Chng Hee Kok
Singapore
“Sir, I would like to ask the DPM whether the new Securities and Futures Act will be made retroactive in the Links case. In other words, will the civil penalties be made retroactive in the Links case? BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is somewhere in the new Bill [indicating].”
“Sir, one cannot appreciate the enormity of the problem of a poison pen letter unless he is a victim. Imagine the power of a poison pen e-mail done in the midst of a general election. By the time the truth is established, if it can be established at all, the harm is already done.”
“And this is because the transmission is now almost direct, that when orders are placed, they are placed not only with those who supply the items, the same orders are sent to the supplier's supplier's suppliers.”
“Sir, the Minister is aware that in the case of SingTel it is quite different because it is part of our asset enhancement exercise and a fairly large number of Singaporeans own shares in SingTel. Since the announcement of the Optus deal, share prices have dropped by some 30%.”
“This is a follow up of my earlier question. If the market sentiments are favourable, will the IPOs take place this year? BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, PSA and Singapore Power would not have appointed investment bankers and proceeded with due diligence unless they have very serious intentions.”
“And in many cases, over a period of time, we would be happy to reduce our shareholdings down below where they are now and, maybe even divest completely. Because the original rationale for building up and maintaining these companies has to be reviewed and may or may not continue to exist.”
The complete record
Every one of 834 lines we hold for Chng Hee Kok, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 17.
“Sir, are there any plans under way to conduct visa-free travel between the two countries?”
“Sir, I would like to ask the DPM whether the new Securities and Futures Act will be made retroactive in the Links case. In other words, will the civil penalties be made retroactive in the Links case? BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is somewhere in the new Bill [indicating]. He will get a copy later after the First Reading. I think it depends on the date on which the original criminal penalties are imposed and on the date on which the conviction takes place, if there is a conviction. And if that is after the Act is enacted, then the civil penalty can follow from there. But I am just speaking from first principles. GOVERNMENT RESERVES (Target for optimum amount) 9. Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Prime Minister whether the Government has any target for an optimum amount of reserves and, if so, has it achieved the optimum.”
“Sir, one cannot appreciate the enormity of the problem of a poison pen letter unless he is a victim. Imagine the power of a poison pen e-mail done in the midst of a general election. By the time the truth is established, if it can be established at all, the harm is already done. In politics, although the allegations may be malicious and false, the mud sticks. Hence, I am of the view that the penalties should be enhanced manifold when falsehoods are propagated by the new technological media. Penalties under the Bill for offences committed through the new technological media should be considered separately from the traditional media. In other words, penalties for offences committed through the use of modern technology should be higher than the traditional media.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to speak in support of the Bill. I just wish to draw the attention of the Minister to the penalties for offences of publishing information conducted through the new technological media. Sir, with the advent of the world wide web, electronic mail and short message service on mobile phones, information can be disseminated at literally lightning speed. Unlike the traditional media, new technologies allow for mass circulation of information at the click of a mouse. Unlike the traditional media, a website may also be published by any other party's sympathiser or person in an unfriendly jurisdiction and is made available to all Singaporeans. The ease, convenience and cost of sending an e-mail to one person is no different from sending to one million persons. Worse, the e-mail may be just as easily propagated. The malicious e-mail may also be re-routed through another country or sent anonymously which, I understand, can be done. How will this be controlled, Sir? The short is that information, whether true, false or malicious, may be most easily disseminated than at any time in human history. The damage of false information done through the modern media can be most devastating. The propagation of poison pen letters is as old as there are elections. In the traditional media, it is very difficult to mass mail a poison pen letter and get away with it. But in the new technological media, much harm can be done. In the recent election at one of the branches of the Singapore Airlines Staff Union, just for a branch election, there were a lot of poison pen letters being sent out blackening the various candidates who were standing for election. Poison pen letter is also one of the common features found in use in other countries.”
“Sir, the Minister has not responded to my second point about China, on the Olympic Games. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not quite know enough about this to give a considered reply to Mr Chng.”
