Lee Boon Yang
Singapore
“6 The other guidelines are that there must be a post office sited within 5 km of every private residential estate and within 1 km of any commercial or industrial estate. MAID LEVY CONCESSION (Applications by the disabled) 32.”
“Madam, can I quickly respond to the point on assistive technology? Certainly this is an area of interest. We cannot say that we have the capability at this juncture but we will certainly look into what is possible and work with our ICT sector.”
“Nevertheless, if the spouse of the homemaker is working, he will be eligible for WIS if he satisfies the criteria. Husbands of homemakers are further eligible for tax relief.”
“Sir, I do not think it is quite correct to say that we always expect our own artists to perform for free or do public service. There are, of course, occasions where we do seek Singapore artists and arts companies to contribute to the national causes. For instance, when we went international for Singapore Season in China.”
“Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for National Development (a) what checks does the Ministry or the National Environment Agency have in place to prevent mistaken payments to hawkers who cease operations due to upgrading works at hawker centers; (b) how did the mistaken payment of $18,000 to Mdm Lee Ah Muey come about; and (c) what will the…”
“While it was also true that initially the reaction or the response of the licensing authority was that foreigners should not participate in such an event at the Speakers' Corner - because there is already an existing prohibition against any foreigners taking part in any activities at the Speakers' Corner - subsequent assessment resulted i…”
The complete record
Every one of 2,412 lines we hold for Lee Boon Yang, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 49.
“Social service agencies, Polyclinics and General Practitioners can make referrals to the IMH as and when necessary. The Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) organises suicide prevention programmes annually. This September, the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) will be jointly organising with SOS, a talk in Tamil on suicide prevention. SINDA also plans to disseminate information on how to get help for someone who has suicidal tendencies through the media such as the Tamil radio station. My ministry applauds such pro-active measures to reach out to the community on sensitive issues. More importantly, friends and relatives who notice that their loved ones could be at risk of suicide or manifesting suicidal tendencies should seek help to prevent such mishaps from happening. The public may contact these agencies for help if they know anyone who may be at risk for committing suicide: Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-2214444 (24-hour crisis hotline) Family Services Centre: 1800-8380100 Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-2837019 Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) 1800-7745935 LIGHT-RAIL TRAIN TO SENTOSA 23. Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) if building a light-rail train from HarbourFront MRT to Sentosa is the solution to making Sentosa exciting; (b) if he expects the $140 million invested in the monorail to be recoverable, and within what timeframe; and (c) will this project be a waste of public money. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: The Sentosa Express is a light rail line linking HarbourFront MRT Station to Sentosa. Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) is embarking on this project as part of its Masterplan to remake Sentosa as a world-class resort destination.”
“In addition, the CNA website provides up to date information on newsworthy items. Hearing impaired viewers can also refer to short news write-ups on Teletext. On MediaWorks channels, captions are provided at the end of the news bulletins on Channels i and U to summarise the main news items that were presented. MDA will continue to explore ways in which information can be made more easily available to hearing impaired viewers. SUICIDES AMONG INDIAN WOMEN 22. Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Minister for Community Development and Sports (a) how many Indian women have committed suicide each year from 2000 to 2002; (b) whether the figure is a disproportionate representation; and (c) what are some of the measures his ministry is exploring to help the community. Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: The number of Indian women who committed suicide was eight in 2000, 11 in 2001 and 16 in 2002. In the last three years, out of the total number of women who committed suicide in Singapore, the average proportion of Indian women who committed suicide was about 8.4%. The reasons for suicide are multi-faceted and often inter-related. The most common reasons are poor health, depression, relationship problems, financial problems and mental illness. Whatever the reasons, we must do our best to prevent suicides and see to it that there are enough channels for women to turn to if they need to talk to someone about their problems. For example, counselling services are readily available at the Family Services Centres which are located in the heartlands. The Samaritans of Singapore has a 24-hour crisis hotline for those who need help or just a listening ear. Treatment programmes are available at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to help those with psychiatric disorders or depression.”
“The Media Development Authority or MDA has explored with broadcasters, the possibility of providing subtitles for major Government speeches for the benefit of the hearing-impaired. MDA has informed that to provide accurate subtitling of all important speeches by Government leaders, the broadcaster would need advance copies of the prepared text. However, prepared texts of important Government speeches that are aired 'live', such as the National Day Rally speech, are normally not ready until hours before actual delivery. In some cases the prepared text may not be available to broadcasters before the delivery of the speeches. Also, for `live' broadcasts such as the National Day Rally speech, it is difficult for accurate subtitling as actual delivery may include off-the-cuff remarks which differ somewhat from the prepared text itself. MDA has also assessed that while it is not practicable for broadcasters to subtitle all important speeches, they should be able to provide selective subtitling. For a start, MediaCorp has agreed to provide subtitling for the English version of this year's National Day Message to cater to the needs of the hearing impaired. I would also like to point out that there are other practical means for the hearing-impaired population to get news information. Channel NewsAsia (CNA) provides captions during its news bulletins, summarising key points from the news story that is being featured at that point in time. Summaries of the latest news are also available on CNA in the form of crawlers that run throughout the day. The information on these crawlers is updated regularly and includes breaking news. For the "live" coverage of the National Day Rally and Budget speeches, CNA also summarises the speeches through short captions.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, during the SARS outbreak, dialects were used on TV and radio to reach out to those older Chinese Singaporeans who are more conversant in dialects than Mandarin. It was a practical approach as, like many of us, the elderly also need to be equipped with the knowledge on precautionary measures in order to protect themselves from SARS. I am glad that the dialect broadcast had achieved its purpose. Feedback from the public had been generally positive, and a vast majority of the dialect-speaking Chinese who were surveyed said that they had listened to the SARS messages in dialect on TV and radio. Sir, we recognise that there are pockets of older Singaporeans who remain conversant only in dialects. When the need arises in future emergencies, the Government will use dialects to communicate with them. However, our stand is that we will continue to actively promote the use of Mandarin, and to use dialect only as an exception. TOWN COUNCILS AND HOSPITALS (Reduction of water consumption charges) 12. Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Minister for the Environment whether he will reduce the water consumption charges by 30% to 50% for town councils and hospitals where extra washings of their premises are still being required as a prevention against the recurrence and spread of SARS.”
“That is why some companies still resort to bringing in new work permit holders from SARS affected areas. They know the danger. They know the risk, and they know that they have to go through this additional step of putting the workers through a 10-day quarantine which costs the company. They have to pay for the costs of the quarantine. They have to pay for the medical staff that supervise the workers under quarantine. But they are willing to do it, and they tell my officers that the reason is that, despite this present situation, Singaporeans are still not prepared to take these jobs. So I want to take this opportunity to urge all our people - if you need a job, there are jobs available, the Ministry will be there to help you, we will find opportunity for you, but you must be prepared to make the adjustment, you must be prepared to undergo training, if necessary, so that you can take on these jobs. I think that is the most viable solution. Just giving out more financial support can only last so long. It is not a permanent solution. Yes, in the case of those who are victims of SARS, we have this special Home Quarantine Order allowance to assist them to tide over the period of home quarantine when they lose their income. But over the longer term, the only way to support yourself and your family is to get a job, and that is where we are here to help you. To retrain you for the job, if you do not have the skills. To help you to find a job, if you do not know how to go about doing so.”
