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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“SP's regionalisation effort will also not be affected, as SP can still leverage on the expertise of generation companies within the Temasek group for overseas ventures. The restructuring will directly affect the employees of the two generation companies. SP management has therefore explained the plans to the union, which is the Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE). The union has expressed to management workers' concerns, including job security, status of employment, and the terms and conditions of service. SP has assisted the union in getting the reassurance that this transfer is not a down-sizing exercise but a planned evolution of the power industry. Hence, there will be no change in the terms and conditions of the employment contracts, and no retrenchment at the time of ownership change. Employees of the generation companies will be treated fairly and will be no worse off as a result of the transfer. SP will work closely with the union to carry out the restructuring smoothly and with minimum disruption. BILL INTRODUCED PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Parliamentary Elections Act (Chapter 218 of the 1995 Revised Edition) and to make consequential and related amendments to the Presidential Elections Act (Chapter 240A of the 1992 Revised Edition)", recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Wong Kan Seng); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1999 TO 31ST MARCH, 2000 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [7th Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] Head L (cont). - Resumption of Debate on Question [17th March, 1999].”
“TP will begin constructing its second stage power plants soon, to be operational from year 2001 onwards. Besides TP, SembCorp Cogen has also been issued with a licence to generate electricity. The SembCorp Cogen power plant, when operational in year 2001, will generate 650 MW of electricity for sale into the Singapore Electricity Pool. After reviewing the progress of restructuring in the electricity industry, the Government has decided that as the next step, SP should fully divest its two generation companies in year 2001. SP will retain the transmission, supply and gas operations, which together form the large part of SP's business. PowerSenoko and PowerSeraya will be transferred to Temasek Holdings, the parent company of SP. Temasek Holdings may bring other suitable shareholders into one or both of the generation companies. This will separate the ownership of generators from the ownership of the transmission and distribution network. The generators are the contestable part of the industry. Competition between different generators is possible and should be encouraged, whereas the transmission grid is non-contestable, because it is a natural monopoly. This split between the contestable and the non-contestable parts of the industry will assure all generators of a level playing field and enhance competition in the industry. In view of this change in the structure of the power industry, Temasek Holdings is reviewing the divestment process of Tuas Power. In making this decision to hive off PowerSenoko and PowerSeraya from SP, my Ministry has been mindful of its impact on SP and its staff. Government's intention to list SP and to structure the public listing as an asset enhancement programme remains unchanged.”
“Sir, in 1995, the Government decided to restructure the electricity industry to make it a competitive market, but to achieve the final outcome in several steps over a period of time. As a first step, it corporatised the electricity and gas undertakings of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) on 1st October 1995 to form Singapore Power Ltd (SP). To facilitate further measures to introduce competition, SP was structured as a holding company with five separate subsidiaries. These are two generation companies (PowerSeraya and PowerSenoko), a transmission and distribution company (PowerGrid), a supply company (Power Supply) and a piped-gas company (PowerGas), each with its own board of directors and independent management. A new power station being built in Tuas was put under a separate company, Tuas Power Ltd (TP) owned directly by Temasek Holdings, so that it could compete against the SP generation companies. Since corporatisation, SP has performed well. SP has ventured overseas, while maintaining an excellent utility system in Singapore. Productivity has increased sharply. This has been achieved through the joint efforts of management and employees, and has enabled SP to offer $720 million in tariff rebates as part of the off-budget cost-cutting package in November last year. On 1st April 1998, we set up the Singapore Electricity Pool (SEP), which is an exchange for trading electricity. Since then, PowerSeraya and PowerSenoko have been competing to sell electricity through the Pool. More recently, Tuas Power Ltd has begun bidding to sell electricity into the Pool. TP's first 600 MW unit was commissioned on 1st March 1999. The second unit (also 600 MW) is expected to commence operation in January 2000.”
“I can assure Members that the data collected under the household registration database are strictly confidential and they are prohibited from release to anybody other than for official statistical purposes. As to the actual details of the data, I cannot give him the information now. But I take his point that it is important that the data should not be wrongly made use of. Basically, it is to facilitate our planning purposes to know what is happening to the population. For example, there is no way that we can find out from this data how people have voted in the elections. Under the Statistics Act, no particulars or information pertaining to any individual person shall be disclosed to any other person or agency. Only aggregated statistics can be compiled and released for statistical and analytical purposes. 1.00 pm”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 1999/2000, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“Scenario planning, contingency planning, is being done by the various agencies, and I am glad to report that, on the whole, Singapore should be quite well prepared for the Y2K problem.”
“But we have got to keep pushing, and we have got to work with our regional partners. So some of you might have read in the Straits Times yesterday that APEC is organising a conference next month which will bring together 300 experts from the region, including experts from the World Bank, OECD and the Asian Development Bank, and they will also talk about the problem of SMEs. This APEC meeting is sponsored by Canada, Japan and Singapore. I think, on the whole, we should not be unduly alarmed. What we should do, we have done. We should not have too apocalyptic a vision of what the Y2K bug can cause. I remember one day going home, my 8-year old son asked me whether his digimon will be affected. I do not know who briefed him about the Y2K bug. But, obviously, there are a lot of misconceptions and misperceptions of what it means. So, we should not be unduly alarmed but, at the same time, we must take all precautions. Because in the nature of the problem, it is not what we are aware of which will trip us up. It is the things that we are not aware of. As the Chinese say, "bu pa yi wan, zhi pa wan yi". We must also remember that because the entire world is focused on this problem, there will be herd effects. Mass psychology can become important. If everyone decides not to fly on 1st January or 31st December, then maybe half the world's aeroplanes will not be flying. And where will they be parked? Because, at any one time, half the world's aeroplanes are flying. In some cities, there may be a panic rush to withdraw money from banks, in which case the money supply will have to be increased. But these are problems which we should anticipate.”
“We meet in the hawker centres and restaurants. And it is crucial that while we are friends with them in good times, we remain friends with them in bad times. It is in a crisis that the true character of a person comes forth. Very often, when we assess our friends, the people whom we work with, we watch them in a crisis. Do they turn selfish and inwards? Do relationships suddenly sour, or will they continue to share and feel a sense of solidarity? Precisely, at a time like this, when we need many foreigners to help us to take our economy to the next phase, we must not send the wrong signals. Yes, in the short-term, some Singaporeans will be pleased that we are protecting them. We save them from foreign competition. But such an emotional line of attack would do great disservice to Singapore and to ourselves in the long-term. Dr Ho Tat Kin asked about our efforts to combat the Y2K bug. He cited the Garner Group report which said that Singapore's SMEs were not very well prepared and that we have significant cross-border problems, meaning that many of our neighbours are much less prepared than we are. In fact, we have started our planning for the Y2K problem way in advance of many other countries. In November 1996, NCB launched its Y2K Conversion Campaign. And many of the larger agencies in Singapore, all the Government agencies, statutory boards, are well prepared. Our SMEs continue to be less prepared, but I think this is a world-wide problem, because the problems are of a smaller scale and sometimes it is hard for them to see how the Y2K problem affects them. NCB has a Local Enterprise Computerisation Programme which funds up to 70% of the consultancy cost for SMEs, but not many have taken up this offer.”
