Claire Chiang See Ngoh
Singapore
“I am anxious to move this motion on the Chinese challenge in this House because I feel that we cannot dismiss China any longer. If we can hurry up and ride on this economic train to China, we are closer to taking that small little bite in the huge economic pie and find the new pathways of livelihood and business route for Singaporeans.”
“This Bill has kick-started a central focus on safeguarding the welfare of children and responsibility of the family, which in a resource-scarce Singapore state and in view of our declining fertility rate matched against a rapidly ageing population, are significant social pillars in shaping our sustainability.”
“Sir, can I clarify three questions? I am still not convinced why this Bill cannot cover all women and all births. I am not satisfied with the answer. The Minister also said that this Bill precisely is not just about numbers. I wish he would clarify a little more on this statement.”
“I hope this is only the beginning of a process in shaping a child development and family policy in a gradual and comprehensive manner. In that defining process, I hope the governing principles are based on upholding the worth of the child and valuing the contribution of the mother, and that it is not a numbers exercise, whether in expecti…”
“Sir, I am sure those mothers who have more than four children want their children because they are loved and because they want the children. Who is to decide then whether those children are loved and wanted? And if the mothers say they are willing to have the fourth child, would the state not support her?”
“Streaming at an early age has been controversial for many years, but it has always been a sacred cow of the Education Ministry. If we are to start from first principles now and examine every aspect of our education system, I urge that we re-examine streaming and, at the very least, modify it substantially.”
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“Moderate opponents to this amendment are willing to accept the amendment for the sake of meeting current case pressures as long as the concurrent jurisdiction is only an interim measure and the Syariah Court will over time be strengthened and recognised as the final authority in adjudicating the substantive rights and procedural mechanism in the administration of Muslim affairs. Conscious development must then follow to give the Syariah Court certain essential procedural mechanisms as well as enforcement powers to carry out proper administration of justice. The third conflicting view, which I observed is the most thorny one, deals with the process of consultation between the State and the Muslim community. Some sections of the community groups feel that the amendment was proposed without adequate consultation. Policymakers did not carry the ground by giving more time and attention to reviewing the issues with community leaders and helping them to get a fuller and clearer understanding of the rationale of the amendment. On the other hand, the Ministry has also failed to get appropriate feedback from the community to help improve the proposed amendments. In short, it was felt that given what is arguably the most radical change to the AMLA ever since its promulgation in 1968, the process from conceptualisation to decision fixing must be given significant time to enable the Muslim community more opportunity to reflect and offer feedback on the matter. The process was too rushed, top-down and did not include a broader base of viewpoints and recommendations for desired change. For some, this amendment at best represents only selective viewpoints.”
“The problem is that the law applied by the Supreme Court in hearing cases which have been transferred from the Syariah Court will be the civil law, ie, the Women's Charter. What if there is a conflict between the Supreme Court and the Syariah Court? Matrimonial assets under the Syariah Court do not include possessions before marriage, but under the Women's Charter, they do. Concurrent jurisdiction therefore may dilute, as argued by Association of Muslim Professionals in a public statement a few days ago, the status and authority of the Syariah Court in enforcing the substantive rights of the parties under Muslim law. Proponents of this view assert that the Syariah Court is the supreme adjudicative body which must be strengthened by adding more resources and personnel to its operation to assist it to be effective in clearing its case overload and delivering adequate service to the community. For them, there is no need for concurrent jurisdiction as this may only confuse the petitioners as well as legal practitioners who now have two different forums to choose from which best suit the interests of their clients. Any change of tack by petitioners from using one forum to another will create even more litigation hurdles and administrative ambiguity. And when children are involved and have to be dragged into different courts to testify, the scene can be messy and emotionally trying. Mr Ravindran has portrayed a very different picture in his legal experiences. Again, this needs further clarification and verification. I am glad to hear from Mr Ravindran also that it is not easy to switch from one court to another. But this has to be communicated and clarified with the community.”
“Thank you, Sir, for this opportunity. Being the last speaker, I hope I still get your attention. I had thought that this amendment would be a welcome instrument for the administration of justice in the Muslim community. In soliciting feedback from grassroots organisations and Muslim friends that I know of, I observe three conflicting viewpoints: Firstly, there are Muslim men and women who welcome the amendment and feel that the concurrent or parallel jurisdiction in both the Syariah and Civil Courts offers another option and avenue for grievance articulation and dispute settlement. Some Muslim women feel that Civil Court intervention under the Women's Charter compensates them more and protects their rights equally like the non-Muslim sisters. On the procedural challenges, the Syariah Court has been criticised for lacking the sophisticated procedural mechanisms that the Supreme Court has for proper administration of justice. Petitioners have to wait far too long to settle their disputes in the Syariah Court due to low manpower and resources. By having Civil Court intervention, Muslim petitioners hope to see faster and effective response to their disputes. On the other hand, the application of civil law to Muslim matters is controversial. I hear from other Muslim men and women that this amendment changes the substantive rights of Muslims, for example, in the way matrimonial assets were defined differently under the Syariah Court and Women's Charter. This Bill seeks to deal with the administrative problems faced by the Syariah Court by giving the Supreme Court concurrent jurisdiction in the resolution of matters which are ancillary to divorce such as maintenance, custody of children and division of matrimonial assets.”
“I would like to thank Mr Shriniwas Rai for his references to encouragement of Roundtable which is a citizen non-partisan policy discussion group. On behalf of the Roundtable, let me say in this House that we believe there exist in Singapore opportunities where ordinary citizens can participate in influencing and shaping national policies. But this mission to have unrestrained objective and impartial feedback is and will always be a continuous journey. It is in the nature of debate and discussion, even amongst members of the Roundtable, that there will be disagreements and arguments, both critical and passionate. Certainly, it takes bold initiative and courage to express one's views in public because it is only natural that if one's views are made public, rebuttals, even robust ones, and serious engagements are to be expected. It is a fact and quite natural at this stage that many Singaporeans have fears about expressing their views. The situation must be improved. But I must say that the environment for expressing one's views is improving. It would take time, confidence and certainly a clear conscience, both on the part of civil societies and Government, to nurture and develop a friendly and cordial environment to achieve consensus, consultation and conciliation in decision-making.”
