Kuik Shiao-Yin
Singapore
“Northlight's model contains so many wisdoms and insights that mainstream schools can learn from and it is a beautiful symbol of what is possible if we care enough to make things happen not just for ourselves but for others who we do not want to leave behind. 2.25 pm”
“Currently, there is no requirement for a company to accommodate the employee’s changed situation, such as redesigning a job or offering an alternative role.”
“I think the United Kingdom (UK) manages that by saying that leave should be taken in weeks rather than days. Similarly, the same amount of adoption leave that is available to mums should be available to dads. Or alternatively, a longer quantum of gender-neutral adoption leave can be offered for parents to share as they wish.”
“That certainty can only come from the promise of a new story, a story of a "Who" and a "Why" that is bigger than the sum of all of our fears about "What's" and "How's". Our youths need to hear the greater story of all the things that we want to do for love, not just fear.”
“I want to say that I see the heart of the Minister for Finance for the people. I believe in his openness to find new ways forward and I trust his courage to make hard choices.”
“I guess we may differ in our thinking about how much is enough help for people. I speak especially for children with single mothers and foreign mothers. We have talked a long time in this House about the differences of views about why they cannot get adequate housing and all that. I think more help could be given.”
The complete record
Every one of 212 lines we hold for Kuik Shiao-Yin, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 5.
“It is our North Star, an ambitious promise we ask every young student to spend each morning putting their hand on the heart and swear that we will do whatever it takes and take on whatever cost to bring to life this vision. [Deputy Speaker (Mr Lim Biow Chuan) in the Chair] And yet, as each young student ages into a young working professional, many of them feel their idealism for themselves and for the country being challenged at different levels of the Singapore system. Along the line, we sense that the Singapore way is more like a tense high-wire act where we must learn to calibrate our ideals of communitarianism, democracy and egalitarianism on one end with the realities of individualism, authoritarianism and elitism on the other end. So far, our country has managed to advance forward without falling off the line. And even our critics concede that that is no small feat. But whether our performance has been a gracefully balanced act or one ungracefully tilted too much towards pragmatism has been the fodder of much debate. I have heard it said jokingly that pragmatism is our official religion. And you know it is certainly part of our cultural DNA when you can hear it, not just in the voice of our parents and our policymakers, but in ourselves and our children. The decision to raise GST taxes to 9% has been justified as a pragmatic decision in the face of growing national needs in the future. And the decision to not raise our Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC) beyond the 50% mark has also been justified as a pragmatic decision for the sake of signalling to currency markets the strength of our Singapore dollar.”
“So, I fully support the Finance Minister's wonderful reflection in his speech that "a strong economy is not an end in itself; it is a means to build a better home and provide a better quality of life for all our people.” If our economy is a means to an end, then should we not discuss every year at Budget whether we as a people still share the same end-goals? In my first Budget speech in 2015, I shared my hope that, "Our country spent the first 50 years of our history getting rich. I would love to see us spend our next 50 years charting our course towards becoming truly wealthy." My desire still stands. So, what is this vision of true wealth that we are longing for at the end of all our days of economic hustling? With each year, do we know and do we care to know whether we are moving closer to or further away from that end? I find that one visionary end-state still resonates for most young Singaporeans across different beliefs and backgrounds and, that is, the one that was still that written down more than half a century ago which invited us to imagine that there will be a day when "We", the citizens of Singapore would find ourselves as one united people; able to regard one another less by race, language or religion; and more as fellow builders of a democracy, that was based on justice and equality. And we would be happy. Truly, surprisingly, profoundly happy. Because we had somehow learnt that this life we got to live was never about creating prosperity and progress for its own sake, or for the sake of bettering only ourselves, but for the sake of bettering others alongside because we finally believed we were better together – rather than apart – as a nation. Sir, the pledge represents our dream of a Singapore as it should be.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, to prepare for this speech, I talked to young Singaporeans from 18 to 35 years old, students as well as young millennials in our workforce, about what was their own sensing of their future in our country and what they most cared about our country getting right. Their answers were varied, fresh and often very surprising. But I admit that it can be overwhelming to try to make sense of the conflicting forest of everyone’s different answers to the “How” and “What” questions about our economy. How should we encourage innovation or tackle inequality? What is the best way to manage our Reserves or the best tax system for us? I find that the questions I keep circling back to – the ones that give me some compass of clear direction to help me navigate my own uncertainty and confusion – are always the questions of "Who" and "Why". Why do we care about encouraging innovation? Or give a damn about inequality? Why must we keep such high Reserves? Who do our Reserves or tax system serve? And at the heart of it all, who are we? Who is not part of our "we"? Who do we most want to be? Taking the time to slow down from our usual pace in Parliament to dwell on questions of purpose and identity may seem frivolous. But I suggest to Members, they are the most crucial questions. Because they bring us back into a space of choosing from what matters most to us. I have found that whether we are debating about how we should spend our own personal dollars or the dollars of our nation, the core question we must keep returning back to is, "What is the meaning we care to make with all our money in the first place?" Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of success at things in life that we realise did not really matter to us at all.”
“I hope, aside from just providing more information, we will continue to persevere and explore how to provide more practical support as well as accessible and affordable healthy food choices for the households who could really do with more help. 5.58 pm”
“In conclusion, I am glad we are moving towards clearer information and food labelling for the sake of public health. And there are many lessons, I think, we can learn from America's years of experimenting with providing better information as a solution to public health. Despite years of having more detailed food labels around, Americans actually got more unhealthy and, overall, daily consumption of calories even increased by 400. Researchers from the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity studied the effect on consumer behaviour after American fast food chains were ordered by the government to post calorie counts. They discovered that there was no clinically meaningful shift in consumer behaviour across all fast food chains except at Starbucks where the introduction of labelling did cause more consumers to eat a modest 6% fewer calories per transaction. The law professor and consumer market regulation expert, Omri Ben-Shahar, pointed out that the difference could be that Starbucks customers were generally of a higher income bracket and argued that if America wanted to see the behavioural effect go beyond the elite food market, it had to go beyond providing just more information, to providing more practical help, like subsidies, to enable lower income families to eat better. We have all tried eating healthy before, I am sure. And even with great sources available to all of us, it has been a pain and a puzzle to figure out what is a better food choice. Imagine how much more difficult it can be to commit to healthier eating if we were poor in either or all of these four domains of money, time, education and extra household help.”
“However, the term Healthier Choice itself is unambiguously a term that signals virtuosity and intrinsic goodness, especially because it only appears on some products and not others. So, when a child reads the phrase Healthier Choice, they naturally think, "Oh, it is healthier for me." They are unlikely to think, "Oh, it is healthier, but only relative to products in their same category and healthier because of certain ingredients but not others". It is not that obvious. Even some adult shoppers I spoke to are unaware that there are tiny variations of qualifying text underneath the red Healthier Choice pyramid. An obtuse description like "this drink has 25% less sugar compared to regular soft drinks" is not that helpful. I have found two groups of reactions to the Healthier Choice food label that are worth paying attention to. One, there are those who completely trust it and actively buy products with that label, believing it is an unambiguous rubber stamp of nutritional approval from the state. I know several grandparents who let their grandkids drink multiple bottles of Healthier Choice-approved sweetened probiotic drinks, blackcurrant cordials and packaged chocolate malt drinks a day because of that. And there are also those who are indifferent and even cynical of the label. They argue that a sugary yoghurt boasting an absence of trans-fat, an artificially flavoured sweet white bread with a perfunctory addition of fibre and soft drinks using artificial sweeteners are undeserving of that label. And I think they do have a point. The Healthier Choice label will lose its value if it is increasingly perceived as just clever marketing strategy by the food industry that takes advantage of the added value created by the state's endorsement.”
