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 5 of 6.
“Thank you, Speaker. And I thank Minister Chan for sharing about the short- and long-term perspectives of supporting teachers. I think our Government has always been very good with adopting technology enablement to support all our civil and public servants. We have always done very good on that front. But Minister Chan has also acknowledged that a lot of the stress that the teachers feel come from students reaching out to them, things that happen outside of the classroom. So, I would like to add on to the perspective of our support to teachers on the human support element. I would like to ask the Minister whether any of the support plans that MOE has rendered to teachers can involve none of them requiring to be further trained. When we try to support someone, but we also require them to go through further training to provide peer support, again it adds to the load on their bandwidth and stress. Number two, I am not sure whether this was covered and I missed it: are there currently any cost subsidies that teachers can have access to when they need to see external counsellors or psychologists to deal with their stress or anxiety levels? And number three, in line with the perspective about rendering human support, whether MOE will consider, potentially in the long term, developing a team of Allied Educators' supporters or educator carers, to provide a listening ear and pastoral care to our teachers, so that they do not have to take the weight and the burden of all these difficult situations that they are faced with – whether it is their students' mental health, their own mental health – and they have someone to talk to?”
“I hope CDCA can go beyond being a support programme to encourage and support parenthood to also become an instrument to equalise the circumstances and well-being of every Singaporean child. In summary, I would like to make three asks. One, more administrative clarity for self-employed parents to access paternity and maternity benefits. Two, differentiated and higher ratio child-development savings match for low-income families. Three, equalised cash support in Baby Bonus, possibly renamed Baby Support, to children of unwed parents. Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the Bill. 4.48 pm”
“Although I understand the Government's position that it does not want to signal or encourage the birth of children out of wedlock, it needs to recognise that such circumstances can be born out of misfortune and not always wilful promiscuity. I have a resident who was unable to marry her fiancé after getting pregnant because he died from a traffic accident before their wedding. To this day, she still feels penalised from being excluded from the various support schemes, including housing support, due to circumstances beyond her control. Many unwed mothers may also choose not to be trapped by marriage to irresponsible men. The fact that these men are irresponsible is often a discovery after the deed. Marriage is not always the ideal option if the father proves to be an untenable lifelong partner. No matter what one's view or value is on wedlock, I believe we can all agree that the child of unwed parents should not be made to suffer the consequences of the parents' choices or mistakes. If the Government's intention is to discourage extra-marital affairs, I would urge the Government to look into better enforcement of child support payments. One possibility could be using DNA tests to identify and hold accountable biological parents. Accountability to a child whom one sires or births should be regardless of marital status. This will help unwed mothers caring for a child to access child support payments from their co-parents if necessary. In the rare case where the one caring for the child is the biological father, the accountability should be equally applied to any mother who has chosen to bail. Every child born is precious, especially in Singapore.”
“While I welcome and support the recent revisions to increase the capped amount for the second child from $3,000 to $6,000, low-income families may be left with a further gap to catch up on, compared to other families in terms of child financing. Low-income Singaporeans are not able to save much, given their jobs and salaries pay only enough to make ends meet, if at all. Based on the latest Household Expenditure Survey, on average, the bottom 20% of households are now spending $2,570 a month while having a monthly income of $2,235, which includes already the regular Government transfers, such as Workfare. This means that these 20th percentile of families have a shortfall, on average, of $335 each month, leaving them no ability to save. I suggest we have a differentiated and higher savings match ratio for households that are within the bottom 20th percentile of income in Singapore, to help make the savings matching scheme more equitable. This will be a positive step to help bridge the inequality gap, by providing better for children from low-income households. A financial literacy programme tailored to this community can also be coupled with this benefit to help equip low-income families with the planning skills to attain and maximise savings. Third, we should equalise the Government's treatment of children born out of wedlock and within marriages. I am disappointed that the latest amendments continue to disadvantage children born to unwed parents, which is unfortunate and unfair for the child. I echo and support my hon colleague Mr Louis Ng's call to make unwed parents eligible for the Baby Bonus Cash Gift.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend and support the changes to the Child Development Co-Savings Act. I am especially glad for the enhancements to the Government-Paid Paternity Benefits, as well as the Government's reimbursements to companies which opt to give additional leave to parents beyond the statutory requirements. It certainly helps in the efforts to encourage workplace cultures to be more family-friendly. I have a clarification to ask and some suggestions to make. First, can there be more transparency and clearer instructions on how Self-Employed Persons' claims for Government-Paid Maternity and Paternity benefits will be assessed? I have had residents who write in to ask how and what proof they need to submit to show that they have taken leave when they are their own bosses. This applies to freelancers and sole proprietors who include tuition teachers, coaches, designers, arts and sports instructors, beauticians, home caterers, consultants, marketeers and many others, even including delivery riders, like what my hon colleague, Mr Saktiandi Supaat, has mentioned earlier. They are unsure and confused about what extent of documentation they need to submit and whether their claims will be approved. It would be helpful to have more clarity and certainty, as the success of the paid leave reimbursements impact on their financials at a time when money could be very tight due to the increased expenses brought on by a newborn child. Second, amendments must be made for low-income families who currently benefit very little from the dollar-for-dollar matched savings benefit. And I echo my colleague Mr Gan Thiam Poh's call for it.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Firstly, my condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. I am heartened that the Minister has taken a very decisive step, amidst this tragedy, a step to decelerate the pace and to scope down on our major examinations when it is needed to prioritise the mental health of our students and teachers. At the same time, I would like to ask the House and our people to avoid knee-jerk reactions, but allow the death of this precious young life to be a beacon of light for us to ask the right questions and the deeper questions to seek the answers on what is needed to protect and nurture the mental health of our people. To that purpose, I ask the Minister how are we strengthening our mental health discovery and support measures? Does this currently involve a systematic way of tracking incidents across the system to shed light on the current condition of our youths' mental health and what may have led up to its current condition?”
