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.”
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“This has resulted in the various units not being able to reach a standard of stability and desired situation in respect of supervision and training of personnel. Under these circumstances, the standard of service by our country would naturally go down, The policies fixed by the various departments are meant for actual execution. However, during their implementation, because many civil servants have not received adequate training and also lack a proper understanding of the right spirit of service, in the end they have often made the people disappointed as well as dissatisfied. In order to implement speedily some important measures, some departments have authorised their executors the power of ticketing on the spot. If these executors are well trained and imbued with sympathy, then they will be able to exercise their authority in a fair manner in the proper circumstances and conditions. However, unfortunately, many executors often abuse their power. They often threaten to ticket a person on the slightest pretext. There is absolutely no reasoning or flexibility to talk about. In dealing with the people, some civil servants also often show their impatience, especially in dealing with those fellow compatriots of lower educational level their manners are even more rude. In dealing with matters, they totally disregard the difficulty and inconvenience of the "small" citizens. Even for ordinary matters, they would cause the people to turn up at the department concerned several times to wait for enquiry, wasting much valuable time of the people.”
“There is another indication that some Government departments for the sake of ensuring their respective interests have even come to levy charges on other departments. In the end it is only the taxpayers and the broad masses that suffer. At present, many Government organisations possess the power and freedom to adjust their charges, although in the past few years the Budget Statements presented by the Finance Minister to Parliament had invariably been called painless ones. But, in fact, in the course of every financial year, the charges for many items of public services had been raised directly or indirectly, causing the burden of livelihood of the people to be heavier and heavier year by year. Most departments claim increased costs as the chief reason. While our Government is calling upon all the people to tighten their belts and to concertedly overcome the threats of inflation and economic depression, this solitary reason may not easily be under. stood or accepted by the people. Under reasonable circumstances and conditions, we do not possibly as a whole deny the elements of commerce in some state organisations, but this should stop appropriately where it should, so as not to spoil the good relationship between the Government and the people. (4) The growing practice of bureau-cratism. In recent years, various departments and organisations in our country, in trying to meet the rapid social and economic developments and needs, have met with the problem of shortage of personnel. In addition, because of the buoyancy of the commercial and industrial enterprises in the private sector, capable personnel have been recruited on high salaries, thus making the problem more acute and causing a high degree of mobility of various categories of employees in government organisations.”
“Under the present system, although we have in existence the Land Office, however this department is not the only authority that exercises the control of state land and the power of land acquisition. There are some other establishments such as the Jurong Town Corporation, the Port of Singapore Authority, Housing and Development Board and Urban Renewal Authority Board which possess equal or even greater statutory power in this respect. This might cause friction among the various departments and would expose the inherent contradiction of the Government in dealing with land policies. In this respect, we must strive for the realisation of comprehensive planning and control in order to ensure that the limited land may be distributed and utilised rationally and effectively in the most economical and sound way. (3) Excessive commercialisation. In the course of promoting our national economy, for various reasons the traditional service departments and non. traditional organisations have all tended towards the target of financial self-management and sufficiency and the accumulation of profits, thus neglecting the main task of service to the people. If we turn `the pages of some official annual financial reports, it may not be difficult to discover in them the jubilant mood in between the lines in addition to the reports on increasing rates of expenditure and profits. With a purely commercial organisation, this might not incur any quarrel. However, with a governmental organisation whose main task is to serve the people, this kind of philosophical concept needs to be reviewed and criticised, Excessive commercialisation might bring about unnecessary competition and friction among various organisations concerned and increase the burden of the people.”
“Had there been any cooperation and coordination, it was mainly accidental and not due to any unity or planning in nature. Therefore, amidst this trend of each looking after himself alone, there are bound to take place manifestations of mutual contradiction, dislocation, wastage and delay very often leaving with the populace the feeling that the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. Some obvious and frequent examples include tackling the question of reducing traffic congestion in the inner city; in view of a lack of coordination of the departments concerned in respect of the personnel and the techniques involved a much confused situation has resulted. (2) Wastage of personnel and resources. Under separate administration, every organisation tries its best to realise its objectives, on its own viewpoint. This might cause contradiction and friction among the departments and organisations concerned unwittingly and would inevitably lead to duplication and unnecessary loss and wastage. For instance, in the usage of computers, there are up to now at least four or five units making use of this facility. In view of the expensiveness of this sort of equipment, and in addition, shortage of personnel to man it, if a scheme for centralised usage is adopted by jointly setting up a computer service centre, I believe that expenses will be reduced not only in the initial period but also in the long run. And because of the pooling of personnel and resources and collective planning resulting in the benefit of considered opinion there will be more effective raising of our standard of service. Another example is the question of land. According to present experience, there seems to be some quarrel among some departments or organisations concerned about the usage of land.”
