kim Seng in respect of the conditions under which hawker licences may be issued. The concept of a family income has often imposed severe hardship on the applicants or the families concerned. If the income is earned by two or three different members of a family, and the total family income is $400, they may be factory workers. To begin with, their take-home pay is small. Furthermore, there is the presumption that these children are filial and that they will provide the family with enough sustenance. But, Sir, I have come across people, especially old people, who came to me in tears and say, "Look, on paper, I have a very high family income. But in actual fact I have so little because my children are not filial." I think the Hawkers Department should give special consideration to these people and not reject their applications outright. 4.15 p.m. The other point I have to raise concerns the recent huge increases in rentals for hawker licence fees affecting hawkers in Whampoa and other constituencies. There are three categories of hawkers who appear to me to have been unfairly treated. One category refers to cooked food hawkers in Whampoa who had their rents increased from $25 per month to $60 per month, an increase of 140%. Unfortunately, many people seem to think that all cooked food hawkers are prosperous like those at Orchard Road car park. This is certainly not the case. I have seen many instances of such hawkers in Whampoa struggling hard to make a living, and now the increased rental has caused them further hardship.”
“Sir, a point of clarification. I think the Member for Anson has misunderstood me. If it is a matter of long distances that have to be travelled, then I would support his view that a more appropriate means of transportation should be found. He would be very surprised to learn that at Stanford University in Palo Alto where I was studying in California, people ride bicycles a lot. Professors go about on bicycles every day and as a result the people there are very healthy. I would recommend that to the Member.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I just make a comment on the age of bicycles. A bicycle should not be thought of in the same way as a motor car. When I was studying in America, I was just surprised to see large numbers of bicycles which were indeed, perhaps 20 or 30 years old still in serviceable condition. It is a sad commentary on people in developing countries that bicycles and machinery are not kept in very good condition and consequently they do not last as long as they should. Provided there is proper and regular oiling and cleaning of the bicycles, I think they should last virtually forever. 3.15 p.m.”
“A few months ago I had the occasion to visit the Van Kleef Aquarium. I am sad to report to this House that I found it in a sad state of neglect. In particular, many of the fish, listed and described on the display tanks, were missing. They must have either died of natural causes or landed in somebody's frying pan. I hope the Minister will look into the situation.”
“Sir, on the matter of lifts, there are a few points that I wish to make. First, the criterion for replacing a lift should not simply be the occurrence of a major breakdown but the frequency of breakdowns. Secondly, what I had in mind was the quality of the lift and not so much as the size of the lift. In other words, an expensive brand of lift may well be worth more than paying less for a cheap make which breaks down very frequently. That was the point which I was trying to make. Obviously the Senior Minister of State does not know what a block of emergency flats looks like because he has mentioned a lift in such a block of flats. I am not award of any lift in any block of emergency flats.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to assure the Senior Minister of State that the breakdowns in lifts in the old estates are quite frequent indeed. They are not exceptional as he has tried to make out. I think it is time to replace many of these lifts. If they are replaced, I hope that the HDB will make sure that they buy good lifts. If we were to go to some of the commercial buildings and see the lifts in operation, we find that they work very smoothly and with certainty. Some of the lifts that we find in the HDB estates start up very slowly and break down every so often. I also welcome the Minister's assurance that he is favourably disposed to beautification and the provision of additional recreational facilities in the older housing estates. I hope that when the time comes for actual recommendation, he will back up his words with actual budgetary provisions in the not too distant future.”
“I can give a general reply to the queries raised by the Members for Kim Seng, Whampoa and Tiong Bahru. Let me assure them that the HDB will do its best to provide facilities of the type that they have requested, i.e. open space and more greenery to make old estates in particular look more green and a gracious place to live in. 4.00 p.m. An hon. Member: Swimming pool.”
