Denise Phua Lay Peng
Singapore
“Sir, as Singapore ages, disability and ageing will increasingly overlap. The line between disability services and elder care services will blur. Many adults with disabilities face similar challenges as seniors in varying degrees, but at a younger age.”
“But the SPED schools are run by a lot of the other professionals as well such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, coaches and so forth. And I ask for MOE, as it always looks at SPED educators, to also focus on this other very important group; because retention is capacity.”
“Are there other strategies that the Prime Minister will consider, like easier adoption procedures to have more people adopt, more of us Singaporeans adopting? The second is, in terms of immigration as well, to bring in people who are of the right profile and suitable profile to grow our Singaporean population?”
“Enterprise grants should include accessibility compliance requirements. Inclusion cannot rely on goodwill alone. It must be systemically built-in. And finally, move five: on strengthening intermediaries and social service agencies (SSAs). Sir, if AI is to be whole-of-society, then SSAs cannot be left behind.”
“When SSAs become AI-enabled, the most vulnerable of us benefit. In conclusion Sir, Budget 2026 sets an ambitious direction: AI ecosystems, SkillsFuture strengthening, innovation hubs such as Lorong AI and the future AI Park at one-north. Ambition is necessary, but it is execution that determines whether progress is shared.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her assurance, assuring the House that there are indeed alternative identification methods available for those who are unable to use facial recognition. Just a couple of supplementary questions. Number one, are these measures systemic and applicable for all fully digital or not fully digital banks?”
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“Sir, I seek the Minister's response to the other recommendations in the Ageing Masterplan. Amongst them, better funding of the early intervention programme; building quality, not just increasing capacity; and to stop setting up early intervention centres unless there is proper preparation of the teachers and proper scaleable intervention models so that the children are helped and not hurt. My second clarification, Sir, is to ask the Minister to consider the decision to matchmake the IDA IT funding with only one VWO, ie, the Society for Physically Disabled (SPD), and ask that part of this funding be diverted to the other major disability groups which have a lot more experience in training children and students of other disabilities, and that there probably could be more value-add in diverting some of this funding to the other centres.”
“Sir, the Charity Act alone nor the Charity Commissioner and all their auditors may not be able to prevent the NKF-type frauds from happening again. Those of us who have sat on even corporate boards know that there is no way a director can know in-depth the business operations of a firm through quarterly board meetings - not even when you are in a Audit Committee. Only attracting and retaining the right executives and volunteers, with both character and competence, can we prevent another NKF saga. Sir, let us not discourage them. Help us. Be careful not to witch-hunt. Person with Disability”
“Before telling especially the bigger VWOs to shape up, value-add by footing the bill for some of these costs of governance for those which are larger than, say, $5 million in revenue or operating expenditure, and especially those performing essential services that the state decides not to take on. The Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society is one example. The Moral Society runs a host of community services, including the Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital, Early Intervention Centre, counselling centres and the like. The CEO of this $30 million operation receives a monthly salary of $7,100 - I would say a charity pay for an operation of this size. We cannot afford the sorely needed financial chief nor internal auditor to oversee this vast operation. And the same can be said of many large VWOs. It will then make sense for Government or enlightened donors to defray some of these costs of governance. Sir, I hope the Ministry will be able to facilitate that. The third area I am concerned about is the volunteerism rate in Singapore. The volunteerism rate in Singapore has hovered around 15%. This is much lower than that in developed countries, such as the United States, Japan, Britain and Canada. My prophecy is that things will get worse, as it is getting very difficult to get competent and committed professionals to sit on the boards of VWOs or to be volunteers. I ask the Charity Commissioner and all the appointed sector auditors to help the VWOs and be careful not to end up witch-hunting and dampening the spirit of volunteerism amongst the professionals. If anyone were to look hard enough, I am certain you will find something that is out of line in most of the 2,000 VWOs in Singapore.”
“Because that particular VWO does not have the clout or the influence to mandate other service providers to update it constantly, this centre has been under performing through no fault of the charity organisation or its staff - not excellent services, not very useful to the community it is meant to serve. This was clearly a function that is best run by one of the Government or Government-linked departments, which has a more direct access to data submitted and more authority to get updated information. Sir, I ask that more mindful thought be given to what constitute essential services. My next topic, Sir, is regarding cost of governance in VWOs, as mentioned by some of my colleagues here. It is a right direction to upgrade governance standards - no qualms about that. The Charity Act and the Charity Commissioner have their part to play. But this begs the question - who should pay for the cost of governance? I ask, Sir, because the cost of governance cannot be loaded fully onto the VWOs. Many donors or funders pride themselves in funding only services that directly impact beneficiaries. This is a catch-22 situation. The bigger the operations, the higher the risks and the greater the need for a chief executive, auditors and a competent financial professional. And yet few funders want to pay for these costs. As a result, the VWOs spend their time trying to raise funds and less time is available for governance matters. Sir, I propose that the Ministry and the agencies, like the NCSS, the Charity Commissioners and even NVPC examine the traditional funding mindset and help to co-fund the chief executive, the auditor, accountant or chief financial officer in some of the bigger VWOs.”