“Those who have higher skills pay the lower levy of $30. So the levy in itself is not a major cost factor for those at the lower levy. Those who are at the higher levy of $240, most of them are actually in the hotel sector. Therefore, we decided that this is where we can make a difference. This is where by reducing the levy by half, we can make a contribution to help the employers to weather this crisis. The other point that I want to address was made by Mdm Halimah and Mr Yeo Guat Kwang. Both of them were concerned about those people who either lost their jobs or suffered wage cuts as a result of the outbreak of SARS which affects the economy. In the case of Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, he asked what we can do to help to enhance the employability of those workers who were retrenched as a result of the business downturn. We would like to help these workers to be re-deployed wherever there are jobs. We would be prepared to retrain them for new jobs, and there are many schemes under the Ministry of Manpower's skills upgrading and retraining programme. So, I would offer this retraining programme to them. In fact, this weekend, there is a job fair organised by the North West CDC, and they have brought together many employers offering nearly 1,000 jobs, packaged together with appropriate training programme, so that anybody who is unemployed can have a chance to be retrained for the jobs that are available. Even during this period when we have high unemployment and redundancy, my officers, when they talked to the companies which are in the process of bringing workers from the SARS affected areas, were told that, notwithstanding the present situation, they have great difficulty recruiting workers.”
“Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me to respond to a couple of points. There are three points here which I thought I should respond to. First, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua traced the plight of the self-employed who, because of this outbreak of SARS, would suffer, not that they have become victims of the disease but that their income would be affected, particularly those who would need a licence to carry on with their livelihood. And if their income goes down, they would have cash flow difficulty, and cannot make their contribution to Medisave, thereby they cannot renew their licence. Let me assure hon. Members that we would consider such cases very sympathetically. Their contribution to Medisave is actually based on their income. So if their income indeed goes down, their contribution will obviously go down. But even then, if they have special difficulty trying to meet this lower contribution rate, we would be very happy to make arrangement to ensure that their licence will be renewed and they can continue to earn a living and support their families. Dr John Chen asked why was the foreign worker levy rebate that was announced as part of the package of measures to help businesses affected by the outbreak of SARS limited to foreign workers in the gazetted hotels, and not extended to all foreign workers. In that instance, the package was tailored, as DPM had explained when he announced the package, to the sector that was most directly hit, and this was the tourism sector, ie, hotels, travel industry, restaurants and such like. When we looked at that group, we found that the group of foreign workers who were paying higher levy, most of them were actually in the hotel sector. As hon. Members know, there are two tiers of levy for work permit holders.”
“Mr Arthur Fong asked the Minister for Health, in view of the recent outbreak of SARS at the Orange Valley nursing home, the contagious nature of the disease and the fact that many of such homes are located in housing estates, what assurances can the Ministry and nursing home operators give to residents and the community should another outbreak or similarly contagious disease occur. 26. Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan asked the Minister for Health (a) if the Ministry has plans to continue enforcing the measures that have been taken at the airport to screen passengers from countries hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) such as China and Vietnam given that the outbreak in these countries may take some time to contain; (b) if some other measures will also be implemented at other border control areas like the Causeway to help contain the spread of the sickness; and (c) what measures have and will be taken to ensure the well-being of Singaporeans working in SARS-infected areas like China and Vietnam.”
“Mr Gan Kim Yong asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the precautionary measures taken at the various hospitals and polyclinics other than Tan Tock Seng Hospital to prevent their patients and health workers from being infected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome; and (b) whether such measures have been effective. 22. Mr Gan Kim Yong asked the Minister for Health (a) what recognition has been or will be given to health workers who have demonstrated professionalism in the management of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, especially those who have been infected in the course of their duty; (b) whether there are sufficient resources to ensure that these health workers are not over-stretched; and (c) whether the welfare of infected health workers and their family members are adequately looked after. 23. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng asked the Minister for Health (a) what support has been given to healthcare workers involved in the management of SARS; and (b) how will the Ministry recognise these healthcare workers for their dedication and selflessness in looking after SARS patients. 24. Dr Chong Weng Chiew asked the Minister for Health (a) what kind of support is available to the immediate families of the medical staff involved in the fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); and (b) whether the Ministry will consider providing assistance, for instance, insurance coverage, for the families of the medical staff in the event that they contract SARS in the line of duty. 25.”
“Dr Warren Lee asked the Minister for Health if he will give an update on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) situation, in particular, (a) what is currently known about the organism, its mode of transmission, period of infectivity, and fatality rate; (b) whether certain age groups are particularly susceptible; (c) what further measures the public and grassroots leaders can promote to reduce the spread of this disease; (d) what measures is the Government considering to restore public confidence in our healthcare system and environmental safety. 19. Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Minister for Health if Singapore General Hospital should be closed to non-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) patients, (a) what plans are in place to ensure that the remaining Government, Government restructured and community hospitals will be able to cope with the increase in patient load; (b) what specific plans ought to be in place to reduce the risk of exposure to SARS in the remaining hospitals; (c) are there any arrangements made to tap on private hospitals in the event of patient overload in the public hospitals; and (d) how will the Ministry ensure that private hospitals will not increase their medical and hospitalisation fees in the event that the public hospitals are not able to cope with the increase in patient load. 20. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng asked the Minister for Health (a) what further measures are being taken to educate the public to prevent the spread of SARS; and (b) whether these measures have been effective. 21.”
“To further minimise job losses in these sectors, the Government had also announced on 17th April a package of relief measures to reduce business costs. Sir, while there could be some problems and difficulties affecting employer-employee relationship, I am confident that employers, trade unions and workers will rally together and work out amicable solutions in the spirit of labour-management cooperation. On the question on how many Singaporeans have been sent on working trips to SARS-affected areas, we do not have the statistics as there is no requirement for companies to provide us with this information. However, the Ministry of Health and my Ministry had, through our advisories, strongly advised employers to defer sending their employees to these areas unless the working trips are absolutely necessary. Sir, with our strong tripartite cooperation and support among the social partners, I am confident that we will be able to overcome the disruptions caused by the SARS outbreak. HEALTH MEASURES AGAINST SARS OUTBREAK (Statement by the Minister for Health) 16. Dr Lily Neo asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the situation of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Singapore; (b) whether we are doing enough to contain the spread of the disease; and (c) what other precautionary measures can be implemented. 17. Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Minister for Health if he will give (i) an update on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak and (ii) an assessment of whether it has been contained. 18.”