“I have only given him a general reply in terms of services available. As regards the refuse chutes in HDB flats, they are not breakable because they are normally made of concrete. If the residents throw metal objects down the chute, they will certainly get a noise which they are complaining about. To avoid the noise nuisance arising from the throwing of metal objects down the chute, I suggest educating the flat dwellers. The HDB cannot do very much about this, unless the Member is suggesting that future chutes in HDB flats be made of plastic or some other special material, but the cost is a factor to be considered. With regard to his request for sports facilities in the Marsiling area, the normal type of recreational and sports facilities, such as basketball courts and badminton courts, will be provided. Some of these facilities have already been built. With regard to the provision of security to market areas and so on, this is one problem which has to be looked into. The Member may be aware of the latest situation in HUDC estates. While the HUDC management wanted to introduce some form of security control in terms of carparking and car lots, this idea brought about certain unhappiness among the residents and as a result the scheme was withdrawn. By the way, the conservancy charges of the HDB do not include security maintenance of the estates, markets and places like that. It is strictly for common areas like lighting of common corridors. In fact, it is restrictive. So if cost is not a factor, perhaps the HDB can look into the provision of some form of security control in those areas mentioned by the Member such as markets or shops or whatever he has in mind. Let me now come to the Member for Kim Seng.”
“Rather than having a bigger zone covering, for example, Teck Whye, Bukit Timah and Clementi, the boundary of the zone is being narrowed down. Hopefully, with the concentration of smaller areas, the choice therefore would be limited to the area that the applicant wants. When I say "area" it means a zone covering a few estates. Another recent policy that discourages this unreasonableness in insisting on a particular area is the choice of three ballots. In other words, if an applicant is seriously in need of housing, then having been given three choices, it should be sufficient for him to decide on a particular unit that he wants. Next, the Member for Sembawang. Let me straightaway on behalf of the Housing and Development Board thank him for his compliments. I think the HDB does deserve it. His complaints on the defects, such as leaks in toilets and kitchens are normally rectified by the building contractors, if they are within what is called the "12-month retention period". During this period it is usual for the HDB to direct the contractors to attend to the repairs immediately. However, after the retention period, flat owners are responsible for making good these defects. But they can engage HDB contractors, which are cheaper than private contractors. The HDB will only be responsible for the normal wear and tear of defects in rented flats, and they will try and rectify them as soon as possible. The HDB has a maintenance unit which provides services for breakdown of lifts, sanitation and electricity. With these facilities it is hoped that repairs of this nature could be attended to as quickly as possible. If the Member is talking of specifics, that there are certain flats which are not well done, I suggest that he brings them to our attention.”
“In the boundary of the city area, for example, Bukit Merah and Telok Blangah, I think the Member is well aware that as far as land availability is concerned, it is restricted. Therefore, the desire to build more is limited by land constraints. In the past there has been the tendency for people to drift away from the central area, simply because suitable accommodation is not available. In fact, in the development of public housing in the central area there are the problems of high land cost, clearance and in some cases the amenities required. Over the last few years intensive public housing has been introduced into the central area, such as Rochore, Queen Street, Upper Cross Street and Tanjong Pagar. Under the planning programme a few other small estates are also under consideration. The Ministry is at present considering the various ways of introducing housing into the central area. It could be public housing, middle-income housing or even private housing. Hopefully, with the availability of more housing in the central area, the population could be attracted back into the city area. With regard to his suggestion on a new system of registering new applicants, the difficulties have been encountered with a minority of applicants. They are extremely choosy and refuse to budge from an area of their choice. Although they have been told that there are no more flats coming up in that particular area, they still insist on going to see their Member of Parliament for allocation. It is precisely for this reason that we have this new system of registering applicants has been re-aligned and extended from five zones under the old system to eight zones under the new system.”
“This is for the physical development drawn by the State and City Planning Project. The Plan caters for an eventual population of 4 million people. It is based on this concept that housing for the population should be provided close to their place of work. Therefore, the two particular housing estates that he has mentioned have been built near industrial development areas, such as Jurong, Kranji and Sembawang. This concept plan also includes an integrated transportation network linking housing estates to industrial estates as well as towards urban development areas. Therefore, in the overall planning of new towns or new estates, the long term interest is taken into consideration. In other words, the overall planning of Singapore is taken into consideration, and not simply to build a housing estate because there is, in the short term consideration, a particular demand for a certain area. I mentioned just now that, in the implementation of this concept plan, the HDB recognises that its building programme must be closely related to the demand for flats. In fact, the long term projection for Woodlands is that it will be developed into one of the larger estates simply because there is the land available. However, based on the present rate of building, flats are built at such a pace so that there is a reasonable demand, I can give him figures. For example, he has indicated that there is an oversupply in Clementi. According to our information, the supply and demand for Clementi New Town is 15,000 units. The programme of construction up to September 1979 is only 10,000 units. So the indications show that there are a number of people who have registered for that particular area.”
