Chua Kheng Wee Louis
Singapore
“It is my sincere hope that the passage of this Bill does not mark the end of Singapore's vision of a share-owning society, but rather the beginning of a new chapter – one in which we seriously revisit how Singaporeans and the Government can invest together, participating fairly and directly in the nation's wealth creation, and achieving w…”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Just three quick supplementary questions for the Senior Minister of State. First, I think the Senior Minister of State talks about gaining access to the best tools available globally.”
“Thank you, Speaker. Just two quick supplementary questions. The first is on the guide that the Senior Parliamentary Secretary shared just now.”
“Thank you, Chairman. Just one clarification for Ministers on the EV chargers. I think the MOT has previously said that we are looking at three to 12 charging points per HDB carpark by 2025, but my question is not so much on the deadline, but more in terms of the number of chargers that can be supported, because in most of the multi-storey…”
“Thank you, Chairman. Just two clarifications for Minister Chee. The first is on the review of the EC policy – any timeline around that? Second is in terms of how the Minister talked about building a robust supply pipeline and given that we are now in March 2026.”
“Chairman, given the increasing unaffordability of ECs in the markets today, I urge the MND to seriously re-think the current EC model and to consider upstream policies to bring the price of ECs into a range that will suit their original intentions. With affordability and equitable access being key tenets to underpin the new EC model.”
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“In the event that the Chairman is absent from duty, how would the Minister decide on the member of the Board to act temporarily as Chairman? The second amendment I would like to seek clarification on the proposed amendment to section 56. The paragraph extends the list of possible reasons for the compulsory acquisition of a property if the owner has made a misleading or false statement in his application to the Board for his acquisition or transfer of interest of a flat from or to a related party respectively. I would like to seek clarification on the motivations for the amendment to the subsection. What was the reasoning for the inclusion of this amendment, and did it come from an observed trend on specific events and fact patterns, which the HDB has discovered when it comes specifically to related person transactions? How many of such transactions took place and did the HDB suffer damages as a result of these transactions between related persons? As compulsory acquisition is a harsh measure, I believe it is imperative for the Government to clarify further the rationale for the change. This is especially so when clause 6 states that, "Flat owners who make misrepresentations whether innocently or otherwise, will be liable to have their flats acquired." Mdm Deputy Speaker, notwithstanding my clarifications on the amendments, I support the Housing and Development (Amendment) Bill. 6.41 pm”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, all of us understand the importance of public housing and the role it has played, is playing and will continue to play in Singaporeans lives. Today, more than 80% of Singapore's resident population resides in HDB flats, while homeownership rates among resident households for HDB dwellings is high at 92%. It is therefore of utmost importance that there is sound governance and proper oversight responsibility by the Board on matters relating to HDB, while also ensuring that public housing is not abused and remains affordable for those who need it the most. It is here that I would like to seek clarifications on two fronts, with regard to the proposed amendments to the Bill. The first is the amendment to section 6 of the HDB Act. The amendment proposes to make the role of Deputy Chairman of the Board discretionary rather than mandatory. Based on my review of HDB's annual reports and the organisation structure of the Board enclosed within – the role of Deputy Chairman was not filled since Mr James Koh retired as Chairman on 30 September 2016 and was succeeded by Mr Bobby Chin who was the then Deputy Chairman. I acknowledge, however, that from 1 October 2020 Prof Lily Kong will assume the role of Deputy Chairman for the new term of the HDB Board. The current Act seems to require the Deputy Chairman role to be filled. I would therefore like to clarify if any member of the Board has been serving as Deputy Chair from October 2016 to 30 September 2020. I would also like to clarify what the reason the role was made discretionary and the initial intended role of the Deputy Chairman on the Board. Who will be taking over that job scope should there be no Deputy Chairman appointed, once the amendments are passed?”
“I thank the Second Minister for his response. I have two follow-up questions, the first of which is in relation to the 400 cases thus far identified. In terms of these cases, what would the penalties be and what would have been the loss in the sublet fees that JTC would have collected. The second supplementary question is in terms of the sharpening of the analysis to improve the inspection regime, specifically with the use of data analytics which the Second Minister has affirmed. What has really changed between now and then? Since the implementation of this change, has there been more cases of unauthorised subletting that have been discovered and how would the Ministry assure the efficacy and efficiency of such a new regime?”
