Lee Yock Suan
Singapore
“The position will be clear when the regulations have been drafted. Right now we are debating it in the absence of actual wording of the regulations. The regulations will be fair, they are meant to maintain a level playing field, and we should wait for the regulations before we pass judgement. The intention is not to go after everybody.”
“I think the Member will be aware that Internet is a very dangerous place. We can have all kinds of poison letters and they will just spread like wild fire. So we must have some means to try and minimise this and make sure that everything is orderly and fair.”
“The other Members have no problem supporting the Bill, including Mr Chiam. I think the position is about 95% clear. 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 Lee Yock Suan].”
“Then we will have to see the actual situation. But, as I said, the intention is to go after the popular sites, the main sites of parties and non-party political sites. If it is an individual, eg, a young man posting up his own site and saying "These are my views", we are not going to go after those people.”
“The intention is to make the rules clear for the main parties involved in the contest, in other words, the party websites. These are the areas we are mainly after.”
“I thank Mr Chiam for reminding me about his question. On listening to his speech, I was under the impression that he was asking whether this ban on opinion polls applies to the mass media. The answer is yes, it applies to all media, not just the Internet but also newspapers, TV and so on. Thank you for pointing this out.”
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“Sir, these BEST classes are jointly organized by NTUC and PAP.”
“As 2DPM has explained, in the case of the SDP member who worked for BEST, he was employed by a political party, the PAP. PAP employed him. So if he has acted against the interests of the PAP, the PAP has full rights to sack him. For example, if one of Mr Chiam's workers in SDP were to stand against him, against the SDP, would he condone it? This is the point. The employer is a political party, and somebody who stands against the party is an employee; so you must sack him. There were other cases, I think, of trade union leaders who were properly elected. The members decided at proper meetings to remove them because they were acting against the interest of the trade union.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I would like to thank the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the NTUC for clarifying the issue. I think he has more facts at hand than I have.”
“Sir, although Mr Chiam did not mention it, I think he was alluding to the sacking of some NTUC employees because they took part in the elections and stood against the PAP. The NTUC is a very special organization. In most countries, for example in UK, the labour movement, the trade unions are with the Labour Party and it is very common in these countries for the workers and unions to support a particular political party. Having supported and subscribed to the ideals of the party, they should not turn round and say, "Look. Now I want to contest against you." We must take this problem in its right context that, in this particular case, the close link between the NTUC and the PAP is well-known to everybody. If you ask any student, he will know it. The NTUC and the PAP have always been working together in struggling for independence and they have worked together to bring Singapore to what it is today. It is proper that in an organization like that which has obvious political connections, they should expect their members to follow and uphold the same ideals.”
“So we have to take tough action against these people and, as recent reports show, the measures have been effective although some Members had reservations at first. As for the illegal immigrant himself, if he comes in here without the proper approvals, he is liable to mandatory caning of three strokes or more plus jail of three months or more up to two years. In the case of an overstayer, the penalty depends on the duration of overstay. If it is 90 days or less, the maximum penalty is $4,000 fine plus six months jail. If it is more than 90 days, the same penalty of caning will apply. As I said, my Ministry administers the Regulation of Employment Act which covers the issue of work permits, illegal employment and so on. This Act will apply to a lot of workers, Malaysians and others, who come here and work whilst holding valid social visit passes. They are working without work permits and therefore are working illegally. If these people are caught, both the employer and the worker are liable to a fine of up to $5,000 per charge, in other words, per worker - if it is 100 workers, you multiply by 100 - or imprisonment of up to one year or both. In view of the increasing levy, we have been asking the courts to impose deterrent sentences on the offenders and indeed they have done so. But my own feeling is that the penalties are still on the low side. So my Ministry will be reviewing this problem and, if need be, we will have to enhance the penalties to tackle this problem. As to how the contractors should go about applying for work permits, I think they are quite clear about this. There is no difficulty. They are probably aware of the ratio control as well. The main thing is they must come and apply, go through the proper process and pay the levy.”
“Besides construction, illegal workers are also commonly found in other approved sectors, such as shipyards and manufacturing. For example, last year, my Ministry caught about 1,600 illegal workers and the majority of these, something like 70%, were in fact from the approved sectors. The other point of clarification is that recent changes were made to the Immigration Act. This has to do with illegal entry into Singapore without valid travel documents or overstaying in Singapore, ie staying beyond the permitted period. For illegal employment, there is another Act which is the Regulation of Employment Act administered by my Ministry. That Act has not been touched. If an employer were to be caught with illegal immigrants who had come into Singapore illegally he will be charged under the Immigration Act which provides for a mandatory jail sentence of six months or more plus a fine of up to $6,000 for the employer. Employers should be very careful from now on and check all the travel documents of their workers, as indeed they are doing. There is a further point and, that is, a new presumption clause has been introduced recently. This provides that if an illegal immigrant is caught on the premises of the employer and is found to be working with tools, for example, the employer cannot simply say, "I don't know about him. It is somebody else's problem." Employers will have to face up to the problem and they also face the possibility of a jail sentence of six months or more because illegal immigration is a very serious problem in Singapore. Many of these illegal immigrants come in without proper screening and get involved in criminal activities or they could be tempted to come and stay here permanently.”