“On other issues such as staff deployment, segregation, insurance and compensation, the Singapore Business Federation, in consultation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Health, my Ministry, the Singapore National Employers Federation and NTUC had also, on 16th April 2003, released a set of advisories and Frequently Asked Questions for employers on how such issues at the workplace could be appropriately dealt with. In these advisories, employers are advised to explain to their employees the need to cover the duties of those who have been affected by SARS so that business operations will not be disrupted. On the other hand, employers should also provide training and take precautionary measures to safeguard the safety and health of workers concerned. Sir, as mentioned earlier, the outbreak of SARS has badly affected the hotels, airlines, travel agencies, restaurants and retail businesses. Hence, we expect employment in these sectors to be adversely affected as well. To deal with this situation, my Ministry, together with the Singapore Business Federation, the Singapore National Employers Federation and NTUC, had jointly announced measures on 15th April 2003 to help companies in these sectors to reduce cost and to preserve jobs. These measures include getting employees to take leave, implementing shorter work week, temporary lay-offs and/or sending workers for skills training and upgrading under the training programmes provided by my Ministry and several other such agencies. Where such measures are not sufficient to sustain business survival or preserve jobs, companies may also consider temporary wage cut in consultation with their unions and workers.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the outbreak of SARS has affected our economy severely and, in particular, businesses in the tourism, hospitality and associated sectors. This will have an adverse impact on our employment situation. In response to this unprecedented situation, many companies have had to make quick adjustments to their employment terms and practices, such as getting their employees to take annual leave, implementing shorter work weeks, and re-deploying staff to optimise the use of manpower resources. While these changes will impose a strain on employment relationship, I am confident and also pleased to inform the House that there have been no major labour-management relations problems at the workplace since the onset of the SARS outbreak. Notwithstanding this, there have been enquiries and assistance sought as to how to manage the leave of absence of employees arising from SARS and how this leave of absence should be dealt with. In this regard, the Ministry, in consultation with the Singapore Business Federation, the Singapore National Employers Federation and the NTUC had, on 2nd April 2003, issued a set of tripartite guidelines on leave of absence relating to SARS for implementation by employers. The guidelines cover salary payment for leave of absence in various situations. Feedback received from employers and employees on the implementation of the guidelines is that the guidelines have been useful in helping them to deal with the employment issues relating to the SARS outbreak.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, SARS-affected areas are all those that are listed by the WHO. In the context of a big country like China, any work permit holder or Employment Pass holder coming from China, regardless of which point of departure, will be treated the same way. IMPACT OF SARS ON EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE PRACTICES The following Question stood in the name of Mdm Ho Geok Choo - 15. To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on employment relations in the workplace vis-a-vis terms and conditions of service such as insurance, deployment, compensation, and work segregation; (b) whether the fear of SARS as well as the drop in business have contributed to or aggravated the unemployment situation in the retail, hotel, hospital and service sectors; (c) what plans are in place to deal with any tension and hostility related to SARS at the workplace, arising from employee-employer relationships and peer to peer relationships; and (d) how many Singaporeans are making working trips to SARS infected countries and what are the Ministry's guidelines to employers and employees in this special situation.”
“I believe my Ministry has got the translations ready, and most of them would be in the process of being issued. The whole list of guidelines is in this folder, and all that is required to be translated would be made and released as soon as possible.”
“We will prepare the advisories in all the languages of the foreign workers who are in Singapore. Of course, for Employment Pass holders, language is not a problem. They are all better educated. English is their lingua franca. For the foreign domestic workers, they would be in Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog and Thai. For the construction workers, they would be in Thai and Tamil. For those from Bangladesh, we will have them in Bangladeshi. Whatever it is, we will have them in the language that they are familiar with. As to her second question on accommodation capacity that we have today for the work permit holders, we have sufficient capacity for about 200 work permit holders in a centralised quarantine at any one time. But because of the complication that once a batch comes in and somebody has to be sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for observation and, when he is discharged, he cannot go back to the same group, he has to be kept separate for a further period of observation. So, if we have a number of such cases - as I explained earlier on, we have eight out of the second batch of 53 - then we complicate the process and we increase the demand for accommodation. That is why we are now in the process of looking for more and better-suited accommodation, and we are requesting employers to please, in the meantime, slow down the intake, to give us time to look for these facilities.”
“We ask them to please defer bringing in new workers for a period of time. Let us look for more and better accommodation that can meet the needs of this quarantine before we can allow them to bring in the work permit holders from these SARS-affected areas. The purpose is not to prevent them from recruiting the work permit holders if they really need them, but it is just to allow us more time to set up a better system to handle the new arrivals.”
“Two of those who were expected to complete their quarantine period yesterday had, during that period, left Singapore. We are following up with them and will take up their cases upon their return. 33 new Employment Pass holders had also completed their home quarantine and were certified fit. The doctors gave them a medical certificate to say that they had no fever, they were certified fit to commence work. They were issued with new Employment Passes accordingly. Two of the applicants were not issued with Employment Passes and were asked to submit the required medical certificates before the Employment Passes could be issued. Their employers were also warned to comply with the quarantine requirements. Arising from this experience of running a quarantine for newly-arrived work permit or Employment Pass holders, we have to revise some of our procedures, particularly those concerning the work permit holders, as a result of which we have had to ask employers to slow down their intake of new work permit holders for the time being, especially those coming from the SARS-affected areas. We need to look for more facilities, more accommodation to put them up. In case they have to be sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for observation, upon their discharge from the hospitals, we would have to find better isolation facilities to accommodate them so that they are not mixed together with any of the other work permit holders who are under quarantine. Because, if they are mixed together, then it will complicate the quarantine for the rest of the work permit holders. They will end up having to stay for a longer period, as we have experienced in one instance in Tampines. Hence, we are seeking the cooperation of employers.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we have introduced this quarantine requirement on new arrivals on work passes, and also existing work pass holders who have been back to SARS-affected areas since 11th April 2003. Since then, we have had several batches of work permit holders and groups of employment pass holders coming into Singapore. At one of our dormitories used for quarantining the work permit holders in Tampines, we had two groups coming in since 10th April actually. A total of 93 work permit holders were quarantined at the Tampines dormitory, out of which 79 had successfully completed their quarantine. They had shown no signs of fever during the 10 days, and they were released back to their employers to start work. Eight of the second batch of 53 developed fever during their stay and had to be sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for further observation. Fortunately, to-date, none has been diagnosed as suspected SARS cases. Most of them have been released but, arising from having eight workers to be sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, we have had to make further arrangements to re-isolate those who were discharged from Tan Tock Seng Hospital. As of now, there is still one work permit holder who is at Tan Tock Seng Hospital under observation. At the Woodlands dormitory, we had 89 work permit holders under quarantine, mostly existing work permit holders who had been on home leave from their employers and who were coming back to Singapore. Fortunately, all of them are well; none of them has shown any sign of fever during this period. A total of 126 current Employment Pass holders had returned to Singapore from SARS-affected areas since the quarantine requirement was implemented. So far, 15 had completed their period of quarantine yesterday.”
