Kanwaljit Soin
Singapore
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to give a response to an exclusion in clause 2 (b) which amends section 10 to deem any maintenance payment received by a parent or a child under a maintenance order not to be income subject to tax.”
“Clarification, Sir. I realise that. But I would like to know what is the policy, what is the thinking, that you can allow a parent who gets maintenance not to have to pay income tax. A parent is an adult. But you do not give the same privilege or right, I would say, to a wife who gets a maintenance ordered by the court.”
“My point is no income tax is charged for maintenance payments received by parents. That is what the Minister said about clause 2. But yet when wives receive maintenance from their husbands, those maintenance payments are subject to income tax. Why is there a discrepancy?”
“So I would like to ask what is the Minister's thinking. Why is it that the maintenance of a parent is not considered income, because it is for the subsistence of the parent, while the maintenance for a wife which is for her subsistence is considered as income?”
“If the letter of authority is not stampable, then this may become a recourse of getting around the stamp duty and income tax rules affecting sub-sales. Another issue to be considered is the timing of the payment of stamp duty. With the amendment, this has to be paid at the time of the signing of the sale and purchase agreement.”
“Would the Minister have, in hand, figures to show how many Singaporeans who go abroad to study medicine come back to do their housemanship in Singapore for the last three years? Dr Aline Wong: I do not have the figures on Singaporeans who come back to do housemanship for the last three years.”
The complete record
Every one of 549 lines we hold for Kanwaljit Soin, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 11.
“Sir, the Minister must be aware that there are 3,500 firms in Singapore that generate liquid waste. So I think the problem is there.”
“Does the Minister agree that to be environmentally-friendly is going to be very important for the sustainable development of Singapore? Besides giving seminars to these people, would the Minister not agree that a tax rebate would be an added incentive to change their practices? Otherwise, would the Minister have some other means which he could suggest to make firms more environmentally-conscious?”
“Sir, is the Minister aware that the number of firms which have been prosecuted for flouting environmental regulations has gone up three-fold from 1992 to 1993? That is the first supplementary question. The second supplementary question is: Is the Minister aware that the Ministry of the Environment is moving away from enforcement regulation towards self-policing regulation for the firms to follow environmental criteria? In the light of this, would the Minister consider that an added incentive for firms to be self-policing would be to give some sort of tax rebate to encourage them to be environmentally-friendly?”
“Sir, in the Minister's opinion, does he think that the decreased prices of imports are being passed on to consumers generally? Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: As far as the cost of intermediate goods is concerned, it is factored into the production cost. Whether the manufacturer finally passes on to the consumer domestically, I do not know, but certainly they would pass it on for their exports in order to remain competitive. The situation domestically depends entirely on the circumstances and there is no assurance that all or part of it may or may not be passed on. I think competition ought to take care of that. COMPANIES WITH ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT (Tax rebates) 2. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Finance whether he will grant tax rebates to companies that are willing to have an environmental audit so that we move towards sustainable development for the country.”
“Sir, would the Minister indicate when he would consider having another study done? Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: When we feel that the time is right, Sir. OWNER-OCCUPIED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES (Review of estate duty exemption limit) 15. Dr Toh Keng Kiat asked the Minister for Finance, in view of the recent upsurge in property prices, whether the Government will review the estate duty exemption limit for owner-occupied residential properties.”
“Sir, with respect to the Minister, how would he know when a study has not been conducted?”
“Sir, I think the Minister has not understood. I am not talking of just child care centres. I am talking of child care options. So I am not questioning the Ministry on the number of child care centres. I was talking of the child care options.”
“There has been a doubling of the dual income career families in the last 10 years. Does the Minister think that a study in the next 2-3 years is needed to take into account this change in demography?”
“Sir, would the Minister consider getting a questionnaire to people who have changed their jobs during a certain period? That might give us information on people who have changed jobs and this will help us to plan our productivity and competitiveness better.”
“Would the Minister agree that the ward charges in a community hospital are 80% of those for restructured hospitals? If the Minister agrees, what I am asking is that the withdrawal should then be 80% of the ward charges because the $300 per day just refers to ward charges. The second reason I am asking the question is this: I feel that if you do not allow enough withdrawals for ward charges, it could discourage patients from wanting to stay in community hospitals and that would prolong their stay in the tertiary hospitals. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, I thank Dr Soin for her concern. As I mentioned earlier, what we are concerned with is total medical bill, not just ward charges. If I can give the Member some numbers: the average daily hospital charge in Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital for C class ward is $34 compared to $79 in the restructured hospital, and we are allowing the limit of $150, not including surgical fees. For B2, it is $63 at Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital compared to $135 in the restructured hospital. This is again easily covered by the $150 limit. AREA LICENSING SCHEME ON SATURDAYS (Lifting from 10.15 am onwards) 6. Dr Wong Kwei Cheong asked the Minister for Communications if he will consider lifting the Area Licensing Scheme on Saturdays from 10.15 am onwards.”
