Hwang Soo Jin
Singapore
“I remember that soon after the Blue Paper was published, a career woman came to see me at one of my Meet-the-people sessions. Speaking for some friends, she complained to me that after hearing the news concerning the Blue Paper, they could not sleep for several nights as they were apprehensive that they would not be able to maintain their…”
“To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether he will direct the Housing and Development Board to look into the need to construct more public lavatories in that part of Ang Mo Kio New Town which falls within Jalan Kayu Constituency, especially in areas where senior citizens regularly meet: (b) what is the number of complaints o…”
“Sir, permit me to just make a short observation. Listening to hon. Members, it gives me the impression that maybe we should forget the whole MRT study and save all the millions of dollars and instead spend it on carrying out a study on the operational efficiency of SBS, Like the Member for Serangoon Gardens, I thought that the answer give…”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think there is still too much of a delaying tactic here as far as I can see. Probably next year the same words will be said again. I just like to remind the Hon. Minister for the second time that the police post at Ang Mo Kio is the result of the closure of the police post in Yio Chu Kang in my constituency.”
“Sir, a rather more pertinent question to ask is whether the handcuffing procedure should not be looked into or reviewed so as to make sure that it is not applied indiscriminately and causing unnecessary embarrassment. I think this is the point of the Member for Radin Mas.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, whether you call it an impasse or foot-dragging or whatever, we have been hearing the same words for more than a year. Last year, the Minister said exactly the same thing. Last year he said that we gladdened his heart, and again this year he says we gladden his heart and we are on his side.”
The complete record
Every one of 521 lines we hold for Hwang Soo Jin, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 11.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, as a piece of legislation to safeguard the interests of architects, the profession ought to be happy with the Bill before the House. However, looking at it as a member of the public, I must express my disappointment that insufficient attention would appear to have been paid to safeguard the interests of the public. In saying so. Sir, I have in mind particularly the need for Government to at least have some say in how an architect's fee should be calculated. At present, I believe architects in the Republic follow an agreed scale of fee fixed by the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA for short). This scale, if I am not mistaken, was taken wholesale from the RIBA, the British counterpart of SIA. With the memory of the fierce rate of inflation in the cost of construction over the last couple of years still fresh in my mind, I do like to question the equity of the customary practice of the architectural profession in calculating fees by applying a uniform percentage on the contract sum of any one particular job irrespective as to the time spent. This would appear to me also to be totally unrelated to the quantity of work involved. Just to give an illustration, if today the contract value of a particular job is $10,000 the architect's fee applicable calculated at 7½% would be $750. But tomorrow, if for any reason either on account of escalation in the costs of building materials or labour, the same job should be valued at $20,000 the architect would still be entitled to 7½% but on the enhanced value, or $1,500, i.e, an increase of 100% in fees: although it is highly questionable whether the quantity of work involved under such circumstances has proportionately increased.”
“Sir, by far, this must be one of the most satisfactory answers that we have got out of so many days of debate. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, you may think that I am being flippant but I seriously think that the Civil Service Staff Development Institute should include in its syllabus a practical course on "How Not to Pass the Buck", and preferably the course should be conducted in a really down-to-earth manner with plenty of practical examples. Sir, behind the habit of buck-passing I suspect are the rather more serious problems of communications breakdown, lack of proper guidance and job descriptions within our entire civil service structure. If a junior officer is put on counter service without adequate training and without being told what exactly is the extent of his authority and function, who is to be blamed for buck-passing? In such circumstances, the convenient way out for the junior officer is obviously to say "You write to us" or "You see your M P'. At times, I wish I can pass the buck too but when the answer is obviously "No", I would rather say "No" and face the consequences of being cursed and sworn at, and in extreme cases, accompanied by acts of spitting on my office floor than to waste people's time and money on a wild goose chase. I believe this is the general attitude adopted by all my colleagues at the Backbench. Our life could be made a little more tolerable if the civil servants could follow our example.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head W be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead BBA 1109*. (* The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr J. F. Conceicao.) Second perhaps only to the complaints of discourtesy and rudeness against civil servants is their habit of passing the buck. Indeed, in his recent speech to the House, the Hon, Prime Minister mentioned that even some of his Cabinet colleagues were at times guilty of buck-passing. We have had some evidence of that during the last few days' debate. In answer to various complaints of inadequacies in services, some Hon. Ministers were only too happy to pass the buck on to the Finance Minister by saying that there was not enough money, whereas in certain instances, I have had my doubts as to whether money alone is the problem. I believe it was Harry Truman when he was unexpectedly called to be the President of the United States of America. He reportedly had installed on his desk a sign which reads "The Buck Ends Here" to serve as a constant reminder to him that he was the No. 1 boss. We are fortunate to have in Singapore a Prime Minister who does not have to be reminded that he is the chief executive and acts as one. Had this not been the case, I dread to think what would have happened to Singapore with the rather prevalent habit of buck-passing. As far as our Hon. Ministers are concerned; to be fair, I would like to think that they are rather overloaded with the day-to-day work of an administrative nature which should more rightly be done by civil servants. Consequently when these Hon. Ministers' plates are too full, they have no alternative but to pass on the buck to somebody else.”