“But at the same time the residents of the older and established estates should not be neglected. They are just given little peanuts by way of little flower beds here and there and the flower beds are also not properly maintained. Proper planning should be given to these older estates to see how things can be improved and what additional facilities can be introduced. The Member for Kim Seng and, I think, the Member for Tiong Bahru also, have made reference to one-room emergency flats. Here I would like to see improvements in ventilation and living conditions generally. I would not like to see conversions from one-room to two-room flats. I made my views known at the last session for the simple reason that there are still people who need the cheaper rentals namely, $26 a month, that these flats can provide them with. We know very well that whenever HDB converts one-room flats into two-room flats they double or more than double the rents. There are quite a few old people who are quite destitute, on social welfare assistance and they are living in these one-room emergency flats. I hope the Housing Board will provide the improvements but will leave these flats for rental at the same price as hitherto. Dr Tan Eng Liang: Sir, let me start off with the query raised by the Member for Changi. He wonders whether in the overall planning of Housing Board estates various factors have been taken into consideration such as the demand for a particular area as well as a newer system of allocation in the different zones, both inside and outside the central area. It may be useful to assure the Member that the development of Housing Board estates, such as the ones he has mentioned, Woodlands and Clementi among others, is based on what we call a long term concept plan.”
“Sir, I would like to add a few comments to those of my colleagues. particularly the Member for Kim Seng. Sir, St. Michael's Estate is a very old housing estate, one of the oldest in Singapore. Recently, I concluded a six- month campaign in that estate to try and improve the environment, in cooperation with the Housing Board officials. In the course of my rounds, we came across so many complaints. Virtually every flat dweller made complaints about his old flat; window panes were broken; the wood of the doors had rotted: ceilings were leaking; sewerage pipes were also leaking; water pressure was low; and the wiring was rather old and in need of changing. The Housing Board has begun to do something about the wiring and water pipe pressure. But in the process of rewiring, the contractors, had to change those power points which were originally provided. And the power points which were installed by the tenants themselves had to be changed as well. In this respect the contractors were exacting a very heavy price for the replacement of these points, and if the tenants chose not to accept their conditions, well, they would leave the wires dangling in a very dangerous manner. When the corridor lighting was changed, the number of lights per corridor was reduced and the illumination of these lights was also reduced, I would like to know from the Hon. Senior Minister of State why should they save on corridor lighting because such saving will only encourage more crime along the corridors. 3.45 p.m. The point made by the Member for Kim Seng, namely, that tremendous resources are being used by the Housing Board in the planning and provision of facilities on new estates, is quite right, in my view.”
“Sir, I have the highest consideration for the efficiency of the PWD. I am just wondering whether the Senior Minister of State himself has gone round to make sure that roads which are in need of repairs are being repaired. The PWD could simply be constrained by the budget.”
“Sir, the Senior Minister of State stated that since the sums expended on road repairs have been more or less the same for the last two to three years, he therefore thinks that the roads are equally well maintained. With inflation from year to year one would expect that the same number of repairs would cost more from year to year. Can we have an assurance from him that the roads which are in need of repair are not simply left unrepaired, as implied by the same level of expenditure from year to year?”
“Point of clarification, Sir. The Minister does not understand the sarcasm. The colours were laid down so specifically that the actual greens, yellows and blues which were utilised were said to be contrary to those prescribed by the Housing Board architects. I was trying to say that they were being petty and unreasonable.”
