Goh Keng Swee
Singapore
“Sir, since that was not a supplementary question, may I be allowed to comment briefly on that. When we form a Committee of the House to inquire into an activity of the Government, the assumption must be that there has been something improper. In this instance, where is the impropriety?”
“The career of Brig-Gen Lee is well-known to the public. It has been published in the newspapers. Why then does he come out with all this drivel, other than to impute improper motives? Mr Jeyaretnam: Sir, I object to the term "drivel" as spelt out by the First Deputy Prime Minister. He should know better as a Member of this House.”
“Sir, this is getting most tiresome. So I will just say this - that Brig-Gen Lee Hsien Loong has proved himself in so many ways, both inside the Army and outside the Army, to be a person of outstanding quality. When the Member for Anson says the public are worried, he is again talking nonsense.”
“Sir, I rise to clarify. Actually, the limits are not set by me. I do not have a heavy hand. I regard the MAS as the implementing agency of Government, and in this respect I have to listen to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Trade and Industry.”
“How you set them, how restrictive or how liberal, would determine two things: (1) the degree of imported inflation from abroad via goods and services from abroad, and (2), the degree of capital inflow from abroad which will affect our money supply in Singapore.”
“Sir, if the land could be more profitably used, say, for commercial or residential purposes and if the Minister for National Development requires such land, then, of course, the land will be acquired and the generous terms will apply.”
The complete record
Every one of 833 lines we hold for Goh Keng Swee, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 17.
“In addition, we intend to use intelligence tests with the object of detecting those children who perform poorly but may have the potential for better performance in later years - the so called late-developers. This instrument of assessment can never be perfect. Educational psychologists have told me that it will take some years to construct and validate these IQ tests. Under these circumstances, we cannot have complete confidence that justice will be done in every case. It is therefore wise to accommodate the wishes of parents to a wider extent than is customary in a well established system. If a parent disagrees with the assessment of the school authority that the child should be streamed to a mainly mono-lingual stream or other low-level streams in primary and secondary schools and is prepared to sign a statement to that effect, then I propose that the child be allowed to continue in the higher stream despite the adverse assessment of the school. Similarly, there may be parents who want their children to be educated to the highest standards possible in Chinese, Malay or Tamil and not to join the main stream of education in which standards in these languages had to be lowered in the interest of higher competence in English. The Ministry would arrange for special classes to be conducted in these languages. The third part of my Motion refers to the need to adjust the new education structure, which experience and advice of principals and teachers show to be desirable in the long-term interest of pupils. It is not possible in a major undertaking of this kind to foresee in detail all the problems and difficulties that lie ahead. We only know that they are bound to arise.”
“Honourable Members would have noted that the streaming proposed in the Report is less severe than the one practised in Berne. We expect no more than 20% to be streamed in the largely mono-lingual stream as compared with 500/0 in Berne who do not go beyond primary school in academic education. There are reasons for this. It is not that our children are cleverer than Swiss children. First, we have to take into account the wishes of parents. Parents in Singapore have great expectations of their children. There is a Chinese saying which expresses this very well - wang zi cheng long ( ) - "hoping that one's child will become a dragon." To deprive half the children, all potential dragons, of any chance of getting secondary school education will not be acceptable to Singapore parents, We have therefore allowed part of the slow learners - those who would pass the Primary School Leaving Examination after two or three tries - an extended primary school education with eventual entry into secondary school. Most of these will not reach 'O' level, but will move on to vocational training. However, they would have acquired sufficient competence in the English language to widen their opportunities for employment. For reasons which I have discussed earlier, this is advantageous not only to the children but also to our economic growth. The service component in our economy is proportionately much larger than that of South Korea and Taiwan and accordingly our requirement for those with a command of the English language is greater. I have referred earlier to the practical problems of streaming. It will be based largely on performance in schools.”
“Only 50% succeed in getting entrance into a secondary school, out of which only one-fifth qualify at the end of two years to enter a Gymnasium. Those who do not get admission into a secondary school spend another five years in a primary school when their academic education ends. In the secondary school, a second language, French, is introduced from the beginning, and a third language, Italian or English, two years later. Completion of education in secondary schools does not qualify a student for entrance into a University. They can go for technician training, the way our 'O' level students do at the Polytechnic. Only those who succeed in getting into a Gymnasium can go to a University. Only 10% of a Primary I cohort succeed in getting into a Gymnasium. Virtually all Gymnasium graduates go to a University. There is provision for secondary school pupils to transfer to a Gymnasium, as I said, through an entrance examination at the end of the second year. But the number who succeed is small. Standards set at the Gymnasium are extremely high, the course lasting eight years. I understand that Berne follows the German system of education. It makes no pretensions to being egalitarian. It recognises that children have different learning abilities and they are streamed accordingly. During our investigations, the Study Team was unaware of the Swiss or German system of education. We studied the Australian and New Zealand systems. Since both of these were modelled after the British pattern, just like ours, we could find no guidance there. It comes as a great relief to me that the solution we worked out from first principles did not turn out to be such a major innovation after all.”
“My instinctive response to innovations, particularly in such a sensitive subject as education, is one of caution. Nevertheless, the Team decided to go ahead because we could see no other solution. After I moved to the Ministry of Education, I discussed the subject with my colleague, Dr Tony Tan. We decided that we should study other education systems, particularly those faced with the need to impart bilingual competence to school children. We thought that Switzerland could be a useful subject of study, and Dr Tony Tan proceeded to collect information about the Swiss system. The exercise turned out to be an interesting one. The newspapers have given an account of the Swiss system and Members may be interested in a review of the essential points. Switzerland is a confederation of 19 cantons and six half cantons, each of which possesses considerable autonomy. Education is under the control of cantons which run their own schools, have their own school legislation, curriculum and teacher-training institutions. There is no national Ministry of Education in Switzerland. But over the centuries, a common pattern seems to have emerged, though there are wide differences in detail between the cantons. The system studied is the one operating in Berne, the largest canton in Switzerland. It is a predominantly German-speaking Canton. Education commences in primary school at the age of seven and is compulsory for nine years. In the first four years, the lower level primary, the medium of instruction is in high German. Promotion is virtually automatic, retention being rare. After Primary 4, children who want to go beyond primary school sit for an entrance examination set by a secondary school. Children are then streamed on the basis of examination results.”
