Liang Eng Hwa
Singapore
“Sir, in Mandarin, please. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to thank IMDA for its flexibility in allowing the filming of "Dear You" in the Teochew dialect, and for approving additional screenings to meet public demand.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Sir, we hope that there will be peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict soon and that the Strait of Hormuz will be fully open.”
“Sir, I believe the political office holders have not replied or responded to my cut on traffic congestion, so can I perhaps ask the Minister, whether is it because he disagrees with me that the traffic congestion has worsened or that there is no non-pricing solutions to traffic congestion, which I had asked for.”
“Sir, Minister Chee, in his speech mentioned that this year we will be launching 19,600 new BTO flats. So, I would like to ask, how he sees the trajectory in the next two, three years.”
“Also, flexible work arrangements, through inter-agency coordination, could also help flatten peak demand. Sir, road pricing remains important, of course, but it must be a multi-pronged approach to manage congestions. And all these suggestions that I have made, I hope would also help to reduce congestions.”
“Thank you, Speaker. Sir, there are Singaporeans who felt strongly that the founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew's original wish to have the house demolished should be respected. It is not just because this is his personal wish but also the values that he espouse, which is not to have personal monuments.”
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“The people we represent expect Parliament to continue focusing on people's livelihoods, solving immediate difficulties as well as addressing medium and long-term challenges we face, so that Singapore's next 60 years can continue to be strong and progressive, with people living and working in peace and harmony. I believe this is also the shared aspiration of every Member present. Mr Speaker, I firmly believe that under your leadership, this Parliament will definitely be able to make a difference and promote Singapore's progress. Once again, congratulations, Mr Speaker, and I wish you smooth sailing and great success in your Parliamentary work. [Applause.]”
“We all have a duty to jointly create a Parliament of high standard and quality that can truly improve people's livelihoods and strengthen Singapore’s Parliament further. I once asked a foreign envoy stationed in Singapore about his impression and views of our parliamentary debates. He immediately gave two thumbs up and said "excellent". He said that honestly speaking, although Singapore's parliamentary debates may not be as "exciting" or "dramatic" as some other parliaments, he felt that Singapore's parliamentary debates were of very high quality and substance. When debating issues, they go very deep and the issues raised by MPs are very practical and down-to-earth. This is perhaps because many of our backbenchers have their own professional backgrounds or work experience and have deeper knowledge and insights in their respective fields, which comes in handy during Parliamentary debates. Mr Speaker, I believe that under your guidance, Parliamentary debates will continue to play their due role. This Parliament has the most seats in history, from 93 in the previous term to 97 this term. With the addition of two NCMPs, this Parliament will have 99 seats. This term of Parliament also has the greatest number of new faces, with a total of 32 first-term Members from both sides of the House, setting a record. More Members and new faces will not only test your eyesight to see who raised their hand first, Mr Speaker, but also your memory, having to call out the names of so many new Members all in a split second. However, having worked with you for many years, and from my past experience in playing golf with you, I have great confidence in your eyesight and memory. Mr Speaker, each new term of Parliament will bring new outlook and expectations.”
“Mr Speaker, in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Speaker, first, allow me to congratulate you on your re-election as Speaker of the 15th Parliament. Your election is well-deserved and well-expected. In the previous Parliament, under your wise and steady guidance, a series of intensive parliamentary agendas were able to proceed smoothly. Members from both sides of the House were also able to express their respective political views and positions. Of course, parliamentary debates inevitably would have moments of intense exchanges. I remember in the previous Parliament, we had several heated debates, with some even going into late night. Although debates inevitably generate sparks, with fairness and firmness, you have made sure that parliamentary proceedings are conducted with decorum and order. It is not unusual for Members to have different views and positions on certain issues. The key is that after rounds of debates, issues and opinions which still have no consensus on can be set aside temporarily, so that the parliamentary agenda can carry on. On television, we often see Members in foreign parliaments engaging in verbal battles, and sometimes even physical fights. In certain parliaments, MPs even have to don helmet and protective gear to attend sittings. Fortunately, our Parliament assures Members a high sense of security. Mr Speaker, we must never go that direction. Parliament is our highest political institution, the national legislative body with the highest authority, it must maintain its institutional dignity and decorum. Maintaining Parliament's decorum, dignity and order not only require Speaker ’s close supervision and commitment, but each Member can also play a part and be a role model.”
“Clerk, I support the proposal. [(proc text) There being only one proposal, the Clerk then declared Mr Seah Kian Peng to have been duly elected as Speaker of this Parliament. (proc text)] [(proc text) Mr Speaker, standing at the Table, took an Oath of Allegiance. (proc text)] [(proc text) Mr Speaker went to the Chair and sat down. (proc text)] [(proc text) Then, the Mace, which before laid below the Table, was placed on the Table. (proc text)] [Mr Speaker in the Chair]”
“Sir, while we are disappointed with the imposition of the 10% tariffs by the US, the US remains our key relations that go beyond the economic space, but into defence and others. So, can I ask the Prime Minister whether we continue to have access to the key administration officials in the US to negotiate on tariffs? And where can we land with these discussions, these negotiations? And also, whether the other initiatives that we are working on, for example, in the military, in the energy space, are these going to be affected by this increase in the tariffs? The second question to the Prime Minister is, if we, indeed, do trade less with the US because of the tariffs, can I ask where else, and what other markets and corridors can we go to make up for it? For example, in the other groupings like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), ASEAN and so on, and the European Union, are there new corridors, new markets where we can develop more trade relations?”