“And this is because the transmission is now almost direct, that when orders are placed, they are placed not only with those who supply the items, the same orders are sent to the supplier's supplier's suppliers. And the result is inventory buffers have come down sharply and there is much less buffer in the economic system as a whole, which is why shocks get transmitted very quickly. The good thing is: if we can come down so quickly, we can also climb up quickly. That is the obverse of this conclusion. It is a problem. Last year, we kept on reviewing our economic forecast upwards; this year, we kept on reviewing it downwards. I do not think we can do any better, because this is a global problem.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this downturn seems to have caught everybody by surprise. Just only about three months ago, we thought the economy was going to expand quite nicely this year. The question I want to ask the Minister is: how is it that our econometric model can be off the mark so quickly? Is it a model that we can use, for example, to take economic decisions on what is going to happen further down the road? If not, are we just going to base our decisions on US leading indicators, like Mexico? In other words, how good is our forecasting? The second point I want to ask the Minister is: despite the bright spot of China entering the World Trade Organisation, there is concern among the business circle, those I talk to, that getting the Olympic Games to be staged in Beijing is likely to soak up or suck in a lot of investments away from Asia. What is the Minister's assessment of this, Sir? BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, the first point about the accuracy of econometric modelling, the model is only as good as we understand the world and we must have good inputs. Globalisation has reduced inventory cycles so that when there is a shock in one part of the world, it transmits very quickly to other parts. Old assumptions no longer hold true. Last year, because of the Nasdaq crash, Christmas sales in the US were down. By November/December, it was felt by purchasers, it was felt by the airfreight companies. By January, Federal Express cut back on employment because they saw the economy turning down. In Singapore, we had a wafer fab which still had full order books in February and they rushed to complete it. And they broke a record from "Sand to Silicon in 16 months", but by the time they opened the fab, the order book had fallen out, to their regret.”
“Sir, the Minister is aware that in the case of SingTel it is quite different because it is part of our asset enhancement exercise and a fairly large number of Singaporeans own shares in SingTel. Since the announcement of the Optus deal, share prices have dropped by some 30%. The question I would like to ask the Minister is whether there has been any change in the terms of the deal and, if there is any change to the terms of the original offer, is SingTel prepared to walk away from the deal?”
“About five years ago, I spoke of the need to launch a lift upgrading programme to complement the Main Upgrading Programme (MUP) and the Interim Upgrading Programme (IUP). The Government turned down the suggestion. Three weeks ago, I conducted a survey at an exhibition of an area in my constituency chosen for the Main Upgrading Programme. Almost to the last resident, there were questions and requests made for the upgrading of lifts to stop on every floor. Unfortunately, in the Main Upgrading Programme, this item is to be entertained only when there are funds left over after the tender exercise for the MUP. A small number of residents even said that they were not in favour of the MUP if the lifts were not upgraded. One even asked why we do not demolish the flats altogether and do a SERS. MUP was much sought after at one time, but I do not know for how long. I hope that this is not a sign of escalating expectations that one day we cannot meet. Coming back to the MUP, these flats, which were meant for main upgrading, were built 23 years ago. The emphasis then was on the speed of supply of public housing. The population was also younger and more robust then. This has changed, and my recent experience tells me that next to the MUP, a lift upgrading programme (LUP) will certainly be not only popular but, I believe, much needed. I am confident that the area I spoke about is similar in character to many other parts of Singapore. Will the Minister heed the call this time, Sir?”
“Sir, the HDB has ceased the building of 3-room flats and smaller units. It has stopped the build- ing of executive apartments. It has established a fairly successful partial privatisation of its activities in the design and build scheme. There is no question that the Executive Condominium scheme has taken off very nicely. This leads me to revive a suggestion I made before in this Chamber. I suggested about five years ago that HDB should stop building large flats and leave this to the private sector. I suggested that there was no reason for HDB to go beyond providing basic housing and should restrict to building 4-room flats and smaller units. However, today, with the slowdown in demand for new flats to no more than 10,000 units a year, and unlikely to rise as a result of demographic changes, there is compelling reason today for the HDB to privatise the building of flats altogether. The design-and-build scheme and the Executive Condominium scheme should be able to take care of the annual needs of the demand for public housing. This move is similar to the devolution of the maintenance role of the HDB to the town councils. 1.15 pm Sir, with these changes, the continuing role of the HDB should be in setting policy, planning and upgrading of old estates. This move of leaving the building of flats to the private sector altogether will strengthen the building industry, give consumers a wider choice of public housing and the HDB need not have an organisation when the demand for public housing drops. Will the Minister highlight to the House whether there is a review of the role of the HDB as a result of this shifting of demand? Sir, I spoke of the continuing role of HDB in the upgrading of old estates.”
“Sir, I understand that the Government has stopped the sale of HDB shops. In my experience, I see several plus points for this programme to continue. Some years ago, I spoke against the sale of HDB shops on 99-year lease and I called for a change in the policy of selling HDB shops instead on 30-year lease, which is in line with industrial properties. The then Minister for National Development, Mr Lim Hng Kiang, accepted this suggestion, and except for a small number of units, all the shops in my constituency were sold to the sitting tenants on a 30-year lease. This was sometime in late 1995 and early 1996. There was resistance from a number of shop tenants for various reasons. It was not a popular idea at that time. Most of them see shopowners in town centres buying shops and making huge profits out of that. The advent of the Asian currency crisis in July 1997 and the recession that followed after, made all my shopowners today thankful that the decision they made was a right one. Almost all of the shopowners rented out half of their shops. This rent which they receive is sufficient to pay for the mortgage and, in some cases, turn in a surplus. This means that the shopowners can continue to operate a smaller unit and continue their business. In other words, the shopowner has his mortgage paid by someone else and, at the same time, can continue his livelihood. Today, I believe my shopowners in my constituency are a much satisfied and financially healthy lot. Hence, I strongly urge the Government to continue the sale of HDB shop programme as this is one avenue to alleviate the hardships and difficulties of our neighbourhood shopkeepers.”