“I thank the Minister of State for the reply and I am glad to know that efforts are being taken to track the effectiveness of these recalibration efforts to our examination system. I am aware through engagement with students and teachers that often, the other major challenge to mental health for our students come from expectations. And children respond to expectations of adults in their lives, whether their parents or teachers and often, their self-esteem rest on making the adults around them proud. So, I am wondering other than the current efforts to recalibrate the examination system and the streaming system, are there current efforts by MOE to enrol parents as co-stakeholders together with teachers to redefine the narratives and expectations of what success looks like, to alleviate the stress that the students are facing in a rather hyper-competitive culture?”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I would like to address the Minister, to find out, due to numerous cases that I have met amongst my residents, such as divorced couples who are not first timers, but they are unable to get any Sale of Balance Flats and also, residents who because of their income, do not qualify for public rental housing, will they also be eligible to have additional subsidies if they had to opt for a resale option?”
“And we need to help them out, and we can, by augmenting the sector with more personnel, trained professionally in asset-based community development. With many professionals impacted by lay-offs and a surge in community spirit brought by COVID-19, we now have a pool of highly qualified people, who are seeking more meaningful careers that can be harnessed for the social services sector. While I feel very encouraged by the announcement of the Community Capability Trust to help SSAs develop capacity, it will be more timely to complement the efforts of the National Jobs Council if MSF can bring this forward to this year instead of commencing only in 2022. I hope MSF can accelerate its support to the sector and enhance ComLink’s efforts by appointing qualified Social Service Agencies with good track records to train mid-career entrants in community-building and assets discovery work. Trained personnel can then be hired and deployed through SSOs or grassroots organisations. This will help SSOs to enhance its function beyond administrators of support schemes and connectors within the community to become effective community builders. With that, I would like to convey my high hopes for ComLink, and I look forward to more job creation in the social services sector, to enable the empowerment of our ComCare recipients into a community that thrives.”
“Chairman, although ComCare has helped many low-income persons and challenged families and is a critical social support programme, the number of families helped and the amount spent on ComCare has not reduced, in fact increased, since its inception. It tells me that ComCare, although it is very helpful as a support, is not getting people out of poverty permanently, and this is not a solution built to last. Without capacity-building of families who are on ComCare, it serves only as a band-aid solution that continues to deplete our financial resources. I am not saying to lower the budget for it, but I am saying we need a clear strategy to supplement ComCare, aimed at empowering families beyond surviving, to facilitate their thriving and reduce their recidivism back to financial support. And to do this, we need more people who are well-versed in discovering and harnessing the assets and strengths of the community, and to transform the current recipients of aid into active contributors in the community and also pave their way towards higher employability. I would like to ask if asset-based community development is the intended approach by ComLink, and whether there are plans to dovetail ComLink efforts with the National Jobs Council efforts? I ask this because I see a ripe opportunity for the transformation of our social services sector. An opportunity to develop empathy and empowerment at scale, to better harness the strengths within our challenged individuals and families. While I am grateful for the numerous COVID-19 support schemes that have been given out so far, frontline administrators in our SSOs are over-stretched and inundated with very onerous but necessary task of administrative checks and gatekeeping.”
“Yes. My question is: does MOH have a view or intention to study how we can embark on a prevention strategy to avoid this continuing trend of high incidence of mental health or mental illness amongst our population in the long run?”
“Thank you, Chairman. My question is related to mental health. I thank the Senior Minister of State Dr Janil for sharing with us about the tremendous progress made in the Mental Health Master Plan, and to know that there is so much more infrastructure and community care facilities set up and that we are already ahead of targets. But my question really is whether MOH has a view or is it currently embarking on any kind of study or upstream prevention campaigns, in the likes of when we identified diabetes to be a big healthcare crisis for Singapore, then we went on a very national campaign and we looked into reducing sugar and salt in our food in the hawker centre and so on. I remember when I was a child in Primary School, I was also in the Trim and Fit (TAF) Club to address obesity.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank Minister and MinLaw and MHA for the enhanced framework. I think it is really important and I am grateful for the Government in taking a strong stand against the sexual offences and hurt to better protect women and girls. I have a question and I will take the opportunity to ask. It is not so much related to this particular sentencing framework. But to address the trend whether the norm in society where women are subject to sexual objectification, often in the media. I have come across residents' parents who grapple with their young children being exposed or even exchanging sexual content over the phone and so on with their peers – as young as the Primary school age. So, I think that is a very alarming phenomenon. I would like to hear from the Minister what are his views in terms of this trend and whether there will be any laws or whether there are currently any laws to look into the media and content to take an upstream approach in protecting women against sexual objectification? And also, I would like to express my gratitude for the fact that sexual communications are now a category of offences to avoid sexual grooming of persons from a young age. But I think the general societal exposure to sexual content, victimising or objectifying women, might be something that we want to address on a broader scale.”