“Sir, I thank the Minister of State for the reply, which provided a lot of information, some of which I must say I may not be aware of. I am sure many Singaporeans may not be aware that there are so many other avenues that they can look for. I had a case in my Meet-the-People Session, which I had sent to MinLaw as well, where the claimant got an order from SCT for the retailer to pay up, but the retailer just refused to pay. She felt helpless and was told that she had to go and seek legal advice, which defeats the purpose of why we have the SCT for small claims. So, whether can there be more of this hand-holding, especially for the seniors, to be able to ultimately get their claims back, which is what the whole effort is all about.”
“Sir, often, in a prolonged rainy season, such as as the last month or so, we will receive a large number of reports on cases of seepages, especially for the older, vintage flats. I hope that MND and HDB understand this is really a frustrating experience for residents having to deal with water seepage coming into their homes. So, I want to ask the Senior Minister of State two questions. Firstly, I am glad that there is this technology, that works by x-ray, to look at where the root cause of the seepage is coming from. That should help because one of the pain points is not being able to know where the seepages are coming from, where is the source of the leaks. So, can I ask the Senior Minister of State whether our current seepage contractors that the TCs hire, do they have the expertise to deal with this in a way that will resolve the problem in a lasting way and not to keep having this recurring situation. And secondly, for those more complex long-standing cases, can I also ask if HDB follows up continuously? As long as there is no resolution, does HDB follow through until we see a resolution to this seepage problem?”
“Chairman, allow me to thank Deputy Prime Minister Gan, Minister Tan See Ling, Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling and Minister of State Alvin Tan for their very thorough responses to our cuts and clarifications. It leaves me to just wish the MTI family every success in growing our economy, hopefully, once again, to outperform our forecasted range of 1% to 3% growth for 2025. Sir, with that, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment. [(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)] [(proc text) The sum of $1,638,234,500 for Head V ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)] [(proc text) The sum of $6,309,880,900 for Head V ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]”
“Thank you, Sir. Deputy Prime Minister Gan, in his speech and in response to my query, mentioned that the worst case scenario for Singapore amidst an ongoing US-China contestation could be a global trade war. So, I would like to further ask the Deputy Prime Minister what Singapore is doing to mitigate that potential impact. And also, if I can ask the Deputy Prime Minister to share how he sees our relationship with US and with China, whether in the event of a global trade war, would that put us in a better position to manage the downsides?”
“Sir, I refer to paragraph 48, which is about the exchanges between MDDI and ACRA. I read in that paragraph, where in the reply from MDDI to ACRA, it states that "ACRA can continue to display masked NRIC numbers in the People Search function for now". And it continues to say that it should be prepared for the "eventual unmasking of the NRIC number". Can I ask the Senior Minister whether that remains the policy position – the eventual unmasking of the NRIC number? And in the case of the People Search function, what is the direction ahead? Would ACRA eventually stop displaying the masked NRIC number? Would the full NRIC number be shown in some way, with some controls or with some safeguards? My second clarification is related to page 16 for the chronology of key events. The report mentioned that ACRA did have internal deliberations about the risk of showing full NRIC numbers in the People Search function. It shows that ACRA did have concerns, at least, at the working level, but they went ahead because they misunderstood the instructions from the July 2024 CM. Can I ask if there is a deeper issue here, where an agency felt compelled to just go ahead with the launch even though internally, they have some serious concerns or reservations on the public implications? And whether does the Public Service have the mechanism where officers at the working level who may have spotted a potential high-risk situation, for example, in the upcoming implementation, are able to flag out these concerns and get attention from the management?”
“This is so that Singapore will always have strong cards to play to defend our national interest and not to be dictated or at the mercy of others. And importantly also, to have the means to mitigate the impact and fallout come what may. In the new, more-contested and technology-driven economic landscape, we again need to re-evaluate our economic competitive positioning and to up the game. 5.45 pm I hope that we will always be bold, as a country, to seek new growth frontiers and continually look to remake and invigorate our economy to stay viable, so that Singapore will always have strong cards to play to survive and to thrive in these extraordinary times. [(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)] Strengthening Trade Relations”
“These could be structured as IHLs' industry projects and/or as internship opportunities for the students, so that our IHLs and students are also able to participate in industries' AI developments and to keep their curriculums relevant and updated. Sir, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister in his Budget Statement speech said that we now face a new geopolitical contestation that will reshape the global economy and dampen prospects for global growth. He mentioned that as a small and open economy, Singapore will certainly feel the impact. So, can I ask the Minister what are the possible scenarios that Singapore could face and how it will impact us? What could be the worst-case scenario for us? Against this backdrop, of trade and technology decoupling, how would the re-organising of the supply chain impact the future of Singapore's manufacturing sector? How would MTI ensure that manufacturing continues to be a key pillar of our economy? Sir, last Friday, the world saw on live TV stunning exchanges between United States (US) President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Zelensky. In that heated exchange, the Ukrainian President was told, "he has no cards to play". Sir, I am not weighing in into that debate, but I am sure it is not a good feeling to be told this by a major power. It is a sobering reminder that, as a country, we must never be caught in a situation where we have no cards to play. When Singapore became Independent in 1965, we indeed have very few or have weak cards to play. That is why over the last 60 years, we have been so single-minded and obsessed about strengthening Singapore; whether it is in security, economy, social unity, among others and, importantly, to always be in a strong fiscal position and to have strong reserves.”
