He Ting Ru
Singapore
“When our researchers develop AI system that work across Southeast Asian languages, we create tools that can be deployed in our own service sectors, our hospitals, our schools. When our companies lead in AI adoption, we generate demand for new skills, new roles and new industries that our workers can be trained into.”
“Thank you, Sir. I would like to ask the Minister for further colour about the longitudinal tracking of bullying incidents, as in my Parliamentary Question, both in terms of perpetrators and how does the Ministry actually track that.”
“Mr Speaker, while I am supportive of the Government's zero tolerance approach towards stamping out vapes, we should also be holistic and mindful of the socio-economic and even possibly psychological undercurrents that give rise to vaping.”
“With decisions like periodic increases to tobacco duties, I hope we are seeking to maximise the sin tax impact instead of considering its revenue impact. Similarly, we should be doing more to curb the health impacts of public smoking, for instance, by tackling smoking while walking.”
“Sir, I would like to once again thank our Parliamentary staff for their work in ensuring the smooth running of the various functions of our Parliament. And with that I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. [(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“For instance, during a debate on the Online Safety Bill, we proposed that OSC submit annual reports detailing the number and categories of reports received, directions issued and findings of online harms trends.”
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“If we want to shift our focus towards holistic societal well-being rather than keeping a narrow focus on an increasingly outdated measure that is GDP, sports indicators should be one of the first places we should look at. This is because, one, access to sports needs to be a right for residents in Singapore, especially as it embodies dignity, equality and other values Singaporeans agree should form the core of our society. Two, sports are instrumental to many other things we see as important to our well-being, including our physical and mental health, and play an important role in other national priorities, including fostering national cohesion and the creation of sustainable good jobs. As my WP colleagues have spoken about participation in sports at the top levels, I would like to share some observations about more general participation in sports in our daily life, which I believe should be a key part of our measurement of sporting success. Besides the obvious benefits outlined above, I believe participation in sports at any level can teach us many life lessons that will stand us in good stead as we go along our path in life. I was, for most of my early years, fairly bookish and sedentary and did not particularly enjoy any type of physical activity. Yet, this changed at university, when I was persuaded by friends to attend a football training session for our college one weekend in my first week. Still a little homesick and coming to terms with a new life in a foreign land miles from home, and despite never having watched the game beyond clips of highlights occasionally on TV as I was growing up, my curiosity got the better of me.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, today, I will speak about the development of Singapore as a sporting nation for all. I believe that sporting success, as the original Motion calls for, should not only be measured in terms of winning medals and doing well in various rankings, but also measured in terms of wider participation in sports across all segments of society. Specifically, I will talk about how we do on accessibility and participation in sports and how this measurement should form an important part of our national developmental dashboard, an idea I first raised in Parliament in early 2022. I will also touch on inclusion in sports, from how we provide for the mental well-being of our athletes, to the crucial and important role that sports play to work with and support persons with disabilities and also neurodiverse individuals. SportSG recently released its National Sport Participation Survey (NSPS), which took place for the five years between 2018 and 2022. It tracks sports participation across a few indicators and it is heartening to see that, for once, there appears to be a positive correlation associated with the pandemic: that regular sports participation rates increased to an all-time high of 74% last year. This is clearly an achievement worth celebrating and I hope that this can be maintained. Yet, we must continue to improve, to look to countries like Norway, where in 2021 a whopping 97% of those aged 16 and above participated in outdoor activities and 86.9% stated that they had participated in various exercise activities. We should include measures of sporting success as part of a development dashboard tracking our country's holistic development.”
“Thank you, Sir. I thank the Minister earlier for agreeing to look into the using of common spaces, such as RC centres and air-conditioned rooms in our CCs, to provide sanctuaries in case of haze. I would like to ask whether, at the same time, there could also be a request made to looking into these spaces and making them available to become heat sanctuaries in periods of heat waves and also when there are high temperatures for over prolonged periods? Because some of our elders and some of our residents might not have access to cooling devices or just cool environments.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. The reason why I raised this question was because recently, at a Meet-the-People Session (MPS), a resident approached me for help on this matter. Obviously, he had gotten involved in an accident. I do not believe that there was any personal injury case, but there was obviously damage to the vehicle. He was actually told at the time that nothing could be done if the counterparty failed to file an accident report with his insurance company and, therefore, the only action he could take was a civil suit. But obviously, as you know, going to Court and all of that can be stressful. It is time consuming and also, even though it might be the Small Claims Tribunal, it is intimidating and it can also be costly in a way. I am just wondering whether there is anything else that can be done even though we note that only 12 complaints were received about this; whether there is anything else that can be done to prevent this from happening. Again, I do not know if the Ministry has any further data about how widespread this problem is because it might be that no official complaints were filed and this practice has been done. There was also an article to the Forum page recently about this matter. So, obviously, this is happening, and I am just wondering what else can be done to assist the motorists who actually find themselves in this unfortunate situation.”
“Furthermore, apart from relying on the CPIB report and given the questions raised, they actually go beyond criminal matters, were there any other specific steps that were taken to ensure that there was adequate independence throughout the review?”
“One clarification for Senior Minister Teo. Senior Minister Teo stated that he was not within the chain of command in making the decision, therefore, he was not involved in the matter and, therefore, he headed this review. Senior Minister Teo also mentioned earlier that he relied on the independent CPIB report. However, when the declaration was made to him back then, and Senior Minister Teo was made aware of this matter, I assumed that he was already satisfied then that all actual or potential conflicts of interest were satisfactorily addressed back then and, therefore, the matter was put to rest at the time; otherwise, he would have voiced his concerns at that time. Given the public interest in the matter and the importance of public perception that there was no wrongdoing, what was the reasoning behind asking Senior Minister Teo to investigate the matter this round? Were there really no other options or individuals who could have led the review? After all, CPIB usually looks at whether there have been any breaches of criminal laws, which they have investigated here and cleared the Ministers of doing. The review headed by Senior Minister Teo would also need to go beyond criminal matters, including looking at whether there have been any breaches of the Ministerial code of conduct or the rules of prudence and also about the perception and the conflicts. I ask again because if Senior Minister Teo had been satisfied back then that any actual or potential conflicts of interests were actually addressed satisfactorily, it seems strange to ask him to now relook his earlier conclusion that everything was adequately addressed.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. I just have one quick supplementary question. I just wanted to ask whether there is a consistency in these rules and guidelines that are applied across all schools, because I noticed in some of the reports that there are some schools which actually switched to wearing PE uniforms and some of them do not. So, I am just wondering whether there is a consistency that is applied across all the schools so that, let us say, if I am a parent and I have got children in different schools, I do not get confused about what applies across them.”
