Chay Wai Chuen
Singapore
“As a result, some enterprising businesses and grassroots people have even come up with better ideas on equipment and machines designed to suit our HDB estates, HDB rubbish chutes and our older workers, to make the equipment easier for them to handle. 3.00 pm I give this as an example.”
“Since there are so many anomalies administered by the two agencies up to now, and because so many retailers will be affected, I urge the Ministry to freeze this scheme and review the procedures and policies entirely and put up the designated land for tender to be administered by one agency.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to give more choices, in terms of compensation or alternatives and flat type allocation for those people who are affected by the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme. Children should be, as best as possible, allowed to help pay for their parents in some of these choices that they have to choose.”
“Sir, the MUP Programme has been in place for some time and it applies to units which are 17 years and above. I would like to ask the Minister why are 40-year old flats still not upgraded.”
“Mr Chairman, there is an increase in the operating expenditure of $648 million this year for the Ministry of Defence. I would like to know what is the rationale for this increase.”
“Sir, the SAF has been involved in peacekeeping missions on several occasions, in East Timor and the Middle East, typically in the area of logistics and medical services. I wonder whether the Minister can enlighten me on what kind of role the SAF can play in this area of peacekeeping missions.”
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“Capital investment and talents will gravitate towards those areas most suitable to reward them and most efficient to compete. Fortunately, for a small country like us, the world economy is only global; it is not all round. In embracing the reality of globalisation and our need to integrate into it, the NTUC is actually checking itself and ensuring its own relevance. The best way to face the competitive market challenge is to embrace it; to think and act global, and not to claim to think global and act local. The NTUC will also have to manage the stress and the strain of this emerging duality in the labour market, and to work in partnership to come up with various retraining schemes in place sooner rather than later. In this respect, the NTUC has been ever conscious of the larger role that it can play and has played. Under the guidance of the PAP Government, it has developed successfully the social goal. It has developed successfully many NTUC cooperatives to advance the welfare of workers and Singaporeans. In this respect, I must also say that we need to have no apologies for it. Just now, Mr Chiam claimed that the NTUC is getting more and more into business. Definitely, with a social aim. For example, the NTUC Fairprice has been a major player in the food retailing scene to ensure stable and reasonable prices for basic consumer necessities. INCOME has also served workers and Singaporeans with a broad range of insurance needs. NTUC Childcare is also a leading childcare service provider for working mothers. There are others such as FOODFARE, DENTICARE, HEALTHCARE for pharmaceutics, and the latest, the NTUC Choice Homes for executive condominiums.”
“The days of the macho guy operating the port container lifting crane, sitting on top of the world, are numbered, because modern port cranes can be controlled on the ground, two at a time even by a female staff. Naturally it takes longer for confidence building and hand holding and familiarising with a new job environment. Companies in operation should be encouraged to retrain their staff and to have another option through this hand holding OJT. They should be compensated for the full cost of the retraining period, and I suggest even including any under-productivity variance during this period of retraining. I am here referring to retraining assistance for those genuine workers who are under-trained who genuinely need and seek work and to add value to the economy. In the World Development Report of 1995, Workers in an Integrating World, it was reported that the success of public retraining schemes generally, in the experience of most countries, has not been very positive. Hence, I am suggesting we should embark on more private retraining schemes, provided by employers and support them, before the workers are laid off, when they become public retraining cases, which is always too late and not specific and targetted. The World Development Report 1995 reported that careful targetting, monitoring and evaluation of retraining schemes are keys to ensuring their effectiveness and preventing the waste of scarce public resources. This tripartite partnership should reaffirm its commitment to the global integration of the world economy. By virtue of our openness, Singapore has no choice but to compete. By competing internationally, our businesses have to find their own niches and fortes.”
“Of course, at full cost, which means if you consider not just the skills development funded but the other part of the cost that is borne either by the trainee or by the employer, the full cost could well be six to seven times, as was pointed out by the Secretary-General. I believe that this is not too high a figure. In other words, the urgency of the task is actually to raise this amount. I believe a hand holding kind of approach on-the-job training by the private sector with specific targets, monitoring and output evaluation according to performance criteria combined with a compensation scheme by the Government for the period of hand holding OJT should be initiated. Presently, there is a scheme for On-The-Job (OJT) training administered by the Skills Development Fund for a National Competency Certificate. It is training about 2,000 places per year, according to the SDF Annual Report, administered by a limited number of companies. I believe the urgency of the task before us is so great that a more flexible OJT scheme with a wider net of companies is needed. And time is not on our side. Ordinary manual workers can be retrained to operate control panels in automated mechanical systems in modern factories and warehouses. I have seen how it worked at the SIA latest flight kitchen. Senior citizens can be trained to operate user friendly Point of Sales (POS) machines in retail outlets. The next time you visit McDonald restaurant, please take a look at their POS machines. The key buttons that the senior citizen is punching the order for you are all in pictures, not in words, to facilitate the senior citizens who work there.”
“The neglect or the failure to do so in one will have repercussion on the overall economy, leading to friction in the social integration of our people. And as the Secretary-General of the NTUC said a moment ago, solely relying on foreign labour is only a partial solution. Undoubtedly, retraining and training are crucial elements in the solution. I urge the tripartite partnership, with the Government as the spearhead, to think of more ways and means to provide retraining for our lower skilled workers to enable them to carry on to contribute to the economy, which they have been doing for so long up to now. Various schemes are presently in place - skill certification scheme, skill redevelopment scheme, etc. However, more are needed. More support from the Government and the employers is needed. To appreciate this particular problem, I have just said that 40% of our workers of 1.8 million in the workforce have a lower secondary education. To train these workers in a classroom is not so effective. But I believe these people have plenty of commonsense if we can get the message to them in their own language. In 1996, the total amount of grants committed for skills development training was, according to the annual report that I read, $67.8 million for 483,000 places for all ages and education class. The average training grant per training place was therefore about $140. About 26% of the grants committed goes to workers with below secondary and NTC 3 education, with the total grant for this category at $17 million. The average training grant per training place in this category is therefore at about $107. If you work at a standard $6 per hour of wage, this works out to approximately 18 hours of training.”
