Lee Teck Him
Singapore
“Sir, let me make my points clear. The Minister for Defence said he did not understand what I said just now. He said it was futile to fire crackers. However, in the past whenever the Prime Minister toured the constituencies and the Ministers went to the rural areas, they were welcomed by the people there by the firing of crackers.”
“This is really a shameful sight for tourists to see. Yet we talk about making Singapore a garden city. The Minister should immediately remove this awful sight if we are going to make Singapore a garden city. He should go and see for himself the places where the hawkers' situation is unsightly.”
“The Communists will consider this defence exercise as aiming at committing aggression against some other countries. Why should we have this five-nation joint defence pact? Britain and Australia will ask us to be the vanguard and they will just queue up behind. Therefore, we will be the first to be killed.”
“Driving testers should also inform them, during the test, that when they are about to negotiate a corner and they cannot see anything in front, they should not speed and they should not overtake the vehicles in front. They should pass all these tests before licences are issued to them.”
“A gangster's application should also be approved. Even many of the C.I.D. staff are former gangsters. There are many precedents of people with many wives. How can you deny them citizenship because they have many wives? You should also approve their applications.”
“Sir, I want to ask a supplementary question and also give my comments on the Government's policy on citizenship. The policy should be reviewed, and, where possible, citizenship should be granted straightaway without the Criminal Investigation Department investigating to see how many wives an applicant has and so on.”
The complete record
Every one of 125 lines we hold for Lee Teck Him, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 3.
“Sir, let me make my points clear. The Minister for Defence said he did not understand what I said just now. He said it was futile to fire crackers. However, in the past whenever the Prime Minister toured the constituencies and the Ministers went to the rural areas, they were welcomed by the people there by the firing of crackers. I would like the Minister to withdraw what he has said just now.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have been firing crackers ever since I was a boy. I am now 66 years old and I still fire crackers. However, I have never injured myself and I have never heard of any deaths caused by the firing of crackers. Therefore, we must look into the reasons why the firing of crackers can cause deaths and injuries. We should not impose a total ban on cracker firing. It is not right to do so. For example, the Minister for Science and Technology will be going to Ulu Pandan very soon to officiate at a certain ceremony, and crackers will be let off in his honour. We will have to fix a place for the firing of crackers. This is not very convenient. Therefore, I am totally against this provision in the Bill. We should allow people to choose their own places to fire crackers. It is not right for Government to fix a place for people to fire crackers. We must allow them the freedom to fire crackers whenever and wherever they like. We must not be like children and do whatever we like. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -[Mr Lim Kim San]. Bill considered in Committee. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] 3.01 p.m. Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 2 - Question proposed, "That clause 2 stand part of the Bill."”
“This is really a shameful sight for tourists to see. Yet we talk about making Singapore a garden city. The Minister should immediately remove this awful sight if we are going to make Singapore a garden city. He should go and see for himself the places where the hawkers' situation is unsightly. There are many places where he should take action. He should emulate the example of my constituency. What is the use of building a hawkers' centre at a cost of $300,000 or even more? We should build as many markets as possible for the hawkers.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there has been some improvement of the hawkers' situation recently, but this improvement is only seen in some areas. In other areas it has deteriorated. In constituencies where the Members of Parliament are Ministers, the hawkers' situation is deteriorating. If you go to the Kreta Ayer area, you can see that the situation is very bad. If you go to some other area under a Minister's control, the situation there is even worse. For example, if you go to Dr Toh Chin Chye's constituency, the situation there is just as bad. Therefore, the Minister for Health should pay attention to those constituencies where the Members of Parliament are Ministers. In other words, hawker inspectors dare not go to constituencies where the Members of Parliament are Ministers. They only dare go to ordinary Members of Parliament's constituencies. This discrimination by the hawker inspectors is no good. I represent the people and I voice their feelings here. At the Annamalai market, 6th m.s. Bukit Timah Road, there was an Indian man selling food. He was charged $25 for dropping some rice grains on the floor after washing his dishes. On another occasion a vegetable hawker was fined unreasonably. He was fined by a hawker inspector simply because some of the vegetable leaves fell on to the ground after the customers had selected their vegetables. The hawker inspectors are behaving like bulls and that is why they are called "earth bulls" in Chinese. Maybe the Minister will say, "This is not done by me personally." But when soldiers kill people, their commander must be responsible for their deeds. I hope the Minister will pay attention to this matter. In the constituency of the Minister for Law and National Development, the hawkers are hawking along the streets.”
