Chan Chun Sing
Singapore
“Since 2002, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has worked with the autonomous universities (AUs) to establish arrangements that minimise disruption to National Servicemen (NSmen) who are pursuing full-time studies up to the undergraduate level, while meeting the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) operational and training needs.”
“Secondments help to build up the range of competencies and work experiences of public officers to strengthen their longer-term employment relevance and resilience. The Public Service Division's guideline to agencies is to support public officers even while they are on secondment.”
“The priority of our National Servicemen must be their military duties and operational training, to meet the Singapore Armed Forces's (SAF's) operational requirements.”
“In January 2026, I had informed this House that the Government had convened an independent committee to conduct a review of the political salary framework that was laid out in 2012. The Committee has completed the review and submitted its recommendations to the Government in April.”
“All countries seek to develop mutually beneficial partnerships, and the United States-Indonesia Major Defence Cooperation Partnership is one such example.”
“Since the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) was established in 2014, over 1,500 men and women have completed training and served as SAFVC Volunteers (SVs). Presently, there are about 1,100 in-service SVs, comprising 52% male and 48% female. About seven in 10 of our in-service SVs are new Citizens or Permanent Residents.”
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“That is the winning margin, the closest ever. But our error, the closest ever, is more like one in 2,000 – or rather, less than one in 2,000. So, I just want to assure the public that ELD has gone through the records and, while there is a margin of error, this margin of error is nowhere to the extent that it will call into question any of the election results that we had in recent memories.”
“Let me explain the numbers. There are 111,000 non-voters. The vast bulk of these non-voters, be it in GE2011, GE2015 or GE2020, were either overseas or some of them could be very old and very frail and so, did not vote. They are the vast bulk of these. For the 32,000 who asked to be restored, chances are that most of them were perhaps overseas or ill on that day and they have asked to be restored. I do not think you will have 111,000 minus the 32,000 and, therefore, you end up with about 79,000 persons who have voted. That would not happen because, from the numbers, you will know that this is not the case. Also, from the previous experience, we know that the number of people who are so-called registered wrongly is not in that order of magnitude. Perhaps, I should explain, just to put aside any doubt that this has in any way affected the accuracy or validity of the results. Of course, the first thing I must say is this – ELD will endeavour to make sure that we minimise the error to as close to zero as possible. It is very difficult because, whether it is the manual or electronic system, sometimes, there will be an error. But we will endeavour to make sure that this error is the minimum possible. But just to give a bit of context as to what the error rate is like. Just now, I have explained that a typical polling station will have about, say, 2,500 voters. And the error, as what we have described just now, on average, is about one per polling station, which means about one in 2,500. That is the margin of error. If we look at our recent GE results, the closest contest, if I remember correctly, should be Potong Pasir in 2011. It is about 100-plus votes difference out of about 20,000 voters. So, that margin is about one in 200 or thereabouts.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me answer Ms He Ting Ru's first question. At the end of every Polling Day, there will be a combination of electronic records in the current system plus some manual records. Because in instances where the electronic system malfunctions or fails for whatever reason, we will have to rely on the manual record. So, at the end of each Polling Day, we would not immediately have the numbers because there is the electronic dataset, which we have to reconcile with the manual set. So, that is the answer to the first question. And even if we can reconcile it immediately, it will not be able to tell us who are the non-voters accurately. On the second question, indeed, it is not so much about a one-time sweep or when the voters can check their names. As I have explained in my reply, once the reconciliation is done, from that period until the next election when the Writ is issued, at any point in time, the voters can check their status. And we agree with you; we encourage all the voters to check their status anytime. It is not just only during the period when ELD publicises this. ELD will of course still make the publications, but the voters can go to any of the community centres (CCs) or the ELD website to check their status. On top of that, this time round, we are specifically adding this extra step whereby those who are in the non-voters list will be encouraged to go and check their status way ahead of the next election.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we thank Mr Liang Eng Hwa for his feedback. Precisely because voting is compulsory, the Election Acts requires that the names of the non-voters be expunged from the Registers if they did not vote. This is in the Election Acts. And a penalty of $50 must be paid for one's name to be restored if he or she does not provide a valid reason for not voting. The penalty is waived if the voter is able to provide a valid reason such as being overseas on Polling Day. Otherwise, he or she will no longer be able to vote in future elections, or to stand nominated as a candidate for elections. In other words, the penalty for not voting and the process of expunging the names of non-voters, give effect to the notion of compulsory voting. Starting on a clean slate with no penalty will undermine this.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir. I thank Mr Pritam Singh for his supplementary questions. First, let me assure Mr Pritam Singh all the 1,093 voters who were left out or not registered properly for PE2023, all their names have been restored to the Registers. And now ELD is doing the reconciliation for PE2023. We will be sending all those in the non-voters list for PE2023 personal notifications, as I have explained, to encourage them to verify their status.”
“But I must say, even with assurance about the redundancy, ELD's planning norms are such that in every polling station, even if the electronic registration systems failed, we will be able to clear the queues with the manual processes, as we had done in the past. So, the baseline is that manual processes will allow us to comfortably clear all the voters in that polling station. On top of that, if this is supplemented by the electronic system, it will help us to speed up the clearance even faster. Which is why, for this particular PE, even though there were 52% of the voters voting in the first four hours, by about 10.00 am in the morning, we had pretty much managed to clear all the queues and clear 52% of the voters within the first four hours.”