“Where it is absolutely necessary to do so, employers must place the work pass holders under mandatory quarantine for a minimum of 10 days immediately upon arrival in Singapore. Work permit holders will be placed under quarantine at designated dormitories while employment pass holders will be placed under home quarantine. To assist employers during this difficult time, my Ministry will exercise flexibility in renewing or extending work permits of existing workers in Singapore coming from the SARS-affected areas beyond the usual maximum period of stay. The other prevailing work permit conditions will continue to apply to such renewal or extension. This would reduce the need for employers to bring in new foreign workers from the SARS-affected areas.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry has adopted a 2-pronged strategy to deal with the outbreak of SARS amongst the foreign worker population. The first approach is to minimise the risk of infection by raising awareness within the existing foreign worker population in Singapore. My Ministry has been working with the Ministry of Health to prepare customised advisories to employers of foreign workers and to the foreign workers themselves, including the foreign domestic workers. Advisories to the foreign workers will be made available in their own languages. In addition, officers from my Ministry have been briefing employers of foreign workers on the threat posed by SARS and some practical early detection in collaboration with the various employer and industry associations. Sir, the fight against SARS requires the total involvement of employers and employees. Both employers and employees, whether they are Singaporeans or foreigners, must take proactive steps to minimise the chances of an outbreak of SARS at the workplace. The Ministerial Committee on SARS has also studied and prepared contingency plans to deal with an outbreak of SARS among large numbers of foreign workers. So far, this has not happened. The plan would include setting up quarantine facilities to isolate affected workers in designated areas. Sir, the second approach is aimed at minimising the import of new SARS cases via the intake of foreign workers from SARS-affected areas. In this regard, companies have been strongly urged to defer bringing in new work pass holders from SARS-affected areas, and to refrain from sending existing work pass holders or their other employees to SARS-affected areas for the time being.”
“Sir, I do not have the numbers with me as to how much exactly we provide to NTUC each year by way of funding, but the number is not large compared to NTUC's annual budget. But it is an important, and not insignificant, gesture of the Government's support to our workers' movement. Our labour movement plays a very important part. Sir, with your permission, let me give Mr Chia an example. In our negotiations for Free Trade Agreements with many countries, the issue of labour standards comes up all the time. In order to secure agreement, we have to show to our counter party that we have excellent labour standards. And what better way to show them than to have our NTUC, the leaders of our labour movement, stand up and speak to explain to our counter party that, yes, in fact, in Singapore, high labour standards are maintained, and this Government is serious about upholding the rights and interests of workers. For that little investment of financial assistance to NTUC, we have developed a group that is very capable, very articulate and able to explain the situation to important parties whom we are negotiating Free Trade Agreements with. What is wrong with it? I think it is the essence of the symbiotic relationship. We help each other and they support our efforts to bring in even more investments, so that our workers will have more employment opportunities.”
“In addition, whenever the Government is able to provide for CPF top-ups or New Singapore Shares and the Economic Restructuring Shares, for instance, we have always required co-payment and the opening of a CPF account. So, homemakers who do not have a CPF account, we would expect that their spouses would immediately open up an account and put in the co-payment, so that the Government can credit the contribution to this account. Over the years, we hope that they will continue to voluntarily make such contributions and, in the good years when the Government has surpluses, we will top up, and this will help them to build up a small nest-egg. Whether we should legislate to ensure that, upon the demise of the CPF member, a certain amount should go to the spouse, this was an issue that was studied some years ago, and debated in this House. The conclusion was that we should not interfere with the nomination system and, in fact, by and large, most CPF members already do nominate their spouses and children as beneficiaries of their CPF savings.”
“That is why when we introduced the Retirement Age Act to raise the retirement age from 55 to 60, we lowered the CPF contribution for those aged 55 and above, and they still continue to contribute much lower CPF than others. Of course, more recently, we are now saying that for those aged 50 to 55, the employers' CPF contribution rate will remain at 16%. I think that is the way to go, rather than to open up a free-for-all in this sector. Dr Jennifer Lee is worried about the homemakers who have been left out. I am afraid that while we want everybody to participate in the CPF system, the homemakers do have a difficulty, although we do open up the CPF system for voluntary contributions. So, there is really nothing to stop homemakers to have an account to contribute to CPF to build up a nest-egg for themselves. It is with this in mind that we have allowed the topping up of the Minimum Sum scheme under the CPF Minimum Sum Top-up Scheme to encourage CPF members to top up their spouse's or parents' CPF account through transfers of their CPF savings into the latter's retirement account, if they have more than twice the current Minimum Sum in their own account. Members can also opt to use cash top-ups for their family members' CPF accounts, and the amount of the top-up in the CPF account will then be paid to the recipient by monthly instalments from age 62 onwards. The recipient can also choose to buy a life annuity with the Minimum Sum which has been topped up by family members. Spouses and children who contribute to the CPF accounts of homemakers would be allowed tax relief on the cash amount that they contribute.”
“The Retirement Age Act does not compel workers to retire. The Retirement Age Act provides workers with additional protection by imposing on the employer a responsibility and a duty to employ the person until the minimal retirement age. We must remember that without the Retirement Age Act - I think it was before 1994 or so, when we did not have such a legislation - employers were retiring their workers at the age of 55. But with the Retirement Age Act in operation, the retirement age first went up from 55 to 60, and then to 62. So, workers gained another seven years of work as a result of the operation of the Retirement Age Act. The Act does not say anywhere that a worker cannot work beyond the age of 62. So, I think Mr Steve Chia is quite mistaken. We have never said that you cannot work beyond the age of 62. We welcome everybody to work. In the civil service, even those who are 62, if they are doing well, can contribute, are in good health and able to discharge their duties, I would expect that they would continue to be re-employed even though they can retire and may already be retired. I do not understand the connection between freeing up car loans and freeing up CPF for negotiation between older workers and their employers. As far as the CPF is concerned, while we should reduce the statutory contribution to provide a minimal level of protection, I do not think freeing up the CPF for open negotiation is the way to go. What we have done, though, is that we have gradually, over the years, reduced the CPF contribution for the older workers, to reduce the burden on employers and to make older workers more employable.”
“We can give them additional bonuses, we can give them a higher performance bonus, and that would more than make up for the loss in the statutory contribution. As far as the mandatory statutory contribution is concerned, what we need today is to reduce this cost item. Mdm Halimah Yacob was concerned with the impact of the changes on the increasing contribution rates to the Special Account and to Medisave introduced recently, especially for those in the 50-55 age group. Let me explain that we are also concerned and we are aware of the possibility that this transfer from the Ordinary Account to the Special Account and to Medisave would impact adversely on those workers, particularly the older workers who are still servicing mortgages and with outstanding loans to repay. That is why we are making this adjustment gradually over several years. CPF members who purchase their properties before 1st January 2004, when these measures take effect, will be allowed to continue to have access to their Special Account to help top up the shortfall in their mortgage payments to the extent these payments are affected by the transfer. In other words, if they have a shortfall, we will open up access to the Special Account. But, remember, for the vast majority of others, this refinement will immediately mean that they are putting aside more money for Medisave and their Special Account, which is their long-term retirement savings. So, it has its advantage, although we are also able to accommodate the concerns of those who have to service their mortgage. Mdm Halimah Yacob also made this point about retirement which Mr Steve Chia touched on also. Mdm Halimah Yacob is absolutely correct. There is a gross misunderstanding over the Retirement Age Act.”
“And it is a measure to enhance the employability of older workers. Mdm Ho asked whether it has created the result or not, and how many older workers have been re-employed as a result of this measure. I would say that we have just introduced it and it is too soon to give numbers on the impact. But what we know for a fact is that, through our labour market survey - in fact, the report of labour market survey for 2002 was released last Friday - last year, 72% of those aged below 30 managed to secure re-employment within six months after retrenchment, compared to 47% for those aged 50 and over. So, obviously, re-employment rate for the younger workers is far better than that for those who are older. We believe that part of the reason is the seniority-based wage scale, which works against the interests of the older workers. Therefore, we have made this adjustment to the employers' CPF contribution for the older workers. It is not related just to the state of the economy and I do not think that we should look at it as a temporary measure. The idea here is to reduce the mandatory statutory contribution of CPF for this older group of workers. But that does not mean that older workers are, in the words of Mdm Ho, not value for money. I do not think that she is suggesting that. She is just questioning whether this refinement implies that older workers are not value for money. Certainly not. We want to help them to get jobs and stay in jobs. It does not mean that, because we have reduced their CPF, they cannot deliver or perform. In fact, I would encourage employers to reward the older workers who do well or make great contributions to the companies through the variable wage system. There are many ways we can reward a good worker, both young and old.”