“At the juncture of transition from old to new and in our efforts for progress, particularly in recent years, some traditional service departments in order to meet changing objective environment and needs have often been reorganised or changed, some departments have even been changed to statutory boards. On the other hand, we have also set up a number of non-traditional independent organisations. What is most obvious is that in the course of promoting economic development, the Government has under the Companies Act set up some commercial organisations in order to promote some non-traditional commercial and industrial activities. In principle, these organisational changes are actually necessary. However, in the course of changes there have arisen some organisational aberrations and signs of ill-feeling on the part of the people. Under the present public service and economic development system, there seem to be the following shortcomings: (1) Each one in his own, or minding one's own business. On the one hand, statutory boards and national enterprises registered under the Companies Act have increased in number greatly. Each statutory board has its legally defined position and power and every Government commercial or industrial organisation registered under the Companies Act also has its special objectives and scope of activities. On the other hand, various traditional Government departments also have their separate rights and functions. These changes to a certain degree might have brought about symptoms of dismemberment and complication to our administrative entity. This is because when promoting their separate policies these separate units seem to lack the basic consciousness for mutual arrangement and mutual coordination and cooperation.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the President's speech clearly reflects that after 16 years of administration our leadership is still preserving its usual practice of down-to-earth pragmatism. They have not for the sake of short term political objectives neglected the long term interests of the people. The policy for the coming year not only thinks in terms of the younger generation but also cares for the welfare of the aged so as to ensure that their livelihood in their remaining years may be properly protected. The President says that 1975 will be a busy year for the Members of Parliament. From the point of civil service, we can say that 1975 will also be a year in which their duties will be heavier, because all the important measures and policies after the deliberation and passage of Parliament will have to be implemented by them. Since our independence, it is only a matter of 10-odd years. To a country, a decade may not be too long a time. However, we have been able to make marked progress and achievements in the fields of socio-economy, education, construction and others which are not only publicly acknowledged by all the people of our country but have also brought to us international renown. The main reason for this is that, while in our effort for progress and survival, we have also at the same time developed and built up a sound and efficient administrative system with all the main departments and statutory boards on the whole able to match the determination and policies of the leadership, actively promoting and realising our plan for nation building.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to seek a small point of clarification. There does not seem to be any provision with regard to daily-rated workers. I think there is provision for those who have been employed continuously for a period of six months or for those who are self-employed. But what about daily-rated people, such as building site workers?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have only two points to raise. The first point is this. According to the Explanatory Statement, the cost of servicing the loan will amount to something in the region of $675 million per annum. That works out to 13.5 per cent of the principal sum. This appears to me to be rather high. I wonder what sort of investments we are going to put our money into, and whether the returns will be sufficient to cover what appears to be a rather high cost of servicing the loan. The second point is that, as notice of the Third Reading of the Bill has been given, there was a press report of Government's intention to pass this Bill. I think it did cause quite a bit of alarm publicly - that this is possibly another measure to further squeeze local credit. But the Minister has just indicated that this amount could be raised in the course of the next five years. I am just wondering whether this, in fact, would be used as a sort of a credit squeeze measure.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am a little puzzled by his "no comment" reply because either you agree or you do not agree. By not giving a firm answer, he has given me the impression that perhaps he agrees, but for political reasons he does not want to offend his colleague.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, for any law to be effective, there must be enforcement. But as far as the management of road traffic is concerned, we seem to have a rather peculiar situation where the law is made by one Ministry, but without any control over its enforcement. We have the Traffic Police in the Ministry of Home Affairs taking care of the enforcement of this Bill introduced by the Ministry of Communications. To me it would be logical either for the Minister for Home Affairs to take charge of administering the Road Traffic Act, or for the Traffic Police to be transferred to the portfolio of the Minister for Communications. I really cannot see how the present system can be effective. I think what one Member has just said is quite true, that this is one of the most inherent weaknesses in our entire system of road traffic management.”