“Semiconductors and biomedical sciences are among the high-performing sectors that we should target and to build an ecosystem conducive for its developments. In this regard, can I ask what are MTI's plans to grow our research and innovation ecosystem; and, in particular, to support the development of sectors, such as semi-conductors and biomedical sciences? Our next bound of economic growth can also come from strengthening our position as a global hub for startups and innovation. Can MTI share how it intends to attract and support high-performing, innovative companies into Singapore? Gearing up our enterprises to embrace AI solutions are also necessary enablers to achieve productivity improvements and competitiveness. The Productivity Solutions Grant and SMEs Go Digital schemes already assist enterprises to utilise off-the-shelf solutions for marketing and business analytics. In this year's Budget, the support is extended to more customise solutions tailored to the enterprises' needs. The new $150 million Enterprise Compute Initiative brings in major cloud service providers to help companies access and embed AI solutions in their business, including computing power with the help of expert consultancy services. This is a meaningful new initiative and can help companies develop new use cases and commercially viable and creative applications as well. I look forward to more details of this scheme later. Can I suggest that besides partnering the cloud service providers, I hope that MTI can also include our local institutions of higher learning (IHLs) and their students to help enterprises develop tailored solutions and commercial use cases.”
“Sir, over the last decade, many of the regional economics with much bigger scale domestically and have the capacity to grow at faster growth rate, have their size of economy surpassing Singapore; countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand. Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines are not far behind. It imperative that we continue to seek growth; be it a more moderate pace. Back to my earlier point whether we can and should grow beyond the 1% to 3%. range, I would say let us always strive to pick up that additional 0.5% to 1% of growth where we can. To do that, it requires us to steadfastly work on overcoming our tight constraints on land and workforce and now also carbon. To create new capacities for higher growth, the hard truth is that we need structural productivity improvements to create new growth capacities. This includes pressing on with enterprise transformations, skills upgrade and continual infrastructural build-up. In this Budget and earlier Budgets, a number of support schemes have been introduced and many enhanced. Sir, our circumstance also does not permit us to compete on costs alone. We need to differentiate with our other value propositions, such as the availability of educated and skilled workforce, our world class infrastructure, our premier status as a financial centre, our reputable legal system and our pro-business environment, just to name a few. One area of strategic importance and where we can differentiate is to bolster Singapore's position as centre of excellences for technological and innovation developments. It enables us to attract cutting-edge high performing companies to Singapore and to anchor value here.”
“Mr Chairman, I seek to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head V of the Estimates be reduced by $100". Sir, the Singapore economy surprised on the upsize with a higher-than-expected growth of 4.4% in 2024; significantly above the guided range of 1% to 3% that we came to expect. This is good news for Singapore as it meant more economic activities, better jobs opportunities, more tax revenues to strengthen our fiscal position and better standard of living for all Singaporeans. Credit to Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and our economic agencies for managing our economy well to achieve the above-trend growth despite our inherent domestic constraints. The question is: can we do it again in 2025? In the latest January release, MTI has again maintained the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2025 as between 1% to 3%. How important is it for us to push for higher growth; beyond the 1% to 3% range? Economic growth creates good jobs and helps sustain real wage growth for our people. A more vibrant economy invigorates the business ecosystem and generate business opportunities for the enterprises. In our context, having a strong and growing economy enable us to stay plugged to the global trade and investments flows; and also enable Singapore to stay closely abreast of new developments and advancements in the growth frontiers areas, such as the advance manufacturing, innovations and digital space and so on. Having a growing economy also allows us to participate in the global supply chains and enhances our economic resilience. In other words, having a sizeable and growing economy helps us stay relevant internationally.”
“Mr Chairman, the Government will nominate Ambassador Rena Lee as a candidate for the Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the elections in November 2026. While I am happy and fully support the nomination, I would like ask the Minister to share on the Government's thinking behind her nomination and how this nomination would contribute our part towards the upholding of international rule of law? Since Independence, Singapore has actively participated in many international agencies like the UN and many other platforms, like WHO and so on. For a small nation state, international rule of law means a lot to us. It is in Singapore's interest to steadfastly advance the international rule of law. The ICJ is the UN's key judicial organ and it plays a vital role in upholding international laws and agreements, and in the adjudication of legal dispute between countries. When Mr Daren Tang was appointed as the Director-General of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in 2020, it brought pride to Singapore and it is not only a recognition by the international IP community of Mr Tang's credentials, but also of Singapore's reputation as a jurisdiction in being among the best in intellectual protections. I am sure Ambassador Rena Lee's impeccable reputation and credentials, as well as the international recognition of Singapore as having among the best judiciary and legal systems in the world will stand her in good stead. We wish her all the best in the election.”