“is not a commercial organisation with monetary profit as the prime objective. It is a public service and, therefore, subject to limitations of funds. Those who participate in the programmes cannot expect high monetary reward. But in the interest of the nation and, in particular, in the pursuit of cultural development, I sincerely hope that local talent will actively co-operate in the production of better and meaningful programmes. The result of such co-operation would be of immense value; firstly, writers and artistes will find an avenue to display their talents and, secondly, they would have, through their works, developed national consciousness and stimulated cultural values. As far as films are concerned, in the absence of a film industry in Singapore, we have to import foreign films in selecting films, care is taken to ensure that those which over-emphasise crime, violence and sex are not screened. Films depicting human interest, like "Then Came Bronson", adventures such as "Tarzan", and domestic comedies like "My Three Sons", are also screened. Mr Speaker, Sir, in the review and reorganisation of the programme structure now in progress, R.T.S. should be able to correct existing inadequacies and provide wholesome and healthy programmes containing educational and cultural values consonant with our national needs. Sir, I wonder if it is time for a tea break. The Chairman: You may carry on, Mr Wee.”
“Until we are in a position to produce our own songs of good quality, however, I have instructed the producers to exercise more care in the selection and production of items in this regard. I would say that the present inadequacies in the overall programme structure arise mainly from the fact that there is a paucity of locally-produced programmes of songs, dances, plays, and sketches, with a cultural or educational theme. It is through such programmes that we can inculcate a sense of belonging and a sense of participation in national construction. I have already pointed out the existing inadequacies to my officials who are now in the process of reviewing and reorganising the programmes for the current year. There are, however, limitations at the moment in producing these types of programmes because, unlike other countries where professional talent is on tap easily, we in Singapore do not have an organised pool of talent which can be easily tapped for radio and T.V. purposes. There is a lack of creative skills for composing music, writing plays and sketches, and producing dances. If there are more local writers and composers with creative skills, who could produce work reflecting national and cultural values, we could get a greater supply of suitable material for such programmes. There is, therefore, an urgent need of our local writers and composers to produce more plays, songs and dances. Dramatic societies, music and dance schools, and other cultural organisations should come forward and actively participate in the production of such programmes. This would facilitate the production of programmes of an aesthetic and cultural value. I would, however, like to address some caution in this regard. R.T.S.”
“Our own production covers such items as news, social and current affairs, programmes for children and youths, programmes especially designed for women, programmes on music, literary and art appreciation and criticism, etc., and finally, sports programmes. It is not possible for me to itemise the programmes in detail but, very broadly, social and current affairs would include topics on Singapore's development, debates and forums on various matters of national interest, opinions and discussions, and interviews with prominent personalities. In regard to foreign productions, films or video tapes are obtained for programmes for children, on music, literary and art appreciation, and so on. There are also programmes on general matters such as science, business management, foreign affairs, animal life, adult education, history, and so on. Entertainment programmes involve drama, the arts, and variety shows, and they comprise both local and foreign productions From the above prospectus of the programmes, Members will appreciate that every effort is being made to achieve an overall balanced programme structure. It is not entirely true that all local and imported items lack cultural or educational value. Members seem to have arrived at this conclusion by merely pin-pointing the Chinese variety show. I agree that this show does not possess either a cultural or an educational background, as its purposes is merely to provide pure entertainment. Some of the songs and sketches leave much to be desired, because of the suggestive content, and so are the dances in which the participants are sometimes inadequately attired. In so far as the songs are concerned, Members will appreciate that we have to depend to a large extent on imported material.”