“Sir, I have three points to propose to MCYS to better the social service sector in Singapore. They are to do with: (1) Essential services; (2) Cost of governance; and (3) Volunteerism rate. First, on essential services. In most countries, the state considers services to do with health, education and security to be "essential services", usually performed and managed directly by government or government-linked agencies. It is not so in Singapore, as charities take on quite a host of activities, like community hospitals, early intervention and even special schools. Sir, in the "outsourcing" of services to the charity sector, I suggest MCYS or PMO take the lead in developing a decision-making matrix on what might be considered "essential services" and what should be undertaken by state or charity. We must make sure that there is "mindful" instead of "mindless" outsourcing decisions. Let me give one example. For many years, families and professionals were always speculating on services and service providers in the disability sector. Many made ill-informed decisions and inaccurate comments which led to wastage and negativity. A couple of years back, a very critical one-stop Disability Information and Referral Centre (DIRC) was set up to provide comprehensive information regarding all forms of disability services and service provider data like waitlists, fees and so forth - very important information. This important function was unfortunately outsourced to a charity organisation.”
“Sir, many middle-aged, mid-level executives and managers have lost their jobs due to right-sizing, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, and so forth. They are often mentally and professionally unprepared, did not see the storm coming while they were busy buried in their daily work. One resident of mine was a 50-year-old ex-ITE teacher whose skills became irrelevant. His way of getting another job is to write in a letter or two each week. He was very frustrated, saw me several times and I had to offer him career counselling at my MPS. Another resident, a middle-manager in his 40s with general marketing skills, ended up as a relief teacher although he has no passion for teaching. He told me his other alternative was, like what Dr Lim Wee Kiak was saying, to become a taxi driver. Sir, the root causes of these older PMETs' predicament have to do with their skills, attitude and knowledge in career search and career management. Sir, I urge MOM to provide easy access to career management education for the older PMETs at typical job clearing houses at CDCs, community clubs, and so forth. In the corporate sector, progressive firms offer solid career development frameworks and effective tools, so individuals can learn how to take joint responsibility and not depend only on their bosses for managing their careers, to adopt the right attitude and skill-sets in advance. This way, they can be empowered to work for as long as they wish to. I ask MOM to consider adopting this best practice.”
“I pray that that would not happen and I know that it would not happen under the leadership of Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and MOS Mr Gan Kim Yong. As Jim Collins says in his "Good to Great" management classic, first, get the right people on the bus. I hope we will be able to do that. Third, I also ask the Ministry not to let up and to develop a good execution blueprint with agreed upon Key Performance Indicators and milestone reviews by the Minister. As they say, one does not gain a reputation by just declaring what one wishes to do. Many children with special needs grow up to become adults with special needs underperforming in life because they did not receive intervention early enough nor have a quality education that could help them. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the Ministry for beginning to take leadership and ownership of educating students with special needs in mainstream and special schools. As they say, leadership is a choice, and I thank you for making that choice.”
“We spoke to close to 300 parents and professionals and they were mostly concerned about two primary issues, namely, the inconsistency in quality of curriculum, pedagogy and teachers; and governance, ie, why MOE did not take any active leading role in educating those who are placed in special schools run by charity. Sir, I am confident that the Ministry has studied the recommendations closely in the Enabling Master Plan and I know they will do something about them. I have three points to make to the Ministry as they consider the next steps to level up educating these children, whether in mainstream or special schools. First, I hope MOE will one day be technically ready and morally strong enough to take its rightful place in the leadership of special schools. There is no reason why it needs NCSS to co-fund special schools and why it needs to still hang on to NCSS in supervising special schools. There is a dearth of adult services that are required for NCSS to look into and for them to lead in those areas. Let NCSS be one of the many-helping-hands in a configuration with MOE taking 100% lead. Second, I hope MOE will not compromise in assembling the right execution team members to make things happen as they consider implementing some of the recommendations in the Enabling Master Plan. Draw the best available from the Special Education Department (SPED) in MOE, the Curriculum Department, the Mainstream School Operations, VWO specialists with supporting members from MCYS and even MOH. Be careful that we do not fall into the proverbial "old wine in new wine skin" syndrome where only the packaging looks different but same people, same mindsets and same methodology remain.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, the character of a society is reflected in the way it treats members who are different or disadvantaged. In 1999, when I first took my autistic son to enrol in a special school, my Filipino helper exclaimed: "Madame, so this is where Singapore hides all its disabled children!" It did not take long for me to find out that while Singapore boasts of excellence in many things, educating the special needs child was not one of them, whether in the mainstream or special school. But in the last three years, something changed. The MOE has come of age and is now openly taking ownership of some important aspects of educating these children who are different, and I applaud the Minister and his team for this. As the Chairperson of the education component of the Enabling Masterplan for the Disabled, together with my volunteers, I identified six strategic thrusts to achieve excellence in educating special needs children. The thrusts were: (1) The call for leadership revamp in the special education scene. Many people could not fathom why the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), with its core competence in social service, was tasked with setting performance standards and auditing special schools; (2) To ask for a planned and purposeful integration with mainstream students for all special needs children, and other critical success factors identified; (3) To have quality curriculum, quality professional staff; (4) To empower family caregivers; (5) To have a smooth transition management; and (6) To provide adequate funding in educating these children.”