“To better assess the suitability of RO for use in Singapore, a small RO plant of 1 mgd will be built as part of the first phase of our desalination project. Depending on the outcome of tests on the plant, RO will be considered for subsequent phases of the desalination project. PUB is also keeping abreast of the latest developments in desalination technology, including the tender for the desalination plant to be built at Tampa Bay, Florida. A decision on the award of the tender is still pending since bidding closed in December 1997 due to several issues, cost being one of them. PUB will continue to monitor the latest developments in desalination technologies to assess if these can be applied in Singapore. The Second Minister for Trade and Industry (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Sir, Mr Inderjit Singh, Mr Zulkifli, Dr Wang Kai Yuen and Mr Ong Kian Min spoke on the development of a knowledge economy in Singapore, especially the fostering of high-tech entrepreneurship, R&D and e-commerce. We are grateful for their detailed recommendations which MTI and MTI agencies will study and carefully consider. One crucial area for the development of a knowledge economy is the availability of talent. And we, in Singapore, must appreciate the fact that we are not Israel, we are not a continental nation, we have a small population base, and that if we can make an achievement in this area, we need many foreigners to help us, some living overseas, some living here. Yesterday, when Dr Tan Cheng Bock said that at a time of economic crisis, we should think Singapore first, I think we must be careful at a time like this not to send wrong signals to our foreign friends and to our foreign partners. Over the years, we welcome them. They live among us. We work in the same offices. We are neighbours.”
“On the issue of subletting, JTC and HDB properties are let out to companies for them to carry out their own industrial activities. However, in view of the current economic slowdown, JTC is prepared to consider carefully, on a case-by-case basis, requests for subletting beyond the approved limits. For FY98, JTC has so far approved 379 new sublet cases that exceed the 50% space sublet limit on a temporary basis. Recognising the increasing integration of manufacturing production and manufacturing-related services, many manufacturing-related activities such as product design and testing, software development, IT support are already allowed in normal industrial buildings. The URA has also announced a further relaxation of allowable uses within industrial buildings. Ancillary services, including office-related activities, are now allowed to take up to 40% of the space in an industrial building. Storage can also be included as part of the predominant production space, making up the other 60%. Finally, I just want to comment on this issue of desalination raised by Prof. Low. Before recommending the technology for our first 30 million gallons per day desalination plant, PUB's consultants had reviewed comprehensively all available technologies. For the first phase of our desalination project, it is important to use a reliable and proven desalination technology. Distillation technology is a tried and proven process for large-scale desalination plants. Reverse Osmosis technology has potential for improvements with regard to its application in tropical waters where fouling of membranes is a key concern. In addition, the RO process requires a higher degree of pre-treatment of raw sea water.”
“The Trade Development Board is taking a two-pronged approach to grow this sector. First, to establish Singapore as a logistics hub for the region, TDB helps local and international companies to establish their foothold in the region so that they can also undertake the physical handling in these regional locations, while continuing to use Singapore as a centre for control and value-added. Secondly, to attract international distributors and procurement houses to locate in Singapore. This will enlarge the pool of cargo interest in Singapore, thereby expanding networking opportunities for locally-based logistics players. As for incentives, this is something we have to look into. We already have the Approved International Traders and Approved Oil Traders and other schemes. We should see whether we can apply some of these to our local companies as well. I think in fact some of the local firms have already qualified, if I am not mistaken. Next, I will comment briefly on the question of industrial land pricing. In pricing of industrial land, we have adopted a market-based approach so as to ensure efficient allocation and usage of this scarce resource. We have a policy of steady release of industrial land to allow for long-term planning by industrialists as well as to moderate land prices. For this year, we are proceeding with the industrial land sales but with a reduced quantum in view of the current situation of ample supply. JTC's posted rentals for industrial land and factories are back to levels of the early 1990s. We have also taken steps to lower annual escalation of land rentals. Wherever appropriate, industrial developments are allowed to go beyond a plot ratio of 2.5.”
“Typically, they may have to pay something like 10% for their loans if they are able to get the money from commercial banks. So the rate of 6.25% is actually very attractive. I therefore do not propose to lower the interest rates. The LEFS is intended to provide funds to SMEs, not to subsidise their operations through lower interest rates. In fact, as Members may be aware, Singapore is enjoying some of the lowest interest rates at the moment. The data I have here is from the Business Times On-Line. The Singapore prime rate for the average of 12 banks is 5.91%. So the rate of 6.25% is just fractionally about the prime rate. In fact, there is no way that SMEs can borrow at the prime rate or at this kind of rates from other banks. Our rates compare very favourably with rates, for example, in Taipei, 8.8%; Hong Kong, 10%; New York, 8.5%; London, 7.25%. These are all prime rates. Our rates are much lower than, say, Bangkok, 14.75%; Manila, 22.9% and Jakarta, 28%. We are higher than the rate in Tokyo which is 2.6%; Zurich, 3.25% and Frankfurt, 4.5%. Actually we are enjoying very low interest rates at the moment, reflecting the strength of our currency and the strength of our economy. Mr Zulkifli Baharudin spoke about the logistics sector which is very important and we are putting a lot of emphasis on this area to see how we can enhance our role in this area. The strategy is to enhance our cost competitiveness and logistics capabilities through the development of integrated infrastructure and processes, grooming of world-class workforce, attracting hub projects and internationalising local companies. Besides helping local companies to grow, we need and welcome foreign participation in this industry.”
“They may be selling off products but they are not collecting the money back or managing their finances properly. If through our help here we can improve the level of management, I think that will be a great help. Concerning the Promising Local Enterprises, I would like to assure Mr Ahmad Magad that we do not look only at the turnover or the size of the company. We also look at their potential, whether they have capabilities in niche areas and both the PSB, which deals with the smaller companies as well as the EDB, which deals with the larger local enterprises, are eager to help our companies to build up, to go regional and hopefully become our own MNCs. Next, I would like to touch on issues concerning the Local Enterprise Finance Scheme (LEFS). In response to the economic crisis, the Government enhanced the LEFS scheme twice last year. The enhancements are aimed at helping more SMEs obtain short-term loans to ease their cash flow. The results show that the enhancements are practical and effective. The take-up rate for short-term loans has increased significantly. Loan approvals for working capital, for example, increased by more than ten-fold for the period April 1998 to January 1999 as compared to the same period in 1997. Similarly, factoring loans approved rose six-fold with about $200 million extended to local enterprises. Several MPs have called for the Government to reduce the current interest rate for LEFS. Members may recall that when the prime lending rate was increased to 7.5% last year, LEFS rates were not adjusted. The current LEFS interest rates of 6.25% for short and medium-term loans and 6.75% for long-term loans are still very attractive, compared to prevailing interest rates for commercial loans to SMEs.”