“Prior to Polling Day itself, they conducted full-dress rehearsals with all the devices on, to check the connectivity and hardware issues; and they were satisfied that they were all in working condition. ELD, in the initial findings, has pretty much narrowed this down to a technical issue that has to do with the software. And let me explain it in layman's terms as follows. In ELD's stress tests, they stress test a certain volume of transactions within a certain amount of time. So, this election, notwithstanding the fact that within the first four hours, 52% of the people have voted compared to 32% in the last GE, we had stress tested that scenario. But there was one particular feature that perhaps, in hindsight, the technical officers could have looked deeper into. And that is when all the devices were sending messages to the central server and when the inordinate amount of surge happened, some of the messages did not get through. And when the packets of messages did not get through, the system kept trying. And because as the system kept trying, it continued to pile up a backlog of packets that have to be cleared. When ELD technical officers realised this, after 8.30 am when this thing happened, they quickly increased the memory and computing power capacity, and this helped us to quickly resolve the issue. So, if you like, some messages did not get through, they continued to pile up, creating a backlog and it caused a bit of a cascade effect. But with the quick discovery of this problem, the ELD officers were able to quickly increase the computing power and also the memory in order to clear the backlog. But once the backlog had set in, it took us about an hour plus to clear the backlog and return the clearance speed to normal.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. Let me respond to the three supplementary questions. I will start with the third one. Yes, definitely, ELD will continue to improve just as per every election. We will take in the debrief and feedback from all members of the public and also Members in this Chamber, and ELD will continue to seek to strive better, be it process wise or the technical issues that we face. So, that is the third question that Dr Tan asked. The second one, on the issue of reliability, yes, indeed, ELD has specifications on the reliability standards. And let me perhaps take this question a bit further to explain what we mean by "reliability standards". The reliability of a system depends on a few parts and to answer the second question, all these were also stress tested. First, we have to make sure that the hardware is functioning well. Second, we have to make sure that the connectivity between the over 4,500 systems all around the island, is connected well and has certain redundancy. And third, we have to make sure that the software is also working fine. Sir, as I have explained, the first is that, for this particular PE, we have ruled out the issue of a cyber-attack. The second is that we have also checked that the hardware has worked well and it was not the main contributing factor to the slowness in the first few hours, the slowness that started at 8.30 am that lasted until about 10.00 am during Polling Day. The third thing is about connectivity. For all the polling stations, we had double redundancy to make sure that we did not rely on any particular network, and this was also stress tested during the run-up. In fact, ELD undertook the technical tests.”
“The electronic Registration system seeks to reduce waiting times and automate attendance taking for the benefit of voters. ELD will continue to enhance the system so that the registration data are captured swiftly and accurately.”
“Based on ELD’s preliminary investigations, there was a 30% average loss in device connectivity in the first hour of polling and this reduced to 16% by 10.00 am. There was no evidence that this was caused by cyber-attacks. Instead, this could have been partly contributed by the surge in the volume of transactions during the morning peak, where about 52% of the total number of voters had already voted in the first four hours, compared to 32% in GE2020. For PE2023, ELD had endeavoured to reduce queues and waiting times for the convenience of voters. The number of polling stations was increased by 15% to 1,264 stations, from the 1,097 stations in GE2020. This reduced the average number of voters assigned to a polling station from about 2,400 voters in GE2020 to 2,150 voters in PE2023. Each polling station also had more e-Registration devices than before, from between two and four devices each, proportionate to the number of voters in the polling stations, with an additional spare device each for contingency. For reference, a polling station with only two e-Registration devices can process at least six voters per minute on average, which is a 50% higher throughput compared to manual registration which does so at the rate of an average of four voters per minute. I would like to also take this opportunity to thank our election officials who adapted quickly and kicked in the contingency measure as planned to register voters using the hard copy registers, which they had been trained to do. As a result, by about 9.55 am, ELD had reported that queues had improved at most stations. We would also like to thank voters who had to queue longer during the morning of peak hours Polling Day for their patience and understanding.”
“At this point, the election official should tap the "OK" button to return to the registration screen so that the NRIC of the next voter can be scanned. If the NRIC of the next voter is scanned when the screen has not returned to the registration screen, the alert sound will still be emitted, as this indicates that the NRIC has been scanned. However, the record of this voter would not have been captured. It is likely that in their effort to clear the queues at some polling stations quickly in GE2020, some election officials might have missed out this step. As a result, the registration of the affected voters was not captured. For PE2023, we implemented a new electronic registration system with a simplified process. Election officials need not press any button to return to the registration screen to register the next voter. Therefore, the issue of non-captured registrations as a result of not pressing a button would no longer arise. Dr Tan asked what is being done to ensure that all who voted were registered, and Dr Tan, Mr Singh and Mr Liang also asked what will be done to prevent a recurrence where those who had voted were inadvertently removed from the Registers. Going forward, besides making a public call for voters to check their status when the non-voter list is published for verification, ELD will institute an additional measure to individually inform Singaporeans on the non-voter list via mail and through SG Notify in Singpass to verify their status, and to restore their names to the Registers if need be. We thank Ms Ng Ling Ling for her suggestion. Dr Tan asked about the number of polling stations that experienced technical issues with the electronic registration system during the recent PE2023.”