“We must ensure the same rigour at home and in the community, and I urge the MOE to take the lead in this matter.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I submit that the current character development initiative in Singapore schools is insufficient to make any major impact on our students. Today's Singapore is marked by families with working parents, leaving the upbringing of many children mostly to domestic helpers and schools. Schools may have to take a lead to foster a process of inculcating values in our young. Character development is now conducted primarily through the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) which specifies a minimum of six hours per year, ie, half an hour a month. I would like to ask the Ministry to consider making three changes in this regard: (1) Identify and communicate more extensively a set of common core values that the majority of people can agree on, eg, kindness, respect, learning, consideration, responsibility; (2) Develop a resource database of how these values might be translated to practices and outcomes in three settings, ie, school, home and community; and (3) Increase the number of minimum hours of CIP service hours to at least one day a month per student. This can be a combination of service contribution within the school, home and community settings. They need not be big projects, but could be tasks done on a daily basis, eg, peer tutoring, be a buddy for a disabled classmate, serving at a neighbourhood home, join a friendship club to help somebody else, take one's disabled grandparent out for a walk each day, etc. Gandhi said this before: "A person cannot do right in one department whilst attempting to do wrong in another department. Life is one indivisible whole." Sir, character development is the same - one indivisible whole. It cannot just happen in school.”
“Sir, I refer to the Minister's vision of one Electronic Medical Record (EMR) for one Singaporean, and also for both public and private sector medical practitioners to share the information when the database is up. Can the Minister comment on: (1) How Singaporeans' medical records can be kept confidential under such a system? (2) Whether each citizen is empowered with the decision to share or not his personal medical records, because it can be quite intrusive and, in fact, dangerous for such personal medical records to be go around if it is not protected.”
“Many parents with children born with congenital or developmental problems are bombarded with advice on how to help their children. In their desperation, they try all kinds of treatment options - some without any evidence base - and some very expensive. Some people without proper training and credentials have set up clinics and promised cures for these desperate parents. It would really be great if the Ministry should allocate resources to the CDUs and CGCs in hospitals to ensure some basic applied research is done and aggressively educate parents on the validity of these various treatments for those born with common developmental problems, like global developmental delay, speech delays, autism, hyperactivity and so forth. This will save many children who are put through treatments which are not just a waste of money but also precious time that could have been used to improve their prognosis better. I firmly believe that this will not cause a dent in the Ministry's budget and it will help many of these children. Lastly, I would like to ask the Ministry to consider developing Singapore into a regional centre of excellence for disability treatment, especially in disabilities that are reportedly on the rise, eg, developmental conditions of children, mental illnesses and geriatrics in the area of medical tourism, instead of playing the same space of lasik treatment, cosmetic injuries, botox, and so forth, like in some other countries in ASEAN. Nowhere is demand so strong and supply so weak in disability medicine, and this is a great opportunity for us to go into. As our neighbouring countries become more affluent, the attention they give to disabilities will be greater and Singapore should be well poised for the lead here. Community Health Screening Programme”
“Mdm Chairman, our healthcare system for the general population is, I believe, one of the best in the world. There are three areas I would like to ask the Ministry to consider in support of the disabled in Singapore. One, help those who have previously been excluded from MediShield. I applaud a new opt-out feature of the MediShield plan to immediately cover all newborns, whether they are born perfectly or not. I thank the Minister for that. I speak now for the thousands of children, youths, adults born with congenital conditions, but have missed this window and the Minister's good news. These citizens are still excluded and deprived of the 1M of the 3Ms scaffold that typical Singaporeans enjoy. Madam, I urge the Government to ensure the national insurance vendors, like NTUC Income and so forth, to make sure that they are educated on the major disabilities. Advise insurers to assess the risk factors before conveniently refusing the medical coverage or upgrade request of citizens who are disabled or who have special needs. I was recently told of a teenager with Asperger's syndrome was refused medical insurance coverage upgrade when his mother honestly reported that he has some form of mild disability. He is at no greater risk than someone who is typical. Two, I hope that Minister also consider underwriting the basic hospitalisation and surgical benefits provided to any citizen, extend it up to the ceiling under the same scheme for those who were rejected by commercial insurers. This "self-insurance" benefit is a practice that is adopted by progressive firms for their employees who, for some reason, are rejected by their insurance vendors. Next, I would like to urge the Ministry to allocate resources for applied research and educate families with special needs children.”
“Sir, I would like to present the other side of the coin on police officers' performance. I think it would be good if MHA could highlight some of the desirable, positive and progressive behaviour of the police officers. I have two examples. One is the police unit that is supporting my ward, the Rochor Neighbourhood Centre under the Central Police Division. They have done very proactive grassroots programmes with my grassroots to help the elderly, security programmes and crime prevention. Second, when I recently asked for an emergency line for the deaf, a whole group of police officers who came to see me were very enthusiastic doing research and so forth. I think these are some very progressive behaviour that I feel should be highlighted to the others.”
“So would the Ministry of Finance consider raising that process with the PMO?”
“Sir, I suggest that because what gets measured gets done, what gets measured and paid actually gets done even more, that there will be a consistent process by which KPIs are set throughout the different Ministries. If the PMO take heed of that entire process, it could be facilitated by MOF.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the MOF if the PMO, instead of the MOF, should be involved actually in managing the process of setting KPIs. Do the individual Ministries actually follow some kind of consistent process by which they follow some balanced score card or dashboard method to make sure that the KPIs are indeed balanced and also involve probably the inputs of key user groups who are using the Ministries' various services?”