“I thank the Minister for the detailed explanation. Specific to the roadmap that Minister had mentioned that he would be sharing over the next couple weeks, may I ask, firstly, if there will be additional parameters or guidance given to businesses and individuals such that they will be able to make their planning in advance? For example, earlier, we allowed up to 50% of the employees to work from the office, but I think that was only given five days in advance of the 28 September date. The other matter is in relation to my question on the Government's risk assessment. One specific measure would be relating to the DORSCON status. I note that we have been in DORSCON Orange since 7 February earlier this year, and remain in DORSCON Orange today, even though the number of cases has gone from about more than 1,000 a day, to right now, less than 10. Is that something which the Government will review in order to provide us with a more handy reference guide in terms of where we stand in the risk assessment?”
“I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the answer. Just few clarifications. In terms of the revenue requirement, may I ask if the Ministry would consider granting additional support to companies who may have suffered a sharper decline in revenues as opposed to some of the companies which is right now classified under Tier 3B, for example, which potentially may even have their revenues increased during this period, put more resources to companies which may have suffered a greater fall in revenues rather than from an overall sectoral approach.”
“Mr Speaker, I declare my interest as an employee of a financial institution here in Singapore. I would like to ask a clarification to the Minister. In terms of the proportion of Singaporeans, I think it was 70% of the financial services workforce, 44% in senior roles and this has been relatively stable over the past years. I would like to ask if the Government or MAS has undertaken a study to assess why is it that, given the history of Singapore's status as a financial centre, why is it that more Singaporeans are not moving up to the senior roles and in terms of where do we want to be in terms of the strong Singaporean Core? Would MAS or the Government have a specific level they have in mind? In relation to that, I also understand from the Minister's speech that there is the Finance Associate Management Scheme to groom young undergraduates and Singaporeans. How about in terms of supporting the middle management across the various spectrum, to support them into these senior roles?”
“To this end, I am comforted by the President's assurance that the Government will be open to constructive criticism and rational debate, and to new ways of doing things. As a first-time Member of Parliament, I am honoured and privileged to be a Member of this House, and I believe voters have put their faith in us because of their greater desire for diversity in Parliament, more robust Parliamentary debates and a bigger say in Government decision-making so as to achieve the best outcomes for all Singaporeans. We must continue to be the voice for our constituents. But beyond mere words and statements of intent, it is our actions that define us. I sincerely hope that the Government will have the courage and political will to translate the breadth and depth of ideas that Members bring to this House into concrete policies to take Singapore forward. A united Singapore Together is not one that speaks with one voice. A united Singapore is one with a diversity of voices sharing our common belief for a better future and working together as one. [Applause.] 3.48 pm”
“We need to take bold and decisive measures to provide more financial and non-monetary assistance to Singaporean families, because if we don’t address early the daily pressure faced by families and the issue of low birth rate, they could have a long-term socio-economic impact on Singapore. Finally, I would like to talk about how to treat our reserves. I agree that it is important for the Government to manage its finances prudently, to balance revenue and expenditure to achieve long-term sustainability. However, considering that rising healthcare and cost of living have led to inadequate retirement funds, should we not assess our untapped sources of income in a more holistic manner? For example, every year, we make an average of $15 billion from land sales, but these revenues are not included in the Government's budget. I must stress that what the Workers' Party is proposing is not raiding our reserves, but to slow the reserves' growth rate. What we are doing is not to cut this tree of reserves, but to allow Singaporeans to take shelter from the forest as represented by the reserves as they are under the scorching sun. (In English): Mr Speaker, to conclude, COVID-19 will not be the only challenge for Singaporeans. There will be many more foreseeable white swan events and unpredictable black swan events which we may not be fully prepared for. To build a more resilient society, we need to foster a culture of open-mindedness where dissenting views are not only accepted but actually encouraged and where bold, innovative ideas are championed instead of being squashed. I believe that change has to come from the top and it starts from the context of the Parliament and the Government of the day.”
“The Singapore Government has always been proud of the pro-business environment created through economic and manpower policies, but I feel that it is time for us to strengthen our employment laws to better protect workers' interests and take this opportunity to carry out sustained and structural reforms to ensure that our workers enjoy better financial security. The second area that needs to be reformed is our housing policy. Minister for National Development has mentioned the need to take care of the housing needs of Singaporeans, such as ensuring affordability of HDB flats, allowing young families to own homes earlier, and strengthening schemes to help the elderly use the value of HDB flats to supplement their retirement needs. However, the problem lies in the value of our HDB flats. Leases that are about to expire has affected the resale price of HDB flats in recent years. For many Singaporeans, their main asset is their HDB flat, and they have spent most of their life savings on it. However, if Singaporeans, upon entering their golden years, see resale prices declining gradually as the lease of their flat coming to an end, they would feel mentally stressed and lose the sense of security, because the HDB flat can no longer ensure that they have sufficient retirement funds. The third area is support for the family. The family is the bedrock of our society. We must realise that pro-family policies will not reduce productivity but raise it instead. It is also incorrect to think that employees spending time and taking care of their children and elderly at home will affect their career prospects.”