“This is a follow up of my earlier question. If the market sentiments are favourable, will the IPOs take place this year? BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, PSA and Singapore Power would not have appointed investment bankers and proceeded with due diligence unless they have very serious intentions. And we have said our intention is to list them. But can we be ready this year? We have to judge the timing. The timing is a tactical decision. If it is not this year, it will be next year, or the year after. But we are not seeing it as a very long drawn-out process. ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 2001 TO 31ST MARCH, 2002 (Paper Cmd. 3 of 2001) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] Head U (cont.) - Resumption of Debate on Question [13th March, 2001], "That the total sum to be allocated for Head U of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100." - [Dr Teo Ho Pin]. Question again proposed. 12.46 pm”
“And in many cases, over a period of time, we would be happy to reduce our shareholdings down below where they are now and, maybe even divest completely. Because the original rationale for building up and maintaining these companies has to be reviewed and may or may not continue to exist. But these are listed companies, so I would not like to speak lightly about what we will or will not do until we have firmed up our plans.”
“I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister when are the expected dates of the IPOs for Singapore Power and PSA Corp. At the same time, what is the size of these offerings? BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is a little bit premature to say that now. In the case of PSA, the bankers are now in the final stages of their due diligence work. The exact timing of the listing must be carefully studied because of the uncertain and very difficult market conditions. Members will be aware of how the US market has come down sharply over the last few days and weeks, and the Singapore market has followed it down. In the case of Singapore Power, its preparations are not quite as advanced, but bankers have been appointed. I cannot commit to when they would be listed because it depends on circumstances. Mr Leong Horn Kee: To follow up from my question, the Deputy Prime Minister said that it is not the intention of the Government to micro manage the GLCs. But will the Government look into GLCs which are not covering non-strategic areas? Are there plans for them to be divested, especially if there are parties out there who are prepared to either invest in them, or acquire them, in areas like the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned about roast ducks and other non-strategic areas? BG Lee Hsien Loong: I think the Member means GLCs which are participating in non-strategic areas. Yes, indeed. As I explained in my main reply, the Government is not fixed to hold all these GLCs. In very few cases there are strategic reasons why we want to maintain a stake. In most cases, we are open, and if there is a buyer available who makes us an attractive offer, we will be happy to transact.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $1,582,372,770 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $581,691,300 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head F -”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QH 1000. Sir, the number of immigration offenders apprehended last year was 16,500. The number of apprehensions has been going down since 1998 of 23,000. The number of illegal immigrants has shown a similar trend, from 1998 of 14,700 to 11,650 last year. So also for overstayers, declining from 8,300 in 1998 to 4,800 last year. This seems like great news. Perhaps we are beginning to have the problem licked. However, with the ongoing economic and political problems of our neighbours, and the continuing economic growth of Singapore, it is hard to imagine that we do not continue to attract an increasing number of such offenders who are prepared to sacrifice their lives to be here. The question which comes to mind naturally is: Are we becoming less effective in enforcement action and the offenders are becoming cleverer, as the statistics suggest? In other words, if the number is going down, does it mean that we are doing a better job at controlling this problem? Or is it because we are not able to really apprehend these people? Hence, I shall like the Minister to elaborate why he thinks the control measures are sufficiently effective at the source, meaning the points of entry and not, as the statistics suggest, which is that we are less effective in apprehending such offenders. The question to be raised is the amount of effort we had done in 1998 versus last year, ie, did we have more raids in 1998 than, let us say, last year?”
“Furthermore, it appears that the records kept at the CRO are made available to all and sundry, and all Government departments. I wonder if this is correct. I have, from experience, applied for my constituents who failed to get passes just to enter the airport and the seaport, even though they have got employment with transport companies. They need the passes to get into such places. As a result of some minor offences in their records, several people have also failed to get taxi driver's licences and there seems to be an internal checking process in Government. Hence, the seriousness of such a record for no matter how small an offence cannot be overstated - it will bar a person from gainful employment for the rest of his life. I wonder if this is the right approach, Sir.”