“The American and European workers faced this problem in their economies more than 10 years ago, when their very own MNCs and businesses relocated their factories from their home countries to the developing countries. What we will see in the likely scenario will be unequal development in the labour market, and unequal development of wages in the industrial sector. The skill-intensive and knowledge-intensive sector will see a higher trend of growth. The less skill intensive or knowledge intensive or, worse, technologically obsolescent sector, will see slow, no growth or decline, At the lower end, we may even have the risk of structural under-employment, especially among our older and not-so-well trained workers. The problem faced here is compounded by the rising aging working population. Also, the fact is that there are 700,000 in our workforce of 1.8 million, ie, 40% who have less than lower secondary level of education. This makes the retraining of this group of workers a daunting and challenging task. This call for a new commitment to tripartism, therefore, is a call for a new awareness for all parties to recognise and prepare ourselves to manage this ambiguity in the not too distant future. The policies we develop and pursue must answer to the competitive needs of the global economy in high value added, high productivity and high capital or skill intensive industries. They must also answer to the need to upgrade the skill of our workers by constant retraining. The challenge for this tripartite partnership is not just to manage the threat of structural under-employment, but also to manage the need for high skill and knowledge intensive labour in high technology. It is a paradox with a dual.”
“With a more mature economy, emphasis on productivity improvement, rather than just growing by adding more foreign labour and capital, will become more crucial to sustaining real growth to ensure a rising standard of living for our workers. Thirdly, is the increasing use of information technology to all areas of business - in design, manufacturing and services. Those countries with the most appropriately relevant type of education system will be able to produce the people to work the new manufacturing design systems. And a young flexible modern educated workforce will be necessary. Fourthly, the irresistible and irreversible drive of globalisation will throw up new game rules for transnational corporations, to invest, to reward management and workers across the globe, and to manage MNC business in an integrated world economy. The foreign direct investments we are attracting today are no more the cheap labour investments 25 years ago. Today, our investments are in high skill-intensive and high value-added industries requiring high capital intensity. With further skill training needed for new jobs and more intensive global competition, all parties must re-examine their part in this partnership to ensure their relevance. Labour with skill and knowledge base will be in demand. Because of this, the growth potential for wages in this high technology sector will be relatively higher, commensurate with their growth and their contribution. In the same way, there will be certain sectors of the labour market which will run the potential risk of structural under-employment or structural unemployment. This problem is not unique and is not new.”
“And in this respect, I am really very impressed by the speech made by the Nominated Member of Parliament just before me who is also an employer with the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce for his very deep and very fruitful contribution. The financial market turmoil in the region does not detract us from this over-riding task of renewing tripartism. After this financial and currency turmoil is over and a new alignment of the exchange rates takes place, the regional economies that adjust themselves appropriately to further deepen this integration with the open international economy, or as in the words of the previous NMP who spoke, those who bite the bullet to adjust will be the stronger than before. The tripartite partnership forges this unique Singaporean understanding, an implicit social modus operandus, short of a social contract, whereby workers who are led by the NTUC, the Government and employers, including the more enlightened foreign employers, work towards the common objectives of stability and overall economic growth within a more moderate and reasonable wage system, in line with productivity growth in an environment of industrial peace and goodwill. The tripartite model has served us well for the past quarter of a century. There are four main factors why the present situation is slightly different or quite different. First, the population is aging. Within the next 10 years, 20% of our population will be aged 60 and above. This is a sobering thought. Secondly, the economy being more mature will no more be growing at the high rate that we have been accustomed to.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to join in the debate. First, I would like to counter the comment by Mr Chiam, the Member for Potong Pasir, that somehow the unions, the NTUC in Singapore, are controlled by the PAP and that for some strange reasons because of this, the tripartism that we have been building and working along this while is somewhat hollow. Perhaps, he forgot that many unionists have been the leading founders of the PAP in the 50s and the working relationship with the unions has always been a symbiotic part of the PAP political set-up. He made the comment also that because the Minister without Portfolio is the Secretary-General of the NTUC, for that reason the workers' interests are somehow compromised. But I take the other view that because we have a Minister in the Cabinet who knows deeply the issues facing the workers in Singapore that the PAP Government shows concern and value the input by the Secretary-General. Tripartism has served Singapore well and Singaporeans, in general, have benefited for the last 25 years. And in the face of these new global challenges we are seeing in the new global market and the new open integrated economy that we are facing, it is timely that we have this motion in the name of the Nominated Member of Parliament to urge this House to renew and express our new commitment to this new tripartism. This task has equal urgency, not just for the Government whose responsibility is to ensure good governance and improve the well-being of the people, but also to employers whose more mundane aim is of course to ensure good profitability and growth for their respective lines of businesses.”
“Sir, in view of the answers given by the Minister yesterday on the Electronic Road Pricing, I am not speaking.”
“I beg to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IA 1500. Sir, after the corporatisation of PSA, will it basically have the same structure and control, organisation, the same ambit of operational efficiency? Or is there a thinking of injecting into this exercise of privatisation some element of competition and dynamism? This can be done by forming subsidiaries and associate companies, and exposing them to competition with other commercial organisations. For example, we can begin with two or more subsidiaries to operate different sectors of berths of the port. Such examples can be found, for example, in Rotterdam and so on where there can be more than one company operating sectors of the berths. Another subsidiary can, for example, provide logistics and supply functions, competing with other private sector organisations. And it should be clear that the subsidiary companies are expected to be run as such, and not as some kind of old boys' network organisation. I think this is only the true meaning of corporatisation and competition that we should introduce. At the second stage, would the Minister consider allowing international or other local operators to tender and bid to operate such facilities which corporatised PSA might have? Or other services so that they can get the true benefits of competition, and benefit from the technologies and the work processes which will enable us to stay ahead of the regional competition. Of course, we realise that in talking about the port, we should not lose sight of the strategic issue of it.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his answers to our questions. I think he has given us more than we bargained for. I am sure we need a lot of time to digest his answers to the specific questions on usage and ownership costs. Nonetheless, I must say that the principles he elaborated on revenue neutrality on charging on usage rather than ownership are very sound principles to go by. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“30 pm Sir, what the MRT provides is a trunk line service. Buses and taxis also play an important role in helping people to move from one place to another without having to own cars. Does the Ministry of Communications have any plan to help bus and taxi operators to raise the standard of their service, and to bring down operating cost, so that they do not have to resort to fare hike to solve their problems? Building the LRT is another way to accelerate traffic movement. But up till now, we have heard that only Bukit Panjang and Sengkang will have such a system. I suggest that the Government consider building LRT in other housing estates when our economic growth is better. Sir, when we talk about transport, it does not mean land transport only. We have also sea and air transport. Today, sea and air transport has been relegated to a secondary position and, therefore, has been neglected. Precisely in these areas, our neighbouring countries have gone all out to out-perform us. They have decided to build larger airports and sea ports and they have decided to raise the quality of their service. We should not wait until most other major airline companies and shipping companies have relocated to our neighbouring countries before we regret. I would like to know, apart from enhancing SIA and PSA's competitive advantage, are we ready to deal with the competition from our neighboring countries? When we look at the work of MINCOM, I am reminded of a proverb in Chinese - internal worries and external threats. I hope the Ministry of Communications would not neglect external threats.”