“Mdm Chair, global geopolitical situation today has changed substantially from the time of Committee of Supply last year. The global contestation has become more intense with major economic powers now engaging in tit-for-tat tariffs and increasingly troubling posturing and unilateral actions. Countries in the region are understandably worried and evaluating the implications under this new landscape. ASEAN has to manage its relationship with the new US administration and interrelated to that, is the new dynamics in the region. Under this new setting, how can we ensure that ASEAN's continues its relevance and centrality in the region? How can ASEAN respond to this new uncertain and unsettling global landscape? Myanmar and ASEAN”
“Mr Chairman, since the World War II, countries around the world have largely operated under a set of principles, norms, rules and agreements and where nations' sovereignties are respected. The current state of international affairs and the worrying recent developments have, however, severely threatened this rules-based global order and thrust countries like Singapore into this unchartered territory. Are we seeing the erosions of multilateralism and fraying of the rules-based global order? In September last year, at the Summit of the Future, under the auspices of the UN, world leaders adopted the Pact of the Future. This aims to reinvigorate and better position multilateral institutions to address complex challenges at a time when multilateralism itself is under pressure. How has Singapore contributed to the Pact for the Future and how will Singapore continue to contribute to strengthening multilateralism? Singapore's Foreign Policy”
“Sir, allow me to thank Minister Chee, Minister Indranee Rajah and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Shawn Huang for their responses to our cuts. And also, I want to thank Prime Minister Wong and the best-in-class MOF team for yet another impactful Budget that stands us in good stead to move Singapore forward. With that, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment. [(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)] [(proc text) The sum of $1,300,315,000 for Head M ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)] [(proc text) The sum of $127,707,700 for Head M ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]”
“SMEs may not have the resource setup to participate in Government tenders that are onerous and require tedious paperwork. For smaller-value contracts, could the Government look into a lighter tender process, lowering the bar to participate, and a tender process tailored more to smaller enterprises. Another group of businesses that I would like to bring to attention are startups with innovative solutions. They often find it harder to participate in Government tenders due to the various administrative requirements and the need for track record. So, can MOF look into a new procurement initiative that makes it easier for the agencies and businesses to work together to pilot and to scale innovative solutions? Finally, I would like to also ask the Minister for a progress update on efforts to improve the promptness of payment to vendors, an issue that I raised before in previous COS debates. Land for Public Housing”
“Madam, besides ensuring fiscal prudence and sustainability, MOF's other missions include fostering a regulatory environment conducive to businesses as well as drive synergies across the whole-of-Government (WOG). [Mr Speaker in the Chair] A number of key business regulatory statutes come under the purview of MOF, such as the Companies Act, the Business Registration Act, the Accountant Standards Act, the Limited Partnership Act and others. The Ministry also set the policies for procurement, custom regulations and other business regulations. As such, MOF plays a central role to promote a pro-enterprise regulatory environment across the whole-of-Government. One immediate quick win areas to look into can be the simplifying of rules across the Government. For example, can the MOF agencies look to further streamline existing rules for businesses, so as to reduce the compliance burden of businesses in relation to areas, such as taxation and disclosure? Reducing the burden of compliance can reduce time and costs and make doing businesses in Singapore more cost effective. The areas of concerns from businesses that I pick up are lengthy processes involved and the time taken to go through these processes when doing business with the Government. Can the Minister update what have the MOF agencies been doing to improve processes and facilitate better experiences transacting with the Government? Are there plans to leverage digital means or generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) for greater efficiency and better connectivity? In the area of procurement, I urge the Ministry to keep working on making procurement opportunities more accessible to businesses, especially to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).”
“Has the Public Sector adopted green budgeting and consider environmental sustainability in the management of public finances? Finally, has the Singapore Green Bond Framework been kept abreast and updated given the recent developments in the sustainability landscape? [(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)] Enhancing Economic Competitiveness”
“This is the report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on "Budgeting in Singapore", which also mentioned Singapore as having an international reputation for fiscal discipline in budgeting and policies that has help ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Madam, this being the last Committee of Supply (COS) for this term of Government and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is the Ministry that is responsible for stewarding our fiscal resources and ensuring effectiveness of public outcomes and governance are achieved, can I ask the Minister the following questions? Firstly, if the Minister could recap on how the country has fared in key areas of national interest and whether the required public sector outcomes have been achieved? We have these international accolades, but it is good to also hear the inside view of how we see the Public Service has fared and the public sector outcomes as well. 5.30 pm Secondly, does the Public Sector develop programme evaluation capabilities so that we can further enhance effectiveness and governance in the Public Service? Sir, I move to environment sustainability. As we transition to a greener and more sustainable future, can I ask the Minister a few questions in relation to how the MOF agencies are addressing issues of climate change and environmental sustainability? What are public financing levers to steer Singapore towards our net-zero commitment? Does the Government take environmental sustainability considerations into account when procuring goods and services, and can the Government do more? Businesses are still trying to make the green transition and may not be able to meet the various environmental sustainability requirements. Can I ask what support is the Government providing to help these businesses?”
“Hence, for Singapore to be named as a Blue Zone is really remarkable and we must have gotten the fundamentals and the policies right to achieve these excellent public outcomes. Madam, the second article that I would like to share is this report by Henley Passport Index, that names Singapore passport as the most powerful passport in the world. It must have provided Singaporeans a lot of convenience to be able to have access to so many countries and not to mention, the sense of pride to carry our red passport. Again, we must have managed our foreign relations well to earn all these visa-free accesses and also that these countries do see Singaporeans as valued and desired tourists or visitors. Thirdly, I would like to mention that the Singapore Public Service has recently also come out on top, in terms of performances among the 120 public administrations around the world; which included many developed countries. This is the index produced by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, which rates public services in four areas: strategy and leadership, public policies, national delivery and people and processes. So, congratulations to our Public Service. Madam, there are, of course, other accolades given to Singapore, such as Singapore being the country with the highest home ownership in the world and Singapore being among the most competitive economy globally. However, in the interest of guillotine time, I would just mention one more international accolade that Singapore has just received last month, which cited that the Government of Singapore as having, "a well-defined budget framework with clear fiscal objectives".”