“Sir, the Government has announced that it will encourage recruitment of persons with criminal convictions in the service. With this first step, I think the Government can go further than just making such a directive. It should introduce legislation to expunge the criminal records of persons after a certain number of years have elapsed for some kind of offences. It is not uncommon to come across people who did foolish things when they were young, such as shoplifting, joining in a fight after a staring incident, illegal betting, littering or even being caught for selling illegal pirated VCDs. These are minor offences, done at a moment's folly or weakness. If a person has repented by not repeating the same offence, I think his criminal record should be expunged after a number of years. I have a constituent who has been trying very hard to expunge her shoplifting record, because she believes that this will help her heal psychologically. She was accused of stealing from a supermarket a compact powder costing less than $15 sometime in the mid-1980s when she was just fresh out of school. She had pleaded guilty under tremendous pressure from her accusers who were security guards. Although she later pushed this incident into the recesses of her mind and went abroad to study, this unfortunate incident came back to haunt her and she abandoned her studies and returned to Singapore. She was emotionally scarred. She has tried many avenues, including making an appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs, to expunge her record but to no avail because, currently, there is no law to authorise this. Legally speaking, her case had closed upon her conviction, as the time to appeal had long lapsed.”
“Sir, three days ago, the tabloid Today had an article on its front page headlined "Lawyers Go for Hong Kong Dollars: Higher Pay Draws Singaporeans to Hong Kong." Of late, there have been various reports in the media concerning the shortage of lawyers in Singapore. There are also reports of a large number of young lawyers leaving the profession as a result of the very stressful work, and of a lawyer even becoming a car salesman. Sir, the legal service is an important component of business and financial transactions. Hence, we have to ensure that there are enough lawyers of the right calibre to provide the necessary support for our growing economy. Also, in the light of the trend towards globalisation and the need to bring in a wide range of expertise and experience, will the Government consider recognising law degrees other than those from the United Kingdom? Given the increasing complexity of issues which lawyers have to deal with in this fast-changing world of business, will the Government also consider recognising joint degrees instead of pure law degrees?”
“I have also related some real life success stories of housewives and retirees to show that the grassroots approach is perhaps the best way to reach out to this group of people. When we talk about digital divide, those on the wrong side of the divide can be brought up to the main stream and this can be done. Therefore, we must bring IT education to the HDB heartlanders. We have very successful IT programmes. Perhaps, if the Minister would like to see our report on what we have done, I would be more than pleased to furnish him with the report on what has been done in Fengshan. It is my pleasure to give him such a report. I am therefore calling on the Government to consider more funding for grassroots organisations such as the CDCs, the CCCs and RCs to promote IT to our residents. The funds can be used to set up centres in the neighbourhood to provide IT literacy courses. We will bring IT to their doorsteps. The funds can also be used to promote computer ownership. For instance, at Fengshan, we have refurbished and given away 200 old computers. Part of these funds can be used to upgrade some of the old computers which would be given away or sell them at a much lower cost to residents and, in this way, we can help low-income families to own computers. I believe such initiatives at the grassroots level will go a long way to help heartlanders to overcome their fear of IT and bring them on board. This is one way which we can conquer the digital divide.”
“Sir, I must first compliment the Ministry and, in particular, IDA for their efforts in promoting IT and e-lifestyle amongst Singaporeans. The e-Celebrations, which were just inaugurated in March last year and now held for a second time this year, have and will, I believe, create a greater awareness of IT and adoption of e-lifestyle amongst Singaporeans. I fully support campaigns such as e-Celebrations in promoting IT through events and mass media. However, such events as e-Celebrations here and e-Exhibition there, while creating general awareness, may not by themselves produce substantial permanent change in the people's ability to master or sit in front of the computer. After creating awareness, what we need is a more sustained effort at the grassroots level to reach out to the housewives, retirees and those who are not so well-educated. I suspect that these groups of people may not be reached by the mass events such as e-Celebrations. They are probably even afraid to go to such an exhibition. There is an inherent fear among these people to anything that is high-tech, more so, if the events are held in town centres, and launched in Suntec City, and not in an HDB heartland or HDB neighbourhood. Sir, on Monday, I highlighted in this House our experience in setting up the Marine Parade CDC Fengshan IT centres. Sir, if you will recall, you are one very strong supporter of the particular setting up of these IT centres as Mayor of Marine Parade CDC and for that, we all can jointly celebrate what we have done. The success we have in reaching out to some 25,000 persons going through a training programme in the last three years and equipping them with basic IT skills, in my view, is grassroots action at work and is most encouraging.”
“Time is catching up with us. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment, Sir. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, it is hard to imagine the breach includes things like painting of factory buildings, pruning and cutting overgrown vegetation, overhanging tree branches, tidying up the premises. Sir, I can understand when a breach involves an unauthorised structure. That has to be corrected. But I cannot imagine that overgrowing trees are part of a breach. That is very hard to understand, Sir. When I mentioned HDB, I was referring to the sale of HDB flats and not industrial property.”