“Sir, would the Minister agree that it would be difficult to make an informed decision without some indication, whether it is going to be half on the co-payment charges or one-quarter of the salary revision, so that the civil servant could have a better idea of which system to opt for? Cdre Teo Chee Hean: Sir, the future salary revision will be made on a fair and equitable basis depending on the actual magnitude of the salary adjustment at that point in time and the way the health care costs develop. PRIVATISATION OF SINGAPORE TELECOM (Engagement of American lawyers) 3. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Finance whether American lawyers were engaged in the privatisation of Singapore Telecom. Cdre Teo Chee Hean (for the Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is yes. In the privatisation of Singapore Telecom, Sullivan and Cromwell of New York were engaged by Temasek Holdings and Singapore Telecom to advise on international law, including US law in relation to the international tranche.”
“In view of this very cordial relationship, would the Minister agree that defence spending is not as important as it would be during less cordial time? Cdre Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, we have never built our defence on the basis of the state of relations with any particular country. We have built our defence on the basis that we have to be prepared for the future and that we have to be prepared to defend ourselves. That is the basis. If I may remind the hon. Member, the fact that the Cold War may have ended, for example, is not an indication at all that times have necessarily become better or more secure for the countries in our region. CIVIL SERVANTS ON CO-PAYMENT ON WARD CHARGES SCHEME (Formula for salary revision) 2. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Finance if he will state what is the formula for salary revision for those civil servants who want to stay on the Co-payment on Ward Charges (CPW) scheme of the medical benefits package before they are asked to sign the option form. Cdre Teo Chee Hean (for the Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Public Service Division will be tracking the costs of medical subsidies to officers on the Co-Payment on Ward Charges (CPW) Scheme and those on the Comprehensive Co-Payment Scheme (CCS). This, together with the actual magnitude of the salary adjustment for each group of officers in the next revision, will be used to determine the differential salary gain between civil servants on the CPW and the CCS. It is thus not possible to state a formula at this juncture. I can, however, assure all civil servants that it will be fair and equitable to those on the CPW as well as those on the CCS.”
“I think our leaders have done a very good job in building very cordial relationship with our neighbours, and right now we are in ---”
“I agree with that. If we reduce 1% on defence, it would not make a great deal of difference to the defence budget but it would add a lot to the community development budget. Cdre Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, let me put it this way. We are a small country and we have to spend enough on defence to make sure that we are in a stable and secure situation so that foreign investors would feel comfortable to come here and do business. When our children do national service, it is a sign that they are prepared to defend the country and to place a long-term stake in the future of the country. When we spend on defence, we show that we are prepared to do the same and this sends a very strong signal to others that we are prepared to stay here, sink our roots in, and defend what we have. This is a very important element in creating the right environment for our prosperity and growth.”
“Sir, I appreciate the Minister's reply, and I am with most of it. But could I ask him whether he thinks 27% of the total budget allocation for defence, as compared to 1.6% for community development, is a good allocation of resources? Cdre Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, as I pointed out just now, spending on defence has never prevented us from spending enough money on these other areas.”
“Sir, Question No. 1. With your permission, I would like to point out that the year 1993 in the Question refers to financial year 1992/93. I apologise for the typographical error.”
“Sir, Singapore has pioneered many innovative practices. Let us continue this trend by being one of the first city in the world to start the use of electric cars. Singapore is an ideal place where the use of electric cars can make both economic and environmental sense. The electric car is a noiseless, no-emission vehicle that runs on electricity instead of petrol and, thus, causes less pollution for every unit of energy produced and it is also energy-saving. An electric car fitted with the largest sensible conventional battery can have a range of 120 km and a top speed of 80 km per hour. This is ideal for our small island nation as an average day driving rarely exceeds 80 km and we want to discourage higher speeds from a safety point of view. 5.30 pm Electric cars are already being manufactured locally for off-road use, but the push has to come from the Government before there is a commercial take-off for wide-scale manufacture and use of electric car. The Government's role can be effected in various ways: (1) By providing tax incentives to promote the use of electric cars. (2) By providing recharging facilities for electric cars and car parks owned by the HDB, URA, etc. (3) By promoting the use of electric cars in its Government departments and statutory bodies. California has gone a step further by introducing legislation that 2% of all new cars sold in the state in 1998 have to be electric cars and this percentage has to go up to 10% in the year 2003. We could also introduce similar legislation. Sir, I am very keen to hear the Minister's views on the use of electric cars in Singapore in the near future.”
“Most of our foreign domestic maids come from our neighbouring countries with whom we have economic ties. And the way we treat their nationals will not only affect our economic relationship but will also reflect on our Asian values of morality and hospitality for our guest workers. Would the Minister, therefore, reconsider his decision and institute a minimum contract of welfare for foreign domestic workers?”
“Sir, from the last official estimate, there are about 65,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore. These workers work in close proximity with their employers and thus are vulnerable to abuse by their employers. The welfare of these domestic workers is further threatened by the lack of an employment contract that protects their interests. It is not uncommon to hear about cases of abuse of domestic maids. Instances of abuse range from non-provision of meals to cheating and hoarding of salaries, no rest days and inadequate hours of sleep. All these complaints relate to the welfare and well-being of the worker. They are not related to the job content which deals with the various job duties that a maid has to do, eg, child care, housekeeping, marketing, etc. I agree with the Minister that it may be difficult to draw up an employment contract that specifies job duties, but it should be possible to draw up a contract that specifies minimum welfare for the foreign maid. Sir, work is always a human practice and never just an economic transaction. The Ministry of Labour could set up minimum standards of welfare and these would guide Singaporeans who are employing maids for the first time to ensure that there is adequate enforcement. I would like to forward a suggestion made by a Straits Times journalist, Ms Tan Sai Siong. She said that just like inspectors are sent to factories to ensure that safety regulations are kept, the Ministry of Labour could also send inspectors at random to homes to check on the maid's well-being. No more than a fraction of the homes need to be visited, but the possibility of such visits would be a useful deterrence against ill treatment of the foreign maid.”
