Chan Soo Sen
Singapore
“In this way, we could generate, nurture and grow the sparks of creativity. But all these ideas will still need to have things like incubators and the various start-up support schemes in order to make them into reality. All these would need funding support.”
“The fact that children give parents some money to have a good time in casino shows how complacent we can be. Mr Chairman, I want to propose that we must be more aggressive in publicising the ills of gambling. Let us take the example of smoking. Real pictures of health hazards are shown on the boxes to deter people.”
“Thank you, Madam. I just want to say that the Minister did not quite answer my question about having a special Chinese language programme or, if necessary, set up a special Chinese language centre for those who are gifted in Chinese. Perhaps I did not make myself quite clear.”
“Hence, I propose that the Ministry of Education consider implementing a Special Chinese Elite programme. If necessary, establish a Special Chinese Language Centre and peg the standard to the highest level.”
“As the public sector is a major employer in Singapore, may I ask whether the public sector as an employer is willing to recognise the medical certificates issued by TCM practitioners and allow medical benefit claims for TCM treatment? If not now, then how about some time in the future when professional standards of TCM further improve?”
“I hope that in the next few years, more emphasis will be given to the care and support for the caregivers – how to offer them emotional support, how to give them counselling support, how to organise programmes to give them some relief from the daily chore of giving care so that at least they may have, say, two or three hours a day t…”
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“Any person who procures or attempts to procure registration by fraud shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both. This is similar to the provisions of the Medical Registration Act. Implementation Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Health's plan is to subject acupuncturists to registration by 1st January 2002. Details of the registration as well as the criteria for registration have been worked out with the STCMOCC, the coordinating committee that represents the mainstream TCM practitioners in Singapore. The criteria take into consideration both experience as well as qualifications. Those who do not have the necessary experience or qualifications may be required to pass a national examination called the Common Acupuncture Qualifying Examination (CAQE) before they become eligible for registration. The Ministry of Health and the STCMOCC have initiated the Acupuncture Upgrading Training Course (AUTC) in order to prepare acupuncturists for the CAQE. The course syllabus and course structure were formulated and developed by the STCMOCC as well as the Ministry of Health, with inputs from foreign TCM experts. The first four classes of AUTC had started since September this year. The response has been very good. We plan to conduct two or three CAQEs in the year 2001, so there should be sufficient time and opportunities for the acupuncturists to pass their examinations and to register by 1st January 2002. When the TCM Practitioners Board is formed, it will take over these tasks from the Ministry of Health. The Ministry and the Board will maintain close contact with the STCMOCC to ensure that constructive proposals from the mainstream TCM community are taken into consideration.”
“For example, the Board may appoint an Examinations Committee to set standards and to determine the content of the qualifying examinations for registration, as well as to oversee the organisation and conduct of the examinations. Also, the Board may appoint Investigation Committees to investigate complaints which may lead the Board to take disciplinary actions against practitioners. The TCM Practitioners Board will have disciplinary powers to deal with any registered TCM practitioner found guilty of professional misconduct, professional negligence, or improper conduct, which renders him or her unfit to practise. The Board may - (a) caution or censure the practitioner; (b) impose a fine of not more than $10,000; (c) impose conditions on the practitioner's registration for a period of no more than three years; (d) suspend his or her registration for no more than three years; or (e) cancel his or her registration. Any practitioner who is aggrieved by the decision of the Board may appeal to the High Court within 30 days. A person whose registration has been cancelled can apply to the Board for restoration three years after the date of cancellation and not more than once in any period of 12 months. This is similar to the provisions made under the Medical Registration Act as well as the Dentists Act. To deter unlawful practice of TCM, the Bill provides for the imposition of penalties similar to the provisions of the Dentists Act. The Courts may fine the offender not more than $25,000 or imprison him for a term not exceeding sixmonths or both. In the case of a second or subsequent offence, the penalty is increased to a fine of not more than $50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.”
“This Bill is an enabling legislation to allow the Minister to declare any type of practice of TCM for registration if he is of the opinion that it is in the public interest for that type of practice to be regulated. In other words, the Minister will decide which form of TCM practice to be regulated at which point of time. It will not be that, with the promulgation of this Act, every form of TCM practice will be regulated. Clause 14(1) of the Bill states that the Minister can regulate by order published in the Gazette. This is in line with the phased approach the Ministry of Health has been adopting. The Ministry of Health's intention is to start with regulating the acupuncturists, because acupuncture is an invasive procedure that carries risks of injury and infection. It is estimated that there are about 1,070 acupuncturists in Singapore. This will then be followed by the registration of TCM general practitioners in about 3 to 4 years' time, and the TCM herbal dispensers at a later date. This Bill takes reference from the existing medical- and health-related legislation such as the Medical Registration Act, the Dentists Act as well as the Nurses and Midwives Act. All these Acts are essentially based on self-regulation. This Bill provides for the establishment of a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board appointed by the Minister to register TCM practitioners, to accredit TCM training courses and institutions, as well as to regulate the professional conduct and ethics of TCM practitioners. The Board will consist of 5 to 9 members, comprising peers from the TCM community, members of the medical profession, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Health. The Board can appoint Committees to which specific tasks are delegated.”