“Sir, would the Parliamentary Secretary please inform the House whether there is any intention to lay down minimum standards in the running of these homes, with particular regard to the health and medical care, and also to control the activities of some of these homes which are being run along commercial lines? Mr Chan Chee Seng: Mr Speaker, Sir, these are good suggestions, and we will give consideration to them. DEVELOPMENT OF KAMPONG SAN TENG 10. Mr Ang Nam Piau asked the Minister for Law and National Development what is the overall development plan in the Kampong San Teng area and when the development will take place.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I promise to be very brief. Clause 10 prohibits the receipt of funds from a foreign source. The intention is quite clear. But on reading it, I am a little concerned that the clause, if implemented in its present form, may also be used as a means of subversion against us. For example, if someone dislikes a particular pressman, it can be so easily arranged for a certain sum of money to be deposited into a bank account in that individual's name. Having done so, an anonymous report can then be made to the Minister and, if the consequent investigations are not objective and thorough enough, miscarriage of justice could arise. I am not a lawyer. I do not know what the legal implications are, but I am just wondering whether there are adequate safeguards for our pressmen. I hope this point will be looked into by the Select Committee. 3.44 p.m.”
“Sir, I still think the Minister has not answered the point. I have suggested that the Ministry should try to find out. He himself has said that they do not know what is the definition of a "drop-out". That means that they have not done anything to find out what is the cause of the drop-outs. 7.00 p.m.”
“The Minister seems to think that I quoted the figure of 7,000 school drop-outs from some paper in 1971. I did not. It is a figure quoted by his own officer who participated in the seminar recently.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister was so flattered merely because I had quoted him that he has missed the wood for the trees. I made a few critical remarks and I share the sentiments of the Member who has just spoken before me. One point I made was, and it was reported during the course of the seminar, that in 1971 there were 7,000 school drop-outs. Why do we have these 7,000 school drop-outs? What is the Ministry doing to find out what is the cause of the large number of drop-outs? I also talked about emphasis on the mental health of our school children. The Minister sought to evade the issue. There was not a word on my reference to his speeches which he had made. He seems to be so pleased with his speeches. We want more specific answers in this House. What is he going to do about it? And as the Member for Henderson has just said, "He should not just say, `Just refer to my speech.'" But if he had listened to me carefully, he would have noted the remark: how often were his speeches made at seminars subsequently taken up seriously by the Ministry concerned?”
“Point of clarification, Sir. In the absence of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I feel I am duty-bound to stand up and request the Minister to read the entire context of the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee, and not just quoting it out of context.”
“When it is completed, we will be able to accommodate the wishes of parents to send their children to the school of their choice as near to their homes as possible. That answer, I believe, answers the question raised by the Member for Aljunied also. Both the Members for Anson and Jurong raised the question of miscellaneous fees. It is true that over the years large sums of school funds are accumulated. There are many schools with over $50,000 in their account. However, I would like to refer both Members to the Third Report of the Public Accounts Committee to this House presented on the 2nd of this month: `Your Committee observed that since 1968, expenditure has been on an annual average of 83.9 per cent of the total collections yearly. Your Committee appreciate that strict control appears to have been exercised by school principals and the Ministry of Education over expenditure.' There are many reasons for the unspent miscellaneous fees. First of all, there are certain principals who do not consider it prudent to spend every cent collected from miscellaneous fees. They consider it desirable to have a small balance to meet unforeseen expenditure which has to be met from such funds. Secondly, there are certain schools which deliberately make an effort to accumulate balances in order to meet expenses for special projects. For example, a school may want a gymnasium or a bitumen track which costs as much as $300,000. So he accumulates this sum by careful saving over the years, without depriving the students of current essential requirements. For projects in which the Ministry considers worthwhile and beneficial to the students, approval will be given. In fact, approval has been conveyed to a few schools for certain requests.”
“I think this also applies to the question of medical benefits for the retired aided school teachers, which was raised by the Member for Jurong. Again, this is one question which I have answered before. The Member for Henderson raised the question on whether there should be a code of conduct for teachers. We have a code of conduct for trainee-teachers at the TTC. We believe in tackling the problem at source. I must admit I am rather touched by his rather poetical speech. We do agree that there must be some black-sheep among 20,000 teachers. We try to identify them. And for the good teachers, we must give them due recognition. No one disputes that. The Member for Jurong raised the question of deploying English school teachers to teach Chinese as a second language. I would like to correct his statement. These teachers volunteered, in their personal particulars form, the information that they were capable of teaching the second language. It is not just that they understand the second language, but that they are capable and have the confidence to teach the second language. So we deployed about 100 teachers for this purpose. Thirty of them changed their mind. They decided that they cannot teach in that language after all; we are making the necessary adjustments to see that the students do not suffer. The Member for Anson asked whether we could force children to go to a school in the vicinity of their houses. For various reasons, I am afraid we cannot. Fundamentally, they are entitled to a freedom of choice, and we cannot deny them. Secondly, to be very frank, we do not have enough schools in densely populated areas. As Members know, we are engaged on a very major school building programme, details of which have just been released a few days ago.”
