Chow Chiok Hock
Singapore
“If such a thing happens, it will be a loss to the depositor because he has lost two months' interest on that amount of money. I think there are other Members who want to speak on this Bill. So I would not like to say too much. I feel generally that the Minister should not be too insistent. He should be more flexible.”
“Sir, I have only one or two sentences to complete my speech. (In Mandarin): A number of citizens who have come from the Federation and stayed here for a certain period have been given work permits, but those who have stayed here for a longer period and who possess blue identity cards have not been able to get work permits.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there are a few minutes left. May I take amendments (7)+ and (8)++ together, as the Member for Kampong Kembangan is not here to move amendment (8)? ++ Amendment No. (8) which also stood in the name of Inche Mohd.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to he allocated for Head 0401 he reduced by $l0 in respect of subhead 1251. Sir, this item concerns the National Service Office, under the subhead "Executive Officer". National service is supported by all the citizens of Singapore. It is for the security of our country.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head 0103 be reduced by $l00*. * The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Tang See Chim. Sir, since the former Member for Joo Chiat (Dr Fong Kim Heng), who was the Deputy Speaker of this Parliament, resigned, the post of Deputy Speaker has been left vacant.”
“I withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $433,670 for Head 1101 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 1104 - The following amendment stood in the name of Mr Lim Cheng Lock - That the sum to be allocated for Head 1104 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1001.”
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Every one of 58 lines we hold for Chow Chiok Hock, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 2.
“I would now like to give another example. An aged couple with no children drew public assistance of $20 per month for quite some time. After paying their monthly rental, they had nothing left. They had no other alternative but to seek other means of income. This couple told me frankly of their plight. They said that they could earn an income of about $20. They wanted to know, if the Social Welfare Department officers approached them in the course of their investigation, whether they would have to tell the officers frankly about this extra income. Since I have to look after the interests and welfare of the people in my constituency. I was in a dilemma, not knowing what to tell them, whether or not to advise them to tell the Social Welfare Department officers frankly that they were in receipt of an extra income of $20. So I hope the Minister concerned will deal with this kind of cases and adopt a better method whereby if any cut were to be made in public assistance to any family, he should take into consideration other facts and cut only the part in respect of the working members of such a family. I hope he will give due consideration to this matter.”
“Mr Speaker, under this Head, we see that the Government is voting $9,600,000 for 1966 and yet for 1965 it was $10 million. There is a great difference in the vote. We can expect, therefore, that some applicants for public assistance may not be able to get assistance, because of a reduction in this vote. Just now the Member who spoke on this subject also mentioned this. I would like to ask the Minister concerned a few questions. To give an example, if a couple have two children and they get $30 public assistance with no other sources of income, they will not be able to maintain themselves and their two children on this meagre sum. Therefore, under these circumstances, possibly one of the family - maybe the wife - will have to go out and do some work, such as washing clothes for others, in order to get some extra income which will be about $30 per month. Under these circumstances, the couple's public assistance from the Social Welfare Department might be cut by the same amount. Let us also say that one of the children gets a temporary job at a salary of between $30 and $40 a month. Such a meagre income may be enough for the child's expenditure, but it is likely that the Social Welfare Department will cut off all the assistance given to that family. Thus this will give the public the impression that the people who get public assistance from the Social Welfare Department are those who stay at home and do not go to work and that if they go out and make some money for themselves, their allowance will be cut by the same amount that they earn. So they might as well not go to work. They might as well depend forever on public assistance. These things are quite common in my constituency and that is why I mention them in this House. There are such cases in my constituency.”
“Therefore, if pro-Communists and communalist elements try to indulge in subversive activities, I hope the Government will take steps to eliminate them. The two million people in Singapore are co-operating with the Government and are working hard for their prosperity, and for their self-reliance. The Government has outlined many policies for nation-building. All patriotic people must concern themselves with all the speeches and legislative acts of the Government. In his policy speech, the Yang di-Pertuan Negara has expressed the intention that we are going to build a multi-racial society. Such a statement gives us encouragement. Our past performance and our future policy show that in carrying out its social reform, the Government is motivated by the interest of the people. Therefore, the Opposition Members of this House are trying to spread rumours. Such acts will not do them any good. Their irresponsible speeches will not be able to prevent the people from supporting the Government. All their plausible arguments will not influence the people or affect their attitude towards the Government. The policy Speech has received the support of the people. This shows that the anti-national elements are doomed to fail. Once again, I would like to express my full support for the Address of Thanks to the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's Speech. 6.11 p.m.”
“They incited the students, turned them into terrorists and hooligans, and made use of some stupid people to intimidate other students in order to prevent them from attending classes. We must praise the Government for its firm and swift action in taking action in conjunction with the university authorities to restore law and order in the campus. The pro-Communists tried to make use of the chauvinistic sentiments, but their attempts met with failure. I would like to tell those anti-national and communalist elements that the destruction of public furniture and assault on the students' parents will not go towards preserving Chinese culture or education. If they continue to try to wreck our institute of higher learning, they are bound to fail, and they will be fully responsible for all the consequences of their acts. That is why they will not be able to face the democratic sanction of the people. They will not be able to deceive the people any more. They have betrayed the interests of their electorate. Nanyang University is now a part of our higher education system. The Government, in implementing the policy of equal treatment for all streams of education, has not neglected the existence of Nanyang University. It also respects the autonomy of the university. It has spent millions of dollars on grants to the university in order to solve its problems and to bring about improvements. This shows what the Government has done for the university. It is not going to interfere with the internal affairs of any university. The Government has the responsibility to see that our institutes of higher learning must function properly in educating our people, and not turn them into hot-beds for anti-national elements.”