“I support the idea of increasing the role of Government Parliamentary Committees to reach out to a wider network of Singaporeans and truly nurture the channels of policy articulation and feedback inputs. Sir, a less adversarial stance must begin, first, by Members in this House adopting specific norms of collaboration. In the workshop which I chaired on "voluntarism and professionalism" in IPS Civil Society seminar, we captured the norms of consultation in an acronym called IDEA. That was in response to BG Yeo's call for Singapore idea. The "I" stands for Information to actors involved; "D" for Dialogue between state and community; "E" for Enablement characterised by a culture of initiative which the state must facilitate and nurture; and lastly, "A" for Access to state agencies and resources. These norms are for me essential in our effort to harness State-society synergy in this House and outside of this Parliament to avoid confrontational politics and strengthen civic engagement towards goals of consultation, consensus and conciliation. Mr Zulkifli Bin Baharudin: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is late into the day, so let me make it short. First, I disagree with Mr Rai on the proposal to have a less adversarial parliamentary system because I believe it is in the nature of Parliament to be engaging, in fact, adversarial. It is through passionate debate, clashes of ideas, that out of it may merge a decision that I think is in the best interest of the majority of our population. However, I support and agree with Mr Rai that the system of government and stance must and can certainly embody the values of consultation, consensus and conciliation, and tolerance, as stated by Mdm Claire Chiang.”
“This basically means that the individual is important as part of a group or society rather than the notion that the individual is the centrepiece of all social actions. I believe that, in Singapore, these values have been entrenched and therefore we do have the fundamental prerequisites of a consensual society. I would caution here though that we must not use consensual politics to discourage open debate and dissent. The Government and all MPs must constantly ask ourselves: are our dominant values and institutions truly representative of the society's views? MPs are tasked to identify the issues of convergence and conflict of Singaporeans and to present their divergent views to this House. It is interesting to note that the Minister earlier on said that party politics is by function necessarily adversarial. But our MP, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, said MPs of this House are not. The process of arriving at these two different conclusions, I think, is worthy of reflection. My point is that the attitude of agreeing to disagree without fear of being reprimanded or sanctioned has to be nurtured if we are to give our younger MPs the confidence to broaden the political agenda and the boundaries of expressions, thus enabling them to safely flex and test their own political muscles within Parliament and outside this House. Singapore in the next century needs PAP leaders who are good listeners, nimble thinkers, persuasive communicators and effective grassroots networkers. Such leadership is only honed by years of internship in consultation and conciliation skills to reach consensus among contending stakeholders in and outside the House.”
“So I think this call for tolerance requires all political parties, big or small, mainstream or opposition, to create space for one another, and to express their views freely, and adopt a "gentlemanly" (maybe I should say here "lady-like") attitude to agree to disagree without one having to be right and the other to be wrong. We need to recognise the world is not just black or white, but mainly shades of grey. How is this consultation achieved? While there are numerous dialogues between the Government and the electorate, increasingly educated Singaporeans wish to be included in the conceptualisation stage before a policy is decided. Too often, a policy is already decided and feedback sessions are perceived as just rubber-stamping sessions. Consultation is thus often limited to minor tinkering, with no consideration for views which may be more fundamentally different. But I agree that I have seen the MPs here work very hard in their constituencies. They gather hard facts and manage grassroots inputs in a very pragmatic fashion. I am sure, some of them even meander policy constraints and bureaucratic politics and manage grassroots issues in a very effective way. But there is a joke that consensus is when you agree with me. If we are to achieve true consensus, we must recognise that it takes a lot of time as opposing positions have to be discussed and re-discussed until all parties slowly grope and gravitate towards a true consensus. The process is as significant as the goals. Sir, I believe that the goals of consultation, consensus and conciliation are based on values which are already traditional to our societies. Consensus can only be achieved where the frame of reference is based on communitarian needs and the spirit of compromise.”
“Sir, concepts such as consultation, consensus, conciliation - I heard a lot of it today - are good words essentially, so is the objective to evolve a less adversarial parliamentary system a desirable political end. But is it a goal which everyone agrees on? For some, this motion may be irrelevant because they regard Parliament as a venue for vigorous debate, where adversarial relationships are, in fact, healthy. Others may believe that the evolution of a political system should create a broad middle-ground of Singaporeans sharing common political views than adversarial ones, leading naturally to the adoption of a less adversarial parliamentary system. Whichever is the preferred approach, and I see both approaches here, when differences of opinions do intensify and conflict is impending on a particular policy, it is the government of the day which makes the final decision. So whether we have a more adversarial or more consensual parliamentary system, when it comes to the crunch, the ruling Party - manifested by the Government - will call the shots. This, to me, is obvious. Therefore, I see the substance behind this motion is not about changes in the parliamentary system. It is a call for greater tolerance for different, and even opposing, views during parliamentary debate. Of course, there are areas of improvement which can make this House a more vibrant venue for policy discourse. I remember Dr Lily Neo in one interview said a lot of consultation and implementation, checks and feedback are carried outside of this House, not within this House.”
“Just a point of clarification. I agree with the Minister that we do not need to spend more money and resources on hardcore addicts, and he was right to say that unless they are willing to change, no amount of love or harsh penalties will change them. I am merely urging for more focused attention on first-time offenders and I think we need to look at best practices and treatment models to rehabilitate them. I would like to inform Members of this House that the New Direction, for example, one of the half-way houses, is run by ex-drug addicts. Four of the directors are doing incredibly good work and that is the testimony to early rehabilitation programmes. On the electronic monitoring system, I agree with the Minister that they need to stay at home but some of the social workers, in doing counselling work, find it difficult to reach them because they cannot come out at night and a lot of the classes and counselling sessions are in the evenings. I think it is a matter of administration. We can monitor them. But, Sir, please consider that during that period when they have to spend time with their family, it is also the period when they need early counselling sessions. The Ministry should see how they could respond to both needs.”
“As has been stressed by many a speaker, and particularly by Madam Chiang, drug taking is a social problem, not only to be dealt with by just lashing out but also by taking positive steps to rehabilitate and to keep people off drugs. Very little is being done, it would appear, on that level. Youths turn to drugs because they are bored, because they have no jobs, because there is nothing better for them to do to get out of the depression in their lives except to take something which will make them high. What is being done socially to make our young people see the wrongdoing of resorting to drugs and opening up new opportunities for them where they can direct their energies and put them to use? Is it a reluctance on the part of the Government to spend a bit more money on this and to leave it entirely to private organisations? We should like to know more from the Minister, as has been asked, as to what exactly the Government is doing.”