“One expressed rather grave concern to me that principals were asked to borrow films and illustrations from the Family Planning and Population Board to show to their children. His interpretation was that primary school children were to be taught sex education or birth control. These two examples only serve to illustrate a rather sorry state of affairs in the implementation of our education policy. It would seem to me that a very serious communication gap exists in all levels of our Ministry and the schools. The gap would appear to be much worse between the Ministry and the schools. Sir, unless there is greater and constant awareness of the need, on the part of those implementing the policies of Government, for proper dialogue to be maintained between Ministry officers and the schools, policy decisions are unlikely to be correctly interpreted and translated into suitable administrative actions to attain the desired objectives. We have emphasised on greater qualitative improvement in our education system but until and unless the very fundamental problem of communication gap can he satisfactorily resolved. I have my doubts as to the extent of improvement that we can hope to achieve.”
“150 on the same subject was issued, removing all restrictions in the use of School Funds. On the one hand, this news was enthusiastically welcomed by the teaching profession and hailed as a significant step taken in the right direction, and yet in an article entitled "School Funds, a New Look", appearing in the latest issue of the Teachers Rostrum, the author urged that principals would appreciate it very much if some guidelines could be provided for them. This, to my mind, suggests that principals are still at a loss as to how they should go about using their newly delegated authority. Incidentally, Sir, you would have noted that the first Notification No. 73, referred to by me earlier, was issued in March 1975 but by December 1975 the second notification on the same subject has already reached the number 150. In other words, altogether a total number of 78 notifications were issued by the Ministry to schools in a matter of nine months. I do not know what is contained in the other 76 notifications. All that I can say is that I sympathise with the poor principals and teachers in trying to comply with whatever the nature of the numerous notifications, not to mention the poor pupils who obviously suffer in the process. A more recent example is to be found in a seminar conducted by the Ministry. According to the press, at the opening of the Seminar the Senior Minister of State emphasised the need to educate school children on population control. There were, I gather, subsequent speakers from the Ministry. After listening to the various speeches, some primary school principals, I was told, went away from the seminar feeling rather confused as to what they were expected to do.”
“Sir, travelling in an elevator one day recently, I happened to overhear a conversation between two school children. They were arguing as to who was the Minister for Education. Neither of them was obviously in the right and they would appear to realise it too, as they finally compromised by agreeing that what difference did it make whether it was Lee, Chua or Chai. Sir, this little incident, amusing as it may be, illustrates very well the state of confusion we are all in as a result of regular changes in our education policy in recent years from Ministry officers to school principals, teachers, pupils and parents. It would seem to me that very few people really know what is happening at any one moment. Take, for example the subject of the use of the School Funds. More than a year ago, the attention of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament was drawn to the fact that all the schools in Singapore had among them accumulated a total sum of close to $10 million under their School Funds and this large sum of money was left lying idle in banks. The reason, as the Committee discovered, was apparently that principals were at a loss as to how to go about obtaining the necessary approval from the Ministry to use their School Funds. The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, under the chairmanship of the Hon. Member for Katong, then recommended that the money should be used for the purposes intended, since they were collected from the pupils. Subsequently, in March 1975, a Notification No. 73 was issued by the Ministry authorising the principals to incur any expenditure not exceeding $200 from their School Funds. This partial relaxation obviously was not too successful as on 1 7th December, 1975 a further Notification No.”
“Sir, as the saying goes, if you cannot oblige you can always say things obligingly. In view of the fact that the Minister does seem a bit more obliging, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I must say that I am still disappointed with the Minister's reply. Very strong sentiments have been expressed on this side of the House. We have expressed our views very clearly. We are talking of people whose roots are here. They have been here for umpteen years. They have children who are Singapore citizens. But somehow the Minister seems to think that they are not here. This beats me. The very least the Minister can do is to promise us that he will look into the matter. That will at least keep us happy. But he is not prepared to say even that.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I still do not find the Minister's answer convincing at all. He seems to give the impression that by not giving these people permanent residence status we can assume that they are simply not here. They seem to be doing a disappearing trick! As the Member for Bras Basah has rightly pointed out, insofar as discouraging our citizens from marrying non-citizens is concerned, we have a policy which has made it quite clear that if a Singapore youth wants to marry a non-citizen he or she will have to get approval, otherwise he or she could not be registered in the Registry of Marriages here. That is a fact. Is the Minister now saying that this is not the policy of the Government?”
