Goh Choon Kang
Singapore
“Sir, can I ask the Minister of State, in view of the prolonged recession in the construction industry, whether the Ministry will consider regularising the operation of these workers' quarters, so that they will continue to provide low-cost accommodation for foreign workers?”
“Then, when they come here, instead of being brought to see cultural sites, they are brought to shop and they are made to pay high prices because these are the only shops they are brought to. We have been collecting statistics. They are high spenders, especially in jewellery items.”
“Sir, I hope the Minister can respond to the point on relaxing the requirement to study Higher Chinese. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Sir, in fact, we have really relaxed the requirements for Higher Chinese quite considerably over the last few years. Originally, Higher Chinese could only be studied by those in the top 10%.”
“Faced with the withering number of Chinese talents, including Chinese teachers, and coupled with the picking up of the economy of our Asian neighbour, China, we should promptly change this practice, and actively nurture a batch of new Chinese talents as successors to satisfy the needs of the international situation in the future.”
“The low plot ratio allowed for this area is such that the two existing blocks of 10-storey private apartments have to actually go down to four storeys, if they were to be redeveloped. 5.30 pm This sounds contradictory and inconsistent.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether the Home Team could look into how police presence can be improved in new estates, where residents have a natural tendency to feel insecure in their new environment.”
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“Then, when they come here, instead of being brought to see cultural sites, they are brought to shop and they are made to pay high prices because these are the only shops they are brought to. We have been collecting statistics. They are high spenders, especially in jewellery items. On the Chinese side, they have been wanting us to help them weed out these zero-cost package tours, which are really an abuse, and we are working with them but it is not quite easy, because that is the way the market is operating. If people want such tours, they will get such tours, one way or the other. It is like going to Las Vegas.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in the area of tourism, which I think can help our retail sector, my question is: why are we satisfied with just double-digit growth? I think there are a lot more Chinese tourists out there who are interested to come to Singapore. So what are the plans that are being put in place to attract more of them to come here, to stay longer, to spend more and also to buy more branded goods, eg, jewellery, watches, etc? I would also like to know whether the Ministry has plans to weed out those unscrupulous tour agents and shopkeepers. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Goh is right that tourism is one sector which we should give particular promotion to during this period. And tourism arrivals from China and India will put food on the table for many families in Singapore. Therefore, this is an area which we should try to do more on. It is likely that Singapore Tourism Board will open more offices in China to exploit the rapid growth in Chinese tourism beyond China. They already have a very large domestic tourism, but as each province builds up its middle-class, the desire to travel is very great, and many of them like to come to Singapore. And we should welcome them. For historical reasons, because we were afraid that some of these tourists may in fact turn out to be illegal migrants, we have put all kinds of controls in order to ensure adequate safeguards. We have relaxed some two years ago, and MTI is now taking the issue up to MHA again to see whether we can relax it further, to make visa applications easier. On the point about the consumption of Chinese tourists, many of them come here on package tours which are very cheap.”
“What about big pieces of unused private land? Are they allowed to provide such facilities?”
“Sir, can I ask the Minister of State, in view of the prolonged recession in the construction industry, whether the Ministry will consider regularising the operation of these workers' quarters, so that they will continue to provide low-cost accommodation for foreign workers? Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, let me inform the Member that the Government allows workers' quarters to be built on construction sites, provided they get a professional engineer or a QP to design, plan and to do all the necessary calculations and supervision of the construction of these workers' quarters. This is one area where construction companies can minimise their cost. The Government has also allocated sites for construction of workers' dormitories. All these measures will perhaps help allay the concern expressed by the Member.”
“Sir, can I ask the Minister whether he has any clue on how the recent spate of fires happened?”
“Sir, I hope the Minister can respond to the point on relaxing the requirement to study Higher Chinese. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Sir, in fact, we have really relaxed the requirements for Higher Chinese quite considerably over the last few years. Originally, Higher Chinese could only be studied by those in the top 10%. I believe it was in 1994 when we opened it up and allowed the top 20%, from 10% to 20%. And last year, we opened it up further to allow those from 21st to 30th percentile. Actually, one-third or 30% of the students now are able to do Higher Chinese, or higher mother tongue now, which is really a much broader band. So it is three times the potential pool than it used to be. I hope that answers, to some extent, Mr Goh's desire for more students to be able to do Higher Chinese. But we still have a requirement for the students to be good in the languages, because we want to make sure that in the course of doing Higher Chinese, they do not overload themselves, and find that they are unable to cope with either the languages or with the other subjects.”
“Sir, may I be allowed to make one clarification?”
“Faced with the withering number of Chinese talents, including Chinese teachers, and coupled with the picking up of the economy of our Asian neighbour, China, we should promptly change this practice, and actively nurture a batch of new Chinese talents as successors to satisfy the needs of the international situation in the future. As such, I feel that the present stringent requirements should at least be relaxed to allow more students to have a chance of studying Higher Chinese in the secondary schools.”