“So it is my concern that the new punishments violate, as I said, the principle that no two offenders are in the same position and should be treated differently and, secondly, far more importantly, they encroach on the jurisdiction and function of the courts. I would urge that the Ministry consider a proviso to this section, allowing the courts to inquire into the circumstances which led the person to miss out on a urine test, or to take the drug for which he is charged. And if there are special circumstances which warrant that the court should not pass the mandatory sentence, the court should be empowered to do so. We have a similar provision in the case of drivers who have to be disqualified for offences under the Road Traffic Act or for using motor vehicles without insurance. There the courts are given the power not to order disqualification of a year or more where, in the view of the court, there are special circumstances that warrant not passing the term of disqualification. May I also question, as Mr Chiam has done, the need to impose caning? This new sentence provides for a minimum of three strokes and also for a minimum of six strokes. It used to be the law at one time that caning should only be ordered when the criminal himself has resorted to violence. But we, in Singapore, would appear to be lashing out for every offence. I know this is not popular with the establishment but may I remind the Government that in other enlightened societies, caning is strictly forbidden. The European Court of Human Rights has held more than once that caning degrades the human being, the individual, and is illegal under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
“Because under the Constitution, the judicial power in Singapore is vested with the courts. And judicial power, of course, includes not just finding persons guilty of offences but deciding on the appropriate sentences that have to be passed. So this increasing tendency to deprive the courts of their proper function under the Constitution is to be regretted. The courts are placed in the best position to judge what sentence is adequate and necessary in the case of the offender before it, not this House. Because when we pass the Bill, we cannot contemplate the myriad of situations that might arise. We can only stipulate the approach that should be taken and then leave it to the courts to decide on the specific sentence that should be passed. If you look at this new section 33A, Mr Speaker, Sir, it proposes to punish not just hardcore addicts. I wish the Minister had tried to define what he meant by "hardcore addict" but people who fail to provide a urine specimen with enhanced punishments. The Minister was singling out persons who are arrested and who refuse to give their samples of urine for testing. I would like to know from the Minister does it not also include persons who miss out perhaps once from attending at the police stations or CNB for their urine tests where they are under a supervision order? A person may miss out on one of his urine tests for a great many reasons. But if he is to be sent to prison for five years just because he has had a previous conviction or admission and he has failed in one particular instance to report for his urine test, it seems to me to be unusually harsh and, may I say especially with the caning, totally inhumane. It does not take into account at all the situation of the person concerned.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think, as has been emphasised by more than one speaker, the consumption of drug is a social evil and not to be categorised as a crime like crimes under the Penal Code are. My objection to the clause introducing a new section 33A is that it is bad on two counts. One, it has the blanket approach without any regard for the particular circumstances or situation of the offender. It is just a blanket approach. No two cases are ever the same, Mr Speaker, Sir. There are persons who suddenly find themselves caught in a situation where they slip in a drug and there are others who return knowingly to consume drugs. The Minister more than once kept referring to hardcore addicts. Who is a "hardcore addict"? Is a man who previously had had a conviction for using a drug - or perhaps even two convictions - some years in the past and has tried very hard to keep off drugs and has succeeded for a good many years, but suddenly he finds himself caught up in a situation with his friends, whom he least suspects, are consuming drugs and on the spur of the moment, he slips into his body one of these drugs, by then it is too late. Is he a hardcore addict? Or is he just a victim of an unfortunate incident? This Bill does not seem to cater for those who might find themselves in that situation and who perhaps find themselves caught for having taken a drug unwittingly. I know myself of such cases. Sir, it is wrong, in the case of punishments, to treat every case as though it is the same. They vary, as I said, from one individual to another. And related to this, of course, it is bad in principle because it tends to deprive the courts of their function. Mandatory sentences should be kept to the minimum.”
“By contextualising the drug addicts in the larger picture of a delinquent culture characterised by low education, low self-esteem, poor problem solving skills, inadequate parenting and limited resources, we have to accept that the solutions to drug offence which this Bill sets out to address are more than what one legal tool can achieve. Advocates in the sector call for the adoption of a more tolerant attitude and a comprehensive perspective by the authorities in meting out appropriate sentences and developing matching treatment models for drug addicts. In a tough love policy, Sir, let this Bill take care of the tough part, but the rest of the prevention and rehabilitation agencies must focus and be supported by the State and the community on the "love" part to fit the pieces of these damaged lives together and give them a second chance. And here, I support Mr Chiam's call earlier on for more reinforcement in preventive rehabilitation programmes. I believe if we prioritise attention and resources on developing care programmes that will initiate cognitive, emotional and behavioural changes in disabling individuals and families, in the long run, there will be no need to exercise the instruments of this Bill. That is my hope. Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have no quarrel with the measures taken to deal with drug traffickers and manufacturers of drugs, although I was a bit alarmed to hear one Nominated Member equating a consumer with a drug pusher. We are getting new definitions. But I am concerned, as Mr Chiam has been concerned, with the approach taken by the Ministry towards drug addicts and users of drugs.”
“What is needed is close supervision to ensure behavioural compliance with curfew times at identified hours without sacrificing opportunities for group-work activities. The last suggestion is to spend money to strengthen counselling skills for all officers dealing with addicts. These counselling skills must include, Sir, an intense criminal assessment programme to identify the appropriate treatment schedule that will restore a sense of control in the addict and tap the resource of his family to create an enabling climate for his recovery. The plans for strengthening alumni support and setting up Narcotics Anonymous for after-care recovery are commendable efforts which must be given priority attention. That leads me to my last reflection - a need for our realistic acceptance of an addict's capacity to lead responsible lives. Sir, we cannot hope that, with this Bill, the drug addicts, subjected to its harsh punishment, will "turn over a new leaf". Not many of them will become "robust" again who are able to pick up their pieces and move on like any normal Singaporean. The journey is hazardous and an uphill one, thwarted by factors from psychogenic to familial and socio-structural ones, including gang and secret society influence from drug syndicates which are ever ready to tempt them once again. I personally learnt of a case when a peddler was at the family's door-steps on the very day of the release of a drug addict. Addicts will be in and out of DRCs and half-way houses because they simply lack the skills in taking responsibilities for their actions. The crippling family factors do not just vanish while they are in jail, Sir. After some years of normal living, they feel lonely again and become re-addicted by succumbing to peer group pressures.”
“How can we bring the family into the rehabilitation programmes during and after incarceration? There are some suggestions from the community. The first is support a family therapy model by involving the family in the rehabilitation programme conducted in prisons. Detention institutions, such as DRCs and SCORE, conduct a pre-release family counselling programme. Experts feel that this is too brief and too late in the detention. Family counselling sessions should be instituted right from the start during incarceration to restore a sense of ownership and family participation so that when the addict returns home, there is less emotional adjustment. In the long run, could the Ministry consider converting some old HDB blocks to rehabilitation centres whereby families can stay together during appropriate treatment phases? The second suggestion is increased funding for half-way institutions from $16 per capita to $25 to allow weekend accommodation of children and family members with recovering inmates. In Taman Bacaan half-way house for women drug abusers, family living together providing emotional support to recovering addicts proved to be most effective for recovery and relapse control. The third suggestion is to make parents pay a small amount, even $1 a day or 50 cents a day, to half-way houses to restore a sense of responsibility towards the offenders and a sense of ownership of a family problem. The fourth suggestion is to relax the electronic monitoring system by not stipulating that offenders under probation must be at home in the evenings, so that they can attend self-help groups or individual counselling sessions organised by social service centres in the evening.”