“I am not persuaded by the Minister's argument because she herself said that annual medical checkups are different from annual dental checkups. In an annual dental checkup, you are looking specifically for gum disease and there is something you can do about it. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment, but I would urge the Minister to consult the Singapore Dental Association and look into this matter. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $729,481,420 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $334,383,600 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head S -”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head P of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code PF 1500. A recent study has been done by the Ministry of Health on adults and dental health in Singapore and this has revealed: (1) only five out of 10 people visited the dentists at least once a year, and 10% of people never visited the dentist at all; (2) there is a high incidence of gum disease in Singapore and this is a major cause of tooth loss in adults. And here I would like to quote Dr Aline Wong herself: `Some patients who come to our dental clinics have advanced dental disease and large tumours of the oral cavity. Clearly, if we had been able to detect these conditions early, or a patient had been aware enough to seek dental treatment at an earlier stage, the treatment would be less prolonged, complicated and costly.' In view of all this, it seems to me that annual dental checkups should be encouraged for all adult Singaporeans. And if this fee could be paid from Medisave, it would be money well spent and prevent future serious dental problems causing health costs to go up. So I am suggesting that a ceiling of $100 per year be set for routine dental treatment. This scheme will induce Singaporeans to go for their annual dental checkups. Would the Minister please consider this extended use of Medisave for this very important aspect of preventive health care which is often overlooked in adults?”
“Mr Speaker, the Minister did not answer my question. Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, can I have a point of clarification? I am surprised that the Government does not ---”
“I have some points of clarification: (1) Since the retirement age is legislated to 60 and since we want to have more cash in the CPF after the age of 55, would the Minister consider raising the CPF contribution of those over 55 to the same rate as those under 55? (2) What about the husband who is working and has a CPF account but his wife is not working and does not have a CPF account? Can we ask this man to irrevocably nominate his wife? Otherwise what will happen to the wife if the husband dies and he has nominated someone else? (3) When will the retirement age be raised to 67 and what is the plan for going from 60 to 67? (4) We are going to link the withdrawal of the monthly subsistence allowance to retirement age. If the retirement age is 67, but if the life expectancy does not go up very much, and you only begin to take out your money from the age of 67 and the life expectancy remains at about 72 for men, as it is now, then it is not going to be long that they are going to be withdrawing their subsistence amount. So maybe we have to look at life expectancy as well before we formulate these numbers.”
“Until this is done, my concern is that we should optimise the benefits of private tuition and one way of doing this is to make sure of the quality of teaching of private tutors. I would like to suggest that all private tutors be registered and they should be asked to participate in continuing education to upgrade their teaching skills and also to familiarise themselves with the contents of the necessary syllabus. If necessary, such registered private tuition teachers should be able to charge a minimum standard tuition rate per hour but that is not necessary. If the Minister wants to leave that to market forces, that is fine. What I am concerned about is the quality of teaching. The advantage of registering private tuition teachers is that the Ministry of Education can exert quality control and it can enlist the efforts of the private tutors to further the objectives of its education system. If you cannot "lick" them, then make them join the system. It is better to have good trained private tutors who can help weak students to excel than to have anyone presenting himself or herself as a private tutor and in the process of well-meaning but misguided teaching do more harm than good to the poor child who is left confused, exasperated and, worse of all, may be put off from his or her studies permanently and may be the casualty - a drop-out.”
“There is some local research to substantiate this conclusion and it comes from the Ministry of Education itself. In 1988, there was a study done and it was found that for 1978 to 1987, over this 10-year period, girls performed better than boys at Primary Three level in Mathematics but at the PSLE, boys did better in Mathematics and Science. It is only about the age of 10 years that girls and boys develop a heightened sense of gender identity and thus, being in a mixed class, the girls' self-esteem is lowered, partly because, as I have said, teachers sub-consciously pay less attention to them and, secondly, girls begin to develop their secondary sex characteristics which make them more self-conscious. Therefore, I think it may have something to do with the lower self-esteem, and this is what studies abroad have shown, and the research of the MOE substantiates that girls do worse in Mathematics and Science in Primary Six. So, in view of these facts and the MOE's study, would the Minister consider segregating girls and boys after Primary Three? The school can be mixed, but the girls and boys can be separated into different classrooms. Now, I am going on to the last topic on the registration of private tutors. Private tuition is a very big industry in Singapore and involves thousands of dollars and thousands of students. In fact, private tuition has become an established part of our educational culture. So far, the Ministry of Education has done no conclusive study that shows how much private tuition really helps the education system. Such a study would help to throw some light on the desirability or not of having private tuition.”