“We will be successful if Singaporeans can have a seamless integrated public transport system that is affordable, accessible and comprehensive and roads with good trafficability. We are not there yet but we look forward to the Ministry's implementation of its land transport plan and to make this a reality in the near future. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Cheng San)( In Mandarin): Sir, in the Chinese classic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" there is an episode known as "Quenching the thirst by looking at the plums." When Cao Cao ( ) and his army were marching, they ran out of drinking water, and the soldiers were so thirsty that they could hardly walk. An idea came to Cao Cao. He pointed at a tree nearby, and told his men that there was a plum orchard over there. At the mention of the plum, triggered by psychological reactions, the saliva welled up into their mouths, these soldiers did not feel thirsty any more and so they were able to march on. Sir, quenching the thirst by looking at the plum is a temporary measure. With the publication of the White Paper on World Class Land Transport, I hope the Minister could provide us with more specific information on how it is implemented. Clothing, food, housing and travelling are important in our life. Travelling is especially important in a fast pace society. Apart from COEs to curb increase in vehicles, we need a fast, convenient public transport network to enable us to go from one place to another without having to own cars. The MRT has brought many benefits to people who live along the line. Therefore, I hope that the North East line will be built earlier so that the people living along the line could benefit from such transport system without having to buy or own cars. Could the Minister tell us when the line can be completed? 4.”
“In controlling the car ownership, the current vehicle taxation structure and the COE system result in significant cost upfront for the car owner and once he owns the car, the cost of usage is relatively inexpensive considering the high cost of purchasing the car. The Ministry already has COE as a mechanism for controlling car ownership, hence the Ministry may want to consider off loading some of the upfront taxation costs and transfer it to usage costs. Hence, motorists will have to plan their car usage more carefully. With restraint on usage, it will also allow a higher vehicle population and satisfy the desire of Singaporeans to own cars. The current vehicle tax structure is inconsistent. For example, the present road tax is based on engine capacity for cars and motorcycles, maximum laden weight for goods vehicles, seating capacity for some buses and an arbitrary flat fee for some classes of goods vehicles and buses. The system does not have a consistent system for road taxation and does not directly take into consideration the space occupied by the vehicle on the road. Hence, models of a car with the same exterior but different engine capacities attract different road taxes although they occupy the same space on the road. Can the Minister let us know whether there are plans to review the current tax system on vehicles? Even as we control road usage on Singapore roads, one cannot help but notice the long traffic jams along the Causeway. With the completion of the second link in the near future, will there be any measures implemented to prevent severe traffic congestion along the second link? [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 4.25 pm Ultimately, all Singaporeans want a world class transport system.”
“Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng (Cheng San): Sir, land transport affects every Singaporean, whether he uses public transportation or his own vehicle. In the areas of public transport, one of the major concerns of most Singaporeans is the affordability of fares. Bus fares were increased in June this year to meet the increased operating costs of bus services. There has been no doubt that the quality of buses and the bus services have improved. However, the capital cost of a bus remains a major cost factor. Many of the buses used come from reputable companies, such as Mercedes and Volvo, and if there is a regular maintenance programme with an occasional major overhaul, one would expect that these buses would have a longer road life than the current 12 years. As such, I would suggest that the Ministry consider extending the road life of public buses to reduce the cost for bus companies. Extension of the road life of buses should be accompanied by certain standards of maintenance as well. Likewise, the Ministry may also want to study the feasibility of prolonging the replacement schedule of MRT trains to reduce costs. This should also reduce the quantum of the increase for MRT fares. As MRT will be the backbone for the public transport system, the completion of the North-East MRT line will certainly alleviate the transport woes of those in the North-East corridor. Residents in the north eastern area look forward to the completion of the line. Can the Minister give us an update on the North-East line and the operational date of the line? The second major area I like to deal with is vehicle ownership and usage.”
“Thirdly, what policy decision has the Minister come to with regard to the question of the quantum of charges for the Electronic Road Pricing system to be implemented soon? This is an important issue in the mind of many people because the quantum and structure of costing of the ERP will have an impact on the asset price valuation on cars and vehicles. As the deadline for implementation draws near, perhaps, the Minister can give us some guidelines, especially on what kind of adjustment in usage and ownership cost will be involved to pave the way for this new scheme to be phased in. What kind of offsets, if any, does the Minister have in mind? Does the ERP imply that COE prices can be moderated? To do this, public policy objectives or targets should be announced clearly in advance so that motorists can make the important decisions to own the next car or save the next journey. Can the Minister say whether the implementation of the ERP charges will also aim to be revenue-neutral with related offsets, just like the implementation of the GST scheme? Fourthly, what improvements to the quality of bus service does the Minister intend to make, if any, to respond to the frequent queries on this? Will he consider giving some competition to the bus operators, just like the magic which competition did to the prices of handphones and radio handphone fees on 1st April 1997? Finally, what is the status of the plan to develop the integrated town and transport services, as stated in the White Paper on World Class Land Transport System, in order to facilitate commuters and give them easier access to food, retailing, shopping, marketing and other services, with the minimum of breakages and time loss?”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, some of the recent criticisms of our public transport system because of the recent fee hikes should not detract us from recognising that we do have an enviable public transport system. In many ways, our transport system is acknowledged to be one of the most progressive and in the area of congestion pricing and road usage pricing, we are at the forefront in creative solutions. What we do here in our transport system is being watched and studied avidly in many advanced countries in the world. There are several areas I would like to raise. First, in the World Class Land Transport System Report, it was stated quite clearly that the public transport system must be affordable to all Singaporeans. To protect commuters, it cannot be on a cost plus basis. Otherwise, inefficiency will be translated into higher fares. Fare increases must be justified to the Public Transport Council. However, many people think that the Public Transport Council should be more transparent in publicizing the rationale, the justification, the review and decision more comprehensively. For example, in the last fare increase, what were the cost and productivity yardsticks used and reviewed to evaluate against the public transport companies' justification, or was it a cost plus justification? Secondly, public transport vehicles are required to be properly maintained and subject to regular inspections. In view of this, is it not possible for such vehicles which are well-maintained to be used for an extended life instead of just seven years? That would lower the depreciation charges on the vehicles and lower the cost of operation.”