“Yes, they have something to do with culture. We should not say that cracker firing is no good, and we should not ban the import of fire crackers. We must look into the technique of producing good fire crackers. When our Prime Minister toured the constituencies, many fire crackers were fired. Even when our Ministers toured the constituencies, a lot of crackers were fired. The firing of crackers is a good omen. Even the Malays and the Indians are now indulging in cracker-firing. Therefore, I urge the Minister not to ban totally the import of crackers or the firing of crackers. Mr Wee Toon Boon: Mr Speaker, Sir, I will first deal with the criticisms of the organisation and structure of the programmes presented by Radio and Television Singapore. I appreciate the concern expressed by Members on programmes which do not effectively contribute to a sense of participation in national construction and development, and which lack educational and cultural values. It would appear that Members have come to this conclusion purely on the basis of local entertainment production, like the Chinese variety shows, and of imported films, particularly those which depict crime, violence and sex. However, before I deal with these criticisms, may I be permitted to put in proper perspective the general planning and presentation of programmes which will have the desired psychological and sociological impact? The programme structure is broadly divided into three main groups, namely, information, education, and entertainment. Information and education programmes are of two categories. One category is our own production, and the other category is foreign production.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me permission to speak. If we do not have food, we will die. If a person has no spiritual food, he will die a spiritual death. Therefore, we must have spiritual food. What is meant by spiritual food? It means all the healthy forms of art. Many of my colleagues have criticised the T.V. and broadcasting programmes, for example, that the films are all yellow in content. Many people dare not watch this kind of films. This means that they have no spiritual food to feed on. It seems that this is due to a lack of healthy cultural activities in our country. Therefore, I sincerely urge the Minister to import certain films from China to give Chinese viewers an opportunity to watch them. Films from China should be allowed to be imported. We should not be afraid of the propaganda influence of these films, because these films have a healthy cultural and recreational content. If they smack of Communist propaganda, of course, we must not import them. I think our enlightened Minister for Culture should consider this, otherwise he will die, and I will also die, a spiritual death. Why? Because we lack spiritual food. Therefore, spiritual food is very essential to our cultural life. Next, I would like to touch on fire crackers on Chap Goh Meh and Chinese New Year.”
“Sir, what I asked just now was whether or not the joint exercise that is to be held in another territory will be construed as some kind of invasion. The Minister has not replied to that. I do not know what he is talking about.”
“The Communists will consider this defence exercise as aiming at committing aggression against some other countries. Why should we have this five-nation joint defence pact? Britain and Australia will ask us to be the vanguard and they will just queue up behind. Therefore, we will be the first to be killed. When that happens, what will happen to our country? Is our Minister for Defence willing to become our Commander-in-Chief? If he is daring enough, then we will carry on with the defence exercise. If not, let us abandon it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I did not intend to speak, but as this is a matter touching on defence, which is extremely important, I have to vent my feelings. Yesterday I said that because defence expenditure is too great - of course, I am not objecting to the provision for national defence - we should think of some better methods to reduce it. I suggest that national service should start in our schools. Why should the Minister for Defence conscript youths after they leave school? This is not quite a good method. So we should change it and arrange for national service for boys while they are at school. In other words, give them some sort of military training while they are in school. In this way, we can save a lot of money. Ours is a small country, and we are a member of a five-nation defence pact. I am against this five-nation defence pact. What kind of strength will it have? I am afraid that one day our Minister for Defence may have to be our Commander-in-Chief and lead the army in defence of our country. But we have only a small army and it will be wiped out in one battle. There will be no more males left. Singapore will then become a women's country. Some outsiders will have to be brought into Singapore to marry the females. This is not a favourable situation. What kind of a five-nation defence grouping do we have? What kind of defence can we have? We are going to hold a big defence exercise in the coming month, but this will be held outside Singapore! People will die laughing at this joke. If you want to hold a defence exercise, you should hold it in your own country. How are you going to have a defence exercise if it is held in a foreign territory? People may think that you are going to invade their country. The defence exercise is going to be held on the 1st of April.”