“Just a quick follow-up because I understand that there have been reports of this being done in international or maybe Indonesian waters around Singapore. So, I am just wondering whether there are any initiatives or joint actions being taken with our surrounding neighbours to make sure that this is not affecting – because of the transnational nature of these actions, to explain to us whether or not we are doing anything with our neighbours in order to tackle this issue.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just a quick supplementary question. Given the rapid development of AI and the specific nature of AI which might be different from more traditional technologies, I was just wondering whether there was anything more particular or specific schemes or any protections to be put in place to protect citizens against AI-powered scams, for example, voice cloning, and whether these are actually being considered and what is the expected timeline for implementation.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just a quick follow-up. I am just wondering when this framework is going to be ready.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just a quick supplementary question. Are there a series of warnings or other types of escalating measures that healthcare institutions can take with patients and/or their family members for behaviour that constitutes abuse or harassment? For example, would there be any intervention from a social worker or someone with conflict resolution training to ensure that healthcare staff do not deal with the situation alone? And how many warnings are issued? What is the process before any punitive action is taken against these individuals?”
“After all, as noted in a 2019 article in the Harvard Business Review, when trust is given, you empower the recipient and, in doing so, you develop team members to become stronger contributors and this leads to further empowerment of leaders. The next lap for Team Singapore then is how to continue to build mutual trust between the Government and the people in a world that changes ever more rapidly, and how to keep working on this trust as a strong foundation to fulfil our ultimate aim of unity in diversity. I support the Motion.”
“We should start finding ways to trust our people to be able to maturely and responsibly handle more information, rather than assume the worst of them. In this regard, our Manifesto contains a proposal for a Freedom of Information Act to be enacted, with exceptions for matters relating to national security and defence. Having more information in the public domain leads to a more informed society and builds a democracy where citizens are exposed to all shades of opinion, because public interest is served through enhanced transparency and where communities are best able to make informed choices. For example, greater knowledge and transparency on the Budget process let our people understand the sometimes-difficult trade-offs that policymakers have to make and to get buy-in on why we have to push ahead with certain unpopular policies. Indeed, a 2016 paper by Hollie Russon Gilman found that more information leads to collaborative decision-making which, in turn, improves processes and delivery of services, as communities work towards sustainable development and engaged civic innovation – which I cannot help but note is the ostensible goal of the Forward Singapore exercise. On reservations expressed about the costs of enacting such laws, or concerns that civil servants may start trying to take truncated notes as ways to get around freedom of information requests, I hope we have more faith in the integrity and the professionalism of our civil servants and to entrust that they will find means and harness technology to make the administration of such requests more efficient and less costly.”
“The Government often quotes the high levels of trust our people have in Government and public institutions as being key to our success as a nation. And it is true that we have largely avoided the deep political divide that is believed to have contributed to phenomena like the partisan response to mask mandates and vaccine roll-outs in countries like the US, and that this greatly benefited us in our whole-of-nation fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, what this narrative often neglects is that for any healthy, resilient relationship to properly function, trust has to be present in both directions. During COVID-19, I saw the best in people, not just when we trusted the institutions in their new mandates, but when members of the institutions trusted in people to do the right thing, be it residents who stayed home even when no one was watching, or residents who checked in and bought food for their vulnerable neighbours who had to isolate. People do the right thing. Maybe not always, but very often they do. Apart from expecting and demanding that our people continue to trust in public institutions and leaders, we also need to find ways to repay that trust, to be able to show that we can trust our people. Which makes it an appropriate time to ask the question: after all these generations of nation-building, do we trust our people? And if not, why not? And how can we move to building systems and networks where we can reap maximum benefits for the greater good of our nation that are built on strong mutual trust? One concrete way in which we can start to display and build the trust we have in our people is to look at the information that we make available to all.”
“Currently, the process that a worker must go through before reaching the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) can seem complicated and daunting to someone who is not familiar with the law. The Tripartite Committee should consider how the system may be simplified and streamlined. One way is to empower workers to decide whether they wish to attempt mediation or go directly to the ECT, instead of requiring mandatory mediation. Forcing parties to mediate may be counterproductive in some situations and could also re-traumatise workers who have had particularly bad experiences at their workplace. Additionally, the upcoming workplace fairness legislation is but a first step towards a more diverse and equal Singapore. It does not address the important principle that discrimination cannot be tolerated in every aspect of life. In December 2022, the UN called on member states to enact comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation which goes beyond the workplace. I am sure that many of us have heard troubling accounts about discrimination in schools, in the housing rental market, in healthcare and beyond. The role of the law is indispensable in sending a clear signal that discrimination is not tolerated in Singapore and I hope that we can consider our part in enacting a comprehensive anti-discrimination law to ensure that nobody in Singapore has to feel like they are not equal to or less than others. Finally, I would like to share my thoughts on the topic of trust – another recurrent theme of late. It is true that a healthy, good relationship is always built on a bedrock of trust and that the maintenance of this trust is a constant work-in-progress and it shifts and flexes with the effluxion of time.”