“] In Singapore, we have two groups of people who face different difficulties. On one hand, many large families live in a small rental flat and do not have enough space. Single parents often do not have anyone to take care of their children when they want to work. On the other hand, many isolated elderly live alone in HDB flats. Data shows that the risk of them committing suicide is higher. Hence, I would like to propose this scheme whereby we put single parent families with isolated elderly together, killing 2 birds with 1 stone and solving the problems mentioned above. Under this scheme, if the elderly are willing to let single parent families to move into their home, the authorities can convert the cost of building new flats into a sort of rental income for the elderly, and help reduce their financial burden. This will increase the supply of newer and larger rental flats and save construction cost. More importantly, the elderly will have company and children from single parent families will not become “latch-key kid”. (In English): I urge MND to consider this mutual rental programme as an opt-in programme and to pilot with elderly who are willing. Implementation is bound to be challenging, as personality dynamics will play a big part in the success of such a programme. Getting a good match is critical. It is key that the matching of elderly to families is done socially and not purely administratively. I believe by having close collaboration amongst the ComLink agencies on the ground on such an initiative, we can see much improved social outcomes, with less costs, to optimise the care and well-being of our people.”
“I urge MND to waive the rental fees of all public housing residents for a minimum of six months to a year. Even though HDB does provide additional subsidies when appeal letters are sent, the stress of having to go see a Member of Parliament, and uncertainty about outcomes is still a stressful process. A blanket waiver of rent for at least six months will give much needed reprieve to these families who live on the brink. Public Rental Housing Optimisation Land scarcity in Singapore is a fact of life. Amidst increased public pressure and attention on inequality, we need to provide better public rental housing in order to rehabilitate low-income families more effectively. How can we do so without incurring larger costs? On one hand, we have large families in small rental flats, struggling with overcrowding. Single mothers and fathers are struggling to find care so they can go out to work. On the other hand, we have isolated elderly in HDB flats, suffering loneliness, with rising risk of elderly suicide. We can kill two birds with one stone, by putting isolated elderly and single parent families together to optimise resources for better social outcomes. The cost savings from building new rental flats can be used instead as rent paid out to financially challenged and isolated elderly flat-owners, if they are willing to open up their homes to single parents and their children. Such a programme would provide a larger housing supply without incurring more building costs, improve retirement adequacy for the poor seniors, reduce their social isolation as well as provide informal care and support for the children and youth of single parents. Chairman, in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.”
“In 2018, there was a study done to examine the healthcare utilisation of the low-income community in Singapore. It found that staying in public rental housing was associated with poorer health outcomes and health status. Another study found that patients living in rental housing were more likely to have heart disease commonly associated with stress, were more likely to use anti-depressant medication, staying in hospitals longer than other income groups and more frequently re-admitted into hospital. A resident of mine, Mr X, has a knee condition but kept delaying his surgery, in order to feed his four kids. His wife is unable to work due to a slipped disc for which she needs surgery. Mr X cycles for hours every day as a Grab delivery rider to make ends meet, and I worry about what happens when his knees finally give way. 4.30 pm Another resident Mr Y in his 50s has to go for another surgery or one surgery after another. The first to fix a workplace injury preventing him from working for two years, and then a stomach surgery for ulcer, and now he is being assessed for possible cancer. He cried to me, saying he feels so defeated because he cannot even afford to buy small snacks or treats for his grandchildren. He feels that he has failed as a father and grandfather. Although some of these residents already pay very low rent each month, thanks to the subsidies from HDB, the fear that they may lose having shelter over their heads is a real one and a real stress point. Even $100 rent a month is a stress point for someone in Mr X and Mr Y's circumstances, and there are many of them. High stress leads to more ill health which leads to more medical bills and more stress. It is a vicious cycle.”
“Mr Chairman, permission to take two cuts together. COVID-19 Public Housing Rental Relief”
“Mr Chairman, the number of teen suicides have increased in recent years, and depression and anxiety are emerging increasingly as real struggles amongst our youth. Mental health issues often begin during school-age years, especially during and after puberty. Stresses and confusion brought by physiological and hormonal changes add to the fray, at a time when young people are honing their self-worth and trying to form their own self-identity. Bullying, conflicts amongst friends and social exclusion present themselves in the school environment which is where children spend the most time. It logically follows that mental health education and support must also start in schools. Teachers and students often notice small changes in thinking and behaviour in their peers and an individual before a major episode happens. Learning about early warning signs and taking action can help – and may even prevent mental health struggles from worsening into mental illness. When society risks losing young lives to mental health struggles, educators need to understand and nurture our young through their challenges in holistic manners. Perhaps having a trauma-informed care approach to understand the context of students' experiences could be one way. Educators can benefit from understanding the various ways that trauma appear in children's lives and some of these include poverty, peer victimisation, family violence, racism, homophobia, and lately, what has come to public attention, transphobia. I would like to ask MOE, what are its current strategies to strengthen mental health support in schools, and how is it equipping teachers and staff, and to consider the above suggestions.”
“Thank you, Chairman. I would like to thank Minister of State Gan for replying. I appreciate MOM in highlighting that low-wage care-givers also get income top-ups through Workfare. I think that is very helpful. In my cut, however, I was calling specifically for attention to look into basic income for full-time stay home care-givers who were previously from hired and low-wage industries. By this I mean a community that has moved from low-wage, literally, to no wage. I am not sure whether this group of community is receiving enough attention because they may not fall conveniently within MOM's portfolio given that they are not in the workforce. And, if so, can Minister of State or someone please share like which Ministry should we be directing the attention for this community of care-givers, to look out for their well-being and their interest because they do not fall conveniently within a particular portfolio. I appreciate a clarification.”