“Sir, as far as I am concerned, the answer from the Minister is totally disappointing. It has a very familiar ring. It reminds me of one of those official replies one gets from a Government department, "Here are the rules arid regulations". The point has been very rightly made by the Member for Bras Basah. The fact that these wives have been here all this length of time, does that not in itself prove that their husbands are financially able to support them? That in itself already proves the point, does it not? So where is this question of financial ability or inability? It simply shows that the officers in the department could not he bothered to try and find out more. They are totally unsympathetic, the way I see it. The Minister mentioned that the $15-visa fee is not important. If that is the case, may I suggest that it be reduced to a nominal sum of $2? If it costs S15 to the Government just to put a rubber chop on the passport, the rate of productivity must be terrible!”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head U be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead DAA 1109*. (* The same amendment also stood in the names of Mr P. Govindaswamy and Dr Ong Leong Boon.) Sir, today in Singapore there are still a fair number of Singapore citizens whose wives, being non-citizens, are permitted to stay on temporary visas renewable at three- to six-monthly intervals. Sir, the sad thing is that many of these non-citizens have been married to our citizens for a great number of years and have even given birth to children in Singapore. But every three or six months they still have to go to the Immigration Department to have their visas renewed. Each renewal costs $15. This may be a small sum of money to some people but to the average working man it is an added burden, not to mention the inconvenience and extra expenses incurred in travelling from their homes to the Immigration Department and back again. Many of these non-citizen housewives have applied for permanent residence status but, as far as I know, very few have been successful. As a result, the impression they have gained is that in the existing arrangement the Government finds a convenient way to generate more revenue. I certainly hope that this is not the case. Would the Minister grant permanent residence status to all these cases? I cannot see any good reason why these people should be left in a state of uncertainty.”
“Sir, after listening to the debate, I have the impression that it is not so much a question of length of service as the work they are involved in that is meaningful. The complaints I have received are that they feel that they are not doing anything meaningful. As described to me by a number of the part-time national servicemen, the in-camp training is no more than a high school picnic. There is nothing much to do. Can I also take this opportunity to ask the Minister for an assurance that those doing part-time national service, who are working people are assigned to camps nearest their homes? Last month two cases came to my notice. Part-time national servicemen who -are staying in Yio Chu Kang were sent to Chua Chu Kang. I am not jumping to any conclusion, but it is possible that someone has got Yio Chu Kang and Chua Chu Kang mixed up.”
“The information is needed not so much for myself. I think it would be better for the Minister to publish the figures for public consumption.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, could I just raise two points? First of all, the Minister mentioned a figure of over 300 cases of complaint. I am just wondering whether he could give comparative figures for the last three or five years, because I think it is necessary and important to make sure that there is a proper system of monitoring complaints to see whether there is, in fact, an improvement in the standard. Listening to the debate in this House from year to year, one seems to get the impression that the same old complaints are being aired. Has there been an improvement? I am not sure if the Minister has the figures available with him. 5.15 p.m.”
“Sir, I am very pleased with the reply. But may I just draw the attention of the House to the fact that there are altogether only 13 staff in the Counselling and Advice Section. If these 13 officers are the entire staff available to handle 6,000 cases during the course of the year, then I think we must make an award to each and every officer for the very high rate of productivity. Sir, on that note, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn”
“I would suggest that the Counselling and Advice Section of the Social Welfare Department should get together with the People's Association and work out a scheme whereby the large staff and voluntary workers at the various community centres, after suitable training, may act as para-counsellors to offer counselling and advice to those who are in need of assistance, as part of a community service which these community centres are supposed to provide. Sir, I notice that the Central Narcotics Bureau is stepping up its manpower presumably to tackle more energetically the serious problem of drug addiction. There is no doubt that an important aspect of their work will involve counselling and advice. There are other departments which are also involved in work of a similar or related nature and will have staff with relevant training and expertise, for example, the psychiatrist attached to the Ministry of Health. If we can pooI all these human and physical resources together and formulate a more comprehensive scheme in counselling and advice and with the support of the public by way of voluntary service, I feel sure that not only would we be able to offer better health to our young people but in the long run to contribute positively towards safeguarding the mental health of our public. 3.00 p.m.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head R be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead BEG 1111. Sir, to give credit where credit is due, over the years the Social Welfare Department has been found to have provided a reasonable service, notwithstanding the low priority placed on services of a welfare nature. This is reflected by the fact that the expenditure on Social Welfare takes up only 0.24% of the Government's total Estimates of Expenditure for FY 76. The practice in the concept of the so-called welfare state, without considering the wider implications, economic and otherwise, has led to the downfall of many political leaderships in the world and in the process the financial bankruptcy of their countries. I am, therefore, all for careful spending on welfare services. But I have always felt that this is an area of government service where inadequate attention would appear to have been paid to the pooling of human resources and the better coordinated use of existing physical facilities. There would appear generally to be a reluctance between government departments to cooperate even in areas where the services provided by them are of a similar or complementary nature. With a very young population as we have today, I can envisage an increasing need and demand for a counselling and advice service. Our young people need to be guided, but in many cases I do not think they know where or who to turn to. Up to this point of time, I believe that the Counselling and Advice Section is involved primarily in helping to settle matrimonial and other family squabbles of a petty nature. I do not think it concerns itself with problems of youths. Except for an office at Pearl's Hill, there are no other offices.”