“--- do it with lesser resources and knowing how to deal with the Government agencies. So I would like the Minister to consider that.”
“Sir, a clarification from Minister Teo Chee Hean. In order that we do not waste our civil service talent, would the Minister consider letting them go through what normal executives go through in Singapore? For example, pay for the payroll of these scholars, send them out for at least two years, put them in different types of working environment, go and work in local SMEs, work in multi-nationals, get a bottomline orientation or go and run an organisation in VWOs so that they have a taste of how to ---”
“Sir, except for teachers, one out of every 10 graduate civil servant is a scholar. Many are groomed to take on top leadership roles. Many scholars are fast tracked and, in very short time periods, are parachuted into high-level and high-paying positions in the civil service. The PMO has told me that to prepare these scholars for their roles, they are given rounded exposure to the national challenges and issues facing Singapore. These include joining community attachment programmes, eg, I believe the People's Association or attachments with the voluntary welfare organisations, so that "they have a better understanding of concerns and issues faced by Singaporeans." Sir, I submit that although this method might have worked in the past, in today's world, this old way is an inadequate way of developing talents in the civil service. I hear of a number of scholars and high potential civil servants who were assigned jobs they neither have a passion nor preparation for. Since the Government is not yet open to the idea of scrapping the scholar programme, I urge the Government to consider doing two things in developing these talents in the civil service. (1) Install a more structured framework of assessing the talent - what one is good at; passion - what one loves to do; and then match these profiles with the organisation's needs. Where the three areas intersect, this presents, I believe, the career sweet spot for the civil servant talent. (2) Instead of parachuting scholars too fast into positions writing papers and advising on national policies, let them go through what normal executives go through.”
“In conclusion, Sir, the Budget is at risk of being viewed more and more by some Singaporeans as the proverbial goodie bag and even lucky draw that they look forward to in many grassroots functions. I have met friends who switched off the TV and the radio when they heard that there is no personal income tax cut for them this year. I hope we will never get to the point where the goodie bag becomes the reason why people take notice of the Budget event. What is going to happen in a Budget year when there are less or no more goodies to be dished out? Do we all switch off our radios and TVs in disappointment and disgust with the Minister for Finance? I hope not. To me, the annual Budget is but a manifestation of the vision and values of our country. As in the iceberg analogy, it is the top 10% that is visible, but the real foundation that holds it up is the unseen but clearly important 90% of the iceberg, ie, the vision of our future and the values that we hold dear to. Let us hold fast to the vision that the PM has painted in 2005, and I hope we do not forget that, ie, the one that allows for flourishing of a mountain range of success of people of different abilities and not just a pinnacle of only those who score academically well in studies. For, as they say, where there is no vision, the people perish. The best way to predict the wealth in our future Budgets is to start now by developing the ability of all Singaporeans to create wealth, whether they are able or disabled. With that, Sir, I support the Budget. 2.05 pm”
“Roger Merrill, a renowned life management consultant, feels that everyone must know how to be effective in four critical areas of their lives, ie, how to manage their careers so that their skills are always relevant and they never get surprised when they get retrenched or their skills get obsolete, and how to manage their careers; how to manage their money, family and other relationships. I say, for our country to continue to generate wealth to do the things we wish to do as a people, we should think out of the box and divert some resources to provide freely available National Education for all Singaporeans, not only when they are younger. Free National Education that is beyond vocational skills and covers life skills that are to do with: (1) Quality of our thinking; (2) Quality of our execution; and (3) Quality of our spirit. Quality of our thinking These are things like critical thinking skills in problem solving, decision-making, developing one's self-awareness, strategic planning, taking joint responsibilities for our own careers and for lifelong learning. Quality of our execution competencies Subjects, such as project management, execution discipline, time management, financial planning and financial management. Quality of our spirit Things to do with our hearts, eg, the character-building content that I guess the Minister of State Mr Lui Tuck Yew will be speaking on later on in the COS debate. Here, I am talking about educating all Singaporeans on some common decent human values, putting them into practice, and also the way that we view and treat others who are different or whom we think are inferior to us in abilities and wealth.”
“If I am drafting the Budget, I would put some money and effort into reforming, first, the assessment system in Singapore schools and then some more efforts in reforming the minds of all Singaporeans - parents, educators and employers. Consider the merit of the practice of installing a formal "Portfolio Assessment" system, so that the potential and talent of a student is measured by a visible portfolio of not just his examination T-scores, but also his artwork, his social contribution, his homework, his conduct as a student and other talents. A more balanced portfolio assessment system will allow the development and recognition of the multiple types of intelligences and abilities in our country and enhance our future ability to produce even more wealth for future Budgets. Strategy 3 concerns critical life skills. In my years as a consultant helping to develop leadership skills of my clients, I have often heard laments like, "How I wish I knew all these when I was young." I also hear bosses saying things like, "How I wish they taught my staff these things when they were in school." It is no accident that in some countries, their Ministry of Education is called Department or Ministry of Education and Skills, covering both formal and informal education for young and old. Sir, there are some critical life skills or competencies that every Singaporean should acquire if they are to become more effective at work and in their personal lives. What are these skills? Many opinions on this. Richard Levin, President of Yale University, named digital literacy, collaboration skills, critical thinking skills and mentoring.”