“This is because we do not have domestic markets of the size that they enjoy and hence are more dependent on export markets than they are. The multi-nationals not only bring technology but also their world markets with them. Multi-nationals need not only workers on the factory floor but also supervisory staff and middle level management, technical and engineering personnel in large numbers. Proficiency in English coupled with a sound system of workshop, technical and engineering education will ensure that our competitive advantage will remain. Having said this, I do not want to give the impression that there is no future at all for those who are not literate in English. The tables I referred to earlier, show that at the lowest levels of education, the Chinese stream fared no worse than the English stream. If their spoken language is adequate, this will widen their job opportunities. There are many well-paid jobs; SBS drivers, for instance, which offer no premium on linguistic competence. I now turn to the subject of streaming. It became obvious to the Education Study Team in the course of its investigations that putting through children of varying abilities at the pace suitable to the brightest 12% was the main reason for high wastage in both primary and secondary schools. Once you accept this argument, you must also accept the logical consequences which inevitably follow. We must teach children at different rates according to their capacity to absorb learning. We discussed this subject with some of the professionals in the Ministry of Education and school principals as to how best to achieve this aim. And the scheme outlined in the Report is the result of our joint thinking. It represents a major innovation in Singapore, or so we thought.”
“The service industries such as business houses, banks, hotels, supermarkets and the entertainment and tourist industries have shown a robust growth rate in past years which is likely to continue in the future. In the manufacturing industries, as we move to higher levels of technology, knowledge of English will become increasingly important. For instance, in aircraft maintenance which involves lengthy specialised training in different fields, such as instruments, avionics, airframe, weapons, hydraulic systems and jet engines, reference to manufacturers' manuals on specifications, design and drawings is a routine practice both in the training schools and in the repair and maintenance bases. Even with the simple type of aircraft we use, the volume of documents is immense, costing Mindef several million dollars for each make of fighter aircraft. Competence cannot be achieved without a good working knowledge of English since it is not feasible for us in Singapore to translate these documents into other languages. There is a wider perspective to this. This relates to our competitive position, both in Southeast Asia and in relation to countries like South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Among the ASEAN states, as our wages increase year by year, we cannot remain competitive in labour-intensive industries for very much longer. But the edge we have over all of them, except for the Philippines, is the large number of Singaporeans who can understand and use the English language. This would give us an advantage in the service and high technology industries which we shall retain for a long time. As regards fast-developing countries, such as South Korea and Taiwan, we must not forget that we are more dependent on foreign technology and the multi-national companies than they are.”
“The study will relate these factors to educational standards achieved in schools, the occupation and income of reservists and their social and economic background. When the survey is completed, we shall know more about the subject than we now do, but it will not tell us everything we want to know. This is because there are limits to the scope of information that can be collected under the techniques feasible in sample social surveys. Such studies need to be supplemented by other forms of research. An excellent example of such research is the work done in 1965 by the Child Welfare and Social Work Section of Maris Stella Girls' School. It is published in a book called "Teenage Girls' Family Problems". An updated version of the study is badly needed. There are two further comments I want to make on this subject. The first is that retention of verbal or written skills in any language after school depends on how often it is used. Therefore, the language used in daily work is of critical importance. So far as non- manual jobs are concerned, it is likely that English will be more widely used both in conversation and correspondence than other languages. Especially is this so in the service industries, We are not certain what the position is in the manufacturing industries and maintenance and repair installations which employ large numbers of blue-collar workers. If the languages taught in schools are not used there, then regression must take place. The second point I want to make is that, in future years, the importance of English is likely to increase rather than diminish.”
“77 - 78) It would therefore appear that, on economic grounds, parents' choice of language streams is rational, except for those whose children were unable to pass PSLE. What about the second criteria of literacy? There has been, to my knowledge, no comprehensive study of literacy levels, however defined, achieved and retained by school leavers. The general belief is that those who have passed 'O' and 'A' levels and above remain literate in at least one language in the sense that they can read newspapers. The position is uncertain about those who have not completed 'O' levels. A Ministry of Defence study, cited in the Team's report, concluded that only a small proportion of school dropouts from the English stream possessed a satisfactory working knowledge of English. Psychologists in the Ministry of Defence have made case studies of poorly educated National Service soldiers with low rank and in low vocations. They have either failed their PSLE or have not gone beyond Secondary 1 or Secondary 2 at best. The Chinese stream fared better than the English stream in the ability to converse in the first language taught in schools. There is also some evidence that they are more likely to read newspapers than those who failed the English PSLE. But the number of soldiers included in such case studies is too small for any firm conclusion to be drawn. The Research and Evaluation Branch of the Ministry of Education is planning to do a study on a random sample of some 2,000 reservists. This study will investigate the languages and dialects they speak at home, at work, the newspapers they read, the radio programmes they listen to, the TV programmes they watch and the books they read, if any.”
“tables - MEDIAN MONTHLY INCOMES OF ENGLISH STREAM RESERVISTS, MEDIAN MONTHLY INCOMES OF CHINESE STREAM RESERVISTS (Cols. 75 - 76) Data on incomes are dependable as these are cross-checked with employers and CPF records when reservists claim compensation for loss of income during annual in-camp training. Classification of occupational grades is less dependable as Manpower Officers do not regard job description as of crucial importance to their work. Though mistakes did occur here, they are unlikely to invalidate the general conclusions. The tables on median incomes show that those from the English stream earn more than those from the Chinese stream, for each level of education and each occupational trade with only one exception. It consists of those reservists who had not passed the Primary School Leaving Examination even after three tries. There are 5,402 of these in the English stream and 6,638 from the Chinese stream. Here, it is clear that an uncompleted education in English confers no advantage over an uncompleted education in Chinese. I have also distributed two charts (Cols. 77 - 78) showing how the median income of reservists in the various language streams progresses as the reservists get older. The chart shows that at the lowest level of education the Chinese stream reservists made a sudden spurt at the age of 30 and above and overtakes the English stream. We do not know why this happened, without further study. However, for those with 'A' levels and degrees, the gap widens over the years. This also seems to be the case with those who have passed PSLE but not succeeded in getting to 'O' levels. charts - MEDIAN INCOME BY AGE (Cols.”
“(2) Is he likely to be literate in at least one language, i.e. can he read local items in the newspapers and write simple letters? As regards the prospective earning power of pupils in the Chinese language stream and the English language stream, the general belief is that there is no doubt an English language education confers a decided advantage. There is ample evidence on this in relation to university graduates. But we do not know how large is the differential and whether the advantage of an English language education over other language streams holds true down the line. The Ministry of Defence maintains detailed records of reservists' income, occupation and education. These are stored in computer tapes. I asked the Manpower Division from MINDEF last year to retrieve information from the computer files. The information has been summarised in tables (Cols. 75 - 76) which have been distributed to Members. These tables describe the median monthly income of reservists according to their educational level and occupation groups in the English stream and the Chinese stream. 84,022 reservists were included in this exercise, of which 45,287 were classified as the English stream. (This would include those from the Chinese stream who switched over to the English stream at some stage of their education.) There were 38,735 from the Chinese stream. The study includes only reservists of the age of 21 years and above, in full-time employment (i.e. excluding those who have gone to universities after National Service and those who are unemployed). It includes a large number, some 7,000, about whom descriptions of occupation were insufficiently clear for inclusion in the five occupational grades used in these tables.”