“Voters need not wait for these periods, but are able to check their status in the registers all year round either through Voter Services on ELD’s website, at any of the over 100 community centres or clubs or by calling ELD. However, there remained some voters who did not check that their names were on the Registers. After the Writ was issued for PE2023 and up to Polling Day, 1,093 Singaporeans informed the ELD that they did not receive their poll card even though they said that they had voted in GE2020. For context, this number averages one voter per polling station, which had an average of 2,400 registered voters in GE2020. So, this is about one voter per polling station with an average of 2,400 registered voters in GE2020. Further, ELD’s analysis of the distribution of the affected voters showed that there is no pattern across the polling stations and that the 1,093 cases were distributed across more than 500 polling stations. ELD has investigated this and concluded that the most probable cause of the error was that the NRIC details of these affected voters had not been captured properly by the electronic registration system, which was only introduced from GE2020. This is because the proper registration procedure may not have been followed for the affected voters, especially in some of the more crowded stations. Let me explain. A voter’s NRIC and poll card are first checked by election officials at the registration counter before the NRIC is scanned to register the voter. When the NRIC of a voter is scanned by the barcode reader, an alert or "beep" sound will be emitted and a digital screen will flash an "OK" button, indicating that the voter data has been successfully captured in the system.”
“Checking the registration figures at the end of Polling Day may also not be instructive – and this is because the process to ensure voting secrecy means that we will not be able to identify individual voters, including those who had not been registered accurately and would therefore be listed as non-voters in due course. Furthermore, every voter receives only one ballot paper and the ballot boxes which contain all of the cast ballot papers are always in the custody of election officials, properly sealed, with polling and counting agents able to witness this process, and secured while in transit. Ahead of Presidential Election 2023 (PE2023), ELD publicised that the revised Registers were available for inspection from 15 June 2023 and that the certified Registers which contains updated information from the inspection period were available for inspection from 21 July 2023. These exercises were carried out to enable Singaporeans to check their details and restore their names to the Registers ahead of the election. From October 2020 to the day of the Writ in August this year, some 32,000 voters checked and restored their names. Similar to previous exercises, there were very few who requested ELD to restore their names due to inaccuracy in the recording of their voting status in GE2020. As such, ELD did not suspect that there were significant inaccuracies in the recording. The list of non-voters had been opened for inspection shortly after the GE2020 and the public were reminded that the registers were available for inspection in June and July 2023 before the Writ for PE2023 was issued.”
“The non-voter list contains the names of people who have not turned up to vote. The vast majority of them did not vote either because they were not in Singapore or were ill on Polling Day. For these cases, their names were not crossed out in the hardcopy polling registers as they did not turn up at the polling stations. After each election, there would be a few voters who claimed that they had voted even though upon checking, their names were not crossed out in the hardcopy polling registers. Thus, in reply to Mr Pritam Singh’s question, prior to the introduction of electronic registration at General Election 2020 (GE2020), ELD encountered only a few cases of voters who were on the non-voter list who claimed that they had voted. For GE2020, GE2015 and GE2011, ELD recorded about 111,000, 155,000 and 147,000 non-voters respectively. As can be seen, the non-voter list for GE2020 was much smaller, rather than bigger, than the two previous GEs. As per every election, ELD published the non-voter list for voters to verify about three months after GE2020. This was publicised via a press release on 5 October 2020, which was covered by the mainstream media. Ms He asked why a tally of the number of NRICs scanned and the number of votes cast after the last general election was not conducted as a first instance check. Given the much lower number of non-voters for GE2020 compared to the two general elections before, ELD did not suspect that an unusual number of voters had not been recorded as registered.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Let me first set out the Elections Department's (ELD) key executional objectives at every election, which is to ensure: firstly, that only bona fide voters are issued with ballot papers; secondly that no extra ones were put in; and thirdly that all votes cast are counted, so that the election result is determined by the eligible voters for that election. To achieve this, we have put in place a set of procedures that need to be complied with. Let me explain. Upon the voter’s arrival at the polling station, the election official will verify his identity and eligibility to vote at the polling station, and then register the voter’s attendance via a hardcopy polling station register or the electronic registration system. Thereafter, the voter is directed to the ballot paper issuance counter. The election official issuing the ballot paper is required, by law, to read out the name and voter serial number of a voter before the voter is issued a ballot paper. This allows the polling agents to mark their copy of the register and provide an additional check to ensure that only eligible voters in the register for that polling station are individually issued with a ballot paper. As a result, when the votes are tallied for an election, we can be confident that the outcome is the one decided by the eligible voters for that election. After the end of each election, ELD compiles the list of voters registered to have voted on Polling Day and compares them against the list of voters in the certified Registers of Electors for the election. Those who were not registered as having voted on Polling Day are included in the list of non-voters, which is published after each election for inspection.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on behalf of the Prime Minister, may I have your permission to answer Question Nos 1 to 4 by Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Pritam Singh, Dr Tan Wu Meng and Ms He Ting Ru on today’s Order Paper, please?”