“Sir, there are some industrial factories which are located on the ground floor of high rise HDB apartments. These are the older HDB flats. Specifically, I am talking about some of these industrial factories located on the ground floor of flats in Tanglin Halt. They cause problems of heat, smoke, noise, and dust pollution for the residents. It is an agony for many of these residents to stay there. The problems have persisted for years because initially when these flats were built, the rules were not so strict and industrial factories were allowed to be there at the ground floor. But today, people's lifestyles have changed and they are more demanding. I suggest that the HDB provide alternative locations for these people in the factories to move to, so that the residents will be spared this agony. I hope the HDB will look into this matter once and for all because this problem has persisted for a long time.”
“Sir, presently, the markets and the food centres in HDB estates are not being upgraded when there is a MUP precinct. They are conveniently sectored out. The Government is spending about $60,000 per dwelling unit for every space adding item in MUP upgrading. I wonder whether the Minister would be prepared to consider upgrading the markets and food centres in those precincts where these markets exist. Specifically, I am referring to the Mei Ling precinct upgrading where right in the centre of the precinct is a market and food centre and the precinct is being upgraded under MUP. But there is no grant for the upgrading and renovation and refurbishing of the market. I wonder if the Ministry would think through this. Otherwise, after the whole MUP is over, everything around would be very beautiful and nice except for the market.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head S of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code SG 1500. Sir, the issue concerns delays in workmen's compensation. Very often, for injuries sustained by workers in the course of work, compensations are paid to them rather late. I make this observation through periods where I have actually dealt with cases in my meet-the-people sessions. The delays are for payment of compensation for the injuries and the medical bills that they have to pay as well as for the loss of earnings of the workers. I believe the problem sometimes has to do with the Ministry of Labour, sometimes with the insurance companies and sometimes with the disputes by the workers themselves on the quantum of payment for their compensation. Nonetheless, considering the workers' livelihood and incomes are at stake, I would urge the Ministry of Labour to consider what are some of the things that they can do, perhaps to minimise bureaucracy, set time periods for the insurance companies and employers to respond to delays for such cases and to impose penalties and fines on them for unnecessary delays, and also to be a little bit more understanding of the plight of the workers.”
“I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $317,070,580 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $3,714,032,000 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.”
“On this question of crane operators in PSA's new cranes, with modern technology, actually you can replace the crane operator. There is no need to have a man sitting up there, driving the crane, and there is no need to have a high-rise loo, as came out in the pictures in the press. You can actually have a woman, who can be in a room, controlling the cranes by remote control. So, in fact, what we are saying is that someone more literate, with more skills, and operating computer panels and whatever, who can actually do the job of replacing this guy on the crane up there. In fact, I was told by senior officers in PSA that such a person, who can be a female, can actually control two cranes. So the productivity is actually raised by twice. But what happens to the poor crane operator who is being displaced? So the question therefore is very serious. I give another example to relate how such a person could be retrained, and that is with reference to an example that I saw in the SIA catering kitchen. The people who are working in the warehouse, because they have gone into automated retrieval and so on, actually spent time to hand-hold the packers and so on who were used to the forklift pickers or used to operating such mechanical devices. They actually hand held them for a few months and retrained them to operate the control panels. To do that, the company is very enlightened but must have spent a lot of labour time and labour cost for the sake of productivity and so on to retrain and guide such people. But this means that the company is actually spending a lot of cost in terms of labour time, and I think the answer to this retraining programme must be in this direction.”
“I do not want to speak on the next amendment. Give me some time on this.”
“Because I think for the large part of these people, who are in this category of 700,000, as mentioned, the classroom-type of teaching may not necessarily be the solution because they may not be numerate or literate, but they have been doing jobs in the economy all their lives. I give an example. There was this ---”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head W of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code WA 1500. Sir, I would still like to touch on retraining because I feel that it is a very important topic and that somehow the matter has not really been adequately addressed. If you look at the Table presented by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary just now, there are about 700,000 workers with PSLE and below. If you somehow separate PSLE and below into those with a PSLE standard and those maybe without education, you can see how serious the problem is. This group of 700,000 workers are the ones that we are talking about when we talk about retraining programmes. We are not referring to the skills development training part of it which goes for training a lot of people who have already got some kind of education. The proposal given by one of the Members of Parliament, my colleague, Mr Lim Swee Say from Tanjong Pagar GRC, on skills certification, is a step in the right direction. But this is only one part of the whole process that we need to do for retraining. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary just now mentioned about over $60 million for the Skills Development Fund. If you look at the Budget book for last year, the sum was actually about $25 million spent. So while there is a lot of commitment, the amount spent, if I interpret the book correctly, was actually $25 million. If you work it out, it is really very low in terms of the size of our GDP which is about $100 billion. So I urge the Government to really take a hard and deep look into this retraining scheme and to think of ways and means. It is not necessarily just a way of spending money by addressing some causes.”
“But we should also package programmes where we can allow workers to cross train, to learn other skills where it may not be economically meaningful for the employer to do so. But we can package such schemes, we can reward and compensate employers and employees so that at the end of the line when the workers have to move because the competition has taken away their jobs, there is still something they can go for, and not to ask to be retrained after they have lost their job. So training beyond their present skills is very important. I know that we have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in giving transfers to citizens, S&C rebates and utilities rebates. I am all for helping the poor and those who cannot afford. But I do not think all Singaporeans are that poor and cannot afford. If we were to marshal the resources, spend it in the right focused way, to train them and give them this opportunity to learn to fish in another way, in another pond, in another sea, I think that is more meaningful and it is where we should put the resources to train our workers. Finally, Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank you for this opportunity that you have given us to speak our mind and I want to support the motion in the name of the Minister for Finance.”
“As the Minister has constantly reminded us, we rely on the skills and the managerial capacity of our workforce and our people to stay competitive. We do not have big land or natural resources. The only way that we can be competitive is through raising our productivity. I would have expected that the Minister, in his Budget Statement, would provide for some kind of training and cross-training or retraining schemes where we can allow a large part of our labour force, who have been lacking in training and skills, to be retrained during this period when they are employed, and not to wait for the time when the competition has taken away their jobs before they start looking for retraining. We know that a large part of our workforce do not have those literacy and numeracy skills to be trained in the classrooms. Because they are fully employed, there is a lot of pressure for them to do overtime, to stay on the job, to show their commitment to the job and so on, that very often there is little time for them to do anything except in the weekends. But surely we can think through some schemes and I think this point was mentioned by Mrs Yu-Foo just now and Mr Lim Swee Say yesterday. There is something that we can do, initiated by the Government, work through with the employers and labour, something we can package to enable this large category, somewhat in the region of a few hundred thousand, to be retrained at this crucial time, and we do not have much more time. There should be no let-up in this retraining and I would say "cross-training programmes". When a worker is engaged in his work, whatever you train him along is training on the job, and employers may find reasons to fund or encourage such training.”