“This feature has been fully understood by all parties as a means to enable flexibility in the deployment of the teaching staff. The Member for Jurong raised the question of school clerks. As the Member may recall, I mentioned it on other occasions that we have invited the Management Services Unit to make a study of the work-load of clerks in schools. They will submit their report soon, and we hope to be able to make a decision on this. But I am afraid that a clerk is a clerk. He belongs to the General Clerical Service within the civil service, and we just cannot raise their salary unilaterally. The Member for Paya Lebar mentioned something which has far-reaching effects. Although he did not say it in so many words, but I think he wants to nationalise the entire education service. First of all, aided schools have their own traditions, and I do not think they like to be nationalised and become Government schools. Of course, we do not prevent any aided school from applying for conversion into a Government school, in which case whether or not their teachers will be absorbed into the Government service depends on their qualifications and whether they satisfy the necessary requirements. He also queried the difference in conditions of service between an aided school teacher and a Government school teacher. This is one of the topics that has been discussed year after year, and I would again have to repeat what I said before. Aided school teachers are aided school teachers. They have certain benefits which Government school teachers do not enjoy, as for example, CPF. When they resign or are dismissed, they still retain their CPF. A Government school teacher, however, on resignation or dismissal, loses all his pension. You cannot have the best of both worlds.”
“Sir, it suddenly occurred to me that one more seat in Parliament has been created for the Singapore Teachers Union. The Minister for Education (Dr Lee Chiaw Meng): Sir, first of all, may I thank the Member for Moulmein for his eloquent defence of the teaching profession, though not necessarily the Ministry of Education. With a Backbencher like him, perhaps the Minister for Education need not attend the Budget sessions. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 6.14 p.m. Sir, various Members have in their speeches ranged through a vast area of interest. I will answer them according to the main subject matters. There were many questions on the conditions of service. The Member for Anson asked about promotions. I did say that promotions will be carried out regularly but not necessarily annually. It may be shorter than one year. It may be longer. But we propose to carry out one promotion exercise at the end of this year. The Member for Jurong raised the point about emplacement of holders of foreign degrees on the graduate-teachers' scale. This has been debated before in this House, and there have been prolonged negotiations between the unions and the Ministry. I am afraid the position still remains the same - each case will be considered on its own merit. As regards those teachers who have not been emplaced, they have to satisfy the various requirements before they can be emplaced on the graduate-teachers' scale. 6.15 p.m. The Member for Anson drew my attention to the fact that some teachers are drawing higher salaries than principals and senior teachers. I am afraid this is an inherent feature of the restructured education service. This matter has been thrashed out for 1~ years between the union officials, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance.”
“This has resulted in a situation where there are both a generation gap and a cultural gap between parents and children in Singapore. The opposing sets of value judgments often make it difficult for a proper dialogue between parents and children. This, to my mind, is one of the major contributory causes of serious misunderstanding or breakdown in communication between parents and children, and in extreme cases it leads the young to resort to anti-social and self-destructive activities either as a form of protest or simply because of the lack of proper guidance. The young need to be understood and be guided in their problems. I feel strongly that our teachers are not only better placed but better qualified in the context of our society to give such help as may be necessary or required by their pupils from time to time. In concluding, I can do no better than to quote from Mr Chan Kai Yau, the Deputy Director (Schools Division). He was reported to have said at the Seminar which was attended by the Minister, and I quote again: `Teachers should realise and put into effect this realisation that pupils were individuals, each of whom had a distinct and unique personality and required personal attention. When teachers take a personal interest in every child, they would have no difficulty in distinguishing the problem children, the children with problems and their problems, and hopefully had the solutions to these problems as well.' High sounding principles and lofty views are often to be heard at seminars expressed by the so-called experts, but only if words can be translated into action, the world would be a much happier place to live in. 6.00 p.m.”