“The Committee recommended a phased approach, (ie a step-by-step approach) to the regulation of TCM practitioners in order to safeguard patients' interest and safety, as well as to enhance the standard of training and professionalism of TCM practitioners in Singapore. A phased approach is necessary, given the complexities of regulating TCM practitioners. Take the case of Hong Kong as an example. Although Article 138 of the Basic Law provided for the development of both Western and Chinese medicine, and there has been a Working Committee appointed since 1989 to promote, develop, and regulate TCM, the Chinese Medicine Ordinance was only enacted after 10 years in July 1999. To facilitate the regulatory process in Singapore, the Ministry of Health first encouraged the eight main local TCM organisations to form the Singapore Traditional Chinese Medicine Organisations Coordinating Committee (STCMOCC) in 1996. The STCMOCC serves as the coordinating body amongst the mainstream TCM community. It also acts as a channel of communication between the mainstream TCM community and the Ministry of Health. I must say that this arrangement has worked well. The formation of STCMOCC has led to the upgrading of the local TCM training course to a 6-year part-time diploma course in 1996. The STCMOCC has also worked out a listing of TCM practitioners in Singapore. That was how we knew that in 1997, there were 1,807 TCM practitioners in Singapore. In fact, this Bill was prepared with useful inputs from the STCMOCC. The Bill indeed has the support of the mainstream TCM community in Singapore. Major provisions in the Bill Mr Speaker, Sir, allow me now to present the main provisions of the Bill.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Reasons for regulation of TCM practitioners Sir, although Western medicine is the main form of healthcare in Singapore, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) enjoys considerable popularity as a complementary form of healthcare. It has been estimated that about 45% of the population had ever consulted a TCM practitioner in the past. About 12% of the daily outpatient attendances opt to see TCM practitioners. Hence, TCM is a significant factor in the healthcare scene in Singapore. There is a similar trend in developed countries. In the West, complementary medicine, including TCM, has a significant following. Some Western countries now allow insurance claims or reimbursement for acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture and therapeutic massage (or tui na) have been popular among patients suffering from painful conditions. There is also the popular belief that TCM is milder and has fewer side effects, thus making it a preferred modality amongst older persons. As the population in Singapore ages, it is likely that there would be an increased demand for TCM treatment. The number of TCM practitioners in Singapore is also sizeable and it would probably increase in tandem with the demand for TCM treatment. A list published by the local TCM community in 1997 indicated that there were 1,807 TCM practitioners in Singapore. There is probably more now. The training and experience of TCM practitioners in Singapore vary. Some were self-taught. Some learned from peers or masters, while others graduated from TCM institutes. In July 1994, the Ministry of Health appointed a Committee to look into the regulation of TCM.”
“That is why I say that it is very different from the 1980s. I would say that whether each one of us is taking our job as a Member of Parliament as a vocation or just as a job, our electorate will judge. If any one is judged to be here just for the allowance and is not putting his heart and mind into the job, he will be out. This is the environment all of us have submitted ourselves to. So, I agree with Mr Jeyaretnam entirely that politics is indeed a vocation. On behalf of all my political colleagues from the People's Action Party, I say we consider being an MP a sacred vocation we are totally committed to, and we are here to serve the electorate with total dedication. Sir, I have explained to Mr Jeyaretnam the basis on which we arrived at the amount of allowance. I have also explained to Mr Jeyaretnam that MPs' jobs have changed since he was an MP some 15 years ago. We are now the new age MPs, rising to the challenge of the new economy. At the same time, we have the good old spirit of putting our hearts and minds into the vocation, like what a good MP in any era will do. Question put, and agreed to. Resolved, That Parliament do now adjourn. Adjourned accordingly at Nine Minutes past Seven o'clock pm to a date to be fixed. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT ANSWERED BY 2.00 PM MEDISAVE ACCOUNT 18. Dr Ker Sin Tze asked the Minister for Health whether he will allow the withdrawal of funds from Medisave account for paying the delivery cost of the fourth child.”
“Well, once I received an e-mail from a constituent when I was holidaying in Tianshan mountain because of some GST problem. And I e-mailed an appeal to the Director-General of Customs to explain my constituent's case. That particular problem was resolved by the time I returned. Such is the new work style of MPs in the new economy. An hon. Member: Hear, hear!”