“Sir, I do not wish to move amendment (7). May I have your permission to proceed with amendment (8)?”
“Sir, I fully agree to the points raised by my colleagues on the care of disabled and retarded children. I feel that both the Government and members of the public have not done enough towards rendering welfare service in this respect. The Member for Bras Basah has rightly said that the Government should take the lead and should not be content with just stressing its viewpoint only. There are only about 300 or 400 places available for disabled children in these homes whereas, there are thousands of disabled children who cannot be well looked after by their families. Members of the family usually have to go out to work and there will be nobody left at home to look after these children. So we cannot just stress that the private sector or members of the public should do more. On the other hand, I would suggest that the Government should take the lead and do something more positive, in terms of physical encouragement besides the moral one.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I must say that I am simply delighted by the reply of the Hon. Minister to my suggestion and I wish him success in his negotiations with the Hon. Minister for Finance. In the event of his being successful, any smoker who should die from smoking could at least die with the knowledge that he died for a good cause! Sir, there is one point that I am still not quite certain and that is the revenue from Toto. Why should the Hon. Minister negotiate with the Hon. Minister for Finance? From the very outset, in the setting up of the Singapore Pools (Pte) Ltd, the objective was laid down cleanly that the money made therefrom is to finance sports. I made the point in my speech during the Budget debate. The company has several millions of dollars in the bank. Why should the Minister for Social Affairs continue to negotiate? I would have thought that it is his might to claim that money. Encik Othman Bin Wok: Sir, on the question of a changing room at Farrer Park tennis courts raised by the Member for Kim Seng, there is a changing room at the sports centre at the moment. I have been there and I saw a changing room there. If that is not enough, we may look into the question of adding a few more for the tennis players.”
“Sir, the Hon. Minister mentioned about approved standards. As far as I can see, there is no approved standard at all, The Hon. Minister for Finance, when he commented on the need to raise the tax on tobacco, said something to the effect that our young people is being enticed into smoking. Up to today the TV is still enticing. Although advertisements on cigarettes are not allowed on radio and TV, advertisements on cigarette lighters are allowed, So what sort of an approved standard is it? Should we not consider the side effect of advertisements on our younger generation? If we are running it purely on commercial lines. I say, yes, we are doing very well. If more people want to advertise, well and good, the Government makes move money. But I think we ought to consider what sort of effect these advertisements will have on our younger generation. If the Minister goes round, he can hear kids humming the tune of "Levi's second generation" or "Coca Cola". This is the sort of culture that we are promoting.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I just want to raise a small point, I do not watch TV very often and I could be wrong. But the impression I get lately is that there has been an increase in the number of commercial advertisements. I can well understand that if we do not have so many advertisements, the Government would probably say that the licence fees should go up. However, we ought to maintain a certain balance between commercialisation and entertainment. Another aspect of it is that from my point of view and that of many people, the advertisements seem to be repeating rather too frequently. It is repeated to such an extent that we can even hear some of the tunes being hummed not only by children but also by grown-ups. We get the impression that we are promoting a sort of "Jean and Coke" culture. I would like the Minister to assure this House that commercial advertisements will be kept within a reasonable limit. Perhaps the same advertisements should not be repeated so frequently on the same day or even during the short space of half an hour.”
“Sir, turning to one or two of the specific points that the Minister has made, on the question of wayangs. I am not quite sure what exactly he is trying to imply. I do not know whether wayangs are directly or indirectly banned. But the fact remains that they are disappearing. The Minister said that as part of the encouragement of cultural activities, we are building on what we already have. As regards dances organised by the People's Association which has organised a lot of dances, it seems to me that many of such dances have, in fact, no relevance to our cultural heritage. Take the Chinese folk dances, for instance. I think the majority of the Chinese in Singapore are from the southern part of China. But you will see that a lot of the dances organised by the People's Association feature Mongolian dances. What sort of relevance is this? I do not know. I am not a man of culture, but if you talk about building on something that we have, this is not so. Another point on which I am very pleased to hear is that the National Gallery is finally going to be ready. I would like the Minister to please ensure that whatever exhibits that we are going to have there will be properly safeguarded because the Auditor-General has just drawn attention to the fact that 1 5 paintings - I believe it is 15 - in the collection of the National Museum donated by members of the public over the years have disappeared.”
