Leon Perera
Singapore
“I thank the Nominated Member, Mr Mark Chay, for his clarification. I did, in my speech, allude to my awareness of the existence of sports scholarships and I mentioned a few, nor in my speech did I claim that there is no Government support for these less well-known sports.”
“Sorry, again. I acknowledge that, of course, no system is perfect. I think we all acknowledge that. My colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim presented data on the performance of different countries in sporting excellence, government spending relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to ask one short supplementary question. I am wondering if the Government will consider requiring or mandating private companies to provide an elderly or parent care leave to some extent, or flexible work arrangements that will allow for time for eldercare and parent care duties?”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Just one supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. He referred to the service quality framework that the Government uses vis-à-vis SingPost because SingPost is a Government licencee.”
“I was suggesting that the determination of consistency of the Ministerial Code of Conduct be done by an independent organisation. It could be the AGO, it could be a judge or retired judge or someone else to put that imprimatur of independence. I was not suggesting either or. You may disagree with that.”
“At the end of the day, healthcare is, and will remain, must remain, a profoundly human endeavour. There is no more important goal in healthcare than attracting, retaining and bringing out the best from our great healthcare workers.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,226 lines we hold for Leon Perera, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 25.
“Sorry, again. I acknowledge that, of course, no system is perfect. I think we all acknowledge that. My colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim presented data on the performance of different countries in sporting excellence, government spending relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. And I think Singapore is below the trendline in that. Would the hon Member recognise that or does he feel that the data is wrong or he feels that it is not appropriate to make that comparison, to analyse the data in that way?”
“I wonder if the hon Member was paying attention to Assoc Prof Jamus Lim when he presented the data. I mean, I acknowledge —”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, if I could just be permitted one more clarification for the hon Member Mr Mark Chay.”
“I thank the Nominated Member, Mr Mark Chay, for his clarification. I did, in my speech, allude to my awareness of the existence of sports scholarships and I mentioned a few, nor in my speech did I claim that there is no Government support for these less well-known sports. In fact, I highlighted, in the case of cue sports, the Government funding that is given to them. My point for the part of my speech about less well-known sports is that we do have top performers in some of these sports. It is not very widely known or well-known, and there is room to do more, in terms of trying to understand why they have succeeded, unpacking the reasons, replicating the factors and ecosystem and building on that. And I would like to ask the hon Member Mr Chay if he feels that there is no room for improvement in terms of the support – whether as a Government, as a society, the NSAs or SportSG – given to less well-known sports. Are we in a state of perfection? Does he feel that there is absolutely no room for improvement at all? If so, I welcome his views.”
“This is important if we want to make the sports industry sustainable and attractive to athletes and other sports professionals and administrators on the financial level, as opposed to being a government-dependent industry where one is expected to sacrifice financial sustainability for love of sport. There must be enough money in the ecosystem to attract and retain good people. In contrast, there are certain types of artistic and creative activity where it is hard to achieve full commercial viability anywhere in the world – symphony orchestras, for example, and certain types of classical art forms, museums and so on. In these industries, state funding will probably remain key, though, even here, efforts can be made to draw in philanthropic donations. But in sports, commercial viability is not a futile goal, as examples around the world demonstrate. Mdm Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, with this Motion, the Workers' Party hopes to spark a national conversation on the future of sport in Singapore – what we want to achieve and how we are going to achieve it. I trust the debate today will generate many useful discussions and will spark public participation in the conversation. We need the Singaporean people to wholeheartedly shape and thus support our sporting directions and to walk with our sporting stakeholders to make the future for sports and our sportspersons in Singapore better than the past. Mdm Deputy Speaker, I support the Motion posed by my colleagues, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim and Mr Muhamad Faisal Manap.”
“For example, are our sports teachers primed with the necessary training to identify revealing predictive metrics and to be able to escalate such cases for national attention? Are they trained to differentiate someone with the potential to become truly great as opposed to just above average? If such training is not practicable, can there be a centralised cadre of talent scouts who have such training, who can be called in to evaluate individuals or who visit schools proactively for observation? I note that for many professional sports in the US and Europe, there is literally a professional vocation known as talent scout. These professionals are highly trained, held to clear KPIs and fly around extensively to spot talent. Do we have a system for doing this? Mdm Deputy Speaker, the last part of my speech will be on the business aspects of the sports industry. If we succeed in attracting audience numbers and companies to certain sports where we do well, we will also need business managers who know how to optimise the business ecosystem to make it attractive and sustainable. Are we doing enough to train a cadre of professionals who have the necessary sports business management and marketing skillsets? Can we attract Singaporeans who have an interest in this field to take up sponsored training abroad, or perhaps attract foreign professionals in the short term, aiming for some skills transfer, perhaps using ONE Pass, for example? Such skills and best practices are available in abundance in countries like the US and the UK, where sports are, in many cases, a thriving, profitable, multi-billion-dollar industry. If you look at the US Superbowl, for example, sometimes, the commercial advertisements compete with the on-field athletic performances for public attention.”
“Which parent should have to pay over US$1 million out of their own pocket to help their kid succeed? Multi-million-dollar Awards Programme is really nice if you hit the target, but without support and funding, how do you hit those goals?" In an interview with CNA in November last year, Joseph said, "As far as financial support goes, I definitely think the associations can do a better job. We don't really have much funding." There is a bit of chicken-and-egg problem here. State funding can be attracted if good results are achieved but to get good results requires funding at an early age. We need to solve this chicken-and-egg problem. I am aware that there are scholarships available, like the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship and the NUS Sports Scholarship. But SportSG and the NSAs should give serious thought to how truly talented athletes can be identified and funded early enough in their careers to achieve their full potential, with funding calibrated to potential. Here, we should direct funding drawn not only from the state but also philanthropic donors as well as corporate sponsors. But we need to place our bets well. In doing this, we need rigorous, scientific early-stage identification of potentially amazing athletes. Do we currently have a good enough infrastructure and system to spot amazing talent at an early age? After all, the science of sports has advanced a great deal. There is now significant academic and published literature on how future potential can be predicted to a considerable extent by performance metrics and facts determined scientifically at an early age. This is something SportSG should strive to do and discuss more openly.”
