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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“Sir, this question is not relevant to the question that the Member has asked about bus shelters and linkways. I think we will answer that question in the Committee of Supply on the progress that we have made for a World Class Land Transport System.”
“I am not saying that we will only tie up with IUP and MUP. There are criteria for upgrading of bus shelters, for instance. You cannot upgrade a bus shelter if it is only a few years old. There are certain criteria. Where there are IUP and MUP, I think you will get priority because we do not want to have a case where you have got a brand new environment but a very old bus shelter. So that is not so good. This is the rationale behind our programme.”
“Sir, as I said, as far as proactiveness is concerned, that is what they are going to do. They are now going to implement this nation-wide programme of upgrading the bus stops and to fit the programme into the IUP and MUP of the constituencies, so that when you have a new environment after the IUP, you also have new linkways and bus shelters. So these are the programmes that the LTA has taken the initiative to launch. But as for other requests, as I mentioned, pick-up points and drop-off points, I do not think they will be applicable in every case.”
“Sir, I am talking of the more unique requests. But for bus stops and linkways, I am pleased to inform Members that LTA has decided to implement a nation-wide programme to upgrade the bus shelters and the linkways to MRT stations. That programme would cost about $24 million.”
“Firstly, Sir, I have told LTA that, wherever possible, LTA would contact the Member, who requested for such facilities, to study the request together with the engineers from LTA. So LTA will be helpful in considering each request. As you can see from the request, it involves drop-off and pick-up points. So it may not be applicable in every case. It is difficult to do a comprehensive study for all constituencies. But I would encourage Members to take up their requests with LTA, and LTA would try to be helpful. Mr Chng Hee Kok: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State will recall that this is one of the issues raised in the paper "World Class Land Transport System", whereby it was envisaged that all MRT stations be integrated with the bus interchanges, to make it convenient for all residents. So why is the Ministry or LTA not looking into this issue, as raised by my hon. friend, on an island-wide basis and not on an ad hoc basis?”
“Members can put in their requests to the LTA and LTA will assess the merits of the requests on a case-by-case basis. LTA will then reply to the Member.”
“I am pleased to inform the Member that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will construct covered linkways from the Pasir Ris MRT station to nearby bus stops along Pasir Ris Drive 1. The linkways will incorporate a vehicle drop-off and pick-up point along Pasir Ris Central. The design for the linkways is being developed and the LTA plans to call for tenders later this year. Construction work will take about eight months to complete, after the tender is awarded.”
“Sir, as I explained, they use that stretch of the expressway and therefore they are contributing congestion. The only way to reduce congestion is to ensure that those who use that stretch of the expressway also have to pay. If they value faster transit they should use the CTE. APPLICATION SYSTEM FOR HAWKER STALLS 2. Encik Harun bin A. Ghani asked the Minister for the Environment whether his Ministry has any plan to change the application system for hawker stalls.”
“Sir, the two gantry points are complementary. In our analysis, we discovered that there are motorists who make use of that stretch of the expressway between the two gantry points to go to the PIE. But that contributed to congestion and caused kickbacks as far back as the first gantry point and further up north. On the whole, we prefer to have the two gantry points so as to provide an effective solution.”
“Sir, where possible, LTA will adjust traffic lights and carry out localised road improvements along the affected roads to remove any bottlenecks and facilitate smoother traffic flows. However, motorists must realise that the objective of the RPS is to ease the congestion along our expressways and to provide them with a choice of fast transit. So motorists must also consider these other options that I have mentioned, such as taking public transport, park-and-ride, car pooling or changing their time of travel. I am pleased to inform Members that the public response to the four new express bus services introduced in conjunction with the extended RPS scheme since 5th May 1997 has been encouraging. Due to commuters' requests, I am informed that SBS would be revising the schedules of its express buses to improve their frequency and capacity provision.”
“So that is the cap. The minimum, however, is still stipulated to be not less than one-quarter of the total number of MPs. This figure, I feel, is too low and not too meaningful. Should we not increase this gradually and perhaps, as a first step, to half. With that, Sir, I support the Bill. Mr Cheo Chai Chen( In Mandarin): Mr Deputy Speaker, with regard to the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill 1996, I hope the Prime Minister will clarify the following two points. First, in clause 9 of the Amendment Bill, in a single-member constituency, each candidate is only allowed to have one polling agent to be present at each polling station. I think this is not appropriate, because polling starts early in the morning and goes all the way right to the evening. So if this person were to leave the station either for lunch or to go to the toilet, there will be no one to supervise over the polling. I feel that for single-member constituencies, every candidate should be allowed to have at least two polling agents to supervise over the polling. The second point I wish to raise is that in the Amendment Bill, counting of votes can be held in several places. If this is the case, then the candidate will not be able to be present at all the counting stations. Will the Government consider retaining the existing system where all the countings are done at one centralised counting station?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to comment on clause 4(b) of the Bill which provides that there shall at all times be at least 8 single member constituencies. At present, the law provides that there must be at least one-quarter of the total number of MPs representing single member constituencies. I support the proposed reduction of this minimum number to eight and, if need be, we should further reduce this number in the future. Singapore is a multi-racial country. But racial biasness is primeval and we should do whatever we can to minimise the chances of it spreading. The GRC system would prevent those political parties which contest in GRCs from engaging in racial politics. The single member constituency system is what we have inherited from the British. It has an inherent racial problem in a multi-racial country. Political parties which contest only in single member constituencies or single independent candidates can exploit racial sentiments to their advantage, but to the detriment of racial harmony of the country. Take, for example, the Australian independent MP, Pauline Hanson. Her speech in the Australian Parliament attacking Asians and criticising the Australian immigration policy has done some damage to the country. She has done that partly because she does not belong to any political party and she, presumably, does not need the votes of Asians. Minimising the number of single member constituencies therefore minimises the chances of such problems. Sir, clause 4(c) deletes the words "or more than three-quarters" from section 8A, subsection (2) of the Act, not because of what Dr Vasoo said that we want to remove the cap, but because the maximum number of members now to be returned by all GRCs is now determined by the total number of seats minus eight.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think Mr Ling has mistaken my point. My point is that with a larger GRC, you can then have one satellite town under one GRC. And if that is the case, then all the MPs in that town will be under the same political party. But this is not true now with Gombak and Hong Kah North. So I am saying, because of that, I find community bonding more difficult because the residents across the street interact with my residents also. They go to the same neighbourhood centre. So by increasing the number to six, I believe this is one advantage and it will help us in furthering the goal of community bonding.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, can I reply to that point?”