“Then would it not be all right? There is another more important point in the matter of construction. The building structure may be affected and collapse after a few years, according to some people, if structural adjustments are not made. I do not know how far this is true. I hope the Minister will look into the matter Another matter I would like to raise is rather important to me. Just now the Minister said that the HDB allows homes for the aged to be set up in the HDB estates and this is already one of helping them. But I say that this is a kind of investment by the Government, because if the old folks' centre is not set up in the HDB estate, then the Government would have to set it up elsewhere, whether in the rural area or in the town. After all, one of the Government Departments will have to subsidise the centre. After the investment is made in the centre, then of course the Government cannot expect members of the public to donate funds to pay back the Government in the form of paying the high rentals of the premises in the HDB estates. Members of the public have donated money to look after more aged people, including some Ministers who are getting old, and now the Government is asking them to donate their hard-earned money to pay the rentals. 7.30 p.m.”
“Sir, the Hon. Minister referred to the matter of awnings in HDB flats. He said that from past experience they were found to be badly maintained and an eyesore and, therefore, the HDB now has a policy not to let anybody install awnings. I say that the HDB could always lay down the size, the shape, and even the colour of these awnings. They have done so in the case of some terrace houses which were formerly owned by the HDB in St. Michael's Estate, and I believe in other estates as well, which were subsequently sold. I had occasion to intervene some years ago on the matter of installation of awnings because the HDB architect was so insistent upon even a particular hue of colour; I never knew until that time that there were so many shades of green and so many shades of orange, yellow and so forth. In any case, the awnings were allowed to be installed in the terrace houses. Over the last few years, residents in my area who are living in the flats above the shop-houses at St. Michael's Market concourse made a similar request to be allowed to install awnings at the back of their flats. But these requests have been turned down. There seems therefore to be a double standard. Would the Minister please explain? Mr Lai Tha Chai( In Mandarin): Sir, I completely support the views of the Member for Whampoa. We should give further consideration to the point. I would like to touch on the point brought up by the Minister. If he thinks that it is very ugly or unsightly to have different shapes and types of awnings, then we can standardise them and allow only the same type of awnings to be put up; then it should look better. Maybe the householders can be asked to make a little adjustment this way or that way so that the awnings can be uniform or standardised.”
“It is a theory because he has a policy which makes it a theory.”
“Sir, I think the reason why the shopkeepers who are paying lower rentals have not lowered their prices is that there are lots of shopkeepers who are paying very much higher rentals. In other words, it is a question of proportion. How many shop-keepers in Singapore are paying low rentals in general and how many are paying high rentals in general? If the competition is such that it is profitable for those paying lower rentals to charge prices which are charged by those paying higher rentals, then they will do so. But if the policy is such that rentals are low in general, the competition will bring down prices in general. I do not think the Minister can generalise from the limited example.”
“Yes, Sir, it is on a point of clarification.”
“Sir, I think there is a question of competition here.”
“Sir, I think we are being inundated with details about Lorong 8. I am not aware that all bin centres and all lamp posts suffer the same fate as those in Lorong 8.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to clarify my point about the nurse not paying proper attention to the patient. My point was that the first thing she ought to do was to look at the patient and make sure that the patient was comfortable before asking all those details. I recognise that the details were necessary so that she could better acquaint the doctor when the ambulance arrived at the hospital. But since the Hon. Minister disclaims responsibility for the ambulance, I will let the matter rest here and hope that the Minister for Social Affairs is listening very carefully.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, with your indulgence, may I offer a compliment and register a complaint? Both stem from a very recent personal experience involving a close relative who had a heart attack. The compliment, Sir, goes to the staff of the Emergency Ward of Tan Tock Seng Hospital for the very excellent services which they performed and to Ward 30, the Intensive Care Unit, of that same Hospital. The complaint is in respect of the ambulance. It arrived promptly enough. There were two male orderlies and a female nurse. The two male orderlies were not sufficiently strong to lift the patient although the patient weighs only 140 pounds. So I was enlisted to help with the stretcher. Then after putting the patient into the ambulance, the nurse started pumping a lot of questions at me. "Has the patient ever been to a hospital? Which hospital has she been to? What sort of disease has she been suffering before?" The first thing she ought to have done was to look after the patient to see whether the patient was dead or alive. [Interruption] I was not the object of her interest. She was a very surly looking woman of no appeal whatsoever. [Laughter] I was very annoyed at the questions and I had to tell her who I was before she got down to her business. A further point was that along the way to the hospital, there were lots of cars and motorcycles in the fast lane, the right-most lane of the road. Despite the siren of the ambulance, they refused to give way. Perhaps the Hon. Minister could look into this matter with a view to empowering the staff of ambulance to book drivers of vehicles who do not give way. I am quite serious about this because the difference in terms of minutes could mean life or death to the patient.