“This is important, considering that the Milieu survey found that the most common form of discrimination is indirect discrimination. In addition, in line with best practices around the world, the denial of reasonable accommodations should also fall within the meaning of "discrimination" in the new legislation. This would also fulfil our international law obligations as a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are adjustments at the workplace that are afforded to a person with protected characteristics to assist them in enjoying equal employment opportunities. This issue is especially important to the disability community, which continues to face issues of severe unemployment and under-employment. Reasonable accommodations, such as the provision of screen readers or an accessible office environment, are important for disabled people to contribute meaningfully to our economy. They are also important for other groups, such as breastfeeding mothers, who may require a lactation space in the office, Muslims who require time off to go for Friday prayers and carers who may need flexible work arrangements. Finally, in realising our aspiration to be an inclusive society, I also hope that we can make the procedure for bringing a discrimination claim more accessible, especially for disabled people. As the Disabled People's Association noted in their response to the interim report, many disabled workers do not report the discrimination they face because the reporting channels are themselves not accessible to them. We should also make the process of trying to enforce these laws as simple and user-friendly for workers who may not have the time or energy to go through a lengthy or complicated process to seek recourse.”
“First, while the interim report proposes new prohibited grounds of discrimination such as nationality, pregnancy status, mental health conditions, on top of existing TAFEP grounds of age, race, gender, religion, marital status and family responsibilities, it does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This is glaring in the wake of last year's repeal of section 377A of the Penal Code and our Prime Minister's acknowledgement that members of the LGBTQ community are our "colleagues, our brothers and sisters, or some of our children". Second, the interim report does not contain a definition of discrimination and it is unclear whether or not, indirect discrimination will be covered within its ambit. This was noted by the law firm Baker McKenzie, who also published commentary stating that in jurisdictions such as Australia and Hong Kong, both direct and indirect discrimination is unlawful. For those unfamiliar with the concepts, "direct discrimination" refers to intentional discrimination against an individual, while "indirect discrimination" refers to a situation where a person is disadvantaged by a requirement that applies equally to all persons, but has the effect of creating disadvantage against a particular group of people because of a particular characteristic; an example of which would be a ban on headwear at the workplace for all, but has the effect of disproportionately affecting Muslim women or Sikh men more than other groups. Clarity in the new legislation is important for both employers and employees. Upcoming legislation should make clear that all forms of discrimination will not be tolerated in Singapore and prohibit all types of discrimination.”
“To address concerns about adding to the business cost, I hope that we can properly quantify what cost this would entail, both as an absolute number across the industry and as a percentage of total construction costs, as a first step to find effective solutions to replace this outdated practice. I note that Members in this House have been asking about the possibility of using buses to ferry workers all the way back to at least 2010 – 13 years ago. There is dignity in ensuring high safety standards for all. I hope that we can be bold and commit to a timeline for this to happen. Beyond broad calls for better inclusivity, I would like to hone in on a specific piece of upcoming legislation: anti-discrimination legislation for the workplace. In Mdm President's speech, she reiterated the importance of ensuring a broader and more open meritocracy that works well for Singaporeans. I believe that anti-discrimination legislation is a key tool in achieving this goal. The workplace fairness law was announced by the Prime Minister during the 2021 National Day Rally and we are glad that this is in line with the WP's 2020 manifesto's proposal that we enact legislation to take this step to join the majority of countries that legislate against discrimination at the workplace. With the Milieu Insight report last year finding that one in two workers in Singapore experienced workplace discrimination in the last five years, the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation for the workplace cannot come soon enough. In this regard, I noted that the interim report was published earlier this year by the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness and would like to share some thoughts on its contents.”
“I therefore reiterate the calls made by my colleague, the Member for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Mr Leon Perera at this year's COS to reduce the imbalance between migrant workers and employers with a view to improve safety standards and ultimately protect lives and livelihoods. His proposals include better protection to allow workers to feel more comfortable in calling out unsafe practices by instituting whistle-blower protections to ensure confidentiality for such complaints. And for migrant workers in particular, it sometimes seems that there is a dignity deficit in the way we treat them. These are people who literally build our country. Recent episodes relating to the way we address the most basic needs of our workers – from inadequate nutrition to poor food handling practices such as lunches left out by the road side exposed to pests and the elements, to the debate over whether standards for new foreign worker dormitories are enough – show that we still have far to go in treating these essential workers with dignity and respect. This also extends to the way we handle their transportation. Just last month, I was driving down the expressway with my five-year old, when he suddenly blurted out, "Why are there so many workers riding on the back of that lorry over there? Isn’t it dangerous? Why do we have to buckle our seat belts and use car seats to keep us safe, when those workers are sitting like that? Is their safety not important?" I had no answers for him and would like to reiterate calls that I made during the debate on the amendment to the Road Traffic Act in 2021 to ban the ferrying of workers in this manner.”
“Moving to our blue collar and migrant workers, we appear to be forgetting many key issues that captured our attention during the pandemic. The work that they do may historically have been lower wage and lower status, but without them, where would we be today? The Met Service recently released their report on the urban heat island effect being pronounced in Singapore and I hope that this would underscore the urgency in tackling issues relating to heat inequality. The disproportionate effect that a warming world has on blue collar manual workers and also our more vulnerable households, needs to be better understood and addressed and this is particularly urgent, given last week's logging of a temperature of 36.1°C in Woodlands. We need to do our best to alleviate discomfort for workers as well as ensure that workplaces – particularly outdoor workplaces – are safe. Many of us on both sides of the aisle have also spoken about the topic of worker safety, following the number of workplace related deaths and injuries in recent years. While it is likely that casualty rates could fall this year as the pressures of worker shortages and COVID-delays ease, we must reflect deeply on tackling the structural issues that contribute to unsafe working environments for our workers. It is a positive step that the Government has continued to take a tough stance through our criminal justice system against safety violations, but I cannot help but note that these responses only take place after the casualty occurs.”