“Driving testers should also inform them, during the test, that when they are about to negotiate a corner and they cannot see anything in front, they should not speed and they should not overtake the vehicles in front. They should pass all these tests before licences are issued to them. Sir, I hope the Minister will consider my suggestions regarding testing for "L" drivers and motor-cyclists. 6.30 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have heard just now that there are about 200 deaths on the road every year. Perhaps the Minister for Health and the Minister for Communications seldom go to the hospital to see how many road accidents occur in Singapore. We realise that most of these fatal cases involve motor-cyclists. Recently, the Minister for Communications ordered all motor-cyclists to wear crash helmets but they were not ordered to put on iron gloves and iron boots. Of course, the head is important and must be protected, but the arms and the limbs are also very important. Can the Minister not see that it is also necessary for motor-cyclists to wear iron gloves and boots? If a youth becomes crippled in an accident for not having iron gloves or boots on, then perhaps the Minister will have to see to the consequences. There is another point that I want to bring up. When an "L" driver takes his test, he should be asked to pay careful attention to the fundamental rules of driving. Some "L" motor-cyclists go at a terrific speed. At times, they drive recklessly, swerving to the left and to the right. They look like shooting arrows flying past. I myself have witnessed them cutting across the paths of other vehicles in one-way streets. I am worried about the children and old folks on the road. These reckless motor-cyclists are really a menace to these people. They are not aware of this, particularly the young motor-cyclists who have their girl friends as pillion riders. They want to show off and they are liable to skid on slippery roads. Therefore, the Minister for Communications should advise motor-cyclists to be more careful when driving on newly-metalled roads and sandy stretches on rainy days when certain stretches of the roads are dangerous for driving.”
“A gangster's application should also be approved. Even many of the C.I.D. staff are former gangsters. There are many precedents of people with many wives. How can you deny them citizenship because they have many wives? You should also approve their applications. If I were to deal with applications for citizenship, I can clear about 500 applications per day. It is something that can be done. It is a simple matter. If a person's application cannot be approved, you tell him so, unless he can produce certain evidence to support his application. You cannot just say that there is no proof or that there are certain other causes which bar him from getting citizenship. There should be a clear-cut method. 5.15 p.m. Sir, I also want to say that I agree with the suggestion put forward by some Members that there should be a committee, instead of the Minister or the Permanent Secretary, to consider applications for citizenship. This is a very simple matter to deal with.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to make a speech. I have to voice my own feelings. We are now touching on the question of citizenship. I feel pained at heart when speaking on this question. I am very much irked by this problem. There is a Chinese saying that when soldiers are killed, the blame must be placed on the general. Now there have been many complaints about the mistakes made by officers. Permanent Secretaries and others. However, all the blame should be put on the Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretaries. For instance, the Minister for Labour goes to the Ministry of Labour only a few times a month - maybe only once a month. He is also dealing with foreign affairs but, nevertheless, he should take the entire blame. The Minister has not come into contact with the lower rungs of our society. He should go to various parts of the country to keep in touch with the general public. Once I went to Mr Lim Joo Hock's office and I saw a big number of files on his desk. I can personally deal with 500 files in one day. I am not boasting. I am not blowing my own trumpet. I can deal with many cases in one day. Yet I saw so many stacks of files piled up on his desk. The question of citizenship has no political considerations. If Ministers do not have a political ideology, how can they become Ministers? Even if some people have a political bias, you should not regard that as a barrier when they apply for citizenship, especially in the case of those who come from the Federation. Many of the Ministers came from Malaysia. I myself came from Indonesia. Yet I am a Member of Parliament. So you must not take a person's politics into consideration. If a robber qualifies for citizenship, his application should be approved.”
“Let me explain what I have said. I would like to tell the Minister that he has allotted a lot of money on defence. Whom are we going to fight with missiles?”
“I must also say that there is no corruption in Singapore, but there is an unreasonable bureaucracy.”
“Last December, as the people were getting ready to celebrate the New Year, they were ordered to move out. If the authorities wanted them to move out, a few months' notice should have been given to them. How could they celebrate the New Year when they had to move out? It was not a Happy New Year for them. Some of the officers are getting a few thousand dollars, which is more than what our Prime Minister is getting. This is not the way to do things.How can the people tolerate this sort of treatment? They cannot take it any more. They are angry, and when the demolition gangs are about to pull down their houses, they arm themselves with weapons. How can we cope with the situation? On the question of arrears of rent, I must say that everyone owes rent. But we should not force them to move out just like that. Our Government is a democratic government and we should not do things in this way. The Minister gets a few thousand dollars a month. How much does he save from this sum? How can people with a few hundred dollars support their families and pay rent regularly? They should be given time to pay up their arrears of rent. They should not be forced to move out. It they are forced to move out, then democracy becomes suppression and tyranny. People would rise and rebel against our Government. What are we going to do then? I have seen many things. Where can we go? Are we going to the hills? Therefore, we must consider the question of payment of arrears of rent. We should have pity and look after those people who owe rent. We should not evict those who cannot afford to pay up. They just simply cannot afford to pay up. The Minister should be more sympathetic. He should see for himself the circumstances of the people who are in arrears of rent.”
