John Chen Seow Phun
Singapore
“Sir, Singapore has signed FTAs with a number of countries, including the developed nations, such as the US and Japan. These FTAs give us better access to these developed markets compared to other countries for goods that need the rules of origin.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for asking the HDB to relook at the case I brought up, but I hope that he would not rule out providing the same loan amount to the family. I understand the need for credit assessment policy, and so on. But I think the policy should not be applied blindly.”
“It can also be stipulated that the grants can only be used to pay part of their mortgage loan monthly. I think this will go a long way in helping these families pay for their flats. I hope the Minister can look into this and see whether these families can be given such help.”
“My point is that the Minister should reconsider this case and exercise flexibility, so that the family will be helped. Otherwise, if the family was asked to sell their flat, it could be negative equity and the problem would come back to HDB. And HDB would be owed money and I do not think that is good for HDB as well.”
“We need to come up with a regular mechanism where older and lower income workers can benefit without the pitfalls of a crutch mentality. I think, in this regard, the Government has not spent enough time or thought to look into what other mechanisms that we can have.”
“On the other hand, at best, we get one Singapore pavilion with a dozen or so companies, and that is about it. If we are really serious with our globalisation effort, our Government agencies must put in more resources to encourage more companies to participate in such events.”
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“Offences under the Sedition Act and the Penal Code will usually carry a more severe punishment. A Court trial may be too late to stop a person from causing irreparable damages. The judicial proceedings and the judgment may themselves arouse religious passions. The ISA, on the other hand, was designed primarily to combat subversion. It is a crude instrument for the maintenance of religious harmony. Its use may often result in an overkill. If not, much harm may also be done before it is invoked. The proposed legislation therefore allows the Minister to issue the offender with a prohibition order to prevent him from repeating the offence. Only if he continues the offending act will he be charged in Court. This is a quicker and finer instrument compared to the existing laws and therefore a more effective way of maintaining peace and harmony. Sir, the major concern of most people regarding this Bill is why the Minister should be given the power to decide on the prohibition order and where the safeguards are against the abuse of power by the Minister. Generally, the power to decide on the prohibition order can be vested in either the Court, the proposed Presidential Council for Religious Harmony or the Minister or the Cabinet. If the power is vested in the Court, I see the same difficulties which I have expressed earlier concerning the problems of Court trial. Furthermore, the offending act can be so delicate and subtle that the evidence produced may not be admissible in the Court nor sufficient for conviction. But that does not mean that the alleged offence will never undermine religious harmony and never have political sensitivities. Fundamentally, I see the difficulty for a secular court to decide on religious matters.”
“When this happens, the Government must step in to prevent the damage it may cost to our society. But when the Government acts, it runs the risk of being accused of attacking the religious group against whose members action has been taken. In other words, religious groups might then not accept that the Government is neutral and this may lead to disastrous consequences. Such possibilities may not happen if people in general are not interested in religion. However, recent survey has shown that there has been heightened religious fervour among the various religious groups in Singapore. This increases the probability of conflict tremendously especially when over-zealous followers of the different faiths come into contact with each other. In the university, most religions are represented among student clubs. On matriculation day, we have seen these religious clubs competing for attention from the new students in an attempt to promote their activities and to get more members. To avoid troubles, we have laid down some rules pertaining to the physical sizes of banners and orientation booths to prevent competition from turning into conflict. Likewise, at the national level, a set of ground rules governing what can and cannot be done by religious and political leaders and which are understood and hopefully agreed by all are necessary. These ground rules must be in the form of an effective and comprehensive piece of legislation which will enable the Government to take appropriate and prompt action against offenders. I agree with the White Paper that although existing laws such as the Sedition Act, the Penal Code and the Internal Security Act can handle some of the offences, they are not designed for the effective maintenance of religious harmony.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religious country. Our founding leaders have rightly made Singapore a secular state to ensure religious and racial harmony without which we will never be able to survive as one nation. Singapore is thus governed by a secular Constitution from which the Government derives its political authority. The Constitution, however, guarantees freedom of religion as long as the exercise of this freedom does not threaten the overall national interest. The Government therefore accords the same legal status to all religions and publicly stated time and again that it will always remain neutral towards the various religious groups. We have no reason to doubt the Government's position. This is because the Government realises too well that if it is not neutral or even if it is perceived to be not neutral, religious sentiments could easily be aroused and temperatures could quickly rise. This could lead to conflict and tension between religious groups or between the Government and the unhappy religious groups. Under such circumstances, political parties are also likely to exploit the situation in the hope of discrediting and overthrowing the Government. The end result could be public disorder and political instability. Sir, there will be no problem if Singaporeans respect and take care of the sensitivity of each other's faith when propagating their own faith, and if religious groups do not lend themselves to the political process of the country. The problem comes when a person or a religious group steps out of bound either by attacking the faith of another person or another group, or by making use of religion and religious activities for his or their venture into politics.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. The proposal to reduce the ARF rate at the point of introduction of the quota system is a recommendation of the Select Committee. The reason why we say that is because it will allow the market to actually determine the price of owning a car, and it could result in a reduction of price rather than it will always be more than what is the existing price.”