“We need to have a very complete solution to resolve this problem of shortage in Chinese teachers. This solution would include expanding the talent pool of Chinese scholars; review the workload of the Chinese teachers and improve their career prospects. As for the foreign teachers, we should also have some long-term arrangements to enable them to gradually adapt to the local situation and cultivate in them the necessary sense of belonging. We could let them integrate into our society and develop a sense of belonging here. The expansion of talent pool of Chinese scholars would involve the issue of eligibility of students to study "Higher Chinese". According to the feedback from some parents and secondary school teachers, if a student does not score an A* in Chinese or a Distinction in Higher Chinese at the PSLE, he would not be allowed to take Higher Chinese in the secondary school. He would also need to score an "A" in English in the PSLE before he is allowed to do Higher Chinese in the secondary school. From this, we can see that the Ministry of Education has imposed a lot of restrictions on the student's intention to do Higher Chinese. MOE's intention is that the student must manage his English and other subjects well. This is beyond reproach. However, by so doing, it is certainly going to deprive some students of the opportunity to study Higher Chinese, and is tantamount to reducing the source of Chinese talents who can be groomed. I feel that such a restriction imposed on the student's eligibility to do Higher Chinese needs to be reviewed.”
“Sir, according to the figures released by the Ministry of Education, during the last five years, that is, from 1995 to the year 2000, approximately 80 Chinese teachers from the primary and secondary schools and junior colleges had resigned. It was just about 2.4% of the total number of Chinese teachers, and the number is negligible. However, at the same time, about 230 Chinese teachers retired from the service. In other words, every year we need to recruit 300 Chinese teachers. I do not know how many Chinese teachers are being nurtured by the NIE each year. But from the fact that the MOE had been recruiting Chinese teachers from China every year for the past three years, it is quite obvious that the local supply is inadequate. In 1998, we engaged 33, and another 62 in 1999. During the first 10 months of last year, 81 came. Appropriately, importing foreign talent is a good thing. But it must be based on some good plan to attract and recruit, and not as a stop-gap measure. Otherwise, it will lead to many sequelae. I was told that there is yet another batch of Chinese teachers coming from China. It is quite obvious that we are getting more and more Chinese teachers from China. It is good that we recruit talented Chinese teachers from China. However, we should treat them well, with proper respect and welfare. Teachers are unlike the other professions. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a great scholar, Han Yu, who said: "A teacher is one who preaches the doctrine, imparts knowledge and clears your doubts." In other words, teachers are a special breed of people who could teach us and would leave a very long lasting impression on their students. It may be difficult for teachers, who are engaged on short-term contracts and who come and go, to take on this heavy responsibility.”
“The low plot ratio allowed for this area is such that the two existing blocks of 10-storey private apartments have to actually go down to four storeys, if they were to be redeveloped. 5.30 pm This sounds contradictory and inconsistent. We know for a fact that many of the landed properties adjoining the various MRT stations of the North-East line were actually acquired and big sums of money paid to the owners. The worst thing about this DGP is that it gives no incentive for owners of the two blocks I mentioned, for example, which are about 20 years old to redevelop. So there is no incentive for them to redevelop. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to urge the Minister to review and revise this particular DGP and, perhaps, other similar DGPs with a view to revise the plot ratio upwards so as to provide adequate incentives for them to be redeveloped.”
“Sir, as far as I know, most of our golf courses are sited in the catchment area or under flight path. These are areas which are not suitable for housing. So if we need one more such course, especially for our NSmen, and if such land is available, why not? Let me focus on one of the focus groups' recommendations. One of the groups in its report states that the group in formulating its recommendations took into account optimised infrastructure. It says, and I quote: "There has been heavy investment in infrastructure such as expressways, MRT and utility installations. The level of intensity of development in the areas served by these installations should be raised to be commensurate with their carrying capacity and respective capital investment." I think this is a sound principle. The completion of the North-East MRT line very soon and the planned development of several other lines and LRT will drastically change the landscape as well as impact on the land use along this line. I think it is very timely that the old Concept Plan should be reviewed, and also the Development Guide Plans. This new infrastructure development has certainly rendered certain DGPs outdated. A case in point is the DGP for Serangoon area. Under this particular DGP gazetted several years ago, one particular area next to the Lorong Lew Lian HDB housing estate, on one side of Upper Serangoon Road was designated as low rise housing, despite the fact that there are existing two 10-storey private apartments called the Jade Tower. This particular area is now less than 200 metres from the Serangoon MRT Station. On the other side of the road, however, the three-storey Farrer Heights CC was asked to move because it has got a very low plot ratio.”