“The trust fund can have the following uses: to purchase essential appliances for children with special needs; to offer grants for special therapy sessions; to enable the disabled children to acquire skills necessary for future economic survival; to facilitate the integration of the disabled child into a normal school, if possible; and to ensure that there are some means for the maintenance of the disabled child if the parents are unable to do so or upon the death of the parents. By having a trust fund for disabled children, we are making sure that there will be a certain degree of self-reliance for them, with less likelihood that the disabled will become a burden to society. Now, Sir, I will go on to sex segregation in schools. I am now making an appeal to the Minister to consider segregating girls and boys into separate classes in mixed schools. This is important as being in a mixed class affects the performance of girls, especially in Mathematics and Science. Thus, if we wish to maximise the potential of girls, it is better to segregate the girls from the boys. The Members of the House may think this suggestion is airy-fairy, but I think the educators in this House will agree with me. Because numerous studies done in the educational field have confirmed that in classrooms with both girls and boys, teachers give more attention to the boys than girls and encourage boys more with words and gestures. This gender bias has been proven to exist, although teachers are unaware of it and only realise what they are doing when they are shown video tapes of their teaching sessions. This gender bias undermines the girls' self-esteem. Studies have shown that a relationship exists between self-esteem and the enjoyment of Mathematics and Science.”
“The Ministry of Education has successfully solved these logistics problems in the primary schools and will therefore be able to extend its expertise to kindergarten education. Furthermore, schools must establish a system of communication between pre-schools and primary schools to ensure that students' strengths and weaknesses identified in pre-school continue to be nurtured or remedied in primary school. Thus, it is very important that the Ministry of Education should take under its purview the first two years of education before primary school so as to make the most of these two years and thus maximise the potential of our most important resource - our people. I will now go on to funding for disabled children. The Finance Minister mentioned in his Budget Speech that the Government will inject another $500 million to the Edusave fund to increase the total fund to $1 billion. This contribution is good and reflects the Government's concern for a quality education for Singaporeans. The Edusave fund benefits 352,000 children in the mainstream schools while about 3,000 disabled pupils from 14 schools of special education are not entitled to the fund. I wish to appeal to the Government to put aside 10% of the Edusave fund into a trust fund for disabled children. This trust fund should not be seen as a welfare ticket but rather as a carefully planned scheme to look after the immediate and future needs of disabled children with stringent conditions of eligibility.”
“Thank you. I would like to ask the Minister to consider taking under his Ministry's charge the two years of kindergarten education prior to starting primary one. The National Institute of Education researchers have found that many low achievers come from a low socio-economic background and that a better background is instrumental in promoting achievement among pupils. Thus, it is very important that economically disadvantaged children should have a headstart in education. All children, but particularly poor children, must be able to take part in high quality early childhood programmes that develop their strength. They need extra support to overcome their barriers to achievement. 5.15 pm To achieve these objectives, the Ministry of Education should extend its area of responsibility to kindergarten education. By doing so, we will be able to (a) make sure that every child gets kindergarten education; (b) make sure that standards of teaching are high quality and uniform; and (c) make sure that the cost of kindergarten education is affordable for the parents of every child in Singapore. I have already talked about the importance of good early childhood development programmes for increasing productivity and competitiveness of our nation in the Budget debate. Furthermore, there are problems with the present system of kindergarten education. According to a Straits Times' article, more than half the teachers in the Malay/Muslim pre-school establishments do not have formal qualifications to teach. Also, for the teaching of Tamil in kindergartens, there are logistics problems as only some kindergartens offer Tamil as a second language. Without the Ministry of Education, there is no overall organisation to oversee the administration and work out these problems.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“In fact, both organisations have subscription schemes known as "Friends of the Zoo" at $60 per year, I am told, and "Friends of Birds" for $50 per year, which seem to sound very attractive compared to the calculation which Dr Soin has just made. Both these schemes allow subscribers free admission for a family of two adults and three children during the year. In fact, I would recommend this because I do that quite frequently myself.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head N of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code NK 1500. We have talked about family unity and cohesion and I am still on the same subject. As a gesture towards these objectives, I am yet making another plea, ie, I would like to suggest that for public attractions, like the Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoological Garden, we should have family rates of admission. Let me give you an example using the Jurong Bird Park. The entry fee for each adult is $9 and each child is $3. For a family of two adults and two children, the total would come to $24. We could have a family package of, let us say, $20, or maybe less, and this would allow two parents, with two or more children, to visit the Bird Park. With these special family rates, it would encourage families to visit the park or the zoo together and build up family ties. On the surface, this reduction in admission rates for families may not seem very important, but it is the cumulative effect of little messages that impinge on society's consciousness and, in this case, the message is family togetherness. So I do hope the Minister is going to consider this little suggestion favourably. Cdre Teo Chee Hean: I will draw my examples from the Zoo and the Bird Park as these are the two attractions under the purview of the Ministry. Both the Zoo and the Bird Park have special packages for various groups of people, social groups such as community centres and so forth. In fact, the Bird Park, I am told, has a family package where three children are admitted free for every two paying adults.”