“And I share some concern that unit labour cost rose 3.5% last year, in 1996, and productivity growth declined to 0.7% in 1996. For the unit labour cost increase in the overall economy of 3.5% in 1996, 5.1% increase was due to Government rates and fees. 1.4% increase was due to services cost and 3% increase was due to unit business cost of manufacturing. These figures are found in Table A 2.3 on page 71 of the Economic Survey of Singapore 1997 (first quarter). If you look through these figures over the years 1991-1996, the section on Government rates and fees component comes up top. And in five of the six years, this figure shows that the Government figure was top. In two of the six years, the increase in cost attributed to Government rates and fees was in double digits. So I can understand why businesses and businessmen complain about the high statutory cost that they have to bear in businesses. I urge the Minister to look into this area to minimize this large statutory cost that businesses have to bear in order for them to be more competitive in the private sector. The Minister mentioned that many of our competitors have the advantages of lower land cost and labour cost, and are more competitive in attracting investments than us. And we do not need to add to this the high statutory cost to the list. The third issue which I want to urge the Minister to address urgently through this Budget concerns the productivity and growth decline. This is related to the urge for training and retraining programmes for our workers. The figures in the Economic Survey show that this is the third year in succession where our productivity growth has declined. It was barely 0.7% in 1996, and for the first quarter of 1997, it shows a further decrease, a minus figure of 1.7%.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak in support of the motion in the name of the Minister for Finance. After so many speakers have spoken, I just want to add three points in observing the Budget presented by the Minister. Firstly, there were a lot of remarks by business people outside that there was no reduction in corporate tax in this year's Budget. Therefore, it was felt by some people that this Budget has not quite given the goodies that they expect to the business community, particularly at a time when business is not too good in the economy. I really want to ask whether giving a 1% more corporate tax, from 26% to 25%, weigh that importantly in the calculation of investors and businesses. And those who argue that it would must rightfully believe so. But does it? For MNCs, it does not really matter. An MNC that does not know how to differentiate the location of their production and the location of their tax, or take into consideration covers and shelters for their taxes is not much of an MNC. A local profit-making business would not really quibble about 1% more of corporate tax to be given to the Government, and a company that does not profit or making losses would really find it not a practical idea to consider whether there is a reduction of tax. The issue really concerns the marginal struggle business. In that respect, I suggest that addressing the cost items of doing business is more important than just considering a reduction of corporate tax. And it is in this area that I hope the Minister would consider granting or favouring businesses in lowering their operating costs. The problem of cost items above the line has to be tackled separately, rather than by just bemoaning the Minister for a 1% corporate tax reduction.”
“On this question of rule of law, which the Minister of State for Home Affairs and Law has also expressed his views, I would like to remind the hon. Member that even foreign non-partisan institutes have voted and ranked the rule of law in Singapore very highly. We have grievances, we may dispute. Many of us feel that sometimes policies that we have may need to be improved, but we speak and we debate on this. But on the question of law and order, it is ultimate. It is something that underpins the whole system of government and the whole stability of Singapore. So it is through this rule of law and the transparency of government that others outside of Singapore, outside of this 224 sq miles, know about this. And it would be foolish for the Government to deviate from this rule of law policy. Freedom of information - with the advent of the Internet, I think it is very difficult for any Singaporean not to be informed, and there are so many avenues in publications and various channels that Singaporeans know about information. So it is futile for the Government to try and control whatever information. Exactly what his views on this matter, I am not sure. Why do Singaporeans support the PAP Government for so long? More than 35 years. Is it a charade that is going on? I think we ought to ask ourselves. Or is it because the Singapore PAP Government has delivered the goods and promises to the people of Singapore and in the process naturally there will be some who have been wounded in the cut and thrust of politics. Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Members of this House to reject this amendment from the NCMP. Question, "That the words proposed to be added, be there added.", put, and negatived.”
“Member for Hougang are the only two persons in the House who have this right to articulate the fears of Singaporeans. I think they are articulating the fears that they impose on themselves. The hon. Member for Hougang just now also mentioned about the danger of this policy that we have instituted whereby we would like to prioritize at a later stage those who have not expressed their interest in the programmes of the People's Action Party, who forms the Government today. Is it wrong? I do not think so. In the constituency where I represent, where practically all the flats are more than 30 years old, we still have to accept priority. Not all my constituents or all the flat owners in Queenstown get to have their flats upgraded, even though I would say they are definitely at the top of the queue by the age of the flats alone. But we have got to be persuaded. Because government is ultimately the art of the possible and we have to persuade even old residents in aged estates that it is necessary for the benefit of Singapore, for the wider impact of the scheme, that at least there must be other criteria that we must accept in order for this scheme to be manifestly implemented in Singapore. So, therefore, we have to accept the fact that some of us will have to go a little bit slower and let the other, perhaps, newer flats take the queue. So it is not a question of abiding by some rigid rules that we fix ourselves. In the same way, for the Member for Hougang, whose constituents have voted him as their representative, he must accept the fact that at the end of the day, the Government will not discriminate but the Government has a right to prioritise. So he should not complain and the residents of Hougang who have voted him know exactly and fully what they are in for.”