“Automatic promotion was practised in primary and secondary schools up to 1975. and 1977 respectively. This meant that as the slow learners moved from lower to higher classes, they understood less and less of what was being taught. Automatic promotion in Primary and Secondary schools was abolished in 1976 and 1978 respectively and retentions enforced on a large scale. This did not produce the results hoped for. Retention inflicts a psychological trauma on the child and when this is repeated two or three times, it would be an exceptional child who does not lose interest in learning, suffer a loss of self-esteem and self-confidence and develop character defects as a consequence of these. Once the basic causes have been identified, the solutions almost suggest themselves. We must accept the principle of teaching children of different learning capacities at different rates. The Report recommends different streams of education to suit the slow, average, above average and outstanding learners. I do not wish to discuss the details of this proposal. All I need to say is that while the principle is clear enough and the policy correct, there are formidable problems in implementation. Nevertheless, I believe that over the years they can be overcome, for reasons which I shall explain later. I want to discuss a number of issues not mentioned in the Report but which have a bearing on the subject. The first is: "Are parents acting rationally in switching their children from the Chinese, Malay or Tamil streams to the English stream in increasing numbers over the last two decades?" To answer this question, one must set up some criteria of rationality. I propose two simple criteria:- (1) Will it enable a child to earn more after he leaves school?”
“The chu fa dian ( ) of the Education Study Team is best summarised in the motto of the London School of Economics: Rerum Cognoscere Causas - to know the causes of things. There is nothing special about this. Doctors use it regularly on patients - if their diagnosis is correct, the patient is cured unless the ailment is incurable, such as lung cancer. Engineers and mechanics regularly observe the motto of the London School of Economics when they have to repair a motor car, a piece of machinery or equipment. But in human affairs, to recognise the causes of things does not come naturally, especially in important matters of state. Take, for instance, what is probably the most important economic and social problem facing the world today - inflation. The causes of inflation are simple. Yet government leaders in some industrial countries pretend otherwise and believe that they can fight inflation by persuading trade union leaders not to press for higher wages and businessmen not to raise prices. They do not seem to be aware that they are attacking the symptoms of the malaise, not the root causes. They are therefore not likely to succeed. I believe that the Team has identified the real causes of trouble in our education system. There are three: (i) The languages of instruction in our bilingual system are not spoken at home for the great majority of school children. (ii) The rapid switch from the Chinese stream to the English stream made necessary the mass production of teachers for the English stream schools, to the detriment of the quality of teaching. (iii) Our system of education, lasting twelve years, has been tailored to suit the brightest 12% of pupils. The inevitable result is high wastage rates in our schools, both primary and secondary.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name, That this House having noted the Report on the Ministry of Education, 1978, contained in Paper Misc. 3 of 1979, (1) supports the revised structure of education which will allow each pupil to Study at a pace suited to his learning capacity and which will make him as bilingual as he can be, (2) approves flexibility in implementation particularly to accommodate the wishes of parents, (3) recommends periodic adjustments and changes to the revised structure which experience and advice of principals and teachers show to be desirable in the long term interests of pupils. The Report of the Education Study Team and the Prime Minister's comments on it have received extensive coverage in the local media. It is therefore not necessary for me to summarise the findings which I assume are familiar to Honourable Members. Instead, I want to explain the basic approach which the team adopted in examining a complicated and vexatious problem. We are not specialists in education. While education has its professional aspects about which the layman is not well informed, education impinges on everyone. To start with, we have been through the mill ourselves, though at different times in the past. Nearly all of us have children, grandchildren or relatives in schools. We are not therefore totally ignorant of the problems of school children. Our approach, the starting point of our investigation, or what in mandarin is aptly called chu fa dian ( ), is to find out the reasons why problems keep on recurring year after year, despite the efforts of successive Ministers of Education to solve them.”
“The Ministry of Education supported the school's application and subsequently the Housing and Development Board agreed to grant the TOL to the school for the use of the land. The area of the subject site is about 0.4 hectares and the school is paying a Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) fee of $24 per annum. Since 1969, the Ministry has not been informed of any other development which will affect the school site. Hence, the School Management Committee has not approached the Ministry for a discussion on the future plans of the School. I would add that the area around Chiang Teck School is quite plentifully supplied with schools and there are, in fact, 26 schools with primary classes within two kilometres of Chiang Teck School. WORK PERMIT HOLDERS (Sterilization Bond) 4. Mr Ch'ng Jit Koon asked the Minister for Home Affairs, in respect of Work Permit holders who signed the Sterilization Bond with the Work Permit Department, (a) how many have been granted permanent residence; and (b) where they only have their first child and decide that the second child should come some years later, or where they plan to have their two children some years later, what are the criteria used in considering their applications for permanent residence.”
“Sir, with declining enrolment in Chinese-stream schools, and increasing enrolment in English-stream schools, many teachers in the Chinese stream could become redundant unless they can teach in English. The purpose of sending some of these teachers abroad, to Britain and New Zealand, is to enable them to acquire a command of the English language in an English-speaking environment. Special courses have been arranged at British Universities in accordance with the subjects taught by these teachers. Special courses are also arranged for school principals and Ministry officers. These courses are of six-month and nine-month duration. Fifteen are now in the United Kingdom - four principals, four Ministry officers and seven teachers. Another 70, all teachers, have been selected for similar courses over the next two years. Selection is based on merit and experience. CHIANG TECK SCHOOL (Redevelopment) 3. Mr Ch'ng Jit Koon asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, in view of the active resettlement of the residents in Kampong Silat in which Chiang Teck School is situated, whether his Ministry and the management of the School have discussed the re-development of the School, and, if so, what are the points of agreement reached. The Senior Minister of State for Education (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, Chiang Teck School is an aided Chinese primary school. In 1969, the basketball court was affected by the Public Works Department's widening scheme for Silat Road. The Supervisor, therefore, applied to the Housing and Development Board for a piece of adjacent land on TOL to replace the basketball ground.”
“We will try to do something about this, Mr Deputy Speaker. I think I have covered all the main points. I am not sure that I have got all the answers. After all, I have been in this job for just about two to three weeks. I also have to learn the job just as much as the others have.”