“PSB is the key agency tasked to develop our SMEs. This is in response to Dr Wang Kai Yuen and a few others who asked whether we should have a central agency. My own assessment is that PSB is the right body to do it and they are doing their best, of course with the help of the private sector and with contributions from everybody. Since its inception in April 1996, the PSB's First-Stop Centre has rendered assistance to over 11,000 cases in such areas as finance, operation improvements, market expansion, IT development and technology development. PSB has further simplified its application forms for SDF, LEFS and Local Enterprise Technical Assistance Scheme (LETAS). These forms should be available soon. Mr Inderjit Singh's suggestion to farm out the processing of assistance schemes to industry bodies is already being done for LETAS and can be further extended where appropriate. Whilst we are keen to develop our SMEs and local enterprises, I would like to reiterate that this should not reduce our efforts to continue to remain relevant to MNCs. We have had a very successful partnership with the MNCs which bring us the technology, the market expertise and this is something that we should build on. 6.00 pm Some Members asked whether the SDF can be used for training of managers and executives. The answer is yes, if it is, for example, under the SDF's Total Company Training Plan, where executives can also be covered. SME managers also qualify for SDF support under the SME Manager Scheme, enjoying a grant level of up to 80%. This is an important area because one of the problems of the SMEs is the managerial expertise. We found, for example, that some of the companies do not place enough emphasis on financial management.”
“Under the WTO's built-in agenda, members are already committed to new negotiations in agriculture and services beginning in Year 2000. The issue is therefore not whether there will be a new round but whether the negotiating agenda will be a more comprehensive one that includes issues beyond the built-in agenda, such as electronic commerce and industrial tariffs. A comprehensive new round will ensure that the interests of all the WTO members are taken into account. It will also allow for trade-offs in the different sectors and facilitate negotiations in particularly sensitive areas, such as agriculture. Singapore supports a comprehensive round. The WTO should focus on core trade issues and not get distracted by non-trade issues relating to labour and environment. This is not because we are shying away from these issues but because they often serve as a guise for protectionism, as Mr Tay has mentioned, and we are prepared to discuss these issues, for example, in the International Labour Organisation where the labour issues properly belong. Mr Tay asked about the help to the least developed countries. Singapore is committed to maintain tariffs at 0% for 100 products of export interests to the least developed countries. Singapore also conducts training courses to help developing countries in opening up their markets and in coping with the requirements of WTO. For example, there is a course going on right now. Next, I will move on to the issues concerning the small and medium enterprises. Here, I would like to inform Members that PSB will be conducting a review of the SME masterplan to develop a SME 21 blueprint to position our SMEs to meet challenges of the 21st century. The study will incorporate inputs from the private sector and will be launched later this year.”
“The Trade Development Incentive (TDI) is a dollar-for-dollar grant scheme. Besides covering the setting up of overseas marketing offices, TDI also covers programmes such as franchising, branding and product designs. Since the financial year 1996, a total of 250 cases, amounting to $11 million, have been approved for various TDI programmes covering markets all over the world. As Members know, EDB has just introduced a three-pronged initiative to help local companies with co-investment collaboration and consolidation. Under this initiative, a $100 million fund involving both Government and private sector participation will take short-term equity stakes in promising local enterprises to support the expansion plans of these companies. I will ask the EDB to study whether they can apply this also to PLEs which are making acquisitions overseas, as suggested by some Members. We have already in place initiatives to encourage globalisation while enhancing Singapore's position as a centre for activities. For example, to encourage companies to use Singapore as their trading headquarters base, TDB administers the Approved International Traders and Approved Oil Traders schemes. Many companies have been attracted under these schemes to anchor their trading functions in Singapore while having overseas operations to secure the supply sources, such as the processing plants and factories in cheaper locations. This is to answer the point raised by Mr Inderjit Singh about giving incentives to the local operations whilst enabling our companies to go regional. Next, I would like to respond to the points made by Mr Simon Tay about the WTO and what is our policy in this regard.”
“For example, TDB will be organising more trade missions and fairs. TDB has also increased its assistance to participants to cover 50% of common expenditure, up from 30% and for the construction of stands in trade fairs or for office rentals. TDB overseas trade offices also assist SMEs by linking them up with potential business partners. They are able to help our businessmen with local languages and customs should they encounter any problems. Through the export factoring facility provided under the Local Enterprise Finance Scheme, local enterprises can ease their cash flow when exporting overseas. The Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) also operates the Business Connect programme to facilitate business alliances with overseas partners as well as the SG Connect Programme which provides business matchings through the Internet. EDB administers the Overseas Enterprise Incentive which exempts qualifying income from approved overseas projects for up to 10 years. There is also the Overseas Investment Incentive, as contrasted with the Overseas Enterprise Incentive. This Overseas Investment Incentive allows capital losses from approved overseas projects to be offset against taxable income in Singapore. Mr Tay also mentioned the Regionalisation Finance Scheme which provides loans to local SMEs for the purchase of assets, such as factory and production equipment, to help them set up overseas manufacturing plants to support their operations in Singapore. The Government shares 70% of the risks and participating banks, 30%. The interest rate is 6.25% or 6.75% depending on the nature of the loan. Companies can also apply for either the double tax deduction or the Trade Development Incentive scheme administered by TDB to help them explore new and emerging markets.”
“This is something that has been agreed to in principle and the Ministry of Law is looking into this. On page 8, No. 34, Positioning Singapore as the Education and Inter-Regional Training Centre in Asia, again this is something that has been agreed upon and the EDB has been actively promoting the setting up of world-class institutions here by Insead and other universities. On page 9, No. 45, to review the current concept of Free Trade Zones to allow FTZs to be designated at the company level, this is something that has to be studied. Item No. 48, Positioning Singapore as the healthcare hub of Asia, that is a good idea and Government is actively looking into this. On page 10, at the bottom, concerning "Tourism", there are a number of suggestions that we develop world-class tourist attractions, we set up a multi-agency committee to reposition Sentosa into a world-class attraction, and so forth. These are all the ideas which we are actively looking into. On page 13, No. 69, the proposal to allow working from home using the Internet, that is also a good idea and I think should be actively facilitated. On page 14, No. 74, to set up "business incubator centres" to promote new business concepts, this in fact has been done already for the technology companies. And one last item. On page 17, No. 102, to provide additional funding for the Innovation Development Scheme administered by EDB, additional funds have in fact already been provided. Members may want to look through these recommendations at leisure. Next, I would like to move to the issues concerning regionalisation. Several MPs have asked for further incentives to help our companies expand into the region and beyond. The Government already provides generous support in this regard. But we will see what more we can do.”