“The Ministry of Education (MOE) hires and deploys full-time school counsellors to support students’ socio-emotional or mental well-being in Government and Government-Aided schools. As madrasahs are private schools, they do not receive funding from MOE to hire staff, including school counsellors. That said, the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) works with madrasahs to support the socio-emotional and mental well-being of madrasah students. For example, MUIS partners community organisations with expertise in mental health to provide counselling services to support madrasah students. Madrasahs have also been equipping more teachers with basic counselling skills and sharing more information with students and parents on mental health issues.”
“The Higher Mother Tongue Language (HMTL) curriculum is designed to stretch students who have a strong interest and aptitude in the language. Students offering HMTL will bear a heavier curriculum and learning load, as the subject covers additional content knowledge and skills compared to Mother Tongue Language (MTL) as a second language taken at the Express level, or G3 under Full Subject-Based Banding. The eligibility criteria ensure that students possess the necessary academic ability to cope with the heavier learning load, so that the learning of HMTL will not come at the expense of other subjects. Nevertheless, students who do not meet the eligibility criteria still have the opportunity to take HMTL. Secondary schools have the flexibility to offer HMTL to students who are assessed to have strong ability and interest in MTL and are able to handle the additional workload without affecting their performance in other subjects.”
“In the past five years, around 300 Higher Nitec students with a net Grade Point Average (GPA) of between 2.0 and 2.5 progressed to the polytechnics yearly. The performance and completion rates of ITE graduates in our polytechnics generally correlate with their GPA obtained, with students obtaining a GPA above 2.5 doing better than those below.”
“The Art syllabuses in schools encompass a wide range of art forms and media, themes and topics, exposing students to a range of artworks by Singapore, Asian and international artists. Schools organise learning journeys to local art museums and arts organisations to enable students to learn about art in context and to deepen their cultural appreciation. While schools, polytechnics, the Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) and autonomous universities are not required to organise overseas art-related study trips for students, some have done so as part of their broader offering of learning opportunities. Over the last 10 years (2013-2022), schools have organised about 50 overseas art-related study trips. At LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, which are part of the University of the Arts Singapore, students have opportunities to take part in overseas programmes and exchanges. Both schools and the Institutes of Higher Learning tap on various sources of funding to support overseas programmes, including those that support needy Singaporean students.”
“Between 2018 and 2022, the number of cases of sexual offences committed against mainstream school students on school premises remained low. Schools are obligated by law to make a Police report if they are aware that a sexual offence had been committed or that a person intends to commit a sexual offence, whether the perpetrator is a minor or not. Through the Ministry of Education’s Sexuality Education curriculum, students are taught about personal safety, sexual abuse and harassment and the laws that protect them in Singapore. They also learn to look out for one another and seek help from trusted adults, such as their parents, teachers and school counsellors. Teachers are trained to look out for signs of distress in students. Correctional measures are taken by schools for all student offenders, including reporting to Police and suspension from school. Schools also engage the family and provide counselling to the student to prevent the student offender from re-offending. For victims of sexual offences, schools ensure that the victims receive timely counselling support. School counsellors are equipped with skills to assess the psycho-emotional state of the victims and provide the appropriate interventions or referrals required. Schools also work with parents and other relevant partners, such as Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health (REACH), to monitor and support the victims.”
“Over the 10-year period from 2013 to 2022, a total of 18 law enforcement officers were convicted of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Of these, seven were from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, seven from the Singapore Police Force, and one from the Land Transport Authority. None of the officers convicted during this period was from the Central Narcotics Bureau.”
“Under the law, after the two-week inspection period, ELD is required to put up a Claimant List, setting out the various claims by voters, for public inspection. This is to allow eligible individuals to raise any objections to the claims. For this exercise, the inspection period of the Claimant List took place from 12 July 2023 to 19 July 2023. ELD can only certify the Registers at the end of this period after all claims have been dealt with. The Registers of Electors were certified on 20 July 2023, which was a few weeks before the Writ was issued for the Presidential Election. Once the Registers are certified, no changes to the particulars of the voters, including their addresses, may be made until the Registers are next revised. This is to provide certainty to the candidates on the voters that would be participating in the election. The current two-week period is a reasonable amount of time for the public to inspect the Registers and to make changes to their particulars. We encourage voters to promptly update changes to their particulars on their NRICs, so that the revised Registers also reflect these particulars.”
“To update on changes to the electorate, the Elections Department (ELD) prepares new Registers of Electors based on a prescribed date as set out under the law. The prescribed date was revised to 1 June 2023 earlier this year. This means that for Presidential Election 2023, the particulars of voters, including their residential addresses, were updated based on latest records kept by the Commissioner of National Registration as of 1 June 2023. As the Registers prepared based on the prescribed date of 1 June 2023 are the latest copies of the Registers, ELD assigns voters to polling stations based on the residential addresses in these Registers. For Presidential Election 2023, the exercise to revise the Registers was completed on 14 June 2023. The two-week period for the public to inspect the Registers is prescribed by law. ELD issued a press release to inform the public that the Registers were available for inspection for the two-week period from 15 June 2023 to 28 June 2023. In the same press release, ELD advised Singaporeans that they may submit a claim to update their particulars, including their addresses, if these are different from what is reflected in their NRICs. This information was covered by the media and shared via Digital Display Panels in the lift landings of HDB flats, ServiceSG centres and at over 100 community centres/clubs. Singaporeans can check their particulars using Voter Services on ELD’s website, “My Profile” on Singpass Mobile App and “Home” on LifeSG App. Those who are unable to check their particulars in the registers electronically may do so at ServiceSG centres and community centres/clubs near their homes or at the ELD office.”