“The Report also submitted a list of recommendations in tackling drug abuse which I hope the various Ministries would act on. During my contact with social workers during the last few weeks, I met and learnt about many cases: a 9 year old girl who grew up in a delinquent culture of broken homes and poor education; a 11 year old boy who was jailed because he stole a car; a 16 year old boy who is heading the household because both his parents are in the drug rehabilitation centre (DRC); several others who were released from half-way houses but had no homes to return to because they were rejected by spouses and family members; a whole family of drug addiction because family members could not emerge from the culture of delinquency and hopelessness and were driven to drugs for psychological relief; young female addicts leaving babies in the care of relatives serving their jail terms while their husbands are also serving theirs; and many more recovering addicts who could no longer adjust to normal living because they have lost touch with friends and work environment due to long incarceration. I could go on and on with these tales of disabling families. That leads me to my fourth reflection - a need to strengthen family support rehabilitation programmes. We read in the literature that the most successful addicts-on-recovery are those who are highly motivated, employed and are in stable relationships. Among these, the family is a crucial pillar of support. This is not the case in most of the families of drug addicts. They lack this critical support, and with time they forget the fear and the pain of caning and jail confinement as well. Therefore, it is no surprise that recidivism is high.”
“The Bill takes care of keeping offenders safely away from contaminating others, but what programmes are offered during incarceration and after release to enable these offenders, many of whom still young with families, integrate into mainstream society and lead independent lives? We recognise that the Home Affairs Ministry has taken the lead to reorganise the drug management sector by coordinating prevention and rehabilitation programmes in the various Ministries, detention centres and help agencies. The recent national seminar on "Alliance Against Drug Abuse - A Community Approach" was a case in point. I also read reports on the advances in the management of drug addiction using medicines like Naltrexone and Trexan for treatment and relapses control; 12-step counselling method used to restore an addict's control over his impulses as well as the setting up of the Industrial Services Cooperative Societies Ltd (ISCOS) to find jobs for these addicts. These are commendable programmes, Sir. I was told, however, that the prison curriculum adopts very much an inmate focus characterised by chemical correction, physical drill, confinement and rough handling. While this is necessary to start the detoxification programme, the use of physical and psychological humiliation, Sir, cannot restore dignity and sustain motivation towards recovery in the long run. That leads me to the third reflection - a need to shift focus from addressing the nature of drug addiction to the socio-psychological context of drug addicts and their families to identify the reasons for the occurrence of drug abuse and recurrent relapses. The 1995 Inter-Ministry Report on Dysfunctional Families, Juvenile Delinquency and Drug Abuse cited dysfunctional family conditions and relationships as the main cause.”
“John's Island to 10,000 registered today, without counting those still in hiding. Some officers who were talking to me even recommend longer incarceration to include a longer stay at half-way houses from the current stipulation of six months to 18 months so that inmates undergo a more intensive individual and family treatment programme in a user friendly environment away from prison cells. At the same time, they also learn work and social skills which will enable them to re-integrate into society. Social integration, Sir, and work are the best relapse control factors. Sir, I am persuaded to support this Bill because I believe that implementing a harsh Bill now will send a strong message to those who are experimenting with drugs for the first time to quickly seek help in order to avoid the pain of the cane. In fact, there are in recent weeks more volunteer walk-ins for treatment because they got to know of the enhanced penalties in this Bill. While we accept that a harsh law cannot make the 20% of all addicts who are hardcore, turn around and be good again, it will deter the 80% who are at the early stages of experimentation. More important, it will be a deterrent for those who have never tried drugs. In my research, I was awakened to a reality of drug abuse fraught with tremendous pain and coping difficulty. The nature of the drug addiction is such that we have to adopt this "tough love" policy to tackle the illness square on. A tough love policy includes compassion tempered by discipline and deterrents. My second reflection though is the recognition of this Bill as a limited component in the overall drug prevention programme.”
“Thank you, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to speak on a topic which I think all of us as parents must give serious attention to because it can affect our teenage children. Having just had the last Parliament debate on enhanced penalties for maid abuse, my first reaction to this Amendment Bill was a hesitant one as I questioned why we are debating yet another harsh Bill about longer jail sentences and more strokes of the cane for drug addiction. Have we become a society able to prevent delinquent behaviour only by corporal punishment and incarceration and not by non-coercive means? I consulted some officers from NCADA, SANA, SCORE as well as half-way houses like Taman Bacaan, New Direction and several family service centres and volunteers dealing with drug addicts and I would like to share with this House my reflections. The first is the recognition that this Bill is a tough love policy. Everyone I have talked to supported the Bill, in particular enhanced penalties on Ice and Ecstasy traffickers. It was on the basis of balancing compassion with pragmatic efficacy that drug prevention advocates, therapists and ex-addicts themselves came to accept long jail sentences and caning as effective deterrents to drug offence. There was some sympathy, however, for those offenders who only hurt themselves and had no other criminal record. Caning is spared for the first two convictions. In some other countries, a first offender is in fact whipped. The general feeling is that there is ample warning to first-time offenders. It was pointed out to me by a drug prevention officer that, in the past, we punished too little and too late. This lenient approach led to the growth of addicts from 500 in the 70s who were incarcerated on St.”
“Sir, we have countless programmes on parenting, on marital counselling, etc. Yet we have ignored the fact that a maid, within the confined space and privacy of household, has not been considered as a member of the family, for natural reasons. Yet we do not have programmes to teach employers and maids how to relate. Companies hold courses for supervisors to learn how to deal professionally with workers, but we do not think that employers, like housewives, for example, need to learn the same in dealing with their maids. The sooner we recognise the reality that domestic maids are going to be a permanent - and growing - feature of Singapore society (we have 100,000 of them now and there will be more, I think) and establish a professional relationship with them within the household, the better prepared we are as employers to tap them as a valuable resource to help us cope with the double burden responsibilities of most Singapore families. Sir, I support this Amendment Bill and I hope we take this opportunity to adopt a thorough and multi-pronged approach at all levels to address domestic violence within the coherent framework of fair and appropriate sanctions for all.”
“The State has created this web; otherwise, we would have workplaces that resemble Dickensian conditions, and workers' rights have gone a long way since the last century. Yet we do not have a codified, formalised web of mutual relationships and obligations for workers in the domestic household. The domestic household worker should have no different rights and responsibilities as a factory worker or office worker. It is precisely because they do not, and that their destiny is subject to the whims and random kindness of their employers. Sir, we cannot leave such relational harmony in a household to "luck" and ambiguous management. On one hand, we ask for greater deterrents against maid abuse; on the other hand, we must institutionalise the working arrangements of maids. There should be standard, properly drafted work contracts stipulating terms and conditions, mutual obligations - no less than what governs the working relationship between a factory operator and the employer. I urge the Ministry of Manpower to draft a standard employment contract for all domestic maids in Singapore, regardless of nationality. We should also consider extending the Workmen's Compensation Act and other relevant protective legislation for gainfully employed people, to domestic maids. Currently, only some embassies out of concern for their nationals who work as maids, do so. But we would like some standardisation. And more important than legislation is consistent enforcement of State sanctions on violations. Laws are only effective when they are activated. All these are not enough, Sir. We also should have education programmes to educate families about relationship dynamics and potential conflicts which can arise when a stranger enters the family with all the attendant stresses.”