“As a benchmark, powdered Milo has 45 grammes of sugar per 100 grammes and regular milk powder has 38 grammes of natural milk sugar per 100 grammes. The formula tin said a 100 millilitres serving of prepared formula will contain 7.8 grammes of sugar. As a benchmark, a bottle of lower sugar Milo drink sold as a Healthier Choice for adults and teenagers says a 100 millilitres serving of their prepared drink contains 5 grammes of sugar, which is less than formula milk. So, I think it is worth looking at exactly how much sugar is being used to pad up expensive "growing-up" formulas marketed to parents in competition with regular, cheaper, unsweetened milk for children aged one and above. What appears to be a case of "I do not know why my child somehow likes the expensive formula milk better than regular milk" could turn out to be "my child likes sugared milk better than regular milk". Fifth, I hope we can relook the design and wording of the Healthier Choice food label. The Healthier Choice food label has been useful in influencing the supply side, encouraging companies to reformulate products according to the state's guidelines to produce relatively healthier products in each classified category. But the key word here though is "relatively" and that is what is confusing a lot of people. People are writing to the press wondering how ice-creams, soft drinks, frozen french fries and highly sweetened yogurts, cereals and breads can bear the Healthier Choice label. I have seen the Health Promotion Board's replies and I agree that there is no intrinsically good food and everything should be eaten in moderation.”
“For instance, people should know which of the fast-food grilled chicken patties have actually less than 50% chicken and are mostly composed of cheaper fillers that could contain allergens. Third, to prevent food waste, there should be one clear label to replace the confusion of "sell by", "packed by" and "used by" labels. Clearer language needs to be used to distinguish when food changes in taste quality versus safety. A simple "Best if used by this date" and "Unsafe after this date" could be useful. Fourth, serving sizes and measurement units used to help consumers compare nutritional data should be standardised, especially among locally produced goods, which are well within our control. I found a local kaya bottle that said one teaspoon is 15 grammes while another local spread said one tablespoon was 15 grammes. Standardised measurement becomes important, especially if we want to inform people about sugar content. We need a simple, unambiguous label telling people exactly how much sugar, natural and added, is in their local and imported products. If we use recognisable units like teaspoons and tablespoons rather than jargons like per serving or per gramme, more people can make meaningful comparisons. Right now, not many people see that sugar content-wise, tablespoon for tablespoon, spreading chocolate hazelnut spread on our bread is actually the same as spreading on canned chocolate cake frosting. And drinking a cup of 100% "no added sugar" processed fruit juice is not that far off from drinking a cup of regular Coke. And, by the way, there is a big-brand powdered formula milk marketed as a Healthier Choice "lower sugar" product for kids aged two years and above that has 52 grammes of sugar per 100 grammes of formula.”
“So, can I clarify: if an individual selling food products was simply reproducing the unedited health or nutritional truth claims passed on to them by a parent company or paying client, can they still be held personally accountable under this law should those claims turn out to be dubious or dangerous? I also have a set of suggestions around the issue of food labelling. Clause 19 expands the Minister's power to provide for regulations around food labelling. And an example given in the explanatory notes to illustrate these new powers was, for the sake of combating obesity, retail food businesses could be required by regulations to disclose the energy or sugar content of the food that they sell and display this information in a clear, simple and unambiguous manner. I am fully in support of the push for clear, simple and unambiguous labelling. And many Singaporeans want to know what is actually in their food. So, I asked people online what kind of labelling they most want to see. And here are the five big suggestions that are close to their hearts. First, to serve the rising number of people, especially children with serious allergies, allergens like nuts and seafood need to be highlighted and bolded. This is especially for imported products where translations can be unclear, inaccurate and even leave out ingredients. Second, fish and meat should state country of origin, whether they are farmed or wild, whether they use growth promotants, antibiotics or other synthetic colouring to enhance their appearance. Few people are aware that a lot of cheap farmed salmon have their naturally grey meat tinted according to a colour swatch developed by a pharmaceutical MNC. Meat products must also reveal how much meat goes into their composition.”
“For example, therapeutic grade essential oils and essential oil-infused food and drink are a popular alternative health product despite the ongoing controversy in the United States of America about how this multi-billion dollar industry is being regulated. This industry primarily sells through multi-level marketing and social networking. While the American Food and Drug Administration has worked with the parent essential oil companies to keep their product's promises within legal bounds, the FDA and parent companies have struggled to police the social media posts of the millions of independent distributors for non-compliant language, such as claims that daily consumption of essential oils can cure Ebola and cancer. The new section 2A now defines "food" to include "any substance capable of being used or represented as being for use for human consumption", "any substance ...capable of being used, or represented as being for use, as an ingredient or additive" as well as "anything that is or is intended to be mixed with or added to any food or drink". Can I clarify whether this definition would thus include any alternative health and nutrition products marketed as consumable, such as therapeutic-grade essential oils, detox teas and herbal shake powders? Would an individual, who sells such products to their networks online and offline, thus be considered as running a "food business" and, thus, will have their words advertising these products held accountable under this law? I note also how the new section 16A of this Act makes non-compliant advertising that "is false" or "likely to deceive a buyer" as to "the age, composition, effects, nature, origin, purity, quality or strength of the food or the safety or suitability of the food" a legal offence.”
“As a benchmark, our Prime Minister has about 300,000 followers on Instagram, but a top millennial Instagrammer in Singapore can boast over half a million followers. And that is why clients are willing to pay top influencers here between $1,000 and $3,000 per Instagram post. A 16-year-old micro-influencer in Singapore with a more moderate 10,000-20,000 followers may not pull in the same commercial rates, but can still receive paid-in-kind jobs because enough of their peer group perceive them as a legitimate source of information. So, such influence definitely has social impact and it seems they now could potentially bear legal responsibility. On behalf of online influencers and ordinary individuals who need more clarity about how this law relates to their food and wellness product-related social media posts, I would like to ask a set of questions. First, can I confirm what "commercial gain" to the food blogger, commentator or influencer means? Aside from an obvious exchange of money or cut of profits, does it also include any provision of sponsorship, freebies, gifts, discounts or commercial opportunity-in-kind? Second, the current understanding of many online influencers and their management companies is that the law does not require influencers to use terms such as "Sponsored Post" or "Advertorial" to flag that their personal posts are actually advertisements. So, can I clarify whether this is true? And, if not, whether this Bill or laws elsewhere require that social media influencers declare openly to the public which of their personal posts selling food has commercial interests in it. Third, some young people are getting into multi-level marketing of edible health and wellness products and are uncertain whether they would be construed as selling "food" by this Act.”