“Some of these points have been made time and again in this House, but they bear repeating, because we have a ways to go when it comes to moving the needle in a meaningful way. On our invisible, unpaid workers, the Workers' Party (WP) manifesto calls for greater recognition of unpaid labour, as a first step to develop policies that guard against these essential workers ending up with a lack of resources and even becoming indigent in what should be their golden years. In my maiden speech in 2020, I had called for quantification of the work done by these workers, asking for time-use surveys to be a part of our national statistics system. This would make such work more visible, better valued and ultimately, allows us to concretely measure the magnitude of the work undertaken and also the success – or not – of our policies in supporting our unpaid workers. And while it is important to get the economics right, we must also ensure that holistic support coming from the entire surrounding ecosystem is in place, from ensuring that flexible work arrangements and meaningful accommodations are accessible to individuals who have to juggle additional caring responsibilities on top of their paid work. As brought up by many in this House, legislation in the forms of right-to-request or even anti-discrimination legislation have an important role to play in bringing this about. And even when such schemes are implemented, we must also continue to remove internalised barriers that prevent our caregivers from leaning in to take advantage of these schemes and accommodations, and make them feel that they should not have to hesitate to use them for fear of being perceived by their employers to be less valuable as a colleague who does not have the same domestic responsibilities.”
“Mr Speaker, in Mdm President's speech and over the last few days, we have heard that many of us in this House agree that we must stay united in order to face the turbulence in our journey ahead of us. In an increasingly multi-polar world, I hope that we will, at the same time sharpen our skills and ability to maintain unity in diversity; whether this is the diversity of different backgrounds, cultures, abilities, or even political views and allegiances. It is not a foreign concept in fields such as management and relationship counselling, that disagreement – done respectfully – can be turned into an opportunity to strengthen bonds and build a stronger team. And it is my hope that we can sharpen our skills and ability to do this Singapore and to lead by example here in this House. Indeed, greater inclusivity and respect between diverse individuals and groups has to go beyond lip service – the multiple cross-Ministry and cross-agency task forces, national conversations and consultation exercises set up to look into this matter are only one step in the work to be done for us as a nation to move towards greater inclusivity and accommodation for all. The principle and embrace of our diversity must form the backbone and core of our systems in all areas, whether they be the education system, our built environment, or the workplace. I recall from my growing up years the oft-repeated refrain that our people in Singapore are our only – and greatest – resource and it is this that I will focus my speech on today. To strengthen inclusivity amongst our people, I believe these groups of workers need further attention – our invisible workers who undertake the unpaid labour that forms the backbone of our families and society and our blue collar workers, including migrant workers.”
“I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I just have a very quick supplementary question. Just wondered, what was the assessment of the effectiveness of the POFMA legislation and, obviously, all the tools available under the POFMA regime given to the Ministries in the various authorities in order to combat these falsehoods that resulted from COVID-19-related misinformation being circulated?”
“I further understand that hospitals will now start to charge for these important medications. Would the Minister be able to confirm that this is, indeed, the case and to explain the rationale behind such a move? After all, the drugs are meant to be prescribed to high-risk patients who are more likely to be seen in hospital settings. Finally, to close on a personal note, I would like to record my deep gratitude to the dedicated individuals who pushed through their stress and fatigue to provide high standards of care for all of us who were in the hospitals and other care settings. This included my then-one-year-old when he was warded at KKH after suffering from a COVID-19-related emergency just a little over a year ago. Your compassion, kindness and understanding never wavered towards a bewildered and confused pandemic baby unused to strangers and foreign environments despite him crying through the night at 15-minute intervals. I am forever thankful for how you cheerfully suited up each time so that you could hold him and try to calm him while I snatched precious moments, seconds, to use the toilet. We owe our post-pandemic freedoms today to our everyday heroes and I hope that we do right by them in repaying the debt that we owe them by valuing them in concrete ways and also by ensuring that the sacrifices made and lessons learnt along the way are implemented in any future public health crisis that we face. For that, I support the Motion.”
“We are, therefore, missing the chance to be able to provide more efficient, targeted measures of support and education for these groups, to be given the timely and adequate levels of help that they need. This has implications on the physical and mental well-being of our population, with an impact on our recent moves to a different approach to health and the expected increased care cost burden as our population ages. Equally alarming, too, is the finding by Mercer Marsh Benefits that Singapore ranks lowest in Asia for help given by employers to make adjustments to the job to cater to employees suffering from "long COVID". Additionally, many people I speak to would mention that they are not quite the same after coming down with COVID-19 but are either unaware of or do not understand what "long COVID" is. How do we ensure that sufferers are seeking both treatment and help, particularly for those whose livelihoods and abilities to either work or study have been affected by poorer or sub-optimal health? There is also a sense that weakened immunity post-infection, coupled with the removal of social interventions to curb the spread of COVID-19, has also led to the circulation of more cases of infectious illnesses like upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and I hope that we can be mindful of this as we track workplace and educational performance for these affected individuals. I would also like to seek a clarification. Now that we have fully shifted to living with COVID-19, I understand and appreciate that the full subsidies previously offered to patients suffering from COVID-19 are being stepped down. In particular, COVID-19 antivirals, such as Paxlovid, will remain fully subsidised for clinically eligible patients in outpatient settings.”
“These can range from gastrointestinal problems, fatigue, respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath to cognitive impairments, alongside psychological conditions, such as depression and anxiety. While findings are mixed, some studies have even suggested that women, older people and those of minority ethnicities appear to be more severely affected. There is natural concern about economic and health impact, adding to the hidden toll of the pandemic that we must not forget. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis published in The Lancet even seems to have found a worrying 45% of patients, regardless of hospitalisation status, still suffer from unresolved symptoms four months post-infection. Indeed, The Lancet also recently estimated, too, that approximately 65 million people worldwide are estimated to struggle with "long COVID" and that one in 10 people with "long COVID" stop working. This results in an extensive economic loss. Given that we have reported more than 2.2 million COVID-19 cases, even a small percentage of this would be significant. While I acknowledge that the condition is poorly understood, complex and variable, the Ministry of Health (MOH) stated in April last year that it did not track the incidences of "long COVID". This is a missed opportunity, not only because it means many recovered patients, particularly those for whom these after-effects may not be severe, may be suffering in silence, and it affects their productivity, both at home and at the workplace. They also do not have access to the treatment and care that they need to have a better quality of life. It also means we are not capturing data about whether certain groups are more adversely affected.”