“But where can I go? For those of us who cannot afford to take an aeroplane, where can we go? If we go back to China, what will happen to us? What about those Members of Parliament and the rest of the people who cannot take aeroplanes and fly to some other country? So we must adopt a neutral policy. Only then can our future be secure. On the question of the acquisition of land also, people are saying that the People's Action Party is now operating a bean curd shop, and that it is selling things. They have said that Singapore has sold Christmas Island but they dare not say that the P.A.P. has sold Singapore island! They are saying that the P.A.P. is operating a bean curd shop. Mr Speaker. Sir, you may not know about buying bean curd. Previously bean curd was sold piece by piece. How about the P.A.P.? The P.A.P. is also selling bean curd piece by piece. How can this go on? We cannot allow this state of affairs to go on. We must be fair, otherwise the people will not be satisfied with our performance. The land that we acquire from our people should not be sold to foreigners. Otherwise it would be similar to the concessions in Shanghai, where plots of land were divided up among the foreigners. We should not do this. We should sell acquired land only to our citizens. If we sell to foreigners, what are we to do if we are attacked by foreign troops? This shows that we are not patriotic enough. I came from China and I know what imperialism is like. Just now the Member for Delta spoke about resettlement. She was wrong. How can we resettle people? We should have pity on them. We must be fair to them. We must not force them to move from place to place. As an M.P., I was scolded by people who were evicted from their houses. It is because they had a genuine grouse.”
“Take, for instance, the tight rope in the circus. Can the rope swing to the left or to the right during the act? No, it cannot. It must be firm and straight, otherwise the tight-rope walker will fall down. So we must be neutral in order to be safe. We must not go either to the left or to the right. Whoever comes to attack us, let us die together. What are we afraid of? If you are afraid, you should resign. No one should influence our stand. We should maintain our neutral and independent stand. In this way, our economy will prosper and we will progress. We have changed our policy towards the Bank of China. This is a failure in our policy. What are we afraid of? We are not going on the lines that China is going on. We should not follow the policy of going either to the left or to the right as long as there is money. We should adopt a policy of perfect neutrality, otherwise in the end we are going to suffer. I would like to remind the Minister for Foreign Affairs that we should be neutral, otherwise we would be like the man walking on the tight rope in the circus who will fall down if the tight rope swings to the left or to the right. What a disgrace it will then be. If we go to the left or to the right, we will fall down. We must be neutral and remain in the centre so that in the end we will reach our objective. I was in full support of the Government's policy on the acquisition of land. But now the Government seems to be taking over land on the cheap and selling it at high prices. Let us have a bit of fairness in this matter. Without fairness, all the people will complain. Let us be fair to the people. We cannot suppress the people too much, or they will rise in rebellion against us. At least the Ministers can take an aeroplane and fly to some other country.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have something to say on the budget for the coming year. On the subject of defence, I must say that I am not against the defence of the country as such, because every country has to defend itself. Every country needs its own armed forces to protect its people. In the past, education has always taken the largest sum of money. But this year defence has taken the largest cut, a sum of almost $300 million. This is too big a burden for us. I have said that I am not against defence as such. But the way we are going about it is wrong. We have called up our youths for training and the reason why we have to spend so much is that national service is compulsory. We should start training our youths when they are in Secondary I or Secondary II. All Secondary school students should undergo military training. In this way we can carry out military training free of charge. We do not have to incur such large sums of money on defence. What I mean is that training for national defence should start with secondary school students. We must also induct female students into national service. This is only fair, otherwise we may one day find that all our male citizens are engaged in a war and all of them might perhaps be killed. What will be left will be only females. Can they produce children without the men! This is wrong. We should induct both males and females into national service. This is my opinion. Unfortunately, the Minister for Defence is not here. But I would like him to revise his policy on national defence. Only then can we save a great deal of money. Other countries are also doing this. Next I come to the question of foreign affairs. In the past we have followed a policy of neutrality and non-alignment. But now we are no longer neutral. This is wrong.”
“Sir, what I was asking is an indirect question. Is it true that applicants with more than one wife do not qualify for citizenship?”
“Sir, I want to ask a supplementary question and also give my comments on the Government's policy on citizenship. The policy should be reviewed, and, where possible, citizenship should be granted straightaway without the Criminal Investigation Department investigating to see how many wives an applicant has and so on.”