“And some have used their personal platforms to broadcast their clients' truth claims to their followers about food products. Some of the less experienced young influencers may even post unedited, whatever benefits the client forwards them to say, believing that it is not their job or their place to question their paymaster. Some years back, there was a small fuss kicked up online about how some young influencers were promoting a particular brand of processed juice. One influencer had suggested lightly that drinking juice was better than water any day. And another used the #healthyliving while others made the truth claims that the juice was "fresh" and "high in vitamins". While it was clear to many commentators that drinking a litre of processed juice a day was probably not a good idea, what was less clear to many was whether an influencer's words should be shrugged off light-heartedly as private opinion or scrutinised critically as a professional piece of advertising designed to shift public choices. Someone saying processed juice is part of healthy living may not seem like a big deal, but there are food and fashion influencers also crossing over into promoting food products created by the alternative health and wellness industry that makes far more ambitious truth claims. I have seen bloggers push products that could help your "liver and circulatory system to return to optimal state", "neutralise free radicals" and the ever-popular promise to "reduce fats" or "eliminate toxins". And pushing product through an individual's personal platforms seems to be a new place for brands to push their truth claims because of the greater leeway given to what appears to be personal opinion. Some of our most successful young influencers under 35 have substantial followings.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the expansion of purpose of this Act. I especially support clause 2 of the amendment's stated aim to "ensure the provision of information relating to food to enable consumers to make informed choices" and to prevent misleading conduct in connection with the sale of food. I appreciate that the Act updates several definitions to bring it up to speed with the modern age of food and wellness bloggers, online shopping and multi-level marketing of alternative health and nutrition products. Clause 3 amends section 2 of the Act to make an "advertisement" mean: anything "used or apparently used to promote, directly or indirectly, the sale of food"; "any words, whether written or in an audible message"; "any still or moving picture, sign, symbol or visual image" and "any combination of two or more of these things." The amendments do take pains to state that the definition "does not include communications of personal opinion made by an individual for no commercial gain to the public or section of the public in relation to any goods or services, brand of goods or services, or person who provides goods or services". The explanatory statement actually elaborates further that "this will make clear the situation where a food blog is published, or comments are made on social media, for no commercial gain to the blogger or commentator." I do not know how many young social media commentators and influencers are actually aware of the amendments being passed today. But this broadened definition of "advertisement" does appear to cover posts on all the platforms they currently broadcast on. Quite a few social media influencers are already doing paid or paid-in-kind posts for food brands.”
“It also turns out that the pattern of the story told by each family matters. Some families tell their children an ascending narrative with a constantly upward, upbeat, hopeful trajectory. Some families tell descending narratives with a constantly downward depressing and pessimistic trend. But what was interesting is psychologists discovered that both these kinds of families are not resilient. It is those families that tell an oscillating narrative instead − a roller-coaster trajectory of a tale with ups and downs − that consistently produced the most resilient children. They understand that highs and lows were part of life and problems were better faced together rather than apart. The oscillating family story helps them develop a strong "intergenerational self", a purposeful awareness that they are part of something larger than themselves. So, yes, I know many Singaporeans are deeply saddened by all that has happened so far. Many want this conversation full of suffering to just end. I hope we do not artificially shut down the conversation because learning to talk about our biggest mistakes, our darkest imperfections, our most painful wounds from our past is precisely what our younger generations need right now as a country if we hope to be resilient. This season in our political history need not be part of a descending narrative but an oscillating one. If this event helps us start to talk more openly about how things work in our country and how we want things to work in our country, the good and the bad, it is possible for us to come out of this saga even stronger as a people.”
“They wanted a memorial to be forward-looking and ever relevant to a new generation, a memorial that did not just centre on one particular personality but powerful principles that could be passed on to endure forever. Many hoped for the Founder's Memorial, whenever and wherever it does get built, to ultimately stand for unity across the divides. I imagine whatever Singaporeans had wanted for the Founders' Memorial, they would want for the Oxley house as well. Whether Oxley stays or goes or becomes a memorial garden with a basement, I hope we can find some compromise that will enable it to not go down in our history as a memorial born first in bitterness. Mr Lee Hsien Yang seems open to that memorial garden idea. So, hopefully that can be the beginning of some common ground that will move us all forward. Many Singaporeans in the process also referred again and again to the national pledge written by our founders as still the best representation of the story they wanted Singapore to live out, from generation to generation. Singapore was, is and must always be about more than one man's − or one family's − values. Even the national pledge that most closely enshrines all our nation's values was not written by one man alone. It went through a long chain of drafting starting from a Mr Phillip Liau, Mr George Thomson, then Mr S Rajaratnam, various Ministry officials and then Mr Lee Kuan Yew and then submitted to the then Cabinet for final approval. I have come to believe that nations are really just families writ large. Psychologists who study resilience in families notice that the more children know about their family history, the stronger their sense of personal agency, self-confidence and capacity to face challenges.”
“If anything, a deeper and more open conversation about how political power works in Singapore may be just what our system needs to truly grow up as a post-Lee Kuan Yew democracy. Our electorate needs better political education, and more open, empathetic communication about our political processes can help. Singapore is bigger than Lee Kuan Yew's values. For no matter how great or powerful or righteous any one man may be, the best of men still die and a country must learn to live beyond them. I do not think that is an offensive thing to say because that is a view Mr Lee himself has held. His expressed distaste for idolisation and personal monuments is something establishment and non-establishment Singaporeans can respect and get behind. If Singapore is to stay strong, we must remember this to be true. We are no country of one man. We are no country for one man. We are a country of many people, many families and many interests. I have been serving on the Founder's Memorial Committee since 2015. Please let me share some insights. We have been gathering views from thousands of Singaporeans − historians, architects, regular people on the street, young people − about what kind of memorial would best honour the legacy of our Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the pioneering team of leaders that built the nation alongside him. Incidentally, Oxley never actually came up as a major suggestion. They wanted more public spaces like Fort Canning or Singapore River. What we learnt is that many Singaporeans wanted a memorial that could go beyond a mere recollection of the past.”
“Because in this culture right now shaped by social media, where words are allowed to flow fast and free, it has become all too easy to forget why things like statutory declarations and Hansards matter. They remind us that for society to be strong, for democracy to be resilient, we must all allow the law to call us to account for our words, the things we choose to say, the things we choose not to say, because words are the way we build or break our worlds. Since the Prime Minister has already made a statutory declaration, it would be most fair and helpful for Singaporeans to have an independent Committee set up that can request that his accusers would also offer theirs. Beneath all this is the uncomfortable accusation about whether we are a country of one-man rule. Part of the reason why perceptions of authoritarianism continue to fester is that there are still many people who believe and perceive the Government to be opaque in its decision-making and defensive in its communication about its work. This is just a long-standing perspective on the ground that is clear to anyone who looks at contentious Facebook comment threads on any socio-political issues. The idea that anyone would see secret Ministerial Committees as nefarious may seem strange and even silly to those in Government who are familiar with what they are. But to someone hearing about it for the first time, it can be construed to sound mysterious and Orwellian. Where there is no information and understanding given, misinformation and misunderstanding will rush in to fill the vacuum. This Oxley Road saga is painful but there are many thoughtful commenters who do not think this is necessarily a bad thing.”
