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 3 of 3.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I heard the Minister say that he is prepared to make any clarification which the Members wish to ask for. Can I raise my doubt and seek clarification?”
“Regarding payment for car parking and the building of parking lots, of course, the tenants are very grateful. But the fees levied are a bit high because it is getting more and more difficult to earn a living nowadays, and on top of that the tenants have to pay quite a high fee for parking. Therefore, I suggest that the fee should be reduced. As regards car parking in Tiong Bahru, many tenants have complained to me that ---”
“Sir, thank you very much. I would like to add something more. If the foundation is not soundly laid, no tall building can be constructed thereon. So if Primary 1 and Primary 2, which should be construed as the foundation of a building, are not soundly laid, then how can any high structures be built on that basis? I would like to ask the Minister whether my explanation is correct.”
“Sir, the Minister has just now given us an explanation. But I am not quite satisfied with that, because we know that pupils in Primary 1 and Primary 2 are not capable of thinking for themselves. So we should not allow them to be promoted automatically if they are not qualified. We should know that studying is like building a house. In order to build a multi-storey house, the foundations should be deeper and the piling should be stronger. The deeper the piling, the stronger will be the structure.”
“Thank you, Sir. We should look into this situation where many manufacturers are now selling their products direct to the retailers. The manufacturers ought to sell their goods to the wholesalers or agents so that they may make a living. If the manufacturers sell direct to the consumers, to me or to you, how are they going to make a living? They must sell to the wholesalers. It should be the case for manufacturers to sell to wholesalers.”
“Sir, allow me several minutes more to ask another question.”
“Sir, I do not quite understand what the Minister has said. What I asked is that manufacturers should sell their goods to the wholesalers and not direct to the retailers. I would like the Minister to pay attention to this point. The reason is that manufacturers are producing in large quantities. If the goods are not sold to the wholesalers or the agents, then the wholesalers and the agents will not have any goods to sell to the retailers and consumers. If the manufacturers sell direct to the retailers, what are the wholesalers or agents going to do?”
“Sir, what I asked in my question is about manufacturers selling their goods to retailers direct, which is not the correct way of doing business. Will the Minister answer to the point?”
“According to the Minister, of course, this is very good. But for the local factories which are not producing enough, I hope the quota system will be more liberalised in order to meet the demands of the consumers. Ours is a trading city and we should enable the traders to do their business under better conditions.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State's answer was not according to what I had asked. When I say that there is a necessity for such a school, he says that there is no such necessity. He says that there are many schools around the area. There are more and more people coming into this area, and yet he says that the population does not justify the setting up of such a school. So can he give me a satisfactory answer?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State has said that there is no immediate plan to set up an integrated primary school in Jalan Membina. Perhaps he has not looked into his records, because there are two schools for two years in this place. Maybe the former Minister for Education, Mr --- Mr Speaker: Mr Lee, please resume your seat. Mr Lee Teck Him resumed his seat.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, will the Minister concerned speed up the work of building a community centre in that area?”
“At Jalan Membina in Tiong Bahru a community centre was planned as far back as two years ago. I also took the Director of the People's Association to the site to look at the place. Two years have passed. I am afraid the Minister is not aware of this fact. What I mean to say is that there are many new flats and houses there, and it is a heavily populated area. Mr Speaker: Mr Lee, could you frame a supplementary question rather than make a speech or criticism of the Minister's answer?”
“And it does not mean that divorce means getting married again.”