“Come close to the season of the release of PSLE and GCE results, the conversation of almost everyone is still centred around examination scores - every other achievement, other than academic, is greeted with a polite smile, not "Congratulations!" Even when I was helping out with the Enabling Masterplan for the disabled, I was asked to highlight the excellent PSLE results my students with autism have achieved, to impress the funders of my school that they are worth the investment. Intuitively, many of us in this House know deep in our hearts that academic scores do not necessarily make great leaders or even workers. Bob Young, founder of Red Hat, the billion-dollar Linux software company which posed a serious challenge to Microsoft, was a 'C' grader. Closer to home, one of my top performing staff, an ex-art director at Saatchi and Saatchi, Mr Victor Ong, told me how he, who is strong in design, was scoffed when he chose the design school route, instead of going to university. Another one of my colleagues, Mr Dennis Tan, GEC 'O' level holder, single-handedly created an Enrichment Activity Unit, now offering countless many special needs children with holiday programmes. These children were previously rejected by other enrichment programme providers who think they are too much of a bother. In my book, Victor and Dennis are the talents who are doing excellent work in Singapore but do not fit the traditional definition of "success" by most Singaporeans. When I analysed why, even with the PM's clear vision, we could not get rid of the "What's your T-score" syndrome, I think the root cause is the assessment method in our education system. As they say, what gets measured, gets done; and what gets measured and rewarded, gets done even more!”
“The strategy of carefully combing, tapping and preparing these local non-traditional sources of labour is one significant way to improve our ability to produce wealth for our future. My second proposed strategy is a call to reform the education assessment system. Much great efforts of the Ministry of Education in recent years were directed to support PM's vision to aim for a mountain range of successes, instead of a pinnacle where only an elite few succeed in Singapore. PM said, in 2005, that the Singapore we want to have is one in which everyone has a place in it. If you are a teh tarek man, he said, you will be a great one, be the best teh tarek man you can be. In Chinese, he said, hang hang chu zhuan yuan. To reach this vision, initiatives, such as the "Teach Less Learn More" and the revamp of the ITEs and polytechnics, have gone full swing in the education scene. However, one does not need to even eavesdrop to know that high academic scores are still considered the breakfast of champions in Singapore schools. Just last month, a very able mainstream secondary school principal was talking to me. He told me how disappointed he was because his students did not fare well in the GCE as in the previous year. He did not talk about the achievements of his students in other value-added areas. I know of a 16-year-old boy who failed his GCE this year in the mainstream school. He was refused by his school to stay on to try another year of GCE because, potentially, his poor results can affect the overall economic spending of the school in the next year.”
“In the next few years, the labour crunch will be one of the key factors impacting our ability to create future wealth for our country - wealth, if created, can be distributed to where we most want them to be. At the 2007 World Economic Forum, the issue of labour shortage was discussed again. Many economies have a wealth of untapped labour pools, presenting an opportunity to gain a competitive edge for those economies which are best able to engage these untapped individuals. Unemployed or under-employed individuals, single mothers, housewives, retirees with shrinking pensions or CPF balances, other elderly workers and people with disabilities - all of them could be brought into the workforce to become fully active in the economy. In Singapore, I was greatly encouraged when the then NTUC chief, Minister Lim Boon Heng, immediately agreed when I suggested that NTUC could develop one more "dragon boat" of employees from the special needs and disabled population. I have also shared before with many colleagues in this House about how some of the autistic youths in my school make the best latte and are some of the most disciplined part-time staff in our school cafe - Starbucks Cafe - which we run in our school because of their laser-sharp ability to focus. Dr Lee Wei Ling, a well-known local neurologist, emailed me last week to ask if I could spread the news that, even epileptics, if given proper support, can end up as teachers. I have many elderly colleagues, like Mrs Patricia Tan, a retired Head of Department from CHIJ Secondary School, who has embarked on a second career in special education and now developing a Life Readiness Skills Curriculum for many special needs children.”
“But at the macro-level, I am most interested in the Minister's mention of the strategic thrust of building capability in his Budget address. Sir, the strength of Singapore is not in its wealth, its cash reserves nor its physical infrastructure. Anyone can build a better-looking IR or school building if you throw in enough money. The strength of Singapore lies in its current and future ability to create wealth. In a way, whilst the faster-than-expected surge in the economy has helped to bring jobs and cheer, it may have limited the opportunity for us to strengthen our foundation and ability to produce wealth in the future. With full employment in sight, I am a little concerned if our workers or even the weeping retrenched middle-aged, middle-level PMETs, whom MP Chan Soo Sen mentioned yesterday, would all be hungry or bothered enough to continue to upgrade themselves and make their skills relevant to prepare for the next lull in the economic cycle. I would like to share three strategies by which Singapore can hone and retain its future ability to create wealth. Strategy (1), tap the untapped labour pool. Strategy (2), reform the education assessment system. Strategy (3), make critical life-skills training available for all Singaporeans. Strategy (1), tap the untapped labour pool. Singapore would not be the only country facing the labour crunch in the current upward swing of the economic cycle. Even the world's most populous economy, China, is experiencing acute talent shortage. Driven by its rapid economic growth over a relatively short period of time, China faces the same talent challenge of trying to attract and retain talent as demand for higher value-added workers outstrips supply. Even Australia, I was told, is inviting ITE-trained plumbers to emigrate there.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget Statement delivered by the Second Finance Minister, Mr Tharman. I would like to say a few words in Chinese. (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, last year, in November, when PM announced that our GST will be raised, I felt very uncomfortable and a bit worried. In my mind, the GST will affect both the rich and the poor alike. But because of its regressive nature, it affects the poor more. I was especially concerned about the residents in our Jalan Besar GRC because we have one of the highest number of elderly and low income residents compared to the rest of Singapore. Last week, when the Government announced this year's Budget, I was delighted that the Government's package is beneficial to our older and lower-income citizens. In last month's debate in Parliament, the Government also announced that it would review the quantum of the public assistance payments. On behalf of my older and lower-income residents, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Government and Minister. (In English ): Sir, they say, where your treasures are, that is where your hearts are, where you most want to be. I thank the Government for allocating the "treasures" to where they are most needed. Many treasures in life cannot be bought by only money. What I wish to ask for in this Budget debate will not cost enough to create a dent in any national budget. They involve mindset changes and they may be more difficult actually to achieve. However, if achieved, they will have a direct or indirect bearing on Singapore's future to release generous budgets, such as this current one. I would touch on a more specific issue in the COS discussions next week.”
