Kwek Hian Chuan Henry
Singapore
“Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister of State for this comprehensive response. I would like to check whether MND is open to providing more funding to AVS. Ten years ago, I made a speech on NParks, and I noted then that NParks' annual budget is less than half of that of an acute care hospital.”
“Chairman, I have three short clarifications. Given that condominium prices and wages have risen over time, can MND share a timeframe or timeline when the income ceiling review will be concluded? Is it in a matter of months, or is it when some threshold conditions are met?”
“Chairman, I thank MND for responding to our cuts and I seek leave to withdraw my amendments. [(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)] [(proc text) The sum of $8,640,058,800 for Head T ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.”
“Our Public Service Media companies are our national assets. I hope MDDI can share how it plans to secure our future. I notice I have 18 more seconds, so I want to add in a final point. I noted we are asking MDDI to do a lot of cybersecurity, national Public Service Media on IT services and AI development.”
“As the Bill empowers OSC to identify users and disclose that information to purported victims, what safeguards are there to prevent misuse of that disclosed data for reverse doxxing? In closing, Speaker, Sir, this Bill makes our online space safer, especially for our youths.”
“Mr Speaker, I support this Bill and the suite of changes it makes. Given its breadth, I will focus my remarks on three areas: one, tackling global scams and online crimes while protecting innovation; two, a calibrated approach to accountability for 14-to-17-year-olds; and three, improving proportionality by resolving the inflexibility of…”
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“Mdm Speaker, I stand in support of the Budget. I would like to start off by commenting on the principles of the Budget. The Finance Minister spoke about "spending more and spending right". We are fortunate that we are able to spend more. What is just as important is that we are committed to spending right. Right, because this Budget upholds the fundamentals that have made Singapore special. Right, because it adapts to reality. It is decisive, and it is bold. This Budget embodies the principles that make us special. It continues the work to keep Singapore safe. It strengthens the fabric of our multiracial society. It invests in our people, so that everyone has the best chance to do well. It delivers on our promise to our people that we will be able to take care of those who have less. That we will help those who fall behind get back up on their feet. That we will give our children a better future. That we will help our seniors age with dignity, assured of proper healthcare. Let me spend the rest of my speech on how the Budget adapts to changing realities. I would first talk about how our Industry Transformation Program helps our economy today, and builds our economy of the future. Next, I will talk about how our Budget helps Singaporeans through restructuring, and the slowing economy. Last, I will share about how our community programmes build shared experiences among Singaporeans. Mdm Speaker, this bold Budget helps us adapt to that changing world, especially for companies. Most SMEs I spoke to are very supportive of the Industry Transformation Programme. Most SMEs acknowledge that increasing productivity and restructuring are critical and urgent. But to make further progress, they face three challenges.”
“Out of nothing, we created a multiracial society, a contrarian growth strategy, an inclusive housing programme, a thriving metropolis well-defended by all. So, the story is not just about the Government. It is also about our people, including the community and business leaders, how they rose to the challenge. Therefore, I am calling for an increased emphasis of our history and social studies on the first two decades, with the focus on Singapore's exceptionalism. It is critical that our children learn that they should continue to take risks, not take anything for granted, recognise the harsh realities of our surroundings. In short, we must make sure that our children learn about the spirit of 1965. In conclusion, fellow Members of Parliament and fellow Singaporeans, our success in the first 50 years has been described as a vision of audacity, an audacity that was built on far-sighted and bold Government policies; on the determination and spirit of Singaporeans; and Singapore's survival and success in the future again depends on this spirit. Will our nation continue to defy the odds? I believe we will. Recently, I came across a quote by Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic. He has this line, "Train our people well enough so that they can leave, but treat them well enough so that they do not want to". Let me paraphrase him to encapsulate some of the points that I mentioned today: "We should prepare our people, so that they can go beyond Singapore, today or tomorrow, but build a home, and a sense of purpose, so that they will stay".”