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Hon. Minister is a very eminent economist. I am sure he can find ways and means of doing it cheaply.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the Hon. Minister should also bear in mind the national pride involved. We are a nation. If other people can make intrusions into our waters with. impunity and Singaporeans, be they lowly and humble fishermen, do not get the due protection of the navy, then I think it is not doing a proper job.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the Hon. Minister should make a distinction between capital cost and variable cost. He has mentioned the capital expenditure of $40 million or $50 million to purchase two gunboats. Once you have purchased the gunboats, presumably on grounds of national security, the boats are there. It is therefore only the extra cost of patrolling that has to be incurred. If that is only $71,000 a day, and there is a sufficient number of trawlers in the region being patrolled, it might well be worthwhile.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Whampoa Constituency is doing very well with the Whampoa Consumers' Club. Thank you. SUPPLY AND SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPLY BILLS (Business Motion) 2.50 p.m. Resolved, That, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, the second and third readings of the Supply Bill for the financial year 1st April, 1978 to 31st March, 1979 and Supplementary Supply Bill for the financial year 1st April, 1977 to 31st March, 1978 may be proceeded with immediately on the conclusion of the proceedings on the Budget for the financial year 1st April, 1978 to 31st March, 1979. - [Mr Hon Sui Sen]. MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1978 TO 31ST MARCH, 1979 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [1st Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair]”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, is the Ministry of Finance looking for alternative sources of supply of rice? Moreover, what has happened to the education programme to get people to eat other types of rice, say, from the United States and, at one time, West Pakistani rice?”
“The loss of revenue from income taxes has to be made up by other taxes unless we are prepared to dispense with some Government services. Taxes on expenditure can provide the shortfall in revenue. Moreover they discourage wasteful consumption and encourage saving. Last year, private consumption expenditure rose to $9.9 billion or 8.7% in real terms. Transportation, particularly new cars, and communication expenditure increased by 17.5% while residents' expenditure abroad rose by 26.4%. The Finance Minister is therefore understandably concerned. But he should not forget that expenditure taxes add to the cost of living, especially when they bear upon necessities, and that the cost of buying and maintaining a car has already risen by a fair amount. Government has been very prudent in its fiscal management but I am sure there are always economies that can be made to save taxpayers additional burden. I would urge the Finance Minister to increase productivity of civil servants. All of us, however, need to realize that we are now in an era of much slower growth - thrift in general is necessary. Thrift will also enable us as tax-payers to avoid paying the expenditure taxes that the Finance Minister may feel the urge to impose from time to time. Sir, subject to these few qualifications, I give my support to the Motion standing in the name of the Minister for Finance.”
“It may be more effective to exempt entirely repatriated profits or income which are put to investment purposes. The proposal to provide a 20% concessionary tax rate for overseas-oriented sales and service companies is a good one except that the scale of operations required seems unduly high if the intention is to promote local entrepreneurship. It might be more effective to offer a graduated scale of concessions with a low enough minimum scale of operations so as to attract new entrants. The emphasis on trade development may well be critical for us. If OECD economies remain sluggish and turn increasingly protectionist, we shall need new markets. West Asia and China are two likely growth areas. Greater efforts should therefore be made to tap these markets and to orientate our production accordingly. The personal income tax concessions have been widely welcomed. The intention of providing greater incentive for individual effort and enterprise is a sound one because our economy depends upon such effort and enterprise. However, the Minister could have spread his present more evenly, to provide more relief to the middle and lower income ranges. The upper income groups would not have lost in the process by the spreading because their tax benefits are cumulative. The concession on the tax on PUB bills is most welcome because it has been a burden to the lower income group. The shift from income tax to taxes on expenditure is a sound move. Burdensome income taxes in more advanced countries have stifled initiative to the detriment of growth and job creation. We need to give encouragement to our entrepreneurs who, through their skill and enterprise, can create the industries that provide the jobs and rising standards of living.”