“Even if it were considered as a loan that would have to be put back in future, we would have imposed greater difficulty on the worker to repay CPF savings that had been consumed in advance. It would not help him to accumulate what is needed. Already today there is concern that, at our existing contribution rates, a significant proportion of the workers would have difficulty accumulating sufficient cash savings when they finally retire. So, if we open up the CPF to allow people to use it to meet current financial difficulties, we are guaranteeing that they would have much less savings in their old age. Yes, we may be alleviating their hardship now, but we will be imposing massive difficulties for these people and for the Government in the future. So, I think it is unwise to do so. But, of course, as we have always said, if we go into a prolonged recession, eg, a depression where we have hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans who are completely out of work and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, then we will have to consider. It is the last option. But we are not in such a parlous state yet. So, we should not rush into it. Mdm Ho Geok Choo also referred to a point which I think Ms Irene Ng touched on earlier, ie, cutting of the CPF for those who are aged 50-55 by freezing employers' CPF contribution at 16%. She asked, if the economy should turn around, whether we would restore it. This was the recommendation from the ERC study, to reduce employers' CPF contribution rate for older workers, as a way to moderate and overcome rigidities in our wage structure, which presently is based on seniority, ie, the older the worker is, the more he gets paid, regardless of whether his productivity has improved year by year.”
“If the Board makes the right decision, of course, all will be well. But, as I said earlier, all investments come with some risks. And if the Board were to make a wrong decision, then I think it would be held accountable. I do not think it is desirable, in the way the CPF Board is structured, to impose this responsibility on the Board. We would prefer very much that, when it comes to the CPF Investment Scheme, the Board would act as a facilitator or expeditor, rather than making the decision on behalf of the members. Mr Ang Mong Seng, Mr Steve Chia and also Mdm Ho Geok Choo would like the CPF Board to consider releasing some of the CPF savings for workers, particularly those who are out of job for quite some time and are in financial hardship. We sympathise with all workers who are out of job and who are facing financial difficulties. That is why the Minister for Finance, in his Budget Speech, announced measures to help particularly lower income Singaporeans with additional rental rebates, service and conservancy rebates and extension of the Utilities Save rebates. We have also granted the New Singapore Shares and Economic Restructuring Shares. All these measures will provide some financial assistance to those who are hard hit by the economic downturn and rising unemployment. 1.45 pm But if we turn to the CPF savings for early relief, we may be barking up the wrong tree, I would say. We may be taking a wrong turn because, with the CPF, it is a zero-sum game. The more we take out today to spend, the less we have for our retirement, the less we have to pay for healthcare needs in our old age.”
“The belief is that with this privately-managed pension plan, investment cost could be lower and it could also, over the longer term, achieve a higher rate of return for CPF members. The Board is now studying how best to operationalise this idea of privately managed pension plan within the CPF framework. Based on our preliminary studies, scale is a critical factor - I think Mrs Lim mentioned this too - to ensure low cost. The pension plan design should be simple and low risk. This will attract more members, including those who are not investment savvy and who do not want to take unnecessary risks with their retirement savings. Other desirable features would be globally well-diversified portfolios and reliability of the pension plan operators themselves so that CPF members can have greater confidence that they will be able to return higher interest over the longer term. Members would be able to invest their savings in both their Ordinary and Special Accounts in approved privately-managed pension plans. The Board recognises that, under the current CPF Investment Scheme, agent bank's charges add to the cost of investing and this will be taken into account when designing the pension plan. Mrs Lim also asked what will be the Board's role in this privately-managed pension plan. This is an area that the Board is also studying, ie, whether the Board should act as an intermediary, or be more actively involved. In this connection, I overlook Dr Ong's other point about the Board negotiating on behalf of all its members to invest, or to place funds with fund managers or unit trusts. I had addressed this question before in this House. This will put the Board in a moral hazard of having to make the investment decision for and on behalf of individual CPF members.”
“Let me point out that these high management fees apply both to cash investors and CPF Investment Scheme members who are investing in unit trusts or other fund management accounts. I think it is not right for Dr Ong to say that CPF Board has not discharged its duty or to provide effective services to CPF members. The fact that fund managers charge a high fee applies to both the CPF Investment Scheme investors and also cash account holders, and it is also related to the small fund size of the Singapore market. We are a very small market compared to the global fund management market. Therefore, with a small market, the overheads tend to be higher. So the fees will be higher. That is unavoidable. Of course, the Board will continue to look for ways to bring down the cost of investment for members. For instance, in September 2002, last year, the Board allowed foreign unit trusts, registered under the CPF Investment Scheme, in other words, approved for investment by CPF members, to be offered directly to CPF investors without the need to go through an additional feeder structure. So we shorten the retailing chain. We do not have to go through a further intermediary. Foreign unit trusts can be offered directly, once they meet certain criteria. So that will help to lower the cost for CPF Investment Scheme members. Mrs Lim Hwee Hua asked some questions with regard to the proposal for a private pension plan which is intended to help CPF members get a higher rate of return over a longer term. This was one of the recommendations of the Economic Review Committee - to study an option by introducing low-cost privately-managed pension plan for CPF members.”
“CPF members who have gone into the share market on their own have lost money as a result of the market conditions. Let us remember also that if we had not liberalised, if we had not enabled Singaporeans to utilise some of their CPF savings for their own investment, we will also stand accused of being unreasonably rigid and of unfairly locking up hard earned savings of the workers. So when we did liberalise and created a CPF Investment Scheme, we cautioned all CPF members that they invest at their own risk. They have to take responsibility. They have to learn how to invest their retirement savings so that they do not get caught. Over the years, we have also refined the investment system to better adjust for this risk exposure. We started out, I believe, by allowing them to use 80% of the investible savings to make personal investment. This was then reduced to 50% and, currently, only 35% of the investible savings can be invested personally. Whereas the rest, they can invest in unit trusts or managed by a fund manager. So, in fact, we are responding, we are adjusting, we are learning from the experience. But, at the end of the day, when you make investment, everybody must know, including CPF members, that there will always be an element of risk and you have to do your calculations, do your sums and make sure that the risks are acceptable to you. Dr Ong Seh Hong was concerned with the high management fees levied by fund managers on CPF members who place their CPF savings in these fund management accounts. It is correct to say that the fees are high and, in a sense, it does discourage CPF members from going into such fund management accounts.”