“All he needs to know is about figures, how to get more money for the Ministry and to be able to make a good case before the Budget Division of the Finance Ministry. He said that junior staff are suffering and asked me whether I am aware of it. I am not aware. Again, if he can give me details, I will look into it. As for warlords in the Ministry, I think to some extent each department and each branch of a department are very jealous of their prerogatives. Why it should be so, I do not know. But I am trying to introduce better working relations with the staff. I have a meeting with them once a week in which not only the Heads of Divisions and Branches are present but also the deputies, and one hopes that they can introduce better methods of working together. I am not sure whether I should ask senior officers on field duties to give a diary of their movements. After all, they also have their dignity. This is one of those things. You have got to trust them. I would rather that we do not ask them to do this.”
“Maybe it is just that the students are unpromising. These things do happen. So I am not sure whether it is possible to lay down a set of criteria which will. satisfy everybody. Certainly it will not satisfy those who do not get promoted. The Member for Kampong Kembangan has raised a number of points regarding administration in the Ministry. I want to comment on some of these. Regarding the sudden clearance of telephone lines, may I assure him that the lines are not being bugged. What happened was this. When I moved into the Ministry, I know that the lines were jammed. So I asked the Chief of Communications and Electronics of the Ministry of Defence to have a look at the telephone exchange to see whether it is adequate. He must have attached gadgets to test how many calls were made and so on, and this must have been passed down the line. Whatever it is, the result seems to have been quite gratifying. The Member also said that graduate teachers are being asked to do clerical and administrative work in the Ministry. If he can give me details of this, I assure him that I will look into this because that is what graduate teachers are not for. He said that financial officers should have some knowledge of educational and professional matters. I completely agree with him. In fact, the systems engineers whom I took with me from Mindef to the Ministry of Education had gone through a two- month course on what education is about, subjects like child psychology which I myself do not know. But, nevertheless, they had gone through this two-month course at the Institute of Education. But I do not think a person, say, in the Finance Division of the Ministry need to know what education is about.”
“In the old days, under the colonial system, when I myself was a student, the teacher was a big shot because there were very few other professions. There were maybe a few doctors and a few engineers but the teacher was looked up to and respected. Now, as a result of economic growth, engineers swarmed in by the hundreds, if not, thousands. Then there are the doctors and all kinds of professional people. Lawyers, of course, are earning large sums of money. Naturally, teachers feel that they come up second best. It is not possible to raise the salaries of teachers to such a level that they are at par with successful doctors or private lawyers, like the Member for Kuo Chuan. I do not think we can do this. But I think we must find some ways of giving more public recognition to services rendered by teachers. As suggested by the Member for Khe Bong he said that we could give them more medals or National Day awards. Maybe that is one way. There may be other ways. The Member for Serangoon Gardens has asked that the criteria for promotion exercises be spelt out more clearly. That is rather difficult. We can spell them as clearly as we like, but still if a teacher is not promoted he will not be satisfied. Experience, qualifications, good confidential records, etc. etc., and maybe we could add performance in special courses run by the Ministry or the institute of Education. But it is unlike, say, selling coca-cola. If a salesman makes a sale of so much, he is a good salesman. A teacher's services are very difficult to evaluate. For instance, a school produces wretched results either at the Primary School Leaving Examination or at the GCE 'O' and a: level examinations. Are we to blame the principal and the teachers? Maybe yes. Maybe no.”
“Members will be glad to know that the whole salary scale is being revised and that the Government is thinking of introducing an intermediate grade for those in Group Ill, something like what the Member for Khe Bong wanted, that is, up to 10 years. It is not an automatic promotion but the chances of moving up would be better than what they are now. 6.00 p.m. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] I agree with the Member for Khe Bong that the best way would be to give them opportunities for improving themselves by attending diploma or degree courses. He suggested courses on a part-time basis. I am not sure whether part-time study is a good thing because they have to teach and they got to learn and they may do both badly. I am thinking of giving more opportunities for full-time study. There are scholarships available at present but they are rather small in number. I have asked the Establishment Division of the Ministry to study whether we can increase the number. But the problem is that there are always staff shortages and when we pull out teachers from the schools and send them to the university, it means that they have to be replaced by relatively raw inexperienced teachers, and principals do not like this. However, within these constraints, we shall try to do what we can. I do not think money will be a problem. The Minister for Finance is not here but I am sure he will make the funds available. The real constraint is just shortage of manpower. Many speakers, the Member for Khe Bong, the Member for Serangoon Gardens and the Member for Nee Soon, have mentioned the importance of self-esteem and social status of teachers. They said that we should restore the social status of teachers to "what it was in years gone by". I hope this is possible but I am not sure it is.”
“Nineteen selection boards were set up to interview 7,642, thereby raising the hopes of 7,642 teachers - that if they were interviewed it means their chances must be quite good. Eventually 1,415 were short-listed and appeared before the PSC. So they may be excused if they thought that they made the grade. Unfortunately only 474 were promoted. So there were widespread disappointments. Why did the Ministry of Education embark upon this kind of procedure? The reason is this. There was a promotion exercise in 1972 and also in 1974 when teachers were short-listed and about 1,700 or so appeared before the PSC. Then there was an uproar. They said, "Although we are in the promotion zone, you have not interviewed us." So to oblige the teachers, the Ministry held this massive exercise. Unfortunately it did not have the results hoped for. The root of the problem, I think, is this. Teachers' salary scales are very complicated and Members may know that there are three groups of teachers: Non-graduates, Pass degree graduates and Honours degree graduates. Within each group there are three grades: Education Officer, Senior Education Officer and Principal Education Officer. For graduates, both Honours and Pass degree graduates, the position is not so bad. Apart from getting better pay, they will reach the bottom of the next grade within six or seven years. A Graduate Education Officer in about six or seven years will have reached the lowest point of the Senior Education Officer. But in the case of Non-graduate teachers it takes 20 years. Naturally they want to have a promotion rather earlier. They get impatient after a number of years. The Member for Khe Bong suggested 10 years.”
“I wish I could enlighten him. I have been trying to find this out for myself since joining the Ministry. I am afraid the position is unclear, but I will try to get this made into a proper system to the extent that one can reduce the functions and responsibilities of school principals to a system. My guess is that you cannot go too far in this direction because schools vary so much in the character - different teachers, different experiences, different types of students. So I do not think you can impose on school principals the same uniform procedures and standards which you can impose, say, in the army on battalion commanders. Nevertheless more can be done to make clear the responsibilities of school principals, vice-principals and their relationship with the staff. But in the end it boils down to leadership. If a principal has got leadership, he will know how to get the cooperation of the staff without having to coerce them or without having to bluff them. How to identify which senior teacher has got this quality of leadership? That is the job of the Public Service Commission. We as political leaders are not supposed to interfere in the selection or promotion of staff. Both the Members for Serangoon Gardens and Khe Bong comment on the promotion exercises. The position is like this. In 1977, the last promotion exercise, something like 10,000 teachers were eligible for consideration and they were asked whether they were interested in being considered for promotion. About 2,000 of them wisely decided that they would have no part in this. That leaves about 7,600 and they were interviewed in a very extensive exercise.”