“I think the fact - as mentioned by the Member for West Coast, that over the years he has been through the elections where some results were better, some results were not as good - speaks volumes of the legitimacy of this Parliament. And for him to continue to maintain this line of attack is wasteful of Parliament's time. I would like to also talk about his point on the responsibility of political parties. I think the people of Cheng San were wise enough not to let the team that he led as the leader of that group come into Parliament. It was only because of the force of personality and leadership of our Prime Minister and his colleagues that was able to challenge the trend that chauvinism and the play of racial and ethnic forces would otherwise have put us. He talks about Singapore being with the baggage of 18th century politics. Is this Parliament a baggage of 18th century politics? The fact is that there is a debate in this House with Members from both sides, including hybridization of the original concept of Westminster Parliamentary democracy, whereby he speaks here as a Non-Constituency Member. Is this a baggage of the 18th century? I think it is an improvement. It is something that Singapore has always, under the leadership of the PAP, been able to think out and institute so that we can have alternative views ventilated by people from the opposition, by people who are not in politics but who have substantial achievements and who speak with their own expertise as NMPs. We have this kind of concept introduced in Parliament. I think it is very insulting to talk about the baggage of 18th century politics in Singapore today. On the question of articulating the fears of Singaporeans, he speaks as if he and the hon.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir, for letting me have this opportunity to join in this debate. I wish to speak against the amendment by the Non-Constituency Member. When I first heard Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam speak in this Parliament at the beginning of this session, I was a little bit puzzled. First of all, why did the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament who has criticised the NCMP scheme finally decided to join Parliament? Today, hearing him again talking about the general election, which happened a few months back, and also on his allegation of sham elections, I am still more puzzled why he continues to maintain the same line of speeches that he has been saying for the past umpteen years. I would have thought that with the Member joining the House finally as NCMP, after reverting his initial position, he would have at least, hopefully, in my view, come to a change of heart, and at last would have said something more substantive and true. He talks about one or two thousand members who were present at the PAP rally on the eve of poll when the Prime Minister spoke. I was there. I helped Mr Lim Boon Heng organise all the election and coordinating it. There were certainly more than one or two thousand. There were more than 10,000. I am not sure whether it was 50,000 that he mentioned that were at his rallies. Anyway, that is not important. The important thing is in the results and the results spoke convincingly of the maturity of Singaporeans to choose the kind of people to lead the country into the 21st century. He talks about the climate of fear and his colleague, the Member for Hougang, joined in to talk about fear of printers who dared not print his leaflets. There are all kinds of people and there are all kinds of fear. Some of us fear the dark.”
“Then they will know the full cost of operation and on that yardstick, we will truly know how efficiently or otherwise our SBS has been performing to serve the needs of Singaporeans. Finally, I wish to urge the Government to consider delimiting the ambit of operation of the public transport companies so that resources should be reinvested to ensuring continuing productivity improvement through technology and creative management solutions in public transport services rather than running straight to the PTC the moment operating losses are incurred. They should also stick to their area of competence and not divest into areas best left to others. They owe it not only to their shareholders but to the stakeholders of Singapore. Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the motion in the name of the Member for Bukit Timah.”
“Many members of the public are wondering why the SBS management is spending time and resources to build houses in London and Singapore when they should be concentrating their energies on improving the standard of bus services in Singapore. Public transport is an important element in our economy's competitiveness. The company's time and resources should be better spent in the area we presume they are good at and help improve the customers' satisfaction and service to Singaporeans. Of late, we have also been hearing from the bus companies a lot about their duty to their shareholders. Public transport is too important an area to be left to shareholders. Over the years, I have heard more and more of my residents and others complaining about the bus services. The Government has a duty to the ultimate stakeholders of Singapore who need to go around efficiently and cost effectively every day to work, to study, to conduct businesses and to do their respective jobs, to compete with their friends in the neighbouring region and countries. I also urge the Government to seriously consider allowing community-based solution to the perennial problem of complaints about the bus service in the housing estates and the workplace, for example, in Jurong. Perhaps, the CDC or Town Councils should be empowered to run bus schemes in the estates on a cooperative basis to supplement the existing unsatisfactory routes, to feed onto the MRT and/or the bus interchange. As a cooperative, the members will know their interest and will also know the full cost and benefits of running a feeder scheme. Surpluses can also be reinvested or distributed based on patronage so that users will get rebates on the fees they pay.”
“Will it make the region less attractive as a whole to foreign MNC investment with implications on the growth prospects for the region, bearing in mind that other regions are also competing for investments from the MNCs? Individual countries, particularly members of ASEAN, have a duty and responsibility to maximise their own countries' gains without negating the benefits to the region as a whole. Otherwise, the approach is only shortsighted. On the issue of land transport, there have been considerable public sentiments expressed on the latest measure of Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). I believe that Electronic Road Pricing is the correct way to go. In general, it is difficult when introducing some extraneous and new feature into the existing pricing system and structure for road transport to correctly price the charge to effect the desired outcome. It may require a bit of time and some adjustment. When, for example, people with CBD passes are also exempted from ERP charges in the latest CTE charge, it may be relatively cheaper for many using the CTE to go through the CBD causing jams at unexpected places. People should realise that embarking on the ERP, there is no roadmap by which our authority can ride on, as we are probably the first country to embark systematically on this. This system, when fully and effectively implemented, should be an efficient system for the overall economy in that it minimises wastage of time and resources in jammed traffic and prices the users of road what they should bear based on supply and demand at the point in time. Sir, of late, some members of the public have also expressed unhappiness over the latest fare increase in public transport.”
“I was impressed to see the food preparation workflow from the fresh produce arrival to the tastefully and hygienically prepared meal ready to fly at the appointed time. But in spite of all the backroom facility and capability, I was also made aware that they still have to find the customer in this service-oriented business. I am sure other more sophisticated and stringent workflow governs their plane servicing and the maintenance programmes. The underlying thrust is that it is by the excellent differentiation of their service and product that SIA or CAAS can make the difference to the attractiveness of Changi as an international airport hub. In the same analogy, we can think of all our different and differentiated sectors of our economy synergising to attract the tourist or the visitor to Singapore. Similarly, our port has also been striving to maintain their No. 1 status in cargo handled and I believe they have achieved it. Of late, we have been hearing in the news that some foreign bodies are levying some fees on vehicles coming to our port to pick up cargoes. I wonder whether this kind of practice is in the spirit and intent of the WTO for free and open trade and investment. What impact does this kind of practice have on the drive towards foreign investment in countries in the region of ASEAN? Such discriminatory practice surreptitiously works against the interest of the region which seeks to attract foreign investment and maximise the freedom of MNCs to determine their regional strategies to base themselves at selected locations in order to maximise the comparative advantages of different countries. Does this kind of approach of nationalist myopia violate the ASEAN spirit of free trade?”
“Many foreigners, who are applying for permanent residence (PR) in Singapore, coming from China, Hong Kong, India and Malaysia, have to provide some skill competency certification. They spend time and energy and resources to prepare and sit for such competency certification in order to acquire some extra points for their PR application. The average Singaporean-born worker who takes his job for granted may be left behind in a skill-intensive or information-based workplace in the next century. The second area in the President's Address which I will focus on covers communication which stands as an important pillar in our competitive economy. In addressing the importance of building up adequate and up-to-date infrastructure, we must not forget that it is not just the hardware but the software that must be developed in order for the product or service to face the market competition. One can buy the trains and build the railways but it is always another story to make sure the trains run on time. My friend, the Member for Pasir Ris, informs me that nowadays planes can fly and land better without human intervention. But that is not to say that management and customer services and the satisfaction of customers have no role in running airports and airlines. Indeed, it is not the airport terminal size or the high-tech gadgetry but the support services, the management and workers that are behind the facilities that make the difference. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the latest SIA flight kitchen. It was an eye-opener for me to see and learn of the equipment and management and quality control. The SIA flight kitchen prepares 50,000 meals a day.”