“At the point of admission, the patient could afford to stay in the ward class of his choice, but something has happened in the meantime, resulting in his inability to pay the bills subsequently. For example, if he suddenly becomes unemployed or his income is substantially reduced. In such circumstances, the hospital should be more flexible in dealing with his application for downgrading. I know of a case where a patient was a former nurse. About 10 years ago, she had some heart problem. At that time, she had an income and because of special treatment as a hospital staff, she was admitted to class A ward. Some years later, she stopped work and hence had no income. She asked the hospital for downgrading to a lower ward, but it was not approved. So every time when she went back for treatment, she had to pay class A charges. Just now the Minister said perhaps we could have a means test to see whether this patient could qualify for downgrading. I think we should make known to the public the details of this means test. Perhaps the Minister could give us more details as to how the Government is going to meet the needs of the elderly people in Singapore, whether there is some master plan to help these elderly to pay for their medical expenses. I think this will help to alleviate their worries about the escalating medical expenses. 2.00 pm”
“There was one patient whose medical bill was more than $10,000 per year. Over four years, his hospital bills from Tan Tock Seng Hospital totalled $52,000. He had no money to pay any of these bills. All these bills were settled by Medifund. People say, "You can die, but you cannot be sick.". As a Member of the GPC for Health, I would say this is a ridiculous statement. I would not say that our healthcare system is perfect. In fact, I think the greatest challenge for the Ministry of Health is how to eliminate the worry of the elderly people on this problem of escalating medical fees. I think we should have some system in place to enlighten the elderly people of all the types of assistance available. We should let these people know more about our Government's 3M healthcare framework. For those who do not have Medisave or have no income, particularly the older Singaporeans, I think we should give them more care and more concessions. In fact, most of the older Singaporeans have no Medisave and not much income. We should give them more practical assistance. For those who have no income, I think we should give them better discounts and perhaps we should consider raising the age ceiling for MediShield coverage in line with our aging population. Thirdly, in the downgrading of the wards, we should be more flexible. Some people who opted for the higher class wards may not know that at the end of their stay, the bill would be an astronomical figure. Therefore, I think, we should have more counselling to the patients upon their admission, so that they know what to expect and how much they would have to pay for their hospitalisation charges. Secondly, we should also check to see whether there is any way we could help them to settle this problem.”
“Although the Minister has given the assurance that everyone in Singapore can afford the medical charges, I feel that I still need to reflect to him the worries of the elderly. That medical fees are expensive is a fact. That is because of the high treatment costs. Nowadays, many of the elderly patients prefer to see the specialists, such as the cardiologist, the neurologist, the dental specialist, etc, instead of the general practitioners. Of course, the fees charged by the specialists are higher than those charged by the general practitioners. I believe there are other reasons why people are worried about the high medical expenses. First, because they are not fully aware of the 3M healthcare framework that incorporates the characteristics of personal saving, medical insurance and Government assistance, as mentioned by the Minister - Medisave, MediShield and Medifund. The majority of people know only Medisave. In fact, until today, many people are not aware of the existence of Medifund. They thought that once they are hospitalised and if they cannot pay the high medical bills, that will be the end of the road for them. In fact, many people are still not fully aware of the differences between the subsidised wards and the non-subsidised wards. They only know that the higher wards are more expensive. It is only when they receive the bills that they have a shock of their life, "Wow, so expensive!" Of course, there are real cases where people could not afford the medical bills. But there has not been a case of anyone being driven to the wall. In my constituency, from 1997 to 2000, there was a total of 54 people who could not afford the medical bills, and received assistance. The amount owing totalled about $200,000. Medifund paid for the $200,000 medical bills.”
“Sir, just now, our GPC Chairman, Prof. Chin, talked about a scheme whereby Neighbourhood Police Posts (NPPs) are closed down with the opening of Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPCs). My constituency is one of those affected by this scheme, and I would like to reflect some of the feedback I have got from my residents. Since the 1980s when we first started this concept of Neighbourhood Police Post, the NPP has become a familiar feature in our neighbourhood, and it has given the people the impression that the Police is very friendly and pro-residents. Very good relationship has been built up between the Police and the residents, and it has given the residents a sense of security living there. However, with this new concept of Neighbourhood Police Centre being implemented, many of these NPPs will be closed down and many people are feeling a sense of loss, as though with the closure of these NPPs, they would lose this sense of security. They do not understand why the Police must make these changes. Some people are concerned that by so doing, it would affect the law and order in the area and would go back to the situation before these Neighbourhood Police Posts were set up. The good relationship previously built up by the policemen in the NPPs and the residents would then be dampened. I hope the Minister would answer these queries. 10.15 am”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether the Home Team could look into how police presence can be improved in new estates, where residents have a natural tendency to feel insecure in their new environment. Would the Minister consider the following: (i) reinstate foot patrols or bicycle patrols in new areas where there are many new residents and where the RCs have not yet been formed; (ii) purchase more mobile NPPs and station them on a regular basis around the new neighbourhoods; and (iii) start house visits early to new residents; in fact, as soon as they move in and, in any case, not later than 6-8 months. Sir, such visits and patrols increase police presence significantly and add to the sense of security and well-being among the residents.”