“Many of us also donate to constituency functions, and some give during funeral rites of constituents. These are the kind of intangible things that elected Members of Parliament do, not in this House, but outside this House. I think the situation has changed quite a bit since Mr Jeyaretnam was in Parliament in the 1980s. That was quite a number of years ago. So, now we work harder. As to whether a Member of Parliament justifies the allowance that has been given, his or her electorate will judge. Mr Jeyaretnam said that politics was a vocation, was not a job, and that Members of Parliament should not go for the job because of the high salary or high allowances. Well said indeed. I would want to assure Mr Jeyaretnam that at least for the PAP, we select our candidates based on whether they consider politics as a vocation. We the PAP MPs are very, very clear that we are subjecting ourselves to the judgment of the electorate, and we trust the judgment of the electorate. The electorate is able to look at every one of us and see whether this MP comes just to go through the motion or is he or she really committed to be a good Member of Parliament. A good Member of Parliament is on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day nowadays. I am not saying that he is physically in the constituency all the time. I am saying he is on call all the time. If we do not serve our electorate well, we are very clear that we will be out of the office the next round.”
“Sir, I am coming to that. Mr Jeyaretnam asked what was the criterion on which the allowance of elected Members of Parliament was computed. I just explained the basis to him. Now the workload. Mr Jeyaretnam said that Members of Parliament apparently worked one or two days every six weeks in this House. I submit that more than 85% of an elected Member's work is actually done outside this House. Many Members of Parliament nowadays give our e-mail addresses away. So, we are on call 24 hours a day. When there is a fire, we go to the site. We are on call every day. We reach out and keep in touch with our constituents, not only once a week during the meet-the-people sessions. Many of us attend a large variety of constituency functions to keep in touch, collect feedback ---”
“I am not on the Committee. But the Member of Parliament's allowance has been based on 68% of Grade G Administrative Officer's salary. This has been so even before the July 2000 salary revision. This same formula continues to apply. The criteria of arriving at Grade G Administrative Officer's salary have been very clearly explained by the Deputy Prime Minister when he presented the salary revision proposal to this House in June. The formula is what we call the 15P32. I do not know whether Mr Jeyaretnam was here when this formula was presented. It is defined as the principal earned income of the 15th person aged 32 belonging to the 6 benchmark professions, and these are the bankers, accountants, engineers, lawyers, MNCs and local manufacturers. So, you get the people who are aged 32 in the six professions, rank them, get number 15, look at the salary, that is the benchmark for Grade G. And the elected Members of Parliament's allowance is 68% of that. This was the basis before the salary revision. This is still the basis today. The fact that elected Members of Parliament's allowance has gone up by roughly 30% is because the Grade G benchmark based on the market has gone up by about 30%. It is therefore not true that there is no basis for the computation of the elected Member of Parliament's allowance.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr Jeyaretnam made a speech on the allowances of Members of Parliament. He felt that Members of Parliament were over-paid and there was no basis for the computation of the allowances. Let me share with him the criteria on which the allowances were formulated.”
“I believe this is a question for the Ministry of Manpower. I stand to be corrected but this procedure for medical tests is a requirement to renew the work permit. PROTECTION OF WORKERS AGAINST LIGHTNING 24. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower, in view of the high incidence of lightning strikes, whether his Ministry will require employers to protect workers, who have to work in the open during thunderstorms, against lightning.”
“I am quite sure that this would have been taken into consideration during the inquiry by the Singapore Medical Council. If the act is a deceitful one by the maid, I do not see the doctor being responsible for analysing the wrong sample, that is, obtaining the right result leading to the wrong outcome.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, that is possible and that is why when we review the procedure, we will look into the possibility using the blood to test for pregnancy because HCG can be detected by a urine test. I was also advised that it can be detected through blood test and, for medical examination of foreign domestic maids, a blood test is already necessary to identify diseases like HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. So it is possible to incorporate the blood test for pregnancy. We understand, however, that the cost may be slightly higher. The cost per urine test, I was told, is about $1. The cost per blood test for pregnancy is about $3.35. We will look at it and put up a formal recommendation to the Ministry of Manpower later. By insisting on a blood test, the possibility of adulteration is much less because the doctor would probably have to draw the blood himself rather than leaving the maid to produce the urine and she could have carried that bottle of urine with her to the toilet before the test.”
“But the question is who asked the employer to pay for the bill.”
“What has the employer got to do with the pregnancy?”
“I have not heard of doctors footing the bills for such cases. Let us put it this way. A wrong diagnosis is possible because normally a pregnancy test is done by detecting a certain hormone in the urine. I believe it is called HCG, and if it is administered properly, the accuracy is about 98%. There is a possibility that the hormone could not be detected when she is in a very early stage of pregnancy. She may look physically normal and no hormone was detected under such circumstances. I do not really think the doctor ought to foot the bill. She ought to be responsible for her own decision.”
“I think we did say that we wanted to develop the CDC into a local administration. We need somebody to be accountable for CDC's activities and programmes. Since Government money is going to be channelled towards the CDCs to run local services, somebody ought to be accountable for how public money was spent. Therefore, there should be somebody who is called the Mayor to be accountable for all these. Having said that, I think we have also talked about CDC's working style and the Mayor's working style. I do not think the working style is a very awesome one. In fact, our two Mayors spend a lot of time meeting people, encouraging residents to support and come for community self-help activities. We read all these in the press. I must say I have not heard anyone saying that our Mayors are awesome characters.”