“Sir, as I said earlier on, not being a man of culture, I do not know very much about culture. But I must say that I am no wiser now than before the Minister started his speech as to which direction to take. I would rather go along with the Hon. Member for Ulu Pandan. Perhaps if the Hon. Minister could draw up a concrete plan of cultural activities and put it to the House at the next Budget session, then if financial support is really necessary, we will all give our very active support. Some Hon. Members: Hear, hear!”
“Sir, our own excellent efforts in turning the Republic into a Garden City have helped in no small measure to draw tourists to Singapore. This leads me to think that if we promote Culture with the same heart and soul as we put into the promotion of Horticulture, I feel sure that the Nation will derive tremendous benefits both spiritually and economically. Sir, with rapid urban redevelopment our City will soon lose many of our traditional characteristics. Has it ever occurred to the Ministry that before the bulldozers move into any one area, it would perhaps be a good idea to systematically capture either on films or canvas personally I would prefer canvas so that our local painters can be commissioned to do the jobs scenes that may soon be no more so that the generations coming after us will at least have some idea as to the environment of their forefathers. Sir, in many cities in the world permanent open-air display centres are provided for artists -painters and sculptors. The provision of similar facilities at the pedestrian mall in Orchard Road is at present under active consideration by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, but strangely enough the idea did not originate from the Ministry of Culture. Surely there must be many other ways to promote cultural activities which will not cost the Government too much if we are too concerned about money.”
“Artists have no place in our society. This is reflected by the fact that seldom do we see them featured in our National Day Honours list. The Hon. Minister for Culture and the Deputy Prime Minister are frequently seen patronising Cantonese operas performed by visiting artistes, and yet we ban street wayangs which surely are much more relevant to our cultural heritage than the imported operas. I am all for economic development, but I would hate to see all Singaporeans becoming economic animals lacking the ability to appreciate the finer things in life which are not necessarily obtainable with money alone. I do not profess to be a man of culture or to know very much about culture, unlike my Hon. Friend, the Member for Katong. But to me, quality of life in a society should not be measured simply in terms of per capita income, number of TV sets owned, heights of buildings or the number of chimney stacks at industrial estates. These materialistic things are important and vital for our survival, but so is the spiritual aspect of life. Grantinq that economic development should be given top priority in the context of Singapore, and we should be thankful that the Government has done well in this direction, however I suspect there is generally a misconception that the promotion of culture has no relevance to economic growth. We are doing well in tourism. I think we can do better if there are more activities of a cultural nature. There are many examples around the world where promotion in cultural activities has directly and indirectly benefited tourism. Take, for example, the very successful Edinburgh Festival and the National Eisteddfod held in Britain and indeed many other similar Festivals held annually in other countries are major tourist attractions.”
“Sir, what has the Government done in the encouragement of cultural development, and what exactly is the Government's cultural policy? These are questions people often ask. Frankly I do not know the answer and I do not think many do. Indeed, doubts have just been expressed by the Member for Katong. Out of the total Main Estimates of $44.7 million, $23.1 million or more than 50% goes to the maintenance of the Broadcasting Department; and out of the total Development Estimates of $14.7 million. $8.5 million or close to 60% goes towards the further expansion of the Broadcasting Department. Figuratively it would appear that the Ministry of Culture is primarily concerned with the promotion of TV culture. If this is the case then, rather than mislead the people, I would suggest that a more appropriate title for the Ministry would be the Ministry of Broadcasting! If we are serious about cultural development and firmly believe it to be a vital part of nation-building, a lot more effort will have to be put in. First of all, let us identify the correct direction of development so that hopefully we could in time, have a distinctive culture that we can truly call our own. I do appreciate this may take years, if not generations, but then the foundation has to be laid. During the past 10 years we have done little to patronise the arts. They have been left largely on their own. Until today we do not have a decent art gallery. Notwithstanding the small size of our Republic. I agree with the Member for Jurong when he spoke recently during the debate on the Budget that there is a need and we could easily support a national academy of arts and music. But today the learning of arts and music remains largely the privilege of the affluent few, as only they can afford the high tuition fees.”
“Sir, I think the Member for Jurong was referring to the summons to appear in court.”
“Sir, may I be permitted to press the point about those who are partially dependent. As I mentioned, the scale of operation is perhaps not as important as the degree of dependence. A farmer may be rearing 10 pigs and 50 chickens or 500 chickens, the fact is that 60% to 70% of the family's income is still dependent on farming. But under the Ministry's set of criteria, he would not get the enhanced rate, and these are the people who are going to suffer more when they are resettled.”
“Sir, I am about to finish. From the number of examples cited by me, Sir, I am sure you will agree that these are not problems that cannot be resolved by establishing proper procedures and guidelines and, above all, a rather more sympathetic and human approach on the part of those involved in resettlement work.”
“The extent of dependence rather than the size of operation should be a more equitable basis for awarding compensation. Is it not possible to have a sliding scale of compensation so that persons partially dependent will nevertheless receive compensation at the enhanced rate proportionate to the percentage of their dependence on farming?”