“Examples include recommendations to further develop the financial services sector and the repositioning of the Ministry of Labour. I will now give Government's response to the remaining 100 over specific medium-term recommendations. This is shown in the handout which has already been distributed to Members. In view of the time constraint, I will just highlight a few recommendations. On the first page, under "Building World-Class Companies", Members will see there are three recommendations. The Government has basically agreed with all of them and Temasek Holdings is actively pursuing these ideas, for example, the possibility of employing expatriate talent to head our GLCs, the possibility of a more generous use of employee stock option plans or performance-based bonuses to attract and retain talented staff and also for Temasek Holdings to take a more proactive role in developing our GLCs. On the same page, No. 6, there is this proposal to study the tax implications of the employee stock option plan. This is something that the Ministry of Finance needs more time to look into. But it is something that the CSC has been pushing very strongly for. On item 4, there was a proposal to set up a Ministerial Committee to oversee the development of technopreneurship. As Members know, we have already done so and there is a committee chaired by DPM Tony Tan with my colleague, BG George Yeo, as Vice-Chairman. BG George Yeo will be responding later on to all the issues concerning R&D and technopreneurship. If Members were to look at some of the other pages, on page 4, No. 16, there is this idea that we should reduce the quantum of differential premium payable for increases in plot ratio above the alienated ratio.”
“In fact, MTI and its statutory boards have already established links in our Internet home pages to allow members of the public to e-mail us their feedback. Regarding Mr Tay Beng Chuan's question on further retrenchments which may arise despite the cost-cutting measures, we need to allow time for some cost-cutting measures to work their way through to the economy. Much depends on the state of the US, European and our regional economies. As a matter of fact, even in normal times when our economy was growing strongly, we were experiencing something like 9,000 to 10,000 retrenchments a year. So the figure of 20,000 should be seen in that context as we restructure our economy. I wish to assure Members that the Government is closely monitoring the economy and will not hesitate to take additional measures if the economic situation warrants them. Dr Lee made several suggestions to improve our indicators of cost competitiveness. My Ministry has been pursuing a constant course of refinement. For example, the Department of Statistics will be re-basing the unit business cost index of the manufacturing sector on the basis of the 1993 input/output tables which provide the latest available cost and industrial structure of the Singapore economy. This major exercise will be completed by the end of this year. At the last Parliament sitting, Dr Lee asked for Government's response to the medium-term recommendations of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness (CSC). In total, the CSC made over 300 medium-term recommendations. Of these, more than 200 recommendations have either already been implemented or are in line with the work of the various Government agencies.”
“Sir, I wish to thank all Members who have spoken for their views, suggestions and queries as well as their beguiling stories of Sentosa. Now that all Members have had their full say, it remains for me and my colleagues to try and answer all the queries within the next half an hour or so, plus another half an hour tomorrow. Just a small point about the causeway to Sentosa. I was told that it is partly a causeway and a bridge. Part of it is a causeway and part of it is a bridge. So you might want to call it Causeway Bridge, if you like. But the more important point is we must take a re-look at Sentosa, and that is our intention, to try and bring in some consultants and take a re-look. This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness. My colleague, Mr Tang Guan Seng, will respond more fully on tourism matters. First, I would like to touch on this issue of our economic competitiveness. Dr Lee Tsao Yuan and Mr Tay Beng Chuan have expressed the need to monitor our business costs closely and to put in place the necessary machinery to monitor the impact of the cost-cutting measures and the state of the Singapore economy. My Ministry and the other economic agencies have established a comprehensive mechanism to do so. We rely on regular meetings with businessmen, surveys of companies, and various economic statistics such as trade and industrial production figures. This combination of on-the-ground feedback and timely hard data enables the Government to keep close tabs on the economic situation and the problems faced by businesses and Singaporeans. We will continue to explore ways to improve this. 5.45 pm Dr Lee suggested using the Internet as one efficient and cost-effective way of obtaining public feedback. I agree with her.”
“Dr Lily Neo asked the Minister for Health if he will reverse the shelving of redevelopment plans for Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital since there is a shortage of about 1300 beds in the nursing homes at present and also, a projected exponential increase in bed demand every year due to our ageing population.”
“The one-year pilot phase of Singapore ONE (S-ONE) was successfully completed with its commercial launch by the Prime Minister on 3rd June 1998. The progress of S-ONE is tracked by its accessibility, the number of subscribers and applications, and the volume of traffic. As of end-1998, 98.3% of all households and businesses in Singapore have been wired up such that they can access S-ONE. There are now more than 14,000 subscribers to S-ONE that access via cable modems and ADSL telephone lines, as well as more than 7,600 S-ONE public access nodes installed in schools, tertiary institutions, libraries and community clubs and centres. The number of S-ONE applications, as at end-1998, was 148. The average daily volume of traffic on S-ONE has increased by more than 13 times over the past year, from 260 Gb at the end of 1997 to 3,470 Gb at the end of 1998. Training the public to use S-ONE is an important part of its development strategy. During the December 1998 school holidays, an S-ONE training camp was organised by the National Computer Board. More than 10,000 people were trained over 70 sessions during this camp. This brought the total number of people trained to use S-ONE, as at end-December 1998, to more than 41,000. To fully realise the potential of S-ONE, its use should extend beyond Singapore's shores. Selected S-ONE applications have, since April 1998, been made available in the United States through the Home broadband cable network. The relevant Government agencies and service providers are working together to develop further link-ups with other broadband networks in the world. KWONG WAI SHIU HOSPITAL 2.”
“Before the launch of Statlink (Statlink is a trade statistics information service provided by the Trade Development Board to the business community.) in August 1995, the Trade Development Board (TDB) charged $15 for each trade statistics report. With Statlink, TDB has reduced the price to $5 or $10 per report depending on its contents. Statlink reports can also contain 10 times more information than before, as subscribers are now allowed to select up to 10 products to be presented in one report compared to one product in one report previously. Given the timeliness, coverage and convenience of the Statlink service, the price charged for the reports is reasonable. The amount charged covers the expenses for maintaining this service. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS SINGAPORE ONE 1. Dr Lee Tsao Yuan asked the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the current status of development of the national multi-media broadband information technology network, Singapore One.”