“These areas bear special attention, as such groups may have fallen further behind, particularly in the wake of the high inflation we have been experiencing over the last year. Additionally, as I mentioned in my speech during the Government's White Paper on Singapore Women's Development, I asked about the effect the pandemic has had on the gender wage gap and the effect of the chronic undervaluing and underpaying of work – paid and unpaid – that is traditionally done by women. This is despite this work being deeply important and essential, as all of us learnt first-hand during the lockdown days in particular. While we have seen some wage adjustments to various sectors from education and care work, this does not address the hard work that needs to be done to ensure that our structures reflect the great value that we must place on the work that these often invisible and overlooked workers do. These points have also been backed up by studies and data, such as the United Nations' (UN) findings on the disproportionate adverse effects that COVID-19 had on women and girls, including the negative impact on economic, physical and mental well-being. There was also concern that women and children were being exposed to higher levels of domestic violence and, indeed, in Singapore, there have been findings that family violence has increased from 2020 to 2022. I also hope that attention can be given to the still little-known phenomenon that we often refer to as "long COVID". This is what happens when survivors of COVID-19 find themselves being plagued with a variety of effects long after they have recovered from the acute phase of the illness.”
“Just yesterday, The Straits Times reported the findings of a Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) poll that while most Singaporeans believe they emerged from the pandemic in good shape, more households with children and elderly reported drops in quality of life, compared with the general population. Likewise, 38% of youths aged 15 to 19 reported drops in the quality of life, compared with 28% for the general population. Yet, there has been scant mention of well-being and mental health in the White Paper. The pandemic led to job losses, business failures, school closures and families spending extraordinary amounts of time together indoors, which have, in turn, led to unprecedented stress and pushed our coping mechanisms to breaking point. On top of everyday anxiety over catching an unknown and possibly fatal illness, individuals, families and businesses have had to cope with movement restrictions and ever-changing rules relating to what we can or cannot do. I hope that the promised protocols and provisions for mental health for Healthier SG will be made available as a matter of urgency and that they will sensitively take into account the after-effects of COVID-19 and the findings of the Mental Wellness Taskforce. Even as we move forward from COVID-19, we must not forget to pay special attention to the gaps that were exposed by the pandemic. A 2021 paper by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) stated that residents in the lower-income groups were more disproportionately hit by lockdown and movement restrictions and that Malay respondents to the study were more likely to report adverse economic effects as a result of the movement restrictions.”
“I make this comment after receiving feedback from residents and friends who were subject to quarantine orders, who told me that they often received numerous calls from different departments of various Ministries, each asking them for the exact same information which they had already provided. One even told me that an officer turned up at his house to issue a quarantine order the day after he returned to Singapore, after he had spent much time on the phone with and sending documents to various departments and was already cleared from needing to quarantine earlier that same morning due to being a recently recovered patient. The shift to home-based quarantines, otherwise known as the Home Recovery Programme, rather than quarantine in dedicated facilities, likewise, also resulted in much confusion and jammed hotlines as worried Singaporeans tried to find out more about the new protocols. One area which we also feel warranted more attention in the review and also our future plans has been the impact that COVID-19 has had on the mental well-being of our population and the development of our children. As I mentioned in the recently concluded Budget debate, we appear to be reporting increased feelings of isolation and loneliness and this has a direct impact on our life and healthy life expectancy. Also, many educators have said that they have noticed our younger children appear to be struggling more with mental health and developmental issues and that the Singapore Youth Epidemiology and Resilience Study found high numbers of youth have reported mental health symptoms.”
“The spread of the Delta variant from the breach of our barriers at Changi Airport, along with the Jurong Fishery Port and infamous KTV clusters, meant that our businesses and our restaurants, in particular, had to constantly change plans at short and sharp notice, lurching from trying to adapt their operations to cater from one highly complicated set of rules to the next. It was also a source of great frustration for businesses and organisations that they often had to wait a few days for rules that were specific to their sector to be announced. I, therefore, believe the call we made in July 2021 is still relevant and that we should ensure that we develop a roadmap for future use, clearly laying out support measures pegged to specific restriction levels. It would also be important to share how the authorities weigh up various factors in deciding what restrictions to impose, along with the level of support that will be meted out to individuals. While we all acknowledge that it is difficult to set these matters in stone, having more information and understanding about how decisions are made would be important for both businesses and individuals to plan forward and be psychologically prepared for the various ups and downs that come with any large-scale pandemic, like the one we have just come through. Still on communications, one area which we perhaps could look into is to work out a system of improving our existing structures to ensure that our agencies are able to more smoothly integrate the information they have and to be efficient in processing this.”
“Mr Speaker, three long years of pandemic living was announced to be at an end just last month and many of us heaved a sigh of relief that the remaining measures of our pandemic response were finally behind us. Given the serious and uncertain nature of the pandemic, it was a testament to the hard work, dedication and resilience of our nation, especially our frontline workers, that we pulled through. We have, before us, the Government's internal review of our response being debated today, from which we all hope to be able to better inform our actions and decisions when facing the next public health crisis. While we have comments about the way the review has been conducted, I do believe the report is helpful in identifying the lessons we can take away to build back stronger. First, I will touch on some comments and observations about the communications surrounding our pandemic response before speaking about where I feel our focus should be as we move forward to build our resilience as a nation and as a people. The White Paper states that effective communication and high levels of public trust were crucial in handling the crisis. Indeed, many of us remember being glued to our screens each time the Prime Minister spoke or a press conference was held by the task force, wondering what the latest updates would be and what changes were awaiting us. Yet, I think it is worth reiterating some observations that I made in my speech in this House in July 2021, just after the second Heightened Alert phase was announced. It may seem like a distant memory today, but it was a time of great difficulty, especially for our businesses.”