“Sir, to the question of exgratia compensation for licensees of State lands, there are also many inexplicable and what appear to me to be unfair practices. Indeed many examples were quoted by Hon. Members yesterday. For instance, people are often asked to vacate without being told the exact quantum of compensation. For those involved in farming, according to the announced policy of Government, they will receive compensation at a higher rate. However, the assessment appears to be done somewhat arbitrarily. Once the Department has decided that a person is not a so-called bona fide farmer, there are no means by which the person may appeal. I did take up a few cases on behalf of my constituents, but sad to say, the answer in all cases was in the negative. Until yesterday when the Hon. Minister and Senior Minister of State enlightened the House, everybody was in the dark as to the definition of a "bona fide farmer". Consequently. Sir, there have been no guidelines to work on for those dissatisfied parties intending to appeal. Now we are told a bona fide farmer is one who keeps not less than 3.000 head of poultry or 100 pigs. Sir, from the point of considering the eligibility for alternative farm land, the criteria adopted may be acceptable but I do not think the same set of criteria should be applied to compensation. There are many small timers who keep less than 3,000 head of poultry or 100 pigs but they are nevertheless genuine farmers fully dependent on farming as a livelihood. There are many more who may be partially dependent but without the income from farming to supplement their family earnings, their livelihood can become precarious. I feel strongly, Sir, from the point of compensation that a separate set of criteria should be worked out.”
“And not only the public, but even MPs are not kept informed of the cut-off date in advance. This has resulted in a number of instances of people unknowingly moving into an affected area and, after paying tea money and incurring expenses to move into their new homes, only to find that they have to start house-hunting again. The apparent insensitivities of the Department are best illustrated by the fact that some of the affected families were asked to move out even during the Chinese New Year period. Until a complaint was lodged by me and very kindly taken up by the Senior Minister of State, the Department was in the habit of summoning affected families to appear in court presumably to psychologically intimidate them into moving. Sir, this sort of strong-arm tactic is, to my mind, quite unnecessary as by now our citizens have come to accept the fact that if Singapore is to go on progressing they must cooperate. For Jalan Kayu. I can assure you, Sir, out of several hundreds of affected families there was only one isolated instance of an old lady who came to tell me that she did not wish to move but subsequently, I gather. better sense prevailed and she moved out like everybody else. Sir, as pointed out by the Member for Telok Blangah earlier, it is a traumatic experience for people who have lived in a particular place all their lives to wake up one morning to find that they have to move out. When they are suffering the mental anguish and making all the necessary preparations to move to a new and strange environment, the very least the Department can do is to be sympathetic and not to further aggravate their difficulties. From what I have seen and heard of the work of the Resettlement Department, I am not satisfied that they have taken this into consideration. Turning now.”
“Sir, Jalan Kayu is one constituency which is fortunately or unfortunately catching up with progress, which means the presence of resettlement officers during the last 12 months. For several months now, at my regular meet-the-people sessions, an increasing number of cases of resettlement problems have been referred to me. In the majority of such cases it is quite clear to me that inadequate explanations or guidance have been given to these people, particularly on the question of their eligibility for alternative accommodation. The slightest ambiguity or inconsistency found on the identity cards of affected family members immediately disqualify them from alternative housing. In the majority of such cases if the Department concerned can be bothered to spend a little time it should not be too difficult for them to find out the correct answer as to whether the people are eligible or not eligible. The only advice the Department appears to be able to give in all such cases is that the families concerned must produce documentary proof, without indicating what type of documents will be considered as acceptable proof. In desperation many people spent time and money to take out statutory declarations, only to be rejected as soon as they are submitted. In resettlement there is such thing as cutoff dates, which is the date decided by the Resettlement Department to determine a person's eligibility for alternative housing. If he moves into the affected area prior to the cut-off date, he will be eligible for alternative housing; on the other hand, if he moves into the area after the cut-off date, he will not be given alternative housing. How and when this date is fixed for a particular affected area often puzzles me.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, during the debate last year. I recall bringing to the attention of the House the fact that MPs were not kept informed of imminent resettlement affecting their particular constituencies. This is a point which has been made by the Member for Telok Blangah. Whilst the then Minister did promise that all MP5 affected would in future be informed in advance, I regret to report that the situation has not really improved. It is difficult for me to draw any conclusion beyond saying that words spoken by Hon. Ministers in this House are perhaps not taken that seriously by the civil servants! Thanks, however, to the present Senior Minister of State who has crossed over from this side of the House fairly recently and is perhaps, therefore, better able to appreciate the plights of Backbenchers, and I hope he will remain that way; some of my difficulties in the past year have been made a little easier as a result of assistance extended by him from time to time. However, Sir, from a procedural point of view I do not think it is such a good idea that Minister or Minister of State should be unduly burdened with work resulting from the day to day administrative inadequacy or inefficiency. These anomalies should more properly be resolved by introducing suitable procedures, Admittedly. Sir, the Resettlement Department has done well in moving people, otherwise we would not have half of Singapore staying in HDB flats today. But I do wonder, judging by the way they go about chasing out people, as mentioned by the Member for Telok Blangah, whether they have not become insensitive to human feelings or sufferings or perhaps they are taking for granted extremely good cooperation we have from the people in this particular regard. 4.30 p.m.”