“We all know that our young people and students like to go on ICQ and chat room on the Internet. And because of their curiosity, they become easy prey for the criminals. I think the parents and the teachers should take special notice of this. Although such cases are not many, it seems to be on an upward trend. I think the police should pay more attention to this problem and take some effective measures to counter them. Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung: Sir, earlier, I spoke about the need for the Home Team to establish a strong bond with the community. There are several innovative programmes in place to encourage this sort of bonding. In particular, the two-year old Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) has taken root in many grassroots organisations. Even school children and stallholders in markets are now involved in CSSP. At last count, over 500 RCs are involved in such a programme. This, again, is a major achievement for the Home Team. Where there are grassroots organisations formed, the bonds between the Home Team and the community have been strengthened through the CSSP. However, in the case of new towns, there is frequently a perception among residents that the Home Team has not been visible enough, and that they fear that there is insufficient protection, especially when the policy is now not to build any more Neighbourhood Police Posts (NPPs), but to concentrate on the larger type of Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPCs) and mobile policing rather than static NPP type of policing. Nonetheless, it appears that the traditional concept of the policemen on the beat still strikes a chord of security in many residents.”
“Sir, last year, the crime rate was reduced by 14.7% as compared to 1999, and this is very encouraging. Many people are saying that our Home Team has been doing a very good job. Maintaining law and order in our society is just as important as our national defence, and we need a very effective force to take care of this matter. Our declining crime rate did not come by chance. It is the result of the efficiency of our Home Team. Last Saturday, I attended the annual meeting of the review committee on the Home Team, which includes the Police, Immigration and CNB officers. Every unit presented its workplans and these are very comprehensive and farsighted plans. That is why I say that the decline in our crime rate did not come by chance. Although, generally, the crime rate has reduced, recently we read from the media that there were many cases of juvenile delinquencies, especially young girls involving in fighting and robbery, and there were also a lot of cases of outraging of modesty and rape. This gives the people the impression that there seems to be an increase in the number of juvenile delinquency cases. It is particularly noteworthy that an army officer and a teacher were involved in a series of outraging of modesty cases. There was also one 15-year old girl who made friend with someone on the Internet and subsequently had sexual intercourse with a number of strangers. Notwithstanding the statistics released by the police that there were only two outraging of modesty cases arising from Internet acquaintances, there were eight cases of rape. This was significantly more than last year's figure. But these were only reported cases. We do not know how many cases went unnoticed, because no police report was lodged.”
“However, because this committee is informal, organisationally it is a bit loose and it lacks authority. If we can officially establish a committee on standardised translation of names and terms, and secure an expert in this field to head the committee, then the committee will be more authoritative and more effective.”
“I would like to suggest that the Government seriously consider the setting up of a Central Translation Bureau, and recruit some first-class translators to provide all the official translations of the Government, like the way it is done in Hong Kong, so as to avoid the kind of mistakes committed in the "Contact Singapore" pamphlet. Attractive remuneration package must be offered to attract some first-class translators to translate the official documents and publications of the Government which will be authoritative and to support the public relations officers of the various Government Ministries. This is necessary also because it is very difficult to get bilingual people to be our Public Relations Officer. By so doing, we will be able to establish translation and interpretation as a profession. Next, I would like to raise another related issue, that is, the setting up of a committee on standardised translation of names and terms. Right now, we have an informal kind of committee in charge of standardised translation of names and terms. The members come from the Chinese media and representatives from MITA. I have been the Chairman of this committee for the past three years. I feel that the kind of work undertaken by this committee is very important, albeit very few people know of its existence. The important main task of this committee is to come out with a standardised translation of all new terms so that all Chinese media, TV stations, newspapers, etc, could adopt. This committee has published a number of booklets, like the booklet on the standardisation of translation of Government departments, IT terminologies and economic terminologies, etc. These are all very useful publications.”
“Many Singaporeans feel that this is indeed a disgrace to Singapore. Actually, we do not lack talents in this field, but the trouble is they have not been accorded the due stature and respect they deserve. The title of Prime Minister can be expressed in Chinese in two distinct ways. Generally, "Prime Minister" is translated as Zong Li. It is only in countries where the monarchy system is practised, eg, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, that the Prime Minister is known as Shou Xiang in Chinese. If we were to address our Prime Minister as Shou Xiang, then our President will become a King. This issue may appear to have no relevance to MITA. But, had the translation of this publicity booklet been vetted by the Translation Section of MITA, such unnecessary mistakes could have been avoided, and we can be spared the agony of being disgraced. To my understanding, there are only four translators in the Chinese Translation Section in MITA today. If all translation works required by the various ministries are to be undertaken by this small section of translators, then they would not be able to cope. Now that we are going regional and global, I think we should also recognise the importance of translation experts. We must give them the proper remuneration and promptly groom up their successors. Right now, it is very difficult to recruit good translators and interpreters. Even in Parliament itself, there is great difficulty in recruiting good part-time interpreters. I observe that veteran interpreter like Mr Lee Seng Giap has been helping out here for a very long time, and he has still to come here to assist our resident interpreter even today.”