“My question is: Will the Ministry officially adopt and consider and support some of the more tested programmes, models like those started by Canossian Convent, for example, which is not just adjacent to each other but within each other, so that these models last beyond individuals and can be duplicated throughout the special education sector?”
“Sir, I have two questions for the Minister of State. I would like to ask how effective a six-hour CIP programme will help to develop the character of our students and also to help promote a more inclusive society. To me, it is much akin to being a tourist going to visit a country and just going for holiday and really not understanding the country that he is visiting. My second question is this: Currently, integration efforts between special schools which are primarily run by charity organisations and mainstream schools run by Government, they are ad hoc. These integration efforts are ad hoc and piecemeal and very much dependent on the kindness of the principals or the leaders of the schools.”
“Sir, if indeed each Ministry is very supportive of the PM's vision of an inclusive Singapore, then what is the role and the personal attention that will be given by each Cabinet Minister to ensure that disability issues are tabled at each Ministry's level, and that strategies and even Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure there is impact of the resources spent are all evident at each ministry?”
“They are the ones who are assigned the task to assess education, just like they assess day care centres, elderly homes, old folk homes, and so forth. I think they might not be the right party to be deployed to do that. So I would ask the Minister to look into this. My last point is this. I think some functions are really quite important, like what Mr Michael Palmer and my other parliamentary colleagues said, early intervention and so forth. If the functions of looking after the young kids who have special needs are so important because it improves the prognosis of their future, and if the elderly disabled are becoming a bigger population, then should the delivery of taking care of these people only be left to VWOs? Our VWOs, by its very nature, are being led by people who are mostly part-time board members who might be very competent in their normal careers, but they might not have the time and focus to do so. Are they the right people therefore to lead them? So I would just ask the Minister to look into these. And I just want to state I do not disagree with "many helping hands", after all, I myself am a full-time volunteer, but I just ask that this be studied carefully and that the people who receive help are receiving the best help we can provide; money is not everything.”
“Sir, I am not an anchor debater. So I will just try my best to address the points. First of all, I just wanted to clarify that I did not ask to slay the "many helping hands" sacred cow. I just asked it to be sent to the vet for review. And I believe that there is also an attitude that we should all adopt as we face the multiple challenges of the world, that we should always question our assumptions from the time we first had it. Second, I understand that the purpose of the "many helping hands" approach is to involve people, to build an inclusive and kind society, and to milk human kindness and so forth. But I do believe that it must never be done at the expense of the people we are trying to help. A few years ago when I was a new volunteer, I was to ask my students who were in the special school to attend a surprise birthday lunch for a very important donor during class curriculum time. I refused that because I said that these children were also sons and daughters of citizens of Singapore who also deserved a normal education and they should not be pulled out just because they were seen as CIP projects, corporations or other donors. I do believe, therefore, that we need to question some of the ways that we see people receiving help under the "many helping hands". I think the only two things that I ask to look into are: how is the "many helping hands" approach and how should it be actually deployed? I have never figured out what the status of NCSS was. Thank you for clarifying that. But, basically, I think we should deploy resources such that the best party should do the best and do the right job. For instance, in the special school or the early intervention centre that I run, we have NCSS. I think most of its employees are social service people.”