“that there was the constant emphasis on qualitative improvements. Surely second generation flats are better than first generation flats. So by his own figures, he is suggesting that the second generation flats are not better than the first generation flats. It is worse, in fact! On the question of coordination, there is a little bit of passing the buck as regards Toa Payoh Police Station. How about Jalan Kayu? It is a new estate. I talked about the traffic situation and the impact on the traffic situation, but that obviously was overlooked. Jalan Kayu housing estate is a new estate and not an old estate.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to thank the Minister of State for his explanation. At the outset, I think it is necessary for me to place on record that when I suggested that the Government should have more direct control and to that extent we should consider appointing senior Government servants to take control, it was not my intention to discredit the contribution made by past chairmen. I think the present Hon. Minister for National Development and Communications was largely responsible for breaking the back of the very acute shortage of housing. I believe he was decorated for this and I would like to place that on record. It was not the intention to discredit past achievements. Sir, coming to the other points. The Minister of State quoted some rather impressive figures to try and convince us that the housing costs are reasonable because they are being subsidised. First of all, why are they subsidised? Could it be that it is not being run efficiently? The very substantial figures quoted' by him show a turnover of $1 10 million per annum, that is, $52 million revenue and $58 million expenditure making a total turnover of $110 million, do support my point that much greater emphasis should be laid on the maintenance aspect and not just simply to development. That was my point. Coming to another point, I did express some doubts about how reliable statistics are as they depend on the assumptions one makes. But the Minister of State has made some assumptions now, and I am beginning to question his assumptions here. He stated that by 1973 only 49.2% of the people felt that the change had not been for the better, and it was on account of the fact that they had moved from older estates to new estates. I would have thought .”
“All in all, I think there is need and I submit an urgent need for the Board to be put under more direct and stringent control of Government and whoever is running the show should be made aware and constantly reminded of the wider implications which their work entails and that is they are involved not just with bricks and mortar but with homes that people live in who expect the environment and the quality of life to go on improving. 8.00 p.m.”
“Many will obviously like to decentralise their services by setting up offices or sub-offices in newly established population centres so as to provide on-the-spot service and in the process help to alleviate the serious problem of traffic congestion in the Central Business District, where most of them are situated at present. The present attitude of the Board would, however, appear to be that if I can let out all the shops to the private sector at good rentals, let me do so first and think of the Government departments later. This over pre-occupation with money-making to the extent of overlooking the need to provide essential services on-the-spot is surely not right. I am shocked to find out recently that the going rate for renting a shop in Toa Payoh Central, is $10 per sq, ft. I think the Member for Sembawang was exaggerating when he said that it was $40. I think $10 is already bad enough. This must be the highest rate anywhere in Singapore. Well, I can understand it is all a question of supply and demand, as the Hon. Minister explained earlier, which determines the level of rentals and the Board obviously takes the view that if people want to pay more and in the process kill themselves, it is their own business, let them. But I do wonder to what extent has this sort of high overhead in rents affected the price levels of goods and services and ultimately the cost of living of the residents, the majority of whom are wage earners and belong to the lower income group.”
“There was not a police station in sight when it was first completed. In no time it was to acquire the dubious reputation of being the Chicago of Singapore. Another example is to be found in the location of the Jalan Kayu Post Office at the newly completed HDB estate. This post office is tucked away in such an odd and inconspicuous corner some distance away from the market and shopping centre. The explanation given to me was that the requirement of the post office was not taken into consideration at the planning stage. By the time the post office asked for a suitable site, all shop premises had been taken up. In planning the estate, it is also obvious to me that no attention was paid to the unavoidable impact on the traffic situation in the neighbourhood resulting from overnight expansion in population. This has caused serious congestion and increasing number of road accidents at the traffic junction close by. Had a little thought been given to this aspect during the planning stage, it would have been possible to widen a small stretch of one side only of Yio Chu Kang Road bordering the HDB estate without too great a cost if carried out when the construction of the estate was still in progress. As things stand at this very moment, I have been told that the situation can only be remedied in 1977 when the PWD proposes to widen the entire Yio Chu Kang Road. In the meantime, the junction remains a serious hazard to road users. In the planning of a housing estate, one would have expected the Board to take into account the needs of all Government departments.”
