Carrie Tan
Singapore
“I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. I would just like to check if there is any internal standard operating procedure and timeline for turnaround for the HDB engineers who are tasked to provide technical advice to TCs?”
“To do this, I recommend that the job-redesign funding for micro-enterprises running mom and pop shops be increased to 95% with a higher cap, provide rent subsidies and a dedicated facilitator team to help shop owners in this particular effort.”
“It is time to redefine our success metrics – from grades and rankings to personal fulfilment and well-being. It is time to reshape the narrative around family – from cost and sacrifice to joy and aspiration, to build a Singapore where both dreams and families can flourish. I support the Budget.”
“Just Question No 14, okay. I would like to find out whether there can be a systematic programme, given that there are already 712 minimarts that are currently operating under the HDB leases island-wide.”
“I thank the Senior Minister of State Zaqy for his answers. I would like to enquire whether in the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) design of the workplace, skilling and training programmes, were micro businesses, such as the minimarts and their associations, consulted and involved in understanding what are the kinds of skills that their wor…”
“Similar to the Land Acquisition Act which enabled the Government to acquire land for the construction of public infrastructure, the Government may want to consider a similar legal mechanism for strata units to be acquired, or supported, where necessary, so that parts of a fully air-conditioned building can be opened up to achieve natural…”
The complete record
Every one of 269 lines we hold for Carrie Tan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 6.
“Thank you, Speaker. I would like to seek clarification from the Minister of State pertaining to this matter. I appreciate that MAS performs a regulatory check and balance on the FIs, but it does not sound to me like the individuals who fall prey to such marketing techniques have any form of recourse or compensation. So, my question is: should MAS find any particular FI in breach of a certain threshold of aggressive or inappropriate marketing, will there be retroactive forms of compensations required of them to be made to the consumer?”
“Yes. Some families withstand this better than others. So my question is, how can we make political representation more sustainable and family-friendly in Singapore? And two, sharing a little bit of personal context, I personally would not have decided to enter politics in 2020 if I had not by then found a partner that I planned to settle down with. So, for any political candidate who is still single and have not yet found a life partner upon entering politics, the fact of life is, it is really hard to date or to find potential partners. So, is it possible that we can allow politicians some space for their personal lives away from public scrutiny, just for the sake of ensuring that there will always be willing and capable candidates, albeit single, willing to serve as politicians without being in reality, doomed to singlehood pretty much, until they are past their prime? The third point is, the Internet is rife with a lot of false information and opportunistic narratives, and the way algorithms on social media platforms push info onto our feeds also perpetuate personal bias and social polarisation. As much as there are many young people who are quite discerning about this, there are a vast majority who are rather passive consumers of certain narratives and information. So, what can we do to better protect our young citizens from being confounded by social media consumption that has the power to cause disillusionment or apathy towards the system? Again, this is a point that I would like us to consider and seek leadership guidance on the prevention of cynicism and apathy from setting into Singapore society towards our political system.”
“Okay, alright. Mr Speaker, I think younger people, when they received the news of what happened, specifically the extramarital affairs, in their idealism, they may struggle to reconcile their expectations towards their political leaders with them as human beings, who have lives, who have complicated feelings, relationships and personal lives. And the reality of an MP's life is that we often disappoint our spouses or children who may be waiting at home on the weekends, or at night when we get held back at work, at events, at contingencies in the constituency. And some couples and families —”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. I would like to address, on a different tone, some matters of the heart, pertaining to the issues that the Prime Minister has addressed today. I have three clarifications, two of them pertain to the practicality and sustainability of ensuring that there can always be good talent in our politics and the last question pertains to the threats to the trust and the social compact between our citizens and the Government. As I need to give some context to these questions, may I beg your indulgence for a little time?”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response to help us understand that there were, indeed, some workings within how this business was operating that could have been quite exploitative of the people they purport to care for and care workers. Despite that, is MOM open to looking at new regulatory frameworks and provisions for different kinds of employment models such that the gap that the residents and citizens currently face in elderly care options can be plugged in a way that ensures that business costs, cost to consumers and all that are made accessible and viable?”
“So, my clarification is – was there any conversation or discussion around this topic during the public consultations? And will MND be looking into the research around this to look at the role of aesthetics in uplifting people's spirits towards breaking out of their difficult circumstances?”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to thank the hon Member for bringing up this question. I would like to find out from Minister whether, in the public consultations that happened before the design of this pilot, there were any conversations or discussions around the role of aesthetics in uplifting people and their spirits, and how that could actually contribute to a person's ability to transcend their circumstances for more effective social mobility. I ask this because we do see in our rental blocks in every constituency that there is very little sense of ownership amongst the residents and pervasive littering acts, and just higher rates of dirtiness and all that happens in every single Town Council, I believe. We know from observing human behaviour that it is easier to upkeep a place that is nice and beautiful than to transform, at your own effort, a place that is dirty into a clean place. My point here is, are we looking into the mechanics of what it means to enable people to live a good life so that they are more enabled in their spirit towards overcoming the circumstances that they are facing in their lives? I am responding to the controversy around, in social media when the design of the —”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to add on with two supplementary questions. One is regarding the Home Caregiving Grant. We appreciate that there is an enhanced grant to help defray the costs and expenses of caregiving. However, it is not an income replacement or an income support to the caregivers themselves who are struggling with this issue of lack of income because they had to give up their jobs. Case in point – I recently have a resident who feels very adamant that he should not be taking his mother's money because the Home Caregiving Grant is technically given to the care recipient and there are those amongst our residents who do not feel like it is right for them to take their mother's money or their parents' money when that amount needs to go for paying for the expenses of caregiving. So, would MOH take serious consideration of "Carefare", which is the income supplement scheme that I proposed – three years running and every single Budget – that we need to look into supporting with some income for the full-time caregivers who have no choice but to become full-time caregivers to their aged parents? My second supplementary question is, given the recent emergence of innovative home-based care services like the one that appeared in the newspapers, the social enterprise called Red Crowns, although it did not appear in the newspapers for a very good reason, would MOH be actively looking into supporting alternative models of community-based care that can offer Singaporeans a wider variety of homecare options for their parents?”
“Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister of State for her answer. I am quite heartened to know that the Ministry is taking a rather capacity building-based approach and involving the Temasek Foundation to advance this course to ensure more outdoor learning for children. I can imagine that, given the challenges, some of that might come from resistance from parents, especially on the one about safety. I can also imagine that this puts additional pressure on the preschool educators who might feel uncomfortable or that they are at risk if parents come and give feedback or complain about the children getting hurt while playing outdoors. So, does the Ministry plan to form any kind of educational outreach or dialogues with parents to also educate parents on the benefits of outdoor curriculum so that they can be an equal partner and stakeholder in this effort? Secondly, the constraint around the outdoor spaces available for the preschools, will the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) be working with the Ministry of National Development (MND) to look into the way we are planning our neighbourhoods to ensure that more space is catered for outdoor spaces? And I would like to be more specific about this request because outdoor spaces can mean highly manicured and curated gardens with bonsai and flowers and all that versus a naturalistic, very natural environment where children can learn the principles of nature and the ecosystem at work.”
“Given that my concerns for amendments one and three have been adequately addressed in our workgroup's development of the Bill, I support the Bill.”
“It is fortunate that the workgroup, upon discussion with the members of the public, were able to come up with a "win-win" solution that I felt comfortable and satisfied with. I am also thankful for Chairman Mr Seah Kian Peng's empathy and openness even as he passionately leads the charge on this Bill, to allow for alternative approaches to the original proposal, so that we get to balance. The outcome and revised proposal – to empower the Commissioner on his own motion and not at the parent's behest to have the children attend conciliation at the Commissioner's Office so that care arrangements can be discussed and their children can be reminded of their legal obligations – is a great balanced approach. In considering that preserving a good relationship between parent and child is the utmost priority in the elderly parents' minds, we have to ensure that we do no harm. Hence, what we really need to ensure is in the implementation, that the communication to children being asked to come forward for conciliation, knows that the request is being made by the Commissioner and not by the parents. This helps to achieve the balance needed, for fairness to fellow Singaporeans and also respects the relationship priority of the elderly parent. The other two amendments which allow for the Tribunal to give non-monetary directions for cases and for the Tribunal to dismiss frivolous and vexatious applications are relatively straightforward to me. They are enhancements to the Act made with 12 years of experience in consultation with the relevant agencies since it was last reviewed. So, I am satisfied that they are appropriate enhancements made in the spirit of fairness to both parent and children as well as to ensure that public resources are not frivolously frittered away.”
“In my role as Member of Parliament whom residents come to for help, I have seen how despite the old Chinese adage of "养儿防老", which is having children to safeguard one's old age, what I saw in reality is that many elderly parents prefer not to impose this burden on their children, often when their children have the means to support them and especially so when their children do not have the means. Many elderly residents continue to plan on leaving their assets to their children, for example, in the low take-up rates for the Lease Buyback scheme for their HDB flats, so that they have something to leave behind for their children even when they pass on. Others will ask about financial support from the Government when they are experiencing financial hardship, preferring to apply for welfare support, rather than to ask for their children's support. In many cases, parents are caught in a "give and give" mindset. They hardly ever want to take from their children. These encounters showed me that in many cases, parental love does not ask for returns. Love often is indeed unconditional. And whilst the idealist in me delights in observing such unconditional love, the pragmatist in me, wearing the hat of a steward of public resources feels torn. Is this fair to other Singaporeans? It is not an easy thing for the Government to have to balance. Do we respect the elderly parents' wishes who do not want to approach their children, or do we go ahead and claim, in consideration of fairness in the allocation of resources? The original proposal for amendment three allows for the Commissioner to claim maintenance from financially able children on behalf of the neglected and destitute parents and it presents exactly this dilemma.”
“Through the many rounds of discussions we had with fellow workgroup members, the Commissioner, members of the Tribunal and the focus group consultations we had with the public, I began to discover that my personal idealism for "unconditional love" is indeed just an ideal and not very practical when we consider what it means for the larger society, especially if one is not in a comfortable financial position to afford such idealism, such as the old and frail ones staying in their destitute homes, unfortunately finding themselves relying on state subvention to upkeep their remaining days. I realised that this matter is not about whether the state is so stingy that it is unwilling to support the upkeep of those who are vulnerable and destitute, but a matter of "fairness" that needs to be addressed because a government is a steward of public resources that come from the people, to be used for the people. The question of "fairness" is a valid and legitimate one for many citizens who have a stake in how the finite resources of a country should be used. Often, I hear resentment from loving people, giving people, the volunteers at our many charity distribution activities, when they see elderly residents come and take a ration goodie bag or a goodie bag or a bag of rice. And then, they see the same elderly folk being driven around by their children in expensive cars around the neighbourhood. They wonder and sometimes they grumble out loud, "These elderly do not need. Why should we give them? Then, someone else who needs this more is deprived of it." And indeed, this question is asked not because charitable hearted people are being stingy or calculative, but because with finite resources, someone else's well-being could be the opportunity cost of over-generosity.”
“When we talk about it amongst our women friends, she speaks about having a child as an "investment". When we hear people around us talk about having children in those terms, we cannot help but wonder if even parental love is conditional. On top of that, there are various values that were taught to us as kids. The Chinese talks about filial piety; Malays have "ketaatan kepada ibu bapa" and our Indian friends probably have something equivalent. To a young person, "being filial" can feel like a set of obligations we must adhere to in order to be seen as a "good person". In this way, love can feel like a duty, smelling distastefully to some like "obligation". During one of the public consultations I attended, a young person expressed this: "The child did not ask to be born. Why do adults make these decisions and then impose these obligations on their kids?" I was a little shocked. It was a provocative statement, but also valid. It gives us food for thought. Perhaps, I am the idealistic sort, pursuing an ideal notion of love, for it to be unconditional and without obligation, to be given freely and reciprocated if the recipient feels so moved to reciprocate. It will be nice if my children want to contribute to my maintenance when they grow up and I grow old, but it is also all right if they do not. Is maintaining parents really something we want the Government to intervene on or to mandate? I am very grateful that Mr Seah Kian Peng invited me to be a part of this workgroup proposing these amendments, for it helped me to understand these issues more deeply and to gain perspectives beyond my own.”