“By that, I mean letting them learn the basic principles of computer programming, artificial intelligence and big data. We must prepare Singaporeans as if their future depends on it, because it does. What I am saying is not for every kid, on top of their hefty curriculum, to be a top-notch programmer, an AI specialist and a big-data analyst. What kind of childhood is that going to be, if it is all work and no fun? What I am saying is that we must teach them the broad principles through a general programme, so that when they graduate into tertiary education and beyond, they are able to specialise in some of these areas. Singapore is in an excellent position to refresh our education system because we are excellent and nimble and we can plan 10 to 15 years ahead and adjust our curriculum quite quickly. We already have a tech-savvy population. Just look at the number of kids with iPads when you go out. But we must go beyond being just consumers of technology to being co-creators of technology. My first two points are about how the Government can help Singapore preserve our livelihoods. But no Government intervention is sufficient if our people are not hungry enough. So, the question is: how can we preserve our children's will to fight and win? Education – be it history or social studies – is a key way we can pass down values from one generation to another. To me, the real story of Singapore is in the first 20 years of our Independence. This is the Singapore exceptionalism Deputy Prime Minister Tharman spoke so eloquently about at the St Gallen Symposium. It is about how we turned our perpetual disadvantages into a determination to Page: 20 succeed and innovate.”
“In fact, I think that we can go the extra mile by setting up an advisory centre for startups to assist them in regulatory and public sector matters. The second part of my speech is about education. The future of science fiction is almost upon us. Fast forward 10 years, and we will live in a world of self-driving cars, computers detecting diseases, and robots doing routine tasks. History has shown that technology creates winners, especially in the long run. But in the short run, it can create many losers. In the last industrial revolution, it took 100 years before the steam engine was able to uplift somebody's life in Europe. In today's digital revolution, the effect is even more pronounced, because the winner can usually replicate their ideas digitally at virtually no cost and take most of the profit home. Let me give an anecdote. Two centuries ago, the world's 10th best bricklayer was assured of a future. But today, an app developer working for the world's 10th best, let us say, music streaming app company has a questionable future. So, the question is: are we preparing Singapore to thrive in such a future? And this goes beyond SkillsFuture. We must prepare our children starting in their earliest years. Therefore, I urge the Ministry of Education (MOE) and SkillsFuture to critically examine our basic and continuing education system in two ways. Firstly, we should prepare our children to do what machines cannot do. It means we should teach them how to innovate, how to communicate complex ideas, how to recognise macro patterns, how to connect ideas across different fields, sense the ground and tap on intuition. Secondly, we should also teach our children to be the masters of machines.”
“For these experiments, what our agencies can do is to look beyond the established firms, perhaps through a double-envelope tender system where, first, you can evaluate the innovativeness of the idea and then evaluate the companies' ability to see the project through and not just on financial terms. If Singapore startups can do it, our Government should provide more support. Five, we should remove unnecessary regulations. Many of our economic agencies are pro-business, but many regulations fall outside their purview. Let me share a light-hearted example from the traditional economy. Try putting a food truck on the side of any road in Singapore. Do you know that you would have to apply for a separate permit for every location you put it at? But is this really necessary? After all, if the National Environment Agency has certified the food truck for safety, is it still necessary to have a location-based licence for every location? After all, do we not have solid rules on traffic obstruction? So, that is just an example. Regulations should protect the essential. But in most areas of the new economy, Singapore can strike a better balance between stability and opportunity, because it is hard to go against what the consumer wants. Once Internet banking is invented, it is hard to uninvent it. It is hard to protect our local banks by limiting the number of foreign banks' branches or automated teller machines (ATMs) because when you go to the Internet and use your smartphones, you will get past it. So, therefore, our regulations should go with the type of consumer preference, which usually Page: 19 embraces the new economy and not against it.”
“We already have a good base of venture capitalists today, but, because of the recent uptick in number of startups and a lack of high-profile market exits, there is a pressing gap in seed, Series A, mezzanine funding. We also do not have a real venture-focused bank like a famous Silicon Valley bank that looks at start-ups' viability beyond their balance sheet. Three, crowd-sourcing platforms like Kickstarter are fast becoming the preferred way to test and scale innovations globally. So, we should entrench these players in Singapore and, as our start-ups secure commitments from such crowd-sourcing platforms, we can help them scale up their ideas in weeks, instead of months, by giving them access to capital by also connecting them with local manufacturers, contract manufacturers and partners. Four, we should provide opportunity for start-ups to demonstrate their ideas. The finance industry is on the verge of being disrupted by financial technology companies. Barclay's President recently said that in the next 10 years, 20% to 50% of finance jobs will be replaced by technology; 20% to 50% in just 10 years. I am confident that Singapore can invent the future and set the gold standard on how financial hubs should operate in the digital world. The important thing is this: while we invent the future, let us make sure that we bring our startups along to ride this wave. For example, we can create regulatory sandboxes to test out new ideas on a small scale. After all, the United Kingdom is doing the same already for the finance industry.”