“Dr Lee Tsao Yuan asked the Minister for National Development whether there has been an increase in first-time buyers of Housing and Development Board flats dropping out from the new-flat queue and, if so, what are the main reasons for this increase.”
“Presently, several schemes are in place to help companies to regionalise and explore new markets. For example, the Business Development Scheme provides grants to cover the costs of overseas studies and visits to explore new markets; and the Regionalisation Finance Scheme (RFS) provides loans to companies for the acquisition of fixed assets overseas. Since FY 96, some 250 cases amounting to S$11 million has been approved for various programmes under the Trade Development Incentive (TDI) scheme. To assist companies in exploring new markets, we will further expand the TDI scheme to assist companies in setting up overseas marketing offices and other business development programmes such as branding, franchising and licensing. TDB will also increase its promotional activities in terms of trade missions and fairs. TDB's plan for 1999 is to increase the number of missions and fairs to new markets to 28 as compared to 18 in 1998. Singapore's exports with these markets such as the Middle East, Mexico, Central and Eastern Europe and South Asia saw a year-on-year increase of 18%, 19%, 38% and 28% respectively. EXTRADITION TREATY WITH INDONESIA 29. Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Minister for Law whether Singapore will sign an extradition treaty with Indonesia. Prof. S. Jayakumar: Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi recently met with our Ambassador in Jakarta and raised the issue of an Extradition Treaty between Indonesia and Singapore. The Indonesians have indicated that they would like to explore the possibility of an extradition treaty. We will have to study the Indonesian request. It is too early at this stage to say whether or when Singapore will sign an Extradition Treaty with Indonesia. DROPPING OUT OF FIRST-TIME BUYERS FROM NEW-FLAT QUEUE 31.”
“Police in December 1998 issued a press release to warn IRC users of the dangers involved in meeting strangers they have corresponded with on the IRC, and to remind parents to monitor their children's movements and educate them on the dangers of chatting on the IRC. There was no evidence in the reported cases which suggested that the Internet Service Providers abetted the offences. The solution is for parents to educate and supervise their children, and for the community to take their share of responsibility to prevent crime, as new fads like the IRC will continue to have an impact on Singapore.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government has accepted the report of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness (CSC) and the thrust of its recommendations. These include short-term measures to help Singapore regain its competitiveness and medium-term initiatives to lay the foundations for future growth. The relevant Government Ministries are following up on the CSC report. In many cases we have already proceeded to act on them, for example, the recommendations to further develop the financial services sector and the establishment of the Technopreneurship 21 Ministerial Committee. My Ministry will coordinate Government's response to specific medium-term recommendations during the Committee of Supply debate next month. INTERNET RELAY CHAT FACILITIES (Use by perpetrators of rape and molest offences) 11. Dr Toh See Kiat asked the Minister for Home Affairs (i) what is the number of cases of rape, or molest or related offences which resulted from the perpetrators making contact with the victims through Internet Relay Chat facilities; (ii) whether any of the perpetrators have been caught; and (iii) whether there is an intention to prosecute the Internet Service Providers for facilitating and abetting these offences. The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, the first Internet Relay Chat (IRC) related sexual offence, an outrage of modesty case, was reported in April last year. As at end-1998, the only additional case was a rape case. The offenders in both cases have been arrested. Although the number of offences resulting from IRC is relatively small, Police takes them very seriously because the victims were young. They were 13 and 11 years old.”
“Mr Speaker, the Government has implemented a $10.5 billion package to help cut business costs substantially. However, it does not follow that fees for all public services should be reduced or frozen across the board. To do so regardless of the merits and rationale of each individual case will hinder the Government from making adjustments that become necessary from time to time, and will create rigidities and distortions which will impair the efficiency of our public services. The increase in refuse disposal fee is necessary given our limited land for disposal. Refuse disposal is expensive and costs have increased further because the landfill on the mainland has been exhausted and refuse must now be barged across the sea to the new dumping site at Pulau Semakau. The increase in disposal fees will not translate into higher refuse collection fees for most premises. This is because SEMAC, the waste collection company servicing most of the HDB flats and other residential units, hawker stalls and trade premises in Singapore, has agreed to absorb the increase in refuse disposal fees, while the company that has successfully tendered to collect refuse in the eastern part of Singapore will be charging refuse collection fees that are mostly lower than SEMAC's. FREEZING OF UNIVERSITY AND POLYTECHNICS FEES 7. Mr Loh Meng See asked the Minister for Education, in the light of the current adverse economic conditions, (a) whether his Ministry will freeze the University and Polytechnics fees in the new term; and (b) for students who face financial difficulties, whether there are special assistance schemes available to help them.”
“It is forgiving of future taxes. In other words, for their future expenditure, they will be allowed certain tax exemption to help them pay for their project. FEE HIKES BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 6. Mr Tay Beng Chuan asked the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Government will strengthen the existing mechanism to ensure that a fee hike at the beginning of the year, like that of the fee hike for refuse disposal, will not lead to another round of fee hikes by various Government agencies, thereby defeating the purpose of its package of cost and tax cuts to help companies compete during this difficult period.”
“There is no Government budget for this because we are forgiving certain tax. Unless these are in the nature of machinery or equipment, hotels could not qualify in fact to deduct this against their taxable income. But when they get approval, then the amount that is approved up to the approved percentage could be offset against their taxable income. This is like giving pioneer status and investment allowance to manufacturing projects. So there is no fixed budget, in the sense that it does not come out of tax already collected. It is forgiving future taxes.”
“The scheme is applicable to gazetted hotels, that means, they must be within a certain definition to be classifed as "hotels". I cannot remember the actual figures. It is $1 million expenditure, or something like that, but I cannot remember the exact numbers. The first hotel to qualify is Marina Mandarin. But as I said, there are several other hotels in the pipeline. I do not want to mention their names because this is a private matter with them. But they are still being processed and the likelihood is that we will put up a few more for approval. This is in the nature of incentives. We want to be as generous as possible. It depends on how much they want to spend on their refurbishment.”
“The idea of the scheme is to make use of this downturn, when tourist arrivals are lower, to upgrade the premises. I think some of the premises may be lacking, for example, IT facilities, or maybe they are a bit old. So the general idea is to be generous so long as they meet certain minimum criteria. The intention is to support them. So what I have mentioned just now is to distinguish between the safeguarded area and the areas outside. The reason is that within the safeguarded area, which is the main tourism belt, we are limiting their use of the land. In the past, when the property market was hot, they wanted to convert to condominiums. The Government said no. So for that reason, I think they deserve somewhat more favourable treatment. But otherwise, the intention is to be generous and where they meet the minimum criteria, the likelihood is that we will support them.”