“I hope the amendment of this Bill is a start for an overall review of the sentencing guidelines on domestic violence. Only then we can clearly say to the community that domestic violence of any kind and to any helpless member of a household is wrong. I do not think it is highly improbable one day, a violent employer, who is about to hit a maid in a fit of rage, will suddenly think twice and will deliberately choose to hit a family member - child, spouse or elderly parent instead - because he or she will get away with a lighter sentence! Indeed, many wives may be compelled to claim that they are in fact domestic maids, in order to get greater protection under the law! I am sure, Sir, that such an unintended consequence is not what the Government has in mind when introducing this Amendment. My third issue, which is related to this Bill which I thought I should bring up, is the recognition that the Amendment Bill is only an enabling legal tool. It is a necessary measure but not a sufficient one to stop maid abuse. Other social policies must be established. An important reason why abuse of domestic maids occurs, Sir, is not because of inherent nastiness of Singaporean families. The same person who treats his subordinate at the workplace with respect, and waitresses or other service personnel outside the household, may abuse the maid at home. This apparent dichotomy in behaviour is due to the fact that our society has created certain normative standards of conduct towards people we deal with outside our household. The employer-employee relationship is bound by many laws which establish a web of mutual obligations.”
“For me a punishment reflects a society's values about what it considers as unacceptable behaviour. Our message must be consistent. Insofar as abuse of maids is an act of domestic violence, the same principle of enhanced penalties should apply to all vulnerable victims such as spouses, young children, and the handicapped or elderly dependants. In this respect, I stress that injury need not simply be physical in nature, and extreme humiliation is certainly a form of psychological violence. My second point is the Amendment Bill highlights the discrepancy and discrimination in the treatment of wives and domestic maids. With enhanced penalties only for maid abuses, we may end up with an iniquitous situation whereby, if a man bashed up his wife he could get one year's jail, but if he commits the same degree of violence on the maid, he could get one-and-a-half time year's jail. Why do we make penalties for wife abuse lighter? Will we end up condoning spousal violence more than maid abuse? This is a case of equal treatment of women as a whole and respect for them. Our Constitution provides for equality before the law; any preferential treatment of one category of women, the domestic maids, as opposed to an equally important category of women, the wives, will violate this principle and create more resentment against the law at its apparent lack of comparable protection for local abused wives. We need to remove or address this discrepancy. If we do not address this two-tier punitive sanction, we are in danger of creating different classes of victims of domestic violence and it would be unfair to potential victims. It would appear that the drafters of this Bill are more sympathetic to the sufferings of the domestic maids than the pain of abused wives.”
“Sir, in the wake of a spate of maid abuse cases in the last few months, I think the Penal Code is timely, necessary and consistent with our national effort, as the Minister himself said, to create a gracious and caring society. No one can object to our Government severely penalising employers who exploit their maids and treat them like indentured servants or domestic animals. The concept of enhanced penalties for a specially vulnerable and defenceless category of victims is valid. It is a commendable example of State-sanctioned protection for the particularly vulnerable members of a domestic household. I would, however, take the point further and argue that the Amendment Bill has not gone far enough and should be extended to include enhanced penalties for other vulnerable victims like spouses, young children, handicapped and elderly dependants. Sir, let me elaborate. The Amendment Bill sends an inconsistent message on violence. If it is valid to regard domestic maids as a specially vulnerable category of victims for protection, why leave out the other potentially helpless and exploited members in any household? Does the Minister not feel equally compelled to also enhance penalties for child abuses, especially sexual abuses of minors and those who are intellectually disabled? Children are as vulnerable and powerless as maids in the hands of abusive parents. What about abuses of elderly dependants and spouses? Why single out maids? We need a consistent deterrent against domestic violence, regardless of who is the victim. Chief Justice Yong Pung How in the recent annual Workplan seminar said that "punishment policy must be clear, predictable and coherent". I cannot agree more.”
“A middle view sees the voluntary movement being organised and incentivised at the NGO level, but there is then an overall need to critically examine if the resources and management capabilities of NGOs can effect such an outcome. We need advocates and leaders in the social service sector who are not care-givers, therapists or social work professionals, but are good managers with a helicopter view for developing community initiated programmes. Sir, some strategic planning and visioning is urgently needed to promote voluntarism as a philosophy and a movement. NCSS is working hard at this, but the Government must step in to support with resources and public education programmes. If not, the State will only be saddled with increasing social burden costs and a desperate lot of Singaporeans with no one taking care of them. We seek the Minister's direction and leadership on this matter.”
“On top of this, like Dr Vasoo says, these people are asked to look for funds to perpetuate their own sacrifice. There are about 12,500 lonely elderly poor in Singapore; the number is going to grow to 17,500 by the year 2030. Unless such people are befriended for psycho-emotional support, kept clean and fed by volunteers or full-time staff, they would become early candidates for nursing homes. It was calculated for me that it costs the community less than $50 per month for each of these elderly to be supported by volunteers. In a nursing home it would cost $1,000 per month. We need an average of 2,000 volunteers to assist direct service VWOs to care for the chronic sick, the disabled, the young and the abandoned individuals. The social burden on the state will increase. We need to look deep into community resources by mobilising and deploying the thousands of homemakers and retirees for action. By giving them basic training in care programmes, they form a significant community of reservist volunteers whom we should bestow some degree of prestige and privilege. Sir, there are two views about the use of material incentives. One which urges us to accept the reality of the voluntary movement and offer material incentives to attract and retain volunteers. The second view sees the use of material incentives as a wrong spirit to promote in voluntarism. Moreover, by having the Government stepping in to do this, a whole lot of requests from other quarters will follow. What limits and on whom does the Government impose? And how much is enough as benefits to volunteers, anyway? So although I support Dr Vasoo's call for more support for the volunteers, I think this is a complex issue that we need to handle cautiously.”
“And a staff not trained at all in the social work discipline, who is managing a VWO, is also seen as a social worker. Everyone, irrespective of qualifications and skills, as long as she contributes in the social service sector becomes commonly known as a social worker. That is the root of the confusion. I would like to highlight to Members of the House that they are different in their areas of focus, the kind of training they bring to the field and the sort of professional outcome and work performance we expect from their participation. We must develop a system of job functions and skills levels. Once clear work roles are established and their contributions are organised in complementary terms, the closer we are towards developing an action model of cooperation for enhancing performance standards in that sector. I hope the Minister will continue his effort in pursuing the need to professionalise the social service sector and accord due recognition by accreditation, rank and remuneration of social workers. On another matter, Sir, there were special requests from numerous VWOs whether we could give direct service volunteers some incentives to influence a minimum standard of services. Sixty-one agencies, about 82% in a survey of 75 VWOs last year, conducted by NCSS, expressed problems in sustainment and deployment of volunteers. Organisations which focus on their service delivery standards through training are finding it difficult to retain their volunteers. I was told that an occasional praise, a door gift, lucky draw prizes, a certificate or inspirational talks and stories are no longer adequate to motivate these thousands of people to give up their leisure and take up the burden of fulfilling someone else's need on a regular basis.”