“I think he has given an interesting comparison of what the rates are even after the 4% increase, if it comes into effect this year, as compared to the rates before the recession. These factors will be considered and if the economy permits I am in favour of the increase by 4% for the employers this year and a reduction of 2% on the employees' side; and if possible, a repetition next year to reach the final stage. He has also commented on the problem of illegal workers. Here I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points. Firstly, I need to correct a misconception that these workers were recruited because the employers could not get work permits. As I mentioned just now, most of these illegal workers are from the construction sector which has been granted permits liberally to recruit not only traditional source workers but also NTS (non-traditional source) workers, the Thais for example. A very likely reason why employers have resorted to these illegal workers is that they were trying to evade the levy. At $250 per month from July, if they can evade levy for one year, it is already a saving of $3,000. As the levy increases, the temptation to evade levy will also increase. It is necessary for us to impose this levy on construction workers because we want to try and retain and, if possible, build up a core of local construction workers. These foreigners are willing to work here for as low as $15-$16 a day which is maybe half or one third of what local workers can get. Unless we have proper controls through the levy and also through a ratio imposed by the Construction and Industry Development Board, which is one local worker to one foreign worker, then very soon there will be no more local construction workers left.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I propose to take the second topic first, job advertisements. It is a shorter response. I agree entirely with the Member that employers should not specify race, sex, age or even religion, in job advertisements. As the Member has said, employers are free to set conditions and criteria that can best suit the needs of the job. However, they should be sensitive to the ethos of our multi-racial and multi-religious society. Therefore, race and religion should not feature as criteria for employment. Of course, there may be certain jobs where you require the person to be able to speak Chinese or Malay or Indian but that should be looked at from the point of view of a skill or a particular requirement of that job rather than, for example, requiring clerks to be Indians or Malays or whatever just because of a personal preference for that particular group. I agree with him that the candidate should be selected on the basis that he or she is best suited for the job on account of qualifications, skills, experience and other relevant criteria. Some Members have previously suggested that we resort to legislation to deal with this problem. Personally, I do not think we have come to that stage yet. In fact, I think the number of employers who have stipulated, for example, religion, is very small and I think we should all try and use social pressure and persuasion to get them to change their practices. Coming back to the points raised by Mr Lim Boon Heng, I have taken note of his strong views on the need to restore the CPF back to 20% for the workers as far as the employer's portion is concerned.”
“The Member asked whether we should give assistance to these employers now that these workers have gone back. I am tempted to say that, if anything, we should punish these employers because they were the root cause of this illegal employment problem. Some of them may be in cahoots with traffickers to try and avoid levy and save on wage costs. And in the process they are depressing the wages of our local workers. On the other hand, there are of course genuine contractors who need workers. The construction sector is one area where we are very liberal with work permits. We allow them to recruit not only from Malaysia, the traditional source, but also from other sources like Thailand, Philippines and so on. We welcome the Thai workers to come and work here in the construction sector but they have to do so legally. Those employers who are affected by this short-term phenomenon of the workers going back can apply for work permits and they will be processed according to the normal policy procedures and guidelines.”
“Our studies show that the average wage cost for local workers, inclusive of CPF and so on, are in fact still higher or at least comparable to the wage cost of foreign workers. These are the average rates for existing local and foreign workers. One reason for this could be that the local workers are more senior and more skilled. So this is a mixed number. If you look at starting salaries for some industries, it is possible that the foreign workers may cost more than local workers, even though the foreign workers do not have to pay CPF and employers do not have to contribute CPF. (This is an important difference). This possible higher cost of foreign workers is not unintentional. In fact, if we want to dampen the high demand for foreign workers, I think they should cost more. But the levy is a flexible instrument. If things turn bad, we may adjust it downwards. But as my colleague, the Minister for Trade and Industry has said and I agree with him fully that we should not adjust this too soon. We should allow the market to adjust first and we need to have room for expansion when the next boom comes. So even if the work permit holders were to come down a little, I would still go ahead and raise the levy to $250 per month from July. The Member also asked some questions about illegal workers. We do not know the actual number of illegal workers. In fact, personally I was surprised at the big number which has surfaced. It shows the extent of the illegal employment problem. This is something which my Ministry has to study to see what further measures will have to be taken to control this problem. The reports quoted something like 10,000 foreign Thai workers will be sent back.”
“Our studies also show that for housewives, the primary consideration is whether the hours of work are suitable for them because they have to look after their children. That is the number one consideration. The second consideration is whether the place of work is near their home. Salary comes third. For these various reasons, I am not proposing to adjust the CPF floor salary. I hope Members will understand this. The Member for Cairnhill also asked various questions about wage comparisons. I think the answers were already given by the Minister for Trade and Industry last Wednesday when he mentioned that wage increases in 1988 were as follows: 'In Singapore the wages went up by about 9%.' I am not sure whether this includes CPF. If we include the 2% CPF, it comes very close to the 11% mentioned by the Member as the figure quoted by the SNEF. In comparison, the wages in Taiwan went up by 11%, South Korea, 21% and Hong Kong, 10%. Furthermore, the exchange rates of the Taiwanese and South Korean currencies also rose significantly against the US Dollar. It is too early for me to try and guess what the wage increases would be this year. I think we will have to leave it to the NWC and the individual companies and unions to sort this out. Like the Member, the Government is very cautious that we should maintain our competitiveness relative to our competitors. I think MTI's data shows that our unit labour cost relative to the other NIE's is as competitive today as in 1981. But we must still be cautious. The Member also asked whether we have data to compare the wage cost of foreign workers and local workers. Yes, we have some wage data.”
“There are two aspects to consider. Firstly, there is the employer's CPF rate. Then there is the employee's CPF rate. As far as the employer is concerned, he has to pay CPF for all salaries above $50 per month at the full rate, which is now 12% and will be raised eventually to 20%. This is part of the CPF member's pay. If we were to propose to cut this amount, it will mean a wage cut for these people. So I think it is sensible that the Member has not proposed this approach. As far as the employee is concerned, those earning below $200 per month do not have to pay CPF. They only start paying the full CPF rate at $363 per month. At the moment, they are paying 24%. Eventually, it will go down to 20%, hopefully by next year. So the present scheme is below $200 per month, no CPF; at $200 per month, the present rate is 9%. It used to be 10%, until last year. Eventually, it will be reduced to only 5%. In other words, the lower-income groups will also enjoy the full 5% cut in the employee's rate when we reach the long-term rate. I have worked out the final CPF rates for the various salary levels. At $200, it is 5%. At $250, it is only 12%. At $300, eventually it will be 16% and only at $363 will it be the full rate. Therefore, part-time workers who are earning maybe about $250 per month are already paying a very low CPF rate. If we were to adopt this approach of raising the salary floor to $400, the result would be that it will affect some 83,000 members who are currently paid between $200 and $400. About half these members are young workers. So they are not housewives who have to be persuaded to come into the market with higher take-home pay.”