“Next, is amendment three that empowers the Commissioner to initiate conciliation without consent from the parent. My initial reaction to this amendment when it was first raised in our workgroup was one of like "Really? Do we really want to allow the state to request maintenance from children without the consent of the parent? Is this something that we really want to step in on?" I am born in the 1980s. I belong to the millennial generation and I am probably one of many from my generation who hold the following attitude. Whilst many of us believe in filial piety and that it is a right thing to do to provide for and care for our parents when they are old, we do not place the same expectations on our children to do the same. The old Chinese saying "养儿防老" is commonly a phrase I used to hear from my mom and other adults around me as I was growing up. I remember feeling rather disturbed as a child and a teenager hearing this; and sometimes, it made me wonder if the value of "me" was just to be an insurance for my parents when they grow old. It did not help with building up a strong sense of self-worth and it made me doubt if my parents really do love me for who I am. "Love" at that time felt rather transactional. I am not ashamed to admit those were my thoughts as I was growing up. And I believe there could be youths and teenagers out there today who may wonder about this at times too. Do my parents love me only because I do well in school and make them look good and because they need someone to look after them when they are old? I have a friend, grown up, who recently got married and she is deliberating about whether to have a child. She has gone to have her eggs frozen but has not yet made a decision.”
“I am glad that amendment one, as proposed in its current version, still allows for respondents to present evidence to the Tribunal and have the case dismissed. While some may argue that for someone who has been abused before, to be approached to present evidence can itself be an experience that opens old wounds and be stressful and we should avoid that altogether, it is, unfortunately, something we cannot avoid. In this matter, I fall back on my own knowledge and experience as a transformation and healing coach, having worked with many adults to process and heal from their emotional and childhood wounds. I am assured myself, having witnessed and facilitated many on their healing journeys, to give the public the same assurance, that not all "reminders of past bad experiences" are harmful. In fact, for true healing to take place, one often needs to confront the negative experiences of the past in order to see it through a new and empowered set of lens for our hearts to heal. In psychologic terms, it is called reframing. Whilst I understand the preference of many to avoid dredging up "old skeletons in a closet", I also know that with good therapeutic support in place, it can catalyse an important and liberating healing process that has long been put off. In raising my concern during the Workgroup meetings and in talks with MSF on our proposed Bill, I understand from MSF colleagues that counselling and therapy services are, in fact, available and provided if needed, to support respondents who are asked to come forward to give their account and to share their stories to the Tribunal. I hope that the Ministry will continuously look into adequate resourcing to ensure this support is there.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, thank you for the chance to share my view on this Bill. As a member of the workgroup on this Bill, I would like to share my thought process and concerns regarding two amendments in the Bill and how it evolved along the way. Firstly, amendment one, the one that concerns what I call the "peeling open old wounds". I am heartened that a trauma-informed approach underpins this proposed amendment to prevent abandoned or abused children from being approached at all, if there are records of such treatment that the state is aware of. After all, if someone is still nursing or hurting from the hurts and the wounds of childhood ill-treatment by their parents of neglect or abandonment, the last thing he or she needs is to go through any process that suggests that they are being unfilial. It would unnecessarily induce damaging feelings of self-doubt, guilt or worsen feelings of resentment, when they may have spent years trying to heal or to move on. Hence, we have put up this amendment that seeks to protect these children from an unnecessary and harrowing process only to have the case dismissed in the end. In the initial stages of developing this amendment, I had one concern for the children who may not have reported the incidents of abuse or neglect and hence, do not have records within the state system. Given that many cases of domestic abuse or neglect still go unreported now despite increased awareness and education efforts in recent years, we must assume that, in the past, there are likely many cases of abuse or neglect that have gone unreported and recourse therefore must be provided for children who have suffered ill-treatment by their parents.”
“Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister for his reply. I also have a resident who is in the same predicament. I think the larger issue here is that if there is no viable means right now to take the culprit to task, what kind of message are we sending out to motorists that they can simply get away with something like this and not be responsible if they do not report it? So, my question is: if the victim has got the personal particulars or NRIC number of the person who is the culprit, can we submit that detail to LTA for their assistance to put some pressure on the person? Because, rightfully, LTA is in charge of the licence of the vehicle that this person is driving. So, is there some assistance that we can get from LTA regarding these matters?”
“Hence, I believe we should make virgin packaging more costly and less accessible to compel merchants to reuse packaging more since their consumers are already receptive to it. This means that we should find ways to possibly tax the manufacturing, import and/or procurement of plastic or single-use packaging products to increase the cost to merchants, such that it makes more economical sense to adopt greener packaging practices. Some people may resist this, as the concern is that, merchants will transfer the cost to consumers. However, I do not necessarily see that as a bad thing as it will provide a disincentive for excessive shopping and make consumers more deliberative and conscious about what they are buying and to differentiate between things that are nice to have but not really necessary and reduce wasteful consumption as a whole. If we were to implement these measures, the Government should work towards the necessary infrastructure enablement to ensure a coordinated system of localised facilities to collect and reuse packaging. It is important that we help merchants with changing their practices to make it as seamless and pain-free as we can. I look forward also to further details on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework that MSE announced in 2021. I support the Bill.”
“56 million tonnes of household waste generated in Singapore in 2018, approximately one-third was packaging. How does MSE plan to control the large amount of packaging used for online shopping deliveries? It is heartening to know that some companies in the private sector are already initiating efforts to reduce and reuse packaging. Can the Government accelerate these efforts by introducing a "sustainable packaging" mark? This mark would indicate to online customers that the packaging used by merchants is either second-hand, compostable or otherwise recycled and, therefore, eco-friendly. We can work with packaging companies and environmental groups to co-create the minimum sustainability standards that packaging materials should adhere to in order to earn this mark. We can also work with online retail aggregating platforms like Alibaba Express, Taobao, Lazada and Shopee to enrol online retail consumers to rate retailers on their packaging practices. Such a mark will create collaboration between consumers and online retailers to achieve greener online shopping together. By exercising their purchasing choices in favour of retailers who use second-hand packaging, it will incentivise merchants to adopt less wasteful packaging practices. In a study by Ipsos last year, 88% of Singaporeans said they were receptive to donating used packaging and 62% of Singaporeans said they were receptive to receiving their products in second-hand packaging – myself included. However, merchants are reluctant to adopt second-hand packaging due to the low cost and easy availability of packaging products – what we call "virgin packaging".”