“As regards immersion, he thinks that students are being over-worked in immersion classes, where Chinese stream students have to go to English stream classes to improve their English. I think we should not exaggerate the extent of the difficulties. True, they have to put in extra hours of work. But they are only required to attend immersion classes in three subjects, not in all subjects. Further, such attendance is voluntary. Whether more benefits will accrue by attending immersion activities such as sports or ECA, I am not sure. We will give that some consideration. I may mention that in another small country the problem of bilingual education is also very important. This is Switzerland. The practice there in acquiring proficiency in the second language is something we may consider worthy of adoption. Members know that Switzerland is constituted of a number of independent cantons; some are German-speaking, some French-speaking and some Italian-speaking. Every Swiss should preferably speak two languages, his mother tongue plus another language. We had discussions with the Charge d'Affaires of the Swiss Embassy here and he said that in his own canton, that of Berne, most of the people are German-speaking and the first language taught in school is high German. It is the practice of these German-speaking students to try to live in French-speaking families, sometimes to move to French-speaking cantons so that they get immersion 24 hours a day, not merely in the afternoon. Maybe in Singapore, Chinese Mandarin-speaking parents can team up with English-speaking parents and exchange children, which in some way would be of mutual benefit. The Member for Serangoon Gardens asked me what is the role of principals and what authority they have over the staff.”
“Sir, let me take the comments of Members in the order in which they spoke. May I thank the Member for Moulmein for his very kind words. I shall do my best to obtain the support of teachers, principals, the media and parents, to bring about a better system of education in Singapore. I entirely agree with him that without their support all the Ministry's efforts will be of no avail. The Member for Jurong has raised a number of points. One is that teachers' morale is being affected by very rapid changes. Now, these changes are unavoidable because in Singapore the situation is changing very fast. So if the education system cannot move in step with these changes, then we will be left behind and in the end the children themselves will suffer. I think we have reached a stage where the main problems are clear enough and the major political decisions have been made. So in future we will be able to move at a slower pace. I entirely agree with the Member for Jurong that teachers should not be subject to humiliating treatment such as surprise inspections, attendance at long meetings to receive lectures and instructions, nor should principals be summoned summarily to Ministry headquarters. I have given directives to the staff that such practices are to cease. However, what is to take its place? Unfortunately I cannot tell the Member what will take its place because the officer to be appointed to take charge of the Schools Branch is not in Singapore. He is in England. He will be back in about a week or two. I hope to set up a proper system which will take into account the point raised by the Member for Jurong.”
“The delay was due to the fact that although the promotion exercise took place in 1977, the formal appointments were not due to be made until 1978. In fact, there was a delay of just under one year. As for warnings, no warning was given because this was the first time, I believe, that the post of principal in schools was considered a promotion post. Previously the post of principal was not a promotion post, and there had been instances where the principals would be junior to some of the teachers because the teachers did not like to be principals. When it was decided that the post of principal would be a promotion post and would carry allowances, then the exercise had to be carried out. WORK PERMITS (Complaint of unfair treatment) 2. Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Labour whether he is aware of the allegation that multinational companies have no difficulty in obtaining work permits by the hundreds for their workers while small local companies find it very difficult to get even one; and whether his Ministry will conduct investigations into the bona fide of the alleged complaint, and, if it is established, whether he will take steps to correct this unfair treatment against our own citizens.”
“Mr Ang Nam Piau asked the Minister for Law and Science and Technology, in order that the metric system will be fully implemented, if he will consider introducing legislation to set a target date banning the use and sale of any non-metric weighing and measuring instruments in Singapore.”
“The threat of Communism cannot be contested by military pacts. It has to be fought through successful political, social and economic policies. Defence pacts are not geared to tackle the social and economic problems which provide fertile ground for Communist exploitation. Communist insurgencies and subversion thrive on poverty, class differences, uneven distribution of wealth, lack of economic opportunities and ignorance. The best method to combat the communist threat is through rapid social and economic development and by providing a better life for the people so that the people will find their society worth defending against the Communists. Economic cooperation within ASEAN can assist in solving these socio-economic problems. The conflicts among the Communist countries in Indochina provide ASEAN time to consolidate and to expand its efforts in economic development. We have to seize the opportunity presented to us now and use it to the fullest. More efforts have to be put into economic cooperation within ASEAN than has been the case in the past. The current conflicts in Indochina have introduced new forms of intervention in addition to subversion and externally supported insurgencies. The threat of a similar military intervention in ASEAN countries in the immediate future is small. As matters stand today, a military defence pact is not called for. But it is clear that the integrity of any partner in ASEAN is vital to the security of all partners. Any ASEAN response to events will therefore be guided by this principle. NON-METRIC WEIGHING AND MEASURING INSTRUMENTS (Banning of) 8.”
“The identity of purpose and swiftness of response to events that I have mentioned have amply demonstrated ASEAN solidarity. This has in fact become so clear that nations in other parts of the world have begun to look to ASEAN for a lead in matters affecting this region. As to the second part of the question, we have a region which has traditionally been an arena of great power rivalry and conflict. We can expect that subversion, insurgency and limited proxy wars will continue as part of great power rivalry. It is therefore only prudent for ASEAN to recognise this reality. We in ASEAN will have to make a conscious effort to resist being drawn into these rivalries and conflicts. If we are not careful, we may find ourselves as proxies of the contending great powers. Non-involvement however does not mean that we turn a blind eye to regional and international issues which have serious political, economic ind security implications for ASEAN. We have to make known our position quite clearly. This we have done. The reaction of the ASEAN countries to each crisis in Southeast Asia has established clearly that ASEAN has a common and united position on major issues. Further we have shown that ASEAN's collective interest comes first and that we are not going to be drawn into taking sides in any great power rivalry. I can assure the hon. Member that this is the best way to preserve the neutrality, peace and territorial integrity of ASEAN. Coming to the third and final part of the question, when ASEAN was formed in 1967, it was clearly aimed at cooperation in economic, social and political fields. A military pact was never considered. In the 12 years since, there has never been any keen interest or effort in that direction.”