“The hotels interested in refurbishing their premises should apply to the Singapore Tourism Board which will evaluate their proposals. The allowance of up to 150% is available to hotels which are within the safeguarded area. There are certain areas within the Orchard Road corridor which we have safeguarded for hotels. They are not allowed to convert to other uses. So these hotels are allowed to apply up to 150% of the Special Allowance. For other hotels, the Special Allowance could go up to 130%. They have to apply within the period. The refurbishment project must commence not earlier than 1st July last year, which was the starting date for the scheme, and finish not later than 30th June 2003. This means it is a 5-year period in which they must refurbish, and each project must not take longer than three years. The first hotel to qualify for the scheme is Marina Mandarin Hotel, as reported in the papers. There are several other applications in the pipeline.”
“The Special Allowance for Hotel Refurbishment is a scheme introduced in July 1998 as part of the Government's $2 billion package of off-budget measures. The scheme incentivises the industry to refurbish the hotels during the current downturn, in preparation for the upturn in tourist arrivals when the regional economies recover. The scheme allows hotels to apply for tax allowance of up to 150% of the qualifying refurbishment expenditure. Hotels must spend a minimum of $3 million on such expenditure to be eligible for this scheme.”
“IT is one big area. The other area will be in the life sciences. Nowadays, it is possible for researchers to screen drugs, millions of drugs in a short period of time. So now with all these new areas of cloning, cloning of heart tissue and so on, these will be new growth industries of the future. I realise there will be a lot of ethical problems as well. These are growth industries and we should not miss out on them. So the investment in R&D, the setting-up of Science Parks, setting-up of Incubator Units, providing support to the technopreneurs who are usually more scientifically inclined rather than businessmen, holding their hands in business, and so on. These are things that we are putting in place. And with Dr Tony Tan and BG George Yeo who are very keen in this area, I am sure we will see some progress in this sector. It is getting late and I do not want to prolong this debate. I just want to thank all the Members for their contributions. I am sure all their ideas will be considered. I cannot answer all the points today. But the officers who are watching the closed circuit TV have been carefully taking down all the notes and all the points will be considered and, where feasible, they will be implemented. Thank you. [Applause]. Resolved, That this House endorses the strategies and policies set out in the Report of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness, contained in Paper Misc. 3 of 1998, as the basis for strengthening Singapore's competitiveness. ADJOURNMENT”
“And that is why the CSC recommended that we should have both manufacturing and services. In fact, the two are complementary. A lot of the services actually are for the manufacturing, whether it is transportation, logistics or financing. So our aim should be to promote high value-added services and manufacturing together. One of the key areas that we will have to strive for is to try and develop technopreneurship. This is the idea of a knowledge economy and we are studying, of course, Silicon Valley, looking at how Taiwan does it, how Israel does it. We are investing a lot of money in R&D. The question is: can we realise more returns from that? It is good to build up capabilities and it is very important. But, eventually, we must be able to have our own start-up companies, float them and develop our own indigenous companies. Here, I would like to mention that the Government is taking this effort very seriously. The Government has decided to set up a committee chaired by DPM Dr Tony Tan. There is a committee known as Technopreneur 21 Ministerial Committee (T21MC) - we have all these acronyms nowadays - chaired by DPM Dr Tony Tan and there will be three other Ministers on this Committee. My colleague, BG George Yeo, will be Deputy Chairman and the others will be Mr Lim Hng Kiang and RAdm Teo Chee Hean. So you can see that it is a very high-powered Committee. The intention is to give this area a big push because I think this area of the future, it has come with the development of computers, with the development of IT. We have Singapore One. We are trying to make more use of it. I think we are really at the cutting edge. The question is whether we have the talent. Can we attract more people to come here? Can we link up with other countries and achieve synergies?”
“They have gone into what-have-you and realise that they have to go back and concentrate on areas which they know well, because there is only so much managerial resource. If you spread your management too thinly, then you cannot look after the business properly. So the recommendation of the Committee is that the GLCs should refocus and spearhead our efforts into particular areas and, hopefully, they will be able to lead us in our regionalisation drive as well by bringing along the supporting industries and the others. This is an area which, I believe, Temasek Holdings will be looking carefully into. The other area I want to touch on briefly is this long-term vision which Members have supported generally. It is an ambitious but, I believe, achievable vision. But it may take longer than 10 years, I agree. Some Members have said that, in fact, this vision is not entirely new and that is also true. Because we have been going on this track all this while and it goes to show that we are on the right track. I remember that, as far back as 1969, not quite 1969 when I joined EDB, but early 1970s, we were already talking of having brain services, promoting brain service industries. So here, we are back to knowledge industries. We have done a lot since then, the kind of manufacturing that we have gone into, wafer fabrication and all that. We have moved into more knowledge and skill-intensive areas, and that is the correct thrust. It is good for us that we maintain this core of manufacturing. I think Hong Kong has come to realise too late. They are hollowed out. They pushed all this to Shenzhen and elsewhere and even though that is part of China, and they are part of China, they have to compete very hard. And now, what is the role for Hong Kong? That is their worry.”
“A short while ago, I was just at a function to present the Tourism Awards and I announced that the Singapore Tourism Board would be spending $30 million more next year in its marketing efforts. This will be on top of the usual $80 million per year that they spend on marketing. So it is an increase of 40%. This will tie in with the new programme they have to launch to welcome the new millennium. And I hope, with this effort, we will be able to increase our share of the tourism market. The key thing here is that it is not enough just to cut cost. We must all go out and try and get more business through STB, the Trade Development Board and EDB, and they are all going to work that much harder to try and get business for Singapore. Again, Members have spoken eloquently about the needs of the individuals. I think this is very important. We not only must ensure that our costs are competitive but also that the needs of individuals who are affected are taken care of. One way of doing this is through the CDCs, as mentioned by quite a few Members. I personally will be in favour of providing more funds to the CDCs. But, again, this depends on the Ministries concerned. Remember that I am talking here as Chairman of the CSC. A few speakers, including the last Member to speak, Mr Sin Boon Ann, have been quite critical of the Government-linked companies. I think some of the comments are valid. Some of the GLCs have, in fact, strayed from their core business. That is why the CSC has come out with this recommendation that they should focus on one area. Even the big companies, like Sony and others have come to realise that they have gone into too many areas. They have gone into movies.”