“If we would reduce the political posturing quotient and have the courage to slay the sacred cow mindsets that are outdated, replace them with more updated paradigm, we will surely leave Singapore in a better shape than when we first begun our term. Singaporeans can soar like eagles, even if our take off point is a little red dot in this world. I repeat, Sir, today’s challenges cannot be addressed by yesterday’s mindset. The real battlefield is in our mind. Henry Ford said, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” The future of Singapore lies in the mind of everyone who calls Singapore home. With that, I support the motion. ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE”
“The Minister for Education and several officers - principals, teachers - despite the system, have on their own offered tremendous help to the special school that a group of us volunteers have started. In this same special school - talking about the elderly now - I have a few officially retired principals and teachers who applied and took on jobs with lesser titles. Despite their age, they work tirelessly each day for the children, as if they have never retired. One of them, 68-year-old Mrs Jean Koh, who is running our facilities, suffered a stroke a few years ago, and she is still running around cooking and feeding the students and the staff, though she cannot see well. Waiting for me and my grassroots leaders of Jalan Besar GRC is a group of post-75 youths who will be starting a youth-with-a-heart project to lend their hand to serve in our community. We also need not panic that if more help is given, we will fall and slip right into the black hole of welfarism. I spoke to more than 100 parents recently in another project that we did. Many parents of special needs children I spoke to did not ask for handouts. Some of them come from lower-income families. They asked instead for programmes that will train up their children, that will hone their children’s employability skills, so that these children, when they grow up, can find jobs to feed themselves one day, a much more dignified way of existence. So all is not lost. Sir, this Chamber sits 84 Members, elected by more than a million voters of Singapore who are counting on us to help surmount the challenges of today.”
“Even if children cannot study in the same academic classes - English, Mathematics, Science - could they not share the same toilets, play in the same playground, go to the same canteen to eat together, attend the same non-academic lessons? Is life always ending up in "either-or" decisions? Sir, we have a growing elderly population, one of the fastest growing in Asia. If from young, one has never interacted with peers who are different, then how do we expect that as adults, the same persons will suddenly become inclusive and able to accept other people who are different from them? To push it further, with this lack of interaction and exposure to people who are different since young, how confident are we that our adult children will be able to accept and even care for their own parents when they become old, sick and maybe disabled? Mayor Zainudin just testified that there is an increasing number of Singaporeans abandoning their elderly in nursing homes, even when they can afford to keep them at home. Sir, the “either/or” mentality is one mindset that we need to examine. It is one that stifles creativity and is not useful in addressing the multi-faceted challenges we face today. Instead of “either/or”, we can think “and”. But all is not lost, Sir. In my daily life as a full-time volunteer and as an MP, I see encouraging signs that our future challenges can be surmounted. In a spate of six months, I am part of two national work groups started by Government/MCYS to study the difficulties faced by the special needs community. I look forward eagerly to the response to the first report we put up. I also experience this.”
“In areas in which it has competence, it should take on the task of delivering that function itself. In the world of education of special needs children, for instance, Government can outsource areas which are best delivered by experts in that special need. But it must not shy away from providing direct service in curriculum planning, curriculum design, academic assessments, which it does so well in mainstream education. Sir, I challenge the illusion that the current way we deploy the "Many Helping Hands" approach is the best way forward to ensure that no one is left behind. I ask the House to consider adopting a new mindset that the roles of State, VWOs and people must be more correctly defined so that each does what it is best at. Last, but not least, the outdated mindset I wish to touch on next is the "either-or" mentality that many of us hold. Many people think in black and white and as a result, our solutions to problems usually lack imagination and inclusiveness. In the world of education of special needs children in Singapore, for instance, the issue of integrating the children into mainstream schools has always been a bugbear. A stalemate has always arisen because people passionately gravitate to either one extreme, ie, you integrate them or you segregate them. This child is either in a special school run by charities or mainstream school run by Government. But, Sir, things need not always be either this or that. If we would only think a bit deeper, integration can come in three different levels. There can be physical integration, where these children can be seen and heard; there can be social integration, and there can be academic integration.”
“Is introducing a bigger whip, more audit committees and more regulations to make sure VWOs behave themselves, the only answer? We must exercise more due diligence and be more realistic in what we expect from volunteers, one key pillar of the "Many Helping Hands". More fundamentally, as our problems magnify, should all aspects of critical functions, such as taking care of the growing elderly and our adult disabled, the education of special needs children or even some parts of healthcare, be run only by voluntary organisations? As for the role of the Government in the "Many Helping Hands" approach, Sir, I believe that in addressing these future social issues such as the elderly, the disabled and the education of special needs children, Government's role would have to move. We can take a reference from the system integrator sector of the IT industry. System integrators systematically study the needs of their clients and then based on agreed available money and human resources targets, they then assemble different components to stitch a solution for the clients. And then depending on their own strengths too, they would decide which component they should deliver directly, and which they should outsource. Often times, they get paid only when it works. And at times, payment is withheld until things completely work. In the same way, in deploying the "Many Helping Hands" approach, Government can consider moving away from its current detached mode and equip itself with people and better expertise to systematically, and in a structured way, identify and prioritise needs on the ground and then stitch together solutions that work. In areas that it does not have core competence in, it should outsource those functions.”
“In the same minutes as well, it was recorded that auditors have to be persuaded to audit charities or VWOs as they are considered high-risk and the auditors do not want to be sued. A recent survey conducted at the National University of Singapore (NUS) revealed that charities have been extremely conservative in managing their funds. I was given feedback that the reason is because many of these volunteers in the board are afraid that they will be taken to task and one day be sued like the NKF directors. They think, "Better to play safe." Another example. A volunteer hawker representative I know in my GRC was tasked with the job of relocating all the hawkers into a new temporary market. We spoke and he shared about his concerns of what would happen if some of his fellow hawkers default in their payment for the sharing of the construction cost of the market. This hawker, an appointed volunteer, is just a sugar-cane juice seller, tasked with a very big job. Sir, I urge that we re-examine the mindset that just because volunteers have the compassion, they will always be the best party to manage and deliver the services they are tasked with, no matter how big the responsibility. Many voluntary organisations lack critical mass. I know because I volunteered for five to six years in this field. Many of them lack critical mass. Many volunteers lack focus and time too because they are busy people. In a few cases I surveyed, staff from some VWOs commented that their bosses are given the power but some of them lack the necessary competence in either management or leadership or technical expertise to run the job. Have we not learned from the spate of sagas involving VWOs that something fundamental might be wrong?”