“Very often women want to climb over the head of men. If men do not claim divorce, they should. I do not encourage divorces. We should understand that divorce is painful. Mr Speaker, Sir, we should direct our remarks to the seven-year period. I feel that it should not be so long. If they do not wish to reconcile, it would not work. Even after 70 years, they would not reconcile if they do not wish to. The most important thing between the husband and wife is a feeling for each other. Without this feeling, there is nothing left. Just now the Member for Delta has said that men can go out and misbehave. Women too can do likewise. So do you want the men to be some sort of "tortoise"? Seven years is too long. It is not practicable. I would suggest one year. If there is no feeling between the husband and wife, what is the use of carrying on for seven years? Can they be reconciled? They cannot if there is no feeling for each other. The most important thing in marriage is that the husband and wife must feel for each other. The Member for Delta has said that most men want to get concubines or to get married once more. Whose fault is this? I can say that it is the fault of the women who are willing to be concubines to men. Why do they allow men to get concubines? This may be due to some sort of encouragement by women. If a man has two wives, of course, he has done wrong. But the woman who is willing to be his second wife is also to blame. If a woman has two husbands, whose fault is it? Of course, it is the fault of the woman. So we must decide each case on its merits or demerits. What I mean is do not encourage all to get a divorce. But when it is necessary to get a divorce, we must do so; and when it is not necessary to get a divorce, we should not.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we are now discussing the Women's Charter. Originally I did not intend to speak. But having heard the speeches by various Members, I am compelled to say something on this matter. Apart from the fact that women have always accused men of having done some misdeeds, they have always said that it is not the men who are the victims, and divorce always puts women, not men, in a disadvantageous position. There is a Hokkien saying about a woman being an Oh you tan. In such a case, if the man does not want to get a divorce, then would he have to become a "tortoise" of some sort? Can a man endure this without divorce? It is very correct then for him to seek a divorce. Divorce is a misfortune for the children. Who suffers? It is the children who suffer. I say that to get a divorce would be like getting rid of the sores or boils on the body. If the boil is not cut off, it will enlarge and endanger other parts of the body. So I feel that it is justifiable to get a divorce on reasonable grounds. If it is true that a divorce will encourage a man to get married to another woman, then I will oppose such a thing. I disagree with the saying that divorce means another marriage. It is not correct. Who will do that? Some women will do that. It is not something men can help. If a woman does not want to get married to a married man, what can the man do? Who will be wrong? It is such a woman who is wrong. Who entice the men? It is the women who use their feminine wiles to entice the men. So I say that when women have done something wrong, they should not claim that the men have wronged them. The Chinese have a saying: If you marry a dog you follow the dog; if you marry a cock, you follow the cock. But in Singapore this is different.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to say something on the National Service (Amendment) Bill. I support it. We know that it is very meaningful as well as important. But some people do not want to join national service. Do they still believe in the old saying that good boys should not become soldiers? I will go a step further and say that women should also take up national service because they are also part of our population. They should also shoulder the same responsibility as men, to be soldiers and defend our country. We should not forget that this old Chinese saying, that good boys should not become soldiers, was evolved when soldiers were meant to protect the interests of the emperors and not the interests of the country. Therefore, the people then were unwilling to become soldiers. That is the reason that brought about this saying. But now the situation is different. In China today the people glorify the fact that they can become soldiers. So it seems that at present China is a country where everybody is a soldier. In the Middle East countries such as Israel, every man and every woman is a soldier. I would like to lend my support to the National Service (Amendment) Bill. I stress the point that not only men but also women should join national service. This is not with the intention to invade other territories or to rob others of their property. No. This is only in keeping with our national policy. We have to have our own national defence force to maintain our internal security and also prevent foreign aggression, and we will maintain a neutral position by making as many friends as possible with other countries. It is very significant and meaningful that we have this