“I am fully in agreement with him, Mr Lim and also the Minister for Trade and Industry that the Government should try and restore the CPF rate by 4%, if possible, this year. And if possible, if the economy permits, by another 4% next year, so that we can reach the 20% rate from the employer side by next year. Of course, the final decision will be made in a month's time or so and a proper announcement will be made. But I think on hindsight, last year's adjustment was on the low side because we were all very cautious after the stockmarket crash. Maybe this year we can afford to take a bolder step. Personally, I would be in favour. Of course, employers and unions will have to take this into consideration in their wage negotiations. The Member also raised several points on retirement age and part-time workers. I think some other Members will be talking on this later. So if he agrees, I will postpone my response till then. The Member for Cairnhill has raised some points concerning CPF for part-time workers. Specifically, he has asked whether we can raise the CPF floor salary of $200, below which employees need not contribute to CPF. He is proposing this in order to promote part-time employment. First, may I say that it is very difficult for us to distinguish between part-time work and full-time work in administering the CPF scheme. When the CPF Board receives the salary records, it will be very difficult to tell whether it is full-time or part-time. Therefore, it will be difficult to approach this problem from the point of having a lower rate for part-time workers. And if we do, it could lead to a lot of abuses. Therefore, the other approach could be to do it from the salary point of view and this is what the Member has suggested. I have looked into this question carefully.”
“Therefore, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Lim Boon Heng and Encik Othman Eusofe that we must always safeguard the basic objectives of the CPF scheme. That is what the CPF scheme was started for in the first place. In fact, we did a careful calculation before we arrived at the 40% long-term rate. We find that the amount is only enough for housing, hospitalization and old-age financial needs, provided the members do not have this attitude that they must, for example, make use of all their Medisave now. That is a concern, in fact, which I think the Ministry of Health should look into. The attitude is: spend now rather than leave till later. Whereas the intention of the Government is to have Medisave for old age when the demands for hospitalization will be much greater. Mr Lim indicated other demands which may come up, eg, home renovation. I am surprised this time not many Members have spoken on this issue because I get some signals that this may be another topic coming up. If Members go round on their house-to-house visits, they will see how lavishly many HDB homeowners have done up their flats. It is because they use CPF to pay for the price of the flats, inclusive of interest. I think it would be wrong for Government to allow these people to further encroach upon their CPF savings in order to do up their flats lavishly. That is why I will be strongly against allowing CPF for renovation. So I hope Members will understand that the basic objective of the CPF scheme must be for the members' old-age financial security. And I also hope that they will understand if occasionally I have to say 'no' to their requests. Encik Othman Eusofe has also spoken in strong support of the need to restore the CPF rate as soon as possible.”
“In fact, with most of our workers maybe earning about $800-$1,000 median pay, the cost of local tertiary education is not cheap, not any more with the fees going up. So I am sure many of the students and their parents will be greatly relieved that we are going to allow the CPF to be used from July this year. In fact, many of these parents find difficulty in paying for the transportation, the hostel fees, the meals and so on, not counting the fees. So this scheme will benefit the majority of the CPF members and that must always be the purpose of the scheme. Those who are lobbying to go overseas are generally the ones who are better off. But we are concerned that once we open up, then the pressure will be on the others who cannot really afford to try and keep up with the Joneses. For example, the course for medicine in some US universities may cost as much as $300,000. Even at $100,000, it will be very difficult for the student to repay after he graduates. You can easily do the sums. A hefty repayment is needed every month. The problem will be even bigger if the student fails for some reason. We are therefore putting the parent's CPF at risk. Of course, the CPF Board will try its best to enforce repayment. But I think there will be considerable difficulties in some cases. Then there will be others who are tempted to go overseas. They may go into courses which are not really reputable or of dubious quality. Then they come back with a piece of paper. And they find that the jobs that they can get are really not up to their expectations. There have been cases of people like that, people who leave the Police Force to go and do some degree. They come back and find that they are really not doing any better than before. So the investment would have been wasted in those cases.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank all the Members who have spoken on this issue of CPF. Perhaps I should respond on this question first before moving to the other issues. Understandably, this question of CPF for education has aroused some debate today. I am happy to note that Dr Tan Cheng Bock has at least agreed to give the scheme a try. And meanwhile, of course, we can discuss the scheme further and look at all the angles. He will try and persuade me, of course, and I will try and persuade him as well to my point of view. One of the basic objections I had when I resisted opening up the scheme for education is that members have very low CPF balances. Yesterday, I mentioned that out of about 1 million CPF members, only about half will have more than the minimum sum of $30,900 in their accounts including sums withdrawn for housing. This point was referred to by the Chairman of the GPC for Labour, Mr Lim. In fact, out of the half a million members who can take part, another 300,000 have less than $10,000 investible savings. In other words, if you add the $30,900 to the $10,000, they have in fact less than $41,000 in their CPF accounts, inclusive of the amounts withdrawn for housing. The basic problem is that most CPF members - in fact, 80% of active members - have very low savings. So this question of overseas education is, in fact, irrelevant to them. They simply cannot afford. Of course, those who have the savings are trying to get at their CPF and we can expect pressure from them. Yesterday, one of the Members, Dr Aline Wong, said this scheme is really tokenism. This is not true because the scheme can benefit some 45,000 students who are presently studying in NUS, NTI and the polytechnics. This number is much more than the number who are studying overseas.”
“Sir, I believe the other half can only be granted to hardship cases, whereas this CPF education scheme is applicable to everybody. Another difference with the NUS scheme is that the NUS loan scheme is interest-free until graduation. Once the child graduates, he pays interest, I believe, at the prime rate, whereas the CPF scheme will be at CPF rate all the way through. CPF members will have a choice - they can have either the full CPF loan or CPF-half NUS, or whatever. It is a further liberalization of the CPF scheme. MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1989 TO 31ST MARCH, 1990 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [8th Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] 12.50 pm Head N (cont.) -”
“Sir, the NUS and NTI schemes can only cover half the fees, not the full fees. So there is already a doubling of the amount that can be borrowed. And if you look at the cost of studying Medicine, for example, at the new fees of $7,200 per year, if it is a five-year course, it would be $36,000. So the amount that can be withdrawn is fairly substantial. In fact, the scheme will benefit a big number of borrowers. Most of the members can only afford to send their children to local universities, either the NUS, NTI, or the polytechnics. Therefore, by so allowing, and I mentioned that half a million members can qualify, the majority will already benefit. The ones who can send their children overseas are, in fact, the minority.”