“In contrast to the ancient Greek Olympic ideal – and perhaps disappointingly some might say – sporting excellence these days is, to a considerable extent, a function of financial investment in the best coaches, research and analytics, equipment, sports medicine doctors, sports massage therapists, even sports psychologists and so on. Can we identify early and invest more in the handful of those Singaporeans who are truly talented and have the potential to be world-class or at least tops in the region? It is well-known that the cost of Joseph Schooling's intense training in the USA prior to winning an Olympic Gold medal for Singapore was well over $1 million – well over. I suspect that not many Singaporean families have that amount to spend or would be willing to spend that on a sporting career for their children if they did. In the case of Joseph Schooling, he did receive state funding, but this came later in his career, after he had already started getting some good results in the US. As his uncle Max wrote in a public post quoted in a Mothership article: "His travel was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. His fees at a very expensive school – chosen because it was a school that specialised in combining academic and sporting excellence in swimming – were paid for not by "state money" but by his parents. His accommodation in North Florida was not paid for by "state money" but by his parents. The same source of "money" was what paid for his specialist coaches, his trips to various competitions and so on." In fact, according to Max, state money began to flow only very late in the game. As Joseph himself said in a TODAY article from 2016, "[There is] [a]bsolutely not (enough financial support).”
“We clearly have some outstanding talent in less well-known sports at the global or regional level, people like Aloysius Yapp and Peter Gilchrist in billiards, Paul Lim in darts, “iceiceice” and Xian in e-sports, Farhana Farid and the Yap brothers in powerlifting, and Shayna Ng and Cherie Tan in bowling, for example. We ought to apply ourselves to do a few things as a country in regard to these lesser-known sports. Firstly, provide proper funding and support to our athletes in these less well-known sports with NSA backing, to enable them to keep winning for Singapore. Secondly, we should channel more efforts towards raising the profile of these sports and sportspersons – and we have successful sportspersons here to do that – so as to boost audience interest and attract new entrants into these sports, with these world-class athletes being role models and possibly future coaches and advisors to the NSAs. Thirdly, our sports administration professionals at SportSG and the NSAs should try to unpack the reasons why we have such top talents, remove unnecessary layers of bureaucracy where it is called for, and help tweak our ecosystem to replicate such factors more broadly – the availability of certain types of training or attachment opportunities abroad, for example. Next, Mdm Deputy Speaker, I will move on to the third part of my speech, which is on identifying top talent that can perform at the highest levels in the region and the world at an early stage. What else can we do to make sure we are identifying such talent early and supporting them with the resources that are necessary to achieve excellence in competitive sports today?”
“We have a world-class athlete in Peter Gilchrist, who won the World Billiards Championship (English billiards) in 1994, 2001, 2013 (long format) and 2019. Peter was a two-time Sportsman of the Year in Singapore. We also have Aloysius Yapp, who was the world junior champion in nine-ball in 2014 and runner-up in the 2021 US Open Pool Championship. In 2022, Aloysius won a bronze medal at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, for nine-ball. He reached No 1 in the world rankings in 2021. I note that Cuesport Singapore has received some Government funding. There are a number of other lesser-known sports where we have great talent in Singapore and where more can be done to capitalise on that talent. In the interest of time, I cannot delve deep into all these, but I will refer to them briefly. In sailing, Cecilia Low and Kimberley Lim came in as the top Asian team at the Olympics, also winning one race where 21 countries competed – an Olympic first. Our sailors also won three of the nine gold medals on offer at this year's SEA Games in Cambodia. In bowling, Singaporean Cherie Tan was named World Bowling Athlete of the Year by the World Bowling Association in 2019. Shayna Ng won the International Bowling Federation Super World Championships women's singles title in 2021. As my hon friend Assoc Prof Jamus Lim mentioned, we also do well in tchoukball and dodgeball, being among the top 10 in the world, even though these sports do not have NSA-level recognition and support. Mdm Deputy Speaker, to conclude this part of my speech, I would like to pull together the threads of my key arguments on less well-known sports.”
“On 6 June 2022, Singaporean Farhanna Farid set a world record in the open U-52kg deadlift at the World Open Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City. She achieved 200.5 kilogrammes, ahead of Noemie Allabert and Shizuka Rico. The brothers Matthew and Marcus Yap have also managed a string of achievements in powerlifting. In 2017, Matthew set a powerlifting squat world record, 215.5 kilogrammes, in the Under-66kg sub-junior category at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championships. And yet, in 2017, Matthew and Marcus had to crowdfund plane tickets home after missing their flight from Minsk, Belarus, where they were participating in a competition where Matthew had set a new world squat record. They did not receive any funding from SportSG because powerlifting does not, or did not, have an NSA, though having said that, an official at the then Powerlifting Singapore helped them to start the crowdfunding campaign and Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the airline to lower the fare for both of them. According to Ms Daphne Loo of Powerlifting Singapore as reported in an article in The Straits Times, "Having worked 10-hour shifts at a Korean eatery and saving their allowances just to be able to make this trip to Belarus to compete, there was no way they could afford a flight back. They had already spent $5,500 for the chance to win the World Record," Ms Loo wrote. The article said that as Powerlifting Singapore was then not an NSA, there is no funding to send athletes overseas. Even today, there still remains uncertainty about the sport and the funding they can expect to receive from governing bodies, as reported in a September 2022 article in TODAY. Next, let me move to cuesports, starting with billiards.”
“In fact, in e-sports, Singapore won a SEA Games gold medal for Valorant, albeit not without some controversy. This is a sport deserving of more media attention and one where our top performers can hopefully get support in attracting emulators. In fact, it is telling that a Yahoo News article from 2021 said that "Unlike Olympic athletes, our e-sports heroes don't usually get prime time coverage in the media". Two names worthy of mention here are Daryl "iceiceice" Koh and Ho Kun Xian, who is known simply as Xian. They are some of Singapore's best e-sports athletes that have been champions of multiple globally renowned competitions with the biggest significant tournament earnings in their careers. Daryl reportedly made over US$1.7 million in tournament earnings alone last year, excluding salary and sponsorships. Is the support they receive from the Government proportionate to their sporting success and are determined efforts being made to build a viable ecosystem, with new players entering who are inspired by these greats? Also, e-sports refers to a collection of various games with different publishers. There are different titles, such as DotA, CSGO, Fortnite, Call of Duty and so on. I would like to ask – how does Singapore choose to support specific e-sports titles? Why does the Singapore E-Sports Association limit its support only to certain games? While Singapore has recently won a SEA Games medal for Valorant, why was there no representation for other games, such as DotA 2 and CSGO, which have not only some of the biggest prize pools globally but have also hosted huge events in Singapore, such as the International, and have a large and devoted local fan base? Next, let me move to powerlifting.”