national service. I support this Bill. 5.49 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, just now I was privileged to hear a Member on my side, the Opposition side, saying that at the present moment there is an unfavourable balance of trade in Singapore, which is very dangerous to us. We should take remedial action in this respect. The Finance Minister should have more courage. The Member for River Valley has said that we should have more trade with Indonesia. This is very true and correct, but our Minister in his reply just now did not seem to have enough courage to open up more trade with Indonesia. I am saying this, Mr Speaker, because I was living in Indonesia for quite some time and knew about the conditions there. A local banker has just returned from Djakarta and he has spoken to me on certain matters. According to him, the Government and people of Indonesia would very much welcome our Singapore Government to send a trade mission to Indonesia to have further talks. Except for some technicalities to be taken care of, the time is ripe for us to do this. What I am trying to say is that our able Minister for Finance should have sufficient courage to send someone over there to talk with them, because in the past there were strong economic and commercial ties between the two countries, and trade with Indonesia constituted about 30 per cent of our total trade.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, our nation lays great emphasis on education. This can be seen especially when we are conducting every year primary school combined examinations and secondary school combined examinations with the object of checking the progress of students. This is very good. But if it is too good, then, of course, it will be excessive. There are principals of certain schools who are really not good. Although some students obtain over 60 per cent marks, they are asked to leave school to ensure that the school can get a better pass percentage in the combined examinations. What is the reason for this? I cannot understand it. If the students of a certain school get worse results than those of other schools, then there may be some reason for getting rid of the students. Just now the Member opposite me said that he had been a principal. I was teaching in Indonesia before, and almost half of the students in my class could not pass an examination. I gave them extra tuition and many of them managed to become good students. So it is against the principle of education to sack students for poor results, more so as these students have around 65 per cent marks, just for prestige. You do not have to spend more time on the clever students. The bad students need more of the teacher's time and energy. So I hope that the Minister for Education will pay more attention to this and direct principals of schools not to sack such students. We should not chase them out of school but we should ask them to come back and improve their education so that they will be able to get 70, 80 or 90 per cent marks. It is not right to ask students to leave school so that the school can improve its passing percentage in the combined examinations, and therefore does not compare badly with other schools.”
“Mr Speaker, I just mention this in passing, because we are now going into the merits and demerits of the Ministry. It is not just a flatter of the livelihood of the farmers but other matters, such as maladministration, which must be taken into account. Mr Speaker, you want me to come back to the proper issue, so I shall come back now. I feel that the means of livelihood of the farmers is of paramount importance and special attention must be paid to it. As in the past, the Government has acquired a lot of land for reallocation to farmers. This should be done here. Madam Chan Choy Siong(In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, I wish to join in the debate because I have certain suggestions to make. The first is that the Government should reconsider its policy towards the farmers. Secondly, the Minister or the department concerned, that is, the Resettlement Section, must set up a committee comprising, in particular, Members of Parliament for the rural areas and constituencies and officers of the department concerned. This committee will be in charge of resettlement as a whole. Thirdly, a policy must be formulated to assist the farmers on a comprehensive basis so that they will not suffer great hardships and will be given an opportunity to carry on their farming activities.”
“Yes, I will come back, Mr Speaker. The most important thing is the administrative work. The officer in charge of administration should not do things as he pleases. The failure in certain respects is not the fault of the Minister or the Parliamentary Secretary. It is the fault of the administrative head, because he took a dictatorial course of action. He was stubborn in some cases. He took action without consulting the Minister in charge. He went his own way. Sometimes, of course, the Minister was to be blamed because he did not seem to know many things. Yes, it is true. Regarding the sale of the Tiong Bahru flats, no valuation was made. The Minister did not know. Did he know? No. Mr Barker rose - Mr Lee Teck Him resumed his seat.”