“Furthermore, non-payment of delivery expenses by Government may act as a disincentive to procreation and then this will be a case of being penny wise and pound foolish. Cdre Teo Chee Hean: Sir, I will first take Mr Tong's point. With regard to Mr Tong's concern, I would like to inform him that the Public Service Division has submitted the Government's Pension Scheme for the approval of the Minister for Labour under paragraph 2M of the Retirement Age (Exemption) Notification 1993. Upon the approval of the scheme, all pensionable civil servants appointed before 1st July 1993, including ex-civil servants with frozen pension benefits, will be exempted from the Retirement Age Act and their retirement ages will be unaffected. With regard to Dr Soin's question on sick child care leave, a similar suggestion was also made by Dr Aline Wong in 1988. Then it was stated that where a woman officer finds it impractical to take such leave when her child falls sick, PSD was prepared to let her spouse take the leave instead. Such requests would be considered on a case-by-case basic. So far, we have not received any request, but we do reaffirm that if there are such requests in the future, we will still consider them. With regard to medical benefits and delivery charges, female civil servants appointed after January 1994 receive the same medical benefits as male civil servants with regard to hospitalisation. They receive an extra 1% for their Medisave. That is the position. Mr Tong Kok Yeo: Sir, just a small clarification for the Minister. When is it most likely that the Minister for Labour will give the approval to PSD's application for the exemption which he has just told us?”
“I would like to ask the Minister to consider the delivery expenses of married female civil servants who joined after January 1994 be paid by the Government. The Ministry of Health's record shows that on average men below 60 are hospitalised once every 10 years, but for women the rate is higher, largely because of maternity related causes. Therefore, during their child-bearing years, women will incur higher medical bills if they decide to have children. Married female civil servants who join after January 1994 will have to pay the hospital maternity bill themselves. Also, MediShield will not cover delivery expenses. The delivery cost in A Class in Kandang Kerbau Maternity Hospital is about $1,950. For B1, it is about $500 less. I am not including ante-natal and post-natal check-ups. Furthermore, if the woman needs a caesarian section or some other complications crop up, then the cost is going to go up even further. If the married female civil servant earns about $1,500 per month, then the total extra 1% Medisave per year will amount to $180, while her delivery expenses will be very much higher. On top of her maternity and delivery cost, the woman civil servant is as likely to get ill as her male counterpart. On the one hand, Government is giving procreation tax incentives to mothers to have more children. On the other hand, married female civil servants are being denied the benefit of delivery expenses. What is being given with one hand is being taken away with the other. Also, by not covering delivery expenses of its married female officers, the civil service is sending the wrong signal to the private sector employers who may follow suit.”
“Sir, in this House in September 1992, Dr Lee Boon Yang promised to ask the Minister for Finance, under whose purview comes the Public Service Division, to look into the matter of allowing civil servants who are fathers to take sick child care leave when the mothers are unable to do so. I would like to ask the Minister for Finance what has come of this. This is the Year of the Family, as we all know, and this is a marvellous opportunity for the Government to reaffirm the importance of family ties, especially between parents and child. If the mother is out of the country, is sick herself or unable for some other reasons to take leave to look after the sick child, then the most logical and family-affirming action is to allow the other parent to carry out his parental duty and look after his sick child. In Japan, in April 1992, a new law covering child care leave for both men and women employees has been passed. 90% of eligible male teachers have availed themselves of the leave to look after the child. Let us take a leaf from Japan which has a traditional view of society and yet recognises the role of the man as the parent. By asking for sick child leave for fathers, I am not advocating a doctrinaire symmetry in the role of the two sexes. But what I am asking for will help family welfare and strengthen family unity. Do you want me to go on to the next item, Sir?”
“Sir, the Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs have to be commended in Singapore as major crimes in Singapore have continued its downward trend for the fifth year in a row. However, unfortunately, molest cases have continued to rise, as mentioned by Dr Arthur Beng. There were 442 cases reported in the first half of 1993 and this is a jump of nearly 50% compared with the same period 50 years ago. Also, about 20% of these cases involved violence or occurred in a confined space such as a lift. Furthermore, in more than one-third of the 442 cases reported, the victims were below 17 years. This increase in molest cases warrants some research as to the underlying ecology. Singapore is one of the few countries that large numbers of Japanese women visit confidently on their own and thus it is very important that we institute measures to prevent molestation as much as possible, not only for the security of our girls and women but also for the sake of our tourism industry. Besides carrying out research, we should also intensify public education measures and education in schools. Would the Minister tell us what further measures are being instituted to reduce the number of molest cases? I hope that we do not only hear about measures like girls having to dress less revealingly. Like just now, counselling was advised for battered wives and not for the husbands who do the assaulting. Let us not pile insult upon injury on the poor victims.”
“I would like to know how many Domestic Exclusion Orders were given last year, as the Parliamentary Secretary has cited that as a possible avenue. The second point of clarification is that he has not talked about the psychology of the battered wife who is unable to go to court and do all these things. We are talking of normal women. That is why a battered wife needs more formal protection. Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, these are detailed questions. She wants to know the number of Domestic Exclusion Orders issued. I think that can be obtained, and we can let her have it. As to her second question, that proves the point that because battered wives have this psychological barrier, what they really need is not only legal help but counselling and sociological help. I think this observation proves the point that social groups can play an enhanced role because these are trained social workers who can empathise with the battered wives.”