“Sir, what I meant to say was that the Government should revise its policy on citizenship and certain officials should be appointed for this task. I know of certain applicants who should qualify for citizenship.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on the question of citizenship, I feel that the Government's policy is wrong.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, just now the Minister for Finance mentioned sewerage projects and the increase in water rates. I feel that in certain respects he is not correct, because I remember that last year he informed us that Singapore made a lot of money as a result of the revaluation of the German mark. Since we have made so much money, we should be in a position to pay for this additional expenditure and not ask the poor people in the rural areas who are not enjoying sewerage facilities to pay for this. We must draw a line somewhere so that we are fair to all. For instance, we can levy more taxes on liquor or increase the income tax rate for rich people. That will be fairer. Or perhaps we can increase the tax on cigarettes and tobacco. It is not fair to make the poor people pay more for their water consumption, as they have to meet the expenditure incurred by their children on their maintenance, food, clothing and schooling. I am voicing my opinion on behalf of these people and I request the Minister to consider this point seriously. 6.26 p.m.”
“Sir, we should give concessions to our people.”
“I would appreciate it if Members, like the Members for Ulu Pandan and Delta, would do their part to exhort parents not to encourage their children to patronise sword-fighting films but to patronise films having educational or civic value.”
“Sir, when the Abortion Bill was read a Second time, I neither objected to nor approved of it. But now that it is being read a Third time. I oppose it. Just now my colleagues mentioned that, in the past, family planning campaigns have been successfully carried out. Why then is it necessary to liberalise the law on abortion if family planning has been a success? Abortion can be very harmful and dangerous to the health of the mother. If we implement this Bill, are we not, in fact, encouraging many young people to indulge in promiscuous behaviour? We know that the Minister for Finance is doing his best to encourage tourism. That is why the bars are doing very well. These places of sin result in the birth of more babies. The Acting Minister for Culture, in reply to a question earlier, said that films depicting violence and sword fights are popular. He then becomes a "yellow" Minister. The Acting Minister for Culture (Mr Wee Toon Boon): Mr Speaker, Sir, on a point of clarification. In fact, before the Member for Delta raised this question I had, on occasion, personally met the film distributors, like the Cathay Organisation and Shaw Brothers, who produce films in Hong Kong. I raised with them the fact that there are too many films which are not of educational value, and asked them whether they would produce more films which would be of civic and educational value. Their answer was this. They said that they had, in fact, imported some of these films and found that the box-office takings were always very poor. They are therefore very reluctant to produce films which are of a serious type or have educational or civic value.”
“Sir, I would like to give an example. In the North Bridge Road vicinity, I was told that compensation is paid at the rate of $8 per square foot. But the present market price is $112 per square foot. How can there be such a big difference? Perhaps the assessor was wrong in determining the compensation rate. I would also like to add that further consideration should be given to improve the Land Acquisition Act.”
“Sir, what I meant was that the Government should compensate the landowners according to the prevailing market price of lands.”
“Sir, I wanted to say that the law on acquisition of lands should have provisions to the effect that the Government must not pay compensation at a low rate when the market price of the land is high. The rate should be dependent upon the prevailing market price of the land.”
“Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary in his explanation mentioned the Land Acquisition Act, 1966. Of course, I dare not oppose that law. But the Government should give reasonable compensation. It acquires lands at a very low price but sells them at a high price. There is no provision in the Act prohibiting such practice of the Government. The Government does not take into consideration the present market price of lands. There is a great difference in the present market price of land as compared to that in 1961.”
“Sir, does the Government intend to organise night courses at the universities to cater for the young working-class people?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to repeat what I have said before on the subject of national service. I said that when national service involved students of higher institutions, such as universities and colleges, their period of training should be reduced from two years to six months. Now the Minister, by this Bill, is increasing the period from two years to three years. I am against the Bill on this point. We should place a premium on our specialists and scholars from the higher institutions. We should give them special treatment. Why should we train them as military officers? Some people, as soon as they pick up a sword or a gun, are scared to death. We should recruit people who are of stout heart and also physically fit and train them as soldiers and officers. We should not enlist weaklings to fill military posts. I feel that the National Service (Amendment) Bill is against the spirit which I am propounding. Only people who are tall and strong should be enlisted for military training.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, since we want to develop our economy we must have more factories. We must not be choosy and should not impose restrictions. I am in full agreement with the Minister on this Bill, but I think that industries should be allowed to develop freely. For example, I mentioned the other day that the Government should set up more iron and steel mills. If there are more iron and steel mills, then their products can be sold overseas. We should therefore allow industries to develop freely. If we are choosy, then it is tantamount to having no development. 3.25 p.m.”