“Mdm Chair, I seek to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head M of the Estimates be reduced by $100". Madam, let me start by sharing a few international articles about Singapore that I picked up recently. Firstly, it is this truly remarkable report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that cited Singapore as being named the world's sixth Blue Zone by the National Geographic. What are Blue Zones? Blue zones are the identified geographic communities where the inhabitants are known to have live well, live healthily, with exceptional life expectancies way higher than the world's average or higher than 80 years old. I did some research on the article and noted that they also look at indicators, such as whether the people living in that communities live purposeful-driven life, the level of social connectivity, the low rates of chronic disease, healthy environment, among others. The BBC report also mentioned that Singapore's healthcare system has received global accolades both its quality of care and its ability to keep costs affordable. It also added that when it comes to longevity, Singapore is one of the few places in the world that saw quantum jump in life expectancies. From what was 65 in the 1960s, to now, more than 86, according to BBC. The number of people living to 100 years and beyond has also doubled over the last decade. The other five Blue Zone locations are Loma Linda in California, Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Sardina in Italy, Ikaria in Greece and Okinawa in Japan. Interestingly, these locations are not known to be as fast-paced, vibrant cities like Singapore. They are more rural and country in nature with smaller populations and the tempo of life tend to be more relax.”
“Sir, I have two clarifications for the Prime Minister. Firstly, on the SINGA capitalisation of $4.2 billion and $4.6 billion for the two financial years. The Prime Minister mentioned this is because of the bond that we issued to fund the infrastructure and then it comes in as part of the fiscal position. So, I would like to ask the Prime Minister whether we should remind Singaporeans that this is actually a sum of money that we need to pay over a period of time through depreciation of the assets? Because it comes in as cash now and if we were to use it for our current expenditure, we have to remind ourselves that this is an amount of money that needs to be paid over a period of time. And therefore, we should not see it as surplus, as in, like revenue surpluses. So, that is my first clarification. Second clarification is, last year, the Prime Minister, the then-Deputy Prime Minister mentioned about the $5 billion that is expected to be spent on the Forward SG policy moves as a first instalment. Then he also mentioned that close to $40 billion is expected to be spent on the Forward SG policy moves by the end of this decade. So, I would like to ask the Prime Minister, for this financial year, what is the estimated amount that is attributable to the second instalment of the Forward SG policy moves, whether he anticipates this subsequent instalment to be an even higher amount and whether the $40 billion that was mentioned earlier, is it still the amount that we envisage will be spent?”
“I applaud the Government for introducing the Large Families Scheme to support families with three or more children. Having more kids would also mean higher household expenditures for families. Hence, any additional assistance and support would be welcomed by families. So, can I ask if the Government can extend this rationale of support to housing as well? It is understandable that families with three or more children would also need more spaces in their home. So, I hope HDB can look into helping these larger families and consider giving them priorities when they apply for bigger flats, like the 5-room flats. Sir, my final point is a request that is related to public transport fare. At last year's Budget debate, I asked the Government to keep watch of the public transport fare and to consider a once-off assistance to moderate the fare increase if the Budget position permits. I am glad and thankful that the Government did provide a once-off additional subsidy of $250 million, over and above the $2 billion a year subsidy, to moderate the fare increase. So, this year, I would like to put up a similar request for the Government to consider another once-off subsidy should the Public Transport Council again recommend to increase the public transport fare. It would go a long way to help relieve public transport costs for commuters and, hopefully, help nudge more to move towards a car-lite society. Sir, with that, I support the Budget.”
“Although it should be noted that the Assurance Packages in earlier Budgets would have delayed the effect of the GST rates increase by at least five years for the majority of Singapore households. And with this Budget on, it could be delayed further. Sir, I took a closer look at Annex H-1, in the Budget documents. The main contributor to the large overall surpluses is the significant increase in the corporate income tax collections. In Budget 2024, the corporate income tax was initially estimated as $28.03 billion and later revised to $28.38 billion. The latest revised figures for corporate income tax, in this year's Budget paper, now stands at $30.88 billion, an increase of $2.5 billion from the earlier estimate. The estimate for corporate income tax for the next FY is a higher figure of $32.67 billion. I can understand that with a stronger than expected economic growth in 2024, the corporate income tax revenue is expected to rise. Conversely, if the economy slows, or enter into a recession, there could be downside to corporate income tax. In Annex H-1, it also reported high figures for the capitalisation of Nationally Significant Infrastructure, estimated to be $4.17 billion for FY2024 and $4.63 billion in FY2025. These large capitalisation numbers get added into the overall fiscal position and contributed to the larger overall surplus numbers. So, I would like to seek clarification from the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, as to why are these capitalisation values being added to the overall computation of the fiscal surplus? Is this capitalisation an accounting item or is it a cash item that can be used to fund current expenditures? Sir, my second point is a suggestion.”