“My grassroots leaders are not so sure whether we should share our resources with these Gombak residents. This is because our resources are built up with the help of my grassroots leaders and residents. Naturally, priority must be given to them. So should I turn away requests from Gombak residents? It is therefore, in my view, much better if Gombak and my constituency are part of a larger GRC encompassing the natural boundaries of Bukit Batok Town. And if later we are part of a Community Development Council, then we can do much more together to foster community bonding in the town. For the same reason, it is better for bigger towns such as Tampines and Ang Mo Kio to come under one GRC with possibly six MPs. The proposed amendments enable us to do that. Sir, earlier Mr Cheo said that the proposed changes are the PAP's election ploy to entrench its power and that they will benefit the PAP and handicap the opposition. I say the changes are not a ploy. For the reasons I have explained earlier, they are for the long term good of Singapore. The law and the proposed changes are double-edged swords. I agree with the Prime Minister that they are neutral. That opposition parties are at a disadvantage is no fault of the PAP. Opposition parties feel threatened because they are weak. If their candidates are strong, they would have a chance to win a GRC and therefore the multiple seats that go with it. In fact, it was clear from the last General Election that strong Opposition candidates generally obtained a higher percentage of votes. This also shows that the electorate is now more discerning. Therefore, the Opposition should not blame their poor showing on the changes to the laws. With that, Sir, I support the Bill.”
“What we can do now though is to increase the guaranteed minimum number. One way to do it is to specify that at least half of the total number of MPs must come from GRCs, up from one-quarter which is stipulated in the Parliamentary Elections Act. Sir, the second concern is about whether the objective of the GRC system is being changed or enlarged and whether such amendments are wise. It is clear to me that the objective of the GRC system to ensure adequate minority representation and therefore racial harmony has not changed under the amendment. But the amendment, as I see it, does enlarge the objective to include community bonding, as mentioned by the Prime Minister, especially under the concept of Community Development Councils. I feel that this is something good for the country, and it is a natural extension of the original objective and I do not see why it should not be done. How does increasing the number of MPs in a GRC to six help in community bonding? Very simply, it will enable a larger town to come under one GRC instead of two or more constituencies whose MPs may not belong to the same political party. Having residents in the same town served by MPs from the same political party will help community bonding tremendously. Mr Cheo thinks that this is not true. But let me share with Members some of my ground experiences to illustrate my point. Bukit Gombak Constituency is adjacent to Hong Kah North. Many of its residents live in HDB flats just across a street from my constituency. From time to time, I receive requests for assistance from Gombak residents such as welfare assistance, enrolment into my PCF kindergartens and the use of some of our facilities. Whenever I receive a request from them, I have to use my own discretion to see whether I should accede to it.”
“This proportion seems to be widely accepted by Singaporeans and many want it now to be guaranteed by law. Sir, this is also what I would like to see as we gradually evolve our GRC system. Contrary to what some have believed, the proposed amendment to increase the maximum number of MPs in a GRC from four to six does not necessarily diminish minority representation. The final number of GRCs in the coming General Election will, as before, depend on how the electoral divisions are drawn. Although the maximum number of MPs in a GRC is to be increased to six, the existing number of GRCs and proportion of minority MPs can still be maintained. There are two reasons why this is so. First, not all GRCs need to have six MPs. Some may have three, four or five. And with a reduction of the number of single-seat constituencies, plus a possible increase of the total number of seats, which is likely because the number of voters has grown throughout the years, the total number of GRCs can be maintained, thus ensuring adequate minority representation. Second, as the Prime Minister has signalled, the PAP is likely to field more minority candidates than the number of GRCs. This will further add to the number of minority MPs. Some people may argue that if that is what we want, why do we not specify the total number of GRCs and their sizes in the Parliamentary Elections Act now? Sir, I think it is too early to do so. This is because our population is still growing and our towns are still expanding. It is, therefore, difficult to specify at present a specific combination of electoral divisions of different sizes. But I believe we will get there someday. And perhaps for the larger GRCs, we can then specify, in the future, that they should have at least two minority MPs and not one.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the amendment to increase the maximum number of MPs in a Group Representation Constituency from four to six is yet another important step towards building a more socially cohesive democratic Singapore. Since the introduction of the Bill by the Prime Minister, there have been a number of articles in the press expressing concerns about the dilution of minority representation in Parliament. Some felt that the proposed amendment did not safeguard the existing proportion of minority MPs. Others felt that the original objective of the GRC system to ensure adequate minority representation should not be tampered with and diluted with other objectives. To address the first concern, let us look at what the existing Constitution and Parliamentary Elections Act guarantee. The Constitution sets out the operative framework for the GRC system and the Parliamentary Elections Act stipulates the implementation details. Under the existing Article 39A of the Constitution, the number of MPs in a GRC should be at least three, but not more than four. The total number of GRC MPs, however, is stipulated in section 8A(2) of the Parliamentary Elections Act to be at least one-quarter, but not more than three-quarters, of the total number of MPs. With 81 seats, a simple calculation will show you that the guaranteed minimum number of GRCs and, therefore, minority MPs, would only be six. The Prime Minister has said that. The current electoral divisions, however, were drawn in 1991 such that there are 15 GRCs with four MPs each. This gives us a minimum number of 15 minority MPs or slightly less than 20% of the total number of MPs, a proportion which is way above the guaranteed minimum.”