“Mr Lee Hsien Yang has already made it clear to the many Singaporeans following his Facebook posts that he believes "This Parliamentary session is a forum that again places the Prime Minister before his subordinates" who "lack sufficient background and evidence of the numerous instances of abuse and conflicts of interest, many yet to be raised". That is why I hope the Prime Minister will consider subjecting himself to an independent Committee of Inquiry on the allegations made against him and his Government. A Committee of Inquiry or Select Committee with enough independent non-PAP, non-subordinate representatives would help to address some of his accuser's concerns. I understand this is not a process to be taken lightly and runs the risk of stretching out the painful saga, but I believe it is a significant display of political courage that will shore up much trust in our system's integrity, and it will also be a significant display of trust also in the people who will be asked to sit on those Committees. Prime Minister, I respect your decision to put forth your perspective on the Oxley issue as a statutory declaration. It means high stakes for you if you are found to be falsifying your statement. So, it does show me how seriously you have considered the stakes of your words. I also respect your decision to open this up to Parliamentary debate and inviting all of us in this House to ask questions that call you to account because every word will go down on public record in the Hansard. Your earlier sharing that you intend to put your words out in public, free of Parliamentary privilege, is an important move that I believe will build trust.”
“" The Prime Minister's accusers should have an independent, neutral space where they can be held to account for their words, put down their side of the story on official record, sharing whatever arguments and evidence they have to back their claims. Such a hearing can happen either as an independent Select Committee, or a Commission of Inquiry (COI), which would have full authority to investigate the accusations, to summon evidence surrounding the most biting allegations raised in the original "What has happened to Lee Kuan Yew's values?" document about the supposed misuse of power by the Prime Minister and his wife, the supposed Orwellian threat of state intimidation and monitoring of private citizens, and the supposed nepotism behind key appointments in the Public Service. Because if investigations reveal there are truth and substance to the allegations, their wrongs must be made right. It is presently hard to ask more questions because, so far, details are just so vague and the people who can supply more detailed evidence to these questions are just not in this room. The Prime Minister has shared his hope that "this full, public airing in Parliament will dispel any doubts that have been planted and strengthen confidence in our institutions and our system of government." I hope so much for that to be true, too, but from what I know of ground sentiments, I do not think that is going to happen for those who are unconverted or those who are sitting on the fence.”
“For many conservative Asians, in the case of family, we will always want to protect our own. I personally would rather never close the option of mercy. Should there still be the slightest possibility for mediation and grace and forgiveness to still intercede in this situation, and allow reconciliation and compromise to be made somehow, I hope it can be taken. The difficulty here though is that because of the seriousness of the allegations of corruption, this situation can no longer be judged according to our personal preference or seen as just a domestic family quarrel. It is a national level political issue and I respect the Prime Minister for recognising it as so by opening himself up to Parliamentary scrutiny. We pride ourselves as a country that governs by rule of law, so justice must be seen to be served. We, the people, cannot be asked to tolerate a situation where the powerful are allowed to say or do whatever they wish, not be held accountable for it and then freely exercise their option to leave the country behind for greener pastures when they are done with their personal agendas. This is not the Singapore we want to live in. Or the Singapore we have been asked to fight for. The powerful must be bound by the same principles, values and rules that the less powerful are being asked to play by. So, I agree with the WP's approach that "the crux of the family issues surrounding 38 Oxley Road is for the family to resolve privately or in Court" and that Parliament should only be "concerned with the allegations of abuse of power and the harms these have caused to confidence in Singapore and our political institutions.”
“Mdm Speaker, every major speech I have given in this House has centred on our need to fight for our unity. It is one of the richest parts of the inheritance we have received from our founding generation. If we lose our unity as a country, we will lose our name in this world, and we will lose everything. So, it is something I will always defend. So, it does grieve and anger me to see so much of our country's reputation and trust being squandered on a social media war, of all things. If all this turns out to be nothing more than some personal game of brinksmanship being played rather than a genuine desire to improve our political process, then I think there will be many angry and hurt Singaporeans to reckon with. Because for us ordinary Singaporeans, be we supporters of the establishment or supporters of the Opposition, this is not about what is to happen to one house, this is about what we want to happen to the country we all call our home. To us on the ground who care, this saga is not a cynical game of cards. This is all our lives, not just one family's, but all of ours. The allegations of abuse of political corruption, state intimidation and nepotism being made by Mr Lee Hsien Yang are damning. The worst of the allegations, which are not related to the house, are presently light on details, but because of the background and well-respected name of the accusers, the allegations have to be given their due weight. If the allegations are true, the accused must be held to account. If the allegations are false, the accuser must be equally held to account. Otherwise, how are we, the people, to make sense of those who are less powerful who have been sued or bankrupted for equally or less defamatory remarks?”
“Preparing to speak on this Motion actually reminded me that I happen to be friends with a few recovering addicts and ex-offenders. It took me a moment to remember because I had long gotten used to just seeing them as loving husbands and kind fathers, humble pastors and compassionate counsellors, successful entrepreneurs and talented creatives. I have seen the evidence of investment in rehabilitation in ordinary lives. It is arduous and it is costly but it works. There is gold in each of us, even the worst of us, that can be revealed through grace. The cure for addiction is not condemnation. It is connection. Let us do what we can to help our recovering addicts stay connected to their families and their hopes for the future. 7.49 pm”
“Their request is for the Government to consider refining the procurement process for prison programmes to guard against fly-by-night vendors who may pitch on programming contracts because it is another way to make a buck, rather than an opportunity to change a life. These programming providers believe that it is counter-productive to put high-stakes human-centric programmes at the mercy of an open call tender on GeBIZ. As one programming provider stated very passionately to me, rehabilitative work that impacts so many lives should not be judged by the same matrixes of cost-effectiveness and novelty for change that we use to decide between contractors for chairs and tables. I believe, for rehab programmes, it would be far more impactful to invest our taxpayers' money on long-term re-collaborative partnerships with providers that have a heart to commit to long-term rehab goals with the Singapore Prison Service. Madam, I do support the Motion to reaffirm Singapore's strong anti-drug stance. But I also believe we will gain more ground in the fight against drugs when we become equally known for the things we are for, rather than just known for the things we are against. A strong anti-drug stance paired with an equally strong pro-rehabilitation stance is an unusual policy combination in the world. It challenges us to hold both punitive justice and restorative mercy in tension. It is a difficult position but I believe it is also the most useful way forward. I say so not based on theory but because that is how I have seen it play out in the transformed lives of people I know who have done their time in prison and walked down that hard road of rehabilitation. Our former drug abusers can be so much more than their past mistakes.”
“Halfway house leaders must be an ex-convict, not just a highly educated psychologist." I personally believe there is definitely still a place for educated social workers and psychologists at halfway houses. But he is also right in pointing out there is a unique career opportunity here for ex-convicts. It might be worth considering a leadership programme that talent-spots high potential former drug addicts and ex-offenders to pick up social work-based skills that can enable them to support rehabilitative work in the future. What was once the ex-offender's greatest weakness on his resume − his experiences of incarceration and addiction − could then become his unique asset. I also want to flag up the voice of another key stakeholder in the rehab process: external vendors who run programmes in prison. The best of them love the charges that they work with and are deeply passionate about partnering with Singapore Prisons to work on the rehab process. That is why some of them struggle greatly with seeing how the GeBIZ procurement process sometimes ends up awarding programmes to the lowest bidder or a new bidder for the sake of trying out a new vendor. Some share that it hurts to see meaningful projects gaining ground with the inmates get derailed simply because of what they saw as a procurement process. They felt that contracts sometimes ended up going to vendors that did not have a genuine interest in rehabilitation. Those who do rehab work seriously do not want to be treated or accessed as short-term vendors but rather long-term partners in a healing process.”