“Instead of falling into disarray, ASEAN has become more united in its reaction to the turbulent political developments in the region. ASEAN solidarity was demonstrated by the unity of the ASEAN response to the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea. In fact, many non-aligned nations and members of the UN Security Council responded with the ASEAN line in their reaction to events in Kampuchea. The Sino-Vietnamese conflict has shown again the common ASEAN response and attitude to such events, Members would have noted from press reports that the ASEAN draft resolution, which was to be presented to the Security Council, commanded the most support and would have been presented and adopted by the Security Council were it not for USSR opposition. The Australian International Civil Aviation Policy is yet another example where ASEAN unity of purpose and solidarity were underestimated. Approaches were made, unsuccessfully, to ASEAN states individually with offers aimed at breaking rank. Statements were also made by some Australian officials that ASEAN solidarity was a fragile facade that would crack easily. Events so far have shown, while the coming meeting in Jakarta with the Australian Ministers will confirm, the grave error of such views. It is possible, indeed natural, that when five countries get together, there will be occasions when they will have disagreements, when each may have different ideas about particular regional or bilateral endeavours and questions. These occasional differences are often over less fundamental issues but they may be seen by others quite erroneously as lack of solidarity. The acid test of ASEAN solidarity is what ASEAN does when major issues affecting the vital interest of the region arise.”
“I am not certain what merit there is in this idea, but serious problems of dislocation will arise for both staff and students. The two Universities have enough problems on their hands at the moment, and now is not the time to consider further innovations unless these have obvious merit. Much the same of what I said applies to courses common to the Singapore Polytechnic and the Ngee Ann Technical College. It is not feasible to have a single authority to take charge of Universities, Polytechnics and the Institute of Education, as well as the Industrial Training Board. The levels of instruction, the qualifications of students, the objectives of these institutions are so varied that combining them into one organisation is likely to create more problems than it solves. ASEAN SOLIDARITY 7. Mr Yeo Choo Kok asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) whether ASEAN's political solidarity hitherto demonstrated and its pace of responding to sudden events such as the Australian air fare policy and the recent flare-ups among the Asian communist countries are satisfactory; (b) what is the best way to preserve the neutrality, peace and the territorial integrity of ASEAN; and (c) whether the recent events and developments in Indochina have created the need for a defence pact among ASEAN member countries to deter outside threats and to enhance the sense of stability within ASEAN. The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr S. Dhanabalan): Sir, ASEAN's response to the various developments in Indochina has demonstrated the solidarity of the group. The Vietnamese believed that ASEAN was a western imperialist creation and expected the group to fall into disarray with the withdrawal of United States military troops from Indochina.”
“Sir, the Ministry does not consider it necessary to set up a Board of Tertiary Education to be solely in charge of the two Universities, the Institute of Education, the Singapore Polytechnic and the Ngee Ann Technical College. This step is not only unnecessary but it is not likely to achieve the objectives that the hon. Member has in mind. So far as admission of students is concerned, there has been established since 1978 a joint admission board which considers applications from students who passed their 'O' level for entry into Junior Colleges, Pre-U Centres, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Technical College and the Industrial Training Board. Admissions into the University of Singapore and Nanyang University are considered by a Joint Universities Admission Selection Committee established in 1974. The processing of applications to institutions of higher studies helps to maintain the standards of admission as well as fairness in the award of places which must be decided solely on the basis of merit, given students' preferences. The hon. Member seems to be worried about "wastage and unnecessary duplication or overlapping". I assume he is referring to courses offered at these institutions. There are, of course, courses common both to Nanyang and Singapore Universities and to Ngee Ann and the Polytechnic. For instance, both Universities teach Mathematics, Political Science, Statistics, Economics, Geography and History in the Arts and Social Science Departments. In Science subjects, Chemistry, Physics and Applied Physics are common to both Universities. I do not know whether the Member believes that these subjects should be farmed out to one or the other of the Universities.”
“SINGAPORE RED CROSS SOCIETY (INCORPORATION) (AMENDMENT) BILL (As reported from Select Committee) Order for Third Reading read. 3.06 p.m.”
“When part recovery of the value is made, the unrecovered portion has to be written off and the matter has to be referred to the Ministry of Finance for its authority for the write-off. As the request for the authority to write off is made on the basis of a decision of the Armed Forces Council, the authority is given as a matter of formality. Accordingly for administrative expediency and to relieve the Ministry of Finance of the responsibility in authorising write-off in respect of matters on which they have very little say, the power is now to be given to the Armed Forces Council to write off the value of public stores and public monies under the charge of the SAF which are lost, damaged or destroyed. Pensions, gratuities or other allowances granted to military personnel are paid out of the Consolidated Fund and, except for the purpose of satisfying a debt due to the Government or a court order for the payment of maintenance of the serviceman's wife or children, they are not assignable or transferable or liable to be attached to satisfy. a debt or claim. The provisions appear in the Singapore Army Pensions Scheme Regulations, 1971 which have since been revoked and replaced by the Singapore Armed Forces Pensions Regulations, 1978. It is more appropriate for these provisions to appear in the Act and therefore a new section has been introduced. Sir, I beg to move. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Goh Keng Swee]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.”
“When a person subject to military law is convicted of a non-military offence other than murder, culpable homicide, rape and the Penal Code offence under section 121 (Waging War Against The Government) or section 121A (Offences Against The President's Person), a subordinate military court is given the power to pass the sentence provided for the non-military offence. In addition to or in lieu of such punishment, the court may impose military punishment, for example, discharge with ignominy, reduction in rank or forfeiture of military decoration or military award. Such an additional power of punishment is necessary when dealing with military personnel in the context of the Singapore Armed Forces. In the civil court, when a person is officially informed that he may be prosecuted for an offence, he is requested to mention any fact that he intends to rely in his defence so that it may be written down. This procedure is also to be made available to a person subject to military law. The law also provides that adverse inferences may be drawn if he fails to mention any such fact. This is similarly to be incorporated. The authority to write-off any public stores and public monies is conferred on the Minister for Finance and accordingly all cases relating to public stores or public monies have to be referred to the Ministry of Finance. In the Singapore Armed Forces, cases of loss, damage or destruction of public property may be dealt with by way of summary trial, court martial or Boards of Inquiry. Under these procedures, the Armed Forces Council may issue an order to recover total or part value of the lost, damaged or destroyed property.”