“Sir, I would like to know from the Minister what measures have been taken to improve the professionalism of the social worker sector. Based on a number of conversations I had with various people following my maiden speech in November last year, I have observed some uncertain sentiments. There is a fear that by recognising the professionals through accreditation measures, we may risk losing thousands of needed good-hearted volunteers who may now "disqualify". That is not so. In fact, the feedback is we are losing volunteers because of unclear role expectations, low professionalism, absence of training and self-growth opportunities and weak volunteer development programmes. Moreover, volunteers can still be accredited by experience and performance accordingly. They can also take up course modules in their work experience and become progressively professionalised, so to speak. So they will not be excluded. On the side of the professionals, for the sake of protecting public interest, they feel strongly the need to differentiate the volunteers and professionals by skills so that the qualified and certified social work professionals will handle therapy related work and the social work volunteers or non-accredited staff can be trained to offer other administrative, management and non-clinical client-related services. The confusion of the word "social worker" which has been used very loosely in the community and by the media because it is referred interchangeably to everybody - professionals, non-accredited staff and volunteers in the field. They assume that social workers are primarily volunteers. Sometimes legitimately so because a social work professional can be a volunteer. A volunteer in the social work sector, on the other hand, may not have professional qualifications.”
“This will help VWOs to better plan their work rehabilitation programmes and equip clients with suitable skills to be employable in the community. The argument is that these groups have much to gain by participating directly in community, instead of being isolated in sheltered employment centres. For the society, this is an additional human resource anyhow.”
“The Ministry has done a good job in the last few years. I hope that it will continue with this effort. We have to recognise that young women today desire both work and family. The notion of role contradiction is no longer applicable. The problem is one of role overload. They work long hours at work and they also work long hours at home, sometimes with little help from husbands who also work late in the office. We need to find new solutions if we want to keep all in employment. Will the Minister consider setting up a special task force consisting of multi-disciplinary experts - economists, sociologists, family therapists, psychologists and so forth - to examine nationally the impact of dual career families on family cohesion and identify appropriate human resource strategies to tackle the problems? My third area is work integration of vulnerable groups. Community agencies which are taking care of mentally disadvantaged and disabled young specifically request if the Ministry could give some attention to the issue of work integration of these groups. They would like to know in the Ministry's manpower planning for the next millennium if it could identify the kind of skills which are suitable for these disadvantaged groups. Bizlink, for the information of Members of this House, is a voluntary organisation supported by MCD. It has been set up to service the disabled by matching their skills and employment needs, but they lack the information on skills requirement for specific job types. So they cannot really provide the appropriate training to the clients. Can MOM, MCD and VWOs combine efforts to identify and enhance employment opportunities for the disadvantaged?”
“Sir, I would like to thank Mr Chay for making a pitch for womanpower. But if there is any comfort at all, the new acronym for the Ministry of Manpower is MOM, and mum is a woman! And we were told also that mum knows best because she has delivered all these years of hard labour. So in that sense, I think let us not quibble. Sir, I am going to focus on three areas. First, is the immediate impact of the economic downturn on women. In the last few weeks, we debated on the impact of the economic crisis on workers and the need for retraining of workers. There is a gender blindness in the discussions, and I would like to ask the Minister if there is a disproportionately high tendency towards retrenchment of women workers, for example, and whether women workers have any great difficulties in finding jobs after their retrenchment. Women who are sole breadwinners feel the immediate impact of the financial crisis. Does the Minister have figures on this situation and help us assess the severity of the impact? What sort of employment related strategies is MOM prepared to extend to such families? My second area is on long-term strategic planning for women workers. It appears that more men than women workers use the Skills Development Fund. Could the Minister explain why this is so, and whether there is any strategic planning from the Ministry to encourage women to use this fund for upgrading and, if so, in what sectors? The 1994 Department of Statistics Report showed that 84% of dual career wives were under 45 years old. The trend towards younger women and paid employment will persist. We are less sure, however, that they will stay in employment after 45. I would like to reinforce Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon's call for focused effort on the Back-to-Work programme.”
“Lastly, some neighbourhoods and residents do not like the idea of VWOs setting up mental services in their neighbourhood because property sales will go down, and their property value will also go down. Is this still true? How can the Government help to correct this social stigma?”
“Sir, we currently have very well established treatment centres, but we are less successful at integrating appropriately rehabilitative patients into the society. I have a few questions. I shall rush through them because of a lack of time. First, there are no established half-way houses for the mentally ill. This is very important, Sir, because this is a transitional period where they will learn social skills and work skills. A period of six to 12 months is very important for them to be adjusted and to feel supported in a home-like environment. Second, in Singapore, some advocates have queried whether the Ministry should lead in the development of a broad range of psycho-socio rehabilitation programmes. Let me clarify for Members. Unlike Woodbridge Hospital which administers medicine to the patients, the psycho-social rehabilitation programmes actually look into the community resources and identify ways to maximise the resources and help patients lead fulfilling independent lives. At this point, a large part of this initiative comes from the community and the query is: is this a good strategy that there is very little supervision from the Ministry of Health? Third, the VWOs are very frustrated by the efforts in setting up community mental health services because when they write to HDB for void decks, their reply is always, "Sorry, it is not suitable." When they re-suggest new void decks for their applications, again it comes back to them and say, "Sorry, it is not suitable." Can the Government help by listing the void decks to the VWOs as to which is more suitable in the first place?”
“Sir, for the last 4-5 years, since 1992, I have been coordinating training classes for the Police on rape, and it is through that experience that I have learnt about the challenges between social workers and the Police Force. And that is precisely why I am suggesting employing social workers in the Police Force because of the turfs and the institutional barriers which have been established. Even as I walk in with all my front-line agencies to the training, I feel the "we" and "them" boundary. Although we try very hard to merge our mindsets and try to use the best of our competencies to investigate and manage a case, nevertheless, the police feel that we are so different. But for five years, I think we have achieved a certain level of rapport and I thank the Minister for giving us that opportunity to get entry. If we cannot get social workers in, as he has suggested, could the police then look into the training curriculum and inject more components on counselling principles and the rest of it?”
“My question is: at the current moment, how is the Police keeping its operation database on family violence cases and child abuse? Do you have your own Police operation database? Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Yes, we have our own.”