“They do not have the resources to commission or conduct base-line research into how well various rehabilitation efforts and programmes are working out in Singapore. Follow-up studies tracking how housing needs, Prison School and other in-prison programmes impact employment rates and recidivism rates can give useful feedback to the VWOs. So, the request from the ground is for the Government to commission studies that can provide the social sector more information to design better interventions. Fresh and openly available data will help us better figure out what is working, what is not working and where change is most needed. The last issue has to do with quality of in-prison education programmes. I saved this for last because I wanted to end this on a strong affirmation to Singapore Prisons that there is much good being done on this front. Prisoners actually love the learning and employment opportunities they have been getting. Many look forward to the academic, vocational training and arts-based programmes that have been brought in. So, the issue here is more of a happy one. They say, "Can we have more of the good stuff please?" We should encourage their hunger to learn. Is there a SkillsFuture vision and roadmap for our lifelong learners in our prisons and halfway houses because I believe there are unique strengths and talents that our former drug addicts and ex-offenders do bring to the table? I asked ex-offenders for vocational training programme suggestions and one of the most intriguing suggestions I got was this: "Why can't we train up more ex-offenders to take leadership in halfway houses?" This was his brutally honest take: "Social workers in this field are not effective at all. A drug addict only listens to a drug addict.”
“A lot of change can happen in five to seven years, especially for prisoners with young children. Incarcerated parents, fathers especially, must be given more bonding time, so that both parents and children do not lose faith that they are still wanted and still loved. The last thing we want is for kids to grow up motherless or fatherless, which, in turn, increases the next generation's risk of falling into similar patterns of drug abuse and incarceration. There is much we can gain if we invest in creative, innovative programmes that help to rebuild trust between long-term prisoners and their families. The strong punitive element of the LT1 and LT2 schemes must be counter-balanced with equally strong restorative elements. The third issue they raised was length of detention time spent in halfway houses. The Prisons Halfway House Scheme currently allows offenders without strong family support to spend their last stage of detention at a halfway house and offenders only spend an average of the last six to eight months of their detention there. Some of the halfway houses I spoke to believe that this period may be too short to yield sustainable results. They have requested that, for better rehabilitative outcomes, it might be more useful to consider extending the period of detention that offenders can serve out in halfway houses to one-and-a-half, and even two to three years. The fourth issue is the lack of publicly available statistics on rehab issues. There is a desire among halfway houses and other VWOs involved in rehab work to design better solutions. However, many of them are going only by a mix of gut instincts or learned experience.”
“If the length of incarceration is a non-negotiable due to the first objective of security, then can we consider investing in a lot more targeted rehab solutions for long-term prisoners to help them achieve the second and third objectives of deterrence? We must increase the outreach and frequency of family-bonding programmes that help keep parent-child relations resilient throughout the long period of incarceration. There is the VWO New Life Stories where volunteers help incarcerated mothers record themselves telling bed-time stories so that their pre-schooling kids can listen to it at home and maintain connection. There is also the Reading with Dads programme run by the Centre for Fathering. In the first run in Changi Prison, eight fathers had the rare chance to just sit on the floor with their kids and hug them and read books with them. One of them, a father of five shared that it was the happiest day of his life and it was like a dream. Grown men were crying − and I am not talking just about the inmates − but the prison officers watching. We should also consider investing more in arts-based programmes as well. I do not think enough credit is given to how the arts does do deeply healing work, helping people surface the deep stories and emotions that do lie beneath their behaviours. One arts educator who works with prisons told me of a young offender who told her very sternly, "Madam, don't ever stop this programme. I kena rotan many times I never cry. I get scolded I also never cry. But in your class, I cry because you make me feel something again." In our line of empathy-building work, I can tell you tears are one of the most powerful KPIs we pay attention to because they tell you something in the heart has shifted.”
“For hard-core drug abusers who cannot break the habit after going through repeated DRC treatment, they are subjected to long-term imprisonment laws known as LT1 of between five and seven years, and when they re-offend, LT2 of between seven and 13 years. While the social workers and recovering addicts understood the punitive need for tough laws, they maintained that these long periods of incarceration also produced significant social side-effects that undermined the rehabilitation process. Extended and repeated periods of incarceration are a time of great vulnerability for offenders and their families, and it is during this time that spouses grow apart, divorce happens and children start to exhibit even more dysfunctional and distancing behaviours. On top of that, given the speed of change in Singapore, five to seven years in prison is a very long time for someone to be taken out of market. So, those who get incarcerated younger have a better chance of making something of their lives. But for mid-life offenders who emerge out of prison in their late 40s to 50s, their relevance and marketability of skills would have significantly diminished. To come out of prison to such personal and professional failure again is crushing and some do turn back to drugs and return to prison because they feel they really have nothing left to lose. The stated objectives of the Long-Term Imprisonment laws are to (a) provide greater security and safety to the rest of society; (b) deter individuals from continuing to abuse drugs; and (c) reduce the crimes committed by drug addicts.”
“We need to invest in an innovative public housing solution for our ex-offenders that marries the system of accountability of halfway houses together with the space to live independently within society. There is already a great model in the social sector that we could learn from − the AWWA Senior Community Home in Ang Mo Kio is Singapore's first seniors' home embedded within two levels of an existing HDB rental block. It is the only one of its kind and only one of its scale, housing 140 people. It has been around since 1976 and is one of the most inspiring public housing innovations I have seen here. Two to three seniors live in each 1-room rental flat and interspersed in the units, are purpose-built spaces like recreation rooms, laundry rooms, nursing stations and a community kitchen. It even once explored having a retail space for the seniors to sell their products. This holistic housing solution has allowed people without family support to live within an existing HDB neighbourhood, affirming they still have a place in society, while preserving their desire for independence and providing a supportive community to look out for their needs. I hope HDB can consider partnering with VWOs with an established track record of rehabilitating ex-offenders to pilot a smaller scale community home. Like the AWWA example, the prototype community home could zone out a few floors in an HDB rental block for ex-offenders to have housing, a supportive programming and a system of strong accountability, all rolled into one. The second most brought-up issue was on the effects of long-term imprisonment.”
“This is perhaps the most important factor to pay attention to if we are serious about rehabilitation, because extensive international research does show that early access to stable housing is one of the most critical factors that reduces re-offence. The tough reality for many recovering addicts when they exit prison is that they may not have family or friends willing to give them a home. They often lack financial resources to purchase a flat and while the option of rental flats is open to them, the waiting list is long. As a consequence, many have no home to go to and end up staying way longer than they expected in halfway houses. One former drug addict said, "I have many friends who are stuck in halfway houses. Some of them are in their 40s and 50s and still working as a house remover. How long can they do house removing jobs considering their age? If they have their own house, maybe they can move on and explore various career paths." Feeling like you are in personal and professional limbo for too long can be really demoralising and actually raise the risk of these ex-offenders backsliding back to addiction for comfort. But easier access to rental housing is only one part of the issue because, even for those who do get one, there is another problem. Rules currently require two people to share one rental flat and, as circumstances will have it, a former drug addict will often end up rooming with another former drug addict. Without a community of accountability around them, when one roommate falls back into drugs or crime, it is not uncommon to hear of the other roommate rapidly following suit. So, this simple problem of unstable housing without a supportive community can thus potentially erase years of costly investment into the rehabilitation process.”
“Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will focus specifically on the call to invest in drug rehabilitation. Frankly, I am not that well-versed on the drug issue. So, to prepare to speak on this Motion, I talked to former hard-core drug addicts, as well as people in the social sector who have been helping to rebuild their lives, post-incarceration. The older ex-offenders confirmed for me that it is much harder for a drug addict today to stay clean because there is an oversupply of drugs in the market and it is true that they have many more avenues, online and offline, to purchase their drug of choice and prices have, indeed, fallen. So, consequently, many of them have seen friends fall back to taking drugs and going back into prison. I asked them what they personally thought of Singapore's laws on drugs and one former hard-core drug addict put it this way, "The laws are tough and cruel but it is necessary. It scares the crap out of us. We are afraid to go back. If we get a lighter sentence, no second thoughts, sure go back to drugs." The recovering addicts were not naive about the depths of self-destruction they were willing to go through to feed the beast within. They had come to accept the need for tough rules to help them draw boundaries on their behaviours. I asked them and social workers for insights about what could help former addicts stick to the straight and narrow path of rehabilitation. I will list the top five issues they brought up, as well as their requests and proposed solutions. The first and most consistently brought-up issue was the need for stable accommodation and a supportive community.”
“They just want to know whether we are in our own trenches fighting for them, too, because just knowing that we are together in this fight makes their fight feel a little easier. I believe that many of us from both sides of the House do share the hope to help our women. We and the rest of this nation can be that larger family beyond their own that they need. There are very real barriers of time, bandwidth, privilege and bureaucracy that stand in their way that are very difficult for them to overcome by themselves. Let us give our fighting women a fighting chance at their dreams of the future by meeting them halfway and breaking down those walls for them a brick at a time. I support this Motion. 4.25 pm”
“Young women will have to give up their time and opportunity and freedom but this is the very same price we have asked our young men to pay all these years for military conscription. Universal female conscription may not be a popular idea for now but, in stark contrast, the idea that National Service is noble work and an excellent character-building opportunity for fathers, husbands, boyfriends or sons is. Given that, our men have sacrificed so much over the first 50 years to serve and defend our country. It only seems fair for us women to also keep an open mind and a willing heart for the next 50 years to answer the call to serve and defend the communities we love, should that request ever be made of us. I do not know if female community-based conscription will ever be a reality but I do know that, if it ever does come to pass, I will be very glad to have my own daughter serve the nation that way. If I am not too old by then and this country will still have me, I will be equally glad to serve alongside. I want to close my speech by bringing us back to that first woman's story. It was she who inspired me to speak on this Motion because reading her message, while I felt for her sorrows, I also felt great admiration for her strengths. Women like her wrote the book on hard work and resilience. No matter how hopeless things feel, how tired they are, how many tears they have shed, they know how to get up, wipe the mess and soldier on like the warriors that they are. She is struggling but she is not giving up − not yet. Many women like her are already fighting for their aspirations and their families' futures.”
“A national system of caregiving will not only allow women providing unpaid care at home to return to the workforce with more confidence, it will also be most impactful on the fortunes of the low-income and sandwich-class families who need these resources most. I do not bring this up lightly because I know it is an extremely costly, complex and controversial venture and the staffing cost alone will be huge. I imagine such a system cannot be supported purely by tax dollar-paid professionals alone but by an army of unpaid volunteers as well. At the risk of laying yet another burden of care on us women, there is a controversial solution I have heard before which I believe we will have to debate about in due course. In 2015, Mr Ho Kwon Ping argued in his IPS-Nathan Lecture that we should consider universal female conscription as a solution to the overwhelming flood of future needs we will soon face in community care. He proposed that while Singaporean men serve a two-year military regime, Singaporean women could serve a three- to five-month community conscription during their break between graduation and entering the workforce. He imagined female national service women as a force that could support our civil defence, Home Team community and healthcare institutions. He believed that female national service women could really make a difference in service to their country's oldest, weakest and poorest, providing support in caregiver relief, elder care or even childcare while lessening our dependence on foreign caregivers. The possibilities for societal impact could be stunning and so will the personal cost.”
“I echo Member of Parliament Cheryl Chan's call to relook the chicken-and-egg situation some of these mothers are caught in where they need to be employed before receiving state subsidies for childcare. The barrier faced by some of these women in finding a job or keeping a job is, in fact, the lack of affordable childcare. I hope we can help them in their search for employment and removing the requirement of employment for women with household income lower than $2,500. We could explore granting jobseekers from lower income households a limited number of months of childcare subsidies upon application. After that, they can show periodic proof that they are on a genuine job search by showing evidence of registration with job-matching agencies like e2i or job applications with potential employers. Such transitional support will be a valuable boost to their morale and motivate the search for stable work within the timeframe of the given childcare subsidies. My third request is a long-term and more drastic one. I appreciate Minister of State Lam Pin Min's sharing yesterday of the Ministry's efforts to improve access to caregiving and respite services but still I believe that as long as we leave caregiving as a problem primarily for individual families to resolve, then we will continue to see individual women become the solution by leaving paid employment. Given how fast our dependency ratio is rising and how much we need our women to stay in the workforce, I believe somewhere down the road, we will have to design a caregiving infrastructure that provides universal access to caregiving services for our elderly, children and people with disabilities.”
“There were 86,198 top-ups made in 2015. But if we have an estimated 210,000 caregivers here, then it does imply that there are still many caregivers who do not receive CPF retirement savings for their work. Member of Parliament Er Dr Lee Bee Wah has suggested having a system of automatic transfers with an opt-out option from an income-earning spouse to a non-income earning caregiver spouse's account under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme. If voluntary transfers do not climb significantly, then I think we have to consider this intrusive option. I also wonder if we can encourage income-earning spouses, children, relatives or even friends to contribute to some kind of Caregiver Development Account. It allows the community to practically honour the work of the caregivers that they love as well as encourage the caregivers to take care of their own well-being and development. It could be something like how the Government currently encourages parents to save for their child's future through the Child Development Account. The state can offer a cap of one-for-one matching grant over a fixed time period and the money can similarly only be taken out by the caregiver for a select range of self-care or self-development activities, to ensure that claimants are true caregivers rather than opportunists. Claimants should be required to identify the range of activities of daily living that they do so on behalf of a care recipient. This initiative could also be limited only to claimants or care recipients who do not employ foreign domestic workers. My second request is on behalf of the career aspirations of lower income mothers. It is really difficult to go on job searches or training workshops without first getting access to alternative caregiving help.”