“The Committee has proposed that the scheme be shortened to 6.30 pm with good reasons. From the traffic volume data submitted to us by PWD, we discovered that the traffic peaked at 6.00 o'clock. And if you look at the outbound traffic after the ALS change, after 7.00 o'clock there is no substantial increase in outbound traffic. What does it mean? It means that after 6.00 o'clock most of the workers in the CBD would already have gone home. Therefore, by shortening the ALS time to 6.30 pm, we feel that the inbound traffic will increase because more people are going in. But the outbound traffic will probably still be the same and therefore it would not delay workers from going home after work. The positive effect is that it will increase business in the area and also the evening and night life in the area. With that, I urge the Government to consider the recommendations by the Select Committee and, in particular, to adopt the change to the evening ALS. Mr Lew Syn Pau: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I make a point of clarification? Regarding my proposal, the PARF need not be a fixed figure. When we make everybody tender for a licence when buying a new car and when we reduce the ARF, the proportion of PARF to ARF can be reduced so that nobody actually suffers a loss in the process.”
“That is why we recommended that PARF be retained because we feel that, if it is not retained, it is unfair to the existing owners. Therefore, I think his proposal, firstly, would increase substantially the cost of new cars for the existing owners and, secondly, there would be some difficulty in controlling the exact number of the net increase of cars. Under our proposed system it is straightforward. For the bidding, it is this number of cars which is the allowable growth rate. Whereas in his system it means that everybody has to bid and, therefore, we do not know at any one time how many new car purchasers are actually buying cars without a scrap car and how many are buying with a scrap car. As such, we cannot effectively determined what the quota should exactly be. Maybe a more equitable approach, as a start, is to impose a fee, not as high as the bidding fee, on those people who use a scrap car to buy a new car and that fee can be, say, a percentage of the average bid price. This scheme is actually consistent with what we now have at the moment. At the moment, if the Government ups the ARF rate to reduce the car growth, the person who has got a scrap car, when he scraps it and purchases a new car using the PARF rate, he would have to pay a higher cost because of the increase in the ARF rate. This means that if we adopt the bidding system, then the bidding system should act like a variable ARF and the market would decide what that ARF should be. Therefore the existing car owners with a scrap car should be made to pay a portion of that variable ARF. Otherwise he will have an unfair advantage because perpetually he will just paying a fixed rate, which is the current PARF rate. Let me now come to the evening Area Licensing Scheme.”
“Sir, the many concerns expressed by the public about the quota system have already been addressed by Dr Hong Hai and Dr Augustine Tan, fellow Members of the Select Committee, and I do not propose to repeat them again. I would like, however, to just comment on what Mr Lew Syn Pau has suggested. I am not averse to his suggestion, but I think his proposal will mean that existing car owners would in fact have to pay a higher price, compared to now, to get a new car. Let me illustrate by giving some figures. I seek your indulgence, Sir, to allow me to bother you with figures. Supposing the ARF rate at the moment is 100% of the cost of a car and the PARF rate is 50%. Under the existing scheme, I can buy a car by paying the ARF. In other words, I pay the full 100%. If we were to implement the quota system and if we adopt the suggestion of the Select Committee by reducing the ARF to 50% of the cost of the car, that means if everything else is the same, ie, the demand and the growth, and the quota is set to the natural growth of cars at the moment, the bid price would probably be around 50%. This means that a person who buys a car without a scrap car would have to pay a total of 100%, equivalent to the pre-quota price, which is the ARF rate. If the ARF is reduced to 50%, the PARF rate, suppose it is 50% of the ARF rate, would be 25% of the cost of the car. If a person with a scrap car has to pay the bid price, ie, he is paying another 50%, it means that he has to pay a total of 75%. But the existing practice is that if I have a scrap car I pay only 50% to obtain a new car and therefore effectively he will be paying a higher price. When considering our recommendations, we were very careful about equity.”
“So road tax is an ownership restraint measure. Road tax will probably have to be increased by a substantial amount before it can also have an effect. What about petrol tax? Petrol tax again is not selective because it does not differentiate whether or not it has caused congestion. Also, Members know that we have the problem of the half-tank law which means that it will aggravate this problem if we increase substantially our petrol tax. ALS fee. At the moment, without the computerised ALS or the ERP, we can only do it at the CBD. What about places in the ring roads, on the highways and other congested areas? ERP, according to our understanding, will take four to five years before it may come on stream. In other words, we are still uncertain whether ERP is workable. At the end of the day, we may find that the ERP is either not technically feasible or administratively workable. Sir, if we were to take no ownership restraint at all, very soon our traffic congestion may deteriorate to an extent that it is unbearable. Sir, the second approach, which is a more judicious one, in my view, is to implement an ownership restraint mechanism straightaway which will ensure a predictable and adjustable growth rate of cars. And as additional usage measures are implemented and found to be effective and as the public transport system continues to improve and more people are attracted to it, we can then allow a higher growth rate of cars without endangering traffic conditions. Sir, in this regard, the proposed quota system fulfils this requirement better than the existing ARF scheme and should therefore be seriously considered by the Government.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, our land transport policy has always been committed to keeping our roads relatively free of congestion. Most of us agree with that. The problem is, how do we maintain this policy and at the same time try to accommodate the rising aspirations of Singaporeans to own cars? We recognise the call for and the possibility of allowing a good proportion of the population to own cars as long as they restrain their usage. However, how do we arrive at that desired stage? We may get to that stage by either of two ways. The first is to have no further ownership restraint, as advocated by Mr Heng Chiang Meng and Mr Chng Hee Kok, and try to discourage usage by increasing its operating costs, and improving the attractiveness of the public transport system. But in view of our present circumstances of car growth and the strong desire of Singaporeans to own cars, and also the types of measures that are available to us to effectively discourage usage of cars, not just at the CBD but also at the ring roads, highways and certain other congested areas, to take the first approach is to invite trouble. Mr Heng suggested increasing operating costs, such as road tax, petrol tax, ALS fee, etc. before the ERP comes on stream. He feels that these interim measures of increasing the operating costs can curb car usage and therefore buy us time until the ERP is available. But, Sir, let us look at the measures he suggested. Road tax is, first of all, not selective in that everybody, whether he uses the car or not, will be charged road tax. Secondly, road tax is actually an ownership restraint measure. When I buy a car I will do my calculations. If I buy on hire-purchase, I will calculate how much I have to pay each month and road tax will be part of it.”