“Mr Speaker, I commend the Ministry for Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) for tightening the regulations around carrier bags for brick-and-mortar retailers. Countries, such as Kenya, Rwanda and our neighbour, Thailand, have introduced stringent rules on the production and usage of plastic bags. Kenya, in particular, has implemented what has been called "the world's strictest plastic ban" and banned all single-use plastic bags throughout the country. Three years after they did so, some of their national parks began disallowing all single-use plastics on the premises. Although they did this primarily to tackle the littering problem, they have also successfully reduced plastic waste. I hope that the measures this House is debating are merely the start towards our equally ambitious measures. Reducing use of plastic bags in brick-and-mortar businesses is an excellent start and I hope MSE can go beyond by also looking into the online retail space. Since the pandemic, many more have been shopping online. In 2022, the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore (WWF Singapore) found in their study that a total of 200,000 e-commerce parcels from various platforms are delivered across Singapore each day and this number is projected to grow by approximately 50% by 2025. Merchants from e-commerce platforms are especially generous with their packaging, often using layers of bubble wrap and other materials. Sometimes, we find our items to be very small, but the boxes to be very big. Granted, retailers do so to ensure that products are delivered in good condition to their buyers and we can hardly fault them for that. But there is a massive amount of packaging involved in these shipments and deliveries. Out of the 1.”
“Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to continue this conversation with Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua. I have no doubt that the befrienders are currently supported by very technically sound and competent MSF officers. But I think it kind of misses the point, because volunteer management requires someone with a very wide variety of skillsets, including being a cheerleader, a peer support facilitator for the volunteers, strong in communications so that they can continuously share uplifting stories, help to boost their morale, listen to them, sometimes be an Aunt Agony, because befrienders themselves could be impacted by the stories that they see. I do not think that this is a role that can be underestimated. Hence, I think it is critically important, especially if we want to ramp up the number of volunteer befrienders, that we have people with the right background experience and expertise to actually do this well for ComLink to be able to be implemented well.”
“Thank you. I would like to direct my question to Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua. I wish to commend MSF for taking on this very bold experiment. I feel like ComLink is almost undertaking a massive endeavour that is similar to what SSAs might do. So, my question is, does the ComLink programme have headcounts within MSF that play a dedicated volunteer management role? Yes, that is my question. Depending on the answer, I might ask further.”
“I have three recommendations and that is for MSF to require an audit of salary practices each time an organisation renews its Institution of a Public Character (IPC) status. And also, in addition to the Research Capability Development Service, MSF can replicate the Volunteer Manager Funding Scheme to help SSAs have a headcount in impact evaluation. I do not have enough time, but I believe these recommendations will enable SSAs to be more self-reliant in the long run by helping them to build up their capabilities. So, to this end, I would like to ask if the Tote Board Social Service Sector Fund will be renewed to continue supporting SSAs in their efforts. And will MSF consider also enhancing this funding programme to cater additional budget for impact evaluation headcount? The corporate partnerships are also an important function because it requires a different skillset and experience from community volunteer management, which requires some corporate background as well. This will have a catalysing effect to enable SSAs to excavate the potential of the private sector to contribute not just financial donations but also employees' skills and expertise for knowledge transfer. And this will help to shore the "heartware" that Ms Janet Ang spoke about. In summary, there is still room to optimise our sector funding for capability enhancements for SSAs. In the long run, it must be the goal of MSF to have a vibrant and resourceful SSA community that is able to do more with less reliance on public funding. Supporting Charity Partners Better”
“Mr Chairman, SSAs form a vital part of our social support system, plugging system gaps and providing last-mile services to beneficiaries. So, how might we support them better? When I was running Daughters Of Tomorrow as its Executive Director, it was a fledgling charity, and it benefited from financial management workshops held by Credit Suisse and social media marketing mentorship by Facebook employees. It helped the organisation greatly in enhancing its fundraising and outreach capabilities. But not many SSAs have a dedicated employee to lead such engagements with private companies. Many would prefer to spend their operating budget on direct service personnel that executes services and programmes for beneficiaries. And the same goes for impact evaluation. Many SSAs dedicate their bandwidth to interventions and services, and do not have spare capacity to track and evaluate their programmes, which is crucial to show effectiveness and impact and to attract more funding to scale their solutions. When they do attempt to hire more staff, they find themselves unable to offer competitive salaries. Some boards of charities are worried about optics or hindered by personal beliefs of board members around the notion of altruism or sometimes for whatever reasons, prefer a large reserve. These create constraints on management teams that try to be more progressive in adjusting their compensation system and results in talent risk for the social services, which then perpetuates the longstanding phenomenon of burnout amongst sector workers. How can we empower our SSAs to professionalise and scale effective interventions better?”
“Such support will enable low-income children who would otherwise be unable to pursue such opportunities, which are increasingly becoming de rigueur in a holistic education in Singapore. Of course, disbursements will be conditional on their continued participation in these activities. CCTs have been successful deployed in many advanced and developing countries settings for the purposes of social protection, especially in terms of improving outcomes for school-going children. CCTs are also not alien in the local context. In this regard, the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund supports around 12,000 beneficiaries, providing cash in exchange for school assistance. Research suggests that the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund has achieved is educational goals. But such beneficiaries are likely to be a fraction of those of school-going age who are in need of financial help, the support is of a limited duration and the grant amounts are also relatively small. Mr Chairman, I believe that SSOs already apply some conditionality for ComCare payouts, requiring households that receive financial support ensure that their children attend school. A CCT explicitly for ComCare targeted towards supplementary educational expenditures will fill a gap in our educational support for low-income households while keeping children as well as their parents accountable. Preschool Affordability”
“During my Meet-the-People Sessions, I have occasionally encountered residents who had shared with me about their reluctance to pursue ComCare assistance because they find that the approval process is intrusive, onerous or demeaning. SSO officers often require a careful and complete accounting of a household's income and expenses, and offers strong indications of what they regard as reasonable or not. At some level, this is fair and expected. ComCare are public monies and the Government has to be responsible with the disbursement of such funds. But, on the other, it is important to allow the needy to retain their dignity, even as they seek financial assistance. There is one way that we can potentially soften the intrusiveness of this process. A significant share of assistance rendered is in the form of regular bills with public and semi-public agencies, such as rental, utilities and service and conservancy charges (S&CC). Could these be obtained directly from these entities rather than provided by the resident? I understand that this would mean potentially additional costs, at least at the outset, in terms of setting up informational exchange systems. But once established, the automation will reduce the need for additional verification or data entry. This is the added advantage that the system could be tuned to flag extraordinary increases or decreases, should these occur to better target assistance. There is yet another strategy that we can also deploy to reduce the need for documentary scrutiny. We can deploy conditional cash transfers, or CCTs, in exchange for supplementary educational expenditures, such as tuition or fees and equipment spending for co-curricular activities, or CCAs.”