“If efficiency and effectiveness of the Government are to be upheld, a rigorous audit is inevitable and mandatory to ensure that we rise to the challenge and this is really sharpening our nation's competitive edge through the use of IT.”
“Sir, after gaining access to the second website on this URL given by the officer, I was again frustrated in my attempts to solicit the information I want because my NRIC No. was rejected as I did not type in the prefix "S" before it. Sir, our NRIC Nos. are unique numbers and there is a computer to take care of all this. I do not see why we need to key in the prefix, whether it is "F", "P" or "S", and if you do not key in "S", you can never get the service. Also, requiring the foreign worker's identification number is another exercise of testing the limits of the user's patience. Why must it have to be the so-called FIN numbers, given by the Ministry, and not the worker's passport number, for example. Sir, perhaps, I would like to invite the Minister to try going online himself to test out the system and see for himself why much more improvements are necessary. Sir, the Inland Revenue Authority, IRAS, is encouraging taxpayers to submit their returns online. While it boasts of some successes, I am not the person who uses it, but I have feedback that it could have been more simpler and easier to use. For instance, taxpayers need not have to do paperwork, or must have paperwork done first before they go online to key in all the information from the worksheet which they have to complete beforehand. Sir, if the system is user-friendly enough, you just key in all the information and the computer should actually work out the worksheet and tell you what is your tax, without having to do the worksheet beforehand. So all said and done, I firmly believe that the Government must have some form of audit of all its online services to streamline them so that all claims of accessibility can be truly materialised.”
“But these are real life examples of why the use of IT has to be widespread and made accessible for the masses, if we are to see a successful use of Government's online services. User-friendly online services. Sir, having trained the people, we must make certain that online services are truly user-friendly and effective. I quote a recent personal experience of how difficult the Ministry of Manpower's online services were. I went into the MOM's website at www.mom.gov.sg to check whether an intended foreign worker possesses a valid employment pass. Sir, I could not find a link on this web page at all after going through several of the menu items. I finally called a toll free number listed on this page. Unfortunately, the menu of telephone services was not listed on this website. So I had to go to the menu, the sub-menus and several menu items. At the end of it all, out of frustration, I went back to the main menu and got an officer on the line. After five minutes of good classical music, a nice charming officer came to the line and she told me that particular enquiry could not be found on this website. And she gave me the name of another URL, just to search for the bona fide of an intended foreign worker. Sir, I could not understand why the URL could not be hyperlinked to the MOM's website in the first place. The logical thing is that, if this is available at MOM, it should be linked to the website. MOM should not claim that potential employers or landlords can easily go to the website to check on the validity of foreign worker permits when the information they themselves give to the public are sometimes skimpy and also time consuming.”
“Today, after attending the computer literacy courses at Fengshan IT hub, they can now work on computers with ease that belied their true profession or training. Mdm Lee, the Treasurer of Fengshan WEC, was a butcher's assistant before the epidemic in pigs caused her to lose her job when the Government banned the sale of pork. However, unlike her other colleagues in the same trade, she quickly found another job not so long thereafter as a clerical officer of a pawnshop. Sir, the pawnshop owner needed someone who knows how to use a computer to type out pawn tickets in English and Chinese. Mdm Lee had just completed the Microsoft Word and Rich Win 97 courses offered at Fengshan IT Centre to grassroots leaders. She of course clinched the job right away during the interview after she proved her proficiency on the computer, and this is despite her age and lack of experience as a clerk. Mdm Sahara is a housewife who has never touched a typewriter, let alone a computer all her life, until she joined a computer course, especially designed for housewives, and she joined the course out of curiosity. She can now surf the Internet for new recipes (cooking recipes are her interest) and exchange cooking tips and culinary skills with friends she has met online. Finally, there is a Mr Chin who is a retiree in his 60s. He too has no computer knowledge but after attending a course at Fengshan IT Centre, he now volunteers himself as a cyberguide, as we call it, so that he can teach the elderly and other senior citizens how to use computers. I believe we have proven the sceptics wrong that such an approach cannot work and that we may be putting money in the wrong place.”
“These centres are equipped with broadband systems so as to allow for very quick Internet access. Fengshan PCF kindergarten is one of the first to provide computer-aided education to all children and not only those whose parents can afford to pay. Today, all Fengshan pre-schoolers are taught to surf the Internet and they know how to use e-mail. The younger they are, the lower the barrier to learning. However, the real success story is the use of the centres to train adults in the evenings and the weekends. There are ongoing computer courses for the masses at affordable and competitive rates for people within the constituency and of course outside. It is available to self-help groups, such as MENDAKI, private companies sending their staff for upgrading courses, and many other organisations. In the last three years alone, some 25,000 persons, and in the last two years more than 9,000 a year have attended courses at the IT centres in Fengshan, and these numbers do not include the kindergarten children. Also, we have opened the centres in the evenings in the last two years and some 3,000 residents actually dropped by to use the computers at a nominal charge. I can shamelessly boast of the success stories that we hear so very often of how computer literacy has helped to improve the lives and livelihood of so many computer illiterate persons in many different and unexpected ways. So what do Mdm Lee Ah Eng, who is in her mid-50s and living in Bedok North, Mdm Sahara binte Hassan, 38 years, a housewife and Mr Chin Sin Chong, a retiree have in common? Sir, all of them know nothing about computers, let alone sit in front of one.”