“Sir, recently, there was a very popular Chinese movie whose title in English was Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. I did not understand the meaning of it. Subsequently, I learnt that the Chinese title to this movie was Wo hu cang long. The English title appears to be a literal translation of the Chinese title and, as it appears, it makes no sense at all. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a bilingual booklet published by the Speak Mandarin Campaign Committee. On one of the pages, I saw a name which sounded somewhat familiar - Wu Jun Gang. I did not know who it was referring to. It was only when I read the Chinese section that I realised that it was referring to me, but my name "Goh Choon Kang" was spelt as "Wu Jun Gang". I do not know who translated it, but I guess it must have been translated by a Chinese national who does not know the who's who in Singapore. From these two examples, we can see that very often, people do not pay much attention to the translation work. The talents in the field of translation are often not accorded the recognition and respect they deserve. Probably, this is due to a lack of awareness of the importance of the translators or interpreters among our people. Perhaps, they are misled by preconceived ideas that, with the implementation of bilingualism in our education system, everybody knows two languages and therefore there is no need for translation. Recently, we were made a laughing stock. The Chinese version of our publicity booklet "Contact Singapore" was distributed in China. In this booklet, the Prime Minister of Singapore was wrongly translated as Shou Xiang instead of Zong Li. The language used in this booklet was also full of mistakes. A reader of Lianhe Zaobao wrote to the newspaper and described it as unbearable.”
“Sir, the Minister of State did not answer my question on the prices for the "bad" units. I think if they are cheaper, more people may take up these units.”
“Sir, the Minister of State mentioned good units. Does he mean there are bad units? And if so, are they cheaper?”
“Sir, can I ask the Minister of State how many of those involved in this particular demonstration were Singaporeans and how many were non-citizens? Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, out of the 15 Falungong practitioners who were arrested, two were Singaporeans and the rest were non-Singaporeans.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, can I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary if he would say that the two cases cited are actually of a very different nature and whether the real cause of contamination in the Chuan Park case has been established? Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee: I am not aware of the details of the Chuan Park case. As far as I know, the Chuan Park case was not a serious problem because they had found some kerosene contaminants in the water tank. But the kerosene contaminants were small and minuscule and did not affect human health. PERFORMANCE OF PLAY "TALAQ" (Ban) 3. Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Home Affairs if he will give the reasons why the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit has refused the application for the play "Talaq". 4. Mr Simon S. C. Tay asked the Minister for Home Affairs why the Government banned the performance of the play "Talaq" by theatre group Agni Koothu at short notice despite the recommendation of the National Arts Council that it be allowed. 5. Mr Zulkifli Bin Baharudin asked the Minister for Home Affairs what were the legal grounds under which the performance of the play "Talaq" was disallowed.”
“Most of these activities would include getai (song performances), puppet shows or even traditional provincial operas. In his Second Reading speech, the Minister of State mentioned that activities such as the auctions at the Hungry Ghost Festival may be exempted from the Act. In other words, the organisers do not need to apply for a licence to conduct auctions. I think it is a piece of good news for the Chinese community. But it is not very clear whether the staging of getai, puppet show or traditional provincial opera in connection with the Hungry Ghost Festival will also be similarly exempted. According to the Schedule, the so-called "public entertainment" is defined very widely to include performances such as drama, singing, music, dancing. All these come within the definition of "public entertainment" and therefore licences are required. So my question is whether getai, puppet shows, etc, could be exempted. I hope that the Minister of State could clarify on this. During the Hungry Ghost Festival or Seventh Moon Festival, activities are usually conducted within the densely-populated HDB estates. Generally speaking, the organisers of such activities will have to apply for permission from the town council or the HDB to make use of the car park or the vacant land for the conduct of such activities. In the past, they also had to apply to the police for a public entertainment licence as well. Now, they do not have to do so. So I think it is a good way to help them. If we can consider such activities are traditional in nature and exempt them from having to apply for a public entertainment licence, it will be a great convenience to the organisers. I hope the Minister of State will consider my suggestion.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Amendment Bill moved by Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee. With the passing of this Bill, the existing Public Entertainments Act will become the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act. A notable amendment is in new section 14A, that is, the demerit point system. This demerit point system is similar to the one applicable to our driving licence. From the social point of view, this can be said to be very special, because under the Bill, there will be an element of self-discipline for those licensees to conduct themselves in accordance with the law. I think this is an indication of the maturity of our society. I also notice that the amendment to the Bill does not take away the power of the police to revoke any licence whenever necessary. The power still remains. In the case of any performance, which is obscene, vulgar or immoral, or touching on the racial or religious sensitivity in Singapore, the police reserves the right to revoke the licence in keeping with the interest of the public. I think this is right and proper. The Amendment Bill, in my view, will not have much impact on commercial activities. But I feel that the amendments may affect some of the non-commercial activities. For example, I have in mind some of the customs and traditional practices of the Chinese community, particularly the seventh-moon festival or the Hungry Ghost Festival. This new Amendment Bill may have some impact on them. We know that the Hungry Ghost Festival is a kind of gathering for the Chinese community which incorporates some kind of charitable activities, like the auction of auspicious articles with the proceeds going to charitable causes.”