“Let us ask ourselves: how many significant companies with disruptive models and disruptive technology has Singapore created in the last decade? Honestly, very few. If we do not have a frank conversation about this today, and do not adjust, we will be in for a tough ride in the future. How can we grow this new economy? The Government's role is primarily to create a conducive environment for the new economy. But in specific areas, such as finance, smart-nation, urban planning, where Singapore is boldly inventing the future, we should give ample opportunities for Singapore-based businesses and start ups to grow together with Singapore, and they can be global giants one day. We usually equate the new economy with cutting-edge technology. But it is not always true. Case in point – Facebook, Instagram and Uber – these are combinations of existing technology, but not necessarily leading-edge ones. So, what matters is the combination and the recombination of ideas and technology and the ability to test and scale the innovations quickly in the global markets in weeks rather than months. Page: 18 Our role as a Government is to build this environment for the new economy. I have a few suggestions. One, our research efforts must be aggressively translated, first, into innovations and then into enterprises. Our research labs should get the ideas out quickly in an affordable and simple manner, preferably to Singapore-based companies. Let us not forget that the circulation of the ideas is just as important as the ideas themselves. Two, we have to build a world-class funding environment.”
“So, on top of the supply challenge, we also have a demand challenge. The other emerging economies are also getting more competitive. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has to fight "tooth and nail" against Middle Eastern airlines, which are well-funded. Our shipyards have to contest against capable Korean counterparts. Even our role in the region is also less certain moving forward. In the Western-dominated economic order, we have a distinct role in Singapore – as a finance and business hub in Asia. But think about it: when China builds its One- Belt- One- Road initiative, a new world economic order, it is unclear how central our role will be in Asia. And then, there is the disruptive effect of technology. Multinational corporations (MNCs) that Singapore traditionally relied on are being disrupted by start ups, and start ups have much less to do with Singapore. A case in point – Hewlett-Packard (HP) employs around 10,000 people in Singapore, while Google just have a few mere hundreds. A recent World Economic Foreign Report said that the 15 major economies in the world in the next five years will lose around seven million jobs to technology; seven million jobs. So, what is the underlying theme to all these? The underlying theme is actually that our mainstream export-based economy that has fuelled Singapore's success for the last few decades is now under siege from excessive competition and from disruptive technology and business models. And let us not forget that Singapore is mainly designed to support this mainstream economy. Our mainstream economy is important, and will continue to be so, and I will share some of my thoughts about it in the Budget speech. But for today, I would like to talk about how we can urgently grow the economy.”
“Mdm Speaker, I stand in support of the Motion. President Tan said that it is important for us to upgrade our economy to sustain growth. I cannot agree more. Inclusive growth is important. Of late, it is fashionable to focus more on the inclusive part of it, rather than the growth. In fact, just now in the House, there was talk about social justice. But really, if we think about it, growth is a critical element and ingredient for inclusiveness. Without growth, our society's wealth will be more commonly inherited and less commonly created. Without opportunity, our society will be one of permanent class and stifling glass ceiling. And without success, we will not be able to pay for an inclusive society, for generations to come. So, in this fast-changing world, how can we make sure that Singapore remains relevant? I would like to talk about three points today. One, how we can grow our future economy by creating more businesses, especially those with disruptive innovation and models. Two, how we can refresh our education system for the new economy. Three, how we must retain our fighting spirit. Before we talk about the "what" to do, it is important to understand where the global economy is at today. For the last few decades, we have had unsustainable borrowings that have fuelled Page: 17 excessive consumption. But after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), this unsustainable borrowing has stopped. We still have a lot of surplus production capacity. So, basically, we have a supply challenge. To keep the world afloat, the central banks have flooded the world with money and, businesses and individuals fearing deflation and disinflation, are afraid to spend or expand. Even China today is cutting back and is entering a low-demand period.”