“Since all Government Ministries attempt to provide their services online, how does the Government ensure that there is some uniformity in the design? The Government must set up a body to ensure security and measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the online services. IT for Everyone There are now no funds set aside to make IT education available to the whole population. Funds and effort have been concentrated on our students and rightly so. But the population at large who are users of Government services must also not be ignored. The Government must not restrict its resources to just students alone if we are to make IT a competitive advantage for Singapore. We must also pay special attention to the housewives, the retirees, the retrenched workers and those who are not so well educated. In other words, we must bring IT education to the heartlanders. For this to happen, the Government must intensify its efforts by funding the CDCs, the CCCs and the RCs to help them set up computer centres. These centres will be able to offer IT literacy courses and bring IT to the doorsteps of our residents. This doorstep approach will garner more support from the housewives, the retirees, the elderly and anyone who is interested because it is in their own locality and within familiar settings, on home ground, so to speak. Such an approach will lower the barrier to learning and make IT education easily available and affordable. To the sceptics, I can quote an example to illustrate that such an approach can work. Sir, take the example of the close collaboration between the Fengshan CC and the Marine Parade CDC in setting up two Student Care Centres fully equipped with computers and four computer centres attached to our preschool education centres.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the motion standing in the name of the Finance Minister. Like all Singaporeans, I must compliment the Minister for Finance for delivering a sterling Budget. It is hard to find fault with such a Budget, except asking the Minister for Finance to do more of everything. Perhaps with such a large surplus to give away, I can only suggest that the Government should put some money to train Singaporeans from all walks of life to be IT-savvy. If we wish to transform the way we do things, the way we conduct Government business, especially making use of computers and the Internet, then we must train everyone who is not in school. The Finance Minister spoke of a major transformation in the delivery of Government services by providing these services online. He said that, "By the end of this year, nearly two-thirds of all Government services will be available online in some way or other, making them accessible 24 hours a day". While I applaud the Government's long-term plan to move with the inevitable way business is being conducted and targeting its services to be accessible 24 hours a day, there are a number of other issues. Chief amongst this is how to make sure that the users of today, and the users of today are not the school children, they are the housewives, the retirees and the not-so-well-educated, can avail themselves of such services and use these online services effectively. The Government must embark on programmes to make "IT for the Masses" or "IT for Everyone" a competitive advantage for Singapore. Besides bringing all Singaporeans into the online mainstream, we must make sure online transactions are secure and effective. Are online services user-friendly and easy to locate?”
“Sir, Government is appropriately represented at DBS Bank, especially at the board level, is it not?”
“Sir, the Minister says that the divestment was to better serve POSBank's customers but it does not appear to be the way things have turned out. The question really is that at that time of the divestment, did the Government envisage that there will be severe cut-back of the services of POSBank by DBS? And secondly, why was DBS allowed to close bank branches when the existing DBS computer system could not handle POSBank's accounts? In other words, it appears to be very poor planning that was very badly implemented.”
“In the Minister's opinion, this does not reflect economic value. In other words, the bidder might think that was the market price.”
“Which are the countries that have the reserve price problem?”
“My question was: how was the $150 million reserve price arrived at and, at the same time, which are the countries that have this reserve price and the bid was too low?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister is confident about the bidding system. Why is there a reserve price and how was the $150 million reserve price arrived at?”
“Sir, firstly, in that case, will the Minister not impose a reserve price on the licences in the case of auction? Secondly, as he has mentioned, since the first auction in Europe, the world of 3G has changed significantly and now there is a general rethink among telcos whether they should proceed on 3G if it is too expensive. That being the case, would this retard the development of 3G in Singapore? Will the auction process still proceed if there are fewer interested licensees than the number of licences available? Lastly, Sir, would this development fund for the development of wireless systems still proceed if the monies collected from the 3G licences are not enough to support the fund?”