“Mr Speaker, today I am sitting in the Opposition's place and so I shall stand up and say what is right and what is wrong without any favour, fear or ill-will. Mr Speaker, the Member for Bras Basah has made an adjournment speech on the resettlement of farmers. Formerly I was an official in the Resettlement Section of the Government and I know more than he does. Resettlement is within the jurisdiction of the Minister for National Development. There are merits and demerits in the work done by the Primary Production Department. What are the merits? The merits are that the Government is looking after the housing needs of the people. The Housing and Development Board has undertaken a massive housing programme. But in other respects there are defects. What are the defects and demerits of the Ministry concerned? Although I am in the Opposition seat, I will say what is right and what is wrong. In the case of resettlement of farmers, there was no compensation paid in the beginning. In some cases no alternative accommodation was allotted. In some cases farmers received $500 or $1,000 as compensation for resettlement, but they had no alternative accommodation. This is a defect. Later on the situation was improved. The farmers got alternative accommodation plus compensation. Still later on they got two acres for farming. This is, of course, right. But now they say they do not have enough farming land. If you do not give them the land, how could you expect them to live? This is the defect or the demerit, as I have already said. Again the Chairman, Mr Tan Kia Gan, what type ofperson was he when he was in the Ministry of National Development? He sold the flats in the Tiong Bahru area without proper valuation by the Valuation Officer. This again was a defect. How can you -”
“This is to lessen the difficulties of the people concerned. The practice at the moment is that a notice is issued after only seven days of the due date. Several days after the issue of this notice, another notice is issued to the occupier to quit the house. The first notice is to demand the payment of rent, and the second is to evict the occupier and also demand the payment of all rents due. In my view, this measure is a bit too harsh, because, in addition to the arrears of rent, there are other payments to be made on receipt of the second notice. So I hope that the Housing Board will take a more liberal view in this regard and not just issue eviction notices which will affect the livelihood of the people concerned. I hope the authorities will take steps to rectify these measures in the interests of the people. 5.24 p.m.”
“It shows that the people are very discerning and they have seen through the tactics and intrigues of the Barisan Sosialis. That is why they have met with disaster after disaster anti failure after failure. Mr Speaker, Sir, the Barisan Sosialis have also said that our independence on the 9th August is not "correct". We should realise that Malaysia and Singapore are economically inter-dependent. One State relies on the other for existence, it is just like a human being, made up of flesh and blood. So it is not possible for one to have only skin without flesh, or flesh without skin. That is the relationship between Singapore and Malaysia. The logical conclusion, therefore, is the coming together of the two territories. Our Prime Minister, and also our Minister for Finance, have said that the two countries should co-operate economically and work closely together in order to bring about a better standard of living for the two halves of one body of people. For next year there is about $500 million in revenue, and expenditure will be slightly less than that, and in the end, there will be a small surplus of about a few million dollars. From this, we can see that our economy is stable. It is a sound economy. Mr Speaker, Sir, in March this year the Ministry of National Development sold the pre-war Tiong Bahru houses in order to permit the people to own their own homes. As one who resides in this area, I wish to express my thanks on behalf of the residents in Tiong Bahru to the Government. Talking of the rents of these houses, I suggest that those who cannot pay the initial deposit on rents should he given generous consideration. One month's notice of such payment should be given to these people, and only then can any action be taken.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I express my support for the Motion of Thanks to the Yang di-Pertuan Negara for his policy Speech. In the Speech it is stated that the Government would treat all races equally, safeguard their rights and interests, and realise a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-lingual society. I fully support this policy. Our country has been independent for four months now and many countries have recognised our independence and sovereignty. The majority of Afro-Asian countries have established foreign or trade relations with us. Our purpose is to survive. In order to survive, we have to get as many countries as possible to befriend us and to open up international markets so that we can maintain our economic standards. International markets are very important to us. But the eight Barisan Sosialis Members opposite have chosen to boycott this Session. They have denounced our parliamentary democracy as false and our independence as phoney. I would like to ask them: why do they not boycott their allowance of $500 each per month? Just look at them. They want the money but they do not want to carry out their responsibility or do any work. They are irresponsible in this respect. There should he by-elections to decide their seats. They have all along been inducing the workers to go on strike and to carry out all sorts of activities to sabotage our national development programme and to overthrow our Government, so that they can have the opportunity to take over and rule the country. But their subversive activities can never succeed. They have been saying this: drive out the British bases here and make friends with Indonesia and the Communists of other countries. If such actions were possible, why have they failed?”