“Sir, for foreign or external students studying in Singapore, the question is whether they or their parents have CPF in Singapore. If they do, then I think we should allow them, if they are CPF members. As for polytechnics in Singapore, the answer is yes. He may not have heard it clearly but polytechnics qualify polytechnics qualify as tertiary institutions. So we should allow them. In the case of overseas education, if we allow CPF members to withdraw up to the limit of the local fees, I think the sums that can be withdrawn will be very small in relation to the cost of the overseas training. On the other hand, once we allow that, then we are conceding the principle that we can allow for overseas education. Therefore, the Government has considered all the pros and cons and decided "no" for overseas education.”
“Sir, I do not see the need for referring this to a Select Committee. I think the amendments will be straightforward. The problems are more of the philosophy and the attitudes - whether people feel that the scheme should be more liberal, for example, to allow for overseas education. We have good reasons, as I have said, why the scheme has to be this way. From the point of view of the CPF Board, we have to safeguard the basic objective of the scheme which is to ensure that a member has enough savings for his old age and that is why we have requested for a guarantor. We expect that the guarantor would most likely be a friend or a relative. So at the very least there will be additional moral pressure on the borrower to repay the amount. This is the same way as in the case of the NUS and NTI scheme and also for other CPF schemes where we try to make sure that the safeguards are there to protect the funds for the member's old age. The $30,900, as I have said, is just enough to live on after age 60 at almost $300 ( I think the new figure is $245) per month. This is only enough to cover subsistence living. To live at a reasonable standard and to maintain the standard of living after leaving his job, a member needs much more than this. In fact, he needs the full 40% CPF.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have said, the CPF scheme will allow CPF members to withdraw CPF savings not only for their children's education but also for their own education. As to whether it can be allowed for, Ph.D courses overseas, the answer is "yes" for Ph.D courses but "no" to overseas for the reasons I have already stated. In case of default, the CPF Board will have to try and recover the money from the child or from the borrower. One way could be to have it in the law that the CPF Board can request the employer to deduct the repayment instalments from the borrower's salary. We are still in the process of drafting the amendments. The point is if we allow a member, say, the parent, to waive the repayment we could be placing the parents in a difficult position when they are pressurized by their children. We want to be careful not to allow this scheme to degenerate into an early withdrawal scheme. Therefore, we must insist on repayment.”
“Besides the loan document, a guarantor will be required as in the case of the NUS or NTI loan scheme. This is similar to the charge on a property bought with CPF funds. The education loan will carry interest pegged at the CPF rate. Interest will be calculated from the date funds are withdrawn. There will be a charge by the CPF Board to cover the cost of administering the scheme. The borrower will be allowed up to 10 years to repay the loan plus interest. He will be required to start repaying within one year after graduation or leaving the course for whatever reason. Repayment will be in cash. Otherwise it could lead to his CPF savings being siphoned to his parent's CPF account and thereafter withdrawn prematurely. Repayment will continue even if the lender has reached the age of 55 years. This is to prevent the scheme from degenerating into an early withdrawal scheme. Under existing CPF rules, money repaid into the member's account after age 55 will be withdrawable when the lender reaches the age of 58 years and every third year thereafter. The CPF Education Scheme will be implemented after the necessary amendments have been made to the CPF Act. As this will take time, the amendments will be back-dated, if necessary, to enable the scheme to be implemented from the new academic year in July.”
“The Scheme will be confined to full-time degree or diploma courses at the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological Institute, the Singapore Polytechnic and the Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The amount members will be allowed to withdraw will be limited to the full tuition fees for the approved courses, and to 40% of their CPF balances in excess of the minimum sum (as for the Approved Investments Scheme), whichever is the lower. Sir, the scheme will not cover overseas tertiary institutions. Overseas tertiary education is extremely expensive. A three or four year course will easily cost more than S$100,000. This is far more than the CPF balances of most Singaporeans. Parents who can contemplate sending their children on such courses are likely to have substantial income. If we allow those who do not have such resources to use CPF for overseas tertiary education, we will be placing many of them under great pressure to send their children overseas when they really cannot afford to do so. Furthermore, overseas institutions and courses vary enormously in type and quality. The Government is in no position to assess, much less pass judgment on, the quality of foreign tertiary institutions, whether individually or by categories. To approve some institutions while excluding others will lead to contention. Yet to allow Singaporeans to use their CPF for all of them, regardless of the character of the institutions, will be irresponsible. The Government has therefore chosen a cautious approach in implementing the CPF Education Scheme, and excluded overseas institutions altogether. Like the other CPF investment schemes, there will have to be adequate safeguards to ensure repayment to the members' CPF accounts.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am pleased to inform the House that the study on the use of CPF for local tertiary education has been completed. The new scheme will allow CPF members to invest part of their CPF savings in tertiary education for themselves and their children. It will be called the 'CPF Education Scheme'. In drawing up the Scheme, my Ministry was guided by one basic principle, namely, that the fundamental objective of the CPF scheme should be safeguarded. CPF savings are to provide for the old-age needs of the CPF members themselves. Any investment of CPF in education must not violate this primary objective. The CPF Education Scheme is therefore basically a loan scheme. Any CPF withdrawn for education must be fully repaid with interest to the original CPF account. With the long-term CPF contribution rate set at 40%, most CPF members will have just about enough to pay for their housing, Medisave and old-age needs if there is no leakage for other purposes. As with the Approved Investments Scheme, a CPF member must have at least the minimum sum of $30,900 in his Ordinary Account (inclusive of amounts withdrawn for housing), before he can participate in the CPF Education Scheme. Should the investment fail or if the loan is not fully repaid for whatever reason, he will have at least the minimum sum to survive on at subsistence level. The minimum sum is only enough for subsistence living. Altogether about 500,000 or half a million members with CPF savings exceeding $30,900 will be eligible to participate in the Scheme. This constitutes 51% of the active CPF members. The number and proportion will increase as members build up their savings.”