“But the skills in working with or making such machines or equipment should not be obsolete. These skills should be constantly refined and applied in new products and in new contexts. This is the challenge we face with our workers in the Singapore economy: to enable and allow our workforce to be constantly retrained and to stay employable in their lifetime. The Prime Minister, in a recent speech, paid tribute to the late Christain Brother Christopher for his attitude in always learning new things even in his old age. Brother Christopher taught a good number of Josephians in this House. He was well known for teaching Mathematics and Physics at the `O' level for years at St. Joseph's Institution. He also learned this subject by himself. From Brother Christopher, we learn the importance of learning from first principles, and it is by being well-grounded in the first principles of enquiry that all subsequent learning in the subject over a lifetime can be further developed and refined. Long after he retired, he once told me he was giving tuition in the same old subjects to the children of some of the old boys who have sought him out, entirely up to date, relevant and useful even in his old age retirement. Hence, retraining for skill or job competency is an important area for us. We have about 400,000 of our older workers who may not have the language or numeracy skills to be retrained in the standard classroom way. However, they have been working effectively and productively all their working lives. Hence, giving them certification in skill competency or job competency is an important element in our retraining programme: to reach out to these older and uneducated workers in order to enable them to be employable in the future.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak in support of the motion in the name of the Member for Bukit Timah. The President in his Address to this Parliament has underlined the importance for Singapore to stay competitive and view the regional development in infrastructure as challenges to our people to further refine and upgrade our competitiveness. At the heart of our drive to remain competitive is a question not just of building the up-to-date infrastructural facilities and equipment but also the management and workers' collaboration towards productivity. In addition to meeting the market challenge with the right product, we need to enter the market at the right price, whether for export or for within the domestic economy. In this respect, Sir, two areas of the President's Address stand out importantly. The first covers the issue of raising productivity for our economy. For the third year in succession, productivity growth in the economy has fallen. While the economy has been growing 7 to 8% per annum in the recent years or higher, the figures on productivity rates are not growing creditably. We need to look into these areas seriously as it is productivity growth that determines ultimately our real income and competitiveness. For too long our economy has been growing on account of factor inputs including foreign workers and foreign capital. If the productivity growth is not sustained, our competitiveness will be affected in attracting investment and in exporting our products. This will have repercussions on our growth prospects and our people's income. As the population ages, it is all the more important for our workers to embark on retraining programmes. Technology, especially those embodied in products, gets obsolete very fast.”
“If there is any group from outside Singapore which is out to undermine our national interest, we must deal with them severely. Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to refer to a report in the Lianhe Zaobao on 17th November 1996. It reported that the SDP had originally intended to host the Conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats Executive Committee in Singapore, but because of the impending General Election, this plan was shelved. The original decision of the SDP apparently was to try and create some trouble and exert pressure on Singapore at the time of the convention of the WTO Ministerial Conference here. Or is it the intention of the SDP to use this time to cast aspersions on Singapore? May I ask where will they get the money to host such a large conference? I would also like to ask the Publications Division of MITA to look into the books written by Chee Soon Juan, Singapore, My Home Too and Dare to Change. Because in these two books, there are a lot of wrong figures and wrong facts to mislead the readers. If a writer is irresponsible and the publisher is equally irresponsible to publish wrong facts and figures to mislead the people, then the authorities ought to order the author to amend his facts and figures to the correct ones so that the readers, both local and foreign, will not be misled. I feel that when Parliament debates this motion, the other factors which I have mentioned should be taken into consideration. Contempt of Parliament is a very serious offence. We should not take it lightly. As a responsible Government, we should look into the financial sources of Chee Soon Juan and the SDP. The people have the right to know. I fully support this motion. 3.15 pm”
“Just imagine if one day this Mr Do-Not-Know should become the Prime Minister of Singapore and Singapore will have a Do-Not-Know Prime Minister. He will evade his responsibility. To everything, he will say, "I do not know. I cannot remember." What will happen to the future of Singapore? What will happen to the livelihood of the three million people of Singapore? Who will take responsibility for it? As such, we simply cannot afford to be lenient to him in so far as this contempt proceeding is concerned. Dr Chee Soon Juan of the SDP has frequently gone overseas to make speeches. He went to Bangkok, Australia and the United States to make speeches. As Singaporeans, we have the right to know where he got the money from to go overseas. On this occasion, if we decide to accept the Committee's recommendation to fine him, how is he going to get the money to pay the fine? If the money does not come from his own pocket, but from the party or from some anonymous supporters, then is it in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Party? Further, there is this litigation between Chiam See Tong and the Executive Committee of the SDP which may well result in heavy damages being awarded to the plaintiff, Mr Chiam See Tong. Where will the money come from? Is the money going to come from the Party or from some people outside the party or from the money raised by Mr Chiam See Tong for the Party when he was in charge? I think someone should look into the matter and find out whether they are guilty of tax evasion or whether they have any "back-door" foreign aid. It is the fundamental right and responsibility of every citizen to defend and protect his own country. Every Singaporean has the responsibility to protect the interest of Singapore.”
“I am somewhat disappointed that Mr Ling How Doong and Mr Cheo Chai Chen have chosen to absent themselves from today's sitting of Parliament. At the public hearing of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health Care Subsidy, Dr Chee Soon Juan fabricated facts and figures, and gave wrong information to mislead the Committee. He acted in contempt of Parliament. This is indeed regrettable and sad for politics in Singapore. Mr Speaker, Sir, I can understand the feelings of Mr Chiam See Tong, the founder and former Secretary-General of SDP. He groomed up Chee Soon Juan as a likely successor of opposition politics in Singapore. But Chee Soon Juan turns out to be a very cunning perpetrator of sophistry, and one who enjoys stealing the limelight. He is fond of playing to the gallery and, unfortunately, over the past two years, Mr Ling How Doong, the Chairman of the SDP, has, to a large extent, appeared to be influenced by Chee Soon Juan. Time and again, he has also resorted to this kind of sophistry in Parliament. The attitude of Chee Soon Juan towards Mr Chiam See Tong leads one to feel that he is power-crazy and very ungrateful to cast aside his mentor. This act of kicking down the ladder by one who aspires to be a Member of Parliament, is indeed very regrettable. I cannot condone such a conduct when it is blatantly clear that he is out to cheat and lie. How can Parliament treat this act of contempt lightly? If we do that, we can only do more harm to the reputation and dignity of Parliament. As a leader of the opposition, when he was challenged in the hearing, his pet tactic was to say, "I do not know" or "I cannot remember". He can say "I do not know" to everything - a Mr Do-Not-Know!”