“The on-line database that was set up by MCD has taken some time to realise. I would like to know whether the Police itself has its own operation database. How is it tapped and whether we can get information from it when we need? That is my first question. Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: This on-going project was not really a recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs. I think in her speech, she said that we had suggested it. It was a recommendation of the inter-Ministry work group on family violence chaired by the then Deputy Secretary (Home Affairs) made in December 1995. And then a task force was set up under MCD because the committee felt that MCD was the best agency to drive this project. The delay was caused partly because, originally, it was conceived as an archival type of database - which I am sure Madam Chiang agrees would not be of much use - and then it was to converted it into an operational database and that delayed it somewhat. Let me assure Madam Chiang that the project will now proceed at a clip. Like I said, the police will do its part to input whatever information that it can and then I am sure this collective effort of all the agencies in building up this database will advance the cause of victims of family violence in Singapore.”
“I hope the Minister will study this idea and let it germinate to assess its applicability in our context. 3.45 pm”
“By clearly establishing the investigation roles of police enforcement officers and police social workers, the former to adopt a line of questioning to establish facts on the act of violence and the latter to restore the emotional state of the victim through a counselling line of questioning, two sets of information can be examined in parallel for a more judicious appraisal and judgment of the case. Over time, social workers and police officers, working under one institution and guided by the standard operating procedure, could develop an understanding of their complementary roles of police and social workers throughout the investigative process, and then establish a shared foundation for criminal investigation work in family and rape cases. The second reason is, at the community level, with the implementation of the amended Women's Charter last year in areas of spousal violence management, police officers now will collaborate with social service agencies in a networking loop to refer victims for counselling. Within the framework of this new operation guidelines, Police social workers can play a key role of being the networker and liaison case workers with FSCs. In a way, the Police social worker becomes an institutional broker by increasing police awareness and usage of community services and promoting police-community relationships. Sir, these are not new ideas. They have been tested in other countries. The shortage of social workers is a definite challenge. But if we should let the market of supply self-regulate, the Police Force may pick up the professionals who decide to leave the social service sector. Anyhow, if we recognise this principle as good in itself, we should lead the way and find solutions.”
“I would like to ask the Minister in the planning for the Community Focused Plan to assure effective community intervention programmes, if he would consider employing social workers in the Police Force, as done in the courts, hospitals and schools, for the following two reasons: One, cross-boundary skills enhance police enforcement duties in difficult family disputes such as spousal violence and child abuse; similarly, in traumatic cases like rape. The argument is, by combining the efforts of the social workers and police during investigation in such cases, both groups can add value to the assessment of the case by offering varying imports gathered from their respective training. This effort is particularly helpful in cases where criminal evidence cannot be established, yet expert opinions are needed to help assess the risk levels of families in crisis. The job of the Police is not merely to prosecute but to protect. Where prosecution evidence is lacking, protection to victims must still be assured, and I argue it takes a trained skill from a counselling background to observe the signs and cues of potential hurt faced by the family members. By reinforcing the criminal processes with psycho-socio inputs during investigation, we help to moderate the too often cited criticism that the Police, in the handling of family cases, is too focused on prosecution procedures and less on victim protection. In rape cases, in particular, the victim is in traumatic state.”
“(3) Enhance coordination with FSCs. With the amendments to the Women's Charter now implemented and the setting up of island-wide networking loop initiated by MCD and MHA, police officers now have additional network channels, through FSCs, to enforce case management. It will be helpful if the data captured by the Police could be electronically e-mailed to select FSCs appointed by MCD to take in police referrals on spousal violence and child abuse. Then together, both FSCs and the Police can reinforce protection to the families. (4) Similar cross-checks on victims and their case history can be effectively achieved by electronically linking up the island-wide Police network of NPCs and NPPs to guarantee fast response to, and close monitoring of, high-risk individuals. I seek the Minister's urgent attention to this matter for the purpose of enhancing policy formulation and enforcing good practices.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if a central database on spousal violence and child abuse cases is now set up within the operation unit of the Police Force. I am not referring to the archival database on dysfunctional families established by MCD nor the quantitative large-scale data survey that they are collecting at this point. I am referring to operation data which will enable police officers to better protect victims with children, at the same time closely monitor perpetrators' violent behaviour. This idea was first mooted by the Ministry in 1995. The police operation data is important for four reasons: (1) clearly establishes patterns of criminal behaviour over time on where, when, what and how the crime was committed; what age groups, ethnic groups and kind of dangerous weapons used. (2) Capturing data helps guide intervention, policy formulation, as well as identify the appropriate security measures and case management decisions. Let me give an example. If we only know the total number of rape cases and not indicate the age groups of the victims, we may be misguided in the way we plan our community crime prevention programmes. If the age groups of victims are older, a community-based prevention campaign, with the support of all forms of media, is more suitable to help increase awareness of this threat. To combat teen rape, however, the target should be aimed at school teenagers and street youth gangs. Teachers and youth groups have to be mobilised to talk to school teenagers about threats and self-protection. In police training, soliciting information from a teenager is a different experience from investigating an adult victim. The police therefore needs to know the trend and focus their training in developing different sets of interviewing skills.”
“That, for me, Sir, is priceless and enduring.”
“Following this argument, I would like to propose that the Minister set aside a special budget to pay a team of consultants to re-engineer a cross boundary integrated study in community management. It is time to take a fresh look and review as well as recommend how Ministries can and should work effectively together to solve social problems. Models from other countries and their experts can be consulted for this purpose. My last budget proposal is for a Central Registry of victims and perpetrators for fast response and efficient intervention. In most countries, a Central Registry is set up to capture victims' information in computers so that front-line agencies like the police, the courts, the hospitals, FSCs and Helplines are electronically linked up to better able to track offenders and victims and adopt appropriate prevention measures before crimes are alerted. A national priority must be given to setting this up for the purpose of promoting quick alert, fast response, efficient referrals and cross-checks. I have highlighted six budget priorities for the community service sector which I hope the Minister will look into and consider giving off-Budget expenses for their implementation. If we give $3 million to start up each of these programmes, the total will only be $18 million, which is a small drop of the expected surplus of $2.7 billion. The return on investment in dollars spent in this sector, unlike in business, is not immediately calculable, but as in education, its rational reinforcement only helps to refine our social service network of institutions and expertise and restore to the community its sense of well-being. A sense of well-being felt by Singaporeans is arguably a most competitive human resource which we can bring to the economy and this country.”