“I would like to echo Ms Denise Phua's sentiment and add on. I am very happy to know ComLink will be scaled up. I understand though that there have been implementation challenges from a shortage of volunteers to help with needs assessments in some localities. And for this, I propose that MSF tap on graduated beneficiaries of various social service organisations to bolster the befriending efforts and offer a stipend for their time and contribution. Graduated beneficiaries can relate well to families in rental housing as they have experienced similar challenges before. They can be effective in building trust and rapport, which are critical for effective social support. At the same time, they can provide useful and honest feedback from the bridging perspective of both the user and intervener, to help address implementation gaps which sometimes officers from the public agencies may not be cognisant of. Receiving supplementary part-time income from this programme will also help their financial adequacy and social mobility. Paying it forward with their time and empathy to others also enhances their self-esteem and dignity. These can make them positive role models to give ComLink families the hope and encouragement they need to overcome their adversities. 5.30 pm Conditional Cash Transfers for Supplemental Education Expenses Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): SSOs support the less fortunate and less able in our society with the Community Care Endowment Fund or ComCare payouts. The Fund was launched in June 2005 and in FY2021, it amounted to $2.4 billion, disbursing around $177 million to about 100,000 individuals, a non-trivial number, including cash assistance for a shorter as well as longer duration.”
“I would like to ask the Minister this. We have the recognition that ageing is going at a relentless pace and I am quite taken aback by the numbers of how many healthcare workers we need. Last year, I spoke about incorporating or rather setting up a care force as part of "national service" so that our young men and women can be tapped on to help with healthcare manpower needs. Is there any possibility that the Ministry might look into this as a model that could help us with this very urgent care avalanche that simply just needs more hands on deck? I understand there are many functions within a healthcare system that do not require medical training and can relieve a lot of the nurses' workload.”
“— on financial resources of the elderly in old age. Improving Caregiver Support”
“I urge MOH to partner with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) to build the community's ageing care capacity through the People's Association (PA) platform. We can even explore creating a time-banking system in the likes of Japan's model which allows seniors to swap services for free. They provide companionship, help run errands, cook for the bedridden when they are still physically able, and can exchange their time credits for similar services when they themselves get older and less physically able. Such social connection helps to fight elderly loneliness and reduces reliance —”
“Mr Chairman, there are over 210,000 Singaporeans who do the full-time work of caregiving. They are the backbone of our ageing care system and should be recognised and supported more formally. I spoke about "Carefare" in Parliament in the past two Committees of Supply (COSes) and I advocate for it a third time now. Carefare, as an income supplement, is needed by stay-home caregivers from low-income families, especially those who are forced by circumstances to give up their jobs and livelihoods to care full-time. Because of how retirement adequacy in Singapore is tied so much to employment, caregivers who give up their most productive earning years because of care needs in their families are exposed to old age poverty, and this cannot be right. Bringing forward financial support mitigates the stress faced by caregivers over finances, anxiety towards their own ageing, which contributes to long-term chronic health conditions like hypertension and diabetes, among others. These will, in turn, exacerbate the healthcare cost burden down the road, which will only get worse as our population ages. Why do we wait to give, if giving now can help us to save more costs in future? Other than direct income support, MOH can help redistribute the day-to-day care load from caregivers' shoulders by helping to scale community solutions. This can also prevent caregivers from having to give up their jobs in the first place. Nee Soon South is piloting a Caregiver Resource Centre, where a peer support network is being built for caregivers. And this initiative helped me to see the potential of the grassroots to be tapped for this purpose.”
“It was plunged into a severe economic and food crisis in the 1990s when the Soviet Union dissolved. But within a decade, it recovered sufficiently to double agricultural production, increase calorific availability by 25% for its people and maintain a consistent and equitable social food programme. Permaculture methods featured strongly in the reforms of Cuba at that time, and it is worth further studying to see what good practices we can adopt to ensure Singapore’s food resilience and future. I urge MND to avail more land towards regenerative nature technology research, including utilising current unused pockets of land in our HDB estates. We can work with interested Singaporeans to make permaculture part of the Singaporean way of life. There are scientists in universities, sociologists and even private groups such as Abundant Cities and even passionate individuals like The Tender Gardener Olivia Choong and Urban Jungle Folks led by Ms Michelle Tan who are already rallying Singaporeans in this effort. All MND needs to do is to allow and to support them. We can even transform the current “illegal planting” problem plaguing many HDB estates into little farms that empower and engage our seniors. Of course, this requires hard work and effort, especially in finding solutions to disamenities, like rooster crowing too early, disturbing residents. But the pros outweigh the cons. And I believe it is possible to enrol our people to co-create solutions to solve these challenges along the way. Where there is a will, there is a way. Partnering to Co-create Shared Spaces”
“It lowers the carbon footprint of food production and at the same time helps the soil used for agriculture to capture carbon from the environment. It brings and bonds different members of society together in doing so. I got to know about permaculture from Ms Catherine Loke, the Founding President of The Circle for Human Sustainability – a collective in Singapore made of architects, engineers, sociologists, scientists, design leaders and farmers. She has a visionary idea of Little Farms Everywhere for Singapore, to utilise the currently unused plots of land between our HDB blocks and in our community parks for permaculture gardens, maintained by the community, for the community. Many more Singaporeans are now showing a greater interest in growing edibles and being in nature. There is societal openness to this, and not just an esoteric interest of a fringe group of enthusiasts. We can ride on this momentum and re-introducing nature’s workers such as chickens, bees and fish within our neighbourhoods to produce local food will reduce our reliance on harmful chemicals and machinery that damages Earth. Fish in ponds help fertilise crops while eating up mosquito larvae – we do not need fogging and we do not need Wolbachia. And we can reduce dengue risk. Our young children will have ample opportunities to interact with Nature, which enhances their physical, intellectual, emotional development. If permaculture is implemented at scale, food supply chain issues would be less of an issue as it is now for Singapore, because we now import more than 90% of our food. As global fuel scarcity increases, countries will choose to prioritise their own people over exporting to us. How can we ensure our food security when that happens? There is a little-studied case of the success of Cuba.”