“I understand Parker refill is about $5. Mont Blanc refill is $7.50. I think the small fee is a reminder that all of us have a stake in our health. I do not think we should just expect somebody to pick up the tab for our health screening. We must be responsible for our health. So we must pay something towards health screening. But I would accept that for those who cannot even afford $5, perhaps the CDC could consider picking up the tab.”
“In the process of working with each other, they would communicate more and they would be able to do better as a team. Both Mdm Claire Chiang and Dr Lily Neo have made suggestions on what CDCs should do. For example, Dr Lily Neo mentioned that CDC should pick up the tab for medical screening for everybody, especially the poor, and that the CDCs should subsidise Centres of Activity for Retired and Elderly (CARE). Mdm Claire Chiang suggested that the CDCs should look into the setting up of virtual neighbourhoods for senior citizens. Since I said earlier that the style of CDCs was consultation, the Ministry and the People's Association could not impose all these on the CDCs. Hence I will pass the suggestions on to the CDCs for consideration. But let me also give some preliminary comments. On virtual neighbourhood, I do not understand why we want the old people to talk to each other over the Net. Is it not better to encourage them to come out, meet each other face to face and talk? So I think we should continue to work on our senior citizens' activity programmes, instead of just encouraging more virtual neighbourhoods. I do not think it is very healthy for the senior citizens if they spend all their time on the Net. As regards picking up the tab for the health screening of the poor, let me also say that the Minister for Health yesterday announced that the screening costs only $5 to each resident - above 55. $5 nowadays can only buy a ballpoint refill. An hon. Member: That is for a Mont Blanc refill.”
“Let us not forget that the CDC is still new. I will acknowledge that there is still a lot to learn. But give us a little bit more time. Give us more work. We will learn. We will improve. Things will be better. I will also acknowledge that there is a need to do more to enable the grassroots organisations as well as the voluntary organisations and the CDC to communicate better. This is a never-ending task, because these set-ups are all so different. Their working style and their approaches are different. But is that not the point? That when we talk about team work, we are talking about getting people who are very different to work towards a common goal? And because of the differences, all contribute their strength and, as a result, we achieve synergy. And through synergy, we do more. Grassroots organisations have very good reach. They can reach the community. But they are relatively less skilled in handling, for example, social problems. Voluntary organisations, on the other hand, have a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of expertise, but they do not have good grassroots reach. But getting both to work together, we will have expertise, enthusiasm as well as grassroots reach. We acknowledge that we need time to get to know each other better. However, I am not so sure the correct approach is to ask the National Community Leadership Training Institute to organise conferences involving many. I think it would help to start with. However, in the longer run, it is more important for voluntary organisations, the grassroots organisations and the CDC to arrange on their own to talk to each other. They should recognise that they have to work together. They have a common objective of serving the residents. They should just get on with working with each other.”
“Sir, I would like to thank both Dr Lily Neo as well as Mdm Claire Chiang for their support on the CDCs. In fact, they are so confident in the CDC concept that they have been asking CDCs to do more. As you have heard, the Minister as well as the Senior Parliamentary Secretary have both announced that CDCs will indeed do more, starting from Marine Parade as well as Tanjong Pagar. 3.00 pm Just to recapitulate what CDC is all about in response to Mdm Claire Chiang's point. CDC is, in fact, a Government programme to facilitate the development of heartware, in order to enhance social cohesion as well as community bonding. This is done by empowering the community, by encouraging more community self-help effort as well as through greater community involvement. In doing so, the community feels more stake in CDC's work. And by organising themselves to help themselves, the community will be more energised and more active. Certainly, the implication is that there will be more consultation, and more discussion amongst the community, to solve community issues. There will be less and less cases of imposition from management of the CDC, because the CDC management is really under the influence and control of the local community. Certainly, I agree with Mdm Claire Chiang that officials will need to be more people orientated, behaving less like bureaucrats. There should be more service orientation towards the community, as PS21 says. I have indeed talked to a few Administrative Officers who have been seconded to the CDC as general managers. All told me that it was a very, very good experience. They have learned a lot, but they are still learning. If the general managers, as administrative officers, are still learning, then the rest of the officers are also learning.”
“Sir, as regards kidney patients, there are two key priorities. First, public education so that more adopt healthy lifestyle. Second, encourage more people to donate kidneys, because kidney transplant is the fundamental way of solving the problem. I have pledged to donate mine. Maybe you want to join me.”