“In a similar manner, I argue that we need to commit priority time and resources to critically evaluate community service delivery programmes, identify where the needs are, train our social workers and volunteers with the necessary skills to offer the public value-added service and rehabilitation treatment so that as healthy and well integrated families, we help to build the social foundation for Singapore to cope with the challenges of the 21st century. Fifth, budget for fitting the puzzles of Inter-Ministry management and integration. Another component which I think should be included in a budget is programme management and evaluation expenses. In cases of juvenile delinquency and drug offences, violence in the home involving young children and other family disputes, their management is very often beyond the boundary of one Ministry. Take a family violence case, for example. It involves the intervention efforts of MOH, MCD, MHA, MOE, the Courts and FSCs. I take an example of spousal violence case. MOH will determine the extent of abuse through medical examination; MCD offers the social support through FSCs and protects the child by taking her or him to a place of safety; MHA offers protection and safety to the victims and directs abusers for rehabilitation; MOE identifies cues and signs of abused children or child witnesses in schools to intervene early before their traumas deepen. Recognising that case management has to be multi-disciplinary and involves multiple parties from different Ministries, we need to study, pilot and evaluate intervention and rehabilitation programmes.”
“It is an important item on my wish list to see more but small, efficiently run old folks homes, children centres, youth hang-out joints, family service centres, day-care rehabilitation centres for the old and the disabled, special programmes for physically and mentally disadvantaged in more schools in every constituency. As to how many of these services need to be set up in relation to the population base in the constituency, what optimal size will be ideal to achieve best performance, the number of workers and the kind of social work skills we require, these are key issues to address, and I do not think we really know. Fourth, spend to identify national manpower needs in the social service sector. Without guided research data to inform us exactly what are community service needs, we may be busy building more development projects, but unable to clearly evaluate their relevance, impact and sustainability for the community which needs our services. How do we even start mapping the needs of the community and determine the continuum of services and skills to be set up? It will be the public, the vulnerable victims and dysfunctional families who will be shortchanged due to incompetent service standards. It also results in economic wastage. By comparison, our Government seriously identified the need for skills upgrading in our workforce and a large sum of money is put aside by the Ministry of Manpower to retrain our workers in the industrial sector after research into skills retraining. We all agree to this pro-worker and pro-business directive because it enhances our competitiveness and fuels our growth engines in the economy.”
“The increase in the development expenditure for MCD, however, is only 7% which is $12 million over the last fiscal year, whereas for the Police programme, the increase is 38%, which is $66 million. Second, spend to build a body of knowledge in our community service delivery system. A more serious concern is the fact that MCD will spend only $7.5 million or 1.4% of its total expenditure of about $532 million on research and information technology. And in MHA, there is not even any provision on research at all. How much of MCD's research and information technology budget will actually be spent on research on family and community issues, I do not know. I do not need to emphasise the importance of having continuously updated, integrated data on families at risk to help policy makers from various Ministries define their management strategies and operational procedures. A one-off nation-wide survey on families which MCD is currently engaged in may be necessary and useful for identifying demographic and family relationship patterns, but it does not substantively add to our enforcement officers' operational knowledge which should be grounded by case analysis, informed by research inputs and tested by practices uniquely adapted for our society. Without building up a research department within the Ministries, handling family cases or providing the budget for such efforts to be undertaken by other academic institutions for the Ministries, we will find our enforcement officers less and less equipped with effective intervention and family therapy methods and able to identify the necessary social programmes to enhance service standards among our frontline workers. Third, spend to set up a Neighbourhood Continuum of Services for all ages.”
“What is perhaps a little lopsided, however, is the fact that MHA's Police programme alone, which is $240 million, is given a development budget which is 45% more than the total development budget of the entire MCD. The equivalent is $240 million for the Police programme and $116 million for the entire development expenditure for MCD. I wonder if there is a correlation between an expanded Police programme and family instability, ie, the more unstable a family, resulting in family abuse, runaway kids and drug addiction and other concomitant problems, the more the need for policing activities to keep crime rates down and restore community security. Is there an argument that in the long-run, it is a more effective and sustainable strategy to invest and encourage preventive programmes in neighbourhood FSCs (Family Service Centres) by MCD than having to spend on remedial institutions like the Police Force, drug centres, prisons and detention homes? In a similar vein of thinking, more development expenditure by the Government on family life education programmes in promoting family relationships will prevent spousal violence, child abuse and juvenile delinquency, creating less need to deploy police officers and health officers in clinics and hospitals in the management and rehabilitation of the violence. The dollars wasted in the time and energy spent in managing family conflicts is not inconsequential. Some countries have shown that the aggregated resources spent represented a sizable percentage of the GDP. It may be worthwhile for us to attempt a similar evaluation exercise. If MHA were to focus on remedial rather than preventive programmes, then perhaps MCD could be given a larger development budget to undertake preventive programmes.”
“I hope the authorities will monitor the situation closely and prepare in time contingency measures to deploy off-Budget expenditures to assist struggling enterprises. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the need to spend more in areas which I think are important to Singapore's long-term development. I shall confine my remarks to the community service sector. I would like to propose six priorities for budgetary expenditures. First, more spending on social development projects because prevention is better than cure. In the budget's development expenditure for FY 98, the Ministry of Community Development (MCD) is given the lowest priority among all Government Ministries. It is just 0.11% of GDP, with the exception of the newly-created Manpower Ministry which has no development expenditure at all. While I recognise that development projects for other Ministries are equally worthy of our attention and support, I am concerned and curious to know why a Ministry such as MCD, which handles family support services and community intervention programmes to promote families and prevent their disintegration, has less need for development projects than other Ministries. I observe some disturbing social trends which were recently reported in our newspapers: increasing youth crimes, teenagers not confiding in their parents, rising divorces, increasing single households' problems, declining `O' and `A' levels results and low esteem among those who did not fare well in 1997, etc. We may well accept that the Ministry of Home Affairs with all its responsibilities will be given a development budget which at $900 million is more than five times greater than MCD's development budget, which is $178 million only.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, during these difficult economic times, it is prudent that the Government still plans to achieve a budgetary surplus of $2.7 billion. Some people have said that the Government should propose a very expansionary budget, and even chalk up a budget deficit, in order to pump-prime the economy which may enter into recession soon. I believe, however, that what characterizes our current economic problems, and makes it different from our previous recessions, is our vulnerability to external economic shocks. The fall-out from Indonesia's deepening crisis may hit us much harder than we can currently anticipate and, if it does, we may well need a mid-year mini budget which may advocate some deficit spending. But at this current state of uncertainty, I support a policy of conservative prudence. It is reassuring to know that the Government is spending on long-term investments on education, infrastructure and defence, which truly underpin our economic success. We cannot just talk about our economic fundamentals; we must continually reinvest in honing and sharpening these fundamentals, which this budget has done. There is disappointment, however, about the lack of immediate palliative measures to help small and medium enterprises in their business difficulties. Many SMEs feel that the Government could have cut more levies, fees, charges and taxes and increased public spending in more sectors of the economy, thereby improving cashflow and business prospects in the private sector. The Government may not think that the conditions are serious enough, but a survey done by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in January 1998 indicated that 94% of the respondents were adversely affected by the regional financial turmoil.”