“30 pm Human beings are meant to live as a community and that means we share resources and responsibilities and have one another to lean on. In my previous cut, I proposed communal and co-living to foster mutual support and optimise land usage. Fostering inter-dependent relationships builds social capital and trust. Having social capital and trust and being helpful to one another increases people’s sense of self-worth and self-esteem and security. It takes away the need for material possessions to shore up our self-esteem, to acquire status symbols and helps people to feel happier with much lesser. Sociologists and anthropologists around the world know this. We can greatly reduce wasteful consumption when people have deep contentment and a sense of connectedness in their lives. In the same vein, we need to allocate more spaces in Singapore for activities that allow citizens to rebuild our relationship with Nature. Human beings are also meant to live in a symbiotic and interdependent relationships with nature. When we recognise that we are part of a larger ecosystem, interdependent on one another as well as the flora and fauna that we live amongst, we will constantly be reminded that we are one another’s keeper, making sustainable daily practices of “Using Less, Sharing More and Wasting Not”, a natural way of life. Spaces for Community Permaculture Pilots To engage our citizens constructively in action for our people’s and the planet’s wellness, I propose MND to make permaculture education a national effort. What is permaculture? It is a way of growing plants and food using nature-based regenerative methods, based on the ethics of “Earth care, People care and fair share”. It is a permanent form of agriculture which can be sustained indefinitely.”
“With the climate change crisis, there is urgency for us to go beyond the existing efforts at greening Singapore. I observe from the Long-term Plan Review (LTPR) that URA has taken pains to provide more green spaces for play and recreation. While I appreciate this as an important step, as many citizens do, too, I also believe that there are many citizens who can and wish to be more participative rather than passive consumers of green spaces. How can we create a participative or collaborative model where citizens are actively engaged in realising the “City in Nature”? How can we better allocate our land for various uses to reflect and fulfil Singaporeans’ evolving aspirations and desire for more wellness and balance? The work adjustments that were forced upon us by COVID-19 present us with an opportunity to consider how much space do we really need for offices. Personnel that were not essential to be on-site worked from home, freeing up many spaces in the offices. Contrary to what many expected, many surveys point to an increase in productivity when people work from home, including one by Prodoscore, a productivity intelligence company that reports that there was an increase in productivity by 47% since March 2020, compared to the same period in the previous year in the US. In the new era and new economy, do we still need as much land for office spaces? As we rethink what growth means to include well-being, can we not allocate more land away from commercial purposes and towards regenerative and wellness purposes? I proposed the Doughnut Economics model in my Budget debate speech, and it resonated with many Singaporeans who shared how they feel hopeful and vindicated in having their sentiments shared in Parliament – their desire to have a different model of progress. 2.”
“Ground-up initiatives, in the likes of Kampung Kakis and SG Assist, have shown that Singaporeans love to help out and they love to help out conveniently. Young entrepreneurs can also be given spaces in these localities to offer new products and services, creating a space for social entrepreneurship and business incubation. We have the opportunity at the Paya Lebar Airbase development to pilot these models and a new way forward for Singapore's housing. I urge the Government agencies working on this project to explore these suggestions and consult interested Singaporeans with relevant experience in these fields to advance these ideas. Unpegging Home Loan Rates from CPF Ordinary Account Rates”
“Mr Chairman, communes and co-living are housing formats where people come together to live, share their resources and responsibilities for fostering mutual support . We can optimise our land used for housing with these two concepts. An example is “mommune” – a commune for mums. This model exists in both Japan and Hong Kong where single mothers and their children live together as a large communal family. They pool their domestic and childcare-related resources to reduce the economic burdens of single parenthood. By splitting chores, finances and babysitting duties, single parents have more bandwidth to explore enriching experiences to benefit their children. We should explore this model and apply it to other groups which need extra support to manage their day-to-day lives, such as families with special needs children and members who are persons with disability. Co-living can be for singles. Co-living apartments can be built for people to have their own private rooms but share common spaces, such as pantry, kitchen, living room and laundry space. This creates physical social interaction opportunities for a generation of people who have grown more used to online interaction. For all we know, it may also improve our marriage rates! Private companies, such as Hamlet and Cove, already offer co-living options near the city, albeit at a premium price. Why not have it available as public housing, too, for young adults to access lower priced housing on short leases, while living amongst their peer groups with similar lifestyle preferences? At the same time, we can co-locate these singles’ precincts with community care apartments for the elderly and communes for various needs families – creating convenient opportunities for them to volunteer near their homes.”
“Thank you, Mr Chairman. Firstly, I would like to empathise with Minister Chan, Minister Maliki and everybody in MOE for trying to address all our needs with very competing and difficult constraints in resources. But I would like to first clarify that in my proposal for naturalistic pedagogy, it is not so much of asking MOE to do more but an invitation to MOE to consider "how else might we"? So, I would like to ask Minister whether MOE might be open to make a pathway of teacher training in naturalistic pedagogy possible for the new cohorts of teacher-applicants at NIE to explore this pathway. And the second question is related to this; I heard the Ministers' encouragement to our companies and the private sector, we are constantly encouraging the private sector to hire based on skills and not qualifications. May I know if we have any kind of research or survey with employers to understand the reasons why they continue to keep to the current hiring practices despite our many messages encouraging them to look at a skills-based hiring rather than a qualifications-based hiring?”