“If that is the case, I will just address Dr Vasoo's point of patients coming to hospitals not carrying documents with them, and as a result, have no money to pay for the deposit, and unable to be admitted. I would like to say that all hospitals are required by law to admit all emergency cases. They are supposed to treat them first and talk about administration and money later. This is provided for in the law. As for the case of the Filipina lady, investigation is in progress. We would like to get to the bottom of the matter. But since investigation is in progress, I think we should leave things as it is for the time being.”
“Suffice to say that there are really a lot of initiatives in these areas. I think we should allow the enthusiasm and the initiatives to take its course. In fact, our health administration here has also been very active in exploiting IT for health administration, and in the use of info-communications technology to capture patients' records for use within the hospitals. The Ministry has set out to develop a National Info-communications Masterplan for Health. The concept is being studied with the medical community, not only for the public sector, but also with private hospitals. Universities, IT vendors and so on have all been invited to give input on what they expect out of this Info-communications Masterplan. Of course, there are quite a lot of professional and ethical issues involved. We will examine these carefully when we establish the Info-communications Masterplan. But suffice to say that Mr Gerard Ee's suggestion of using IT is something that we share.”
“The School Health Service currently screens all students during their annual check-ups for their suggestive history or signs of asthma and refer them for treatment where appropriate. KKH has also conducted workshops to train PE teachers on what to do in the event that some of the students suffer an acute asthma attack in school. Standards of asthma care for children have also been set with the development and publication of clinical practice guidelines for the management of paediatric asthma. A number of hospitals, including KKH and SGH, have established shared-care programme with GPs that will allow complicated cases of asthma to receive specialist attention early. Currently, the School Health Service, KKH and the Asthma Association of Singapore are working with the Ministry of Education on a scheme to equip all schools with inhalers and spacers for emergency use by students who are known to be asthmatic. Mr Gerard Ee mentioned IT and the potential of exploiting IT for professional exchanges, as well as for teaching. We would like to assure Mr Ee that doctors in Singapore today have global access to information on state-of-the-art medical treatment and knowledge through various means. Mr Gerard Ee also mentioned Internet. In fact, he would agree that our doctors are very Internet savvy. In addition to Internet, our doctors have also been active in participating in local, as well as international medical conferences, and that includes tele-conferences to discuss with their colleagues on the medical treatment of patients and all these are done regionally, some are done globally. Some of our hospitals have, in fact, established professional links with renowned medical centres overseas, such as Mayo Clinic, Stanford and Johns Hopkins in the United States.”
“Myopia, on the other hand, is a serious problem amongst our younger generation as Mr Peh Chin Hua has mentioned, citing some very pertinent statistics. One problem is that it has got so prevalent that I know of many parents, when their children start wearing glasses, they do not feel sufficiently upset. We will try to intensify public education programme in order to persuade members of the family to pay serious attention to this problem. We will also mount educational programmes in schools and for parents on proper lighting, as well as proper inculcation of good reading habits. Some schools have even introduced eye exercises. We will also be embarking on a national myopia programme to increase awareness of myopia amongst all Singaporeans, to educate them on the preventive measures. As far as research on eye problems is concerned, we would like to assure Mr Peh that this is indeed a priority. In fact, it is so important that in 1997, we set up the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) to function as a research arm of the Singapore National Eye Centre. We have not been stingy on funding for research. To-date, the National Medical Research Council has committed $27 million to various subjects of eye research. This amount has been committed but it may not have been spent yet. As you know, the money is spent as and when the research is introduced. Dr Lily Neo mentioned asthma amongst children. Yes, we consider this as an important medical concern. In terms of death rate from asthma in Singapore, it is not abnormally higher than those in the developed countries. However, over the years, various initiatives have been put in place.”
“Sir, both Mr Low Thia Khiang, as well as Mr Peh Chin Hua, mentioned A&E services and long waiting time, quoting some people having to wait for one or two hours. I would like to say that in A&E, we aim to triage patients within five to ten minutes of their arrival. After triage, patients are treated based on how serious his medical emergency is, not on a first-come-first-served basis. We can assure Mr Low, as well as Mr Peh, that all the genuine emergency cases are given treatment in good time. The average waiting time in A&E is perhaps long, because we continue to have plenty of non-emergency cases coming to A&E Department. We certainly agree with Mr Peh Chin Hua that to the friends and relatives of some patients, everything is an emergency, perhaps because of lack of knowledge. That is why we have to continue to mount public education exercise to tell the public how to identify emergency situation and where to bring the patients to if it is a non-emergency case. As Members also know, we have a two-tier system of charging people who come to A&E Department, higher charge for the non-emergency cases. Mr Peh Chin Hua is also concerned about eye problems among our population, citing myopia, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, as well as glaucoma. Yes, we agree that these are all serious concerns and problems. The last three conditions, cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, are related to an ageing population. The strategy to deal with such conditions really is "prevention is better than cure". We will look into organising more screening activities to try to identify such conditions early, so that early treatment can follow.”