“But agitation creeps into his voice when the state of the local steel-tip scene is brought up. "I feel really angry," he said, and I am quoting from the article here. This is from Paul: "We could have been growing in the steel-tip (competitions) too, but it's just that the people who ran the (Singapore) Darts Association, for the last 10 years have run it to the ground." We used to send teams to the World Cup, organise the Singapore Open, Pesta Sukan, had a great league system. It was great in the early days. "We have good players … but they can't go nowhere, that's a shame, really." Without an association to be affiliated with, players are unable to represent Singapore internationally. Lim revealed that he and Harith – "Singapore's best steel-tip player" – owed their participation in the PDC World Cup to a personal invitation from organisers. Madam, there used to be a Singapore Darts Association. I tried to find out if an NSA for darts still exists and it does not appear that one does. I am aware that SportSG does provide support for athletes in sports where there is no NSA, but it begs the question why there is no NSA and more concerted efforts in a field like darts, where we have world-class athletes and, hence, the potential to build on that. Next, let me talk about e-sports, an industry at the early stages of growth world-wide. Indeed, Singapore recently hosted the world's top tournament in this sport – the International 2022 – with a prize pool of above S$25 million. Given the tremendous commercial potential for this sport, it deserves the kind of close analysis of success and targeted support that I spoke about. I am glad that there is an NSA for this sport, unlike darts.”
“I am not claiming that nothing has been done by the Government for these less well-known sports, but I am arguing for a more aggressive approach of using our resources to study our regional and world-class athletes in these sports, try to spark more people entering these sports, focus more of our funding dollars on such sports where we are really good and draw more attention and interest to these sports, not only the famous ones. Let me touch on some examples of sports that are less well-known but where Singaporean athletes have done well regionally or globally. Firstly, let me talk about darts. We have a national champion in this sport. Paul Lim is recognised as one of the best darts players in the world. His story is an interesting one, the story of a person fuelled by passion without necessarily having the backing of resources. In a story in TODAY Online from 2017, Paul recounted that in the early part of his journey in darts, he struggled. "I decided to quit my job and go to work on the American circuit. I worked part-time as a chef from Monday to Thursday, then from Friday to Sunday, I would play tournaments. For my first two years, I had no sponsors and I depended on my savings and my job." Paul excels in the soft-tip darts world, which he picked up two decades ago. Soft-tips are plastic which allows for the scoring to be done automatically. Matches can be played online via the electronic dartboards. This makes it more player-friendly, which, in turn, draws a huge younger crowd that is willing to spend. In the same article, Paul noted that the soft-tip darts scene has exploded in Singapore, too. He estimated that there were around 20,000 players here. "Singapore has one of the most lucrative and active darts scenes in the world," he said.”
“This last goal is particularly important if we want to make the sports industry sustainable and attractive to athletes, other sports industry professionals and commercial participants versus being an excessively Government-dependent industry. The last goal is probably where we need the most work. We have to attract strong audiences and spending, which, in turn, will attract commercial sponsorship, participation and advertising, which, in turn, can generate the money needed to spark more excellence, in a virtuous cycle. It does not make sense to speak of a commercial strategy when there is no audience interest. The horse has to come before the cart. Madam, in the second part of my speech, I will talk about uplifting our national efforts in less well-known sports. Sports like football, badminton, tennis and golf, for example, have a mass audience worldwide and command strong interest in Singapore, too. However, there are less well-known sports where Singaporean athletes have achieved great results regionally and even globally. One important thrust in our sporting efforts should be to focus on those sports where Singapore has done well so as to focus support on our athletes there so that they sustain and surpass their achievements, analyse and act on the reasons for that success, have our National Sports Associations (NSAs) engage these top performers aggressively to be coaches, advisors and role models to inspire others to take up the sport, and stimulate media coverage and draw more attention and audience numbers to these less well-known sports. Where we have strong national champions in a sport, there lies the basis for stimulating audience interest and, thus, bring in commercial participation on the back of that.”
“For every country, there would always be a tension across various goals, for example, cultivating peaks of excellence versus encouraging mass participation, or shining the spotlight on our local athletes while also seeking economic benefits from global leagues and foreign athletes and teams. I will argue that such goals are not mutually exclusive and sufficient weight can be given to disparate goals. I would argue that we should embrace four goals for Singapore sports at the national level. Firstly, to achieve and celebrate excellence in sports in general. This means providing a baseline of support, encouragement and publicity for all sportspersons, including para sportspersons, spanning both those who are successful and those who are less so. Secondly, to focus state resources most on those sports where we can feasibly achieve regional and global excellence as well as in football, which has a unique, exceptional significance from the standpoint of heritage, national pride and the potential for bonding. To do justice to those resources, such efforts have to involve regular, hard-nosed reviews of the successes and failures of past policy, such as what my colleague Mr Faisal Manap called for earlier in the context of FAS. Thirdly, to apply our communications machinery to highlight our athletes' success and inspire mass participation in sports, which has health and many other benefits. Fourthly, to convert that mass interest and participation deriving from sporting excellence into a vibrant business ecosystem whereby the sports industry and its athletes can derive a larger share of revenues from the private sector.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I rise to support the Motion proposed by my hon friends, Sengkang GRC Member of Parliament, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, and Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament, Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap, on Singapore sports. We owe a profound debt of gratitude to our athletes who proudly fly the Singapore flag in tournaments like the SEA Games and Para Games. They have sacrificed through their long hours of training and through rising to the challenge of intensely competitive sports where they might face the agony of defeat as easily as the thrill of victory. For our athletes, we must not only be passive spectators. We must, on occasions like this Parliamentary Sitting, honour them with the respect they deserve for their efforts. But as we honour and respect our athletes for what they have done in the past, we must be bold to set ambitious goals for the nation's sporting future. This speaks to the second part of the Motion by Assoc Prof Jamus Lim and Mr Faisal Manap. We must strive to enhance our sports ecosystem such that our athletes will find sports a rewarding and sustainable career and that there can be a thriving, commercially attractive ecosystem for other stakeholders, including commercial sponsors and advertisers. Madam, in my speech, I will touch on a few themes: firstly, setting national goals for what we want to achieve in the sporting arena; secondly, uplifting sports that are less well-known and celebrated than, say, football; thirdly, investing enough and early enough in talent; lastly, creating a commercially viable sports ecosystem. First of all, Madam, what kinds of goals do we want to set for sports nationally?”