“The problem has been that the banks are now naturally more cautious, and rightly so, because some of them are so exposed in the region. That is why we have liberalised the Local Enterprise Finance Scheme, and I am glad to report that in terms of the short-term lending for export factoring, for working capital, the demand and the quantum of loans have really gone up. But in terms of loans for fixed assets, naturally companies are cautious. So the quantum has not gone up that much. The difficulty here is that we do not want to have a situation where our civil servants try and second-guess the bankers. The bankers assess the applications and they decide whether they are worth supporting or not supporting. As it is, we are sharing half the risk, and we are giving the entire spread of 2 1/4% on both the Government's share as well as their share entirely to the banks. That means they are earning a spread of about 4 1/2% on their loans. It is, I think, adequate for the purpose. But they have to assess whether it is worth their while and safe for them to lend. In cases where the borrowers feel that they deserve something better, they can go and see PSB, and then PSB can perhaps talk to the banks and discuss and see whether their assessment is correct. At the end of the day, the decision must be made by the banks. Having said that, we are open to suggestions. We are studying this all the time. If we can liberalise this further in a safe way and extend this scheme to more sectors, we will be happy to do so. There has also been concern for the retail sector, the sharp decline in demand as a result of the fall in tourist arrivals and the reduction in local spending. Here, I think it is important for us to go out and get more business.”
“We could have formed it earlier but, of course, we had elections and all the process that we had to go through. So this Committee was formed in May. And when we first started, all of us were looking way ahead. The economy was booming away, labour was tight, turnover was high, job-hopping was a problem. But when this crisis came in July, the whole situation changed. Now the worry is about unemployment rather than job-hopping. If you cast your mind back, at that time, the whole situation was in turmoil. The currency market and the stock market were very volatile. Everybody was very careful and anxious not to upset the market. You do not want to send the wrong signal and say, "Oh, things are going to be terrible!" Because then the market would really go down and it would be a self-fulfilling affair. So when we came out with figures on GDP projections, we tended to be careful, to be realistic, but not overly pessimistic. So, at that time, we felt that we might still be able, with our momentum of growth from past years, to make maybe 3% growth. So the package of measures were tailored for that situation. It was kind of a measured approach. On hindsight, I still think that was the best way to do it. Now that we are convinced that the storm is really on us and it is a very serious problem, our costs are really out of line, we have come out with a very big package of measures. And we still have reserves left, in case we have to do some more because the crisis is not over yet. Members mentioned the problem of liquidity. The feeling here is that, generally, there has been no problem of liquidity squeeze. I think DPM Lee, in some answers to oral questions, has explained that, in fact, the bank lending has continued to grow, although at a slower rate.”
“The currencies have recovered recently but we still have this gap over the neighbouring countries of about 15% or so. I hope I have given Members some idea of how we sort of did a gut feel, assessed the situation, and came out with this figure. We do not want to overdo it because it is a balance. If we overdo it, then people become very depressed and very pessimistic, and this could also dampen the demand in Singapore. Coming back to this point about the printing cost being too expensive, I was thinking, when I listened to the Member, that if we had spent less money on poorer quality paper, it would have meant less business for the printers. So it is a balance. Do you want to save cost or do you want to stimulate the economy? So we have to strike a balance here. Having said that, it is true that this $7 billion cut of wage cost may have some dampening effect on the economy. Of that, about $4 billion will be CPF. So there is no withdrawal of funds from the economy. But the balance could result in some withdrawal of funds. So I hope the Minister for Finance will consider this factor and bring forward some stimulatory projects in the new budget and go for a bigger budget deficit, so that we will be able to keep the economy going. The world-wide signal now is that it is time to reflate, but at the same time, we must be able to compete. There was a criticism from quite a few Members that these measures came too late. I have to answer this criticism because I have been very involved in the whole process. If Members may recollect, the Prime Minister said, as far back as November 1996, that he felt that our costs were getting out of line. Therefore, he was suggesting that we should have a committee to review the cost situation. And that is how the CSC came to be formed in May.”
“Basically, the decision is that this time round, we must do a re-calibration of our costs downwards - wage costs and other cost factors - and especially the land cost factor. Because the way the property market has been booming, it causes a lot of ripple effects, not only in terms of the market rates that the Government will have to try and peg for our industrial land but also in terms of the other effects, the way they work through the system, since land cost is a factor in every area, whether it is transportation or utility, or what-have-you. The assessment is that we do have to do a re-calibration, and that is why we came up with this figure. I think 15% is about right, not too much, not too little. Of course, we only know when we implement and we see what is the outcome. And if we have to do more, then we must do more. But if we do better than expected, then there could be corrections, there will be better bonus for employees and so forth. Basically, this cut of 15% of wage cost will bring us back to the level of 1994, and at that situation we were still very competitive. In fact, the economy then was growing close to 10% rate and the worry was that the labour market was getting too tight. The other way to look at this is that in 1985, when we had a similar recession and the GDP declined by about 2%, the CPF was cut by 15 percentage points, and that is equivalent to 12% of wage cost. This time round, the assessment is that the crisis is more severe because it is a world-wide problem now. So we have to take more drastic measures. If you look at the currency values too, the neighbouring currencies have depreciated by about 20% to 30% between 1st July last year and the latest figure, as compared to Singapore of about 12%.”
“But, having said all that, I think the general feeling of the Ministry and our statutory boards is that we have lost competitiveness. The key figure that stands out is this loss of market share in the US. As I mentioned in my speech, kicking off this debate, our share of exports of electronics to the US has fallen by about two percentage points, from 9.3% to 7.3%, over a period of only 1 1/2 years or so. So that is very worrying for us because electronics form a very major sector of our economy, especially in the manufacturing sector, and they employ many workers. For the exports of non-oil manufactured products, of that figure, more than 60% are electronics. So you must be able to compete in that area. Looking at the figures, we have seen increases in market share from countries like Mexico, because of the NAFTA factor, from the Philippines, even from the PRC, even though they have not devalued their renminbi. It shows how competitive their costs are. In the case of the Philippines, they were under the IMF regime until recently. They have not had the excesses of the other neighbouring countries. So their economy is still functioning and I believe they are now very attractive to quite a number of investors. We see, for example, that Japanese companies are going there to manufacture disk drives, and they will offer stiff competition to us here. Most of our disk drive manufacturers are from the US and we are one of the biggest manufacturers in the world. So the feeling is that we have a gap over them in terms of capability, in terms of supporting industries, in terms of efficiency, but the gap is narrowing. We have to cut our costs.”