“This reduced the average number of voters assigned to a polling station from about 2,400 voters in GE2020 to 2,150 voters in PE2023. Each polling station also had more e-Registration devices than before, from between two to four devices each, proportionate to the number of voters in the polling stations, with an additional spare device each for contingency. For reference, a polling station with only two e-Registration devices can process six voters per minute on average, which is a 50% higher throughput, compared to the manual registration rate which does so at an average of four voters per minute. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our election officials who adapted quickly and kicked in the contingency measure as planned to register voters using the hardcopy registers, which they had been trained to do. As a result, by about 9.55 am, ELD had reported that queues had improved at most polling stations. I thank voters who had to queue longer during the morning of Polling Day for their patience and understanding. The electronic Registration system seeks to reduce waiting times and automate attendance taking for the benefit of voters. ELD will continue to enhance the system so that the registration data are captured swiftly and accurately.”
“Election officials need not press any button to return to the registration screen to register the next voter. Therefore, the issue of non-captured registrations as a result of not pressing a button would not arise. Dr Tan Wu Meng asked what is being done to ensure that all who voted were registered and Dr Tan, Mr Pritam Singh and Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked what will be done to prevent a recurrence where those who had voted were inadvertently removed from the Registers. Going forward, besides making a public call for voters to check their status when the non-voter list is published for verification, ELD will institute an additional measure to individually inform Singaporeans on the non-voter list via mail and through SG Notify in Singpass to verify their status, and to restore their names to the Registers. We thank Ms Ng Ling Ling for her suggestion. Dr Tan asked about the number of polling stations that experienced technical issues with the electronic registration system during the recent Presidential Election 2023. Based on ELD’s preliminary investigations, there was a 30% average loss in device connectivity in the first hour of polling and this reduced to 16% by 10.00 am. There was no evidence that this was caused by cyberattacks. Instead, this could have been partly contributed by the surge in the volume of transactions during the morning peak, when about 52% of the total number of voters had already voted in the first four hours, compared to 32% in GE2020. For Presidential Election 2023, ELD had endeavoured to reduce queues and waiting times for the convenience of voters. The number of polling stations was increased by 15% to 1,264 stations, from the 1,097 in GE2020.”
“For context, this number averages one voter per polling station which had on average 2,400 registered voters in GE2020. Further, ELD’s analysis of the distribution of the affected voters showed that there is no pattern across the polling stations and that the 1,093 cases were distributed across more than 500 polling stations. ELD has investigated this and concluded that the most probable cause of error was that the NRIC details of these affected voters had not been captured properly by the electronic registration system, which was only introduced from GE2020. This is because the proper registration procedure may not have been followed for the affected voters. Let me explain. A voter’s NRIC and poll card are first checked by election officials at the registration counter before the NRIC is scanned to register the voter. When the NRIC of a voter is scanned by the barcode reader, an alert or “beep” sound will be emitted, and a digital screen will flash an “Ok” button, indicating that the voter data has been successfully captured in the system. At this point, the election official should tap the “Ok” button to return to the registration screen so that the NRIC of the next voter can be scanned. If the NRIC of the next voter is scanned when the screen has not returned to the registration screen, the alert sound will still be emitted, as this indicates that the NRIC had been scanned. However, the record of this voter would not have been captured. It is likely that in their effort to clear the queues at some polling stations, some election officials might have missed out this step. As a result, the registration of the affected voters was not captured. For Presidential Election 2023, we implemented a new electronic registration system with a simplified process.”
“Furthermore, every voter receives only one ballot paper and the ballot boxes which contain all cast ballot papers are always in the custody of election officials, properly sealed with polling and counting agents able to witness this process and secured while in transit. Ahead of Presidential Election (PE) 2023, ELD publicised that the revised Registers were available for inspection from 15 June 2023 and that the certified Registers which contain updated information from the inspection period were available for inspection from 21 July 2023. These exercises were carried out to enable Singaporeans to check their details and restore their names to the Registers ahead of the election. From October 2020 to the day of the Writ in August this year, some 32,000 voters checked and restored their names. Similar to previous exercises, there were very few who requested ELD to restore their names due to inaccuracy in the recording of their voting status in GE2020. As such, ELD did not suspect that there were significant inaccuracies in the recording. The list of non-voters had been opened for inspection shortly after the GE2020, and the public were reminded that the registers were available for inspection in June and July 2023 before the Writ for PE was issued. Voters need not wait for these periods, but are able to check their status in the registers all year round either through Voter Services on ELD’s website, at any of the over 100 community centres/clubs or by calling ELD. However, there remained some voters who did not check that their names were on the registers. After the Writ was issued for PE2023 and up to Polling Day, 1,093 Singaporeans informed ELD that they did not receive their poll card even though they said that they had voted in GE2020.”