“It was estimated that this service significantly reduced spending on private tutoring by 816 billion won back in 2011. Admission to Primary School”
“Could we therefore start to publish detailed information annually on the progress made towards admitting students from a more diverse background, so that we know if our efforts are paying off? This would also make it easier for our fellow Singaporeans to measure the success of and thus understand moves, such as relocating popular schools out of central Singapore, in an effort to be more inclusive. We could also move to have our alumni more heavily involved in advising current or even prospective students into our popular schools and IHLs, not because there is a benefit to be gained, but because they wish to genuinely share the benefit of their life experience with younger fellow Singaporeans. Moving on to enrichment programmes, it is true that MOE, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and other agencies are working towards increasing access to tuition. While a good start, these programmes typically focus on more academic programmes, and leave students from lower-income families still unable to attend robotics or AI classes, forest school, for example, and other types of holiday camps which have proven to be equally if not more beneficial for children's holistic development. This would be especially important in today's fast-changing environment, where the ability to pass examinations is only part of a measure of life success. We also need to think outside of the box and go beyond the traditional smaller scale tutoring system. We should also take a leaf out of the book of heavily-tutored countries like South Korea, whose Educational Broadcasting System holds highly accessible lectures for high school students preparing for university admissions examinations.”
“Sir, following the concerns raised during the Budget debates last week about social mobility in Singapore, it is clear that we need to maintain and even redouble efforts to improve access to education and opportunities. At this point, I would like to declare my interest in an enterprise in the education space in markets including Singapore. In order for our schools and universities to thrive, they must be mindful to make themselves accessible to students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Top universities, like the Ivy League and Oxbridge universities often make their admissions statistics widely available and publish targets on increasing access to admit more students from vulnerable or lower-income backgrounds. The careers services of such universities also often heavily emphasise and rely on alumni to maintain guidance for students and former students who have since graduated. Indeed, I was myself involved in being a student mentor at my university, providing mentorship for promising sixth formers, or "A" Levels students, who would be the first in their family to attend university. I also continue to occasionally receive emails from current or recent students of the university, seeking careers advice on topics relating to different career pathways and options. It is with this in mind that we managed to successfully launch a mentorship programme for students in Sengkang two years ago and many of our participants found it helpful to be able to discuss their educational and career options with mentors from a wide variety of backgrounds. I am happy to see more constituencies outside Sengkang starting to roll out mentorship programmes.”
“Thank you, Sir. Just one clarification for Senior Minister of State Tan. I think he mentioned earlier that Government advertising schemes have to target everyone. It appears to me that this is a bit of a missed opportunity to be a bit more targeted and efficient in the spending that we do on our advertising. I think nobody here disagrees that for COVID-19, for example, we have to target the whole of nation and not just Singaporeans, but also people who live in our communities regardless of their citizenship status. The point that I was making is whether we can get better outcomes with the money that we spend. So, would MCI, for example, consider having more targeted advertisement – or rather not just MCI but all the Ministries in general – would they consider having more targeted advertising campaigns rather than take a very broad-stroke approach to ensure that we are just spending more wisely?”
“While public awareness and education efforts are necessary, these are still large sums of money. Additionally, the reply to the same Parliamentary Question above also notes that MCI does not track clicks and impressions as each Ministry is responsible for its own advertising budget and effectiveness. It appears to be a missed opportunity here. MCI should assess the effectiveness of the various different campaigns and outreach programmes across Ministries into which Singapore puts our funds. This will give a better holistic view on how these programmes and campaigns are evaluated and thus adjusted to improve effects or, if necessary, cut for under performance. What are the obstacles in either tracking the effectiveness of these campaigns or publishing reports of KPIs? How else could we address the concerns above? After all, fiscal prudence also means that we need to be able to maximise the bang for our buck, when it comes to spending public funds.”
“Since then, the UK has completed the transition to a 20-year rule and Israel has moved to a 15-year declassification regime for most of its non-security-related foreign policy documents, while remaining sensitive to its current security situation. As Mr Low mentioned, we surely are in a better position than Israel. Thus, it is that we repeat our call for such documents to be declassified, 25 years from the date of record and to make them freely accessible to all. Government Advertising KPIs Mr Chairman, in today's interconnected world, state agencies, like other public facing entities and corporations need to conduct outreach. This is understandable. Singaporeans need and deserve timely accurate and useful information about public services, and also about the work that our Public Service does. What Singaporeans are less informed about is the effectiveness of public relations, outreach and advertising campaigns, run by state agencies. Campaigns and actions run on public money should be accountable to the public, not just in terms of whether there is wrongdoing. There is little indication that this is the case, but it is also about how the money is spent and how effective that expenditure is. Responding to a Parliamentary Question posed last year, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) estimated that Government spend $150 million to $175 million in advertising in FY2019, with increases of between 30% and 50% in FY2020 and FY 2021. MCI estimated then, for the first half of FY 2022, were between $50 million and $75 million. Recently, Singaporeans have also noticed prominent advertising campaigns relating to Ministry of National Development (MND)'s efforts to keep public housing affordable.”
“Thank you, Sir. When we talk about building resilience as a nation, we should also avoid hindering the public's ability to scrutinise and deeply learn about our history so that we and our children may develop a more precise understanding and draw insights from it to formulate better decisions for the future. I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the number and proportion of Government documents that are at least 25 years old and are part of the public archives contained in a publicly accessible National Archives online. First, if declassification continues to be slow, is the Government using or working on one day using new tech, like, AI, to accelerate the process? Secondly, I understand that request on National Archives online take up to 12 weeks. Why are these documents not automatically visible since they are already declassified? This lowers the barriers for research and will foster a broader ecosystem on the study of our history. The Leader of the Opposition earlier spoke what the difficulties he faced when making requests to access certain Government files, despite the documents being made available to researchers previously. Could we thus refine the request process to make clearer the mechanisms available to individuals who wish to appeal against rejections of their requests, by allowing an independent process by which the appeal is adjudicated? This process can also take into account concerns about other decisions surrounding declassification issues. When former Member for Aljunied GRC, Mr Low Thia Khiang, filed a cut on this topic in 2014, he noted that the 30-year rule was adopted by many countries, including the United Kingdom and Israel.”