“These include building more healthcare facilities to meet the demands of future demographic changes, developing long-term stable energy supplies, rejuvenating our towns sustainably, strengthening our national security and defence, and caring for vulnerable groups in our society. Few countries' budgets can match Singapore's fiscal strength – not only can we address immediate needs, but also pave the way for future development, ensuring steady progress and giving Singaporeans peace of mind. As the saying goes, "Caution enables a boat to sail for thousands of years." Since Independence, we have upheld the philosophy of prudent fiscal management. This has allowed us to accumulate valuable resources and prepare for future challenges, greatly enhancing our ability to respond to various international crises. This is indeed our best strategy to enable Singapore to develop and prosper with stability and resilience. (In English): Sir, in this Budget and the one before, many of our wish lists were answered. I am pleased that a number of my suggestions to the Prime Minister, have also found its way into the Budget. Indeed, many ideas and suggestions from Singaporeans were taken on board, especially those from the Forward Singapore exercise. It shows that the Government is listening. And it reflects a refreshing relationship between the new Prime Minister's Government and Singaporeans. Sir, in closing, I would like to seek a clarification, put forward a suggestion and make a request. Let me start with the clarification. It is about the overall surpluses for FY2024 and FY2025, of $6.4 billion and $6.8 billion respectively. These are eye catching numbers. Such large surpluses would, understandably, bring into question whether we have prematurely raised the GST rates.”
“In the Budget speech, the Prime Minister shared that we are now in a fragmented and troubled world, with the situation likely to worsen in the coming years. Singapore, once again, has to find ways to navigate a turbulent and troubling external environment. Like Hong Kong, Singapore is also exposed to the escalating trade tensions, including the potential knock-on effects of a slowing global economy as a result of the trade war. Given this backdrop of greater global uncertainty and downside risks, the last thing we want is to face this turbulent landscape in a position of weakness. We neither have the domestic scale, the size nor the hinterland to help us to buffer the external shocks. Hence, Singapore must brace the future unknowns and uncertainties that will surely come in a position of strength. Our strong financial position is the best defence and insurance to protect Singaporeans from effects of external shocks, some of which could devastating or prolonged. So, let us not give away that security cover and as a result, fully expose Singaporeans to the ill-effects of any crisis that comes our way. Sir, in Mandarin, please. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] First, I want to highlight a unique aspect of our Budgets. Prudent fiscal management has enabled us to have substantial financial resources in each Budget to address the challenges before us. For instance, in this Budget, we continue to strengthen our efforts to help Singaporeans cope with the current high costs of living. Furthermore, we ensure sufficient fiscal resources to tackle our medium- and long-term challenges.”
“Just imagine, if we mismanage our finances and are no longer able to fulfil these commitments, it would immediately add anxieties to Singaporeans and, of course, to impact the quality-of-care that they would receive later. So, we must manage our finances responsibly. Sir, I want bring to the attention of the House this report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Budgeting in Singapore, published on 13 January 2025. In the report, it mentioned Singapore as having an international reputation for fiscal discipline in budgeting and policies and that has helped ensure Singapore's long-term fiscal sustainability. It credited the Government of Singapore as having "a well-defined budget framework with clear fiscal objectives". It said the fiscal rules, such as the Constitutional requirement to maintain a balanced budget over each term of Government, instill responsible budgeting. For example, it also mentioned in the report that to sustain Singapore's increasing expenditures and the pressure to spend even more, the Government has to "diversify its tax base and increase tax rates to improve sustainability and to maintain a balanced budget". The report also mentioned that these tax changes has made our tax system more progressive. Sir, this report is a credible endorsement of our unique and distinctive Budget framework, where the Budget measures are designed for purposeful impacts that clearly aligned with our national objectives and priorities and where the needs of both the current and future generations of Singaporeans are being taken care of. It reflects the value system of this Government and is the foundational bedrock that will ensure Singapore's long-term survivability.”
“Based on reports, they have also dipped into their fiscal reserves and which has seen shrinkage to the tune of about 40% from the high. Today happens to be Hong Kong's budget day and their Financial Secretary has started his speech, so we will wait for more details from there. But Sir, I want to say that I do not wish to critique on Hong Kong's fiscal management, but there are valuable learning points for Singapore here. What happened to Hong Kong, in terms of running multi-year budget deficits, can happen to Singapore as well. Especially in our case, where we have other big-ticket spending items, like defence and foreign affairs as well as strategic areas that we need to invest and commit capital expenditure, such as water and energy security. Unlike Hong Kong, we also do not have the hinterland of China to help us underpin or backstop the economy. So, for Singapore, it goes back to the twin mantra that I mentioned at the start; prudent fiscal management and growing the economy to generate top-line revenue; which are critically important to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability. Being prudent has never failed us in our history. It strengthens our financial position for the longer term and provide insurance against our inherent vulnerabilities. Over the years, the Government has stepped up spending in more areas, in particular, healthcare and social support spending. They have all increased significantly and would continue to grow. These are commitments that the Government made to our people. It gives Singaporean a peace of mind that the Government have their backs and the people take our assurance that the Government will have the sustainable funding to continue providing the subsidies.”