“Even in the private sector it is difficult to identify suitably qualified candidates for the post of systems security administrator. So I would like to ask the Minister what plans he has to upgrade the expertise of the police officers involved in commercial crime investigations and what plans has he got to recruit candidates with suitable training.”
“Domestic abuse is not just a dispute between spouses because it affects children all the time. In the light of the high incidence of wife abuse, the seriousness of its effect on the family and children and in view of the survey of attitudes of the general population, would the Minister consider ways and means of giving more formal protection to battered wives? Mr Lau Ping Sum (Ang Mo Kio GRC): Sir, the use of Information Technology (IT) has spread rapidly in recent years. There are over 120 million personal computers (PCs) in the world. With the widespread use of such PCs, networks and databases, the associated system risks have also increased. For example, in the first eight months of 1993, over 23,000 cases of fraudulent returns of income tax were discovered in the US because the electronic returns process has given added incentives to criminals to file electronic returns fraudulently. In Singapore last year, I think there were a couple of cases of computer frauds. There was one, a POSB Lucky Draw. It was perpetrated by one of the systems staff of POSB. It was a very clever scheme which took the police a bit of effort and time to unravel. There was also an ATM card fraud which involved the fraudulent withdrawal of funds by making use of fake or forged cards. Similar cases were also reported in Japan and elsewhere. This is not to say that our police has not done a good job. I have seen some of the Commercial Affairs police officers at work and I can testify to the efficiency and the expertise that they possess. However, it is necessary for the police officers in Singapore to keep ahead of or at least to keep in tandem with current developments in the IT industry.”
“No further action will be taken by the Police unless instructions are given by the court to investigate the matter. Normally, if the victim insists on pursuing the legal process, she will have to either prosecute the case personally or hire a lawyer. Further, if the matter comes to court this way, the Magistrate would view the matter as a domestic quarrel and would try to achieve an amicable settlement between the parties instead of issuing a summons. The extent of legal intervention normally ends with the Police giving advice and warnings to the errant husband. It is evident therefore that the existing criminal and Police procedures are rather limited in dealing with wife assaulters and in providing protection to the victims. 3.45 pm This is not what the general population wants, because a survey was done by Dr Alfred Choy, a NUS sociologist. In 1993, 510 Singaporeans from all walks of life were surveyed on the subject of wife assault and these are the results of the survey. 50% of them think wife assault is as serious as other personal crimes whilst 34% think it is more serious. Singaporeans want the police to take a more serious action when wife assault recurs or involves a greater degree of violence. 86% of them surveyed want the police to either charge the husband by issuing a summons or arrest the husband. The survey interviews took place randomly across Singapore so that those responding were representative of the population. The survey shows a shift in Singaporeans' attitudes from preserving family privacy to protecting the safety of the wife. When there is recurrent domestic abuse, even if people continue to try to keep up the appearance of an intact family, it is not much use as the family will break down anyway.”
“At the same time, we could capitalise on the fact that we are getting foreign immigrants into Singapore who are anchored to our way of life through their local spouses and make the most of this asset rather than allowing in other immigrants who have no roots here at all. I will go on to the next topic about spousal domestic violence. Only about 5% of all domestic abuse cases are male victims while 95% are female victims. I will therefore confine myself to the latter. In Singapore, wife abuse has received public attention only in recent years and little research is available on it. However, fortunately, a recent study was done by Dr Aileen Seow, a Senior Registrar at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. 96 cases of physically abused women presented themselves at the Accident & Emergency Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital between July and November 1993, so that we average 24 cases each month and this is only the figure for one hospital in Singapore, ie, Tan Tock Seng Hospital. If we assume a similar rate for the other three big general hospitals, the figure will come to 100 a month. This does not include the many other cases that do not go to the Government and restructured hospitals but go to private doctors or do not report at all. We are only seeing the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Also, between 1989 and 1993, there were 43 reported cases of domestic violence where the wife is a victim of an offence of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or voluntarily causing grievous hurt. These statistics give us a picture of the incidence of domestic violence in Singapore. When a battered woman makes a Police report, the common practice of the Police is to advise the victim to lodge a complaint before a Magistrate and to issue a private summons against her spouse.”
“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate and understand the Minister's difficulty in granting PR status to all foreign spouses. But I would like to make an appeal that he should consider the following suggestions: (1) The minimum economic and educational criteria necessary for foreign spouses to be eligible for PR status should be spelt out and not decided on a case-by-case basis, as this system has caused anxiety, bitterness, confusion and even heartache. (2) Some sort of amnesty should be granted to the foreign men who are already married to our local women and have children. If necessary, these new residents could be asked to undergo some skills training programme so that they become economic assets to Singapore. After all, they are married to Singapore women and it is our duty to ensure that we do not inadvertently become agents of the break up of their marriage by not granting PR status to the husband. At this juncture, I would like to illustrate my next point with a real life story of a local Indian girl. Her father wanted her to marry an Indian national from the same sect. She refused, knowing the difficulty of getting PR status for him. But her father went on a hunger strike and after four days, she had no choice but to agree to her father's wishes. After that, her husband could not get PR status. And so we punish the girl for her filial piety. Thus, we have to mount a public education programme about the problems of PR status for foreign husbands so that our senior citizens will not try to pressurize their daughters to marry foreign men. Thus, I would like to make an appeal to the Minister to look afresh at this issue of granting PR status to foreign spouses and come up with solutions that are more just, humane and satisfactory for our local men and women.”