“Presently, we have many older women today, widows or single unmarried women who currently face financial insecurity because they sacrificed their lifetime earnings and savings to care for dependants at the peak of their working years. Dr Kanwaljit Soin observed in a 2012 interview with the Council for Third Age (C3A) that, usually, because women live longer than men, the women will be looking after her husband through his last illness, spending most of their savings on him. After he dies, she is without a spouse, with little material resources left and there are about five times as many widows than widowers in Singapore. Secondly, there is also a great societal cost, particularly for a small country like Singapore. Our female labour force participation rate of 58.6% in 2014 was lower than in most other first world countries at similar income levels, like Denmark at 75% and Switzerland at 79%. In a tight labour market like ours, especially given our low birth rates, we do have to increase our female labour participation rate. But if we want more of our women to stay in the labour force or re-enter it after their time of caregiving, we must provide better systemic support for their work of caregiving. I have three requests. My first request is on behalf of the financial future of full-time home-based caregivers. A 2015/2016 CPF Advisory Panel Recommendations Report expressed worry about the financial vulnerability of our female caregivers who leave the workforce and are completely reliant on their husband's CPF payouts for their retirement. Should these caregivers outlive their husbands, they will have no sustained income. Currently, there is a system of voluntary CPF transfers from income-earners to non-earning caregivers that is incentivised by the Government.”
“And they may take a financial hit for their choice, but they have enough financial reserves and social support to feel at peace about their future. But for other women, it is not that simple. They may share similar values as the first group and embrace the meaning of caregiving as well, but their decision to be a caregiver may be driven more out of a lack of financial capital to engage paid help or a lack of social capital to engage alternative sources of unpaid help. They may also have done their math and compared the income they would derive from working versus the cost they would pay for external help, and then they sacrifice the job they enjoy to be a caregiver because it is just the more affordable option. They do want to care for their loved ones and they do so either on a full-time or part-time basis, but they are also clear that they want to go back to office work someday, either because they have personal goals to fulfil or because they know they just need the income. My focus today is on how we can better support the aspirations in future of this second group of women. Statistically, women tend to shoulder a significantly larger portion of the burden of unpaid invisible caregiving work, much more so than men. According to MOM Report on the Labour Force in Singapore for 2015, 80,848 women between the ages of 25 and 54 left the labour force due to family responsibilities, compared to just 4,439 men. In 2014, it was 70,060 women who left, compared to 3,564 men. The number of women who leave the visible paid labour force to enter the invisible and unpaid labour force of domestic caregiving is a big deal because, firstly, the labour is not free. It comes at great individual cost.”
“Her story is not representative of every Singapore woman's story, but I believe it does have enough threads within to bind it to a wider tapestry of even tougher tales out there. For many women, it is difficult to aspire about a faraway future, where the demands of the present feel so overwhelming. Planning for the future is a luxury only those of us who have the privilege of time and mental bandwidth can afford. And yes, a woman who has cash to spare in her household budget can have the option of purchasing the spare time and mental bandwidth she needs in the present to improve her future prospects. She can hire a domestic worker to clean the house and cook the meals. She can pay for laundry to be pressed and groceries to be delivered. She can hire school buses to do the fetching and tutors to do the revising. She can engage the best live-in nurses for her parents and all-day preschools for her kids. And she can pay for financial planners to strategise the growth of her savings and investments. So, yes, theoretically, a woman can outsource all the jobs in her extensive portfolio of home-based work to an army of many to do, but many women do not. Many women take on either the full or partial portfolio of caregiving work onto themselves. And for some women, it is a deliberate and happy choice. They may have the wealth to pay for external help and they are personally convicted that some types of domestic work, particularly caregiving for their ageing parents or young children, are too sacred to be outsourced to strangers. They derive great personal satisfaction from being a full-time worker at home, rather than a full-time worker in the office.”
“She was just hoping for someone to feel her present struggle and care for her future story. She wrote, "I am a mother to four boys, married to a civil servant, but you have no idea how hard life has been for us. We keep on trying and striving and doing our best to survive, not for ourselves, but for our boys. I wake up every day at 4.30 am in the morning to cook because my children cannot eat the food from school, and I have been packing their lunches for more than 10 years. I rush to cook, clean and get my kids ready for school. We live far away, and my husband sends them to school each morning, but I will rush to my office to work. Then, I will fetch my kids home by bus. I cook lunch and sit down with my kids for revision, I check their homework. I am not well-educated, so I also have to engage tutors for the boys. But I can only do so much. My business does not earn very much, but I do it anyway just for the kids, to pay for tuition fees, to help my husband out. And yes, the story is long and boring and tiring, but that is how I feel, too. Sometimes, I will cry myself to sleep, and feel that I have failed as a mum who cannot provide enough for her children and as an only daughter who cannot provide enough for her own mother. Bills and more bills to pay, problems after problems. It gets very frustrating and I wish someone could listen to what I have to say and understand my plight, but sadly no one is there. And we only have our family, just us." I wanted to bring her voice in this House so that we can get a sense of what at least one real woman on the ground might be thinking as she listens to us discuss in theory how to affirm every woman's contributions and support her aspirations.”
“Mdm Speaker, I have heard of superstar women who managed to somehow do it all. They manage an amazing career, sew their own buttons, make home-cooked meals, tutor their brilliant children and somehow, still manage to look Instagram-worthy. And yes, these amazing unicorns apparently exist and I do not know how they do it. On weekdays, I still struggle to leave office on time to be at home for my child. And on weekends or weeknights, I have unfinished business to clear, like writing this speech, for instance. I cannot do anything without my husband and domestic helper playing tag-team with me. The year that my father fell ill and my kid was just born was also the first year that I took up the Nominated Member of Parliament position, on top of all my other work. And I could only do what I do because I had supportive teams at work. I had state-subsidised infant care near my home, I had my mum and my sister taking turns being caregiver to my dad, and we could afford external part-time caregivers when my mom needed a break. I love doing my work, but I know I would definitely have had to drop out of the workforce if I did not have access to an equal system of paid and unpaid help supporting me at the home level, as well as at the broader societal level. If we want to see more women keep their families together, keep contributing to the economy and keep rising to represent us on corporate boards and political positions, we do have to design an inclusive ecosystem of caregiving that all women can access and afford. A few weeks ago, after Budget season, I received an online message from a woman whom I have never met. She was not asking for any answers and she was not requesting for any favours.”
“Right. So, are we saying then that we actually do define the unwed mother and child as family? Based on that, I would request, could we still reconsider including them sometime down the road as part of family? Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I thank Ms Kuik for the question. On the first question, we will take note of the Member's request. On the second question, as I have said, if we look at how our society has evolved, we have been making progress on this front. Nevertheless, we will help, wherever possible, whoever we can, every Singaporean. I want to assure Members of this. I mentioned earlier that there are policies that cannot cover everything but we will look at issues on a case-by-case basis. I, personally, have seen my residents who may not come under certain policies, but they are being helped. At the end of the day, we want to make a difference to the lives of Singaporeans. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: Many of our residents want to have childcare centres near their home. I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether the Ministry is going to review with HDB on the childcare provision for new BTOs, for future projects. The current provision is clearly not adequate because our residents have to send their children elsewhere. The 90-100 places per BTO is grossly inadequate. Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the question. We will take back the Member's feedback.”