“I thank the Minister of State for his answer. My supplementary question would be that I believe the earlier timeline that had been announced, if I am not wrong, was the first half of this year. Given that there is a safety issue here at stake, would the Minister of State be able to commit to a timeline for the adoption of these speed limiters, going forward? I hope that it would be a short timeline, given that we have worked on it for quite some time now. Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. As I shared earlier, we have been actively engaging the industry. As you can see, it is a wide range of fleets of lorries, from the older ones to the newer ones. We are grateful that the industry players have come forward to share with us frankly and they also shared with us some of the supply chain constraints that the world is facing today. On our part, we are doing our best to work with them to make sure that what we do and finally roll out will have considerations with regard to the costs, availability, effectiveness and the installation process. I assure the Member that we will do our best in a timely manner.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to ask one short supplementary question. I am wondering if the Government will consider requiring or mandating private companies to provide an elderly or parent care leave to some extent, or flexible work arrangements that will allow for time for eldercare and parent care duties? This is an increasing problem. There is a lot of feedback from constituents, from people and as our population ages, it is going to get worse. The Civil Service provides this already. The take-up is very good. Only 20% of private companies provide this as a requirement. It may be tough for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to provide this, but maybe for the larger companies. Will the Government consider mandating this?”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Just one supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. He referred to the service quality framework that the Government uses vis-à-vis SingPost because SingPost is a Government licencee. Are there periodic surveys of customer satisfaction similar to what is done by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) vis-à-vis the public transport system, for example? I am not suggesting that that be done necessarily every year. But is that something that is done regularly and is that something where the Government will discuss the findings and hold SingPost accountable? Before I end, I just declare my interest as chairman of a company that does market research and consulting.”
“If workplace accidents are not reduced significantly as a result of the other measures being taken, this should be reviewed. Apart from looking into major workplace safety concerns, there are also issues of concern with heat, especially with our rising temperatures amidst climate change. Construction workers are disproportionately affected because they have to wear heavy safety gear like helmets and thick rubber boots, which trap huge amounts of heat. Migrant workers lack access to cooling technology because they work outdoors and at times in remote areas. During hot spells, there is also, generally speaking, no "Stop Work Order", with companies being able to insist that workers continue to work in temperatures that are much higher than normal. The hon Minister for Manpower shared in May this year that MOM conducts targeted inspections to check on-site measures and acclimatisation programmes for workers. In addition to inspections, we can look more into the way construction sites are built. There should be access to shaded areas and access to water facilities and even perhaps access to air-conditioned rest areas, whether from the work site or nearby areas. For instance, construction sites can tie up with nearby shopping malls or office buildings to provide air-conditioned spaces for rest. Mdm Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, as we enjoy the fruits of the labour of our migrant workers who toil to maintain our living environment, let us never forget that they live here too, and they deserve the highest level of gratitude and protection from Singapore.”
“The Industrial Safety and Health Act in Japan, for example, obliges employers of work sites with 50 or more employees to establish a safety committee which must meet at least once a month, with half of the members nominated by a representative of the employees. While Singapore has similar regulations, the law in Japan requires the committee to circulate an agenda to all employees and provide opportunities to hear workers' opinions on matters related to workplace safety and health. This ensures that the opinions of the employees are reflected in the safety and health measures undertaken by the employer. Thirdly, the Government, of course, needs to regulate construction companies by invoking appropriate punishments to compel companies to ensure a safe working environment. There is a framework for doing that, and that is done. While there is a Safety Disqualification Framework, though, to disqualify contractors with a certain number of demerit points from Public Sector's construction tenders, the demerit points framework has room to be tightened further. Companies have the leeway to accumulate a few breaches in safety before being disqualified from tenders. A company would have to accumulate three full stop work orders or to have major injuries or the death of one person before there is a disqualification of three months from entering into tenders. While company directors can be prosecuted under section 48 of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, we have not seen prosecutions of company directors arising from the many workplace safety incidents that have happened, generally speaking. Instead, it is companies that are penalised, without the individuals responsible being punished.”
“For instance, for the migrant worker who was killed by bars falling on him, the coroner's inquiry found that he had been using an unapproved method of securing the bars, resulting in the wire securing the bundle of bars, which was being lifted by a tower crane, snapping. Two workers who noticed the mistake on a previous occasion did not highlight the mistake to their supervisor. It is unclear why they did not do so. Reasons could include a lack of training, reporting procedure or an inclination to complete the job faster. Rectification and stop work orders issued by MOM should ensure that companies make swift initial assessments and rectifications, including prompt solutions to safety reporting, when an accident happens, while waiting for the results of an investigation that should provide root cause analysis. Moreover, safety codes should be made as simple and visual as possible so that workers can fully comprehend the safety procedure. Secondly, besides skills-based training, employees need to be given awareness-based training to be able to confidently report safety risks. Awareness-based training tackles the impact of work pressure resulting in the compromise of safety boundaries. It would be key to follow safety procedures and draw attention to the importance of doing so. On an everyday basis, one way could be using the pointing and calling method which we commonly see in Japanese companies, where every safety step taken is loudly stated, verbalised or called out. This helps to increase focus on the safety measures taken. On a more structural level, companies must set up adequate procedures for reporting to ensure that workers understand that safety is crucial.”
“The hon Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng reported to the House in July last year that for the past five years, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) received around 2,400 to 3,800 reports a year on unsafe acts in workplaces from various channels such as the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) hotline, eFeedback on MOM's website and referrals from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and unions. The Minister also mentioned that MOM assesses each element of feedback and aims to ensure that relevant companies make the required rectifications and encourage workers to report unsafe workplace conditions. While these are welcome measures, the number of workplace fatalities suggest that there is much more to be done. According to the Migrant Worker Death Map, 455 migrant workers died between 1 January 2001 and 3 August 2022. These deaths amount to a moral call to action to save lives, but they also underline what is at stake in protecting our national brand and reputation as a caring society. I have a few suggestions to make for the Ministry's consideration. Firstly, the in-depth review and sharing of information on significant lessons learnt following workplace incidents is important. Companies can then improve from the failures of themselves and others, thereby enabling the benchmarking of safety procedures. While the immediate cause of the accident is investigated and made known through a coroner's inquiry – in the case of a fatality, that is – it is not known whether and how companies explore the deeper reasons behind safety lapses and make the necessary changes.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Building and Related Works (Amendment) Bill facilitates a simplified approval process for less complex and lower-risk buildings such as shelters and landed properties and promotes the regulation of environmental health in respect of buildings, among other things. I support the Bill. Beyond these improvements to regulatory frameworks and while I acknowledge that many steps have been taken in this direction, I urge the Government to apply even greater efforts towards minimising work safety incidents in the construction industry. Workplace fatalities have been on the rise, following the winding down of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. In 2021, there were 37 workplace fatalities. In 2022, there were a total of 46 workplace facilities. Most recently, a 20-year-old migrant worker was killed due to the collapse of a concrete wall at a work site in Tanjong Pagar. Earlier this year, there was a construction worker who fell from a roof while doing waterproofing work and a migrant worker who was killed by falling bars. The project Migrant Death Map, a volunteer-driven initiative, documented all migrant worker deaths from January 2000 to mid-2022 and investigated the key issues surrounding these deaths. Sixty-six percent of the deaths were caused by workplace incidents. The project found that the lack of safety at work sites and migrant workers' work practices were not inherent to the nature of the work as many accidents were preventable and involved employer negligence, which may be symptomatic of prioritising financial gain over labour safety. Apart from the safety infrastructure, worker's healthcare, mental health and transportation facilities all play a part in creating a safe working environment.”