“In the concluding paragraph of a very touching letter she said, and I quote: `If children in schools do not feel free to discuss a problem or even query something they feel sure is wrong they are being treated not better than robots. Is this education?' In saying so, she has touched a soft chord in the heart of every parent with school-going children. Quite by coincidence, on the same day all the newspapers reported a speech by the Minister for Education on opening a Seminar on "Problem children and children with problems". In one part of his speech, the Minister stated and I quote: `We have upon our shoulders the sacred task of developing the qualitative aspect of our children.' In another part he said, and again I quote: `We bear the responsibility, jointly with our parents and the community at large,.'. Whilst I agree that, generally speaking, the responsibility should be a collective one amongst teachers, parents and the community at large, in the context of Singapore, I feel strongly that the brunt should be borne rather more heavily by the schools. I say this because I think in the area of parent/child relationship, we have a rather unique situation not found in many other countries. On account of the emphasis placed on equal opportunity in education, since our Party took over the reins of Government and as a result of the tremendous success of this policy, we now find in our midst a large number of illiterate or semi-literate parents with children going to schools at different levels, and because of the plural nature of our society we now find Chinese-educated parents with children going to English schools and vice-versa, or Tamil or Malay parents with children receiving English or even Chinese education.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not profess to know much about education, but I would just like to speak simply as a parent. Sir, for the past years the Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, have been looking after the physical health of our school children very well and as parents we ought to be thankful. However, in our endeavours for qualitative development in education, the time has now come for us to pay closer attention to the mental health of our school children. Most parents who have young children at school are often aggrieved to find that some teachers -I emphasise some - at times demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of child psychology and would seem to make little or no attempt to assess the learning capacity, both physical and mental, of their pupils so much so that these poor children are often overloaded with work and all sorts of extra-curricular activities. Teaching methods also leave much to he desired. In an extreme example reported to me recently, a child was asked to write a word 2,000 times as a punishment just because he had copied it wrongly from the blackboard. It is this sort of attitude on the part of some teachers that causes many children to develop a dislike or fear of going to school even at an early stage. And it is one sure way of producing school dropouts who in time develop into social misfits. In 1971 we were told there were some 7,000 school drop-outs. This is a staggering figure. The 23rd March issue of the Straits Times carried a letter written by a mother, under the heading "Inquisitive pupils who fight shy of asking questions".”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, one unique feature of this current Budget session seems to be that Members of Parliament have been assigned to do so many jobs that very soon we do not need the Civil Service.”
“For the past many years, as the Minister has said, I have faithfully gone to the Income Tax Department requesting them to help me fill in these forms. It is being done. But as the years go by I find that previously where we had to wait for perhaps half an hour, we now have to wait for one hour, and the crowd there is becoming unmanageable. I think there is a need for a simplification of this form. In spite of the explanatory notes, if we read them we become even more confused. I think it would not be really too difficult to design a much simpler form, and this is a matter which the Inland Revenue Department should pursue.”
“Sir, what I am trying to point out is that there are certain inequities. With the businessmen there are all sorts of loopholes in the law through which they can get away, and yet their own personal income is subjected to the same rate of tax as a salaried person. It is very easy to differentiate an employed person from a non-employed person. There are people who, because of wealth handed down to them, just sit back and collect rents, and for their entire life need never sweat for their income and yet they are taxed at the same rate as you and I, in fact, the whole lot of MPs here. Is that social justice? This is the point I am trying to make. It is not difficult to differentiate them because there is the CPF which keeps statistics. All employees have got CPF numbers. I do not see why we cannot differentiate them through these numbers if they are employed. But towkays do not have numbers! Mr N. Govindasamy: Mr Speaker, Sir, when the Minister said that the income tax forms were simple and that all of us know how to fill them in, I am sure he did not mean it. I have been filling in these forms. Those who can afford it, that is, the large business firms, which the Member for Jalan Kayu was talking about, have accountants and many other agents who not only fill the income tax forms for them but also help them to fill in in such a way that they get the most rebates. But for people like us who have to fill in ourselves, the tax form becomes more and more complicated as the years go by. The Income Tax Department now wants us not only to fill in what we have earned but it wants us to tell them how much they should collect from us. I do not mind doing this work for them, but it is so complicated that I cannot do it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, our existing tax structure relating to personal earnings, as pointed out by the Hon. Minister earlier on, is a progressive one in that as the income of an individual increases, so does the rate of tax. On this basis, the rich pay more, the poor pay less or not at all. This is fair enough. But I am just wondering whether the Minister would consider differentiating those individuals who are salaried employees from those who derive their income from capital investments, either in landed properties or other business operations. For salaried employees, perhaps the existing progressive rate of income tax could be made less drastic so as not to cause disincentive. Sir, those who are in the so-called middle management bracket suffer most under the existing tax structure and are perhaps among the most frustrated group of people in Singapore today. As they advance in life, despite what appears to be a very attractive pay, in most cases after the tax boys have finished with them, their net take-home pay is reduced to such an extent that there is hardly enough left to save either for a house or for a rainy day. Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!”