“Thank you, Speaker. To add on to my supplementary question, I noted that the current Triple P efforts are quite focused on delivery via digital platforms. Are there any plans by MOE to work with community partners or, perhaps, even PA, to bring some of this awareness or publicity about these programmes into the community, so that parents who may not naturally gravitate towards finding information online also will be accessed, in terms of having this information about the programme reach them.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his reply. I would like to seek clarification on what is the current take-up rate by parents with regard to the Triple P – Positive Parenting Programme in schools. Are there challenges to its roll-out, if any, and whether the Triple P Programme is on track to meet its scaled up targets, if it does have a plan for scaling up?”
“To prevent abuse of family care leave, we can require employees to register themselves as primary care-givers to their family members with AIC and allow firms to log leave utilisation on the same platform to qualify, perhaps, for Government incentives. Incentivising firms through corporate tax reliefs for family care utilisation may be one way to encourage more progressive workplace policies, leading to higher job satisfaction for employees and better mental wellbeing, which are both helpful for increasing productivity. I urge MOM, MOF, MOH and NPTD to consider these solutions together so that there is concerted effort to achieve our shared goal of a society made for families.”
“We need to take a more data-driven approach towards ensuring better retirement adequacy for the low-wage and sandwiched generation of care-givers and to assess whether a basic income for stay-home care-givers might be a viable and dignified way to distribute social support. The savings reaped from reducing the need for institutionalised care for seniors, if transferred into basic income for stay-home care-givers, could help to save on long-term ComCare spending. Through a basic income for care-givers, the narrative for their old-age financial dependency is shifted from "I am old and useless and dependent on welfare to feed me" to a dignified self-perception of "I am valued for the care that I provide and provided". This goes a long way to instill self-worth in those who provide care for better mental health, dignity and self-esteem as they age. As I previously proposed, a "Carefare Income Supplement" will go a long way to support stay-home care-givers, affirming that they play a valued and important role and are not just "calefare" in our society, excuse the pun. Carefare is a way to ensure dignified ageing for low-wage care-givers. As for PMEs earning higher incomes who also struggle with juggling familial care and work, I would like to suggest simplifying childcare and eldercare into a general family care leave. This family care leave will ensure that both married people and single people will have leave they can use for any family emergency. Such simplification will also enhance the momentum by corporates to offer more autonomy to employees in how they manage their time, improving workplace satisfaction and also morale. My hon colleague, Member Ng Ling Ling, spoke about getting AIC involved in the alliance of workplace improvements.”
“Mr Chairman, our social safety net approach continues to put family as the first line of support. MOH talks about ageing in place. The reality is, these two dovetail into an untenable care load on women when it comes to elderly care. Because when we say "family", most of the time, it is daughters who end up caring for ageing parents. As much as filial piety is a valued and important virtue in our Asian society, it should not come at the expense of one's old-age financial adequacy. Mothers and daughters who care for children and elderly parents are facing poverty in their old age. As Minister of State Gan Siow Huang previously shared, women lose an average of eight years of career and income, often when their careers can be peaking after their thirties, due to familial care. For women who are in low-wage work, livelihoods can be lost for years, alongside with opportunity cost in CPF savings. Of course, the profile of those impacted by familial care is not homogeneous and there are also men whose jobs and careers are impacted by care-giving. There are also men who are single fathers sandwiched between eldercare and childcare as their parents age. So, we need differentiated policies for low-wage care-givers and those from higher income groups. For low-wage care-givers, I implore MOM and MSF to do a joint study on the recipients of long-term ComCare to examine how many recipients become reliant on financial assistance in their old age due to care-giving obligations in their younger years which kept them from participating in the labour force. The research will help us to project any trends into the future to better understand the reality of our ageing society on low-wage individuals.”
“This will have an equalising effect on hiring and firms will find it easier to manage the absence of a staff for two months instead of four. Mandating paternity leave by law, and making the one month of Government subsidy only available to both firms respectively if fathers fully utilise their paternity leave, will also compel companies to be supportive of their employees taking leave in the months post-birth. To sweeten the deal for fathers, I would like to venture that the Government may want to also offer fathers income tax reliefs which are currently given to mothers, if paternity leave is fully utilised. Of course, we need to provide infant care courses for dads as it will be helpful to help fathers step up better and also set mothers' minds at ease. With such measures, we can create in time a norm in societal expectation for fathers to be present and involved in the first months of an infant's life, and subsequently as the child grows. Studies have shown that fathers who have a close relationship with their children contribute to their sons growing up with an increased inclination to be involved dads themselves. If we want to cultivate a more positive mindset towards marriage and parenthood in our future generations, we need to ensure equal sharing of the load of care. And the time is now for us to set a new norm. Corruption in Singapore”
“Chairman, Sir, I shall not belabour the point about Singapore's dismal Total Fertility Rate (TFR). What I do wish to emphasise is the reasons why we do not have enough babies and propose some measures to help bring the numbers up. Number one, unequal care load between the men and women. Singaporean women struggle to juggle work and care in a large part due to the lack of men's involvement in parenting. Utilisation of paternity leave is at 53%. And fathers that I have spoken to express a spectrum of challenges, ranging from, "I don’t feel that I add much value at home because the baby only wants mommy" or "If I take leave, I will have a pile-up of work. It is even more stressful" or "I still need to bring the bread home." This is consistent with studies that NPTD has done, which brings us to major factor two – high work stress, no time and energy due to demands at work, make couples decide on having less children than what they would like to. And such resistance to taking paternity leave, made worse by workplace demands makes it necessary for stronger Government measures. My proposal is to mandate the 50-50 sharing of the current childbirth leave. Currently, mothers receive four months of maternity leave, two months of which are subsidised by the Government. And this has the unintended impact of discriminatory hiring by companies who hesitate to hire women especially those who are newly married, for fear of having to bear the financial and operational costs of paid maternity leave for four months. To ensure higher usage of paternity leave, the Government can mandate that the four months be split half and half between mom and dad, with each of the employers getting subsidised for one month by the Government.”