“If we allow members to invest their Special Account savings in one or two instruments, the risk is high, no matter how you put it, even with the lower-risk financial instruments. Sir, I urge the Minister to consider my suggestion of setting up a funds management unit to manage the Special Accounts for members when this Bill is passed.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, while expressing general support for the Bill, I have reservations on the provision for investment of the Special Account savings by members. When CPF savings were allowed for investments some years ago, I spoke against this measure. I urged caution then, as I did not believe that this is good for members in the long term. I believe that the general trend is for members to invest in high risk equities and stocks. As a result, I believe that today most members actually lost money rather than make money. In other words, overall, members' savings would not be enhanced by high-risk investments, other than investments in property. Sir, the point is that by investing in stocks and shares, many CPF members are poorer rather than richer. The only mitigating factor is that most members do have investments in properties and that is why they have done well. The investment of Special Account savings in lower-risk financial instruments also means that returns will be low. Since most members do not have much savings in the Special Account, it will be very difficult for any particular member to diversify his portfolio of investments or instruments to maximise his returns. As a result, I do believe that members, with the little bit of money they have in their Special Accounts, will invest in some higher risk investments or perhaps in unit trusts. Since the Bill will be passed, may I urge the Minister to consider setting up a Special Accounts funds management unit in the CPF, and allow members to transfer part or all of their Special Account savings into this funds management unit to be managed by the CPF Board. With the funds management unit, there is a volume with a larger scale of operations and therefore members' savings could naturally be diversified.”
“Sir, I think the Minister is aware that the Tanjung Pelepas Port won a major award recently at some international shipping conference as the most improved port. Coupled with the fact that it is going to be managed by Maersk Lines, I would say that Tanjung Pelepas will, in fact, pose very serious competition to the Port of Singapore. With this move by Maersk Line, the volume of the port seems to be substantially affected. Will this affect the time table for the initial public offer of PSA?”
“Sir, further to Mr Inderjit Singh's point, I think what he meant was that if we have a system to allow a person to go to the Internet and do an on-line search, one can actually download the information of the person being checked. That information is on the computer and you can have a print-out. And that will be the basis for proof or evidence that you have done the necessary checks. Probably this can be done.”
“Some would be safer options, others would be more volatile options, but perhaps offer a higher average return, and the worker would look at his own profile and choose. If you want to say, "Give me a guarantee, at the same time offer me a higher return so that I have my cake and eat it.", I am afraid that is not possible. If you are talking about fixed deposits, then the returns from the banks would be about the same as what the CPF is able to offer, because the CPF interest rate is pegged to the private sector fixed deposit and savings rate. But if you are talking about retirement accounts, in other words, I take the money, I am not just putting it for six months, or one year, or two years' fixed deposits, but to be invested for my retirement, hopefully, many years from now, then that is a different ball game altogether. Because then, the bank knows that this money is available, it will not be withdrawn at short notice. They can invest it in a range of assets. Typically, a retirement account can earn 5%-7% on average, some years more, some years less. Whereas the CPF offers an interest rate which is based on the savings and fixed deposit account. So I think that if you are talking about retirement accounts, then we will be able to offer higher returns and better long term prospects for the CPF members. And we are going to change our CPF rules so that we allow the whole menu to be offered by banks rather than just one option.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, these funds at the moment placed in the CPF are risk-free and guaranteed by the Government. In the instance whereby members transfer their funds into fixed deposits with the banks for the purpose of maintaining the Minimum Sum, will the Government guarantee these funds placed with the banks? The second question is that DPM mentioned earlier that the returns placed with the banks would be higher than the CPF interest rates. But there are instances whereby the CPF Board pays higher interest rates than the fixed deposit rates of the banks. So how can we ensure that the funds placed with the banks by lower income Singaporeans will not end up to be worse off? In other words, to maintain a minimum balance, they are actually getting a lower interest rate than what they should be getting by leaving it with the CPF Board. The last point is the idea raised by Mr Indjerit Singh on a cooperative bank. Before I ask the question, I would like to declare that I am a Director of NTUC Thrift and Loan. In the instance of the cooperative unions in Australia and the US, the surpluses made by the cooperative unions actually go back to the members. In other words, although members do have some form of cross-subsidy at the front end when they pay the fees, at the end of the day, all the profits or surpluses made by the cooperative union go back to the members, and not to a group of shareholders. So there are some merits to consider that there could be room for a cooperative bank in Singapore, Sir. BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, there is no Government guarantee. The whole idea of letting workers look after their own funds is for them to decide what they are going to do with it.”
“I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $1,245,016,660 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $912,051,300 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head W -”
“Sir, with the rapid advances in technology and DNA testing and accuracy of the results, I think it is timely for us to develop a DNA database for convicted criminals. Presently, this is done in several developed countries and the results have been positive in solving crimes committed by known criminals. I do not intend to go into the technical merits of DNA testing and the results and so on, but I am confident that building up a database will help in the long term in solving crimes and of course in improving our crime fighting abilities. I want the Minister to update the House on what are some of the concrete plans that we are doing in this direction.”