“Sir, the next outdated mindset I like to share and challenge concerns the "Many Helping Hands" approach that is often exalted whenever we speak of an inclusive society and that no one is left behind in Singapore. Let me just explain this approach, as I understand it. Under this approach, different parties in society - individuals, Government agencies and voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) or charities - work together to help those who are in need. The current operational model mostly works this way. Government sets policies, outsources the work, and dispenses the funds, for example, to the National Council of Social Service (NCSS). NCSS then outsources execution work to VWOs and polices them. And VWOs, at the tail-end of the value chain, deliver the service. MP Mr Low Thia Khiang shared last week at a media interview about his concerns that the "Many Helping Hands" might become “No Helping Hands”. Sir, please allow me to share from a different angle on this same topic, but speaking from ground experience in the special needs community. My biggest concern with the "Many Helping Hands" approach is not "No Helping Hands" because I know there are many people in Singapore who care and are willing to do more than just talking. My fear is that if we are not careful, Singapore will face a "Wrong Helping Hand" syndrome. Sir, I urge that we send this sacred cow of "Many Helping Hands" to the vet for re-examination. What are the roles of the State or the Government, NCSS - the overseer of VWOs - the VWOs and the people? Who does what best? In a recent 2006 AGM of the NCSS, it was shared that some charities were considering purchasing indemnity insurance for their board members to address the fears and concerns of these volunteers for fear of being sued.”
“They did not claim to be magicians who can resolve all the ex-patients' concerns but immediate action is taken for those that can be rectified. And this has happened for several years now. Sir, I suggest that leaders at all levels consider doing the same. Strange things happen when people become public figures or when they hold important titles. The more other people think you are important, the more they tend to interpret your comments or your questions as instructions or orders. Many then push back and stop questioning you and sometimes they go to great lengths to withhold the bad news from you. Hence, Government leaders and those who develop policies must formulate some systematic ways to stay close to the ground and not hear only from parties who have either designed the product or the service or whose interests are dependent on the status quo. By the same token, just as Government does not hold all the answers, neither do the rest of us citizens. Citizens who consider themselves the conscience of our society or who are advocating for their own needs must exercise what I call both courage and consideration. We must never be silent on the things that matter because that will be the end of a life that is worth living. And as the saying goes, progress results only when there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they know is right cannot be done. But neither should we assume that we are the only people whose needs and views must be addressed. So, Sir, no one holds the answers to all our problems, not even Government. The new mindset for the future is together we, the people and the Government, hold the answers.”
“In fact, from my observations, unless Government finds a more effective way to obtain and process ground feedback on key issues, root causes and possible solutions, it is highly possible that policies and programmes that are developed may be flawed or, at best, average. I recently surveyed close to 200 special educators, medical professionals and parents with special needs children on a project I am conducting on early intervention and special education. The findings would be out early next year. But the issues that were brought up were surprisingly consistent. When I challenged the professionals on why they have never brought these key issues up before after so many years, their response to me was "nobody asked me." This reminds me of a feedback from another well-meaning parent of a special needs child who wrote in recently to me. He wanted to give us feedback on how to get feedback. And he said, "Where can we say that a system is working very well? Take the analogy of a product or service, you simply cannot hear from the manufacturer, the salesman or the product designer. It would pass the excellence test only when the users of the system are in agreement that the product or service is good." Perhaps we can adopt a best practice of how to get more authentic and direct ground feedback from one of our local hospitals. A friend of mine, the CEO and his executive team in this hospital, willingly admitted that in a large organisation like theirs, there would always be a gap between the vision and what happens on the ground. So they found a classic and simple way to slice through the hierarchy and get down to listen directly to the customers through monthly focused meetings with their ex-patients.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the motion of thanks to our President. In his Address, the President mentioned that if Singaporeans were fearful and reluctant to adapt, we would lose ground. He urged us to respond boldly and creatively to these challenges for a Singapore we will all love and be proud of. Sir, I applaud the President's call because it is indeed in our minds that the most important battles are fought. What we 'see' in our minds determine what we will do which then determine the results we will get. Albert Einstein once said, "The significant problems that we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when they were first created." I would put it in simple English: "Many of today's problems cannot be addressed by yesterday's mindsets." Sir, I would like to present three mindsets that I consider a bit outdated and would like to challenge. Outdated mindset (1) that Government holds the answers to all our problems; outdated mindset (2) that the current "many helping hands" approach is working well in helping those who need help; and outdated mindset (3) is what I call the "either-or" mentality. Allow me to explore these mindsets with examples from the social service and special needs sector with which I am familiar. Let us examine the first mindset held by many people which I believe is outdated, that Government holds the answers to our problems. There is a saying that the world is moving so fast these days that the man who says that something cannot be done is generally interrupted by someone already doing it. Sir, the problems and challenges that we face are so mega and even global that no one holds the key to all the answers, not even Government.”