“Sir, if people are fearful of coming forward with complaints, surely that indicates, as I pointed out, that there must be something wrong with the manner in which we go about with our investigations. Therefore, should we not start looking in further and say, "Are the investigating officers harassing them?" The Chinese saying is Kwan kwan shiang hu. Have we got this sort of situation? Surely we just cannot bury our heads in the sand, or like the proverbial three monkeys which symbolise, "Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil"; therefore, there is no evil.”
“Sir, it is not that the MPs are not willing to help. We do our best to help. I have heard of many cases, and I have tried to get the complainants to give me a signed statement but they are simply not prepared to do so. We as MPs like to act responsibly. We like to be fair to the Department, as the Minister has pointed out, and I cannot therefore just write to the Minister and say that so-and-so has complained that he was beaten up. I have to ask the complainant whether he has a medical certificate to prove that he has been beaten up, and whether he is prepared to sign a statement. Surely without all this evidence, the Minister is not going to accept our complaints.”
“The density might not be as high as the urban areas, but the number is certainly not less. So with the same numbers spread over a much bigger area, is it not more reason for a much bigger staff to police the area?”
“Sir, I beg your indulgence to say a few words. I am most appreciative of the Minister's assurances, but the unfortunate thing is that when complaints of Police brutality are passed down the line, to what extent are investigations conducted seriously by those implementing Government policy? The Minister himself has just pointed out that he is not aware whether the incidence of Police brutality has gone up or whether it has come down. That in itself indicates the complexity of bringing up complaints against a Police officer. If a person were to make a complaint against a particular policeman, he would very soon find that another officer from the same police station is sent to investigate, and the officer would take two or three hours or even a day or two harassing the complainant with all sorts of queries and so on. Since the Minister has said that he is very concerned about maintaining good relations with the public, will he not consider looking into the existing rules and regulations to see whether there are ways whereby people with legitimate complaints can "short circuit" the existing technicalities, and whether or not in view of the ineffectiveness of the Central Complaints Bureau to set up his own separate complaints bureau? In this way, I am quite sure the relationship will go a long way. This is my suggestion. 6.45 p.m. On the other aspect, I think it is not right to say that the population of the rural areas is smaller.”
“Sir, in all fairness, I must say that most of the misconduct took place among the lower level of officers, often without the knowledge of the officers-in-charge, most of whom are perhaps too heavily loaded with work to be able to keep an eye on things. For example, the Officer-in-charge of the Police station in Jalan Kayu also has under his control Serangoon Gardens, Upper Serangoon, Punggol, Nee Soon and Sembawang, which come to an area almost half of Singapore. Maybe it is about time that the whole organisational structure was looked into.”
“Thank you very much, Sir. From the number of complaints I have heard lately in my "Meet the People" sessions, it is evident that Police brutalities are on the increase. What is unfortunate is that most people who have had rough treatment dished out to them are reluctant to come forward and make official charges for fear of subsequent retaliation, and also they can ill-afford the time and money involved. From the stories one hears, the Police officers seem to have refined their techniques of brutality to such an extent that they do not leave any tell-tale marks that might incriminate them subsequently. With their knowledge of the rules of evidence, they will make sure that subsequent identification is made impossible. In cases where the responsible persons are identified, there are always ready-made witnesses among their own colleagues to testify to their innocence. At most of our Police stations, the lock-up is being used rather too liberally. I have heard of cases of persons caught without driving licences or some such similar offences, and thrown into the lock-up until they are able to contact their homes for the licences to be produced. How many of our citizens, because of minor omissions or oversight, have been subjected to the indignities of being treated as common criminals? I dread to think! Over the last couple of years, the Police Department, as quite rightly pointed out by the hon. Member for Sembawang, has been trying to promote the image of being "friends of the people". But unless we make sure that atrocities of the nature I have just mentioned are put to a stop, I cannot see how the Police Force can succeed in being accepted as friends of the people.”
“In that case, can I be permitted to speak now on Police brutality? Will the Minister object to that? I am going to speak on brutality which is more a subject of policy than the question of Police Week, which is an administrative matter.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to seek clarification on procedure. It seems to me that it is a habit of the hon. Member for Sembawang to jump the queue. First of all, he talks about Vigilante Corps which should, in fact, be raised under Head NA subhead FA 1111. Then he proceeds to talk about the Police which should be raised under Head ND -Police. Sir, if we allow this to go on, there is not going to be any order around. Then how are we going to debate? I would like a ruling on this.”