“Sir, I thank all the Members who have spoken on the CPF system. Before I go into the specific response, I would just like to remind hon. Members that the CPF system was exhaustively studied by the Economic Review Committee. They picked up the stone, they gave it a good dusting. They looked at the top, they looked at the side, they looked underneath. At the end of the day, the ERC concluded that the CPF system serves us well. One of those stones they decided not to throw away, but put it back. Yes, they did not put it back in exactly the same position. They repositioned the stone a little bit. The repositioning was to enable us to better meet the future challenges. The details of the repositioning were covered by DPM Lee, both last year and also, again, in the Budget Speech. So I would not go over them again. But the basic point I want to make is that the CPF system has served us well, and it continues to be relevant to the needs of Singapore and to Singaporeans, if we refocus it on the key or core objectives of the CPF, namely, retirement, savings, housing and healthcare expenses. I do not think there is any question in the minds of hon. Members that we should do away with it or to make even more radical surgery. I think there is, of course, room for improvement as we go along. Let me assure hon. Members that we will continue to see how we can provide better service, make improvement to the system, make it even more responsive to CPF members. Let me now turn to Mr Yeo Guat Kwang's question. He mentioned that the idea of allowing CPF members to invest money in the share market has not turned out to be a good idea because, as a result of the fall in the various share markets, CPF members have lost money. Yes, it is true.”
“Whether we have to revisit the question on quota, I have to say that we do that all the time. We review the quota. We look at the needs of the industry all the time, and we will do what is necessary. But I just want to point out that we must maintain a judicious balance.”
“Sir, I am grateful to Mdm Halimah for her clarification that she does not see the need to send large numbers of foreign workers back deliberately. The foreign workers quota operates in different industries. There are different quota levels. We have found it useful to balance the needs of employers and creating employment for local workers using this quota mechanism. For instance, in the construction industry, we are very liberal - 1 local to 5 foreign workers. We are slowly adjusting that. We are bringing that down now because of the over-dependency and low productivity in the construction industry. In the marine sector, we have a quota of 1:3. And despite this adverse economic situation, the marine industry is one of our bright spots. They have lots of vacancies. And if we were to lower the quota for the marine industry today, we will be causing the companies enormous difficulties, not just in competing for jobs, they actually have obtained jobs already, but they need the workers to do the work. So since Singaporeans are still reluctant to take on these vacancies in the marine sector, I think it would be foolhardly for us to revise the quota in the marine industry. In the manufacturing service industry, as I have explained just now, many companies still face difficulties operating within the present quota. But we will continue to review all of these mechanisms to regulate the entry of foreign workers. And the Minster of State will reply on this subject. Could you refresh my memory on the last point?”
“If the US economy picks up, if a war between the US and Iraq erupts, when and how will it end. If there is a war, what will be the impact on the price of oil. There are so many "ifs" and all of these "ifs" are well beyond our influence. But what we can do, and must do, is to make preparations for the rebound. As Mr Yeo Guat Kwang pointed out right at the beginning of this discussion, take advantage of this slack period to prepare our workers for the future. So we can make preparations for the rebound. We have the resources to revamp the economy. The ERC Report has pointed out what we can do to advance our competitiveness. But we have more than just resources to revamp the economy - we have the people with the gumption to face challenges directly and make the changes that are necessary for survival and continued prosperity. In this way, when the global economy rebounds, we will be in a good position to take advantage of the new opportunities. Let us, therefore, work together and turn today's adversity into tomorrow's advantage. Our parents had laboured to build Singapore from scratch since 1965 with much less resources than what we have today. We owe it to them to make the effort to transform our skills and capabilities through Continuing Education and Training to provide the impetus for future economic growth.”
“Nominated Member, Dr Jennifer Lee, gave the example in last week's Budget debate of how KK Women's and Children's Hospital was successful in hiring older workers. I commend Dr Lee for her willingness to give older workers a chance and urge other employers to follow her lead. In my Ministry's efforts to place older workers, we have found that many HR managers in various companies are not receptive. Some have become used to hiring foreign workers in the days when we had a tight labour market. They refuse to consider new options and just want to carry on doing things the way they are comfortable with - just hire foreign workers. Mdm Halimah was concerned that employers will lay off workers hired under the People for Jobs Traineeship Programme after the wage support period, which can go up to nine months, has ended. Under this programme, we provide very generous wage support for employers to take in older workers. The wage support can amount to $12,000 or more. Participating employers should not just lay off workers at the end of the wage support period. They should continue to employ these trained workers and, in fact, help them to continue to upgrade their skills, so that they can make bigger contribution to the company. Otherwise, these companies or employers will continue to lay off workers after training and they will not be able to participate in the programme and derive the benefit of the wage subsidy that Government is giving. So all our companies must also adjust their mindsets, starting with the Chief Executive Officers. 12.00 noon Sir, in conclusion, to round up all the remarks made by the Members and my response, we are facing difficult times but there is no need to be despondent. There will be an economic rebound. We are not sure when this will be.”
“We need to be equally flexible and adaptable. As the labour market changes, we have to be flexible and adaptable. Mr Low Thia Khiang said that it is not an answer to tell people to be prepared to take on a job, any job, even if it is at a lower pay, to solve our structural unemployment problem. But if there is scarcity of jobs, a realistic solution must be to take what is available, make the best out of it, until better times come around. Fortunately, not all Singaporeans are totally apathetic to retraining or skills upgrading. We do have some fine examples. Streats, on 17th January 2003, reported a Mrs Karen Wong who lost her job as a HR executive at an IT consulting company. She recognised that she was not likely to find a job in the same field and enrolled in a childcare training course under the Skills Redevelopment Programme. Today, she is happily teaching children at a PAP Community Foundation kindergarten. Likewise, Mr Chen Guo Hua, who was retrenched from his salesman job, decided to sign on for MOM's Place-Train-Adjust programme, one of those programmes where we assign them to an employer first. The 52-year old Mr Chen completed his training and is now a commis cook in Ritz-Carlton and enjoying his job. So, I thank the media for featuring such stories of enterprising, adaptable Singaporeans who are learning new skills and trying their hand at new ventures or new jobs. I am sure there are many, many more such examples out there waiting to be highlighted. Sir, I must reiterate that it takes two hands to clap. I agree with Mdm Halimah that employers also have to play their part. I therefore call on employers to change their mindset.”
“As long as they are willing to make the effort, as long as they are willing to go and try, as long as they are realistic in their job expectations, we should be able to help them. For instance, the Centre for Cleaning Technology - I think it was in the newspapers last week - started with MOM's financial assistance and encouragement. It has proved to be very useful in training many older and lower skilled workers for gainful employment in the growing commercial cleaning industry. Many of their trainees went in without much expectation. But when they left, they were snapped up by these cleaning companies. And because of their training, many have also progressed beyond just trainees to become supervisors, earning much higher than they had expected in the first instance. But, admittedly, all of us involved in job placement - whether it is MOM, NTUC, Community Development Councils with their Distributed Career Link network - have had numerous disheartening encounters with workers who turn down job offers or refuse to go for skills upgrading. On the other hand, we hear stories of workers in Vietnam and China enthusiastically learning new skills to get on in life. They sign up for night or weekend classes. They rush from work to their night classes, be it to learn English or some new computer skills. That is lifelong learning in action. That is what we should have in Singapore - a buzz on lifelong learning. In the Philippines, I was told that doctors move into nursing. Why? Because they recognise that the worldwide shortage of nurses opens up many new opportunities for them overseas where, perhaps, maybe their professional qualifications may not be recognised. But, at least, if they take up nursing skills, they can go overseas, and they get better jobs.”