“It is necessary that the Act be amended to provide for the President of the court martial trying such other offences carrying the death penalty to be a Supreme Court Judge appointed by the Chief Justice and for a decision of such a court martial to be unanimous. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1973, a certificate relating to a controlled drug signed by a Government Chemist is admissible as evidence in proceedings. He need not appear in court to testify to his signature. It will be considered as prima facie evidence of all matters contained in it. A provision is now made to give a Singapore Armed Forces Pharmacist or Chemist the same legal standing. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1973, a person who has been required to provide a specimen of his urine for a urine test has the right to apply for a second test of his urine specimen. This is to ensure that the accused is not convicted due to any error in the handling or analysis of his urine sample. It is intended that the right to apply for a second urine test should also be accorded to SAF personnel and power is given to the Armed Forces Council to set aside the conviction and sentence if, as a result of the second test, it is found that there is no controlled drug in the urine specimen. The power to set aside a conviction and sentence is necessary as drug offences in the SAF are dealt with and concluded very swiftly. This is in the interest of soldiers who otherwise would have to remain in detention for weeks or months on end.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." There is always the possibility that ex-servicemen, whether regular or national service, may divulge protected defence information. As such persons have ceased to be subject to military law except during the time they are actually performing reservist training and they cannot be tried by a military court for such offences. It is now intended that a subordinate military court will have jurisdiction to try such persons for the offence of divulging protected information. For this purpose, such persons are to be regarded as continuing to be subject to military law in respect of unauthorised disclosure of protected defence information. The provisions of the Act relating to the arrest, detention in custody, investigation of offences, trial and punishment by the subordinate military court in connection with such offences and execution of any sentence passed shall apply to them. Presently, persons subject to military law who are accused of murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder or with an offence under section 121 and 121A of the Penal Code may be tried by a subordinate military court, the President of which must be a Judge of the Supreme Court appointed by the Chief Justice. Where an accused is to be found guilty of a charge for which the punishment is death, the decision of the subordinate military court must be unanimous. Other than those presently listed in the Act, there are offences carrying the death penalty; for example, certain offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1973, which may be committed by persons subject to military law and be tried by the subordinate military court.”
“Under the present law, employers are required to pay their employees who are performing reserve, voluntary or mobilised service the difference between the employees' civilian pay and service pay. Employers are then allowed to obtain reimbursement of this amount by deducting from their payroll tax or by claiming reimbursement from the designated authority. This cumbersome procedure is to be replaced by a simple one whereby the Ministry of Defence pays directly to the employees doing reservist or other forms of training the difference between their civilian pay and service pay. This new procedure will also apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs which looks after the Special Constabulary, Vigilante Corps, Singapore Fire Brigade and the Singapore Aerodrome Fire Service. Under the new procedure when the employees are called up for service or training, their employers will have to submit to the relevant units details in prescribed forms of the employees' civilian pay. The make-up pay will then be computed by the paymasters of units and be added to their service pay where civilian pay exceeds service pay. Sir, I beg to move. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill - [Dr Goh Keng Swee] Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 2.56 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." At present, people who are enlisted for national service are liable to render full-time service in the Singapore Armed Forces for two years. However, those who are selected for officer training or who have been promoted above the rank of Lance Corporal are liable to serve 2 1/2 years. For equity purposes, it is necessary to extend the same liability of 2 1/2 years to those full-time national servicemen in the Police Force, the Vigilante Corps, the Singapore Fire Brigade and the Aerodrome Fire Service who are trained to hold a rank equivalent to that of an officer in the Singapore Armed Forces or who are promoted to a rank equal to that of Corporal and above in the SAF. We have noted that employers in the past were generally reluctant to give temporary employment to persons who are liable for national service call-up because, under the law now in force, these employers are obliged to reinstate the servicemen after they have completed their national service. So legislation which is intended to assist young men has in practice worked out to their detriment and this is a clear case of counter-productive legislation. To rectify this situation and to encourage employers to give temporary employment to young persons, awaiting national service call-up, the obligation of reinstatement is now removed. Employers are no longer prohibited from terminating the service of temporary employees in their employment by reason of their liability to be called up to perform national service. This will make it easier for school leavers to get paid employment while waiting for their NSF call-up.”
“Sir, that is exactly what we are trying to do.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I disagree with him in this respect. Is national pride worth $25 million a year?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member has a point; as an economist, of course. But I would like to say that the cost is not $71,000. The total cost comes to $50 million a year, of which $25 million represents the cost of paying for crew, fuel and maintenance. It is by no means a matter of zero-opportunity cost, to use an economic jargon. Since we have got the ships, they might as well be doing something useful instead of doing nothing. They can do something else. They can engage in exercises and increase their efficiency as combat ships. There is also another alternative, and that is to use a cheaper craft, not as expensive as the Missile Gunboats, either to buy or to run. The Ministry of Defence is looking into this matter. We have engaged some Australian small craft designers to see whether or not they can design and build a smaller craft at less capital cost and less running cost. The $50 million is not the purchase cost. It is the annual operational cost, half of which is capital and the other half recurrent.”
“But they are not always innocent because sometimes they go to other people's waters and got caught. What can you do about that? You cannot protect them. Of course, sometimes they are harassed in international waters. The Navy has a responsibility to protect them. But I really wonder whether it is worthwhile. It costs $71,000 to run a missile gunboat for 24 hours. We need at least two gunboats to patrol 1,040 square miles which is our troublesome area. Even two gunboats are really not enough. The cost of running two missile gunboats over a year comes to $50 million. Will our fishermen catch that amount of fish? The interest of $50 million at 9% will come to probably $4.5 million which, if shared by the small population of fishermen, will probably give them a better livelihood than what they are getting now. Apart from this, I do not think we should be unduly worried. I think our build-up has reached a satisfactory stage and we do not want to overdo these things. The last thing that Singapore would like to do is to give the impression that she is arming herself to the teeth, unnecessarily so, beyond what is necessary for legitimate defence and in this way start an arms race in our part of the world. That is the last thing we want. So let us take a fairly relaxed posture on this matter. Everything is well, given the current situation. But, of course, if there is drastic change in this part of the world, then we have got to do some rethinking. So far so good. 4.45 p.m.”
“Sir, Members would have noticed that the Defence Ministry is the only Ministry for which less money is provided this financial year as compared with last year. There is a reduction of 5.4% in total money provided and, allowing for inflation, this really means a reduction in real terms of around 9% plus. However, this will not jeopardise our defence capability in any significant way. The reason why we are spending less money on defence is that the build- up of previous years has levelled off. We had to spend a lot of money in past years because we were starting from a near-zero base. Most of the money provided in the past have been spent on purchasing hardware; vehicles, weapons, signals equipment, aircraft, naval craft, etc. This costs large sums of money. In fact, more than two-thirds of the annual Defence expenditure go to this kind of expenditure which does not enrich our people but merely enriches the nations which supply us with these weapons. Most of the essential expenditure on military equipment has been completed, and that is why there has been a reduction in expenditure. The Member need not be so worried about our Air Force. First of all, he is not right in saying that our subsonic aircraft, like the Hunters and the A-4s, are not equipped with air-to-air missiles. They are equipped with Side-winder missiles which are extremely potent weapons. As regards supersonic aircraft, this has been ordered some years ago and deliveries will commence in February next year so that by the end of next year we will have a full squadron of supersonic F5E Northrop aircraft. This will be enough for us in the foreseeable future. As regards the Navy, of course, our fishermen have been attacked.”