“Sir, there is a definite role for the Opposition if they are a constructive Opposition. In the case of the CCs, the facilities are available to the public, whether they be PAP supporters or Opposition supporters. They can come in and use the facilities to play games, to learn how to arrange flowers, to cook Chinese dishes, and so on, but at the same time the Management Committee also has a programme of its own - forums, talks, cultural shows. It will invite whomsoever it thinks fit to these functions. It has the full right and responsibility to run the CCs and it is not the MP who has the automatic right to go into the CC and say, "Because I am elected, therefore, here I must be given the CC to do what I like." This is the clear distinction. The CC is meant for community development and I hope the Opposition Member would support us in our community development efforts. But it does not mean that therefore he must be Advisor to the CCMC. It does not follow.”
“But the mere fact of his having been elected in Potong Pasir does not mean that he has the right to go into the CCs, into the schools, into the other Government facilities in Potong Pasir. He is elected to represent the constituents in Parliament. Now with the introduction of Town Councils, he has a bigger role. He has to run the estate to look after conservancy and so on. But that is a different matter from running the other organizations, the other Government machineries such as the PA, which are meant to carry out the Government's objectives. PAP MPs have been appointed advisers to the grassroots organizations of constituencies where they have been elected. But this need not be so. If the PAP MPs do not perform, for example, they may not be reappointed. I may not reappoint some members if they do not perform their role in the MCs. One final word before I close, and this is that, with the system of democracy that we have here, which is based on the British system, the ruling party has full control over all the machineries of State, including the statutory boards like the PA. Having won the political mandate from the people, the ruling party has to make the best use of this machinery of State to carry out the Party's election platform and deliver on its promises. If it fails, it may be thrown out at the next general election and the new ruling party then has full access to and control over the facilities. It is not a system of power-sharing between or among various political parties. I would suggest the Member go back and reflect on this point and refer back to the whole series of debates we have had on this issue. If he likes, we can have a further debate, but I think we are wasting the time of Members in this Chamber.”
“There is, for example, a freeze on the recruitment of staff. Therefore, although MPs would like to have, not only Mr Chiam but other MPs, more than one CC in each constituency, it is just not possible. So what we have to do is to try and upgrade and provide the best CCs possible to serve the residents. As a result of the delineation of the election boundaries, certain constituencies have more than one CC. In fact, we are wondering how to make use of some of these other CCs. Maybe PA should run one and the other one should be leased out to other organizations, I do not know. But the point is that we have to conserve manpower and provide CCs as centralized facilities for the use of the residents in the most convenient point where there are the most number of people who can be served. For example, in 1988 alone, 20 CCs were closed, including some fairly large ones. So let us not hear any more about this issue. I think Members must be quite tired of it. The other issue concerns why he has not been appointed adviser to the CC in Potong Pasir. The reason is very simple. The PA is a statutory board. Its objective is to carry out Government policies, according to what the Government thinks best. Of course, these policies are the policies of the PAP, which is the ruling party. There is no rule in the Constitution or anywhere else that says the MP who happens to be elected in a constituency should be appointed the adviser to the CC. So naturally the Government would appoint those people who are most suitable to carry out the Government's policies. If, for example, the Member for Potong Pasir would declare that from now on he will support all Government policies, maybe we will consider appointing him.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, may I first clarify that although the PA comes under the MCD vote for budget purposes, I am fully in charge of the PA and that is why I am answering today. This topic brought up by Mr Chiam, the Member for Potong Pasir, is something which he has brought up almost without fail in every Budget session. If Members are interested in the full details, I would like to refer them to Hansard of 24 March 1987, Cols. 972 to 982. There is a full record of the debate which took place then. Today, in view of the time constraint, I will have to be very brief. I think Mr Chiam has been trying to squeeze the maximum political mileage out of this single issue every year because he refuses to be convinced by the rationale and the genuine answers that we have given. I do not know how else I can convince him. Perhaps I have another point that was not mentioned in the past. If he were to refer to the 1985/86 Budget Document which was prepared before the elections in December 1984, he will find that there is a statement in there which says that the Senette CC will be replaced by the modern CC which was built with the intention of replacing that CC. He must realize that the PAP did not go into the elections expecting to lose the election. So already in 1984 the Community leaders were told that there was a need to build a better CC because Sennette CC was not up to the full standard of a modern CC. So plans were afoot to raise funds and to move to this modern CC when it was built. So that is what has happened since. But the Member insists year in and year out that it was closed to do him in. That is not the reason, Sir. The reason is a very simple one, and that is we do have manpower and other resource constraints in the PA, like in other Government organizations.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there were 3,379 job-seekers registered with the Employment Service Department (ESD) on 19th February this year. With the present good economic conditions, most job seekers would not need much help to find employment. My Ministry has therefore retained only a core staff in the ESD. Even in good times, however, there are still some workers who need assistance to find jobs. These are mainly the unskilled and older workers. Many Members of Parliament have also come across constituents who have some difficulty getting a job and have found the ESD a useful avenue for assistance. If the expertise of the ESD is to be available to help the unemployed during a recession, it must continue this service, but at a reduced level, during economic booms. COMMUNITY HOSPITALS 7. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Acting Minister for Health whether there are plans to set up more community hospitals in future; and, if so, where. The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the first community hospital to be built in Ang Mo Kio is expected to be completed in 1991. This will be a pilot project to test community acceptance of this new concept in health care. It will also allow the Ministry to identify the type of services that need to be provided in a community hospital. If this pilot project is successful, my Ministry will consider building more community hospitals. We have not determined the number nor the location of future community hospitals. CHILD PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC 8. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Acting Minister for Health (a) if he will give the number of children treated at the child psychiatric clinic as at the latest convenient date; and (b) whether there are plans to strengthen the present services.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in 1987, there were 1,957 applications from work permit holders to marry Singaporeans. 481 of the applicants were males and 1,476 were females. 1,338 applications were approved, comprising 312 males and 1,026 females. In 1988, there were 1,882 applications. 439 of the applicants were males and 1,443 were females; 1,204 applications were approved, comprising 285 males and 919 females. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE DEPARTMENT (Usefulness) 6. Mr Teo Chong Tee asked the Minister for Labour how many people are listed in the Employment Service Department for job offers as at the latest convenient date; and whether the Department is still serving a useful purpose in view of the current good job market.”