“I would just like to share my inputs to address Mr Pritam Singh's last question about whether the work can be undertaken by charities. Coming from being the founder of charity, I think the capacity amongst the charity sector is limited. As far as I know from my experience, many charities want to focus their manpower and resourcing on the work of working, hand-holding, serving and supporting families. And I think, at least from my experience, the value of the CDCs to the charity sector has been that it is able to carry out the work of consolidating, aggregating, reaching out to partners to pool more resources and support for the charities and the work that they do as well. So, this is the part that I find, as a charity member in society, we do benefit greatly from the CDCs' amalgamation of resources from bigger corporations who are willing to give to the sector, but would like to be part of a bigger movement that then disseminates these resources out to the various charities who want to focus our resources on doing the work of supporting the communities directly.”
“Our identity as a country, as Singaporeans, must go beyond being the strongest, the fittest and the fastest in economic terms. The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest member. Perhaps, by slowing down to take better care of the weakest and to enable them better, it can take us further. Our national unity, counts on it an our identity as Singaporeans, count on it, if we are indeed to emerge stronger together. With that, I support the Budget. [Applause.]”
“The tragic case of the foreign domestic worker Ms Phaing Ngaih Don suffering abuse that led to her death, it makes us questions ourselves – how might we have prevented it? It shows that we have a long way to go, in paying attention to the people who work around us, who care for those around us. Some of these people are in precariously vulnerable circumstances and how are they being cared for? In our busyness and eagerness to keep Singapore relevant and competitive for survival, are we paying sufficient attention to the care and well-being of people? Not just our own people. But also those who enable us, the silent everyday heros and heroines including our foreign domestic workers and our migrant workers. Whilst the support packages in the Budget are helpful to reduce some day-to-day burdens of Singaporeans, we need to innovate and invest in transforming our social support structures, in order to achieve more with less, in the long run. Sharing is more sustainable. Sharing builds trust. Sharing fosters bonding and social cohesion. We must create Sharing policies in the system, sooner rather than later, to care better. More than ever, we need to put Sharing on steroids, with Budget allocated to build capacity into our system and to create for better long-term outcomes for the vulnerable and the under-served. In doing so, we then have hope of bridging the gap. Some of the ideas I suggested may seem daunting and fraught with challenges, and for this, we need courage, trust and collaboration. Although some extent of inequality is inevitable in modern economies and societies, the least we can do and we certainly can, and we certainly must, minimise it.”
“Such encouragement certainly goes a long way to increase the pool of financial resources being channelled to the most vulnerable. However, beyond distributing cash support directly in the form of support schemes, I would like to encourage the Government to further develop our capacity for care. In the current Budget, $11 billion have been allocated for structural economic policies in the COVID-19 Resilience Package, with another $24 billion committed over the next three years. Much of it focuses on equipping businesses and workers for industry transformations and future-ready capabilities. What seems to be missing, is an investment in preparing and professionalising the work of care amongst the social services sector. I have some suggestions to build a more effective social safety net and strengthen the trampoline for the vulnerable. Beyond surviving, we need to set them up to thrive. ComLink is a good start. We need our social services sector to consist of experts who are skilled at discovering and building up the strengths and assets of our underserved communities. So that we can avoid, in the future, heading down the slippery slope of a welfare state. I seek the Deputy Prime Minister to share the $11 billion COVID-19 Resilience Budget with our Careforce – the social services sector to make this happen. We need to share our resources towards care and to capacity build care. I will speak more about this again during the Committee of Supply Debates. In conclusion, Speaker, Sir, I would like to emphasise the importance of care for our people. At the same time, that forces beyond our control compel us to drive our people harder.”
“Low-income families can then live in better environments, with care and support for the young, and elderly living alone, will no longer be alone and have social interaction on a daily basis. Such a housing sharing strategy will help to mitigate class silos and reduce the need to build more. I call this the "Share to Care" strategy. Second, our workforce. Against the backdrop of falling birth rates, Singapore faces a workforce crisis in the coming decades. Burnout and stress rank high amongst working age Singaporeans, making Singapore top the ranks in an international study for stressed-out Generation Z. A recent study showed that Gen Z makes up 24% of the workforce and millennials 50%. Mental health struggles and declining local workforce due to low birth rate amongst these two generations is putting us in the path of a human capital crisis. We need to take this seriously. But what can we do? I suggest we look into the Sharing of Care. Number one, to share the load of care through progressive workplace policies to relieve stress for sandwiched families; and two, to relief the burden of care, by sharing the cost savings from institutional healthcare, with low-wage stay-home care-givers. I will speak more about these Sharing of Care strategies during the Committee of Supply debates. Lastly, our Careforce. What is a Careforce? It is a whole sector of people who work in caring for our underserved communities. I am very thankful and encouraged by the Budget announcement that the 250% Institute of Public Character, or IPC tax-deductions for donations will be extended to end 2023. I am also very grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister for initiating the $20 million Change for Charity grant to encourage those who can afford to spend, to spend towards charity.”