“Sir, as I have mentioned, fundamental to democracy is the right of the people to freely choose or reject the rulers. And we have not undermined that.”
“Sir, where does the NCMP get his mandate to speak in this House?”
“Yes, Feedback Unit, Resource Panels, Select Committees, and so on are good for encouraging participation and consensus building and must be continued and strengthened. However, there is no substitute for being able to stand up in this House, the highest institution of our land, face to face with the Ministers, debate, argue, and take them to task under the scrutiny of the public and the media. Therefore, the role of an NMP will have a much greater impact on the public compared to other forms of participation. If you ask, who is he accountable to? I would say that he is accountable to this House. Yes, he has also a standing or reputation to protect and it is the responsibility of this House to ensure that men of high standing are nominated. This is the task that Members must be more concerned with because the success of this Bill, this innovation in our democracy, and the good it can bring to us, hinges on whether these NMPs can ultimately gain credibility in the eyes of the public, never mind the initial suspicion, if any. 1.45 pm”
“Sir, I support the Bill because I see the potential good it can bring to our country. It can be a positive step in the evolution of a Singaporean democracy suitable to our needs and circumstances. Sir, it is a reality that there are always good and capable citizens of high standing who are not interested in party politics. If some of these non-partisan Singaporeans are willing to serve as nominated MPs, there is no doubt that they can enhance the quality of debate in Parliament, contribute to the law-making process, help promote consensus democracy and dampen adversary democracy, because they will put pressure on the Opposition to be more constructive. Sir, we have heard yesterday some strong objections to this Bill. The first and most important one is that nominated MPs have no mandate from the people to speak in this House, that it will be undemocratic or undermine our democracy if we allow them to do so because they do not represent any people. We must not see it in that way. We must not compare the NMPs and elected MPs in that manner. This Bill never intends to provide the NMP with the same mandate as that of an elected MP. It only seeks to create a new and useful but different role from that of an elected MP in this legislature. It is not undemocratic because unlike elected MPs, they are not given the mandate to rule. The people of Singapore still have the right to freely choose or reject their rulers. This is fundamental to democracy and must not be breached. If Members are concerned that NMPs can swing a Bill either way because of their right to vote, then in the spirit of consensus building, may I propose that we remove their right to vote? But let us support the idea of allowing them to speak in this House.”
“Sir, we have subsidized the MRT system so much that I think we ought to consider subsidizing public transport on an operating basis, so that we can have not just cheap public transport but at the same time quality public transport. Sir, on that note, I urge the Ministry to review some of these measures that we have commented on. And I want to stress again that I support the principles behind these measures but I do not agree with some of the measures taken.”
“Therefore, by introducing evening ALS, more vehicles will be diverted to the ring roads, and I foresee that we are going to aggravate even more the traffic situation on the ring roads. Another problem is that the evening ALS is going to affect retail businesses in the CBD. More motorists will head for the ring roads to do their shopping and so on, and that will further aggravate the traffic conditions there. Thirdly, as my GPC Chairman has mentioned, the evening ALS will also inconvenience the residents in the CBD. I suggest that, since we have introduced this car park surcharge, as a result of which the car park fee is going to increase, maybe we can delay the evening ALS and allow the hike in car park charges to work and see if it will achieve the desired results. Finally, I would like to come to my last point. I would like to echo Dr Hong's point about the public transport system. As we move towards road usage restraint, we are asking car-owners to switch to public transport. Sir, generally these people are in the better income group, and getting them to switch to a cheaper means of transport means that the form of transport must be compatible to that of private cars. And if they cannot get a good standard ofservice in terms of comfort, time and convenience, it is not going to be attractive. I therefore support my GPC Chairman's proposal that the Government should look into ways and means as to how we can improve on the comfort, the convenience and the time in taking public transport so that Singaporeans can be encouraged to make a switch. Otherwise it is unlikely for them to give up their present mode of transport.”