“The Member for Jurong, who can usually be seen at the university campus or in one of the attap houses near the university, and who carries out all sorts of activities to preserve the so-called Chinese culture, is regrettably absent in this House today, and is therefore not able to answer my criticisms. Is he encouraging the young people to embark on a suicidal path? Mr Speaker, Sir, nobody will say that the Wang Gung-Wu Report has anything wrong in it. Some of the students have regarded the Report as an indictment. University staff also admit that the Report is a praiseworthy one. The anti-national elements are making use of this Report to justify their actions. But sonic of our youths and students have been misguided by these elements into doing wrong acts. They try to explain that the Report is drafted by the Government to change the nature of the university, to anglicise the university. Such a poisonous lie is spreading like wild fire in the campus of the university. They tried to incite the students, and even to resorting to violence to intimidate the staff of the university, in order to recover the ground, to regain control of the university. But when they found that the university authorities were adopting a rational attitude, hoping that the misguided students would not be deceived by these elements, they were forced to stage a procession in the university, to assault the parents of the students, and wreck the furniture of the university. This was the performance and behaviour of these so-called highly educated people, but the real directors are the pro-Communists, anti-national elements, who staged this procession. They thought they could make use of the students.”
“All these articles are meant to distort facts. In the November 6th issue of Barisan - their Party organ - their so-called actions at the University, their indulgences in all sorts of irresponsible acts such as the burning of furniture and wrecking of university equipment are mentioned. All these actions on their part are meant to lead our young people on to the path of destruction. I must stress that while the nation is trying to educate our young people to produce more talented and skilled people, the Opposition are not only unable to help the Government in this respect but they also go out of their way to spread all sorts of groundless rumours, using all sorts of means to mislead those guileless students into a dead alley. This is very wrong of them. In fact, the incidents in Nantah were only engineered by a few cliques of misguided youths, but they have allowed the students to waste their time in meaningless activities. Apart from this, the students have also wasted their parents' money and effort, and have let down the general public. These young people in their speeches talk about their being highly educated people, that they are for Chinese education, that they are preserving Chinese culture and protecting Nantah; but if they really understand what they have been doing at Nantah, I believe these so-called highly educated people, this so-called group for the preservation of Chinese culture and education would not be willing to wreck their own future. They would realise that they are being misguided by the anti-national elements among whom are some who have been intimidated or misguided. However, the folly of these young people has been encouraged by the Opposition Party from the beginning of all this series of incidents.”
“It is prepared to shoulder more difficult burdens, but there are anti-national elements who try to make use of the culture and language issues, which are explosive in nature, in order to wreck the social order and to undermine and topple the Government. We do not have to waste time by arguing with them but we should expose their irresponsible acts and speeches. Referring to the incidents at the Nantah campus, we can see that anti-national elements have tried their very best to seize any opportunity, without regard to the consequences, to create chaos and disorder in our society by shouting slogans, "Anti this and that" in order to create more unnecessary trouble and burdens for our society. What is more abominable is that these people are not facing reality. They are anti-national. Their political ideology has been brought into the university campus to create trouble there; but on the other hand, they dare not explain their actions and the motives for their behaviour. For the past few days, we have not been able to see any of the Opposition Members in this House. They are ashamed of what they have done. That is why they dare not come here to attend the solemn sittings that are held in this Parliament. If they are ashamed of their acts, it is some consolation for our nation. They have neglected their responsibility. Instead, they are creating trouble outside the House, and they do not recognise that Singapore is independent and sovereign. Are they really representing the interests of the people or are they trying to sell out the interests of the people? I must justify what I have asserted just now. Let us see what the Opposition Party has published in their Party organ. These articles boil down to this point: they are geared to create trouble.”
“Mr Speaker, please allow me to express our felicitations because in the policy speech delivered by the Head of State, I can see that the Government is determined once again to implement its policy of equality on the matter of languages and, at the same time, making Malay the national language. This policy is to the interest of our country. Not very long ago, the Government announced its policy of raising the standard of the second language in all schools and to train teachers to teach the second language in all the schools. The expenditure on education has shown that education plays a very important role in our Government policy. The people in Singapore are fully aware that our nation achieved independence only four months ago. We are in a very critical stage. Everything must be started afresh and our task forward is full of difficulties. Apart from charting a course for prosperity, we must also see that education is being promoted. In his speech, the Yang di-Pertuan Negara has outlined this policy, but the anti-national elements have neglected to admit all the achievements of the Government. They have tried every means to make use of the language issue to wreck the unity and solidarity of the people. Such an act should be condemned. Mr Speaker, Sir, education poses no problem in our country. All along, our Government has been pursuing a policy which treats the various streams of schools equally. Our Government's policy on education also lays stress on technical and vocational education. All this is reflected in the policy speech. From the financial figures, we can also see that the Government has spent a lot of money on education. It has not neglected its duty to nurture our youth.”