“Sir, the Minister said that since the target is about to be reached and the fund is going to be wound up, it is not necessary to set up a committee. But in my view, there ought to be a committee for public donations so that more money will be collected. Mr Lim Kim San: Sir, I said that there is a limit of $10 million and there is no intention of continuing with the Fund. ORDERLIES FOR GAZETTED POLICE OFFICERS (Particulars) 5. Mr N. Govindasamy asked the Minister for Defence (a) what is the number of gazetted Police officers who are provided with orderlies: (b) how many of them are engaged (i) in field work which necessitates the use of orderlies; and (ii) in administrative work which does not necessitate the use of orderlies: (c) whether probationary Assistant Superintendents of Police, who are performing the duties of Inspectors and while carrying out routine investigations accompanied by Inspectors, are also provided with orderlies: (d) whether gazetted officers, who are serving in the Reserve Units and who have the use of Riot Squad vans for carrying out field work are also provided with orderlies: (e) what is the average salary of those orderlies and what form of training they have to undergo; (f) how do these orderlies spend their working hours when they are not driving their officers on duty, and whether there are definite instructions to ensure that those orderlies are kept fully occupied during their working hours; and (g) whether he will consider setting up a common pool of drivers/orderlies for the use of officers who are engaged in field work instead of providing drivers/orderlies to every gazetted officer irrespective of the nature of work he is engaged in.”
“A committee inviting donations from the public, while advantageous in spurring up contributions, in money or in kind, might be construed as an instrument to coerce the public to contribute. Singapore is a society of very civic-minded people who contribute financially to many causes, and to those who can well afford it, I am sure they would willingly step forward to contribute to the National Defence Fund without any pressure.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we can make use of Saturdays and Sundays to train these graduates. Of course, six months may not be sufficient, but we can find ways and means to give them additional training. NATIONAL DEFENCE FUND (Setting up of committee for public donations) 4. Mr Lee Teck Him asked the Minister for Defence whether he has any intention of setting up a committee for the purpose of inviting the public to donate to the National Defence Fund. Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, I stated late last year that the target set for the National Defence Fund is $10 million. At present, the fund stands at $8,343,897.84 as at 28th March, 1969. The National Defence Fund was officially set up on 29th January, 1968, as the result of spontaneous contributions towards national defence by some groups of citizens. Since then, donations from people from all walks of life, such as school children, taxi-drivers, hawkers, business concerns and Government departments, have been spontaneous, indicating a strong sense of loyalty and concern among the people. At this juncture, then, to set up a committee to invite donations from the public, in order to raise another $1.7 million more, would seem unnecessary, as most people are well aware of the existence of the National Defence Fund. I am sure, with some contributions from the large foreign and local firms in Singapore, the target would be easily reached. Contributions from the public must be voluntary, and must be willingly given by the people as the result of a sense of national pride and an awareness of the imminent importance of building up a defence capability.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer given by the Minister was not what I was asking for. What I asked was that two years training should be reduced to six months. He has not answered that point.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am not satisfied with the reply given by the Minister. He said that it requires one year to train an officer, but graduates after passing out must have learnt a lot either in the field of science or art. They are scholars. So how can they be turned into soldiers? In my view, it is wrong. Graduates are specialists in their own fields and I feel they should contribute their specialities to the needs of our society instead of wasting their time in the army. Therefore, I think six months of training will suffice for them. I also feel that many people will oppose the continuation of two years' national service. Our country is not at war and there is no need to turn scholars into soldiers. Parents have spent a lot of money on the education of their children ---”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I must thank the Minister for Communications for giving me a very satisfactory reply. We know that there are numerous shipping companies which are registered in Singapore. These shipping companies should be requested to get rid of the foreign seamen they employ and replace them with Singapore seamen. By doing so, we will be able to solve our unemployment problem to a certain extent. Furthermore, there are many other methods of training these seamen. For example, a Chinese businessman begins his career as an apprentice doing odd jobs. So we should train our seamen on the same basis. We should request these foreign shipping companies to take on a few apprentices from amongst our citizens to do odd jobs in the ship. There need not be any formal training in the beginning, because instructors have to be employed and this involves paying them salaries. It is therefore a good idea for apprentices to begin training in a shipping company first. NATIONAL SERVICE (Reduction of period for graduates with specialist qualifications) The following Questions stood in the name of Mr Lee Teck Him - 19. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will consider reducing the period of national service from two years to six months for graduates who have specialist qualifications. NATIONAL DEFENCE FUND (Setting up of committee for public donations) 20. To ask the Minister for Defence whether he has any intention of setting up a committee for the purpose of inviting the public to donate to the National Defence Fund.”
“Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary did not answer my question. He said that the Government intends to continue with the Senior Cambridge Examination. As Singapore is now an independent country, we should conduct examinations ourselves. We should not allow Cambridge University or any other body to conduct this kind of examination in our country. The reason is that it takes a long time for the certificates to arrive and the candidates have to wait a very long time before they can seek employment or enrol in institutions of higher learning. NANYANG UNIVERSITY GRADUATES IN TEACHING SERVICE (Particulars) 14. Mr Tay Boon Too asked the Minister for Education (a) how many Nanyang University graduates have served as teachers in (i) Government Chinese secondary schools; (ii) Government-aided Chinese secondary schools; (iii) Integrated secondary schools; and (iv) other secondary schools up to the end of February, 1969; (b) how many of those teachers have been promoted to the post of principal; and (c) whether he will consider taking steps to enable more trained Nanyang graduate teachers to be appointed principals in the Chinese secondary schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have no intention to argue with you but I am not satisfied with the Parliamentary Secretary's answer.”
“Mr Eric Cheong Yuen Chee asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour whether the Government proposes to provide a retraining scheme for retrenched workers in the private sector similar to that offered to retrenched workers of the British military establishments.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, if the Minister for Finance says that the P.U.B, tax is not aimed at the poor, I am prepared to withdraw my question. RETRENCHED WORKERS (Figures) 9. Mr Eric Cheong Yuen Chee asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour what is the number of workers retrenched during each of the years 1966 to 1968, and what is the percentage of these numbers in the private sector. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Labour (Mr Sia Kah Hui) (for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour): Mr Speaker, Sir, the British Armed Forces commenced their retrenchment exercise sometime in mid 1967, and during that year declared 479 civilian employees redundant. In 1968, 4,340 civilian employees were declared redundant, of whom 3.293 ex-employees of the British Navy were employed by the Government-owned Sembawang Shipyard as from 1st December, 1968. In the private sector the number of workers retrenched during each of the years 1966 to 1968 is as follows: In 1966 there were six firms involved and 94 workers were retrenched. In 1967 there were 13 firms involved and 322 workers were retrenched. In 1968 there were 11 firms involved and 390 workers were retrenched. Based on the figures available in the Ministry of Labour, the total number of workers retrenched in 1966 was 94, all of whom were employed in the private sector. In 1967 a total of 801 workers were retrenched, of whom about 40 per cent were from the private sector. In 1968 a total of 4,730 workers were retrenched, of whom only about eight per cent came from the private sector. RETRENCHED WORKERS IN PRIVATE SECTOR (Retraining schemes) 10.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, my point is this. We need to build up our national defence. To achieve this, we need to aim at the rich. We should not aim at the poor by increasing the tax on P.U.B. bills. This is making the burden heavier on the poor. What we should do is to aim at the rich.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister for Finance says that my proposal has no merit. I think he is mistaken. The advantage of my proposal is that we would be able to buy aeroplanes. Right now the money in the National Defence Fund is not sufficient to buy even one aeroplane. What can we do? Of course, we have to aim at the rich. The Minister for Finance also says that investors would be discouraged from investing in Singapore. Actually I am aiming at Singapore citizens. On an investment of $100,000, they should be taxed $1,000. On $1 million, they should be taxed $30,000.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in my view, one iron and steel mill is not good enough, because our country is in the process of development, and consumption of iron and steel is very high. For this reason, we should have a quota system. We should have a few iron and steel mills in Singapore. I have heard people saying that -”