“I was suggesting that the determination of consistency of the Ministerial Code of Conduct be done by an independent organisation. It could be the AGO, it could be a judge or retired judge or someone else to put that imprimatur of independence. I was not suggesting either or. You may disagree with that. I think Senior Minister Teo probably does disagree, but that was what I was putting forward, to clarify.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will try and keep it very short. For Second Minister Edwin Tong, firstly, the methodology of direct negotiated rental versus open bidding system. If I understand the Minister correctly, direct negotiated rental is taken in weak market conditions and that was why for 26 and 31 Ridout Road, that methodology was used up. I have seen information from some media outlets which may or may not be accurate, which is why I am putting the question here, that at the relevant time, 2018 to 2019, most of the other properties on Ridout Road were actually rented out. So, on what basis was the determination made that market conditions were weak, such that you had to resort to direct negotiated rental as opposed to an open bidding system? The second one is really I am just trying to reconcile what has been said in the report about how certain properties, black and white bungalows are not listed in the SPIO in a down cycle, because you do not want too much transparency which may deter bidders, they can see a lot of vacant properties – and I quoted something from The Straits Times earlier about that policy. I can understand that policy intent. But I am just struggling to reconcile that with this notion that anyone can go to SLA and just get a full listing of those properties. So, how do those two things gel together? I mean, if someone can go to SLA and get a full listing of the properties, why are some properties not listed on the SPIO? Lastly, if I could just give a very quick response to what Senior Minister Teo said in response to me, I was not suggesting that CPIB should not be involved and the AGO should handle it instead. I think CPIB has an important role to play to look at Prevention of Corruption Act offences, which they have done.”
“I am trying to understand how this is not problematic because, based on the Report, SLA has explained that there is a deliberate policy intent here that, in certain times, like in a down market cycle, the deliberate intent is not to make too transparent all these listings, which is why 26 Ridout Road was not listed on the SPIO. It is not by accident, if I can just read very briefly from The Straits Times article that talks about why SLA has this policy: "When market conditions are poor and supply exceeds demand, or the occupancy rates for specific estates are low, 'publishing complete listings of all vacant properties online would result in these properties visibly competing for the limited demand, and thus may not help the landlord maximise outcomes'". So, in this case, how is the action of the Minister for Law to ask for information on properties – some of which are not listed on the SPIO into one, simple, consolidated factsheet – how is that not problematic? Lastly, on the methodology, to choose a methodology of direct tenancy negotiation versus open bidding, I understand from Second Minister Edwin Tong's Statement earlier that, in a direct tenancy —”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Ministers for their Statements. My first supplementary question is really on the determination that the conduct of the Ministers in this case is consistent with the Ministerial Code of Conduct. Why was that determination not passed to an independent third party to make, for example, the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) or an independent judge? I am not asserting that Senior Minister Teo's review is not independent. But the perception that that judgement, that determination, was being made by someone who is not a senior colleague of the Ministers concerned but is an independent entity would go some way to address some of these public concerns. And the Auditor-General does have expertise in understanding norms of best practice within the Public Service, norms of corporate governance, audit compliance and so on and so forth and, I would note, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, that in reply to a Parliamentary Question I filed, there had been two occasions when the Auditor-General was asked to do a special audit in the last 20 years. The first occasion was to interrogate the claims made by an Opposition leader, Mr Chee Soon Juan, in the 1990s; the second occasion was to investigate the finances of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council. So, why could the Auditor-General not have been called in to make that determination, not of corruption – I appreciate the work of the CPIB, and the CPIB's expertise is prevention of corruption act – but to make a determination about consistency with the Ministerial Code of Conduct. Second, I want to come back to para 40 of the Report, on Minister Shanmugam requesting the information about some of the black and white bungalows from the Deputy Secretary at MinLaw.”
“At the end of the day, healthcare is, and will remain, must remain, a profoundly human endeavour. There is no more important goal in healthcare than attracting, retaining and bringing out the best from our great healthcare workers. And before I conclude, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would just like to join my hon friend Mr Gerald Giam and other hon Members of the House in expressing our whole society's profound gratitude to our wonderful nurses, and to wish them in advance a very happy Nurses' Day to come.”
“And this data could be used to identify good outliers, where best practices and case studies can be documented and shared. If we do not know where we are at, we cannot get to where we want to go. Secondly, and specifically for mental health care, this is an area where we are seeing challenges. Some experts speak of a youth mental health crisis, a phenomenon which may not be unique to Singapore by any means. Our ratio of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists lags behind some other developed countries, a subject that I and other Members have raised previously. Will the Government explore using AI technology to augment capacity in mental healthcare? For example, a Boston-based company called "OM1" recently built an AI platform called "PHenOM" to help psychiatrists enhance their diagnostic and treatment effectiveness and efficiency. Singapore-based company Holmusk has partnered the UK's NHS and Liverpool University to establish a mental health analytics and research hub. Holmusk's mental health analytics platform is of a large scale. I hope the Government will consider working with companies like this, particularly locally based ones, to push the envelope. In conclusion, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, our future is one where demands on our healthcare system will be greater, as our population ages. But our future is also one where there will be greater opportunities to exploit technology and innovation to increase efficiency; and to enhance prevention upstream. We need to grasp the opportunities to meet those challenges. And this will have to be done by our healthcare professionals, the people who must be at the heart of all we do in healthcare, for, without them, nothing is possible.”
“There are advances in healthcare technology to draw upon and best practices available worldwide. For example, telemedicine can enhance staff utilisation and save time for patients as well. Some survey evidence suggests that Singaporeans are open to virtual consultations. There is also robotics. For example, service robots could perform some of the functions of a healthcare concierge. Robotics devices can also play a role in rehabilitative medicine. I am aware that some of these innovations have come to our healthcare system and more are being considered. I am also aware that this is not a new topic. In 2012, MOH launched the Healthcare Productivity Roadmap and, in 2017, MOH announced the Healthcare Productivity Fund. There are also the National Healthcare Productivity and Innovation Awards. However, I have a few suggestions here. Firstly, the potential to apply cutting-edge developments in fields like artificial intelligence (AI), computing and robotics to healthcare is high. For example, a 2019 Accenture study on Singapore's health workforce concluded that technology could free up 10% of time for doctors, 10% for pharmacists, 22% for nurses, 31% for laboratory scientists, 50% for pharmacy technicians and a whopping 68% for medical records clerks in Singapore. My suggestion here is that the Government measure healthcare labour productivity from time to time and publish the results, benchmarked against productivity standards in other global cities. I think it would be useful to make city-by-city comparisons in this regard. There would be various types of metrics that could be considered. Ideally, we should measure public and private healthcare separately for the sake of comparison.”