“I have two requests. First, on the youth surveys, there is a very distinct difference between the questions that are currently asked in youth surveys and the kind of questions that the Icelandic researchers did. So, I will request that the Ministry take a look at it. But, anyway, I am thankful that you mentioned all those surveys. Could I request that the National Youth Council compile any youth-oriented surveys and share it on an annual basis with the youth development ecosystem so that we can all be on the same page about what we should be looking out for? My second request is about the single unwed mothers issue. I understand the desire to protect the principle of encouraging childbirth in the context of marriage. I personally stand by this principle and I believe it serves society well. However, the Parliamentary Secretary mentioned just now that responsibility to the family is a critical guiding principle to protect in Singapore. So, in the case of unwed mums, are they not demonstrating responsibility to the family in their choice to keep and raise their child? And if we say, "Yes, they are exercising responsibility to family", then are we not —”
“The Icelandic researchers have a saying "Like vegetables, information has to be fresh." As well as fresh, information has to be local, so that schools, parents and officials can see exactly where the problems exist in which areas. Iceland's turnaround is innovative, evidence-based and remarkably common-sensical. So, I hope very much to see a national level "Youth in Singapore" questionnaire done sometime soon. Because I think it will give us fresh year-on-year data to create an always relevant and powerful programme of alternative stress-relievers for all our kids to experience. Strengthening Vulnerable Families”
“In 1991, Harvey Milkman started going to Iceland regularly to share about his findings and Iceland was so taken by his research that they started to run it on a national level. The first thing that they did was gather fresh and specific data. So, in 1992, every school in Iceland got their 14 to16-year-olds to fill in a questionnaire with questions like, "Have you tried alcohol? If so, when did you last have your drink? Have you tried cigarettes? Do you have a close relationship with your parents?" This questionnaire was repeated in 1995 and 1997. Then, they drilled into the data to identify precisely which schools had the worst problems and which had the least. Their analysis revealed clear differences between the lives of kids who self-harmed and those who did not. Kids who stayed away from risky behaviours were those who participated in organised activities, especially sports, three or four times a week. They were also the ones who felt cared for at school, spent more time with parents during the week and were home during the late evenings. Based on the survey data, a new national plan was gradually introduced. It was called "Youth in Iceland". Laws were changed to make purchase of alcohol and drugs more difficult. Parental organisations were to be established in every school. State funding was increased for organised sports and arts. Kids from low-income families received help to take part. And, in Reykjavik, each child receives $430 a year to pay for recreational activities that fall under the Youth in Iceland programme. Most crucially, the surveys were continued and updated. Each year, almost every child in Iceland completes one. So, in Iceland, up-to-date, reliable data on where youths are currently, is always available.”
“In 1988, their percentage of 15- to 16-year-old hard-drinkers was 42%, and now it is only 5%. Their percentage of young cannabis users was 17%, now it is 7%. Their percentage of young daily smokers was 23%, now it is 3%. The Icelandic model is based on the research of American psychologist Harvey Milkman. His theory was that it was not the different versions of self-harm themselves that people were getting addicted to. He discovered that what people were addicted to were the specific changes in brain chemistry that were induced by these actions. And their harmful behaviours of choice were linked to their preferred coping mechanisms of dealing with stress. Those who preferred to numb their stress away would choose solutions like heroin, sedatives or alcohol. And those who preferred to actively confront their stress would use solutions like stimulant drugs or online gambling. In 1992, with a US$1.2 million government grant, Milkman formed Project Self-Discovery, which offered youths natural-high alternative solutions to drugs and crime. The amazing social innovation here was this. The programme did not tell the teenagers, "You're going to come in for treatment." It simply told them, "We are here to teach you anything you want to learn − music, art, dance, martial arts, hip-hop." And these classes were deliberately curated to provide youths a wide variety of alterations in brain chemistry and give them alternative solutions to cope better with life's stresses. Those who liked to numb their stress could go for experiences that reduced anxiety, like painting or yoga, and those who liked to confront their stress could go for experiences that provided a sudden rush, like karate or hip hop.”
“I state my interest as a director in a social business involved in youth training and development. I read reports last year that the number of drug abusers under 30 years old is growing in Singapore and that the young drug abuser profile is also evolving and more of them are actually academically successful students from middle to high income households. Underage smoking is reportedly on the rise. And, anecdotally, other forms of risky behaviours, like self-mutilation, anorexia and online gambling, have also been gaining traction among young people for some years. Our current solutions feature public educational talks and materials, but many young people can share with you that just telling them not to do something and telling them why it is bad for them does not work and does not get to the root of their problems. From my training experience, I can confirm this: nobody changes just by being told a solution at the intellectual level of the head. People change fundamentally only when they experience the solution as an emotional connection in the heart and a physical connection in their body. This is as true for the young students as much as for the adult professionals that we train. I propose that we explore an alternative approach to solving the risky behavioural problems of our youths by following what Iceland has already done to tremendous success. They are a small country, just like us, and I believe we can see similar success as them if we give their model a shot. Twenty years ago, Iceland faced a severe troubled teen crisis. Their youths were among the heaviest-drinking youths in Europe. Smoking, drug abuse and other forms of risky behaviour were actually quite prevalent. But, today, Iceland boasts some of Europe's cleanest-living teens.”
“So, could we experiment with forming a small support unit within HDB that specialises in communicating and coordinating housing services for all families transitioning to single-parent households? That would be a most exciting piece of social innovation.”
“I am aware from stories on the ground that there have been exceptions made for certain single unwed mothers, but the successes seem to be credited to a mixture of arbitrary reasons, like individual stubborn insistence, Member of Parliament (MP) appeals, HDB discretion or diligent advocacy by a public servant or social worker. So, it is quite unclear to an inexperienced observer what is the best process for an unwed single mother to take if she feels she has a good case. Can the Minister share what would be the most recommended path for an unwed mother under 35 to take through the system to afford a house of her own? My fourth and final point is for HDB to consider prototyping a user experience journey based on the single parent trying to navigate the HDB system. Many single parents share stories about depending on discretionary interventions by HDB personnel or MPs to secure a flat. The default answer of "please talk to your MP" to solve housing issues is actually quite prevalent on the ground even from voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). Some parents have gone beyond asking their MPs to write appeal letters to even having their own children write the letters, believing that only emotional appeals would help move the needle on their housing situation. But it cannot be that access to housing comes down to who has the most sympathetic story or the most passionate advocate. I am very sure that this is not the HDB or whole-of-Government way. The current lack of clarity by this particular user of how to navigate the system surely results in a great deal of wasted time and energy for everyone involved − the time-poor single parents themselves, the time-poor letter writing MPs and the time-poor civil servants juggling all the multiple cases.”
“Third, consider unwed mothers and their child as a family nucleus so that they can apply for HDB housing. The Government has recently made really encouraging strides in showing compassion towards the situation of unwed mothers, giving them equal maternity leave and access to Child Development Accounts (CDA). I have a special respect for single mothers who choose to take the hard road of raising a child on their own when they could have chosen to abort or abandon their child out of fear for their own future. They have chosen an uncommon path and, in light of our low birth rates, I believe such mothers should be supported rather than penalised for choosing to take responsibility for raising their child. Currently, because unwed mothers and their children are not considered a family nucleus, they do not qualify for family housing grants and they may only purchase a flat under the Singles Scheme at 35 years old. I know there is the current argument about how "Singapore is a conservative society that does not accept unmarried single-parent families." I would like to also present the observation that many conservatives also pride themselves on their reverence for the sanctity of life, loyalty to kin and protective care of the next generation, family-centred values that many single unwed mothers have shown, and they share as well, because of their decision to raise their child. It is possible that there is more support from conservatives from this angle than we think.”