“Sir, as all the cases have not yet been concluded, it is still premature to make any decision as to whether the transport companies should be prosecuted.”
“Universities and polytechnics serve different groups of students and different needs of the economy. Each higher education segment focuses on providing a best-in-class education to its students. Polytechnic graduates are the largest group to graduate from our education system and are well trained and highly employable. They constitute some 40% of every cohort of students, and form the backbone of our economy. I do appreciate that polytechnic graduates, like other Singaporeans aspire to upgrade themselves. Currently, about 1,200 polytechnic graduates per year are admitted to various full-time and part-time courses leading to degrees in NUS, NTU and SMU. Polytechnic graduates also upgrade themselves by attending courses at the polytechnics that lead to advanced and specialist diplomas. Some polytechnic graduates enrol in universities in other countries. My Ministry recognises the aspiration of polytechnic graduates to upgrade themselves, and we are currently studying how more upgrading opportunities can be provided for polytechnic graduates in Singapore, in the context of providing continuing education and life-long learning for all Singaporeans. BRIBES TO CISCO ESCORT RIDERS (Prosecution of transport companies) 11. Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Prime Minister if any decision has been made whether to prosecute the transport companies that gave bribes in the form of money for refreshments to CISCO escort riders. The Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Prime Minister): Sir, when this question was last raised in Parliament on 9th May this year, the Minister for Law responded that a decision would be made when all the cases against the CISCO officers involved have been concluded.”
“Sir, can I ask the Minister, out of the 70 to 90-odd foreign teachers recruited each year, how many of them are Chinese Language (CL) teachers? RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Of the 47 to 71 teachers recruited each year from 1995 to 1999 and of the 92 recruited in 2000, quite a good number are CL teachers. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (Financial assistance scheme for students) 9. Mr Thomas Thomas asked the Minister for Education (a) how many students and households receive help through his Ministry's Financial Assistance Scheme, and (b) whether it has any plans to revise the eligibility criteria for the granting of this assistance. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, a total of 3,714 students received help through MOE's Financial Assistance Scheme this year. The total amount disbursed was $412,500. The eligible income criteria for the assistance scheme are pegged to MCDS' Public Assistance rates. We review the criteria in tandem with MCDS' revision of rates for public assistance. MCDS is currently carrying out a review. It is expected that the review will be completed next year. POLYTECHNICS (Offer of degree courses) 10. Mr Goh Chong Chia asked the Minister for Education what is his Ministry's policy with regard to the polytechnics offering degree courses. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, higher education in Singapore is provided in the universities and polytechnics. Currently, we provide places for 21% of the Primary 1 cohort in universities and about 40% in polytechnics. These cohort participation rates for higher education are among the highest in the world. The polytechnics do not offer degree courses, and it is not the Ministry's policy for the polytechnics to do so.”
“Sir, is it true that the total amount of compensation is now less because it is tax exempt?”
“But I think that overall, with our strong political structure, we can maintain clean, open and transparent politics. Ultimately, it will depend on those who take part in politics themselves - whether such people have the moral conduct. Therefore, I feel that even with this Bill around, it can only give us certain protection and safeguard. But we must still continue to insist that all those who take part in politics must have the integrity and good moral conduct, so as to continue upholding our transparent, clean and open political tradition in Singapore. That Singapore has this clean, transparent and open political tradition is, to a large extent, attributed to our political leaders who themselves maintain very noble moral standards in politics and they have established the good example for all to emulate. Therefore, even though we now have this Bill, we must continue to defend and uphold this tradition.”