“And I think this is very relevant to the remarks made by Prof. Ngiam earlier about the plight of the retrenched workers. Some career counselling, some more concerted hand-holding to get them through, help them to navigate the intricacies of job change and also the intricacies of the changing job market, would be useful and helpful. Mr Seng Han Thong pointed out that despite the Government's effort to promote lifelong learning, there is no queue or mad rush for our training programmes, unlike when McDonald's was selling Hello-Kitty dolls. Yes, he is right, and this is a disappointment. For instance, in the People for Jobs Traineeship Programme for older workers, we have, till today, already more than a year from its launch, about 9,000 older workers signed up for this programme. We had originally targeted to help 20,000 workers when the programme was launched. But up to now, only about 9,000 workers have signed up. And this programme is a very generous programme. It provides jobs with on-the-job training and up to 50% wage support for the employers. Yes, the CET statutory board will have to work harder to motivate workers to go for skills upgrading. Mdm Halimah asked how we could help the "untrainable" workers. I do not think we should call people "untrainable". I disagree with that approach. That would not help us to address Mr Seng's concern of getting more people to join the queue. We want to create a buzz for CET, and we cannot go around saying, "You are untrainable. You are out of the action." No. I would take a more positive approach and try to look for appropriate training even for the lowest educated and lowest skilled workers.”
“This year may not see sharp recovery in jobs and improvement in the unemployment rate. Because of these difficult times, workers must be even more determined to compete and fight for jobs, especially older workers. Mr Heng Chee How urges MOM to start the Continuing Education and Training statutory board as soon as possible. We will try our best to speed up the process, but we think six to nine months is what it will take to get an organisation of this scale up and running. But I should clarify that while we are in the process of setting up a statutory board, we are not sitting around doing nothing. All our programmes are on-going, and we will continue to add to the existing programmes and build up new capabilities within MOM instead, so that as and when the statutory board is up and running, these programmes can be passed on to the statutory board. It will be a seamless transition. As I have said, the programmes that are already on-going will continue. We do not need to wait for the official launch of the statutory board to initiate new programmes. Mrs Yu-Foo suggested working with the community organisations. I fully agree. My Ministry has been working very fruitfully with the Community Development Councils and self-help groups and other professional groups, like SHRI through SPEC, to bring skills upgrading and job assistance closer to the people. This will remain our strategy. The statutory board will explore new avenues for cooperation with all our existing partners and interested parties. She also suggested that we should pay more attention to career counselling. I agree too, and we will explore ways of providing career counselling especially to the lower educated who may not be able to get the job and training information that they need.”
“So, let us not believe that the problem can be solved by just telling the foreign workers to go home, and Singaporeans will take on the jobs. We will not just lose the foreign workers; we may well lose the company and the remaining jobs that are being held by Singaporeans. In administering the foreign worker policy, we have to maintain a very, very judicious balance between Singaporeans, foreign workers and the needs of the employers. My Minister of State will have more to say on this subject later on in the debate. Sir, we must develop an enterprising attitude and a determination to learn new skills. We must adapt quickly to the changes that are taking place around us. Mdm Halimah and Mrs Yu-Foo asked about the employment prospects and where are the growth areas. At the end of December 2002, 72% of those who were retrenched in the first three quarters were already re-employed. That is an improvement; some good news. Because, last year, it was, I think, around 65%. It has gone up to 72% this year. We also have about 12,900 job vacancies with the service sector accounting for 59% of the vacancies. These came mostly from transport and communications, wholesale and retail trade, business and real estate services and community and personal services. Manufacturing contributed a smaller proportion, 34% of the vacancies mainly from transport equipment and electronic products. Vacancies for professional managers, executives and technicians were 30% of the total vacancies; for production operators and labourers, 45%; and another 26% for clerical, sales and service workers. But, in view of the uncertainties gripping the global economy, we should prepare for some worsening and deterioration of the labour market.”
“So, it is better not to work on that assumption. 11.45 am Let me give Members a more serious example. If we tighten the foreign worker quota, can we assume that locals will take on the job? Last week, Members mentioned in the debate on the Budget Statement one of the famous Singapore brands, Tee Yih Jia, famous for its popiah-skin and roti-prata. Do you know that, today, they cannot run their factory 24/7; in other words, 24 hours, 7 days a week. Why? Is it because they do not have enough orders or business to run it 24/7? No. They have good orders; they have good business. Business is booming. But they cannot run it 24/7 because they lack workers. Instead of running the production plant into the night, they have to shut down some of their lines and machineries because Singapore workers want to go home and will not work the late shifts. Without foreign workers, there will be even more difficult problems. They may even have to shift out completely from Singapore, if they do not have some foreign workers to help them to run the late shifts and to moderate their wage costs downwards. If they shift out, who lose? More Singaporeans will lose, not just the foreign workers. And not only those who work for Tee Yih Jia but also all the other supporting industries, service providers, material suppliers, the ones who send the spices, the oil, the flour that they need to make their popiah-skins and roti-pratas, the transport companies that carry all these things around, the equipment maintenance companies that come and fix up all the machineries in the factory, and even PSA Corp, because of the dozens and dozens of container loads of their products that they ship out every month. All these will lose business. And there are, in fact, many other companies facing similar problems.”
“I used to go to a hairdresser long before I became an MP. When she first started out her business, I was one of the early customers and saw the business grow. She used to cut my hair very efficiently, 20-25 minutes at the utmost, minimal waiting, very well done. It went on for more than 10 years. Even when I became an MP, I went back to her. It was still 20-25 minutes. Then, in 1991, the Prime Minister appointed me Minister for Labour. I went back to her for a haircut. It went on for 35-40 minutes. It was not just for a hair cut. I kept getting ear bashing besides having my hair trimmed. Her business had grown. She needed more workers. She recruited Singaporeans. They worked for a week and they went away - high turnover. They asked for higher pay all the time. She said, "Can I have more foreign workers? Can I have work permits? You are the Minister for Labour", seated there in the chair. And she snipped, snipped, snipped. Then one day, it was more than a year after I became Labour Minister, the same thing happened. Snip, snip, snip. I do not think it was her fault. I do not think it was intentional. She was perhaps getting a little excited, arguing for more work permits. "Chk", she snipped my ear. I told myself, "This is getting dangerous." I stopped going to the hairdresser. My wife does the job for me and I have to thank her for that. So, what I am saying is that not only are we lacking jobs for locals, we have this mismatch. We cannot just assume that if we fire all the foreign workers, Singaporeans will take on all the jobs. If we send all the foreign workers who are in the hairdressing industry in Singapore, many hairdressing salons may have to close down. All our people will have bigger problems with their hair grooming, especially our ladies.”