“However, we are often described as an unequal society with a widening income gap, weakening social cohesion slowly. Perhaps it is time for us to rethink what we should value as a society, and whether we have overlooked certain groups in the society while chasing economic growth. I urge the Government not to continue to measure the success of governance solely based on economic data, but to adopt a more holistic approach and measure the progress of the country in various ways. Policies should not be formulated purely on the economic level, but to give priority to the welfare of all Singaporeans and pay attention to the disadvantaged groups in society. Mr Speaker, COVID-19 is a crisis, but it also presents an opportunity for change. Today, I would like to raise four areas for improvement so that we can build a stronger and more resilient society after the pandemic. First, we must better protect our workers. Global demand is softening, many companies have no choice but to retrench staff, and many Singaporeans have to face unemployment. For businesses, the Jobs Support Scheme, which has been extended repeatedly, may help them survive, and companies do not need to apply. But even if the unemployed can apply for other one-off assistance schemes, some will still be rejected after going through cumbersome application processes. Instead of continuing to subsidise companies, what local workers need more is direct subsidies and assistance to help them mitigate the impact of unemployment and economic recession. Many older Singaporeans, no matter how hard they work, do not have enough protection if they fall ill or are retrenched. Direct subsidies and assistance are the most needed help for Singaporeans.”
“I agree with the Government's fiscal prudence and policy that our expenditures cannot and should not be more than our revenues for long-term sustainability. However, national policy proposals that tap on the reserves must be seen in the context of Singaporeans' growing needs across healthcare, ageing and retirement adequacy. As such, there needs to be thorough evaluation of alternative sources of revenue that remain untapped. Currently, some Government revenues, including land sales, are excluded from the official Budget. However, capital receipts, such as land sales, represent strong recurring cash revenues that are actually received by the Government, particularly with land being sold on a leasehold basis. As such, one of the ways that the revenue shortfall could potentially be met is by tapping no more than a fifth of the approximately $15 billion per year in land sales that the Government typically collects. The other area that could potentially be looked at as an alternative source of revenue is to increase the Net Investment Returns Contribution by up to 10%. While we would need to safeguard our reserves for potential contingencies, let us also acknowledge that increasing the percentage of returns generated will only vary the pace of reserve growth, but will not cause the reserves to fall. Arguably, deploying our reserves into more productive uses by investing them into our people, our human capital, could generate far superior returns in the long run and boost the future sustainability of our nation. Mr Speaker, let me now say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Singapore is an affluent country, ranked at number eight in the world in terms of per capita GDP.”
“I believe that sustainable growth is not only defined by fiscal sustainability, but by the future sustainability of our people, our human resource. We need to recognise that family-friendly policies boost rather than reduce productivity and reject the notion that dedicating time for our care-giving responsibilities hurts the employment prospects of workers. The silver lining to the circuit breaker period was that it institutionalised flexible working arrangements and showed us that economic competitiveness need not come at the expense of our families. On a personal level, I started working from home even before Phase 1 of the circuit breaker measures and, as a father to a newborn baby, I am thankful to have witnessed his various development milestones over the past year and to partake in the joys of parenthood while continuing to stay productive at work. I recognise that MOM will support employers to offer flexible work arrangements and work-life harmony initiatives. Yet, there is so much more that we can do. We need to give employees the legislative right to flexible work arrangements rather than non-legally binding advisories. We need the Government to lead by example and demonstrate to companies what progressive HR policies look like. More importantly, we need to devote greater resources to families to support their parenthood aspirations. Mr Speaker, we cannot expect incremental efforts to result in extraordinary results. We need to take bold and decisive steps and provide greater financial and non-financial support to Singaporean families, recognising that the stresses on families and our low fertility rate, if not urgently addressed today, would have significant long-term socio-economic cost to Singapore. The last area of reform is on the use of reserves.”