“The vast majority of them did not vote either because they were not in Singapore or were ill on Polling Day. For these cases, their names were not crossed out in the hardcopy polling registers as they did not turn up at the polling stations. After each election, there would be a few voters who claimed that they had voted even though, upon checking, their names were not crossed out in the hardcopy polling registers. Thus, in reply to Mr Pritam Singh’s question, prior to the introduction of electronic registration at GE2020, ELD encountered only a few cases of voters who were on the non-voter list who claimed that they had voted. For GE2020, GE2015 and GE2011, ELD recorded about 111,000, 155,000 and 147,000 non-voters respectively. As can be seen, the non-voter list for GE2020 was much smaller, rather than bigger than the two previous GEs. As per every election, ELD published the non-voter list for voters to verify, about three months after GE2020. This was publicised via a press release on 5 October 2020 which was covered by mainstream media. Ms He asked why a tally of the number of NRICs scanned and the number of votes cast after the last general election was not conducted as a first instance check. Given the much lower number of non-voters for GE2020 compared to the two general elections before, ELD did not suspect that an unusual number of voters had not been recorded as registered. Checking the registration figures at the end of Polling Day may also not be instructive – because the process to ensure voting secrecy means that we will not be able to identify individual voters, including those who had not been registered accurately and would, therefore, be listed as non-voters in due course.”
“Let me first set out the Elections Department (ELD)’s key executional objectives at every election – which is to ensure, firstly, that only bona fide voters are issued with ballot papers; secondly, that no extra ones were put in; and thirdly, that all votes cast are counted, so that the election result is determined by the eligible voters for that election. To achieve this, we have put in place a set of procedures that need to be complied with. Upon the voter’s arrival at the polling station, the election official will verify his identity and eligibility to vote at the polling station and then register the voter’s attendance via a hardcopy polling station register or the electronic registration system. Thereafter, the voter is directed to the ballot paper issuance counter. The election official issuing the ballot paper is required, by law, to read out the name and voter serial number of a voter before the voter is issued a ballot paper. This allows the polling agents to mark their copy of the register and provide an additional check to ensure that only eligible voters in the register for that polling station are individually issued with a ballot paper. As a result, when the votes are tallied for an election, we can be confident that the outcome is the one decided by the eligible voters for that election. After the end of each election, ELD compiles the list of voters registered to have voted on Polling Day and compares it against the list of voters in the certified Registers of Electors for the election. Those who were not registered as having voted on Polling Day are included in the list of non-voters, which is published after each election for inspection. The non-voter list contains the names of people who have not turned up to vote.”
“The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) serves as a checkpoint in a child’s education journey to assess their mastery of core concepts and skills and to guide them to take subjects at appropriate levels at the next stage of learning. It also provides an objective and educationally meaningful measure for posting students to secondary schools in a fair and transparent manner. Children exempted from Compulsory Education, including those who are homeschooled, are required to sit for the PSLE and meet the PSLE benchmark. This is to ensure that they have a baseline foundation in their academic education that allows them to access further learning and training. We recognise that students learn at different paces. There is flexibility in our system for students to customise their education based on their learning needs. Students in our primary schools who need more time to master the fundamentals may offer Foundation subjects at the PSLE. With the changes to the PSLE scoring system since 2021, students’ results are no longer as finely differentiated and reflect their objective performance. This allows students to focus on their own progress instead of how well they perform relative to their peers. Under Full Subject-Based Banding, students can also customise their learning when they move on to secondary school, by taking subjects at an appropriate level based on their strengths, interests and learning needs. We will continue to refine our policies and provide flexible education pathways so as to support all students in achieving their full potential.”
“There are no plans to introduce guaranteed admission to the Autonomous Universities (AUs) for polytechnic students based on Grade Point Average (GPA). The AUs administer their own admissions exercise. Admissions criteria vary across the AUs and across courses, and the admissions process may include interviews and other forms of assessment. Admission is based on merit, and the AUs assess all applicants fairly and objectively based on their demonstrated abilities and interests. Polytechnic graduates who gain admission to the AUs may be granted credit exemptions if they apply to related courses.”
“On an exceptional basis, schools may allow parents, or additional resources engaged by the parents, such as a professional or a caregiver, to be present in the school to help transition their children to be more independent in the mainstream schools. In cases where a student in a mainstream school has severe needs that are better supported in a SPED school, school personnel and MOE’s Educational Psychologists will work with parents to identify a more appropriate educational setting and to facilitate the transfer of a child from a mainstream to SPED school. MOE also provides Post-Diagnosis Educational Guidance to render emotional support and assistance to parents.”