“Upper primary students can be facilitated to learn organising skills, collaboration and leadership by leading these projects. Real world application-based learning from a young age will help an increasingly evolved and questioning generation to see relevance in their education. Incorporating more play also imbues joy and helps foster stronger desire to deepen their pursuit of knowledge as they mature into tertiary years. We can begin by sending interested educators to receive training in naturalistic pedagogy and pioneer a detailed curriculum for pre- and primary school. This can segue into the International Baccalaureate (IB), General Certificate of Education (GCE) or Institute of Technical Education (ITE) options depending on the inclinations and aptitude of the youth. To begin this transition, schools planned to be closed due to low demand can be re-designed to pilot this model. Parents can voluntarily sign up if they are keen to give their children an alternative approach to education. Coupled with a longitudinal study of a cohort of children from age three to 16, the improvements to well-being and learning are observed along the way, MOE can scale the pilot to offer more spaces to willing parents progressively until it is accepted by most. This will ensure that the transformation of our education system is evidence-based and at a measured pace in partnership with parents. 5.45 pm Diversity in Schools and Student-initiated Learning”
“Mr Chairman, more private preschools are increasingly incorporating nature and outdoor-based learning for children. Besides better physical development, it also helps children improve mental well-being and develop higher intuitive intelligence. This refers to the ability to think holistically, to think paradoxically, to listen and connect to oneself and others and the ability to lead by influence rather than design. The role of nature is thus essential. Nature provides the best classroom for such learning and all schools should be enabled to harness nature-based learning so that all children can benefit and not just those whose parents can afford private preschools. I urge MOE to make outdoor and nature-based learning the main approach in early and primary education. As the world evolves with new climate realities, we cannot be playing catch-up in preparing our young for future jobs in the Green Economy. It is imperative that we equip our young to be "nature natives" and not just "digital natives". Beyond occasional visits to farms and community gardens, children in preschool and kindergartens can be introduced to the sciences by playing in nature and be guided to observe how plants, animals and other elements in nature interact in symbiotic relationships. They can learn spelling by identifying plants and creatures, be taught teamwork collaboration through play-based lessons and fun projects in the outdoors. In lower primary, students can learn conventional subjects like science, mathematics, commerce and communication through nature-based approaches such as tending to food gardens and harvesting produce to be sold in a school cooperatives or other enterprise or social projects.”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I think what I have just experienced in this House reinforces the point I would like to make, which is to clarify that — Thank you, first of all, Deputy Prime Minister, for addressing the point that I and Ms Nadia Samdin made about slowing down. I would like to clarify that the proposal that I made is not to make a slowdown so that we will not have growth in our economy, but that perhaps slowing down is the approach to help us achieve better growth in our economy. I think many in this House and also many of our Singaporeans can attest that when we are all overworked, spending too many hours in too many meetings, what happens is our brains – and science supports this – our brains go into what we call 钻牛角尖 mode. 分明讲的清清楚楚听起来糊里糊涂. In the end, we end up in very unproductive, unconstructive meetings – like this very, very protracted housing debate, for example. So, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to consider and invite him in his already very stretched bandwidth, whether in this tripartism that we have, that is such a beautiful and unique way of managing Singapore, whether we can approach productivity in a slightly different way with a commitment and a focus on our people's wellness. I think if we just slow down a little bit, we may be able to harness more clarity, more creativity in our people when we are less stressed. So, that is only thing I am asking. Can we consider the possibility that taking a slowdown can actually help us to boost the creative potential that we have as a people?”
“To do this, Ministries including National Development, Sustainability and Environment, Health, Manpower, Trade and Industry must work together and adopt a lens of ensuring the wellness of our people and planet is adopted across all efforts. I urge the Government to set up a Coordinating Ministry for Wellness help implement this, to land a sustainability land across all Ministries. A truly progressive nation is one in which its people are well. Imagine a society that consumes less, with people who work less but connects more and are happier and healthier for it. I was very moved by Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua's speech earlier. Perhaps it is time for us to collectively take a pause, a slowdown, to smell the roses and perhaps that is what it truly takes for our nation to be able to be truly wealthy in our minds, bodies and spirit. I am thankful for this year's Budget. I would like to say, we have what it takes, let us go further and beyond!”
“If we put our hearts and minds together, we can achieve this, referencing the Doughnut Economic Model, applied to our specific Singaporean context. Given how small we are as a country, we may not significantly impact the actual amount of energy saved globally. But we still can make a really substantial impact by showing and leading the way to a different progress model. In doing so, we can inspire other urban cities and countries to chart their own path to a more regenerative economy that meets the needs of all. Our strong social fabric, highly collaborative, cooperative population and high trust between Singaporeans and our Government are the assets that we have to rely on to do this well. Forward Singapore should be an exercise ambitious and daring enough to rally our citizenry towards the big picture – a future where Social and Ecological well-being is valued equally with economic well-being. What I look forward to, as do many Singaporeans of my generation and younger, is a regenerative city state and a system that ensures the well-being of our People and Planet. We must start to intentionally REdesign our way of life, work and play. To do this, Ministries including National Development —”
“In fact, many of our own Ministers have said similar things in Parliament, especially in the last two years of the pandemic – that we can turn crisis into opportunity. Getting a miracle out of a crisis is not new to Singapore. We created a miracle when we became independent in 1965 and became a first-world nation by the 1990s. Similarly, I believe we have what it takes to turn the global energy crisis into another miracle with our unique Singaporean way. Investing in and rebuilding our relationship with the planet has the potential to open up new industries for Singapore to be leaders in and improve the economic opportunities for our people. I am very glad that the Green Economy initiative under the SG Green Plan has already started to invest in nature-based technologies and research. This needs to start as early in life as possible, so that our current children can be “Nature Natives” and not just “Digital Natives” in the new global reality. I urge that we make it a top priority and extend nature-based pedagogy to our early childhood and primary education. Again, I will elaborate more in my Ministry of Education (MOE) Committee of Supply cut. Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned during his Budget speech that we need to increase Singapore’s resilience in response to climate realities. He mentioned efforts in coastal protection and so on, to prepare us for rising sea levels. These measures are critical. But we need to go beyond and take an even more proactive approach to pioneer a new way of life that the world can look to. We have the opportunity to be a global change-maker by engineering and actualising a new model of progress.”