“I think the key does not lie in whether this candidate or his political party has the money, or whether the party has political donations. The key lies in whether this candidate or the party has the platform that is in the interest of the country and the people, and can be identified by the people. The financial power of the candidate and his party is irrelevant. The next question is whether this Bill will affect the civic organisations or civil society. I do not think so. On the contrary, I feel that this Bill will encourage civic organisations to develop and prosper. This is because we are now encouraging active citizenship, encouraging our people to take part in our public affairs, to show their concern in the society and the community. So if you have a civic organisation whose objective and motivation is very clear, transparent and proper, then why should they fear? Why should they worry at all, unless they have ulterior motive, and they have to act very surreptitiously. As to whether this Bill will deter people from donating money to political parties, I do not think so. Ours is an open and transparent political system. Unless a person has some ulterior motive, unless this person has incorrect objective, he has nothing to fear or worry at all. Why should he worry about donating money to support a certain candidate or a certain political party? He can donate money to a party or a candidate that he believes can represent his interest. Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill cannot give us 100% protection or safeguard. In other words, it cannot fully and completely deter certain people, particularly those people with ulterior motives, to work through loopholes to try and influence the political process in Singapore.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill. Money and politics seem to be frequently linked together. It has troubled the politics of many countries. Recently, we read in the newspapers that the Prime Minister of a certain country wept openly because his political party was baffled by money politics. In the recent presidential election in Taiwan, we also saw the "black gold" politics prevailing over Taiwan. According to newspaper reports, some people in the United States alleged that China had attempted to make political donations to the Democratic Party, and created a huge hue and cry out of that. Now, let us come back to politics in Singapore. I think we are fortunate because we do not have such problems. The reason is that the PAP Government has consistently maintained its stand on keeping politics clean and transparent here. All these years, the Government is against and resists foreign interference in our domestic affairs, including the influence through financial means. Now that we have this Bill before us, we should be able to further enhance and institutionalise clean government, to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of our country, and to promote the development of transparent politics. Therefore, I think this Bill is in keeping with our national interests. Mr Speaker, Sir, does this Bill disadvantage the opposition parties? I do not think so. Everyone is equal before the law, the opposition parties and the ruling party alike. Every party must come under the law, and so this Bill will not hamper the development of any opposition party in Singapore. Under a clean political system, whether a candidate wins or loses an election is dependent on whether or not he gets the support of his electorate.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister how soon will the law be amended to include housing agents. Secondly, can the Minister also elaborate on the existing internal guidelines he mentioned just now about deciding whether to charge a person?”
“KK Hospital. Mr Chan Soo Sen: It will be interesting if the Member could let me have the particulars of the case so that we could look into it.”
“Sir, I have come across a case where the employer was asked to pay for the hospital bills on behalf of the maid.”
“Sir, is it fair then to ask the employer to foot the bill?”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary: if such a wrong diagnosis has led to subsequent delivery of a child in the KK Hospital, should that doctor be asked to foot the bill?”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister of State how many such cases have been detected or reported so far. Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, the situation is not rampant. Between 1997 and 1999, three such cases were reported. ACCEPTANCE OF "COFFEE MONEY" BY CISCO PERSONNEL ESCORTING VEHICLES (Action against transport companies) 20. Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Prime Minister whether any action will be taken against the transport companies that gave "coffee money" to the CISCO personnel escorting their vehicles.”
“Sir, I think the Parliamentary Secretary should have one minute to answer my question.”
“Sir, there are currently about 2,100 kidney patients on dialysis. I understand that the number of kidney patients increased by about 500 each year. The problem will be compounded with an ageing population. It might not be a shortage of facilities for this group of patients at the moment, but are there plans to cope with the increase? How many dialysis centres do we need in the next five years? With more and more kidney failure patients, the queue for kidney transplants would get longer if supply of kidneys remains static. More kidneys need to be harvested for transplant purposes. The Human Organs Transplant Act may have to be amended as currently only accident victims' kidneys can be harvested for a transplant. Public education in preventing kidney failure needs to be stepped up. I have seen people suffering from diabetes and on medication still merrily drinking away coca cola every day. Sir, dialysis is costly. Inevitably, there will be some patients who are too poor to bear the cost of undergoing dialysis treatment. But they are not able to get Medifund assistance. Can the Minister consider the possibility of extending such assistance to needy kidney failure patients?”
“Sir, foreign workers and domestic maids come from different countries with different language, religious and cultural backgrounds. Although statistics reveal that there are cases involving foreign workers, it is fortunately not on an upward trend. But the number of cases involving foreign domestic maids seems to be going up and recently, in the media, we read the report of various types of cases like rape, outraging of modesty, abuse, theft, etc. So the impression given to us is that cases involving foreign domestic maids are on the upward trend. Perhaps, their cases may be more complicated than the cases involving our local citizens and the investigating officers will require some specialist skills for that. Some people feel that the police should have a special unit to deal with such cases and the new crime situation. I do not know whether the Minister would consider setting up such a special unit.”