“Sir, regarding the parking problem, as I have said just now, we can let the proposed agency look into it. Not all volunteer workers drive. So we will see whether something can be done about it. Let the agency look into the matter and see what is the outcome. As for the general elections, grassroots organisations do not participate in PAP's election work. If they have participated, that is because they themselves are PAP members. We do not deny that there are some members of grassroots organisations who are PAP members. If they help the PAP in the election work, they are working in their capacity as PAP members. They are not helping the PAP in their capacity as grassroots workers. There is no association in the first place, so, therefore there is no question of dissociation.”
“The question having been proposed at Nineteen minutes past Three o'clock pm and the Debate having continued for half an hour, Mr Speaker adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order. Adjourned accordingly at Eleven minutes to Four o'clock pm to a date to be fixed. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT ANSWERED BY 1.30 PM UPDATES ON EFFORTS TO CONTROL FOREST FIRES IN INDONESIA 17. Mr Zulkifli bin Baharudin asked the Minister for the Environment if he will consider asking the Indonesian government to issue more regular updates on the progress of its efforts to control forest fires in Indonesia.”
“Nine specialised courses a year in the areas of family violence, child abuse and juvenile delinquency will be conducted starting next year. MCD is satisfied with the professional standard of our social work graduates as well as most of our social work para-professionals. MCD is also committed to their continued improvement. In fact, their quality of training and versatility may have contributed to the relatively high turnover. Let us face it. If I am no good, and nobody wants to employ me I cannot turn over. Perhaps our graduates are too good. As a result, they turn over rather faster than we wanted them. But this is no reason for us not to ensure that they are even better trained than now. Ironically, our human resources in the social service sector are also particularly suitable for the HR sector in the private sector. Social workers, in fact, can make very good HR managers. Sometimes they get paid more. Social work also can be very stressful and can be very emotionally draining. A social work graduate who does not really have a heart for such work may find it more worthwhile to join the private sector. This is inevitable, but this may not be all bad. The private sector, with more staff with social work experience, can turn out to be some of our many helping hands, our hands and contacts in the business world. I must also say that despite the high turnover we do have excellent professional social workers who have remained in the profession. They stay because they find satisfaction. They find that social work is work for the conscience and work for the heart. Of course, we must not take them for granted. MCD is working with NUS, NCSS and the Singapore Association of Social Workers to address the issue of greater recognition of professional social work.”
“We work closely with the Department of Social Work and Psychology of the NUS to plan student intakes, identify training needs and review the curriculum of NUS social work courses. I shall visit my distinguished colleague, Dr Vasoo, to find out what more we could do. Those who want higher professional qualifications, the NUS also has a plan for a Masters degree and a Graduate Diploma in Social Work for graduates in social work. The Temasek Polytechnic has also launched its Graduate Specialist Diploma in Counselling and Guidance this year. So those are the training courses for professional social workers. And to allow existing frontline workers including volunteers to upgrade their skills, MCD encouraged and facilitated the setting up of the Family Resource and Training Centre (FRTC) by the Singapore Association of Social Workers. The FRTC leads in specialised skills training in new areas of social service such as the management of juveniles as well as family violence cases. The NMP seems to have the impression that MCD has always been very stingy but we did provide $1.6 million since 1992 to set up and run the FRTC. We also set up a half a million dollar endowment fund for them to help them generate interest to fund some of the training programmes. I want to assure the NMP that more funds would be provided if more courses are identified and a need should arise. In addition, we also give business to FRTC. We commission FRTC as well as other agencies, like Counselling and Care Centre, to conduct specialised and skills enhancement workshops and courses. A total of 788 social workers from the various VWOs, police, medical and social work departments and MCD have attended these courses in the last two years. More such courses would be funded by MCD.”
“As they discover the pleasure, they grow up and become more conscious about the importance of social service. Many of them would join the rank of volunteers or social service professionals. As this programme is introduced to the young people, it can become a way of life and part of Singapore 21. With more volunteers, we have more helping hands. We can raise the level of volunteers' participation to a level nearer that of the developed countries. At the moment, I think we are about half. Some people have said, one-third of the volunteers' participation of developed countries. I think we should be able to catch up in the next few years. The third area is developing human resources. I think the NMP has articulated many ideas in this direction, both for the social service professionals as well as for the social service volunteers. Like her, we attach much importance to the quality and commitment of the social service professionals. I would like to assure the House and the NMP that much has been done to try to improve and assure the quality of social service professionals as well as the standard of the social work graduates. We do admit that sometimes we find rather inexperienced young graduates handling relatively difficult cases in some of the centres. But please see this in the context of the rapid growth of our social service sector in the last few years. The social service centres will ensure that these younger graduates are guided, supervised and they learn on the way. The NMP mentioned the need to train a core of trained professional officers drawing on the analogy with the military. Let me assure her that the Ministry of Community Development and the NUS collectively plan for our officer cadet schools to train our officer cadets.”