“We should bend every effort to resist the re-classification. At the same time, we should realistically prepare for the day when GSP and other concessions are removed. Even under the GSP, products are easily re-classified as sensitive items, subject to onerous quotas. The Finance Minister's call to shift our production to goods and services which are less sensitive to protectionism should be implemented expeditiously. The incentives he has announced to encourage the diversification process are steps in the right direction. The investment credit scheme should give a boost to capital formation. Hon. Members may note that our Gross Domestic Fixed Capital Formation or investment, in short, rose by only 1.3% in real terms last year. Machinery and equipment investment was less than the previous year's by 2%. Indeed, the private sector's investment in this category declined by 6.2%. There is every need therefore to stimulate investment in Singapore. We now have a wide variety of measures to encourage new investments, including the accelerated depreciation allowances for industrial buildings and concessions on earnings from export and offshore financial activities. We have not been given any idea of the cost of these measures nor any evaluation of the effectiveness of past measures. Perhaps the Finance Minister can enlighten us on this. Furthermore, concessionary measures require control and monitoring. It may be simpler and more effective to simply lower company taxes generally so as to provide greater stimulus all around to investment activity. The lowering of the maximum marginal tax rate on profits which are repatriated back to Singapore to 40% may not be sufficient incentive to encourage repatriation when unremitted income is not taxed at all.”
“He was referring to the consequences of the shift in the balance of economic power from Britain to the U.S. in the years immediately preceding the Great Depression. Today we are witnessing a shift in a balance of power from the United States towards Western Europe and Japan. Unfortunately, we in Singapore can only watch with apprehension, developments in the industrial countries and do our best to avoid being swamped. We can expect more protectionism in the developed countries. Euphemisms like orderly marketing arrangements, organised free trade, orderly growth of trade cannot hide the ugly reality of protectionism. Honourable Members are undoubtedly aware of increasing restrictions on our exports like electronic calculators, plywood, black and white T.V. sets and textiles. And when the French hit a spell of dry weather, their umbrella industry suffered. An investigation found that umbrella imports were mainly from Singapore. The consequence was a quota on our GSP exports. Even our orchid exports to the EEC have been the object of lobbying by tulip growers in the Netherlands and Italy. The tragedy of protectionism is that it is a negative sum game for everybody. Cheap imports from developing countries like Singapore have lowered costs of living significantly for workers in industrial countries. There has been net job creation in these countries as a result of trade. Yet imports are now chief targets by trade unions in the advanced countries as a result of rising unemployment. We are also in danger of re-classification of our status as a developing country, as the Finance Minister and other hon. Members have mentioned. This is patently unfair. We are being penalized, as it were, for the successful efforts we have made to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality.”
“At a later stage, higher US inflation will be re, exported. In the meantime, the volume of world trade will suffer as imports into America are reduced while United States exports will not enjoy compensating expansion because her exports comprise high technology, military and agricultural goods which are not so responsive to changes in price competitiveness. We are at one of those critical junctures in world economic history when failure to identify common interests among nations leads to adoption of myopic and nationalistic measures which can only hun every nation in the world. The balance of world economic power in the non-Communist world has shifted significantly since the Second World War. Although the United States is still predominant, its share of market-economy GNP has shrunk from almost half to one-third. The EEC has increased its share of G NP from 19% to 27% while Japan's share has increased from 3% to 10%. The pattern of shares in world trade has also changed significantly. This shift in the balance of economic power lies behind the U.S. exhortation to Western Europe and Japan to assume their proper share of responsibility for the orderly development of world trade and finance. Abdication of such responsibility and failure to achieve the required degree of coordination can have disastrous consequences. One recent historical parallel is a chilling reminder, as one noted observer puts it: "part of the reason for the length, and most of the expansion for the depth of the world depression [of the thirties], was the inability of the British to continue their role of underwriter of the system and the reluctance of the U.S. to take it on until 1936." (Charles Kindleberger, The World in Depression 1929-1939).”