“In each of our Budgets, we make sure that we always have the fiscal capacity to carry out the key priorities of the Government, many of which are multi-year commitments. The ability to always have significant stable funding to tackle short- to longer-term challenges and yet able to invest for a better future and, of course, still have savings for rainy days is what makes Singapore's budgets unique and distinctive. Many governments in the world would find achieving this an uphill task or an almost impossible task to achieve. For example, let us look at a jurisdiction quite similar to us: Hong Kong. A city economy and a financial centre like Singapore, Hong Kong has been running persistent large deficits in the last three years. In fact, in the last five years, they have run into four deficits. In the current fiscal year, it is estimated that Hong Kong will, again, run into deficit to the tune of around HK$100 billion or S$17.1 billion. This is more than what they have forecast at the start of the year. Recently, the Hong Kong Financial Secretary has assured the Hong Kong public that its government aims to balance the book in the next two to three years, "primarily through reducing expenditures, complemented by generating revenue". What that could mean is that the Hong Kong government would likely have to either raise taxes and fees, or to significantly cut expenditures, or to do both to reduce the large deficits. Otherwise, the Hong Kong international ratings may be at risk of being reviewed. In the case of Hong Kong, revenue from land sales form a major source of the government's revenue unlike Singapore and it has seen significant decline due to weaker property market.”
“Besides tackling the immediate concerns, the Budget also allocates substantial resources to push our economic growth frontier, investing in technology, enterprises and infrastructure. There is the $3 billion top-up for National Productivity Fund to help us anchor high-quality investments in Singapore; the $1 billion investment is to keep our R&D infrastructure at cutting edge; and up to $150 million is allocated to the new Enterprise Compute Initiative to help enterprises develop bespoke AI solutions. To boost our air hub status, the Changi Airport Development Fund will be topped up by another $5 billion. In the Budget Statement speech, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also signposted the potential future deployment of nuclear power in Singapore, given the promising developments of safer operational small modular reactors. This could be a game changer in our efforts to build energy resilience. Sir, there is also no let-up in our efforts to upskill our workers. The SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme that supports mid-career Singaporeans to reboot their skills has been enhanced to include part-timers. A new SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant and the redesigned SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit have been introduced to provide funding support to companies for job redesign activities. The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will also get an additional $200 million funding to set up more company training committees and to push for more skills advancement at the company level. These are again, over and above the comprehensive set of schemes introduced to support workers in earlier Budgets. Sir, allow me come back to the point that I started, which is that our Budgets are unique and distinctive.”
“Mr Speaker, there is something unique and distinctive about Singapore's Budget, quite unlike other countries' or jurisdictions', and it about the way we go about doing it. At its core, we adhere to two key main thrusts, to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability: firstly, consistent prudent financial management; and secondly, growing the economy to generate sustainable streams of revenue. It has served us well all these years and has, time and again, enabled us to make available substantial fiscal resources in each Budget to deal with both the immediate and longer-term challenges, as well as still have the financial means to invest into the future, whether it is to enhance our economy or to improve our social well-being. We see that manifest again in this year's Budget. The immediate task, of course, on hand, remains to help Singaporeans tackle cost pressures. Support schemes have been upsized, such as the CDC Vouchers and the U-Save Rebates, and more broad-based schemes added, such as the Child LifeSG Credits and expanded Climate Vouchers. These are over and above the Enhanced Assurance Package and other earlier announced support packages. There is also more support for families and the seniors, such as the Large Families Scheme, the Matched MediSave Scheme, the enhanced support for long-term care costs and the enhanced Home Caregiving Grant, to mention a few. These assistances are spread across most calendar months, till January 2026. Taken together, these support packages amounted to substantial assistances for each family. For example, a six-person, middle-income, three-generation family living in a 5-room HDB flat can receive total benefits of about $10,000.”
“Sir, I just want to further ask the Minister: there could be blocks where it is segmented and some parts of the blocks are suitable for lift upgrading constructions, to put in the lift shaft – but some parts of the blocks are not. My first supplementary question to the Minister is whether HDB would still go ahead if enough units within the block can get lift access, even though there are some units that cannot? Would HDB still go ahead with that? My second supplementary question is, at the end of the day we are left with 140 blocks. Is HDB prepared to move the subsidy funding more, just so that more of the remaining blocks can get qualified for the LUP? So, if it is a funding problem, can we look at adjusting the funding subsidies?”
“Sir, last month on the first day of school for Primary 1 students, it was 2 January, I was outside a primary school at my constituency and got to meet some parents there. As I was chatting with some of the parents, I saw a couple distributing flyers around us and I was curious to find out what they were distributing. And I soon found out that they are distributing tuition flyers. I was very troubled with that and I offered my views to the couple who were distributing the tuition flyers and said that they should not be doing this on the first day of school for Primary 1 students. We do not want to create such unnecessary competition and stresses to our parents and the students on the first day for Primary 1 students. I told them that, perhaps later, if the students do have some weaker subjects and areas they need to improve on, well, perhaps they may need some tuition, but I still believe the school is capable of helping the weaker students. The couple left after I said all those things. Can I ask the Minister of State whether there are any standing instructions or would MOE come out with some standing instructions to advise tuition centres not to do such tuition sales outside schools, especially on the first day of school for Primary 1 students?”
“Thank you, Sir. My clarification pertains to the masked NRIC numbers. I note from the Minister's Statement that the Government will be moving away from the practice of using masked NRIC numbers. Can I ask the Minister, besides the concerns of giving the public a false sense of security with the masked NRIC numbers, are there any downsides to continuing with this practice of having masked NRIC numbers? Secondly, if the masked NRIC number, which I see as a middle-ground solution, is something that the public is comfortable with and they do know that it is not foolproof, that it is not absolutely secret, why then is there a need to take away this caution?”