“This has incurred the dissatisfaction and concern of certain parents. I hope the Minister would abolish the teaching of religious knowledge in schools or accept what Mr Wong Kan Seng has suggested, ie, change to teaching the subject on major religions instead, so that students may know something about those religious history and what enlightenment and influence they have over human history and, at the same time, learn from the historical angle of religious conflicts and wars to get enlightenment of their mind. In this way, it will help the students to formulate common value concept and a sense of identity.”
“But now Mr Chiam See Tong is also against the teaching of Confucianism. Does he mean to emulate Mao Tse Tung's Great Cultural Revolution? Or, is he trying to mould a personal image of heroism to enhance his prestige? I hope Mr Chiam See Tong would not brag on his views of something which he has merely a tunnel view. Next, talking about religious knowledge education, I agree to the views expressed by Dr Aline Wong. I would ask the Minister about the possibility of teaching Comparative Religious Studies in the class instead. Since 1984, there has been teaching of religious knowledge of one religion for one class system without touching on any general knowledge about other religions. Some students dare not even learn about any rudimentary history and tenets of other religions for fear of offending the religious regulations of their own faiths. So some students who have no inkling of any Bible Knowledge think that belief in Christian or Catholic faith is westernization and a denial of one's own culture and root. Some students without any knowledge of Buddhism or Taoism regard belief in these religions as a sort of cultism, feudalism, devil-related or superstition. To such people, the learning of Confucianism is also revival of feudalism and against the trend of modernization. This kind of thinking is caused by the students' own religious excluvism and extremism. If this kind of situation were to continue for long, it will have unfavourable effect on the inter-religious harmony in our country and also negative effect on our promotion of religious tolerance and mutual understanding. At the moment, some teachers make use of class-rooms as churches or temples, while teaching in classes they would also be preaching their own religions.”
“In the longer run, the operating costs will have to increase with efforts to continue to improve and uphold the standard of kindergarten education in Singapore. But we must try to maintain our kindergarten fees within affordable means of the average Singaporeans. To achieve this, may I suggest that the Minister for Education consider using part of the money saved from scrapping the pre-primary programme to subsidize kindergarten education in the same way as the Government subsidizes child care centres. Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC)( In Mandarin): Sir, when we talk about traditional values and religious knowledge education, we cannot leave out Confucianism. I would like to say that I regret very much Mr Chiam See Tong's talk and views on Confucianism last Friday. He said that it is a retrogressive action to teach Confucianism and Asian values in schools as it would hinder the development of a democratic society. Mr Chiam is mixing up Confucianism with feudalism. I doubt whether he understands Confucian values in the Eastern traditional culture. So he gave adverse comments on the Government's policy in teaching Confucianism in schools and compared Confucianism with the feudal system of rule in ancient imperial China. He said Confucianism is a stumbling block for democracy. Sir, if by teaching Confucianism in schools is to consolidate our political power, then scrapping it or teaching anti-Confucianism thoughts would be a measure for democracy! Just recall some two decades ago in mainland China during the period of Cultural Revolution when Confucianism was criticized, attacked and maligned thoroughly, the Government then was not democratic at all. There was only the personality cult of Mao in place of democracy.”
“I agree that education is about investment in human resources and we must not stinge on that. But I believe it is also our responsibility, as Members in this Chamber, to ensure that taxpayers' monies are properly spent. The cost of running the pre-primary programme works out to about $120 per child per month. This cost is much higher than the average cost of about $12 to $90 per child per month spent by non-MOE kindergartens which we refer to private kindergartens as well as kindergartens run by community organizations. I understand that it will cost the State something like $80-$100 million annually to run the pre-primary programme if this programme is extended to all schools in Singapore, ie, to all the 210 primary schools. This is a big sum. The opportunity cost to the State if we were to continue with this programme is just too high. The kindergarten classes conducted by the private sector and community organizations could take over this role. Sir, I am aware that parents are concerned about the standard of education offered by some of these kindergartens. I wish to allay their fear as I believe that most of these kindergartens, particularly those run by the PAP Community Foundation and the People's Association, have invested large sums of money in recent years upgrading and re-equipping. Teachers are now better trained. The curriculum has been restructured to place greater emphasis on developing the child's language ability (and that was the objective of the pre-primary programme) as well as to develop the child socially, emotionally and academically. Sir, I also understand that parents are concerned about the higher fees charged by kindergartens. This is inevitable.”
“I will have to confirm with HDB on this point, but I think there should be no problem. MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1989 TO 31ST MARCH, 1990 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [4th Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] 12.45 pm Head L (cont.) - Resumption of Debate on Question [17th March, 1989], "That the sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100." - [Dr Tan Cheng Bock.] Question again proposed. Mr Chew Heng Ching (Eunos GRC): Sir, when the House adjourned on Friday, the Member for Tampines GRC, Dr Aline Wong, asked the Government to state its stand on pre-primary education. This follows a report by the Auditor-General that the programme be scrapped on the ground that the objectives of the programme no longer exist and it is not cost-effective to conduct pre-primary classes in schools. To briefly recap, the programme was started in 1979 to try to arrest the declining enrolment in Chinese medium schools and to help children from dialect-speaking homes learn English and Chinese languages. This programme is presently offered not to all schools but only to 39 out of the 210 primary schools. Sir, the need to arrest the declining enrolment in Chinese-medium schools no longer existed following the Ministry's decision in 1987 to make English the main medium of instruction in our schools. I believe a study conducted by the Ministry in 1984 shows that after three years of primary education there was little significant difference between the language abilities of children who attended pre-primary classes and those who attended kindergarten classes run by private and community organizations. Sir, I am aware that this pre-primary programme is popular among parents.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the present HDB regulations allow a Singapore citizen and his or her spouse who is a permanent resident of Singapore to be co-owners of an HDB flat. Such permanent resident co-owners are allowed to use their CPF savings to pay for the HDB flat. The permanent resident must be a co-owner and not just a permitted occupier. In the case of private properties, a CPF member can withdraw his CPF savings to purchase a property in Singapore on his own or jointly with members of his immediate family. The CPF member must be the owner or co-owner of the property. The member need not be a Singapore citizen.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, as stated in the Addendum to the Presidential Address, my Ministry will review the Workmen's Compensation rates. This is being done. My Ministry will examine whether compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act is adequate for the various types of injuries and whether adjustments should be made. PERMANENT RESIDENTS (Purchase of HDB flats with CPF savings) 8. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for Labour if he will consider allowing Singapore permanent residents to use their Central Provident Fund for housing provided their spouse is a Singaporean.”