“In its Addendum to the President's Address, the Minister for National Development wrote about taking care of Singaporeans' housing needs, such as ensuring that public housing remains affordable, especially for young families, while enhancing schemes to help our seniors tap on their flats' value to supplement their retirement adequacy. However, it is precisely our flats' value that is in question where the HDB resale market has been affected by concerns over lease decay in the past few years. This has serious implications for the retirement adequacy of Singaporeans, as much of Singaporeans' assets are being tied to their primary residence, which is their HDB flat. The Government has said earlier in 2019 that it will consider all alternative suggestions and ways to manage the expiring leases of HDB flats and we cannot continue to ignore the elephant in the room. And this is an issue which I believe should rank high on our national agenda. Ultimately, more than 80% of Singaporeans live in HDB flats, with the overwhelming majority relying on their CPF Ordinary Account balances to finance their flats. With many Singaporeans entering their golden years, the knowledge of their HDB flats steadily losing value as they approach the tail-end of their leases can become a significant source of mental stress and insecurity. The third area of reform is in relation to support for families. Our houses may be built from bricks and mortar, but the family is the basic building block of society. Singapore's Total Fertility Rate stands at a record low of 1.14 in 2019 and many couples could potentially be further delaying their marriage and parenthood plans amidst the economic uncertainties today.”
“Yet, with the shortening of business cycles and hastening of technological disruption, the threat of widespread job losses and rapid job irrelevance is only going to rise in future. Direct assistance to companies, such as the Jobs Support Scheme, could arguably provide indirect support to employment. But as we have seen in the second quarter employment change numbers, subsidies to companies and moral suasion cannot prevent job losses. The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons reached a historical low of .71 as at March 2020 and with the demand outlook remaining poor and arguably the worst of retrenchments and unemployment perhaps still ahead of us. Many more workers will be without a job despite their best intentions to be employed. Rather than providing blanket wage subsidies across companies, it is perhaps the workers themselves that are most in need of direct support and financial buffers in the event of unemployment. The Singapore Government has taken pride in creating a pro-business environment through its economic and manpower policies. It is now time, in my view, however, to strengthen our employment laws to better support and protect workers and raise the standard of work for all. The Global Financial Crisis in 2008/2009 saw the introduction of Kurzarbeit in Germany, a short time work programme that has been a key feature of the German safety net since, which was a useful template for many countries to model on. Building a more resilient workforce in society starts with strengthening our social safety nets for workers, and we now have an opportunity to do just that without necessarily impairing the incentive to work hard. The second area of reform is in relation to housing.”
“Yet, we are also often perceived to be an unequal society where the benefits of growth may perhaps not be evenly distributed and with inequality threatening to weaken our social fabric. It is perhaps time for us to have a rethink of what we value as a society and who have we left behind in our pursuit of headline economic growth. I call on the Government to evaluate its success not just based on a set of economic terms, but to take a more holistic, multi-dimensional approach in measuring the progress of our nation. We should base our policy decision-making on not just maximising financial value, but on maximising the overall well-being of all Singaporeans, particularly the most vulnerable amongst us. To this end, I note that New Zealand embarked on its first well-being budget in 2019, recognising that economic growth, while important, does not guarantee improvements in living standards. Bhutan, too, has a Gross National Happiness Index which captures multiple indicators across nine domains. While these may not be directly replicable in the context of Singapore, it is imperative for us to start assessing how each and every Singaporean is doing, and how best to address the unmet needs of our people in a sustainable and equitable manner. Mr Speaker, COVID-19 has been a catastrophic crisis and we must not let the lessons from this go to waste. On that note, I would like to highlight four areas for reform to build a stronger and more resilient Singapore society, post the current pandemic in this crisis. The first area of reform is in relation to workers' protection. COVID-19 has, undoubtedly, been an unprecedented healthcare crisis, leading to a simultaneous demand and supply economic destruction.”
“Mr Speaker, it is my honour to address this House in support of the Motion of Thanks to the President, which she delivered at the Opening of the Fourteenth Parliament. The President mentioned in her speech that we are starting a new term of Government under the shadow of COVID-19. Indeed, COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges to the lives and livelihoods of the people around the world and Singapore is, unfortunately, not spared from this global crisis. As pointed out by Mdm President, we are facing our worst recession since Independence and we have already seen Singapore's GDP shrink by 13.2% year on year in the second quarter, with total employment seeing the largest quarterly decline on record at 131,500 workers. Yet, despite the devastating headline economic statistics, I have no doubt in my mind that Singapore will weather the COVID-19 crisis and our economy will continue to grow again. But the bigger question to me is: what does it mean for us to emerge stronger as a nation and how do we define our success? It is unfortunate that it takes a crisis, such as COVID-19, to expose some of the weakness of our economic structures and our lack of social protection for the vulnerable. To the lucky few amongst us, COVID-19 is just a passing storm or the proverbial rainy day where we can rely on our past savings to tide us through. But to the less privileged Singaporeans who are struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis, COVID-19 is a tsunami which threatens not just their livelihoods, but possibly even their lives. Today, Singapore is already one of the wealthiest countries in the world as measured by GDP per capita.”