“Secondly, unlike the ARF which controls car ownership, control of road usage is more painful to existing owners and therefore small dosages will allow them time to adjust, either y giving up their car or switch to public transport some of the time. However, Sir, in the recent measures taken there seems to be so many small doses given at the same time giving a cumulative effect of a big dosage. Although HDB car park charges have got nothing to do with MCI, the increase in season parking rates of 100% basically has the effect of car ownership restraint whatever good reasons HDB may have. Therefore, the increase cannot be viewed as a separate issue and must be viewed in the context of our land transport policy. Sir, there must be therefore better coordination between MCI and MND regarding the timing and size of theincrease in parking rates so that the measures as a whole will not be viewed as excessive. It would have been better if the revision of HDB season parking rates is done over, say, two increases with prior warning given to the vehicle owners living in HDB estates. Let me now come to the evening ALS. What do we gain from introducing the evening ALS? Obviously the traffic flow in CBD will be smoother as a result. But what is the fall-out? Sir, as we know from the information given by MCI, at the moment traffic condition in CBD in the evening is, in fact, less heavy than along the ring roads. The average speed of vehicles in the CBD during the evening period is about 26 km per hour. But along the ring roads it is much less, and sometimes during a localized traffic congestion it can go as slow as 11 km per hour.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the motion. The recent restraint measures for land transport announced by the Ministry of Communications and Information aim to control congestion by curbing road usage. The principles behind these measures to discourage excessive usage of roads are good and ought to be supported. The measures introduced, such as the petrol duty increase, the modified ALS scheme and the car park surcharge will all contribute to the objective. However, the various measures introduced together with the simultaneous increase of HDB car park charges have instead caused considerable unhappiness among Singaporean vehicle-owners. They are unhappy because they feel that the package as a whole is too big a dosage. Sir, if we were to individually look at the measures introduced you can see that they are mainly unhappy over two of them. Firstly, the HDB season parking rates and, secondly, the evening ALS. The Minister for Communications and Information has given me the impression that, when dishing out measures to control traffic congestion on our roads, he prefers to administer them a small dose at a time and on a regular basis, be they the control of road usage or car ownership or both, for he believes that this approach is more palatable and will also produce the same result as that of big dosages administered once in a while. I agree with him for two reasons. Firstly, as we move towards controlling congestion by restraining road usage, a small dose at a time will result in better utilization of roads. This is because the traffic volume can then be constantly monitored and maintained at a satisfactory level.”
“Random checks can be done to enforce that no false declaration is made. When the vehicle returns from Malaysia, the card can be collected back and again random checks can be made to ensure that the petrol level of the vehicle does not exceed what has been declared. For those who lose their cards or do not wish to display their cards, a tax can then be levied on them. A heavy penalty can be imposed on those who violate the law. Sir, I hope that the Minister will consider this suggestion when he looks for alternative solutions in the future.”
“First, why should it be an offence when a person leaving the country has without more than half a tank of petrol in his motor vehicle? How can the law presume that he is going to buy cheaper petrol in Johor without giving him the opportunity to prove that he is not? Second, the Bill does not prevent a person from buying up to half a tank of petrol. As such, it is only half effective as far as achieving the objective of the petrol tax is concerned. The revenue loss can,in fact, increase substantially depending on any future increase in petrol tax. Thus, the Government may have to look for alternative measures if the problem continues to exist. Sir, I know that administrative problem in implementing this Bill is one of the main considerations by the Government, including not to cause traffic congestion at the Causeway. In this respect, it seems that levying a tax on every vehicle leaving Singapore is the most effective means with the least administrative problem. This measure, however, will have the following drawbacks. First, we will be seen to be discouraging Singaporeans from going to Malaysia. Second, it will have an adverse effect on our business cooperation with Johor and, third, one may ask why he should be made to pay the tax if he does not intend to buy petrol in Johor. Sir, I suggest that the Government look again into the feasibility of adopting the universal practice of customs declaration. There are ways to streamline the operation and keep the administrative problem and traffic conges- tion at the Causeway to the minimum. Every Singapore registered vehicle leaving Singapore can be given a card on which the person in charge of a vehicle will be required to mark the petrol level of his vehicle.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think Dr Lee Siew-Choh was trying to deceive this House and the people of Singapore when he said that the price of petrol has got nothing to do with traffic congestion. It is obvious to everyone that when petrol is cheaply available one would tend to use the car more. How can he then say that the price of petrol has got nothing to do with traffic congestion? Mr Speaker, Sir, our land transport policy seeks to maintain the congestion-free mobility of people and goods in Singapore through the control of car usage and the growth of car population. This policy requires that a combination of a number of measures, such as road tax, registration fee, ARF, road pricing and petrol tax, etc. be adopted. I believe Singaporeans have come to accept the necessity of such measures and are convinced of the benefits they will bring to Singapore. However, the use of petrol tax cannot effectively serve its purpose if Singaporeans can continue to buy cheaper petrol in Johor. Any increase in petrol tax would, in fact, attract more Singaporeans to do so. This Bill therefore seeks to ensure the effectiveness of the petrol tax measure. The estimated revenue loss of $2 million per month at present is an indication of the extent to which the petrol tax measure is compromised. This amount can expect to increase, as Dr Augustine Tan has mentioned, should the Singapore dollar appreciates in value against the Malaysian Ringgit or should the Government decide to increase the petrol duty. Sir, I therefore support the objective of this Bill because it would otherwise deprive us of an useful measure to control car usage. However, Sir, I am not comfortable with the means adopted in this Bill for two reasons.”