“ROAD TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Road Traffic Act (Chapter 276 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister of State for Communications and Information (Mr Mah Bow Tan); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Central Provident Fund Act (Chapter 36 of the 1988 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister for Labour (Mr Lee Yock Suan); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. ECONOMIC EXPANSION INCENTIVES (RELIEF FROM INCOME TAX) (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act (Chapter 86 of the 1988 Revised Edition)", recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for Trade and Industry (BG Lee Hsien Loong); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. ANNUAL BUDGET STATEMENT 12.53 pm Order read for Resumption of Debate on Question [3rd March, 1989], That Parliament approves the financial policy of the Government for the financial year 1st April, 1989 to 31st March, 1990.". - [Minister for Finance]. Question again proposed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, under the CPF Topping-Up Scheme, CPF members are allowed to top-up the minimum sum accounts of their parents with their CPF savings or cash. The objective is to provide those parents who have little or no CPF at age 55 with some minimum funds to live on after age 60. There are two main conditions for the scheme: Firstly, the children must retain double the minimum sum in their own CPF accounts after they transfer some of their CPF savings to their parents' accounts; and Secondly, they can top-up no more than the difference between the minimum sum and their parents' CPF balances at age 55. Any extension of the Topping-Up Scheme must comply with these requirements. CPF members are allowed to retain their minimum sum in the form of properties. Therefore, I see no objection if parents, whose CPF minimum sum accounts have been topped up, decide to do likewise. There will be a charge on the property to ensure that the minimum sum is returned to the parent's CPF account if the property is sold. Upon his death, an appropriate share of the minimum sum will be returned to the CPF accounts of those children who contributed the funds. I have asked the CPF Board to finalize the details of such an extension to the Topping-Up Scheme. I see no difficulty if the parent has reached age 55 as required under the Topping-Up Scheme. BILLS INTRODUCED CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Customs Act (Chapter 70 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister of State for Finance (BG George Yoon-Boon Yeo); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.”
“STATUTORY CORPORATIONS (CONTRIBUTIONS TO CONSOLIDATED FUND) BILL "to provide for the payment into the Consolidated Fund of moneys from the funds of certain statutory corporations", recommendation of President signified; presented by Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY MAIN ESTIMATES AND FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES FOR FY 1988/89 (Business Motion) Resolved, That notwithstanding the Standing Orders, the First Supplementary Main Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year 1st April, 1988 to 31st March, 1989 (Paper Cmd. 6 of 1989) and the First Supplementary Development Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year 1st April, 1988 to 31st March, 1989 (Paper Cmd. 7 of 1989) be taken today. - [Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau]. FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY MAIN ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE (Paper Cmd. 6 of 1989) and FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE (Paper Cmd. 7 of 1989) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1988 TO 31ST MARCH, 1989 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair]”
“These withdrawal rates will apply to the minimum sums left with the CPF Board or deposited with approved banks. For those who have used their minimum sums to purchase approved annuities, the monthly instalments will be according to the terms of their annuity plans. For a married couple who are both CPF members, the minimum sum will likewise be raised from $45,000 to $46,400 and the monthly withdrawal amount from $345 to $355 per month. The new minimum sum of $30,900 from 1st April 1989 will also apply to the Approved Investments Scheme. CPF members must therefore have at least that sum in their CPF accounts or in the form of properties before they can invest part of the CPF balance in trustee shares or gold. Henceforth, the minimum sum will be similarly adjusted every one to two years to preserve its real value. It is expected that such adjustments will be small. The public will be informed through the mass media. BILLS INTRODUCED SUPPLY BILL "to provide for the issue from the Consolidated Fund of the sums necessary to meet the estimated expenditure for the financial year 1st April, 1989 to 31st March, 1990", recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for Finance (Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPLY BILL "for making supplementary provision to meet additional expenditure for the financial year 1st April, 1988 to 31st March, 1989", recommendation of President signified; presented by Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minimum Sum Scheme was implemented on 1st January 1987. As at 31st January 1989, a total of 8,427 CPF members have set aside the minimum sum in cash when they applied to withdraw their CPF savings upon reaching 55 years of age. Of these, 344 have deposited their minimum sums with approved banks, 557 have bought annuities and the rest have left their mini- mum sums with the CPF Board. Another 8,700 members have pledged their minimum sums in the form of properties. Members may recall that when I announced the Minimum Sum Scheme in 1986, I informed the House that the minimum sum of $30,000 would be reviewed periodically to ensure that its real value is retained. Over the past two years, the Consumer Price Index has risen by about 3%. To maintain the real value of the minimum sum of $30,000 at 1986 prices, it has to be increased by 3% to $30,900. The increase will take effect from 1st April 1989. CPF members who reach 55 years of age on or after that date will, therefore, be required to set aside $30,900 instead of $30,000. Those who own properties can pledge their properties in lieu of setting aside the minimum sum. The amount that members can withdraw monthly from the minimum sum from the age of 60 will correspondingly be raised from $230 to $237 per month, an increase also of 3%. This higher withdrawal amount will come into effect from 1st April 1994 when the cohort of CPF members who reach age 55 on 1st April 1989 reach age 60 and withdraw their first monthly instalment. Those who join the Scheme before 1st April 1989 will draw down their minimum sums at the rate of $230 per month when they reach 60 until 1st April 1994, when the instalment will similarly be increased to $237 per month.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think Mr Tan has misunderstood me or did not hear me clearly. I said that many of these illegal immigrants who were caught were caught in shipyards etc, which are given work permits liberally. So please be clear about this point.”
“As for the question of employment of skilled workers, mechanics, carpenters and so on, my Ministry does allow employers to employ these people on a case-by-case basis. We arrange for them to be tested by VITB, for example, and where they qualify we may even allow them to have three-year work permits. So our policy has to be a flexible one, recognizing the constraints of our labour force.”