“In Japan, there is a family court where family cases are heard in privacy. The point made by the Law Commission of England in 1966 that "the saving even of a small number of marriages is worthwhile provided that it is not accompanied by a disproportionate waste of time and effort in a great many others" still applies to us today. I would urge the Minister to consider this matter. If a family court is not feasible at this time, then a family division in the High Court may be an alternative.”
“Sir, I would like to believe that Members of this House, like myself, uphold the sanctity of marriage and subscribe to the importance of the family. Alas, however, we are not living in a perfect world and there are irretrievable breakdowns in marriage. Statistics show that about 2,500 to 2,700 marital dissolutions have occurred every year under the Women's Charter since 1991. What I am asking the Minister is to consider the establishment of a specialist court, ie, the family court, to handle matrimonial cases and all related issues arising out of irretrievable breakdown of marriage. Presently, jurisdiction to hear and decide matrimonial issues is divided between the Magistrate's courts, the District courts and the High Court. This divided jurisdiction may work towards ending a marriage rather than mending it. The end result may be that not one court gets to hear the evidence in its entirety to understand the background behind the marriage in order to reach a result that is just to both parties and does not compromise the welfare of the children. Moreover, a court that hears 20 or more cases in one morning has no time to advise and counsel parties. The family court will have the time and expertise to counsel parties towards reconciliation besides its other role in matrimonial issues. In essence, the functions of the family court should be aimed at: (1) mitigating the intensity of disputes; (2) encouraging settlements; (3) providing further for the welfare of the children of the family. When divorce cannot be avoided, the family court can still play a constructive role in helping parties come to terms and to cope with the stress, hardship and trauma of a broken marriage and to reduce the problems experienced by children as a result of marital breakdown.”
“In five years, more than 100,000 workers in the electrical and electronic manufacturing sector may be out of work. Fortunately, however, those workers who lost their manufacturing jobs have easily found new jobs because of the current full employment rate in Singapore. However, this situation should not lull us into a false sense of complacency. We have to ask ourselves a few searching questions: (1) Are workers' skills acquired in their manufacturing jobs and who subsequently are displaced from manufacturing being put to good use in their new jobs? It makes little economic sense to provide workers likely to be affected by relocation with skills training if these skills are not utilised. Unfortunately, existing data does not capture this information. We have to overcome this deficiency. (2) How much are the workers being paid in their new jobs? Do these displaced workers have to work overtime or take up two jobs to make up for their original pay? The latest estimates in 1989 showed that 44% of male workers over 30 did overtime work while 36% "moonlighted" in second jobs. With these added work commitments, workers are unable to make time for skills upgrading in their new jobs. There is the added social cost of spending less time with the family. Again, we have not instituted any database to capture this information. Another area of concern is that small companies (with less than 100 workers each) employ 40% of Singapore's rank and file workers. These number 400,000 in total. These small companies spend less than 1% of their payroll on training which is way below the national target of 4% set by the National Productivity Board. Large companies with more than 500 workers spend 5% of their payroll on training.”
“Therefore, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Trade and Industry have to get together and look at the whole issue of early childhood development education, school and post secondary education, human resource maximization and job productivity. Sir, at the other end of the age spectrum, workers who are over 40 constitute the largest group who either did not attend school or only completed up to lower primary school and these workers number about 150,000. Furthermore, these employees who are over 40 generally constitute a small percentage of workers attending retraining or upgrading courses. The culture of continuing education has to be imbibed by our people, especially our older workers. How do we go about doing this? The NTUC has made a start in this direction and so has the National Productivity Board, but much more has to be done so that we have an educated workforce. Again, the cooperation of a few agencies is required for this effort. This lack of education of our workforce is a major drawback for the upgrading of skills. The increasing of skills does not only have an economic focus but has social repercussions as well. Worldwide, the gap between the wages of skilled and unskilled workers has widened. With the abundance of cheap and relatively unskilled labour in the region, manufacturing industries that are labour intensive will move out of Singapore and this has been alluded to by the previous speakers. Our production will have to shift towards skill-intensive sectors in value-added industries. Mr Deputy Speaker, according to the Labour Ministry's figures, the manufacturing sector has been shedding jobs since the beginning of 1992, resulting in a total net loss of 20,000 jobs so far.”