“Besides many advantages for the execution of road pricing, the smart card system also offers additional advantages, such as the facility of a parking meter. The parking coupon system for public car parks has been around for a long time. The disadvantages of this system are, first, the user has to spend time tearing the coupon. Second, if the user makes a mistake and realises it, he will have to take the trouble to exchange the torn coupon for a new one. Third, if he does not realise that he has torn the coupon wrongly, he will then face the danger of receiving a parking summons. Sir, all these disadvantages can be avoided if we exploit technology. The Electronic Road Pricing gadget which will be installed in all vehicles can be easily extended to provide parking metering. The same smart card which the motorist uses for ERP can be used for parking. If this is adopted, the problems which I have mentioned earlier would be solved. There will be higher productivity for car park attendants and less littering problem for the environment. May I ask the Minister whether he intends to introduce such an electronic parking meter together with the ERP?”
“Sir, it is not uncommon to find two drivers involved in an accident having a dispute. I came across a case where a man reversed his car and hit the car behind, then went out to accuse the other driver of hitting him from behind. Fortunately, there were witnesses around and he was told off. Recently, the press reported a spate of bus accidents. Bus accidents are of great concern to the public because buses carry a large number of passengers. It is therefore important to know what exactly has caused the accidents. I think a vehicle "black box" would save drivers involved in accidents a lot of disputes. It will also help the police to investigate the true cause of the accident and make their job much more efficient. There will be no need to take lengthy statements from the drivers who may be telling half truths. For bus companies, knowing the true cause of accidents will go a long way in helping to enhance bus safety and give better confidence to the public. The black box should record the last 5 to 10 minutes of the vehicle activity. Speed, steering direction, and the state of indicators and lights, etc, would tell a lot in the reconstruction of any event. The black box should, in the first instance, be introduced to all buses and heavy goods vehicles. This is because accidents involving these vehicles are usually more severe. It can then be introduced to all vehicles later if found to be useful. I hope the Minister would consider my suggestion. Sir, I go on to parking meters. Sometime ago, when the Ministry was considering what type of Electronic Road Pricing system to be introduced, I told the then Communications Minister Dr Yeo, that we should go for the smart card system.”
“Sir, the White Paper on Land Transport envisions a world-class public transport system for Singaporeans. A world-class public transport system cannot be achieved without also having a world-class bus transport system. The White Paper, though comprehensive, has not touched on the important measures of first-class bus transport system, ie, the quantitative benchmarks for bus travel and waiting times, against standards in the developed countries such as Switzerland. Has the LTA overlooked the importance of such benchmarks or was it not bold enough to aspire to such world standards? Benchmarking will help us to measure our performance constantly. It is the best assurance we can give to commuters of what kind of bus services they can expect from our bus operators. May I ask the Minister why the LTA has not proposed any quantitative benchmarks for our bus services?”
“If he can allow Singaporeans to use their CPF to invest in the stock market, he should all the more allow them to invest in their own house which is likely to appreciate in value. For a start, may I suggest that only an owner-occupied house is allowed and that the market value of the house should exceed the CPF money which the owner has used for the original purchase of the house. If the Minister wants to be cautious, then allow only, say, 50% of this increase in value to be used for renvoation subject to the Minimum Sum requirement. May I ask the Minister to consider my suggestion?”
“Sir, I share the same sentiments with my colleague, Mr Leong Horn Kee. The Government is spending billions of dollars to upgrade our HDB flats. Why? Because upgrading will increase the value of the flats and hence enhance the assets of HDB residents. Likewise, renovation done to a house or flat is a good investment and will increase the value of the property. I remember a conversation I had with the Senior Minister on why Singaporeans are so stretched financially. He related how he had noticed during his visits to some HDB families that they had spent a lot of money renovating their homes, and he attributed this to be one of the reasons why they are financially stretched. But he concluded that Singaporeans are sensible and wise in renovating their homes because they know it will add value to their properties. Sir, property prices have gone up quite high in Singapore. Singaporeans are allowed to use their CPF to purchase houses. But they are not allowed to use their CPF for renovation of their house, even though it may be the only house they own and occupy. For many people, without using CPF, they will find it difficult to finance the renovation of their house. But they too, like everybody else, would like to upgrade their living conditions. People are hence encouraged to buy new or renovated properties. CPF monies are therefore actually used for renovation, but in an indirect manner. So why not allow CPF to be used for renovation? That will help a lot of people to upgrade through renovating their house and remove their frustration of not being able to afford or having to pay a much higher price for a new flat or property. I would therefore urge the Minister to allow CPF to be used for house renovation.”
“Looking at it positively, allowing executives and ordinary workers to belong to the same union would help cement closer ties between the different levels of staff in the company. This sense of togetherness is important for the company to compete in the new global environment. It is for this reason that although executives are allowed to form their own union, the NTUC still prefers to have workers and executives belonging to the same company come under the same union. If section 16(3) is not reviewed, the pool of bargainable employees in the rank-and-file unions will continue to diminish. This will present a leadership renewal problem in these unions and that will not augur well for industrial relations in the future. Sir, if what employers are worried about is the additional collective bargaining that they would have to do when executives are also represented by the union, may I say that perhaps the nature and content of collective bargaining for such employees could also be reviewed. There is no absolute necessity to adopt the same traditional approach and items in the collective agreement as that for the rank-and-file workers. If employers are only prepared to talk about qualitative benefits such as working conditions or training provisions, instead of wage bargaining for executives, I do not see why such sentiments cannot be discussed. Sir, structural changes in the employment and labour profile must also be met with structural changes in labour laws. May I ask the Minister to look into our suggestions.”