“In fact, as we approach the 21st century, we will see more helping hands coming our way and, in a sense, also more useful skills. These come through from three directions. First, the increased involvement of local communities; second, the increase in volunteer participation; and, third, the development of human resources. I think the NMP has addressed all three. Perhaps allow me to address them using my own frequency. First, involving the local communities. The involvement of the CDCs was indeed mentioned by the NMP. In fact, the voluntary organisations and the CDCs can synergise with each other. Voluntary welfare organisations have the professional knowledge and enthusiasm, while the CDCs have the local grassroots network and know the needs of the local community. By working together, they can reach out to more people, recruit more volunteers, raise more funds, and serve more residents and do it better. As a result, more residents will benefit from more resources and better services. We also bring the coordinator, namely, CDC, closer to the community, instead of being located far away in the Ministry of Community Development. That way, the helping hands are nearer. Second, increase volunteer participation. We believe that through the involvement of local communities via the CDCs, more local residents will be willing to participate as volunteers. As they will see that they are helping a neighbour in need who is just perhaps not too far away, they will be more willing to come forward. Also, our students will be performing a minimum of six hours a year of compulsory community service. This is the initiative of the Ministry of Education, and this will be part of the school programme. Our young people will discover the joy of helping people who are in need.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on behalf of my Minister, I would like to thank the NMP Mdm Claire Chiang for her very comprehensive and eloquent speech. But before we go too much beyond economic fundamentals, let us get one thing straight. It is important first to get the economic fundamentals correct. Without a strong economy, we would not have the resources to deal with the social problems and to fund the meaningful social service programmes. We may also face more severe social problems when our economy weakens. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that she has put forward many good ideas and raised many pertinent and constructive points. The Ministry of Community Development together with other organisations which are in the social service sector will study her ideas. I may also seek further clarifications from her and to further the exchange of ideas. After all, social service is not the responsibility of Government alone. We look forward to participation of sincere and like-minded people. We also look forward to benefiting from their ideas. Allow me to outline MCD's basic approach to the provision of social service - "Many Helping Hands". She has pointed this out in her speech and also mentioned that the hands need training of many useful skills too. Yes, this is what we have been doing and we want to do better. With many helping hands, the Government, the voluntary organisations, the community and, in particular, the more successful citizens can come together to help the less fortunate in the community. This enhances social cohesion. This approach has served Singapore well and this basic approach will continue. Whether we call it Social Service 21 or some other name, I believe we can decide later. It is important to know what is it that we want to do first.”
“And in fact, I wonder whether Mr Low may want to consider inviting the CCC representative to his town council. This will facilitate communication. Since time is running out, I would propose that we let the two parties sort out their communication problems.”
“--- so that the project could proceed without further delay.”
“Sir, I think we have noted the poor communication between the CCC and the town council in Hougang. I would like to urge Mr Low Thia Khiang to instruct the town council to take this opportunity of approaching the CCC to sort things out quickly ---”
“Sir, this proves the point of communication. Mr Low has to come all the way to Parliament to ask this question. His Town Council has to write to them and wait for the reply. Why did he not go over, meet with them, face-to-face? I think this is the kind of communication that exists in many other Town Councils and CCCs, vis-a-vis CIPC.”
“The same communication does not seem to exist in the opposition constituency, and I think this has given rise to this nao shuang bao tai ( ) problem. I hope that when the Hougang CCC comes back to the Hougang Town Council on this matter, it can be resolved quickly, and some solutions can be arrived, so that there will be no further delay. Mr Ang Mong Seng suggested that the CDC make use of the RC centres as service points. I would like to mention that the RC centres that he mentioned, out of the 48, only one of them is manned during day time. RCs consist largely of working people and therefore I do notice that most of the RC centres are not manned during day time, but some of them are. We do have RC centres with duty rosters. These are the very active ones. Therefore, we do encourage RCs to organise activities to make use of the RC centres during day time, eg, organise tuition and other programmes. As far as using the RC as a CDC service point is concerned, our current plan is to have the service points mainly at the community centres as well as the Town Council outlets. We feel that this, by and large, will be sufficient. However, where the coverage requires and where the RC is able to help us find volunteers, we will consider setting up some of the service points in the RC centres.”
“Sir, allow me to address the two questions raised by the two Members on PA. First, on Mr Low Thia Khiang's question regarding CIPC, and second, by Mr Ang Mong Seng regarding the use of RC centres. I would like to assure Mr Low Thia Khiang that the grassroots organisations are there to serve the people, not to serve the PAP. Some of the grassroots members may be PAP members but the activities that they organise are for the people, for the community. In fact, we draw very, very clear lines between PAP's activities and the grassroots activities. With regard to the CIPC, I would also like to assure Mr Low Thia Khiang that the CCC consists of responsible people. They consider projects on their own merits. If the projects are good for the community, they will be approved. As for the project that Mr Low mentioned, I have been reliably informed by the National Development Ministry that the project was delayed, as he has mentioned, because both organisations put up the same project and therefore the Ministry of National Development would want to ensure that the resources are properly utilised, the Ministry therefore sought clarification. The Hougang CCC will be getting in touch with the Town Council to sort this out. I think this begs the problem of working relationship between the Town Council and the CCC on managing CIPC. It is a question of communication. In most of the PAP's Town Councils, they communicate very well with the CCC, because some of the CCC representatives are in fact invited as Town Council members. Therefore, whatever projects the Town Council has in mind, the CCC knows reasonably well and they are able to coordinate well.”