“Sir, in view of the somewhat high rate of turnover of medical staff at the hospitals, I presume we have to depend quite heavily on newly qualified doctors and housemen. I am just wondering whether the Minister can off-hand tell the House what is the average length of medical experience of doctors in the hospitals. He has many times emphasised on the competence of the medical staff, and I am just wondering what sort of arrangements are in force to supervise the work of these young doctors or housemen. Mr Chua Sian Chin: Sir, young doctors are always supervised by the consultants and, therefore, supervision is adequate. So I do not think the Member for Jalan Kayu should worry very much over this point. In fact, with the recent increment in specialist allowances, there have been less resignations from among our Government specialists than from among our medical officers.”
“I am not moving, Sir. The Chairman: In that case, I think it will be a good idea to have a break at this stage. Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.”
“Sir, just a point of clarification. I did not say the Minister has been fed with the wrong poison! Dr Tan Eng Liang: Sir, I do not think it is my job to go into small details, as the Minister has implied. He has a whole army of qualified people from the Director of Medical Services downwards. I am suggesting what I think the public are thinking, and I am reflecting their views. Perhaps to satisfy the Minister, what he has to do is simply to ask the public. Go round to some clinics, surgeries or manufacturing firms and see what they think of the enforcement officers, in particular the Poisons Inspectorate. I think it is unfair for the Minister to suggest that since I have brought the matter up, then I had better do it. This is a wrong attitude. I am still not happy with the reply because either I am misunderstood or I do not understand him - put it that way. I think this point of logic is very important because it means either an industrial firm has to stop production or not. I grant that if one is allowed to buy anything from outside Singapore, that means importing. Whereas if one buys anything locally -”
“Sir, in all fairness, let me say that the Member for River Valley is a highly qualified chemist, whereas the Minister is not. It does seem to me that the Minister has been fed with all sorts of wrong information, and it is about time we changed the Chief Chemist in the Ministry!”
“As a result, their livelihood will become problematic and, from the point of view of our national economy, that will also constitute a great loss of our manpower. Sir, it is my belief that our enlightened Government will not allow our small and medium-size farmers to sink or to swim by themselves, and every help will be given them.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Member for Jurong in regard to his views on agriculture in Singapore. Sir, over the past one or two years, many countries in the world have suffered from food shortages. Worldwide inflation has affected all of us in Singapore, particularly those who depend on imported goods. The cost of living in Singapore has also risen because of this. In respect of food supply, the Primary Production Department has over the years encouraged farmers in Singapore to work hard and to help them with all kinds of farming aids. As a result we have been able to achieve self-sufficiency in the supply of pigs, chicken, and eggs. But because of the fantastic rise in the price of animal feed, the prices of farm products have also been affected. So if we had neglected our agricultural sector, our cost of living would have risen still higher, because we will then have to depend entirely on the importation of farm produce and other consumer goods as well. That would add further to what is already a heavy burden on our people. Sir, if this had happened we would have lost at least by way of foreign exchange. So the contribution made by our farmers cannot be denied. The next problem I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister is the question of change of employment of our farmers. We all know that most of our farmers in Singapore are in the age group of 40 to 50. Because of a change of circumstances, such as measures taken by the Government to protect our water resources which make it difficult for farmers to carry on their farming activities, then these farmers will have no choice but to change their employment. But with their limited qualification and experience, and age, it will be difficult for these old farmers to change their jobs.”
“Sir, on the point made by the Minister concerning the development of new towns, he said that Toa Payoh used to be a rural area. On the other hand, there are certain rural areas which are resettlement areas, e.g., areas in the Deputy Speaker's constituency. I think the resettlement areas are going to be permanent rural areas. For such permanent rural areas, surely we should do something such as providing some recreational facilities since they are not going to be bulldozed away within the next one or two years. If such resettlement areas are to be designated on a fairly permanent basis as agricultural areas, then I think we ought to give them a bit more recreational facilities. This is my point.”
“Sir, the more we hear and see about the wonderful things being done, such as recreational facilities being provided for the new towns, the more those of us from the rural areas feel that we are being totally neglected. We feel very jealous. While those in urban areas are asking for benches, parks or swimming pools, we from the rural areas have to come here year after year begging for a little bit more money to build roads. We do not even have metalled roads. The contrast is there I am afraid. This is one aspect we should not really overlook at all because the population in the rural areas is still quite large. And I cannot see why all the money is going into the satellite and new towns, when in the meantime we are not even getting enough to build roads.”