“They also provide some level of security to businesses by being the lender on record rather than have naturally higher-risk private banks or financial institutions be lenders through difficult times. An EXIM bank can also play a part in developing and exporting green standards by being a sustainable lender or a ranger for capital market instruments. This means the EXIM bank would have full direct information about sustainability-related covenants and information on lenders and issuers to which they issue their products or lend funds to. It can then use these to address data challenges that can cause gaps in regional or even global green and sustainability financial markets. This would thus be a way in which Singapore can use to punch above our weight and bringing the world along in the transition to green financing.”
“EXIM Bank Finally, on an EXIM bank. During last year's debate, during the Second Reading of the Carbon Pricing (Amendment Bill), my Sengkang colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim and I both spoke about the need for an EXIM bank and the role that such a bank can play in our efforts to assist our homegrown businesses, in particular our SMEs, internationalise. This is especially important as our domestic economy has natural limits due to our small size. The role of such a bank can be particularly helpful as we move along the great green transition, where we can seek help for our businesses in a changing world where climate concerns take front and centre. We further noted that while former MTI Minister Lim Hng Kiang expressed reservations about financial and implementation risks that would be involved in setting up an EXIM Bank, apart from the Workers' Party's proposals, MTI's own Economic Strategies Committee has also called for such a bank. Additionally, structuring an EXIM bank well could in fact give us a key competitive advantage. To address concerns about an EXIM bank turning into something akin to an aid agency, exposures to overseas customers could also be managed by lending to a borrower and having the borrower provide vendor financing to its international customers, as a borrower would be more familiar with the market in which it operates. Singapore has limited options when it comes to sustainable energy. Our green financing needs would quite naturally be cross-border in nature. Many EXIM banks from China to Thailand and Hungary have also rolled out green financing facilities, also because EXIM banks have proven to have played a role in preventing complete collapse during times of economic crisis.”
“Additionally, these businesses would also be particularly hard hit by our green transformation. Climate change is an amplifier. While it might sometimes melt into the background as other more pressing and tangible economic concerns take precedence, its impact and undercurrents do not go away. Small and micro-businesses will soon feel the trickle-down effects of increased environmental regulations and pressures. And it is important that sufficient and flexible support is provided for them to build capacity on sustainability matters in these times. This is also, as Senior Minister of State Teo mentioned last week, that we will be enhancing our public procurement strategy, to take into account public sector sustainability efforts. Our small and micro-businesses should not feel confused or overwhelmed by the diverse schemes and other support options available to them with the attendant KPIs and targets. Additionally, could the Government introduce a variety of nudges and incentives to encourage small businesses to more quickly integrate sustainability, in particular environmental sustainability, into their businesses. I would also like to ask how the Government has taken steps to ensure that access to funding and support to navigate and successfully apply for green financing schemes are provided. For example, the Enterprise Innovation scheme could have sustainability integrated as part of the criteria for tax deductions as well as for grants under the co-investment fund. The Enterprise Sustainability programme can also be expanded to include support to access sustainable financing opportunities. Sustainability should be a driving focus of innovation and economic resilience and the Government is a key enabler to making this core to our small businesses.”
“This field therefore appears to hold promise when it comes to providing insight tailored to the specificities of a population and has implications for more efficient use of our resources in our health efforts, from developing effective preventive health strategies to managing or minimising chronic illness, to having more tailored and accurate public education advice when it comes to dietary habits suited to the genetics of our mostly Asian population. The work is cutting edge and is especially cogent in light of the launch of Healthier SG last year. It would also make sense to have such knowledge and input be taken on board into our public health systems in an age of rising health and other care costs. Are our systems sufficiently set up to be able to support such companies to be able to first secure the necessary funding to first research, then develop and market cutting edge products for us to export to the rest of the world? While I note Minister of State Low Yen Ling's reply to me in a Parliamentary Question (PQ) outlining the steps taken to address concerns over potential manpower and talent shortages, particularly at the senior, C-suite levels, I would like further clarification about the success rate of our schemes after more than two decades in training Singaporeans to equip enough of us with the right skillsets to be able to found, lead and expand our companies to make Singapore a prominent player within the biomedical and biotech fields. 11.15 am Accessible Support for Small Businesses On accessible support for small businesses, it is an economically difficult time especially for small and micro-businesses as they battle rising costs and inflation amongst other global headwinds in the wake of COVID-19.”
“Thank you, Sir. Mr Chairman, it was evident during the global panic in the earlier phases of the pandemic that Singapore has to be self-reliant with resources to combat and resist the spread of the next wave of infectious diseases, and that it is important to have a strong biotech and biomedical industry of our own. Our efforts to promote and grow the sector have been in place since 2000. And we have seen increases in manufacturing value add and growth in jobs in the sector. Indeed, figures from 2018 showed that we employ five times more biomedical researchers per capita than the US. The sector also was a bright spot during the economic hard times of the pandemic years. It is also the case that the Government has invested a lot in the sector. The sector does well when it comes to manufacturing, although commentators have said that there is room for improvements for innovation capability. Yet, in spite of this view, some of our biotech enterprises are doing promising, innovative work in interesting areas. For example, as Singaporeans, we are proud of our food heritage and it seems a match made in heaven for our companies to focus on what is going into our bodies and how our bodies react to what we consume. Thus, the research and innovative work done by startups and early stage companies into precision gut microbiomes here in Singapore deserves our full support. I believe that there are currently efforts to maintain Southeast Asia's first and only gut microbiome transplant bank, along with building the world's largest multi-ethnic Asian gut microbiome database. The gut microbiome is neglected at our own peril, as it has also been found to play important roles in regulating our immune systems and controlling brain health and function.”