“How is this possible when we have had a universal and a highly subsidised education system for the last 30 years or so? Where have we gone wrong? Perhaps the Ministry of Education and other relevant organisations have to do some soul-searching and mind-scratching to find out what is the cause of these worrying statistics and how to prevent this state from continuing. Sir, one area that has to be studied is education for early childhood development. I am sure some of you will wonder what this has to do with the nation's productivity and competitive edge. Well, if we wish to succeed in our highly competitive region of the world which poses an economic challenge for us, then we have to look at the whole issue of national productivity, competitiveness and skills training from a holistic point of view. Now, early childhood development has long term effects for human resource development and productivity. Investment in early childhood development education will help the nation by saving later on because it affects drop-out rates, learning achievements, readiness for learning and also impacts on performance in schools and on the job. In spite of the well known advantages, early childhood development programmes are often dismissed on account of their costs. Channelling finance and other resources at a late stage, to improve the educational profile of our workers is itself unproductive in the context of having let a golden opportunity slip us by earlier on. Would it not be more pragmatic to start investing in our people in early childhood and would not this course of action be more consistent with Singapore's philosophy of pre-empting future problems?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, productivity, competitiveness, retraining, three very important issues for us in Singapore. The Finance Minister in his Budget Speech said, and I quote: `We, in Singapore, can prosper and grow together with our neighbours and trading partners, if we remain competitive and productive.' The Prime Minister in his National Day Rally speeches since 1992 has stressed the importance of remaining competitive, improving our skills and raising our productivity. Sir, for us to be able to carry out these objectives, the key challenge is the successful management of human resources. The most competitive nations in the 1990s will be those whose people have the right values, education system, motivation and attitudes, says the 1993 World Competitiveness Report. Therefore, soft assets do count in the hard world of competitiveness. Sir, nearly half of our workers have not completed secondary school. About one-quarter of these workers with less than secondary education are below 30 years of age and number 200,000. This large group of people who are all below 30 years of age will be in the workforce in the next 30-40 years and could become a source of great concern to the nation. What steps are being taken to ensure that we do not continue to have this trend of young people with low educational qualifications? Let us look at the Labour Force Survey of 1992. Of the employed persons aged over 15 but under 20 years of age, there are 70,000 people and this does not include foreign workers. Of these 70,000 young workers, nearly 4,000 have never attended school or only up to lower primary level. Another 29,000 or 40% of our young workers below 20 have only primary or lower secondary education.”
“Since the Government is responsible for encouraging Singaporeans to go into the stock market, it not also has to bear some responsibility at this point of time, like the leaders across the Causeway, by telling the public that the fundamentals in the economy are sound and that there is no need to indulge in panic selling? The public announcement of Dr Mahathir has to some extent halted the downward slide of the stock market. The big investors and foreign syndicates do not need such announcement. They know exactly what they are doing. But many of the local small investors' savings may be wiped out by a sudden free fall of the stock market if it is left unchecked. I think if Singapore's economy and its fundamentals are perfectly sound, there is nothing wrong in the Government or one of its Ministers making such a public statement at this very crucial point of time when the stock market took a sudden tumble downwards. I should even say that the Government owes it to the hordes of small investors who have been encouraged by the Government to invest their savings in the stock market.”
“I applaud the Government for finally recognising that sports is an important activity in our national life and must be substantially supported. I refer to the $10 million grant given by the Government and private bodies towards the Sports Excellence Programme. Four years ago, when I was in the Sports Review Committee, I suggested that the Government contribute a sum of $4 million a year towards improving sports. But at that time, the Government was reluctant to support sports in a substantial way and that suggestion was not accepted. I am happy that there is a change of policy. With such good financial support, I hope athletes, the national associations, MINDEF, schools, parents and the public can pool together to produce more home-grown champions at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games upwards. The strategy must be to identify talent in our schools at a very early stage. Put some specialists and dedicated coach to nurture and train that talent to win a gold medal at the Asian or Commonwealth Games. Once that breakthrough is achieved and the psychological barrier is breached, other local athletes will quickly follow the example that has already been set. The important thing is to achieve that first breakthrough. Then subsequent tasks of winning at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games or even the Olympics shall be more possible. I hope that day will come. The Government's style has always been to tell the people of Singapore to do this or to do that. Recently, the Government encouraged Singaporeans to invest in the stock market. The NTUC has also taken an unprecedented step to get workers to take part in the very risky business of investing in the stock market. The stock markets of Singapore and Malaysia have over the last two days taken a sudden downturn.”
“The problem under the present system is that the Government wants almost absolute control in politics. It does not want the Opposition if it can help it. And if it can help it, it also does not want anyone to criticize its policies. The Government tells the people of Singapore: you can go on earning a living, a good living if you can, but do not interfere in politics. Is this kind of policy good for Singapore? I say, no. This kind of policy creates an environment which does not encourage growth of any kind of leaders, whether it be political, in the economy or otherwise. The Government should allow people to speak up, especially those in the universities. It is only when people feel that they are not restrained in their minds that they can be more creative and can take the initiative and become entrepreneurs. It is not possible to tell the people, on the one hand, to close their minds to issues on politics and be very productive, creative and show initiative in business. Our human minds are not built that way. Either you allow people to think freely, to be creative and show initiative or not at all. I hope the Government will consider opening up the society a little bit more, have more democracy and freedom. We do need such an environment to nurture more abundant business leaders and entrepreneurs. Ultimately, it shall be the people who are creative, innovative, risk takers, leaders in business and industry and adventurous who shall keep the Singapore economy going at high rates of growth. Under a more open society, I do not think that there shall be political instability. The people can be educated on the importance of nation building and to only elect good, honest men to be their political leaders.”