“Over the past three years, there have not been great changes. As we all know, in 1997 and 1998, many countries in this region suffered from the financial crisis and many of them had great political and social unrest, and we could not help being affected, particularly when there were a lot of illegal immigrants coming here. It cannot be denied that there were some cases where Police officers were charged with corruption and they had tarnished the clean image of the Police Force. But the fact that the Police Force has effectively discovered and dealt with these black sheep among them also illustrates that the Police Force itself is determined to safeguard its noble image. For the maintenance of public order, the Police's deterrent effect is crucial. The deterrent effect of the Police Force, to a great extent, depends on its professionalism and effectiveness in solving cases. In this respect, it is like paddling a canoe against the current. If you do not go ahead, you will go backwards. Therefore, the Police should work harder to further improve itself. Now, with the society getting more and more sophisticated, the Police has to face greater challenges in dealing with the criminals and in the investigation of the various types of crimes. The social public order cannot depend on the Police alone. The public should also play a very important role to cooperate with the Police. Therefore, I will take this opportunity to urge members of the public to actively participate in the Community Safety and Security Programme launched by the Police Force, so as to contribute towards the overall social security.”
“Sir, on 24th January this year, the Lianhe Zaobao shows a big caption that public confidence in the Police in Singapore has declined. It gave me a shock. Do not tell me that the public has lost its confidence in our Police Force. This is not true. This caption was very misleading. If we had not carefully read the contents of the article, the readers would easily get the wrong impression. Therefore, I feel that the media should be more careful in dealing with this type of news. Because public confidence in the Police is closely linked to public order, law and discipline of our country. So the media has the responsibility to avoid unnecessarily and wrongly tarnishing the image of the Police. The sub-caption of this news was that more members of the public feel that the Police has been effective in maintaining public order in Singapore. But this was the main finding of the survey in 1999. Actually, there is a great contradiction between the two captions. If more people feel that the Police is effective in maintaining public order, then their confidence in the Police should be increasing, instead of declining. The 1999 Singapore Police Force Public Perception Survey, as compared to the survey in 1996, shows that there are more people who feel that the perception of the Police has improved. More people feel that the Police has been effective in maintaining public order and that the Police has given them adequate protection, and are more professional. They are able to solve crime cases in a better manner. They will do their best to go after the criminals, quick in response, and effectively enforcing traffic laws, etc. The general overall impression of this survey is that the vast majority of the people feel that public order in Singapore is very good.”
“Sir, in answering my question on 25th February this year, the Parliamentary Secretary MCIT said that LTA would study the possibility of adjusting ERP charges for different seasons of the year. I fully support such a move. I would like to know when we can expect the study to be completed. Sir, ERP is to optimise the use of public roads, through regulating traffic flow by way of pricing mechanism. Therefore, it has to be made more responsive to varied road situations. It is not difficult to notice that during the June and December long school holidays, vehicles on the roads are significantly less than usual. This is because many Singapore families go overseas for holiday. During such seasons, ERP charges for certain roads can certainly be adjusted downwards, especially during off-peak hours. Secondly, for the CBD, currently the off-peak hours charge is $1 per entry for cars. I notice that many of the roads leading to CBD are not well utilised, even during lunch time. So this means there is also room for adjustment or fine-tuning of the charges, instead of just the current two-tier charges. Can the Minister comment?”
“" So, to the shareholders in Singapore, they will be very worried on what the consequences may be. Now, there is this company that is prepared to step in, show you a short cut and says, "I'll buy over the shares." Your losses may not be just 1.5%. Look at it this way. If we can avoid going to court and we can try and resolve the matter directly with the other side, it is a win-win situation. We are able to settle this matter because, legally, we are in a very strong position. That is why we could do it. But if the legal position is not strong, then do you think friendly negotiations will lead us to an amicable settlement? I do not think so.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister why is it that we have not taken this case to the WTO. Secondly, I would like to know whether the DPM would agree with my following view. Just now, Mr Low Thia Khiang's conclusion was a very emotional conclusion. I think we should have a more logical conclusion, ie, from now onwards, we should not buy any more Malaysian shares. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 5.00 pm BG Lee Hsien Loong(In Mandarin): Sir, Mr Goh Choon Kang is also very emotional. Let me give Members a simple explanation. Why is it that eventually we have not taken the matter to the WTO? Legally speaking, whether it is Malaysian law or international law, our position is very strong. We have engaged Queen's Counsel. We have also consulted the experts on WTO issues, and they advised us that it is a very clear-cut case in our favour. However, if we were to take legal proceedings, there will be some difficulties, because the law cannot settle matters overnight. It will take some time. If we go to the WTO, it may take more than a year. Furthermore, the WTO is not an international court. It is only a trade organisation. The WTO can rule that this is against the WTO's rules or against something which the Malaysian has already subscribed to. But the WTO cannot force the Malaysian government to transfer the shares to the accounts of the individuals. So the WTO can only give us the right to retaliate against them, but not more than that. But if we are successful, then, of course, legally or morally, we are on the right side. But then if we go to court, it will take 2-3 years. And after the trial, it may go on appeal and it would take a very long time. The Member was saying, "A long night is fraught with nightmares.”