“How much of the approximately $10 million earmarked for "Manpower Development" in MFA's FY2023 Budget is allocated to equality efforts? Striving for our Singaporean aspirations of equality in the foreign service sets a tone for society – that gender equality is of importance across all areas. Funding for UNHCR”
“Mr Chairman, the emphasis on families and equality in this year's Budget makes it a good time to discuss the role of women in diplomacy. Apart from just looking at the proportion of women in roles across our foreign service, I would also like to understand what more is being done to support women and their families in the foreign service as they move ahead with their careers. International Women's Day is coming up next week. Yet, I note that unlike many countries in the region, such as Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia, we still have not yet had a woman take on the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs. Women in key leadership positions create role models for those who wish to follow in their footsteps. Studies have also found that having women involved in a peace process increases the chances of a negotiation being reached. Getting to those roles, however, may not be easy. The foreign service can be a tough job – being on call, constant travel, frequent relocation and a high stress working environment. This can make having a stable family life particularly difficult. These pressures may fall particularly heavily on women who seek a long-term career in our foreign service. We still live in societies where there are greater expectations on women to be carers and to, perhaps, even forego their career prospects to fulfil these obligations. I would like to ask what steps the Ministry is taking to support women in our foreign service, especially to ensure that they have an equal chance of success. What is being done to regularly review the circumstances faced by women in the foreign service and their families, and improve on existing measures?”
“But if they are designed well, they can go some way to reduce real and perceived conflicts of interest. In doing so, they bolster the public confidence in our Public Service, Legislature and Government by enhancing understanding, full transparency. Digital Transformation for Seniors”
“Mr Chairman, strong institutions and good governance are key in ensuring continued political and economic progress. Singaporeans quite rightly expect high standards of conduct from our elected and public officials. Maintaining public trust is crucial for the effective functioning of our Parliamentary democracy. How then can we better manage and minimise potential or even perceived conflicts of interest for our elected officials and in the Civil Service to ensure the integrity of our public institutions? While the Parliamentary Act 1962 prohibits the over exchange of gifts and fees for influence in Parliament and civil servants are governed by a Code of Conduct which articulates key conduct principle and expected behaviour, the lack of public knowledge of how different interest groups are advanced and handled can lead to misunderstandings or speculations that damage the trust and standing of our elected officials and public institutions. A possible way of managing and deterring potential conflicts of interest is to shine a stronger light of scrutiny on activities that serve to advance various interest groups. Will the Prime Minister Office consider a mechanism to create and administer a public system of declaration for these purposes? Taking the EU Transparency Register as an example, the ideas to open about what interests are being pursued, by whom and with what budgets? It requires that all organisations and interest groups that seek to influence directly or indirectly, policy-making EU institutions including elected officials are registered on the Transparency Register and need to follow a code of conduct. This system is not perfect, but it is a good start. Of course, such mechanisms are not silver bullets.”
“It is only when we and our systems are optimised to extend help and support without judgement that we can lay that crucial feeling of security that is essential for us to build resilience. Moving to the macro, the topic of climate resilience was briefly mentioned in the Budget. Yet, climate resilience goes beyond energy security and adapting to rising sea levels. It encompasses building the resilience of our people and businesses to navigate the climate crisis and ensuring a smoother transition to a more equitable and sustainable future. Blue-collar workers, migrant workers and gig workers will bear the brunt of rising temperatures more than others. With Singapore's temperatures rising twice as fast as the rest of the world, more measures will be needed to enable them to adapt to the effects of extreme heat. Extreme heat and weather events also affect our families. Households in rental flats report that the temperatures in their homes during the day can be quite unbearable, particularly during the dry and hot seasons. More needs to be done to sustainably cool down our buildings, and we need investment in better cooling infrastructure when building flats. So, it is that even as we support this year's Budget, I hope that we will make true and meaningful progress that our people will feel supports them to better navigate the challenges facing us as individuals, as families, as a society and as citizens of the blue planet that we call home.”
“Singapore often ranks high amongst the echelons of sleep-deprived cities, coming in third out of 43 in one of these latest surveys. Sleep deprivation, like chronic stress, has adverse effects on an individual's ability to function. And sleep deprivation also extends to our children. Duke-NUH recently found that teenagers are only sleeping an average of 6.5 hours a night rather than the recommended eight hours for optimal development and functioning. Many of us have children who cry when woken up before the crack of dawn for school, because they are just not getting the required sleep that their growing bodies and minds need. We must pay more attention to this issue and mitigate some of these ill effects while recognising that they are not a panacea. One possibility is to implement later school start times to align with the natural body clocks of our children and adolescents. My colleague, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, previously put forward this proposal and I hope we seriously move to implement later school start times, particularly when less of the workforce is now required to be at the workplace at 9 am. Our policies and systems need to be flexible and compassionate enough to keep up with the rapidly changing and challenging environment that our children, parents and families find themselves in. While we have policies with good intentions, our systems have to be mindful of the amount of mental effort and resources needed from individuals to battle challenging situations. Our systems also need to work together with the people whom they serve to reduce the stress that our people and families are facing in this uncertain world.”
“I fear that sometimes in our haste to encourage more young Singaporeans to have children, we focus so much on how fulfilling the journey is and neglect to address and normalise how we as parents do not have all the answers and can find it really difficult too. This may have an inadvertent consequence of adding to the stress that parents feel, especially when faced with glossy social media feeds of how everyone else seems to "have it together" when reality leaves them feeling exhausted and terrified. Psychological and medical research indicate that stress and clinical burnout can be equally damaging to physical health. Stress is not just in the mind, but can affect people physiologically too, especially chronic stress, which leads to high levels of cortisol, which in turn affect the body's ability to regulate blood sugar, reduce inflammation, regulate metabolism and formulate memories. Just on the work front, Mercer's 2022 Global Talent Trends Survey found that Singapore workers were highly stressed, with 85% feeling at risk of burn-out, and one in five are feeling de-energised at work, double that of the Asia average. For parents, there appear to be fewer studies on the severity of this phenomenon in Singapore. While platforms such as Parentwise have highlighted the real presence of and danger posed by parental burnout, more accessible and effective measures must be in place, particularly as COVID-19 changes from pandemic to endemic. Among lower-income groups, research in the last decade shows links between stress, deprivation and how this can sometimes lead to bad choices, including counterproductive economic behaviours. One of the forms of chronic stress facing Singaporeans is the lack of sleep.”