“The other point I want to clarify is that these sectors which have been found with illegal workers are actually local companies. It is not true that my Ministry favours MNCs against local firms. We are in favour of companies and employers that can help to upgrade our economy. Shipyards, construction firms, metal-working firms, hotels - these are all local employers. We do not allow certain small employers to have foreign workers basically because they are domestic-market-oriented. They do not have to face the rigours of international competition and we apply this policy equally to all the employers. We hope that they will adjust, raise their wages, find other means to live with our labour problem, because the labour shortage will not go away. Another point I want to clarify is that this Bill is aimed at illegal immigrants. It is not aimed at all illegal foreign workers or even employers of illegal foreign workers who have proper immigration papers. For example, there are some Malaysians here who are on social visit passes. They are allowed to stay here for 60 days out of 90 days. If they are found to be working illegally they could be punished under the Regulation of Employment Act which provides different penalties from this Immigration Act. We are basically aiming at those illegal immigrants who are found without proper immigration papers and working illegally. If we do not tackle this problem the danger is that many of them may eventually want to stay here, for example, from Sri Lanka, from India, and they do not want to go back to their countries. There are large numbers of such people from poor countries who want to come here and disappear into our population. So there is no choice but for the Government to take certain actions against these people.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I had not intended to join this debate because I felt that this question of worker shortage has already been answered by me in answer to an Oral Question recently and I felt that it is better to debate it thoroughly during the Budget debate. I understand many Members have questions and strong views on this and I would welcome a debate on it during the Budget session. However, for today, I just wish to clarify a few points. Firstly, if Members have been following the news reports of the recent arrests of illegal workers, they will find that most of these workers are working in the construction sector, shipyard sector, metal-working sector and so on. These are sectors that are allowed access to foreign workers. My Ministry has been liberally giving work permits to these sectors. In fact, for example, for the shipyard sector, there is no limit of 50%, now reduced to 40%, in terms of dependency on foreign workers. In other words, they are allowed to recruit almost as many foreign workers as they wish and yet these firms have been found with illegal foreign workers. We must ask ourselves why they are doing so. Is it because they want to evade the levy? Is it because they have previously been caught with illegal foreign workers and have been blacklisted? What is the reason? We must not be confused by all these arguments about labour shortage. It is true there is a labour shortage, basically because of our small population and rapid growth rate. We have to live within the constraints of our labour force because it is untenable just to open our doors wide and let all the foreign workers come in and to allow as many foreign workers to come in as the employers would like to have.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I was not the Labour Minister when the door was opened to foreign maids. Looking back now at this policy, it has its good and bad points. Certainly, it has helped a lot of working women, the better qualified and those who can afford maids to come out and work. And as a result, the female participation rate has gone up. So it has been a good policy. On the other hand, we cannot have too much of a good thing. So we have to control it. In fact, most mothers cannot afford maids with or without a levy. So other solutions must be found and childcare centres could be one of them. On the other hand, I think we should avoid a situation where the family or average Singaporean tends to look to Government for solutions to every problem. The traditional solution has been for the grandmother to look after the grandchild. Unfortunately, with the easy availability of maids, I have had cases at my Meet-the-People sessions where the chap comes in and says, "My mother-in-law used to look after the child for me. But now she says, "Why don't you get a maid because I am already 50 and I want to enjoy my life? So why don't you have a maid?"" This is a trend that is coming and we must try and arrest this tendency. One consequence of this development could be the loss of this opportunity to inculcate in our young the social values of the older folks. As regards his other question, I think he missed my point. I did not say that we should allocate maids according to needs. In fact, I am saying that we should allow a mixture of policies - needs, for example, where they have sick parents as well as other instruments like the levy.”
“Sir, I would say yes that my Ministry will welcome all suggestions on ways to tackle this problem. I realize that this is a complex issue, that working mothers deserve help, that we want the women to have children, to work and so on. So it is really a very complex issue that even countries like Japan cannot resolve, if you refer to a newspaper report a few days ago about the problems of working mothers in Japan. Sir, if Members have good suggestions, my Ministry will consider them. There is one school of thought which says that we should allow only people who need maids to have maids. That is one school of thought. I do not know whether we want to go to that extreme. If I may remind you, ours is a free market economy. So we depend on a mixture of pricing and administrative controls. In socialist countries, there is this statement, "From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs." Do we want to go that way, such that even if you can afford to pay for a particular service, the State says you cannot have it because you do not need it? I was following closely the debate the other day about problems of working mothers and I sympathise with them. We have taken this action because there was no alternative. We already have administrative controls in place since 1987. But the numbers are still going up so rapidly that the number of maids could double in maybe five years. So we have to do something. If you can come up with better ideas, please let me know.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not know what the Member meant when he said that I am quite impervious to other suggestions. As for his question about differential levies, the problem is that from a national viewpoint, the social cost of a maid is the same, whether she is employed by A or by B. And do you want to enter into a situation where we have different pricing of the same services to different people because of different incomes? As for pricing the levy higher for second maids, this will not solve the problem because less than 5% of the families have more than one maid, in other words, they have two maids. And the Ministry does not, in general, allow any family to have more than two maids. In fact, most singles do not qualify for maids. Already there are administrative controls to try and dampen the number of maids. We have tried to defer this increase in the levy for a long time. But unfortunately the numbers have gone up and so I am compelled to take this action.”
“We should avoid this for various reasons: Firstly, the large number of foreign maids poses long-term social problems and increases demand on our public facilities such as medical services and transportation. Secondly, the long-term effects on the values and work ethics of children brought up by foreign maids are still unknown and therefore we should be cautious. Thirdly, other local alternatives for childcare and housekeeping will not develop fully. This will affect those who cannot afford to have maids. Employing a foreign maid has assisted some Singaporean women to continue working. However, the situation becomes untenable if most working women require maids. The number of maids will then become extremely large. There are 207,000 Singaporean wives who are working and most of them are managing without maids. The number of foreign maids in Singapore has shot up from almost zero in 1978, when the foreign maids scheme started, to more than 40,000 today. As the number is still growing rapidly, the Government has no alternative but to take measures to dampen the demand.”