“For example, there will be more multi-racial items at zonal and constituency functions, such as block parties, festive gatherings as well as National Day celebrations. We will conduct more National Education talks that emphasise, amongst other things, the importance of racial harmony. The task of promoting racial harmony and social cohesion, of course, is not only the job of the People's Association. The People's Association will work with other organisations, both Government, community as well as civic organisations to promote this important theme. We will work closely with the self-help groups, civic organisations and cultural bodies to implement existing and new multi-racial programmes. And with the establishment of the Community Development Councils, we see additional impetus, because the CDCs will be able to better coordinate these activities that emphasise racial harmony. A lot has been said about the CDCs, so I do not think I need to repeat them.”
“We, therefore, would not be able to achieve 100% youth outreach, but we can assure him that we will achieve a substantial amount of youth outreach through our various activities. I will now turn to the point raised by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim about racial harmony. Yes, we strongly agree with Dr Yaacob Ibrahim that racial harmony is the very foundation of our country. It is something that is not to be taken for granted. We have heard too many tragedies resulting from ethnic clashes. We take pride in being one of the oasis of racial harmony, and we will continue to work hard to maintain that. In fact, when the People's Association was set up in 1960, racial harmony was one of the key objectives which is on its statute. And because of this, right from day one, the People's Association has been working very hard to initiate the various programmes aimed at promoting racial harmony. The activities again include educational, cultural, recreational, sports and so on. While fostering inter-ethnic participation and interaction, the People's Association and its grassroots organisations also promote the cultural activities of different ethnic groups, including Malay, Chinese, Indian music and dances. These help to promote harmony within our diversity of race, culture and language. We agree that we should never be complacent. We should continue to do more. The People's Association will continue to promote multi-racial participation in the management of its CCs as well as its activities. The PA and its grassroots organisations will improve the quality of its existing community programmes and introduce new ones in order to facilitate greater inter-communal cooperation.”
“This includes educational, social, recreational, sports activities, community service, including overseas adventure programmes. The idea is basically to channel youthful energies to constructive use. As far as boys' clubs are concerned, there are currently 13 boys' clubs, and the Government will be spending about $1.8 million this year. Boys' clubs organise a wide range of sports, social, cultural and recreational activities for teenagers between 12 and 16 years of age, the very age that, I believe, Dr Tan is most concerned about. Our National Youth Council also manages the National Youth Centre which is at Orchard Road. It has a youth centre and a youth park featuring various facilities such as reading room, multi-purpose room, Internet cafe and so on. The National Youth Council spends about $2.23 million this year for youth outreach activities. Sir, on the whole, after rattling through the list, I hope the Member is satisfied that we have organised plenty of activities for the youths. The People's Association will continue to look into and initiate new programmes to attract the youths. We have got the Youth Executive Committees to also brainstorm to look into this, because the idea is that we want the young people to give us ideas of what activities they actually want. We, of course, welcome new ideas from various other quarters. But having done so much, we have to recognise that young people, being young people, some of them prefer to be left on their own, because they feel that they have a mind of their own. For such youths, I suppose we will have to respect their wishes, so long as they do not run into problems.”
“Sir, I would like to address the two other questions raised regarding the People's Association, one by Dr Tan Boon Wan on youth services, and the other by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim on community relations, specifically racial harmony. Dr Tan Boon Wan mentioned that more wholesome activities should be organised for the youths and more resources should be devoted to these activities. In fact, he also mentioned that we should give clear signals to our youths that we recognise them in their own rights. We already recognise the youths in their own rights. Organisationally, in the People's Association, we have a Youth Division devoted to the PA Youth Movement. We also have the National Youth Council which is chaired by a Minister and they are not starved of resources. Last year, the Government gave $12 million to set up a National Youth Council Youth Development Fund in order to promote youth activities. There are already a lot of activities that have been organised by the various youth groups through the various programmes. These are provided by the schools, educational institutions, community centres, community clubs, self-help groups, uniformed groups, civic and welfare organisations. There are currently 98 youth groups with about 100,000 members under the PA Youth Movement based at the community centres and the community clubs. Most of these youth groups are given facilities and rooms to organise and operate. They conduct their meetings and activities in the various CCs. The youth groups also have access to CC facilities such as karaoke rooms, Internet cafes, gymnasiums, activity rooms, reading rooms, dance studios and so on. The PA Youth Movement also organises a very wide range of activities for our youths.”