“I think the Hon. Minister is a very good debater. The position is "Heads you win, tails I lose", so I will not go any further.”
“Sir, grouses have been made in this House time and again by Members representing the rural constituencies concerning the rather tedious and time-consuming procedures involved in getting approval to effect urgent repairs and minor alterations to attap houses and similar structures. I believe some attempts have been made to simplify the procedures, but as far as I know, the delay in granting permission still exists. I have heard of recent cases involving a change of roofing from attap to corrugated iron. The applicants were asked to engage the services of an architect. Sir, this seems to me rather ridiculous and it also imposes unnecessary financial strains on these poor people. In any case, as most of our architects are more interested in big fish, perhaps there is a real difficulty in getting the services of an architect. On the 15th March, 1973, the Minister stated, and I quote from Hansard, Vol. 32, col. 883: `.., the Building Control Division will shortly be issuing a booklet on the do's and don'ts of building activity to inform the public of the procedures to be taken before any building works are carried out.' It seems to me that the Department's definition of "shortly" is one or two years. I quote again from the same paragraph, in which the Minister stated: `To provide on-the-spot service and advice to the public, sub-offices have been established at Bukit Panjang District Office (Rural West), Serangoon District Office (Rural Central) and at the former Midwives' Maternity Centre (Rural East) in Jalan Eunos.' As far as I know, this so-called on-the-spot service does not really give much service at all. When we go and talk to them, they do not seem to be able to give much guidance. This is the complaint that I have received.”
“Sir, I would just like to say a few words. In addition to being petition writers, hon. Members of this House now got another job as Inspectors of Roads! I think the Minister has not replied to the point on the standard of supervision raised by the Member for Jurong, which I think is a good one. I have seen many stretches of roads newly repaired, but the condition was no better than what it was before.”
“Sir, since so much has been said on roads, I thought I might as well join in the chorus rather than wait until my amendment* under Head LH subhead BA 1109 comes up * The amendment reads as follows: (2)That the sum to be allocated for Head LH be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead BA 1109. Sir, during the last few years many new roads have been constructed and many existing ones have been widened in Singapore. Generally the department is to be commended for a job well done. Had it not been the case, traffic congestion would have been much worse than it already is in Singapore. However, in recent months it is the consensus of the travelling public that the condition of road surfaces seems to have deteriorated rather badly. It could well be another indirect measure to discourage car ownership! Except for the so-called VIP roads, pot-holes, uneven surface, protruding manhole culverts and poor patchy repairs are to be seen all over the island. I am not so worried about the comfort of people travelling in cars but rather the question of road safety. I think poor roads are quite often the cause of road accidents. Repair work appears to progress too slowly. For example, one section of Yio Chu Kang Road collapsed months ago, and in the process it "swallowed" a car. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Up till today, I am sorry to say, nothing has been done. The road has still not been repaired and the traffic has to be re-routed through Seletar Hills estate, and all the residents there are suffering the air and noise pollution.”
“I must thank the Minister for the assurance. I do hope that the message is driven across loud and clear to the entire civil service. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $2,631,350 for Head LD ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $50,500,000 for Head LD ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head LG --”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would just like to clarify that my complaint of inflexibility is more on the question of extension of time. I have pointed out that - and I think the Minister would appear to seek to evade the issue - a request put up by a Minister was granted, but from a Back-bencher the request for extension was not granted. What explanation is there for that?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head LD be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead BA 1111*. (* The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Ong Teng Cheong.) Sir, this is an item in respect of the Bases Economic Conversion Department. In my dealings with this particular Department, I have often found them to be quite inflexible and insensitive to human problems. I had on a number of occasions to go there concerning notices for the demolition of illegal structures or unauthorised change of use of premises. Despite my pleas for extension of time, the officers have displayed a complete lack of sympathy by flatly refusing to grant an extension in a number of cases. Yet, in one particular case, after my constituents had managed to obtain a letter from a particular Minister - incidentally it was not the Minister for National Development - the extension of time was immediately granted. So one gets the impression that the department seems to be practising double standards. They seem to consider that the request is based not so much on the merits of the case but on who puts it up. From the complaints I have received, some of the staff would appear to be rather off-handed in attending to members of the public. I give them the allowance, as this is a fairly new department. It may well be that the staff are not sufficiently well-oriented to provide courteous service, and I would appreciate the Minister's attention in this matter. 3.45 p.m.”