“With the CSSP framework in place, schools can work with the Home Team on all safety and security issues through a single point of contact represented by the Police. I think this arrangement will also help to reduce inconvenience workload of the schools. It will also allow the Home Team to have a better understanding with the school's overall safety and security problem and thereby enable the Home Team to coordinate joint assistance programmes to effectively improve the safety and security vision of the schools. Lastly, Sir, inculcating community spirit. Through the CSSP, the school can educate our students on the community's role in resolving safety and security issues by roping in students to participate in the CSSP activities. Students learn the concept of community self-help and they need to take up responsibility to look after the community. Sir, it is timely that we do more work and take some comprehensive steps to bring the schools to win the CSSP. Would the Minister highlight to the House what are the plans in this area?”
“Sir, the objective of the Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) is to encourage communities to take active responsibility in solving safety and security problems at the local level, supported by the Home Team. Sir, the approach in implementing the CSSP so far is to mobilise the community through grassroots leaders in the CDCs, CCCs, RCs and neighbourhood committees. These grassroots leaders have been instrumental in crafting CSSP in reaching out to the residents and encouraging them to participate in their activities. Although an integral part of the community, schools have largely been operating outside the CSSP framework. Sir, there are a number of benefits for us to send the CSSP to the schools. These are (1) the focus in dealing with safety and security concerns. Sir, different schools have a different safety and security profile. The CSSP allows every school to tailor-make measures to zero in on the most present safety and security problems. For example, some of the CSSP activities may include the refinements to the school's conduct of fire drills, with the assistance of the SCDF, implementing a scheme to enrol students in policing busy roads and junctions leading to the schools, etc. This will ensure that our traffic safety rules are observed during school assembly and dismissal hours. (2) Working out programmes to address the issue of delinquency in school children loitering in our void decks. The main point is that there is a single point of contact for schools. Schools currently conduct individual Home Team contact, individual Home Team department to seek advice in systems, in areas, such as crime prevention, fire safety, drug abuse, prison visits, and so on.”
“I wonder whether the Minister can update us on the current immigration offender situation in Singapore. I think we cannot afford to be lax in our enforcement efforts against immigration offenders. We are not out of the woods yet and cannot afford to let our guards down. We should particularly target those who trade in illegal immigrants, smuggle them in or who are traffickers. Perhaps we should see how we can increase penalties to deter them from pursuing such trades.”
“In an urbanised country like Singapore, there must be several instances of Singaporeans who are aware or suspicious of foreigners living in their midst who may be illegal immigrants, yet they do not come forward. I think it is shocking indeed to read a New Paper report of 4th March headlined "120 workers in one flat". There was a 6-room flat in Serangoon which housed some 120 foreign workers. The report highlighted the horrendous living conditions of these 120 foreign workers and it took five months for someone to alert the police and report anonymously. Although not proven yet that there are illegal immigrants in this group, this is an ideal situation for harbouring illegal immigrants. Sir, we must step up public education that illegal immigrants are a threat to our well-being and security and it is also the public's duty to be on the lookout. Will the Minister consider further measures to encourage the public to be more proactive in seeking out illegal immigrants? Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung: Sir, the Minister informed the House last year that the Home Team arrested about 23,000 immigration offenders in 1998, which was a 65% increase over the 14,000 arrested in 1997. This increased arrest, of course, came at a time when the region's economies were not doing well. As such, it was logical to expect that people from the not-so-well developed countries come and flock illegally to countries that have weathered the crisis well. Singapore was one of these countries. However, the situation has changed. Singapore and the regional economies have begun to recover. Sir, I am concerned that Singaporeans may now have the perception that we no longer have an immigration offender problem.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, at the height of Asia's currency crisis some 1 1/2 years ago, followed by the collapse of the Suharto Government in Indonesia, there were numerous reports of illegal entry of foreigners into Singapore and there were several subsequent busts of enclaves of illegal immigrants. Since then, the issue has abated, thanks in no small measure to our law enforcement officers, the new immigration checkpoint and also of course the recent addition to our fleet of fast patrol boats. Sir, although the issue has abated, it is by no means over. We still have substantial numbers trying to enter Singapore illegally and right now there must be thousands in our midst even as I speak today. As long as our economy continues to grow and some other countries face economic hardship, this problem will not go away. Without proper identification records, and sometimes taken advantage of by some unscrupulous employers, it is inevitable that some of these illegals will resort to crime. Apprehending the perpetrators becomes sometimes an impossible task when a crime is committed. I should like the Minister to give an update to this House on the situation of the illegal immigrants and overstayers. We should continue to place high priority on making sure that our borders are sealed against those entering Singapore illegally. One must wonder the extent of the problem. For every successful apprehension of smuggling of illegal immigrant, there must be a number who have got away scot free. We read in the newspapers that everyone who has been caught has admitted to doing it more than once. Besides depending on the Home Team for enforcement, we must also do more by way of public education.”