“Sir, I would like to join Mrs Yu-Foo in asking the Minister to allow executives to join rank-and-file unions. The labour force profile in Singapore is changing. The workforce is now better educated. Over a 10-year period from 1983 to 1994, the percentage of workers with post secondary or diploma qualifications rose from 11% to 17%. This category of workers has the largest employment gain with 245,800 jobs created over the same period, representing the highest rate of increase at about 8% a year. This increase is significant, as it accounted for one-quarter of total jobs created during the period. Although the financial and business services have employed the largest number of workers from this category, there is also a perceptible shift in manufacturing employment from production jobs towards professional, managerial and technical occupations. Professionals and other executives grew 7% a year during the 1983 to 1994 period, compared to only 1% for rank-and-file workers. This comparison shows you how fast our labour force profile is changing and in what direction. It is therefore time now to review clause 16(3) of the Industrial Relations Act which prohibits executives and rank-and-file workers to be represented by the same union. Sir, this clause has been there for many years. It was introduced at a time when the relationship between the management and union was one of conflict and industrial strife was the order of the day. Section 16(3) was therefore useful in preventing conflict of interest when managers and executives have to enforce discipline on the rank-and-file workers. 5.00 pm But today's industrial relations climate has become vastly different. We now stress team work, cooperation and partnership.”
“For example, MRTC has incorporated features, such as continuously welded tracks and wooden sleepers and uses low-noise wheels, to keep the noise down at MRT stations. We also set noise standards for motor vehicles, including motorcycles. These are international standards. It is not practical to have my officers posted in every part of Singapore at all times of the day and night to look out for that lone motorcyclist. So we have tried to do it at the registration and the inspection end. Noise from motorcycles, with illegally modified or ineffective silencers, is a problem. Last year, 1,085 motorcycles were booked for excessive noise. So my Ministry, together with LTA, is taking action against motorcycles. We have tightened the noise requirements for motorcycles from 106 dba to 99 dba, from 1st January this year. And we will be working with LTA for tighter enforcement. The suggestions that Dr Chen has raised for resurfacing the roads and so forth, I can take them up with LTA. I am sure that if he wants a speed camera there, the Traffic Police will be glad to oblige.”
“I thought he might be going for time-based charging for using toilet facilities! Our open drains and water courses are meant to carry clean rain water. And water from 42% of our land area, including heavily built-up areas, such as Bedok and Tampines New Town, flows straight into our reservoirs, water that we eventually drink. Hence, my Ministry has been taking firm action against anyone who pollutes our drains and rivers. And Singaporeans should also remember that every piece of litter that is not picked up will eventually find its way into our rivers, and then end up in our reservoirs or in the sea. Unlike in the former days when our rivers were convenient dumping grounds, they are now an attraction, and rather than turning their backs to the rivers, residents now prefer their houses to face the rivers. We have come a long way and we must not slacken. Members have asked about the Johor Straits. I would like to inform Members that I have met with the Malaysian Minister for Science, Technology and Environment last year, and also the Chairman of the Johor State Committee on Environment and Consumer Affairs, to work out a joint five-year action programme to clean up the Straits of Johor. The plan involves identifying sources of pollution, making action plans to tackle them, exchanging information and monitoring progress. The plan is scheduled to be ready by the middle of this year. The Government also takes steps to monitor and control noise pollution. Over the years, my Ministry, together with URA, LTA and MRTC, has made sure that our urban infrastructure and our urbanisation do not lead to excessive noise pollution.”
“And to control air pollution, we therefore specify the design of the fuel burning equipment, eg, how a car is designed, whether it needs catalytic converters. We specify the quality of the fuel to be used, eg, unleaded fuel. Then we specify the performance standards of the equipment that is used to clean the exhaust gases. For example, in some of the factories, we have electrostatic precipitators and other devices to clean exhaust gases. Careful land use planning and control of pollution at source have ensured that the air we breathe meets international standards. And because our roads are not clogged up and our city is not choked with traffic, our lungs are also not clogged up and we also are not choked by vehicle emissions. We have achieved these high standards despite the fact that we are one of the most industrialised countries in the world. Lead in the air, for example, is 0.1 micro grammes per normal metre cube, as compared with the US EPA standard of 1.5 micro grammes per normal metre cube. We are only 0.1. We have also worked closely with our neighbouring countries to control and mitigate the effects of transboundary air pollution. Members of the House are familiar with the complex system that brings fresh water to our homes and workplaces. But they are probably less aware that an equally complex, costly and extensive system of pipes, pumps and treatment plants has been built and is operated by my Ministry to collect practically every drop of water that comes out of our taps and treat it before discharge into the sea. I believe we are one of the few nations to be fully sewered. We charge reasonably for it as well. I was not sure what Dr Wang was after just now when he was comparing sewerage charges with telecom charges.”
“Sir, I also wish to reflect a similar noise problem. A few HDB blocks in my constituency are located next to Bukit Batok Road. I have visited residents there a number of times since a few years ago. The latest visit I made was during the recent Lunar New Year and Hari Raya period. Each time during my visit, residents there complained that the noise from the vehicular traffic along Bukit Batok Road was quite unbearable. This is not something which they, after living there for a while, can get used to. Because every time I go there, they will repeat the same complaint. They told me that sometimes in the middle of the night, a single motorbike screeching through would wake everybody up in the house. Many of them have asked me to seek help from the Environment Ministry. They have asked whether the Ministry could work with other Ministries to implement the following measures: (1) Resurface the road and coat it with noise absorbing material; (2) Erect noise barriers, so that the noise will not travel up into the flats; (3) Instal a speed camera at the stretch of road near their blocks of flats. May I know whether the Minister would look into such noise pollution problems and help my constituents? RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg your indulgence. Rather than answering the questions on pollution in a piecemeal manner, I would like to use the opportunity to say something about the principles upon which we do pollution management in Singapore. Our policy has always been to tackle pollution at source in various ways, which I will enumerate for air, water pollution and, lately, also for noise pollution. Air pollution, for example, comes from fuel burning equipment.”