“I would like to propose sharing in at least three key areas of care: we can optimise public rental housing by sharing; we can optimise the workforce by sharing; we can optimise care and potential of the most vulnerable amongst us by sharing. My hon colleagues, Ms Tin Pei Ling, spoke about the potential of seniors, and Ms Ng Ling Ling spoke about the potential of persons with disabilities. I would like to propose, that we can also optimise the potential of our low-income and rental housing community. First, on public rental housing. We have an amazing public housing system to tap on to optimise social outcomes for the poorest families. Currently, rental flat residents face social stigma, poor living conditions and lack of care resources – barriers that prevent them from breaking out of poverty. Yet, we have an opportunity that the aging society has given us, that is, an increasing number of isolated elderly in purchased flats. Ms Ng Ling Ling spoke about this earlier. In 2019, there were almost 67,600 people above the age of 65 living alone, with 86% of them wishing to live in the same flats that they raised their families in. Such homes owned by the elderly living alone may be under-utilised, as some rooms go unused. The elderly who live alone are more likely to be socially isolated and at increased risk of adverse health outcomes. At the same time, almost 10% of all rental households have more than four members and many have care-giving needs that cannot be fulfilled by existing care channels. A simple solution then exists, to encourage more elderly homeowners to share their living space, by renting out their spare rooms to low-income families at appropriate rates subsidised by HDB.”
“While it was a necessary and effective foundation to build Singapore society on for the past decades, it is not perfect and we now need to address its side effects. According to a survey commissioned by my esteemed colleague Dr Janil Puthucheary, class segregation and class division is emerging as the biggest fault line in Singapore. A fault line that threatens our social cohesion and national unity. This is likely to be made worse by the effects of the COVID-19 recession. And yet, we face the challenge of balancing support with prudence. How do we lift up the most vulnerable, during and beyond the current crisis, while conserving our country's reserves? That is a critical question that our Budget needs to address. I believe the answer lies in the word "optimising". In other words, we need to, "spend less, yet achieve more". I know, it sounds easier said than done. Emeritus Senior Minister Goh spoke years ago about individual action, by those who have more, to reach back and help others behind us to climb the ladder and it is wisdom that is relevant today. When I was a child, I remembered being told by adults whenever I was given a treat or a snack, to share it with others. My mom or dad would always tell me to offer it to someone else first: "Jie Jie, Aunty, Uncle, would you like to share this with me?" And this reframe became a habit, even now, as an adult, for me. The virtue of sharing that many of us learnt as children, needs to be "Turbo-charged" with the Government's will and support, so that there is a national strategy for sharing and optimisation. Because "Sharing is Caring", we can achieve better outcomes with less resources. But how do we share? And what do we share?”
“Okay, laughter is good too. Mr Speaker, Sir, 2020 was a tumultuous year for all. Through our nation's first ever circuit breaker and almost a year of job losses across many sectors, we have pulled through, thanks to the multiple Budgets and support provided by the Government. We know from looking back on the 2008 Financial Crisis and what happened in the United States and other democracies around the world, that the most concerning effects of major economic downturns, are political and social. Inequalities worsened by the financial crises led to fertile ground for populist movements and more pronounced political and social division. We cannot be naive in thinking that Singapore can be spared. While it is critical that we innovate and invest in transforming our economy to keep Singapore relevant globally, the Government also has an imperative to help our people recover, psychologically and socially, from the impact of a large scale crisis. What is the state of well-being of our people, amidst this historic disruption to lives and livelihoods? We are lucky for Government that has cushioned us well. But, is it really sufficient for only a national care hotline to support our people through what is worldwide, the worst global recession since the Great Depression? At the same time that we ramp up investments and efforts to drive industry transformation, reskilling, career shifts and so on, we need to be mindful that not everyone can catch up so easily to this "turbo-charged" momentum. Are those amongst us who are least resourced able to catch up? Last week, an opinion piece in The Straits Times talked about "tightening class circles". The writer Grace Ho discussed network diversity and the side effects of meritocracy.”
“I would like to request a few moments of silence just to let the House have a mental reprieve from the many messages that have been shared so far, before I start my speech.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I would really like to reflect some sentiments that residents have surfaced to me. Typically, some of the aunties who have been housewives. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Some housewives stay at home to look after their loved ones for many years. They ask me, "Why is it that my friends who work can receive Workfare? I stay at home, not because I do not want to work; it is because I need to look after my family. Why is it that I can’t receive Workfare?" (In English): Can we consider a separate scheme that perhaps is some version of Workfare but called "Carefare Income Supplement" in the near future or whatever timeline in the future?”
“Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for providing the data. Great to know that there are extensive efforts by the relevant Ministries to look into pre-school and also care-givers support, to help women who are disproportionately more impacted by care-giving responsibilities on their employment. Given that in Singapore, our retirement adequacy is tied almost entirely to employment, and given that we have an ageing population, we can expect that more people, especially women, could be displaced from the workforce due to the rising needs for eldercare. So, would the Minister of State agree that it is important to value the work of care by some measures, so that we can avoid compromising care-givers' retirement adequacy? My second supplementary question is, perhaps, it is not so fair to just direct this question at MOM, given it already has got a lot under its portfolio. But is there any multi-Ministry attention or cross-Ministry efforts now, in addition to the Caregiver Support Action Plan, to consider identifying long-term care care-givers who are displaced from the workforce to provide them with some form of basic income, either in cash or in the form of CPF top-ups to avoid retirement inadequacy?”
“Fifteen thousand, okay. The question I wanted to ask was motivated by the fact that many residents come to Meet-the-People Session or MPS. These are low-wage workers who were not able to produce either termination or retrenchment letters, and their involuntary loss of jobs was deemed or seen as voluntary because there was this concern that they wanted to preserve the goodwill with their employers in order to safeguard their future job prospects within the same industry. So, if the policy here is to cater for involuntary job loss, we do need to have some empathy for circumstances where it is not so clear-cut. Based on that, would the Ministry be open to give the SSOs discretion to process these cases at the frontline, without necessarily having the applicants go through an appeal process, given their bandwidth tax and also the fact many low-wage workers depend on these payouts for some of their basic needs. So, the question is, can the SSOs at the frontline have the discretion to approve this kind of suspected involuntary but appears voluntary applications, so that we can reduce the bandwidth tax on applicants for the COVID-19 Recovery Grant in the new year?”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for providing the numbers. I am not sure whether I heard correctly, that 95,000 applications have been approved, out of which 50,000 have been approved upon appeal.”
“Thank you, Minister of State. I would like to find out whether there are current plans and timelines for further studies around the various factors contributing to these outcomes that children from divorced families present. I think that will contribute to certain mitigation measures and specific programmes to address those factors. Are there any plans right now for this kind of research to further pursue the factors contributing to these outcomes?”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response and for sharing with us the programmes related to support, post-divorce, and also, pre-marital counselling. I would like to highlight that when couples go through divorce, unfortunately, despite all the efforts in pre-marital counselling and support that has already happened, it is a very difficult journey. I would like to ask what exactly was the Ministry's intention and motivation for this study? And what was the motivation for publishing the results of this study in a manner that, unfortunately, I think, creates the unintended further stigmatising of divorcees, achieving the effect of maybe potentially guilt-tripping them, and also the unfortunate labelling of children from divorced families. Are there any measures within the Ministry to look into better planning such communications in future, where it can be accompanied by further and deeper insights into the factors that account for the outcomes that were shared? I understand the spirit of data sharing and observations, but the timing of this publication and the limited scope or insights that it provided, unfortunately, created a certain effect amongst divorcees. I went through a broken marriage before. I was quite saddened when I saw this and I questioned myself. Does this make it harder for couples who are already considering divorce due to very difficult circumstances in their marriage? Because then, they would worry about these outcomes, which they already do worry about. It does not help them in their consideration process.”
“Thank you, Speaker. I have a question for Senior Minister of State Zaqy. The question pertains to the age criterion of 35 years old for eligibility for Workfare Income Supplement or WIS. I understand that this policy's aim is mostly to supplement the income of ageing workers who have a lower chance of increasing their salaries due to their age. Also, the Senior Minister of State Zaqy mentioned about the focus on helping breadwinners of families. I would like to ask if it is possible that we can revise or remove the 35-year-old age criterion if the individual is a sole breadwinner in the family, as I have seen many single parents in the community who struggle to bring up their children and they are below 35 years old, and would greatly benefit from this income supplement. The second question is, Senior Minister of State Zaqy mentioned that the amount WIS that an individual gets within a year, ranges from $1,000-plus to a maximum of about $3,600. Even at the maximum, it translates to about $300 increment on a monthly basis. I would like to ask if it would be possible to consider increasing the quantum of WIS payouts so that instead of a family having to go to multiple and various agencies to receive different kinds of social security benefits, they can get this increased ability in terms of financial resources very directly from WIS, so that they do not have to go through the hassle and the quite undignifying experience of going to multiple aid agencies, which also would translate to more efficiencies from a whole-of-Government perspective.”
“Speaker, I thank the Minister of State. I would like to ask two supplementary questions with regard to this, whether MOE has any plan to engage relevant experts in handling of sexual assault cases to provide training and sensitisation to personnel in IHLs as well as Secondary schools and tertiary institutions, given that in this digital age, our children are getting exposed to sexual material and content very easily and at a much earlier age through digital media? Secondly, will MOE consider putting in place a requirement, if it does not currently have this requirement, for educational institutions to create or set up a small team or committee of properly trained personnel to handle such cases, going forward?”
“Mr Speaker, I would like to make one point, but please pardon me, I have few lead-ups to that point. I thank the Minister for all these packages and support the MCCY has shared about for the Arts community and I am truly grateful for all these that we have budgeted for in the immediate short term of the pandemic which I know is difficult and we need to be prudent with our resources. But as with all things, I think we need to begin with a goal in mind. My question to the Minister is how far are we as a country setting our sights for the future of our Singaporean Arts for the sector? Do we have and what is our ambition for Singaporean Arts internationally if there is even one at this moment? We have given a lot of tribute to how the Arts and the Sports make up the Tapestry of Singapore, provide social cohesiveness, but I would like to encourage and seek the Minister's clarification on whether there is any thinking right now, or there will be any thinking in the near future, about planning for the Singaporean arts scene to become internationally successful and viable.”