“Anyway, I understand that the Government is currently studying the idea of allowing private healthcare providers to tap on the Government drug procurement system, or ALPS, and I hope the Government will move on this soon to enable combined purchasing across the public and private sectors to the fullest extent practicable. Lastly, would the Government, as part of the surveying effort I referred to earlier, identify GPs who have spare capacity – meaning that there are certain times of day when they do not see so many patients – and find ways to engage such GPs to augment the capacity in polyclinics or other public healthcare institutions, if they are keen to do so? Anecdotally, it seems that the density of GP networks has seen some long-term increase and competition has risen. One effect of this may be that some GPs – not all – have some spare capacity at certain times of the day, on certain days. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come now to the last part of my speech – how do we raise the labour productivity of our healthcare workers? I am reminded of an amusing conversation I had once as a young Economic Development Board (EDB) officer. One of my colleagues was talking to another manager. The manager said that he could not increase output without a commensurate increase in headcount, to which, the first person said, "Ah, yes, but that assumes zero productivity growth." I have never forgotten this little bit of wisdom, so pithily conveyed. Of course, as healthcare demand grows, we will need to hire more staff. But we need to manage the rate of that increase so as to manage cost, as well as to manage population pressures that may arise from excessive inflows of foreign manpower – and I use the term "manpower" here in a gender-neutral way, of course. How can this be done?”
“9 out of 30 possible points... Singapore was categorised as a 'low' primary care country according to the experts." The earnings of primary care physicians, compared to specialists, were one of several factors cited. Sir, I have a few suggestions here to address some of the issues faced by the GP population and primary healthcare in general. Firstly, should we not regularly survey our population of GPs to understand their experience, their pain points, their perception of gaps in the ecosystem and their suggestions to the Government, insurers and other stakeholders? In my opinion, most of our GPs are thoughtful and well-informed individuals, who should have good ideas for constructive policy change. The Ministry of Health (MOH) does Primary Care Surveys every 10 years or so to determine, primarily, the economic parameters around the primary care sector, but much more can be done. Secondly, can the Government explore onboarding individual GPs and corporate groups that run GP clinics onto the Government procurement system for drugs, so that all parties can obtain lower prices on the basis of larger bulk purchases? Right now, drug sales representatives often sell drugs to individual GPs. And this means fragmentation and far less bargaining power and economies of scale. As an aside, I was once queuing to see a GP and someone behind me in the queue got in to see the GP before me. I did not mind, but I was just curious. So, I went up to the receptionist and I asked the receptionist why this happened and she said she had deprioritised me as I was wearing a tie at the time and she thought I was a drug sales rep rather than a patient.”
“It may be helpful if personnel who are fluent in vernacular languages can approach them in these settings, in a more proactive way, to promote ideas, such as vaccination and health screening, or even to perform certain basic screening activities on the spot. For younger demographic segments, what might work better are, perhaps, strategies that rely on social media. Next, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me move on to the role of GPs. Our roughly 1,800 GP clinics play an important role in our healthcare system as the first line of defence for non-emergencies. This role is set to increase with the advent of Healthier SG. When we speak of attracting and retaining good healthcare professionals in our system, we should not neglect our GPs. Yet, there are worrying signs. In a survey of 300 GPs by NTU published in the journal BMC Primary Care in 2022, 14.4% said they plan to leave general practice permanently, 12.6% plan to take a career break, and 51.3% plan to reduce their clinical hours. Higher remuneration, recognising general practice and family medicine as a medical specialty, and reducing the litigious pressures on medical practice were rated as the most important factors in these decisions, while there was growing dissatisfaction within this community with the third-party administrators that manage insurance arrangements. If there are too many exits from the GP sector, this may dent our ability to achieve our primary healthcare and Healthier SG goals. Also, a study of primary healthcare quality by the National Healthcare Group published in the journal "Asia Pacific Family Medicine" in 2014, which polled 85 experts, concluded that Singapore's system suffers from several issues, and I quote: "The primary care system in Singapore received an average of 10.”
“We also refer cases we come across to TTSH Community Partners, or TTSH CP, which also stations nurses at the Community Care Services Singapore facility at Golden Ginger in Serangoon North at certain times, to make some screening and advice available to the people who live in the area. These are commendable and beneficial interventions, and I hope that these can be replicated in other areas that currently lack this. These should eventually be funded centrally as they do not require costly infrastructure and could also allow local nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and podiatrists with families to, perhaps, work part-time near their homes in their own communities. The model for deployment of such allied healthcare professionals is often to leverage events that attract people to consider health issues. However, some evidence from a survey conducted by Lifebuoy suggests that most Singaporeans take a rather passive approach to their own health and do not often or always proactively seek out information on how to improve their health. Hence, it behooves us to find methods that are more in line with what, in business marketing, is referred to as "hunting", that is, direct sales, as opposed to "farming", or attracting people to come to you. To that end, I wonder if, once we have the health coaches in sufficient numbers, we can, as one initiative, deploy them to void decks, hawker centres and wet markets. These are areas of high footfall, particularly among older people, who may benefit more from healthcare interventions.”
“This may negatively impact general practitioners (GPs) initially but I have some suggestions relating to GPs which I will come to in a minute. Next, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to touch on the necessary role of other allied healthcare professionals and medical personnel. I note that the Government has plans for a greater role for community pharmacists in promoting things like health screening and vaccinations. I spoke about the vital role of both health screening and vaccinations in my Adjournment Motion on preventive healthcare last year as well as via PQs previously. MRNA technology is already spawning potentially revolutionary developments in medicine that could lead to radical breakthroughs in decades to come. But turning back to current realities, it would seem that we are lagging behind many developed countries in terms of the more routine types of vaccination, like influenza vaccines. This can limit the incidence of chronic or catastrophic conditions further downstream. Moreover, alarmingly, the National Population Health Survey 2021 showed that fewer Singapore residents participated in chronic disease and cancer screenings in 2021, compared to 2019. There are plans to raise the number of allied healthcare professionals. Such professionals can play a critical role in community healthcare, nudging healthier lifestyles and appropriate help-seeking behaviours, including for mental health conditions, as well as helping those with chronic conditions prevent the development of complications. In the Serangoon ward of Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), my volunteers and I have had the honour of working with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) Community Partners to conduct a health talk and consultation session at a rental block.”