“The allocation of dates and the number of times in the various constituencies is completely fair. All the constituencies are treated in exactly the same way. Mr Chiam has got some of his calculations wrong. It is not that the CC, CCC, CCMC and the town council have 16 days each. All of them have 16 days. They have one opportunity and from my perspective, that sounds reasonable. The residents in a particular constituency will have the benefit of having one 16-day fair. Residents in each of the Residents' Committees' areas will have the benefit of having a three-day fair, so that the stallholders are not unduly inconvenienced. I am also glad to know that Mr Chiam, when he does organise such fairs, takes care to make sure that all the rules and regulations are followed. That is certainly very commendable. And if he continues to do so, I see no difficulty because that is about what we are asking for under the rules anyway. I will request the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to answer the other questions.”
“So really it is the efficiency of operation which is the key, and we have seen an increase in efficiency of operation and the use of the stalls in those centres where the stalls have been sold. To regulate food prices, I am afraid this is something which is not going to be very practical. We do not regulate prices in Singapore and to regulate prices of many food items in many centres is not going to be workable. Nevertheless, we understand the public's concern about food prices. It is a good suggestion and my Ministry will be taking this up. We intend to sell some stalls to NTUC Foodfare Cooperative Limited. Just like NTUC Fairprice which gives consumers a fair price on household goods and provisions, NTUC Foodfare will play a similar role in hawker centres helping to stabilise prices and provide a marker for both quality and service. We will also look at how we can let NTUC Foodfare operate a whole hawker centre. This, we are in discussion with them. So this will help to allay the concerns that Singaporeans have about food prices getting out of hand. Since both stallholders and consumers have given good feedback on the first two phases of the scheme, my Ministry will launch the third phase of the sale programme in the middle of this year. The details will be announced later. Encik Ibrahim asked what is the time frame for the whole programme. This is a long-term programme and we have talked about 10 years before. We have not changed our time-frame, and will depend on support from hawkers and consumers. 5.00 pm Mr Chiam has raised the subject of pasar malams again. We had a fairly long exchange on this about three weeks ago. I did not notice any new points that Mr Chiam has brought up. So, unfortunately, I am going to have to give him the same reply.”
“Some 147 stallholders have subsequently resold their stalls at prices above the original purchase prices. Typically, a market produce stallholder makes a profit of about $20,000 upon resale, while a cooked food stallholder makes a profit of about $60,000. There is of course quite a wide range. In the extreme, some have made three or four times more. However, surveys on food prices show that the majority of stallholders have maintained their prices after buying their stalls. Market produce prices remained largely unchanged. Prices at 25% of the cooked food stalls have risen by 10 to 50 cents. So prices at some of the cooked food stalls have indeed gone up. But these increases were similar to increases experienced in other centres. They have gone up in those centres where the stalls have been sold, but they have also gone up at about the same rate as those centres where the stalls have not been sold. Overall, prices are still comparable to those in other hawker centres where stalls have not been sold. To remain competitive, stallholders have become more efficient. They are open for longer hours. They have been able to generate more business from the same stall either by operating it themselves for longer hours or sub-letting it. And the customers have also benefited from the longer opening hours and a larger variety of food. Has it increased cost pressures? The monthly loan repayments, property tax, service and conservancy charges, when added up, are still lower than the rentals paid by stallholders in coffeeshops in the same area. Food at hawker centres and at coffeeshops is comparable in price.”
“I think Singaporeans may be motivated to be a little more proactive in telling people who litter, "Please don't do this. You are doing me harm too." It is not just a piece of paper on the ground that is doing nobody any harm; it is doing me some direct harm; it is doing our environment and Singapore some direct harm. So we hope that with some of these measures, we will be able to continue to drive the anti-littering message through to Singaporeans. Sense of shame - CWOs. Yes, those who litter should have a sense of shame for carrying out an anti-social act. I agree with Dr Chen that CWO is something which should not be trivialised and therefore I would appeal to members of the public, and the press as well, not to trivialise this. There must be a sense of shame that they have done something anti-social. The picking of refuse itself is not something shameful. In fact, the picking up of refuse is something which should be encouraged. If you are walking along the street, it should be quite a noble thing to do, bend down and pick up that cigarette box or the plastic bag which you see there and dispose of it in the right place. So the act of picking up rubbish or cleaning up the place is in itself not shameful. Those who carry out CWOs should be shameful because, in the first place, they carry out an anti-social act, something which is not good for their fellow Singaporeans and their neighbours. That is a sense of shame that we want to get across to those who litter, and especially those who are served with CWOs. I will move on now to hawker centres. Mr Chin expressed some concern about food prices. Since the launch of the Stall Ownership Scheme in April 1994, a total of 1,210 stallholders in eight hawker centres have bought their stalls.”
“There are various reasons for this, one of which is increased enforcement because of issues brought up by Members of the House during the debate last year. Of these 5,707 litterbugs who were caught last year, 383 were served with CWOs. This again is an increase from the 316 in 1994 and 309 in 1993. What can we do with littering? We have an education programme to keep Singapore clean and green since 1960, and this is something which we have to persist in. As I have said earlier, we cannot depend on armies of cleansing workers nor can we depend on platoons of enforcement officers to keep our environment clean. We have to depend on Singaporeans to feel that it is worth their while to do so. So public education is one of the most important things and we will be working with the schools, for example, to form environmental clubs. We will be working with the institutes of higher learning to get the students to become involved with keeping their environment clean and green. And I believe that when they do so, they will be much less inclined to litter indiscriminately or to forgetfully drop a bus ticket or a plastic bag unthinkingly. And also there will be an atmosphere where a person will feel bad to throw litter away because he knows others are watching him and this is not the thing that is done in our society. That alone, unfortunately, may not be enough. We have various announcements about linking upgrading to cleanliness and so forth. I think there is some merit in that once Singaporeans realise that littering is something which affects them. If somebody litters, it affects them directly, because it dirties the place, and what they have to pay for cleansing goes up. It affects the ambience of the place and the value of their properties and so forth.”