“On 24th October 1996, at the Committee of Privileges hearing, he was asked by Mr Davinder Singh whether he knew the difference between the time series in current dollars and the time series in 1985 dollars, his answer was, "No, I do not.". While it was pointed out to him that he gave inconsistent answers to the same question on separate occasions, he denied that the answers were inconsistent. To any man of common decency, such contradiction to simple questions, if not inconsistent, must be a lie. Yet, our friend did it with a straight face. And barely a month later, the Straits Times reported on 21st November, quoting him as saying, "The Bible teaches that in whatever you say, let your yes be a yes and a no be a no." I would say it is not necessary to invoke the Bible when all decent and honest men know what we mean when we say "yes" or "no" to simple questions. I am left to wonder whether Dr Chee thinks that if he affirmed his evidence at the hearings of the Select Committee on Health Care Subsidy and the Committee of Privileges that a "yes" can also mean a "no" and a "no" is also a "yes", perhaps the Leader of the SDP, with such a good brain and strong heart, to him "yes" and "no" can mean the same thing. To the hon. Members here, "yes" and "no" are not the same answers to the same question. Otherwise, Mr Speaker, Sir, you will have a very difficult time to interpret the decision of the House. Sir, I will vote yes to the motion in the name of the Leader of the House and I am sure you understand what I mean. Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the motion standing in the name of the Leader of the House.”
“They were not interested to find out the basis of their accusation that our statistical data had been systematically massaged. His aim is to muck up the ground by all sorts of allegations for the governing party to clean up. And he appears on TV and the newspaper as the guy who takes the Government and the PAP on. The time has come for Parliament to make a clear stand that it will not tolerate being trifled with. Sir, we all make mistakes. But there is a big difference between genuinely making a mistake and admitting it when realised, and lying about the figures and making them up to fool ordinary Singaporeans by painting the Government in bad light. Dr Chee and his team were aware that the health issue was a sensitive issue and they were stoking the issue. When challenged on the data, they fudged and they lied that their data was wrong due to a typo error and they hoped to walk away with this. Unless we take the initiative to exercise the due rights of Parliament, Parliament will be mocked by this man. And if he succeeds by trifling with Parliament, it will be a sad day for honest, transparent and moral government for Singapore. Mr Speaker, Sir, I want to give an example, just now highlighted by the Leader of the House, that we are dealing with someone who has no compunction to twist and turn arguments to suit his objective. At the hearing of the Select Committee on Health Care Subsidy on 12th August, he was asked by the Minister for Health whether he knew the difference between a time series in current dollars and a time series data in 1985 dollars. He answered, yes.”
“The figure, namely, the share of Government health expenditure in total health expenditure is not such an esoteric figure or such an advanced ratio figure that it is so difficult to grasp or to imagine. It cannot even pull wool over the eyes of our junior college students. Why did Dr Chee then keep on arguing that the figure was 5% in his paper or his books, as revealed by his research? He only gave up and admitted this figure was wrong after several years when it was clear that Parliament was subjecting his argument and position to scrutiny. When he realised that this lie was to be exposed and then in typical character, he invented another lie, the typo error. Mr Speaker, Sir, Parliament must not allow those who trifle with it with lies and double speak to go unpunished. It insults the honour of this House and its honourable Members who have spent so much of public money and their own precious time to attend to someone who has built up, in typical character, a long list of affronts to Parliament and country. We have to be aware that Dr Chee is not interested in the truth or the correct figure. If he is, there were so many opportunities for him to admit that error. We are confronting one who calls the truth by many names and his motive is purely to engage in theatre for exploiting the public disaffection of the Government and its policies in order to get some political mileage for himself. He exploited the same situation during the Flor Contemplacion case and we know he was trying to make political capital at Williams College. In the last Cost Review Committee, which was convened to find out the basis of the allegation of the SDP-PKMS cost of living report, Dr Chee and his team were uncooperative in providing direct answers to questions.”
“Reading the news reports and the verbatim committee reports of what went on in the Select Committee on Health Care Subsidy and subsequently in the Committee of Privileges, I am rather saddened that what was very obvious was the twist and turn in argument by the Secretary-General of the SDP in justifying figures he and his team had submitted, drawn from their own so-called research and book references to justify their own position that health care expenditure as a percentage of total health care expenditure in Singapore has been so dismal, at 5%. When pointed out repeatedly that his figures and data were not accurate, Dr Chee finally admitted to a typographical error. A dummy 25% was invented in order to allow the figure "2" to be lopped off to explain the presence of a figure "5" due to a typographical error, when in fact we all know that the true figure was not "5" or "25", but actually 23.6%, from the Yearbook of Statistics. The Report of the Committee of Privileges dwelt into the various situations and my parliamentary colleagues have also explained at length why 5% was not a typographical error. For someone who has spent some years doing economic research, I find the 5% typographical error explanation completely baffling. Any researcher studying statistics or figures to form judgment or to make inference statements about changing situations or trends must look for certain exceptions in data which cannot escape his attention. And any researcher worth his salt will not fail to ask why he sees a figure plunge from the 20s to 5%. In any event, he would have to check and it would be very clear even to the most blind that the figure may be suspect. But, of course, there are none so blind as those who will not see or as those with their own agenda.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in a democratic representative government, Parliament is the highest forum. And when Parliament invites its citizens or persons to make representations to its Committees in Parliament, it is the duty of such people, whether they are from the Opposition or just citizens, to appear before the Committees and answer any queries which Parliament may be anxious to know, such that the facts may be established in order for Government rule to be always guided by facts and policies pursued for the larger interest of the people. Anyone from the humblest servant to the highest paid professional or the Permanent Secretary, when testifying before Parliament, is valued for the truth he speaks, not the side he is on or the party he represents. If the Government is only interested in its own partisan position, then there is no need to refer matters to Select Committees and to seek views from the public. Its majority will always ensure its partisan position to prevail and its views to be carried at all times. Hence, to be invited by Parliament for submission of views and to offer to give views for submission to Parliament constitute both a duty and a responsibility not to be taken lightly. When Parliament, by its Select Committee on Verification of Health Care Subsidy of Government Polyclinics and Public Hospitals, invites views, it is the responsibility of the parties presenting the views to be truthful. It is also possible that genuine mistakes can be made in the submission of papers. However, when pointed out or realised at a subsequent stage, it is always the duty of those concerned, in honesty and truthfulness, to admit the mistakes and the errors of their position, because we all know that to err is human.”