“Currently there appears to be only one academic programme which provides a Masters in Nursing requirement for advanced practice nurses. Lastly, on the topic of workload. So as to strengthen the Singapore Core in professions like nursing, we should provide preferential consideration to foreigners who are in these professions who have lived and worked here for some time and have demonstrated a capacity to integrate well into our society to obtain permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship. I believe some other Members of this House have called for this before and the Government has said it is open to such an idea. To add on to this, I would repeat my call for the giving of citizenship to be made more transparent, with the availability, for example, of an online points-based calculator, similar to what you see in some other countries. This may make Singapore more attractive to healthcare professionals from other countries by providing more clarity and assurance. Next, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the role of pharmacists. To raise the productivity of our whole system, will the Government consider giving pharmacists some powers to prescribe drugs for certain conditions? This is already being considered in Australia, though there has been some pushback associated with this. Our pharmacists already make adjustments to dosing of drugs for some chronic medications, and advanced practice nurses also have cooperative prescribing models in our local healthcare institutions. I would like to suggest that the Government monitor international developments and consider if and how to accord greater powers for prescription to pharmacists, depending on the emerging international evidence.”
“I would also repeat my calls to move towards 100% compliance with the current 10-hour intervals between duty periods and after in-house calls, up from 90% now, ensuring no under-reporting of hours and taking concrete steps to shorten the time spent on handing over administrative and peripheral duties. I understand that conditions for junior doctors are being reviewed in the public healthcare system now. I hope that the need to optimise working hours will be fully considered in that process. Next, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, on workload. Workload is, of course, a function of healthcare demand vs manpower capacity. Healthcare demand will rise steadily as our population ages and, indeed, we are one of the fastest-ageing populations in the world. Minister Ong has said that the annual intake of nursing students will rise from 2,100 to 2,300 a year. This should help with meeting demand if nurses stay in the profession. Right now, the proportion of Singaporeans among enrolled nurses is a little over 60%. It is important for such a critical profession to maintain a strong Singapore Core and good career progression for nurses who can progress into more senior nurse practitioner and leadership roles. I know that there are currently nursing scholarships primarily awarded by the healthcare clusters. I wonder if this number is sufficient to meet the needs of the future to generate enough of a pipeline of nurses for future senior nurse practitioner, mentoring and leadership roles. Does the Ministry review the number of nursing scholarships given with this in mind? Do such reviews extend to the awarding of a sufficient number of postgraduate scholarships in nursing, given the increasing complexity and technology dependence in the healthcare sector going forward?”
“Moreover, in healthcare, talent can migrate across national borders. Many countries are short of experienced healthcare staff. Many countries would like to poach our English-speaking and well-trained healthcare workers. Hence, I would like to ask if compensation for healthcare personnel could be monitored and tracked based on hourly compensation – total pay per hour worked – and regularly benchmarked against other developed country locations against which we compete for healthcare talent, with the results published so that we have a clear indicator of how we are doing and whether or not we will face choppy waters ahead that we would need to take heed of. I am aware of academic studies that are occasionally published to this effect but I am not aware that there is a regular Government publication to this effect. Next, Sir, on managing working hours and burnout. There is no point raising pay if there is under-capacity and working hours rise after that such that pay per hour remains the same or actually falls. Sir, I have raised this in the House previously in relation to the issue of junior doctors' working hours a few times. I would like to repeat my call to lessen the weekly working hour requirement for junior doctors from 80 to 70 and to step up enforcement to make sure that this is adhered to. There is evidence that the same training outcomes can be obtained with a cap of 70 hours per week versus 80, as I explained in my previous Committee of Supply speech. This would also require systems to be streamlined so that junior doctors and, indeed, nurses, spend more time on patient care and training rather than administrative tasks.”
“We can build the wards and clinics, we can buy the equipment, but how can we attract and retain workers in the sector such that churn is minimised, such that there is a core of professionals from whom future leaders can be drawn, such that there is a good learning curve, a sufficient accumulation of experience and skills to elevate service and effectiveness so as to ensure good outcomes for patients? There are media and anecdotal reports of facilities that are unused due to a lack of manpower. For example, a recent report from TODAY, citing a private doctor, said, "As a matter of fact, several private hospitals have closed some hospital wards and operating theatres due to a shortage of nurses.” The all-important manpower challenge in healthcare unpacks itself into a few bundles of issues – compensation, working hours, working conditions and career laddering, and productivity and, also, as part of that, that should address ensuring that the work feels meaningful. Firstly, Sir, on compensation. While nurses' pay was increased last year – and this is welcome – this was the first base salary increase in seven years. Junior doctors' pay was increased as well recently but, as per the reply to my recent Parliamentary Question (PQ) on this, the 7% to 13% starting salary increase applies to house officers and first-year medical officers (MOs). However, more experienced junior doctors, namely, eligible in-service MOs or residents up to postgraduate Year 6 and dental officers up to postgraduate Year 4, could expect a salary adjustment based on their years in service and bond period rather than an across-the-board increase, as I understand it. Clearly, to attract and retain talent, compensation has to be competitive.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, when deciding how liveable and how advanced a society is, the quality and affordability of its healthcare sector play a key role. In most countries, the nature of healthcare provision is highly contested and debated because of its critical importance. In many countries, including our own, healthcare is also a vital sector for the economy, creating many jobs directly and indirectly. Post-COVID-19, I am hopeful that progress on constructing new facilities like the Woodlands Health Campus and the Integrated Care Hub at Tan Tock Seng Hospital is picking up. However, the main impediment – the main challenge – in meeting our long-term healthcare needs lies not in the building of physical facilities, it lies in the recruitment and retention and raising the productivity of our healthcare workers. It is this single theme that my speech will address today. In my speech, which supports the Motion, I will talk about: (a) addressing recruitment and retention among healthcare workers; (b) raising the productivity of healthcare workers; and (c) improving the outcomes from the healthcare system as a whole without increasing cost proportionately by addressing sources of health problems upstream and by other means. Before I proceed, I declare my interest as the chairman of a company that does consulting work in the healthcare space, among other verticals. Sir, in preparing this speech, I raised the topic of how we can attract more Singaporeans into the healthcare sector at my family dinner table. Without a micro-second's hesitation, my daughter said, and I quote, "Give them decent working hours, respect at work and good pay." Indeed, this is a major long-term challenge we face.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, just a narrow clarification for the Minister of State. If I heard him correctly, he said that foreigners accounted for 4% of private property transactions in the last three years. Can I clarify – does that classify Permanent Residents (PRs) as foreigners? And up until what point is this data available? I mean, is it as at the end of last year and we are counting the last three years from the end of last year backwards or so on? Just wanted to clarify that.”