“The taxi drivers certainly do not accept what they know as the reason for the increase, ie, to correct an anomaly between taxis and cars. Therefore, it is time for the Minister to put things in perspective, explain how the diesel tax on taxis fits into our overall and long-term land transport plan, what the role of taxis is in this plan, what it will portend for the taxi drivers and the taxi commuters and convince this House and Singaporeans that the policy on taxis the Government is adopting is indeed a sound policy and that there is no other better alternative. Sir, as the problem is not really immediate and the various taxi organizations are doing a good job in managing the taxi services, there is really no need to have such a steep increase in the diesel tax. A better way would be to have a gradual increase over a number of years. This would give us time to confirm that our taxi policy is indeed sound. It will then truly benefit both the taxi drivers and taxi commuters. As regards the taxi fare, the experience in 1985 shows that taxi fare cannot be arbitrarily increased. The increase must be accepted by the taxi commuters otherwise it will work against the interests of the taxi operators. Since there is already such an automatic check, will the Minister consider removing the power to decide on taxi fare from the ambit of the PTC (Public Transport Council) especially when the taxi operators have to carry the burden of the diesel tax?”
“Sir, diesel tax on taxis was increased to $4,400 last November and the Government intends to raise it again to $6,600 in November this year. The reason for the diesel tax increase, according to the Minister in his reply to the Member for Fengshan during the Budget debate in 1988 is, and I quote: 'In 1971, when the diesel tax was introduced for cars, that same tax was not applied to taxis. Sir, that is the anomaly that has been responsible for diesel cars coming all the way down and for the number of diesel taxis going all the way up until at the moment practically all taxis operate on diesel. That is the reason why it is necessary now to correct the anomaly to move towards parity between taxis and cars.' And in the same reply, after relating how taxi drivers and commuters benefited in the tax and fare changes made in 1985, the Minister went on to say, and I quote: 'Sir, I expect in due course when the diesel tax is fully implemented, similar benefits will also prevail - benefits for taxi drivers, benefits for taxi commuters and benefits for all other road users, because we will not have excessively large number of taxis cluttering our roads.' Sir, it seems therefore that moving towards parity between taxis and cars is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end which is not to have excessive large number of taxis cluttering our roads. This in turn forms an integral part of the larger objective of our land transport policy which is to ensure the congestion-free mobility of people and goods in Singapore. Sir, the Minister calls the diesel tax policy a sound policy. However, most Singaporeans and taxi drivers do not know what this policy portends.”
“Telecoms has started replacing coin-operated public telephones with card-phones. This exercise will undoubtedly benefit Telecoms because of the savings expected from the reduction of manpower requirement and vandalism. However, the consumers will have to face the inconvenience of carrying an extra card with him all the time and be reminded not to leave home without it. They have also got to pay $10 for the card which is money collected up-front by Telecoms. In fact, most people are occasional users of the public phone and find this arrangement troublesome. Sir, can the Minister ask Telecoms to look into other alternatives which will not inconvenience the consumers?”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, Telecoms is spending about $50 million on the Teleview project. This is not a small sum of money. It is more than the cost of two supercomputers. It must therefore be concerned with the economic viability of the project and see that it will not become just a showpiece. Sir, in order for Teleview to be attractive to Singaporeans, we must consider three aspects: (1) The cost of the user terminal unit; (2) The rate at which user interaction with the central computer can take place under heavy usage; and (3) The user's needs and psychology. I would like to ask the Minister about the current status of the Teleview project and what studies Telecoms has conducted and what plans does Telecoms have to make Teleview a success. Sir, may I go on to the card-phone?”
“The committee will be carrying out school-based as well as community-based programmes to improve the performance of Malay students. Specific attention will be given to mathematics and English. The activities planned include (1) a programme on being a good mother, (2) a quiz, (3) assisting Mendaki and Taman Bacaan to improve the effectiveness of their tutorial classes, (4) setting up study centres at the void decks of HDB blocks and in community centres, and, where possible, setting up mathematics parks, (5) using the mass media to develop interest in mathematics, (6) carrying out a survey on the factors that affect the performance of Malay students. In addition to these activities, schools will continue to give attention to its weaker students to improve their performance through tutorial or remedial classes. All these efforts must have the support of parents in order to succeed. We therefore urge parents and the community to play their part. I am confident that, given the increased consciousness now shown by the Malay community, this can be achieved. Mr Chairman, I would like to express my appreciation for the contributions, concern, ideas of fellow Malay Members of Parliament, like Encik Abbas, Encik Nasser, Encik Yatiman, relating to two important matters. I shall put it briefly. Firstly, Insha Allah, the setting up of the committee will be carried out in cooperation between Mendaki and the Ministry. I hope by May this would be finalized. Secondly, your point that we should ensure that the committee include non-Malay individuals to reflect the idea that this is a national effort, that this is another step towards improving the performance of Malay students, both points are noted and I shall convey them to the Ministry and the Minister.”
“It is recognized that the primary school is where the foundations of these subjects are laid, particularly in the case of Mathematics which, among the cognitive subjects, is where pupils of all races are weakest and where the performance of Malay pupils is by far the lowest. The Ministry of Education has expressed its willingness to assist teachers from Mendaki and similar organizations, like Taman Bacaan, which have been running tutorial classes for Malay students outside school hours. A training course has been conducted which concentrates on remedial teaching in Mathematics. The course deals with the weaknesses of students and the strategies to be employed to improve their performance. At the moment, 23 tutors from Taman Bacaan have undergone the course organized by the Ministry and they completed it last Friday. More such courses will be planned. Mr Chairman, as evidence of the cooperation, a mathematics camp jointly organized by Mendaki, Taman Bacaan, the Science Teachers' Association of Singapore and the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS) will be held in June this year. 400 Malay/Muslim students are expected to undergo the camp. Both STAS and CDIS are planning the activities and preparation of materials relevant for the camp. Another initiative now being considered is the setting up of a working committee to study the socio-economic, cultural, attitudinal, familial and other factors that might influence the educational performance of Malay students. The proposed committee will be a joint effort between the Ministry and Mendaki to plan and draw up programmes and strategies towards the overall upgrading of the academic performance of Malay students.”