“Finally, as suggested by Dr Koh again, we want to bring the cost of disposal closer to the generator of the waste. Those who throw out more rubbish should bear a proportionately higher part of the cost. My Ministry is looking at the various ways of achieving this. We are doing these studies. In landed properties, there are many models to go for. In Europe, America, Australia and Korea, there are various systems, either a fixed charge for a rubbish bin of a fixed size, or tags which you pay for, or rubbish bags which are standard and cost a certain price. But very few countries have the experience of working with what they call "community housing" which is a large block of flats, many people living together, sharing a common rubbish chute, common rubbish facility. To allocate the cost specifically to each household in such a situation is very difficult, although it would be possible to allocate it either to a town council, or precinct or even a block, in which case, there will then be some encouragement for the town council or precinct or block also to do waste minimisation. My Ministry will be looking at the various possibilities. We have not completed the studies and when we do so, we will inform the public and seek their cooperation. I am sure with public understanding and cooperation, we will be able to keep our cost down and continue to maintain a high standard of refuse management which is crucial to our strategy for a clean environment. I will now move on to littering and CWOs. Encik Ibrahim asked for an assessment of the CWOs. Sir, last year, 5,707 litterbugs were caught for littering. This was an increase from the 4,201 in 1994.”
“A number of Members have spoken about recycling and waste minimisation at the source where waste is generated. We need to learn to reduce, reuse and recycle. In particular, we are targeting our industries for recycling because a little more than 50% of the waste generated in Singapore is from industrial and commercial premises. And this is growing at a very rapid rate. In 1994, this grew at a rate of 12.7%. Last year, this grew at a staggering 20%, accounting for almost the entire increase in refuse collected last year. Dr Ho suggested a zero emission programme. I think this is in practice very difficult to achieve. We have to look at the economics of this - to have no smoke, no waste water, no waste products. It is going to be a very difficult and expensive thing to achieve. We can achieve the first step, which is to try and minimise wastage, and for this we do have a Waste Minimisation Department in my Ministry which works with industries and also with the Singapore Environment Council which has got quite a few active companies involved in trying to encourage companies to reduce wastage, to recycle, and to reuse. Today, already 38% of our refuse is being recycled and again they come mainly from the industries, because it is much more efficient to recycle industrial waste. Recycling must be an economically viable activity. Otherwise, it will just remain a fad and it cannot be sustained in the long term. My Ministry will do more to encourage recycling. Several new recycling plants handling horticultural waste and wood waste have been opened at Sarimbun Recycling Park. This was originally the Lim Chu Kang land fill. In just last year, we had, as I said, horticultural waste and wood waste recyling plants and we are looking at a tyre recycling plant.”
“I hope that those who question the need for tough littering laws will now understand the gravity of the problem and why in the space of, say, the next 10 years, we will have to completely change the mindset of Singaporeans with regard to littering and refuse collection. To increase efficiency, our refuse collection service, which removes refuse from the domestic and trade premises will be corporatised on 1st April 1996. This is to allow the company greater flexibility to recruit, deploy and reward its staff. The current practice where refuse from industrial and commercial premises and some condominiums is collected by private waste collectors will continue. Eventually, we will open up the entire market to competition. Competition will spur service providers to be more efficient and this will help to keep any future price increases to a minimum. This is the concern expressed by Dr Koh Lip Lin. Privatisation itself will not cause prices to rise. Privatisation will be a strong measure where market discipline is applied to waste collectors to keep them efficient and keep any price increases down to a minimum. The Ministry, of course, will regulate to ensure standards of collection are maintained and we will take into account the concerns expressed by Dr Chen about ensuring that service will not be disrupted, for example, by specifying minimum paid-up capital and track record of the companies. 4.45 pm Members should know that about half the refuse in Singapore is already collected by private waste operators, and this comes from industrial and commercial premises. So the private waste collectors actually do have quite a lot of experience in collecting and dealing with wastes in Singapore. Let me now go to the source.”
“We have to make heavy capital investments in order to make up for our shortages of land. In Singapore today, we are charging about S$40 per tonne at our disposal facilities, whether it is in the incinerator plants or the dumping ground of Lorong Halus. In much larger countries, in the United States and Europe, the average disposal cost is about $120 per tonne. Let me now turn to refuse collection. Refuse collection has already been highly mechanised in Singapore but manpower is still needed to collect the refuse from premises. We have to make the collection process as efficient as possible to keep costs down and to use as few people as possible. For these reasons, we have asked the public to cooperate. For those in landed properties, placing their refuse in plastic bags and leaving them outside their homes each morning before 9.00 am enables our collection workers to collect refuse more quickly and efficiently. We have successfully introduced this in many housing estates and received good response from the residents. Estates are neater and not cluttered by rubbish bins. This system has also been the experience of many overseas countries. We also need public cooperation to reduce littering. Each piece of litter that is thrown has to be picked up by a man. But half the public cleansing workers in my Ministry are already more than 50 years old. What will happen in 10 ten years' time. We are not able to recruit many younger people to come and work for us. My colleagues in the House have said that in spite of extensive public education, the littering problem is still with us.”