“So, we must make good use of the time for us to resharpen our competitive edge and restructure the economy, so that when the time comes, we will be in a new and stronger position. We will not be left stranded high and low. So, Singaporeans must make the effort. The statutory board will help, but it takes two hands to clap. Through the statutory board, the Government will provide opportunities for skill upgrading, but our people must be willing to learn and take jobs at competitive wages. It remains the personal responsibility of each job seeker to seek out a job and to keep the job. Otherwise, we will not be able to overcome structural unemployment. Mdm Halimah suggested on Saturday that it is time to tighten the foreign worker quota. She thinks that if we send the foreign workers back, all our unemployed Singaporeans will immediately have a job. She may have seen the numbers, and sometimes numbers can be misleading. So, they say there are statistics and there are statistics. We have more than 200,000 foreign workers in the key manufacturing and services industry. I will discount the domestic workers and those in the construction workforce Let us assume we send back 100,000 of them. Then, obviously, the 89,900 unemployed Singaporeans at the end of December 2002 should have no problem getting jobs. Right? If only it were that simple, I would have fewer white hairs on my head! Not only are we lacking jobs for Singaporeans today, we also have a very serious mismatch in skills, wages and expectations. If we tighten access to foreign workers, can we be sure that the 89,900 unemployed Singaporeans will go out there and take on the jobs that are being done by all these foreign workers? Let me give Members a personal example.”
“Where the statutory board will undertake training, this will be very specific instances under very special circumstances where it needs to be involved. One that comes to mind could perhaps be the training of the trainer type of programme, where the board may, in order to ensure quality control, want to be involved in the training of the trainers. On tackling unemployment, several Members have spoken on this. I like to add that a statutory board is not on its own going to be the magic bullet that will solve all our employment problems. If we have a highly skilled, highly productive, disciplined and hardworking workforce, more investors will come to Singapore. Yes, our wages may be a little higher or may be a lot higher, for instance, compared to places like China and India. But we offer value for money. And the investors who come here make more money by locating their business in Singapore. Hence, Mr Jean-Claude Marquet, ST Micro's Corporate Vice-President and Chief Executive for AsiaPacific said "We are satisfied with the way the Singapore team is making use of the investment and see no reason to relocate". Mr Hiroshi Kawai, Managing Director of Matsushita Refrigeration Industry, said "It is cheaper for us to produce here than in China, at least for the next five years". So, it is not a simple chicken-or-egg conundrum. Clearly, a skilled workforce comes first. With a skilled workforce and a good supporting infrastructure, the EDB will have greater success bringing investors here and more jobs will be created for Singaporeans. But we must also heed what Mr Hiroshi, Managing Director of Matsushita Refrigeration Industry, said. He had a caveat when he said, "at least for the next five years".”
“Mr Ong Ah Heng stressed the importance of regulating the quality of the CET industry. I believe Dr Amy Khor also touched on this. I agree totally. Since the Government is investing large sums of public money in training, we will establish training standards and assess more critically and more rigorously the effectiveness of the national CET programme. Private training providers that participate in our CET effort and receive Government subsidies for their programmes will also be subject to the same rigorous standard of assessment. Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked how will the CET statutory board relate to SPRING Singapore. Human capital development programmes under SPRING and several other economic agencies - I mentioned some earlier on, EDB, IDA - will complement the effort of the CET statutory board. Of course, we will not want to duplicate or waste resources. We will improve coordination and cooperation. She also asked whether the statutory board will encroach on the private sector's training providers' role and compete for business opportunities or, as Dr Amy Khor mentioned, it becomes a behemoth swallowing up the small private sector training providers. The answer is no. We expect private sector continuing education and training providers to continue complementing training to be provided by industry-led entities, like industry groups, and also the public sector educational institutions. We will, in fact, work harder to encourage more private sector participation and facilitate their entry into the market. Let me assure Members that the statutory board does not intend to take on the role of a sole training provider in Singapore. We will work with the private sector providers. We want to encourage a vibrant and dynamic training industry to grow.”
“They cited unwillingness to work shifts, dislike for working on public holidays and even dislike for the place of work. We have spent so much money to train them, paid for the training course and, in some cases, even gave them allowances. So, maybe I should take Ms Irene Ng's suggestion seriously. Members may remember that on Saturday, she suggested the "money back guarantee". Maybe I should take her seriously. In other words, those who have been trained, placed in a job, and did not stay on the job will have to pay back. I do not know if she will support that idea. Sir, Mr Heng Chee How and Mr Ong Ah Heng spoke of the need for enhancing adult training methods and curriculum. This is indeed a very important area. The statutory board will certainly strengthen our continuing education and training system based on professional design of adult curriculum and also adult teaching methods. It is not quite the same as getting a 14-16 year olds into our ITE and train them in trade skills or into our polytechnic and train them in a discipline. After they have worked for 10-15 years and they have to come back to the classroom, the whole approach is totally different. The CET statutory board will be looking at how to improve the methodology of providing adult training. Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked, in this connection, what happened to the idea of a Centre for Adult Learning which was suggested in the ERC Report. We have considered this idea and concluded that, for the time being, we do not need to set up a specific institution for research into methods of training adults. The CET statutory board will develop in-house expertise in this area by working with researchers in our universities, polytechnics and also international experts in this area.”
“The Continuing Education and Training statutory board will certainly promote skills certification and recognition to enhance workers' portability and also employability of our workers who have undergone such training. Ms Irene Ng suggested that we should make sure that trained workers are given jobs. She suggested getting employers to guarantee to employ the workers after they have gone for training. I understand the disappointment suffered by a diligent worker who had invested much time and effort to upgrade himself but, at the end, could not get a job. It is very disappointing. No doubt, this has happened, especially when our job market is shrinking. I agree with her, and that is why we have already started to introduce Place-and-Train programmes. In other words, the unemployed is placed with a company and after the company signs him on as an employee, that is when we send him for training. After the training, he goes back to the job. Examples are the Aerospace Reskilling for Operations Programme, Call Centre Programme, Hospitality Programme - hospitality in our hotel industry - and, the recently announced, Intellectual Property Professional Programme. All these programmes are place-and-train programmes. This requires participating employers to sign up the worker before they are sent for training. My Ministry pays for most of the cost of training and also provides full-time trainees with allowances. But even with the best of intentions, we still encounter disappointments. For instance, in the Hospitality Programme in the hotel sector, in one case, 62 out of the 81 who were offered jobs accepted. Out of those who accepted, a full 40% left their jobs within three months after training.”
“I see it helping these groups to meet their skills and job needs through: (1) continuing skills upgrading for all levels of the workforce, including professionals and executives; (2) helping our workers to develop new skills so that they can get jobs in growth industries; (3) providing employment assistance programmes which will be packaged together with skills training for new jobs and, in some cases, with some career counselling and guidance. Mrs Yu-Foo, Mr Ahmad Magad and several other hon. Members have highlighted the need to strengthen the nexus between training and industry needs. In particular, Mrs Yu-Foo would like to see better planning to train workers for incoming industries so that jobs would not be taken by foreign workers because Singaporeans are not available. This will be the statutory board's modus operandi. This will be how we will approach the task. The statutory board will collaborate closely with the EDB and all industries to ensure that training programmes will meet the industries' needs, including the needs of the new investments coming into Singapore. It is important that we identify the current skill gaps and future skill needs of the industries, so that training programmes are industry-relevant. Besides providing appropriate pre-employment training in our ITEs, polytechnics and universities, we should also have continuing education and training for workers to equip them with job specific skills for the new jobs that are being created. 11.30 am To address Mr Ong Ah Heng's concern about training that is not recognised by employers, we have already established the National Skills Recognition System, which provides for portable skill certification.”