“I know that at present students in schools do get involve in project work but are these work sufficient. May I take this opportunity to ask the Minister what other measures is the Ministry considering to foster creativity development? I would like to suggest that perhaps the Minister could consider for a start extending the method of teaching adopted in the gifted education programme to a much larger group of students in the primary and secondary schools, say, the top 10-15% of the cohort. The curriculum and scope of the programme need not be as heavy and intense as the GEP. If we implement such a programme, although this group of students may not at the end get better grades than before, I am confident that they will become much more creative and independent and have more depth in their thinking which will go a long way in helping their future studies and career development. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Encik Sidek bin Saniff)( In Malay): Mr Chairman, I am replying on behalf of the Minister. As the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Education, I held eight dialogue sessions with Malay organizations and Malay and non-Malay individuals who have an interest in education in November and December 1988 with the aim of getting feedback, views, comments and suggestions on how the performance of Malay students in school could be improved. These dialogue sessions have been worthwhile. The sessions have facilitated an exchange of ideas and explanations on issues relating to the education of Malay students. The Ministry is now studying the suggestions offered. Concern has been raised over the poor performance of Malay students in English, Mathematics and Science, which are important core subjects, especially in the primary schools.”
“From my observations and my colleague's observations among the students in the university, there is a general lack of initiative, fear of making mistakes, reluctance of speaking up in class to participate in discussions, lack of an inquiring mind, not strongly grounded in fundamentals and are more likely to learn by rote than by understanding. These students are among the top 10% of the product of our education system. If anyone doubts my words, all he needs to do is to convince the Ministry of Education to change the style of the exam questions for PSLE, 'O' and 'A' levels without changing the content and see what happens. Sir, the bias towards rote learning benefits poorer students and help them pass examinations and acquire useful skills to earn a living in our modern economy. However, for the abler students the extra time and effort spent in order to score the best possible grades could be better used to achieve a more rounded education to foster creativity and thinking skills and to develop other aspects of one's faculty. Since 1984 the Ministry has introduced the Gifted Education Programme to provide opportunities for the intellectually gifted to develop their potential to the fullest. This is a good programme but it only caters to a very small group of pupils. I am glad that the Ministry has also introduced thinking skill lessons based on Edward de Bono's lateral thinking method in some of the schools and is planning to extend these lessons to more schools. This is a step in the right direction. However, these lessons are separated from the main curriculum and the benefits would there- fore be limited. It would be good if such creative teaching and learning which encourage thinking could be integrated into the core curriculum.”
“Sir, the Economic Committee in its landmark report published in early 1986 has emphasized the importance of having a thinking and creative population so that our people can acquire a niche in the global economy of the 1990's by being quick to see and seize opportunities, spot new trends and adapt to new circumstances. "Our education system must provide the means for them to acquire these skills", says the report. Sir, our education system has been similar to that of the Japanese with its reliance on rote learning, the amassing of knowledge and the confirmation of learning through institutionalized tests. While this system has served us well in producing a knowledgeable and skilled workforce in a relatively short period of time, we have paid a price for not being able to foster development of creativity and thinking skills in our students. In an examination-oriented system such as ours, the pressure is always present for schools to be pre-occupied with preparing students for examinations by teaching facts and com- pleting syllabuses. It is not uncommon for schools to even drill students in the techniques of answering exam questions. The society as a whole has come to believe that top exam results are the best vindication of a person's worth and therefore the best way to success. This is misleading and not in line with our objective of educating each individual to his maximum potential. Sir, although our education system has produced more students passing examinations and obtaining better results than before, it is lacking in nurturing a creative and thinking mind.”
“Second, in order to get the support of employers, the Government, being the largest employer, should take the lead by sending a clear signal to all its ministries and statutory boards to ask them to be supportive. At present, I believe that all the ministries and statutory boards do is just to abide by Mindef's requirements and send away their staff for in-camp training. Some middle management bosses may even do it with complaints. By "supportive", I mean they should attempt to understand any problems faced by the reservists due to the in-camp training, and try to map out a reasonable policy to treat the reservists. Finally, Sir, there are some other smaller things which Mindef could consider. Perhaps it is time we extended the usual one-year passport validity given to reservists each time they renew their passports. With some countries requiring at least six months' validity before permitting entry, reservists are finding it very inconvenient. Is there such a necessity now for the one-year restriction? There is also the problem of reservists receiving too many orders to report in a year. Is it because that, with computerization, Mindef is now more efficient in sending out the SAF 100? Can we not combine things like mobilization briefing and Co's evening into the in-camp training so as to cut down the number of reportings? I hope the Minsiter will consider my proposal.”