“In our daily lives, we currently have an increasing norm of online shopping where we can buy something for as cheap as $1 or $3 and have it shipped to your door in layers of boxing and packaging. Such rates of consumption as a norm for a society creates tremendous waste of energy and resources. Instead, we can make swapping and sharing the default way of life to reduce wasteful consumption. Creating a sharing culture has already begun in Nee Soon South, where we piloted a “Shwap” initiative for people to “shop” for pre-loved clothing that others would like to give away. I intend to extend this effort beyond clothing to other daily use items, so that within our neighbourhoods, people can swap items they no longer need for items that others want to give away. I hope that every neighbourhood can have a sharing movement to make this the new norm for Singaporeans. Two, invest in permaculture and other regenerative nature-based solutions and research. Localised permaculture reduces the carbon footprint of growing and transporting food. It helps to capture carbon from the environment. It will also help us reduce our dependence on foreign industrial agricultural techniques that have worsened the climate crisis. I will elaborate more on this during the Committee of Supply cuts on how permaculture holds multiple benefits, including increasing our food security. In the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, Americian President Roosevelt implemented a “New Deal”, which greatly invested in environmental conservation. It was a huge risk at the time and went against conventional wisdom. But it paid off. I believe it was Winston Churchill who said towards the end of World War Two, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.”
“Ms Nadia Samdin asked a really important and worthy question – can there be a different version of the Singaporean dream? Progress in the next era of growth for Singapore must be measured less in terms of economic numbers and account for our human limits and planet limits. I offer a motto that not only gives us hope, but also gives practical steps in guiding us towards a future beyond fossil fuels. The motto is "Share More, Use Less, Waste Not". I propose two key imperatives we must start doing. One, cultivate sharing communities by redesigning work and housing to optimise resources and extend the "reduce" pillar to the ways we live and work. Making work-from-home the norm for professions that allow it can drastically reduce daily transport fuel consumption, reduce vehicles on the roads and reduce the need to keep building more roads or expressways. It would also improve work-life balance. The Government can set an example by making work-from-home the norm across the civil service and associated statutory boards. On the housing front, creating more community living formats such as the ones we are piloting in Queenstown to aid in eldercare. Community Care Apartments (CCAs) can be built also for single parent families, families with special needs members and co-living precincts for young adults and singles can be designed and built in neighbouring precincts to these CCAs, so that they can conveniently volunteer for these families who need more help. For all we know, co-living communities for singles could help us to improve our marriage and birth rates! I will elaborate more on these in my Commitee of Supply cuts.”
“What happens when we run out of the materials to run these plants that power our lights, our transport and our computers? Our primary source of energy, fossil fuels, which took millions of years to form, is now running out. The only way to avoid the crisis is to consume and produce in ways that are transformatively different from before. If we do not start regenerating our Earth, we are consuming it to death and putting humanity on the trajectory to an era of war and destructive competition, which is already beginning to set in. Once we understand these key truths of the 21st century, as political leaders, we must have the gumption to lead our people to a different future. One of the world’s most important living economists, Kate Raworth, designed a new economic model to guide countries’ transition from having an extractive relationship with the Earth to a more harmonious one. It is called Doughnut Economics. It sounds delicious too. It provides a map for how to establish a better relationship between the economy, the planet and people. It illustrates an outer ring which is the limit that Earth can support and an inner ring which is the base that we need to build to allow humans to thrive. Our actions and our policies will have to reside between those two rings. Go beyond the outer ring or fall within the inner ring, and we will be in trouble. This model values well-being and a solid social foundation that helps people to rely on one another and nature harmoniously to meet our needs. In order for us and our world to survive, we must slow down the rate of economic growth or our future generations will suffer its consequences. This requires us to reshape our national narrative and understanding of progress.”
“In a survey of 10,000 youths, including Singaporean youth, close to 60% have felt “very” or “extremely” worried about climate change, with 45% reporting that this anxiety negatively affects their daily lives. Climate anxiety is a logical reaction to an existential threat. This is the single most important threat we face as Singaporeans. It is a huge obstacle that stands in the way of our progress as a nation. Economic growth has resulted in increased energy consumption, which then leads to greater greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide – all these emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to global warming, climate change and extreme weather conditions. Our current economic model does not account for our people and our planet's well-being as a measure of growth. We need a more sustainable, tenable model of progress that does not leave our planet and our people's well-being out of the equation, but instead sees progress and wellness as one and the same that respects the Earth’s limits. I want to make sure that what we do today ensures that we pass on a thriving Earth, not a depleting one to our next generation. Governments around the world are investing in green technology and alternative energy research in a bid to slow down this global energy depletion and mitigate this threat. While such efforts are absolutely necessary, it is not enough. We urgently need to look beyond. Solar, hydro and nuclear, while they present good options as alternative energy sources, are still highly complex and highly extractive in nature. What do I mean by extractive? It means they still require vast amounts of steel, metal and materials to build the necessary infrastructure and equipment to harness secondary sources of energy.”
“If the premise for our nation’s progress is that human resources are our biggest national resource, then protecting it and allowing it to thrive should be the key agenda. Economic growth and the ever-growing demand for increased productivity despite a rapidly ageing workforce and potentially zero growth in our labour force is taking a toll on a whole generation of people. I urge this House and Singaporeans to seriously consider a different model of progress. After all, what is growth for, if not for our people’s well-being? As hon Member Mr Seah Kian Peng also reminded us during his speech, that our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew made it his business to ensure our people’s happiness. How can a people be happy, if we are constantly anxious or under stress? In the background of many anxieties lies the real existential threat and crisis of the global fossil fuel and climate change crisis. The stark reality: according to the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the biosphere at Stanford University, the world will be out of coal by 2090. By the world, it means the human race. It means us. As Ms Poh Li San and Mr Lim Wee Kiak has reminded us, our electricity is 95% reliant on natural gas. What happens when we are out of natural gas by 2060? In the Statistical Review of World Energy through British Petroleum as well as many other sources, it tells us that at our current rate of consumption, we will be out of oil in 47 years’ time. When that happens, I will be hopefully still alive at 87 years old, my nieces and many of my young residents will be in their 50s or 60s. The children born today will be only 47 years old. I am not alone in feeling anxious about climate change.”