“Children with assessed delay in development receive early intervention support in their preschool years. Through their interactions with the children, preschool educators and allied health professionals that provide early intervention support help to identify a child’s developmental needs and guide parents to make informed decisions on the appropriate educational provision for their child. When providing advice to help parents decide whether to enrol their child in a mainstream primary school or Special Education (SPED) school, psychologists, medical practitioners and allied health professionals are guided by professional practice guidelines developed jointly by the Ministry of Education (MOE), hospitals and SPED schools. MOE is committed to supporting all students with special educational needs (SEN) in quality educational settings that can best meet their needs. Students with mild SEN who can cognitively access the national curriculum and adapt to a mainstream learning environment attend mainstream schools. Students with moderate to severe SEN, who require customised support and therapy, would be better supported in SPED schools. In mainstream schools, students with SEN are supported by teachers who implement inclusive classroom practices, as well as SEN Officers who specialise in learning and behavioural support. Depending on their needs, some of these students may require in-class support or small group intervention by SEN Officers or teachers. These include targeted interventions and programmes for literacy, numeracy and social and behavioural needs. There is a very small number of students in mainstream schools who may require additional support beyond what the school can provide.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me make three points in response to the supplementary questions by Ms Joan Pereira. First, there is no change in the process. It is the same process by the same printer, done many times previously. How the mistake arose was that, in this particular time, they did not expunge the test data before they printed. So, they printed the whole series together. It is the same process. It is the same printer. So, we will work with the printer to make sure that we tighten this up. The second point, in response to the question, while some of the affected households and voters received two poll cards, both poll cards showed the same polling station, which means that so long as the voter turned up at the same polling station, they would have no problem getting into the polling station to vote. What was different between the two poll cards for those affected is what we call the serial number. The serial number does not determine whether a person can vote or not. The NRIC or the passport, in this case, is the one that allows us to verify the person's identity to go inside to vote. On the third issue, no, we do not believe that anybody was not able to vote because they received a duplicate poll card. 1.17 pm”
“I would like to assure Members that ELD will continue to work with the printer to tighten processes and ensure that these safeguards are properly implemented in future elections.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on behalf of the Prime Minister, please. During the recent Presidential Election, the Elections Department (ELD)'s contracted commercial printer Toppan had mistakenly mailed test prints of poll cards, together with the actual poll cards, to 4,803 households, affecting 9,822 voters in Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC). Due to a human error, test print data was pooled together with production print data during the actual printing to generate poll cards for voters in Tanjong Pagar GRC. As a result, the affected households received duplicate poll cards. However, the duplicate poll cards showed the correct polling stations and the affected voters were able to vote at their assigned polling stations even if they missed the outreach by ELD on what to do with the duplicate poll cards. Processes are also in place to ensure that the voters with two poll cards can only vote once as all voters must produce their NRIC or valid passport as proof of identification, which is verified against the polling station registers. ELD will be instituting new measures to prevent such errors in future. ELD will require the printer to tighten its internal quality assurance processes to ensure that the test print poll cards are not mailed out in future elections. Beyond this, ELD and the printer will conduct joint checks to ensure that all test print poll cards are destroyed before the production of actual poll cards. ELD and the printer will also perform a sampling audit to check that the details in the poll cards are accurate. This includes ensuring that the number of poll cards printed for a constituency is exactly the same as the number of registered voters in the constituency.”
“Most Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) already publish the general eligibility criteria for IHL-specific financial aid schemes. The Ministry of Education has recently advised all IHLs to do so.”
“The Ministry of Education has strengthened mental health education and support measures over the years. It is one of the key features of the refreshed Character and Citizenship Education curriculum, implemented from primary to pre-university levels. Building on these efforts, the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) also avail a range of mental well-being programmes and activities, including modules and workshops on mental health, to all IHL students. Through these lessons and programmes, students are equipped with baseline knowledge and skills, such as emotional regulation and differentiating normal stress from distress or mental illnesses, so that they are better able to manage challenges and remain resilient. Educators work in partnership with parents, as part of the ecosystem of support for students in our schools and IHLs. They are trained to identify signs of distress and symptoms of common mental illnesses and to provide early support to students expressing mental health concerns. This includes checking in on their students, encouraging help-seeking and referring these students to school and IHL counsellors as well as hospital and community resources if more targeted interventions are needed.”
“The Registers of Electors (REs) were certified on 20 July 2023. There are a total of 2,709,455 electors in the registers, which is 58,020 more than the 2,651,435 electors at General Election 2020 (GE2020). The net change by Electoral Division is provided in Table A. This information on the number of electors at each election and after each revision of the REs is available on the Elections Department website (https://www.eld.gov.sg). We do not track the changes in the number of electors based on the profiles requested by the Member.”
“I have addressed this Question in my response at the 2 August 2023 Parliamentary Sitting. [Please refer to "Processes Related to Investigations into Political Office Holders and Civil Servants, and Updates on Recent Cases", Official Report, 2 August 2023, Vol 95, Issue 109, Oral Answers to Questions section.]”
“School places are planned on a regional basis and consider current and projected changes in local demography. Where needed, adjustments will be made to the intake of schools to meet the projected demand, such as from new housing developments. In the region where Kong Hwa School is located, the number of Primary 1 (P1)-going children is expected to be stable. There is a sufficient supply of P1 places in this region, because even as new Build-To-Order flats are being completed, the existing Housing Development Board estates are maturing. As such, we have no immediate plans to expand the P1 intake of the schools in this area, including Kong Hwa School. We will continue to monitor the school demand and adjust supply when needed.”