“Sir, exporting our waste is not an option. Some limited quantities of specialised recyclable waste could be exported but the rest must be dealt with locally. We either have to incinerate our waste or, for the waste that cannot be incinerated, we will have to bury them in perpetuity in sanitary land-fills. When waste is incinerated, only about 10% remains as residual ash and this requires less space to dump and is therefore more land efficient. But for us, both methods, incineration as well as land-fill, are expensive. We will soon be building our fourth incinerator plant. It will be one of the largest in the world. It will have a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day and will cost about $1 billion. Our estimate is that if the quantity of our refuse grows at the rate at which it has been growing, we will have to build one such $1 billion plant every five years or so, not counting the replacement of the older incinerator plant. We will have to find the land to build the plants on, and each plant occupies a space of several football fields. We need to build incinerator plants because the alternative, which is to dump them in land-fills, is also not good for us because we just do not have enough land. In three years' time, our last dumping ground on the main island at Lorong Halus will be used up. We are spending about $1 billion over the next few years to build a new sanitary land-fill in Pulau Semakau. This will last us 30 years, perhaps 40 years, if we use it carefully. After that, there is no place else to go. The high capital investments in disposal facilities are necessary. This is because we do not have vast tracts of waste land and large numbers of disused mining pits where we can keep on dumping refuse.”
“Sir, the Government has decided to corporatise refuse collection and allow other private companies to compete for the business later on. My concern is: how is the Government going to prevent what had happened to the Ang Mo Kio East Town Council in 1989 from happening again? In 1989, the pilot Ang Mo Kio East Town Council engaged a private contractor to remove refuse. But the contractor abandoned his job when his workers stopped working because he got into financial trouble and could not pay them. The result, according to the 20th April 1989 issue of the Straits Times, was that 25 HDB blocks were affected and rubbish in the chutes piled up as high as two storeys in some blocks. The smell was so bad that residents living at the highest floor could not also bear it. I would therefore like to ask the Minister what measures he will take to handle this potential problem when refuse collection is privatised. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: First, allow me to respond to these issues of solid waste management and waste minimisation. I would like to thank all the Members for having made their contributions during this debate. The amount of refuse generated in Singapore has increased significantly over the last decade. In 1985, Singaporeans generated 4,105 tonnes of refuse a day. Today, we are generating 7,315 tonnes of refuse per day. The continued increase will put a severe strain on our resources, namely, land and manpower. There are three parts to solid waste management. They are waste generation, what we throw out and how much we throw out; waste collection, how we collect it from households, industries and commercial installations; and finally, waste disposal. Let me address the issue starting from the disposal end, ie, what do you do with it after you have collected it all.”
“Mr Das says family picnic. May I ask the Minister what he intends to do to prevent this kind of development, and make sure that the CWO would serve its original purpose?”
“I strongly believe that we should consider setting up an Education Reserve Fund for the workers and employees because these people have family commitments. When they apply for admission to the Open University, to upgrade their skills and knowledge, or go for higher training, they would need a lot of financial assistance. So I feel it is regrettable that in this Budget, there is no concrete proposal to look after the group that I have mentioned, that is, the workers that need training and further education. Mr Speaker, Sir, I would say that Singapore is a very fortunate country. Our people are very fortunate. Every year, we have budget surpluses and, sometimes, we are even having problems finding ways to make use of these surpluses. On the whole, the Government has already fulfilled its promises. As Members of Parliament, we should, as far as possible, in this rather good budget, ask the Minister for Finance to consider our suggestions to improve the quality of our workforce.”
“But these old buildings which are given to them often have a lot of problems in maintenance and renovation. These volunteer workers, whose primary intention is to help the charitable organisations take care and look after the less privileged in our society, frequently end up spending a lot of time on fund raising rather than doing the charitable work proper. As a result, they have less time to look after these unfortunate people. I think we should take the load out of these volunteers by granting them more funds so that they can have more time to look after the poor and needy. Over the past two to three years, the Government has been giving a lot of help to the low-income groups. We have already all kinds of schemes and programmes in place such as the Small Families Assistance Scheme, the Edusave Bursary Scheme, the Medisave scheme as well as the various rebates for HDB conservancy and service charges, rentals, etc. But there are some families in the $1,600 to $2,500 income group staying in 3-room HDB flats who are not eligible for this kind of assistance. In some cases, if the sole breadwinner in the family falls sick or for some reasons is unable to work, the whole family will suffer financially. We need to look into their problems. We should be more flexible in our dealing with such cases. I also mentioned just now that we have invested a lot of money in the education of the younger generation. This is a move in the right direction. I believe we have allocated more than $300 million a year in the expenditure of one university. Can we not also set aside some money for both the younger and older generations of workers who are creating wealth for us? Are we giving them the care due to them, especially in their education, training and retraining?”
“As we encourage individuals and companies to regionalise, the Minister for Finance and perhaps the Minister for Labour may consider creating some incentives to encourage the wives and children to travel with their husbands and fathers on overseas assignments, so that the family unit can remain intact. Some special allowances or grants for children's education or wife's allowance or relief should be considered. The participation rate in our workforce by women is 51%. This is because most mothers want to spend more time with their children at home. We cannot deny the fact that if both parents go out to work, their children will be somewhat neglected. Relationship between the parents and the children will be diluted. As such, we have to step up our efforts in public education and the promotion of family values. However, when I look at the Budget this year, there is only some $200,000 allocated for the promotion of family values, under the Ministry of Community Development. $1 million over 5 years is, in my opinion, inadequate for this purpose. I feel that the most effective way to promote family values is to go via the mass media and television, for example, through TV programmes like the Extraordinary People, On the Lifeline, etc. This kind of programme will help us to build a more caring society and family values. The Government should regard expenditure in this regard as investment rather than expenditure. I think more should be allocated for this purpose. Next, on the dollar-for-dollar subsidy for voluntary charity projects, construction and renovation of premises for charitable organisations. According to feedback received from my friends and the grassroots, the Government has given them quite a lot of grants and support.”