“As regards uniforms, the-Member may not be aware that there is not only a distinction between combat and non-combat uniforms but we also have something like six different types of uniforms for soldiers. So that is enough. Whether they are properly tailored or not, opinion differs. We have different sizes and the uniforms are ready-made, off-the-shelf. A recruit goes to the General Equipment Base and he gets from the Quarter- master uniforms which are more or less according to his dimensions. If it does not fit him, he can then swop it with other soldiers in his company. It is not perfect, but I am afraid we cannot give every soldier tailor-made uniforms. As regards women's uniforms, I agree that improvement is possible. In fact, three months ago the Uniforms Committee of the SAF proposed a now style of dress. Unfortunately, this came in the middle of an economy drive and the cost of changing over to this new type of uniform came to more than a quarter million dollars. So we said that we had better defer this until the rate of our GNP increase goes up to 10% or more. That about answers the points raised by the two Members.”
“Bad luck to him. First of all, before he comes to serve in the Army, he must return to Singapore. That does not depend on the Army. It depends on the Immigration Department. If he has lost his Singapore citizenship, then he cannot come back. If he cannot come back to Singapore, he cannot join the Army. So, first of all, he should try and get back his Singapore citizenship. Now the Member for Telok Blangah. He had made a number of suggestions to improve the recruitment of regulars, and also suggested mobile exhibitions and showing of weapons and so on. Actually, this was done by the SAF on quite a substantial scale in the early years when we had difficulty in recruiting regulars because the local population says, "Nails are not made of good iron and good men do not become soldiers." But now soldiering is part of a Singaporean's life. Maybe a third of families in Singapore have got children who have done or are doing national service. So soldiering is no longer something strange. As a result we have very little difficulty in recruiting regulars. In fact, all we need do is to advertise in the papers and the number of applications is much larger than the number of persons we need. We can select the best from among them. As regards security classification of weapons, I am not quite clear what he means. If he reads the Pioneer, which is the soldier's magazine, he will find all kinds of weapons systems described; how soldiers use it, how soldiers are trained to use it. There are pictures of general purpose machine guns and pictures of 106 millimetre recoilless guns in the infantry as well as artillery and other weapons. So we are not keeping these a secret. There is no reason for us to keep this secret because everyone knows that we have them. 4.30 p.m.”
“This is equivalent to the demerit points used among civilian drivers. When he reaches the age of 21 years, he can apply for a Class IV driving licence, which will enable him to drive lorries and get a well-paid job in the civilian sector. Some 2,500 reservists have taken advantage of this policy. Also, regular drivers who have an accident-free record every three months and who have driven not less than 5,000 kilometres get a special bonus of $50. As regards the morale of soldiers, the Member says it is not good. Soldiers complain that they are given confused instructions. Soldiers everywhere grumble. Singaporeans are great grumblers. The Singapore soldier is the champion grumbler. When the Indian General, a very famous General, Field Marshall Maneckshaw was here, I told him, "Look, our soldiers are always grumbling. There is something wrong with the Army." He said, "If they do not grumble, then there is something wrong with the Army. You then have got to be very careful."”
“We will not take disciplinary action against the soldier. But very often when stories of this kind are sent to me and I check them up, it appears that the truth is something else. To come back to drivers. When a driver is involved in a fatal accident, he is taken off driving immediately. Then we will wait for the result of a Police investigation or a court case. If it is found that he is not at fault, he is then restored to his driving vocation. My guess for the relatively low rate of accidents for the semi-skilled or even unskilled drivers driving very lethal vehicles, such as the Army 3-ton trucks, is that it is due largely to the strict discipline enforced in the Army. A driver is under the direction of a Vehicle Commander. Then the Army Military Police sets speed traps, both by radar as well as by motorcycle patrols. Any military vehicle found exceeding a speed limit is brought up for disciplinary action. Depending on the margin that exceeded the speed limit, a fine is imposed ranging from $40 to $100, both on the driver and the Vehicle Commander. This is done automatically. So cases of Army vehicle speeding are very rare. Most Members will agree. As regards improvements, we have recently learnt from the New Zealand Army in Singapore and have introduced a course on defensive driving. We have also built a skid-pan which is a large area with a smooth surface. We made it so smooth that the vehicle will skid. We are also building a new driving circuit at the cost of $2 million, which will be ready by 1979. All these will go to improving the driving standards. On the positive side, any national service driver on completion of national service and who has not committed more than two traffic offences would be eligible for Class III driving licence.”
“Those who are accident-prone, that is, they are involved in two accidents during the six months for which they are to blame, are taken off the driving vocation and subjected to another test just to make sure that they are not malingering. In the case of the young soldier that he has mentioned, assuming that the facts are true this is not always the case because our soldiers like to bluff innocent Members of Parliament -”
“Sir, a number of points have been raised and I will deal with them as best as I can. The time spent will be in proportion to the importance of the subject raised. The Member for Anson mentioned the poor driving standard of drivers. This complaint is a hardy perennial and I think I had better give the House a full account of the driver's training in the Army. We have in the SAF no less than 4,310 drivers. Why this large number of drivers? The reason is that we have got plenty of vehicles. The SAF has twice the number of transport vehicles as there are in Singapore Bus Service. For instance, last year we trained 3,760 soldiers in driving, of whom 3,165 passed. The course is over seven weeks. These are 18-year old boys and we have got to get them on a 3-ton truck and in seven weeks convert them into an Army Driver. Members may say that this is a very dangerous thing to do. Indeed it is. However, I do not accept the Member for Anson's criticism that accident rates in the Army are very high. In 1977 the accident rate was 2.64 accidents per 100,000 kilometres travelled. This includes accidents in which both the Army driver and the civilian driver are responsible. Police investigations showed that the split is 50/50 approximately. Though the rate may be low (2.6 per 100,000 kilometres) the SAF vehicles ran more than 48 million kilometres last year. This resulted in 1,271 accidents, which is large in total but in proportion to mileage it is a manageable figure. By comparison there were more than 27,000 civilian accidents according to the Police records. How do we improve driving standards? First, after the driver has completed and passed his course, he is sent to a unit and he is kept under close observation for six months.”
“Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Labour whether he is aware of the serious labour shortage existing today in coffee shops, small restaurants/eating houses and provision shops, as our young Singaporeans are not interested to work in such places, and, in view of the important role such establishments have played in the economic development of Singapore, if he will consider relaxing the issue of work permits to sponsors applying for permits for their prospective employees.”