“The IT vendor of the Human Resource and Payroll System created 12 administrative accounts to facilitate troubleshooting and monitoring of system issues. However, the accounts were configured with excessive rights, which created risks. In response to the Auditor-General's Office's findings, the Public Service Division (PSD) has taken immediate actions to reduce the rights of these accounts in terms of system access. PSD has checked through and ascertained that there was no unauthorised access to the system and no compromise of system data. There is no basis to suspect foul play. In addition, PSD also extended checks on other system accounts to ensure there were no unauthorised access or activities. We have issued the vendor a stern warning for all the lapses uncovered within this audit.”
“All full-time students in the polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education undergo a mandatory mental wellness literacy curriculum in their first year. The curriculum raises students’ awareness of mental well-being and encourages self-care and early help-seeking behaviour. Feedback on the curriculum has been positive, with students generally agreeing that the curriculum equips them with a better understanding of mental wellness and strategies to cope with life’s stressors. The Autonomous Universities also offer various mental health programmes that equip students with baseline mental health literacy and ensure all their students have access to mental health resources. These include modules on resilience, stress management and self-care. These programmes are part of a strong ecosystem of support in the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). For early detection of vulnerable students, educators are trained to identify signs of distress and will reach out to students to provide timely support. Peer support leaders provide a listening ear to peers in distress and alert educators and counsellors to peers who might require additional support. Students can also reach out to IHL counsellors who provide specialised counselling support.”
“Today, there are various adult learning and training programmes in place to support a sustainable pipeline of locals in the skilled trades, which include occupations, such as plumbers and electricians. These programmes cater both to locals who wish to enter the skilled trades, as well as existing tradespeople who are looking to upskill. For example, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) delivers entry-level ITE Skills Certificate courses in Electrical Wiring and Residential Plumbing as well as related Part-time Nitec and Higher Nitec courses to provide work-compatible upskilling pathways for adult learners in these sectors. Apart from ITE, there are also training institutions offering upskilling courses, including courses funded by SkillsFuture Singapore, to mid-career tradespeople. These include the Building and Construction Authority’s BCA Academy for plumbers, and the Singapore Institute of Power and Gas that is recognised by the Energy Market Authority as a training centre for electrical workers. While courses are delivered in English, training providers will pace their instructions accordingly to suit each learner’s level of English proficiency and supplement the delivery with visual aids, such as diagrams and pictures, to illustrate the concepts. Besides providing a variety of training opportunities that can support interested individuals to enter these skilled trades, the Government is partnering the National Trades Union Congress to look into how we can redesign skilled trades, particularly those that remain indispensable in our future economy, to offer better salaries and clearer career and skill progression ladders.”
“On average over the past five years, five secondary school students left school each year due to them being retained multiple times. These students can enrol in General Education courses offered by the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), which lead to the GCE "N" or "O" level qualifications. They can also take up ITE Skills Certificate courses, which provide foundational training in industry-relevant skillsets and prepare students to access further upgrading.”
“These bail conditions may include a requirement that: (a) the person furnishes a complete itinerary of his travel, including where he would be staying and his contact number while overseas, before departing Singapore; and (b) the person remains contactable by the Investigation Officer when he is overseas. The number of persons on bail who are granted permission to leave Singapore is not specifically tracked. It is not uncommon for persons on bail to apply for permission to leave Singapore and for permission to be granted if the law enforcement agency or the Court is satisfied that the person will return to Singapore.”
“The purpose of bail is to secure the attendance of the person arrested or charged. The quantum of bail varies according to the specific circumstances of each case. Bail conditions, such as a requirement for the person to surrender his passport, may also be imposed. When setting the quantum of bail and the conditions to be imposed, the law enforcement agency and the Courts consider a variety of factors to assess the flight risk of the accused. These include: (a) the gravity of the alleged offence; (b) the extent of the person’s roots in Singapore; and (c) whether the person has attempted to abscond previously. A person’s background, employment history and financial position are relevant considerations for assessing his flight risk. For example, the fact that a person is employed in Singapore and has assets here is evidence of his roots in Singapore. This would weigh in favour of a lower flight risk. However, the person’s background, employment history and financial position are just some of the many factors considered in determining flight risk. Persons on bail may be allowed to leave Singapore if they are granted permission to do so by the law enforcement agency – for agency bail; or the Court – for Court bail. The main consideration is whether the person will return to Singapore, if granted permission to leave. Apart from the general factors considered in assessing flight risk, the factors considered in deciding whether permission should be granted include: (a) the reason for travel; (b) the intended destination; and (c) the duration and expected date of departure and return to Singapore. If permission is granted, the bail quantum may be increased and additional bail conditions may also be imposed to prevent absconding.”
“Our institutions paid SPH Media only for services rendered according to the subscription plans. They did not suffer any financial loss arising from the arrangements for SPH publications to be supplied.”
“Public bus operators provide public bus services under the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) Bus Contracting Model, which are planned taking into account ridership, existing connectivity options and financial sustainability. Public bus operators which have sufficient capacity to enter the school bus market without compromising on public bus services are welcome to bid for school bus contracts.”