“So this is a strong message that we are sending to investors, that Singapore is a different kind of country. We face up to the problems together, and we are determined to work together as a team to overcome the crisis. I met somebody from one of the top multi-national companies just a couple of weeks ago, and it was his first time in Singapore. He is from one of the top 500 companies in the world. He was utterly impressed and he said, "It is fantastic, you know. You have this Singapore Inc. approach." So I explained to him our measures and so on. I hope at the end of the day, he is going to put in more investments into Singapore. In fact, his question was: where are the workers? So I told him that we now have a relatively high unemployment rate and we intend to allow more foreign workers in, if necessary, and we are upgrading the industry all the time. For projects that we want, like this particular project which is in the computer area, we would try and free up the market and allow in more workers. So, as I said, I hope we will get some investments from that company. So the MNCs which have links with the region, which have, for example, subsidiary companies in Batam, and they are able to continue operating, they are less affected by the financial crisis. These companies are able to take advantage of the lower cost as a result of the devaluation of currencies, and they are happy. There are also other sectors like the shipyards which are doing all right because their costs are local and their revenues are in US dollars. So they find that they are now more competitive because they are competing with Middle-east yards and the currencies of the Middle-east are still strong.”
“He has explained that the whole world has changed. In fact, just a few weeks ago, people were worried that there could be a global economic melt-down. Because of the measures taken by the Federal Reserve in cutting the interest rate and that the IMF package is now being put together for Brazil, people are now breathing more easily. But I do not think we are out of the woods yet. So we need to do our best. Several Members have asked how we arrived at this figure of 15% cut in wage cost, whether it was based on hard numbers, political bargaining or judgment. The truthful answer is that this is a gut feel. It is based on our best judgment of the situation, based on data that is available and also on the understanding of the overall economic situation and the competition that we are facing. Naturally, those companies which are now faced with a sharp fall in demand from the region, and these are mostly local companies, are the ones which are most severely affected. As Dr Wang Kai Yuen has mentioned, the response that he got fell into two groups: the local firms which are mainly directed at the domestic market and the regional market. They are the ones asking for more measures because their demand has fallen off and they are faced with cash flow problems and they need more help. So they are the ones who are probably asking for the 20%-30% cut in their cost. On the other hand, some of the multi-nationals who are here are in fact very pleased that we have been able to do this. And Singapore is probably the only country in the world that has been able to mobilise everybody, the masses, through our trade unions, with our strong tripartite cooperation, and cut wages voluntarily, including the CPF.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to thank all Members who have spoken in support of the motion and for their strong endorsement of the recommendations of the CSC. I think all, except possibly the Opposition Members, have strongly supported the recommendations, and this is extremely encouraging for the CSC members and all others who have contributed to the work. In fact, it is difficult to understand why the Opposition Members are not supportive, because it is so obvious that the economy is in crisis and that it is necessary for all Singaporeans to pull together to ride out this crisis. As DPM Lee has said, we are facing the toughest crisis since independence. So it is important that we do the right things and send the right message to the investors and stay on top of the problem. I am very happy that the Government has accepted the Report and all the key recommendations. In fact, the package of short-term measures that the Government has announced exceeds the expectations and the quantum is $10.5 billion, which is more than the figure of $10 billion that the CSC recommended. I think the feedback from the ground is that people are generally quite happy, including those who have been critical in the past, because they did not know what were the details and because there was perhaps insufficient explanations at that time. Looking at the feedback, in fact, there was hardly any dissenting voice. One criticism that came to mind is the one by Mr Peh Chin Hua, that the quality of the paper was too good. If that is all, then I think we are on the right track. DPM Lee explained yesterday why we are taking this package of measures and why our position seems to have changed from February when we were still thinking that we could register maybe between 2.5% and 4.5% growth this year.”
“The statistics on the rates of increases/decreases in respect of public utilities charges and Jurong Town Corporation rentals from 1988 to 1997 are as follows: Electricity Year Average Unit Change Price cents/kWh cents/kWh % 1988 12.2 -1.2 -9 1989 12.1 -0.1 -1 1990 12.5 0.4 3 1991 12.7 0.2 2 1992 11.5 -1.2 -9 1993 11.4 -0.1 -1 1994 11.4 0.0 0 1995 11.7 0.3 3 1996 12.3 0.6 5 1997 12.6 0.3 2 Water Year Average Unit Change Price cents/cu m cents/cu m % 1988 74.6 3.0 4 1989 75.4 0.8 1 1990 74.4 -1.0 -1 1991 72.1 -2.3 -3 1992 72.4 0.3 0 1993 77.0 4.6 6 1994 79.5 2.5 3 1995 79.0 -0.5 -1 1996 80.5 1.5 2 1997 85.0 4.5 6 Gas Year Average Unit Change Price cents/unit Cents/unit % 1988 7.6 -0.5 -6 1989 7.8 0.2 3 1990 8.4 0.6 8 1991 8.9 0.5 6 1992 9.0 0.1 1 1993 8.9 -0.1 -1 1994 9.3 0.4 4 1995 10.2 0.9 10 1996 11.0 0.8 8 1997 11.7 0.7 6 JTC Rentals Year Land Flatted Factory Standard Factory % Change 1988 -5 12 -37 1989 10 10 8 1990 25 9 19 1991 7 14 16 1992 7 15 14 1993 4 -2 0 1994 4 -2 0 1995 10 4 10 1996 20 0 13 1997 0 0 0 REPAIR OF DRAINS 7. Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Minister for the Environment whether the Government will repair the drains in Sennett Estate, Potong Pasir, as they collect stagnant water and breed mosquitoes.”
“Let us give a clear and resounding signal that as a people we will do whatever is necessary to compete, thrive and emerge stronger than before. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“This is the result of our consistent focus on getting our fundamentals right - a stable political environment, strong tripartite co-operation, fiscal prudence, careful financial supervision, investment in economic infrastructure, and a good education system. These are national assets which we must jealously guard and continually nurture. With our strong fundamentals and our steadfast adherence to an open-market philosophy, this crisis has in fact enhanced our international standing in contrast with the region. Nevertheless, the regional economic crisis has created serious immediate challenges, as well as added an urgent dimension to our efforts to transit to a knowledge economy. Regional economies will emerge leaner, fitter and more cost-competitive after they have restructured their economies. This means we have to accelerate the upgrading of our economy so that we are even more productive and ready to soar when the region recovers. The CSC had an extensive discussion of this problem over a year, with valuable inputs from hundreds of people, both in the public and the private sectors, both locals and foreigners, both practitioners and academics. I wish to thank all of them for their contributions. The proposed strategy and the specific recommendations of the CSC are comprehensive and mutually reinforcing, covering both the short term and the long term. I recommend them to the Government for adoption and prompt implementation. Mr Speaker, Sir, the acceptance of the CSC recommendations will require a united response from all Singaporeans to accept painful cuts in CPF and wages. The world is watching how Singapore is responding to the crisis.”