“This principle is well accepted in a regular army because one will also be promoted faster and get more pay. However, reservists are not enthusiastic about this principle. Why should they be? It will mean extra burden and more disruptions to their civilian lives. Although there are some who consider having more responsibilities as a challenge and something to be proud of, there are also many who will just do the minimum to discharge their duty in order not to get into trouble. Sir, in short, there is little incentive for them to perform. I believe, Sir, that these are some of the problems Mindef has always realized and has addressed itself to. That is why Mindef has implemented the SAF Award for Employer, Employers' visits to in-camp training, and forums to meet the employers, etc. It even investigates into complaints by reservists of unfair treatment by their bosses. There is also a special allowance of one-third of rank pay on top of the make-up pay for in-camp training given to those key appointment holders, such as the commanding officer of a battalion or the brigade's principal staff officers. Have we done enough? I do not think so. There is room for improvement. First, I propose that the special allowance be extended to all section commanders and above. The special allowance must be commensurate with the appointment one is holding, and not his rank. The reason is that if I am holding a higher responsibility, I must of course be entitled to a higher allowance. This will encourage people to perform better and move up to a higher appointment. We can also make this allowance revocable if the officer in command of the company or the commanding officer of the unit so recommends.”
“This is important because the reservists form the bulk of our armed forces manpower, and they must maintain certain standards and operational readiness. Sir, I submit that the problems lie in the following few areas. But before I do so, let me declare my interest. I am a reservist myself and still serving. First, the disruption of his work may affect his performance and therefore his career advancement. Although he can always work doubly hard when he returns to the office, it is always stressful. It is also a natural inclination for middle management bosses to want to have as few disruptions as possible from his staff who go for reservist training so as not to affect productivity and the performance of his department. Therefore, a supportive boss is always hard to come by. In some instances, discrimination may even arise. As for those who run a business alone, disruption due to in-camp training can be quite costly to them. Second, treatment of reservists during their in-camp training. Sir, while I uphold the importance of discipline and admit that the Army has come a long way in applying discipline judiciously, especially to the reservists, I believe there are still instances where active commanders can be unreasonable, even when standards of training are not a matter of concern. Sir, I am not saying that this is widespread. I must say that I am fortunate to belong to one of the arms that looks after the reservists well. However, we must ensure that such problems do not frequently occur. Otherwise, they can further take away whatever little motivation that was left. Third, to achieve excellence, the principle must be that "the better you are, the more responsibility you carry".”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me begin by saying that I fully support the Mission Statement of the Ministry of Defence, ie, to ensure the security of Singapore through the development and maintenance of an effective army, navy and air force capable of defending the Republic against external threats and aggression. If Singaporeans want to run their own country, run their own lives, and determine their own future, then a strong and vigilant but non-belligerent armed forces is indispensable. Hence, without sacrificing other aspects of our nation building, we should continue to nurture our armed forces year after year, and to ensure that the budget allocation for defence is sufficient. Therefore, I am glad to see that about 23% of our total expenditure is allocated to defence, which constitutes about 5 or 6% of our GDP. Sir, in building up a credible armed forces, because of Singapore's small size and population, we have to adopt the concept of national service, both full-time and reserve, together with the relatively small but capable regular force. The stint for full-time national service is 2 to 2(r) years and throughout the years Singaporeans have now come to accept very well their full-time national service liability. However, reservist liability is different. One has to serve a 13-year cycle and is liable to be recycled. And this takes place during the part of his life when he needs to pay a lot of attention to his career and family. Therefore, while reservists by and large accept the fact that there is a national duty to perform, it is not to say that most of them are motivated and therefore giving off their best. If this is so, we must then find out where the problems lie and constantly see how we can better improve the situation.”
“Sir, before I change the subject I would like to ask the Minister one more question which I think is of concern to some people, that is, under his proposal, whether there will be obligatory contribution to the CPF from those additional wages in excess of 40% of the employee's annual ordinary wages which will be assessed to tax. May I turn briefly to the subject of property tax on non-HDB owner-occupied residential properties. Depending on the year the annual value was assessed, the present system gives different concessionary taxes to different properties. It is good that the Minister has proposed that a standardized tax rate of 4% of annual value be adopted. I would like to seek the Minister's clarification as to whether the annual value of all the properties will be updated and standardized? How the 4% has been decided and how much more revenue will be generated as a result of this change? In conclusion, Sir, notwithstanding what I have said, there is no doubt that it is a good budget and I support the motion.”
“Therefore the normal wage earners, such as the salesmen, are likely to be unfairly penalized. They are likely to pay more tax compared to another person having relatively higher monthly ordinary wages but the same gross annual income. This is unfair and may have a dampening effect on our flexi-wage policy. Sir, the problem arising from the new rule lies in the fact that annual ordinary wages are used by the Minister in the budget to determine the maximum additional wages which enjoy tax deductible CPF contribution. I propose that the gross annual income be used and therefore, instead of 40% of the annual ordinary wages being the ceiling of the additional wages which enjoy tax deductible CPF contributions, we should perhaps use somewhere between 25-30% of the gross annual income. The reason why I say 25-30% is that if we use 28.6% (the figure that I mentioned earlier) my proposal is no less effective than the Minister's in so far as preventing tax shelters without unduly penalizing the normal wage earner. Furthermore, if an individual's bonuses amount to 4.8 months or less, CPF contribution on all his bonuses will be tax free, which is the same as what the Minister has proposed. However, if an individual has more than 4.8 months of bonuses, then the ceiling of the additional wages which enjoyed tax free CPF contribution will not be restricted to 4.8 months but higher. At any rate, it is always pegged to 28.6% of the gross annual income. Sir, my proposal has the advantages of being fairer to everyone, as simple as the Minister's and not capping the portion of CPF contributions from the additional wages.”
