Gerard Ee
Singapore
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am just wondering whether the Minister's answer just now that, because the tenderer is aware that existing shopkeepers' rentals will be adjusted upwards, it would therefore create an infinite loop.”
“Mr Charles Chong also raised the question about the interpretation of the term "undesirable activities". The term really is meant to protect any child who may be used by adults for activities, especially illegal ones, which are detrimental to the well-being of the child, eg, illegal lotteries, illegal hawking, gambling or activities of su…”
“The present situation allows for some package deals to cloud the judgement of the buyer. In many cases, a consumer wrongly believes that a COE has been guaranteed only to find that he has to pay an additional sum of hard earned money to buy the car he has committed to.”
“The first approach will require all successful bidders to pay the same lowest successful price. The second approach will adopt the successful bid price, as that for registering Category A vehicles, and the price for registering a larger capacity vehicle would be on a multiple of this base price.”
“Having the basics under their belt, they can go straight into a higher level of training. They would thus require less time to be fully trained soldiers and can be released sooner to complete their tertiary education.”
“This will alert the readers of the accounts that such exemption has been granted and the reasons behind it so that they can form their own judgement and react to the exclusion. It is also a relief that public listed companies have to hold their AGM within five months of the financial year end.”
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“Sir, a common complaint of the ordinary motorcycle owners is that the COEs for motorcycles are much too high. A buyer of an ordinary motorcycle, 200 cc and lower, has to bid high to secure a COE because of competition from the buyers of the large capacity bikes. At the end of 1997, 76.7% of bikes have engine capacities of 200 cc and lower. It was 81.5% at the end of 1991. Although the percentage fell by 4.8%, the numbers grew from 98,783 to 100,949, an increase of 2.2%. In contrast, at the end of 1997, 23.3% of bikes have engine capacities of above 200 cc. It was 18.5% at the end of 1991. The number of bikes with engine capacities above 200 cc grew from 22,381 to 30,642, an increase of 36.9%. The biggest increase was for the very large bikes, those with engine capacities above 500 cc from 3,220 units in 1991 to 6,526 units in 1997, an increase of 102.7%. The on-the-road price of a bike with engine capacities of below 200 cc ranges from $5,000 to $8,000. In fact, the price of a bike with engine capacity of below 100 cc is less than $5,000. On the other hand, the on-the-road prices of popular large bikes can go as high as $34,000. Thus, the buyer of a bike costing less than $5,000 has to compete with a buyer of a bike costing $34,000 for the COE. On the basis of social equity, Sir, there is a need to create at least two categories of COE for the buyers of motorcycles. I would suggest one category for bikes with engine capacities of 200 cc and lower, and another category for those bikes with engine capacities above 200 cc. It is even desirable to consider a separate category for bikes with engine capacities of 100 cc and lower.”
“With a larger variable cost, they will have to compute carefully the limit for the financing of a vehicle because the value would fall when COE prices fall. Sir, in principle, ARF should be removed. It was introduced to increase the cost of owning a vehicle. It is an ownership control mechanism to discourage vehicle ownership. When it failed to achieve the desired effect, COEs were introduced to cap the vehicle population and ARF was reduced to 150%. Now with the introduction of ERP, the ARF should be quickly reduced to 100% and eventually be removed. Sir, I agree that it is undesirable to suddenly remove ARF. The market must be given time to adjust to the change otherwise COE prices may swing wildly upwards. An acceptable annual rate for reducing ARF to zero would be 25% per annum. This way, equilibrium in COE prices can be maintained and fluctuations would merely reflect the economic outlook and the consumers' purchasing power. May I take the next cut?”
“Sir, first, I would like to declare my interest in the subject as President of the Automobile Association of Singapore. One of the responses to the forthcoming vehicle tax changes has been a tremendous disappointment in the 10% reduction in ARF. There has been an expectancy of a much larger reduction in the ARF and some people even look forward to the day when ARF is reduced to zero. It is said that any reduction in ARF would be more than offset by an increase in COE price. When the ARF was reduced to 150%, the increase in COE more than made up for the reduction. But then again that was when COEs were transferable and people were not familiar with the mechanism. No one expected COE to ever fall in price. When the COEs were made non-transferable, except for the Open Category, COE prices went for a tumble. 2.30 pm Sir, COEs in recent months have been on a downtrend. There was even a freak result of $50 for one of the categories. People are getting wise to the fact that a vehicle is not an investment and that the COE is a cost factor not to be speculated in. It can rise or fall. There is no doubt that the immediate impact of a reduction in ARF would lead to an increase in COE prices. Some dealers will package the deal where any saving in ARF would be thrown into the bidding price for a COE. Although the overall package price for a vehicle would be lowered the savings would not reflect the reduction in ARF. Reducing the ARF would be reducing a fixed cost and transferring it, to some extent, to the variable cost. The COE is a variable cost and one which the consumer can influence. This would no doubt pose some problem for the finance company.”