“In other words, we must let the people understand that we must pay for the goods and services at market prices, and how to balance the purchasing power with such prices. I think this is a very important matter. I would like the Minister for Finance to consider that, on a long term, we should not go on the path of straight welfarism. We must balance our budget. I think for basic necessities, like health care, public transport, community development, education, cultural development, etc, the Government must take the basic responsibility by providing adequately for the people. I think more importantly, all these goods and services over the long term must be accessible and affordable to the people. In recent years, the Minister for Finance has been bringing good news to the people of Singapore, year after year. So every year, the people of Singapore expect the Government to announce more goodies for the people. But as I mentioned earlier, maybe we have to set aside some budget for mass communication work, that is to say, we must refine the art and skill in the allocation and distribution of wealth, so that people will be grateful to the Government for the sharing of wealth with them. Here, I would like to raise some issues on public education, skill training for the workers and community development. The Minister for Finance has, in this Budget, granted tax reliefs to the National Servicemen, their parents and wives. I think this is very creative indeed. It is a wonderful way to show our appreciation to the sacrifices made by our National Servicemen and members of their families.”
“Many chose to stay at home because they want to look after their children. The co-payment will not make a difference to those husbands who have a high income. But it will be a burden to those whose income is low. Sir, I hope the Minister could seriously consider my suggestions. I support the Budget. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (Yuhua)( In Mandarin): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to thank the Finance Minister for this year's Budget and express my support for it. The feedback we have received from the people is that this is a generous Budget, showing the Government's care and concern for the people. Coming at the Lunar New Year festive season, this Budget is indeed a big hongbao for everyone. The Minister stated that when the economy is performing well, we will share the wealth with the people of Singapore. This is a correct long-term policy. In other words, when we enjoy budget surpluses, we can afford to share the fruit of our economic success with the people. This is one way for the Government to express its appreciation for the hard work of the people. As mentioned by the Minister, we are a small country. So how to allocate effectively the resources and make good use of the limited resources, how to make this cost of resources be properly reflected in our policies, are questions we have to deal with very carefully and prudently. We should set aside a budget for mass communication work to enable the people to better understand the long-term policies of the Government and what the Government's programmes are over the long term, that is to say, we want to make our resources reflect the cost.”
“Can the Minister consider this? Sir, in previous Budgets, procreation policies were introduced. After so much talk in the past year about the importance of family togetherness and parents transmitting the right values to our children, many expect this year's Budget to be a pro-family budget. However, not enough measures were included in the Budget to promote this important objective. First, I would like to see that tax incentives be given to encourage part-time work arrangement for women with children. All of us know that the best way of bringing up children is for the parents to spend enough time with them and transmit the right values to them. But the economic reality of Singapore today is such that many married women had to work. We are therefore facing a dilemma between our economic objective and our social or family objective. The ideal situation, I believe, is for our married women to work part-time, especially when their children are young. Perhaps the Minister should give tax breaks for companies to provide employment for married women with children on a part-time basis. Second, I would like to see tax incentives for companies to set up creches at the work place. I know Government is already providing subsidies for child care. But to enable working women to send their children to a creche at their work place will not only give them a lot of convenience, it will also give the mother the opportunity during lunch breaks to care for their children. Third, I feel that the SOTUS scheme, as announced by the Minister, should allow married women with young children and not working to have the top-up without the requirement to contribute $500. This is because those who chose to stay at home may not be because their husbands have a high income.”
“Although these firms employ close to half of our workforce, they collectively spend only about 1% of their payroll on training, far short of the 4% national target. And in view of the increasing trend of more and more workers working in small firms, there is urgency in giving training of workers in small firms a much needed boost. Sir, the Government should identify what industry we want to promote and the skills needed and set up skills-based training centres. Workers can be trained in these centres on specific skills such as precision engineering, furniture making or even motor or aircon repair which is now more sophisticated because of higher technology. If Government is not prepared to set up these centres, then it should encourage industry associations or private agencies to set up these centres. Because equipping these centres is costly, Government should give a grant or allow tax incentives for the setting up of such centres. Workers going for training in these centres should also be subsidised either by SDF or a separate training fund set up by the Government. This way of providing skills specific training, I believe, will be more effective and will benefit workers from small firms. Sir, technology is changing so rapidly and if Singaporeans do not update themselves continually, they will find themselves losing very quickly their competitive edge. At the same time, we should also encourage Singaporeans to upgrade their professional or educational level so that they can increase their effectiveness and productivity in their jobs. We must therefore emphasize the importance of continuing education among Singaporeans. This we can do by giving higher tax relief for such activities and widening the scope of approved courses eligible for tax relief.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is no doubt that this Budget is a very generous one. Almost all Singaporeans, whether they are old, young, male or female, will be given something. The Government has once again shown that if economic performance is good, it will share the budget surplus with all Singaporeans. There is one area, however, which this Budget did not address, that is, the training and continuing education of workers. This is an area which we cannot over-emphasize. Singapore is now a "more advanced developing country". Compared with the developed nations such as Japan and Britain, or the Asian NIEs such as Taiwan and South Korea, we are lagging behind in the skills and education level of our workers. We must therefore redouble our efforts in promoting skills upgrading and continuing education. Otherwise, as cost pressure builds up because of continued economic growth, businesses will relocate elsewhere and our workers will be hard hit and left without a job. Sir, the number of firms in Singapore with less than 50 workers has risen from 108,500 in 1991 to 129,000 in 1994, an increase of 19%. Correspondingly, the number of workers in these firms rose from 569,000 to 581,800, an increase of about 2%. In contrast, the number of firms having 50 or more workers has increased by only 2% from 3,007 in 1991 to 3,055 in 1994. The number of workers in these firms actually fell 4% from 690,000 to 662,800 over the same period. By 1994, small firms made up 98% of total firms compared to 97% in 1991. In terms of workers, small firms employed 47% of total workforce in 1994 compared to 45% in 1991. Statistics on workers training have shown that skills upgrading is unsatisfactory among small firms.”
“What the LTA must do is to install devices at traffic lights which can be preset remotely from a control centre to facilitate traffic on the more congested road. The White Paper has mentioned about harnessing technology to maximise network capacity and made some proposals, but it did not include what I have just proposed. Will the Minister look into it? On that note, Sir, I support the motion.”