“Thank you, Speaker. Actually, to be honest, that is a really big debate going on and I think to avoid just discussing this purely on theoretical or rhetorical menace, I would like to ask both sides of the House, including the Senior Minister of State, from the position of someone who is also declaring my interest as strategic advisor to Daughters of Tomorrow where we work actively with employers and businesses to advocate directly to them for what we call livable wages for the employees. Is there anything that Senior Minister of State Koh might want to share that Members of Parliament, backbenchers, or even community groups can do to help the Government in this effort to encourage more employers in different sectors to think about different ways and using different angles to encourage them to pay the employees more, and in return reap the benefits of a workforce that has higher morale and give higher loyalty to the companies and businesses.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank Minister for his reply. While I understand the importance of CPF and MediSave, and the important role those play in ensuring long-term security for our workers in terms of their retirement and healthcare needs, would the Minister not agree that for individuals already facing cashflow difficulty in the current period, expecting them to make their MediSave arrears first before allowing them to get this payout to meet their immediate needs, is in fact defeating the purpose of the scheme in alleviating immediate financial challenges faced by these individuals? This is in allusion to my maiden speech where I mentioned the good intentions of the Government to 雪中送炭变成雪上加霜. So, in view of that, will the Minister agree that we can allow these individuals to work out an instalment payment arrangement for their MediSave arrears, while at the same time making them eligible to receive the Workfare Special Payment?”
“Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the Minister. First, before I put my question, I would like to declare my interest as the strategic advisor to local charity Daughters of Tomorrow which works with many low-income women, including Long-Term Visit Pass-holders who are married to Singaporeans and have Singaporean children. Given our low fertility rate that the Minister had shared, would the Prime Minister's Office consider making the citizenship status more accessible to Long-Term Visit Pass-holders who already have Singaporean children in Singapore for the long-term viability of giving them better access to support and employment opportunities within Singapore, in order to provide more conducive environments to bring up their children?”
“I thank the Minister for her reply to the question. My concern is about the resourcing to process the number of opportunities available. I think it is heartening that there are many opportunities available, but given the 25 staff at SBF right now, processing over a thousand host organisations base on the statistics, that is about 40 host organisations per SBF staff. So, would the Minister not agree that for those who have lost their jobs and everyone in the family has lost their jobs, we would need to increase or a ramping up of resourcing and expedited channel to help them access these job opportunities as soon as possible? Would the Minister consider creating a priority or fast-track channel for trainee applicants under the traineeship programmes whose families have no other working or income earning individuals?”
“Two, to broaden the eligibility criteria for the Digitalisation Fund beyond G-rated productions. Three, to develop a wage guideline framework for the arts sector, in consultation with the sector's workers. And lastly, to invest in capacity-building of the arts and entertainment sector through overseas exchanges, scholarships, as well as business and marketing training for arts and media students, artists and arts producers. In the 1930s in America, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal included a "Federal One" project. The federal government hired more than 10,000 artists to create works of art across the country, including murals, theatre, fine arts, music, writing, design, and so on. It was part of a plan to stimulate economic recovery during the Great Depression, where there was widespread poverty and high unemployment. This plan helped put artists back to work on lifting the spirits of a people, and inspiring them towards a more hopeful future amidst the economic turmoil of that time. We could take a leaf out of that book. Art can be a great nation-building tool, forging common identity amongst the people amidst a crisis. And what do we envision when we say "Singapore Together"? Singapore is not just a nation of engineers, scientists, technologists and doctors. Amongst us are playwrights, songwriters, painters, poets and storytellers. A truly inclusive economy and future is one that allows all diverse talent to thrive. To borrow the words from a famous American actress Stella Adler, who founded the Stella Adler Conservatory of Theatre in 1949, and was also teacher to Steve McQueen and Robert DeNiro, "When life beats down and crushes the soul, art reminds you that you have one." Let us not allow our arts sector to languish any further.”
“This is the result of active and committed investment by the Korean government since the 1960s, in preserving traditional and modern culture, and actively promoting it internationally. Singapore can emulate Korea's example, and go even further, potentially increasing our soft power internationally as well. I hope that the Government will consider investing more into the development of the arts. Create business mentorship and marketing training specifically for artists and entertainers so that they can acquire business literacy to make better livelihoods out of their talent and craft. The arts and entertainment sector can also benefit from professionalisation such as a wage framework guideline so that artists are not subject to the devaluation of their work and a race to the bottom to get jobs, which is happening often currently. In our Future Economy deliberations, I sincerely hope the arts and entertainment sector will receive due consideration for its potential. When I was 16 years old, I told my parents I would like to study fashion design and become a fashion designer. They told me I would not be able to make a decent living out of it, and insisted I get a degree in NUS which I did. I am sad to observe that 20 years on, this still rings true. The Singapore Tourism Board marketed us as a country where "passion is made possible". It was a wonderful campaign, but such efforts should go beyond being a short-term marketing campaign. We need broad and deep capacity-building, for the diverse talents and passion for our people to thrive. To summarise, I have four specific proposals for the House to consider and to support. In the immediate term, to increase and extend JSS support for arts workers, and income support to permanent casual workers who did not qualify for SIRS.”