“2% interviewed at that time considered that from the point of cleanliness of neighbourhood, the change' was for the better. However, by 1973 a similar survey conducted by the HDB revealed that the percentage has dropped by 26 points to 49.2% and from the point of cleanliness of building, only 49.3% agreed that the change was for the better. There is no comparative figure for 1 968 in regard to the latter item. The figures quoted by me are contained in pages 356 and 357 of the HDB sponsored publication entitled Public Housing in Singapore. Admittedly the position may have changed somewhat over the last two years but is it for the better? I leave Members to draw their own conclusion. For some years now the HDB has been invariably chaired by a private individual working on a part-time basis, but for the time being the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry is the acting Chairman. I do hope that this will become a permanent feature as by having direct control of the activities of the `Board by a senior Government officer. there will be numerous advantages. First, there is greater awareness and appreciation of the thinking of the political leadership. Secondly, being a senior Government officer, he can more easily coordinate the activities of the Board with those of the other Government departments - from overall planning down to day-to-day administration. Greater coordination will go a long way towards ensuring unnecessary wastage, delays and, above all. comprehensiveness in services. The apparent lack of comprehensiveness in planning resulting from lack of proper coordination has given rise to a number of anomalies and shortcomings. Take, for example, Toa Payoh, a town of not less than a quarter million people.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker. Sir, as housing developers, there is no disputing the fact that the HDB has lived up to its name so much so that today half of Singapore's population are housed in HDB accommodations, a fact that has been referred to by a number of Hon. Members in the House today. It may sound a little farfetched, but someone did remark to me recently that half of Singapore is in effect, ruled by the HDB. Although this was made more in jest than in seriousness, it does lead me to think that there ought to be a serious review of the role and the function of the HDB. Whilst the development aspect of the Board's function will remain important for some time to come, equal if not greater emphasis should now be placed on the provision of better maintenance services. Over the years we have heard of numerous grouses against the unilateral actions taken by the Board's administration. Many of these grouses, if not all, are to my mind well justified, suggesting that the Board is either not giving sufficient attention or simply not equipped organisationally to provide an acceptable standard of maintenance services. Residents generally are agreed that considering the not inconsiderable monthly maintenance and conservancy charges paid by them, the services provided ought to be better. This has also led to doubts as to whether the basis adopted in the costing of all such charges is, in fact, equitable and realistic. I am not a firm believer in statistics which it is often said can be used to prove anything depending on your own standpoint. It is nevertheless interesting to note that according to a sample household survey conducted in 1968 to find out residents' reaction to change in living conditions since their relocation into HDB flats. 75.”
“The point brought up by the Member for Jurong relates to compensation, and the point raised by the Member for Potong Pasir is also related to resettlement of the farming community. The Chairman: Mr Hwang. I would rather you raise it later on, if you do not mind. Yes, Dr. Tan.”
“Sir, I am just wondering whether I could be permitted to speak on resettlement of the farming community. I have intended to raise it under my Amendment (9), but since so much has been said on resettlement and what I want to speak on, in particular, is resettlement of the farming community, could I have your indulgence to speak now?”
“The Division should not just say, "There is only one set of rules irrespective of the environment." There ought to be some distinction on the type of commercial or economic activities that might be permitted even in residential districts.”
“Sir, I would like to support the sentiments expressed by the two Hon. Members who have spoken before me. First of all, I fully agree with the point raised by the Member for Punggol. I think there is something basically not quite right with the standard plan prepared by the Building Control Division. They seem to have overlooked the fact that in all those areas where that standard plan is supposed to be applicable, there is no modern sanitation. So it is preferable that we should allow them to erect the toilet and bathroom away from the main building. There is no doubt that there is a very strict and rigid adherence to the rules and regulations as mentioned by the Member for Bras Basah to the extent that some of these cottage industries are suffering. I think we ought to draw a line somewhere. We ought to support certain cottage industries and not discourage or ban them, especially if they are situated in the rural areas. If there are no complaints from the neighbours and if they are not polluting the environment, either in terms of noise or air pollution, they should be allowed some flexibility. I have come across a number of cases where, in order to supplement their earnings, the families sub-contract work from garment factories. They bring the garments back home to sew. The housewives and daughters join in to make a bit of extra money. Yet the next moment the Building Control Division comes along and tells them to stop. As far as I can see, they are contributing to our economy and they are not disturbing anybody at all. All this type of activity is going on in the rural areas where the houses are situated a fair distance from each other. I think all these points ought to be taken into consideration.”
“Sir, in view of the Minister's reference to the financial constraints within which he works, he makes me feel a little sorry for having brought it up SO strongly. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $9,255,440 for Head N ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,606,000 for Head N ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head O --”
“He talked about a very efficient transport system but at the same time he is telling the people. "For goodness sake, do not come into the Central Business District if you can help it", and yet his office is in Havelock Road. It is all illogical. I think it is a lot of eyewash, if he does not mind my saying so.”