“These contributions are made monthly and comprise two parts: first, 36% (12% from the employer and 24% from the employee) of his or her monthly ordinary wages not exceeding $6,000; and the second part, 36% of his or her additional wages not subjecting to any limit. It is therefore possible for a high-wage earner to take advantage of this statutory requirement, for tax purposes, if his or her additional wages can be made artificially large compared to the monthly ordinary wages which are then kept at $6,000 or below. To prevent the use of CPF contributions as tax shelters, the Minister has proposed that, in the case of additional wages, deduction will be limited to the statutory CPF contribution from additional wages not exceeding 40% of the annual ordinary wages. Sir, with the existing CPF rule, a person who uses CPF contributions as tax shelters would have a large amount of additional wages close to his gross annual income. By gross annual income, I mean the sum of annual ordinary wages and additional wages. With the introduction of the new rule, assuming his gross annual income remains the same, he will have to restructure his wages to make his additional wages to be 40% of his annual ordinary wages so as to maximize his tax deductible CPF contributions. This means that his additional wages have now reduced to about 28.6% of his gross annual income. And all his additional wages qualify for tax deductible CPF contributions. There is no doubt that the new rule is effective in preventing tax shelters. However, it does not distinguish between those who are deliberately exploiting the tax loophole and those who are not. The new rule affects significantly anyone whose income pattern is such that they have large additional wages compared to their annual ordinary wages.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to speak in support of the financial policy of the Government for the financial year 1st April 1989 to 31st March 1990. It is a good budget, Sir, because we are able to take advantage of the buoyancy of the economy, and make considerable progress towards our long-term goals, both economic and social. The role of the public sector has been laid down by the Minister in the budget in no uncertain terms. The revenue and tax measures for both private companies and individuals are constructive and prudent, and essentially prepare us for the future. The need for greater procreation is emphasized and the importance of the family unit is upheld. The corporate sector has been assured that the Government will closely monitor the cost of doing business and help it stay competitive internationally. The budget shows us very clearly where we are in our economic development, where we should be heading to, and what steps and direction we should take to get there. It is heartening to see that we are moving towards a more robust economic system which is more efficient, resilient and better able to react and respond quickly to external factors and retain our competitive edge. Sir, I would like to take this opportunity to comment on a few measures proposed by the Minister in his budget. First, let me touch on the issue of tax deduction for contributions to CPF and other approved funds which the Member for Thomson has also touched on. At present, an individual enjoys tax deduction for obligatory contributions to the CPF or other approved funds.”
“Sir, when I say the "individual rights", I am talking about the western concept of individual rights and their concept of freedom of speech and so on. I believe that if we were to adopt unreservedly their concept and practices, in view of the multi-racial nature of our society, I think it would create instability rather than help nation building. Mr Chiam See Tong: We are seriously discussing ---”
“The Government and the society at large must therefore constantly explain to and remind parents and schools to resist such practices and adopt the right approach of making these values interesting and real to the pupils. Otherwise the purpose of forming a national ideology may never be realized.”
“This would open up to the child a wealth of Asian cultural heritage and values which will give him a sense of identity and strengthen his belief in the core values which he was taught. Furthermore, the best way of inculcating a value is not just by giving lessons and talking about it. Opportunities must be created for the child to exercise it wherever possible. Experiencing it can only reinforce his conviction that it is a right value to have. Sir, my concern is, how can we create and sustain in our pupils an active interest for the mother tongue, and in social studies and moral education? Can we encourage our pupils, when they are outside the classroom, to engage in activities related to their mother tongue and make it a social norm? For this to happen in addition to having good curricula, we must have the cooperation of parents, principals and teachers. Sir, in a survey conducted in 1987 from 34 primary schools, with 20 of these schools having consistently good PSLE results, a question was asked: whether our schools were preoccupied with teaching facts and covering syllabuses to prepare students for examinations? The answer was a resounding yes. This phenomenon reflects the desire of the parents and the schools to chase after high grades for their children because, to the parents, high grades are perceived as providing their children a sure path to a good career, and to the schools, they will earn them the recognition of a good school. I believe this finding agrees also with the results published by the Research Department from MCD on youth aspiration and their view regarding examinations and so on. Such examination-oriented approach can never truly generate interest and impart the desired values to our young.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak in support of the Motion, and in particular, to support the formulation of a national ideology and express my belief that education and the use of the mother tongue should be enhanced to help inculcate these core values in our young. Our universal English education has served us well in producing a workforce which is better educated and relevant to the economy. However, it has also pro- duced a new generation of Singaporeans who are more and more westernized because of their constant exposure and absorption of western values. Some of these values, such as their concept of individual rights and freedom cannot, in my opinion, be the principles on which we should build our nation. Thus, if this trend continues, we will eventually lose our own Asian heritage and may not be able to hold together as a nation even before then. The answer to this real danger which can affect our survival as a nation, let alone our continued prosperity, lies in the formulation of a national ideology, a distinct set of core values which all Singaporeans can identify with and take root in so as to keep our bearings together as we face external influences day by day. Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government has committed to improving the education system further over the next five years. Through paying greater attention to social studies, moral education and extra-curricular programmes and by promoting the use of the mother tongue, it aims to transmit these values to our young in their formative years. I fully agree with this approach. To obtain the best possible result, we must ensure that every child develops a liking for the mother tongue and attains an adequate understanding and proficiency of the language.”