“And secondly, how will these thresholds be benchmarked against global standards for illegal financial flows? Next, Mdm Deputy Speaker, COSMIC is, at its heart, an online system where the key players are interacting in cyberspace. However, highly confidential financial information is being shared on this system. Should the system, or some, or all of the information that it contains fall prey to bad actors, or if COSMIC is compromised, the outcome may be extremely harmful for FIs, their customers and for Singapore reputationally. Thus, a key concern is how COSMIC will be secured. Who will be responsible for the integrity of the system? Would it be a special team at MAS or would this be outsourced to another Government agency or private company, and if so, which one? In conclusion, Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Bill before us marks a significant step in enabling FIs to share information on suspicious patterns of behaviour with respect to anti-ML/TF/PF goals. The new system, thus created, will need to rest on clear regulatory guidelines, be frequently reviewed amidst a dynamic global financial services and financial crime environment, as well as powerful cybersecurity defences.”
“4 under MAS Notice 626 already gives FIs the power to share customer information with third parties without obtaining customer consent, if it is in relation to AML/CFT issues. This paragraph reads: "13.4 For the purposes of complying with this Notice, a bank may, whether directly or through a third party, collect, use and disclose personal data of an individual customer, an individual beneficiary of a life insurance policy, an individual appointed to act on behalf of a customer, an individual connected party of a customer or an individual beneficial owner of a customer, without the respective individual's consent." Thus, it would be helpful if the Government could clarify just how this provision in MAS Notice 626 would interact with the provisions of this new Bill and COSMIC. For example, can FIs share information about suspicious transactions or clients bilaterally, as it were, without reference to the COSMIC platform but taking reference instead from this provision in MAS Notice 626? Or should all such information sharing henceforth be channelled through COSMIC and be transacted under the provisions of this Bill? My fourth point. According to the Bill, information sharing will only be permitted if the customer's behaviour or transaction activities exhibit predetermined "red flags" that cross stipulated thresholds, suggesting that potential financial crime could be taking place. The wording in the Bill seems to suggest that these thresholds are static thresholds without the element for dynamic adjustment, which is at odds with the global environment's dynamic pace. Hence, I would like to ask the Government: firstly, how often will these thresholds be reviewed to determine if these thresholds have been set to effectively identify illicit financial flows?”
“The actual framework of predetermined "red flags" will need to be comprehensive yet flexible enough. Presumably this will be fleshed out in subsidiary regulations. Otherwise, MAS and/or the STRO could become inundated with questions over whether such and such a transaction should be submitted to COSMIC, to which the reply might be that banks should conduct their own assessment and submit the information if deemed appropriate. In other words, Mdm Deputy Speaker, sufficiently clear and prescriptive guidelines on what constitutes a transaction that should be submitted to another FI via COSMIC would be critical to prevent confusion and the possible over-submission of information. Hence, I would urge MAS to issue these guidelines expeditiously and review these regularly in consultation with the FI community. In relation to this particular point, the MAS, in its response to the consultation with FIs, said: "Information sharing on COSMIC will be done via a structured data template that will be made available to all participant FIs. This will include fields for information relating to the customer including identifying information of the customer and the beneficial owners and authorised signatories of the customer, details of the transactions in question, the "red flag" behaviour exhibited and the risk analysis that is relevant to the customer relationship." I trust these templates, going forward in subsequent iterations, will be sufficiently granular to address the point that I have made. Moving on to my third point, Mdm Deputy Speaker, the primary intent of this Bill is to enable information sharing between FIs on suspicious activity. However, paragraph 13.”
“In comparison, it is the smaller offshore and private banks that would, perhaps, benefit more from such a network of information sharing and provide the most insight. And to exemplify this, MAS withdrew the merchant banking license of one such FI, Falcon Private Bank Ltd, in 2016, as well as another BSI Bank. In 2021, MAS fined a Singapore branch of another such FI, Bank J Safra Sarasin Ltd, for Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance lapses. These banks are also the ones which would, in my opinion, likely face the most pushback from customers and special purpose vehicles set up to obfuscate identities when it comes to asking Know Your Client (KYC) questions. Adding a select group of such smaller offshore private banks into the start-up group of FIs for COSMIC would be advisable. I encourage the Government to consider doing this as soon as practicable. After all, in its response to the consultation with FIs, MAS said that the initial phase would last as long as two years, which is a fairly long time. While details will eventually be forthcoming, one concern – and I move on to my second point – is how prescriptive the subsidiary legislation from MAS will be. Clear and prescriptive regulations would minimise confusion amongst participant banks over what specifically might constitute grounds for submission of information to COSMIC. The revised section 28E of the Bill makes clear under what conditions a FI may make disclosures to another FI in respect of a suspicious transaction, but does not seem to be as clearly prescriptive as to under what circumstances an FI is obligated, or expected, or required to report such information to another FI. Would there be any change in this regard?”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Bill before the House today fills a gap in our current regulatory ecosystem. Over the years, MAS has closely supervised and worked with FIs to strengthen Singapore's defences to prevent ML/TF/PF. However, a weakness in the effective detection of illicit financial flows lies in the inability of FIs to alert one another to unusual activity in their customers' accounts. Financial criminals exploit these "information silos" by making illicit transactions through a web of accounts in different FIs and moving from one FI to another to avoid detection. This Bill seeks to remedy that weakness. To address this gap, MAS plans to establish and maintain a secure digital platform for FIs called COSMIC to share information on customers that exhibit multiple "red flags" indicative of potential illicit activities with one another. This platform will enable FIs to conduct sharper analysis of customer behaviours and activities to detect potential illicit activities more promptly and warn each other of such activities. Mdm Deputy Speaker, I support the Bill and my speech will contain certain clarifications and suggestions for the implementation of the provisions of this Bill. Firstly, Madam, the six major commercial banks that are selected to be involved in the initial stage of COSMIC are DBS, OCBC, UOB, SCB, Citibank and HSBC. While starting with these banks with the largest local network might make sense, they are also the banks with the least to lose in turning down customers and are likely to have the most resources to pursue and file STRs or perform deep dives into customer networks and relationships.”
“Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for her reply. A few supplementary questions. One is, does this curriculum also educate children about the penalties associated with acts of animal cruelty and what recourse they have if they witness acts of animal cruelty? Secondly, does the curriculum afford opportunities for students to interact with animals and shelters or other kinds of settings where they can have some actual interactions with groups that are promoting animal welfare and advocating against cruelty to animals?”
“Even in a gender-neutral maintenance regime, any maintenance to spouses would be awarded at the Court’s discretion and such a regime should not disadvantage vulnerable women who can still be awarded maintenance. In summary, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I urge the Government to reconsider making maintenance in cases of divorce gender-neutral.”