“Sir, in conclusion, since the policy change to build hawker centres about 10 years ago – credit to MSE, NEA and the various Government agencies – we have seen concerted efforts and significant resources being allocated to support the hawker trade. We now see really modernised hawker centres, better facilities, better ambience – this is a good thing for the hawkers ecosystem. Besides the various support schemes to support individual hawkers, there is also the Hawker Centre Upgrading Programme to upgrade older hawker centres, there is the Toilet Improvement Programme which the Ulu Pandan Hawker Centre just recently benefited from, and there are the CDC Vouchers to support hawkers as well as heartland digitalisation packages to help support the overall hawker centre ecosystem. Of course, there will continue to be challenges to the hawker trade, but as Mr Edward Chia stated in his amended Motion, we must continue to support our hawkers by regularly reviewing the policies and to sustain our hawker ecosystem, so that both the hawkers can earn a fair livelihood and Singaporeans at large can enjoy good and affordable hawker food. Sir, with that, I support the amended Motion in the name of Mr Edward Chia.”
“Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon had taken pains to explain to the House at last month’s Sitting that outlier high tender bids are not the norm and that the median rent typically average around $1,200 per month in the last 10 years, as per his recent speech, And some subsidised stallholders pay about $300 per month. NEA allocates stalls on price-based tender basis, with no reserve bid price. So, stall rentals can go below $100 per month, including to as low as $1 in the past, as it had happened before in the past. I note the announcement last month that NEA will stagger the downward rental adjustments over a longer period, after three years, referencing the Assessed Market Rent. Let us keep a close watch in the subsequent biddings whether the change has any effect in discouraging outlier bids. I also welcome NEA move to make available more information and make available the online business cost estimation tool to help tenderers make more informed and realistic bids. Having said that I would still want to come back to my suggestion that I raised in last month's Sitting, which is that besides tender price, we should also look at the quality of the bid or what we call the price-quality method, or PQM. For example, in the event that of top bid rent price, that significantly deviates from the Assessed Market Rent, NEA can carry out a deeper evaluation on the bidders on whether the bidder really has the means and the capability to sustain their business with such a high rental rates? In that way, we can remove some of these unrealistic bids and reduce the incidence of outliers in the rental bid price.”
“Some of these assistance measures are permanent in nature and adds up to the billions of dollars from our Budget allocation. Again, we are fortunate to be in this good fiscal position to help Singaporeans households directly and very extensively, to directly assist Singaporean households to cope with the cost of living. The fifth lever is everyone of us – the community support initiatives. We know in various constituencies, we all do have our ground-up initiatives to help our fellow residents cope with cost of living. For example, at Bukit Panjang Town, we have what we call the monthly "$1 Deal" initiative, "一元为定", to help reduce the impact of cost of living to our fellow residents. We use funding from the community or from donors and not imposing it on the stallholders or hawkers. There are also the private sector initiatives in the neigbourhood such as DBS’ "5 Million Hawker Meals" scheme and the various grocery support schemes such as by Hao Ren Hao Shi, "好人好事", New Life Community Service and also organisations like the Association of Banks of Singapore who bring volunteers and offer groceries to our residents. Sir, before I end, I want to speak on another issue, with regard to the outlier high rental bids during the monthly tender exercises by NEA. Out-of-the-norm high rentals do attract a lot of attention and may influence future would-be stall bidders to bid higher and thereby, push up overall average rentals. So, we need to figure out how we can prevent that from happening.”
“Fortunately, in the case of Singapore, we have some very helpful levers to mitigate the impact to our domestic economy. Firstly, of course, is our strong Singapore dollar. Most of what we consume are imported and if our Singapore dollar is weak, it will be a double whammy to everyone of us. We know that a strong Singapore dollar is not a given and should not be taken for granted. Markets have to see the value in the Singapore dollar, on the basis of fundamentals – do we have a strong and sound economy, are we a strong and cohesive society and how are we as a country? Secondly, while we use the exchange rate to reduce the impact on imported inflation, it is not possible to totally negate rising costs. Hence, it is also important to work on the other side of the equation as well, which is income. We need to keep on working on income to rise so that it can help us mitigate inflation. And here, again, we need to keep our economy strong and attract investments so as to keep having good jobs and incomes for our people. The third lever is that we must always have a competitive, efficient and vibrant business ecosystem, where consumers have choices as to where they want to consume. In Chinese, it is called "货比三家". A consumer must have a choice of at least three places to go to consume so that there is always competition. A competitive business landscape helps keep costs and prices in check and help eradicate potential profiteering. Fourthly, there is the need for the Government to continue to give direct assistance to help Singaporeans cope with the rising costs. And we do have a whole range of assistance schemes like GST Vouchers, U-Save vouchers, service and conservancy charges rebates, the Cost of Living payouts, CDC Vouchers, Workfare, Silver Support and so on.”
“Having a larger pool of available stall assistants and to continue to work on improving productivity hopefully can move the needle and alleviate the situation faced by the hawkers. The third challenge is about the rising input costs and the food price tensions. Hawkers, like all of us, wants a decent wage. Consumers also want affordable or value-for-money food. So, how do we achieve both and where is the balance? Indeed, prices of cooked food have risen in the last few years, primarily due to rising input costs. Data from the Department of Statistics showed that hawker food prices rose by 6.1% in 2023 and the increase is broad-based. Raw food ingredients among the key components, which are pricier today due to higher global food commodity prices, the extreme weather also has an impact, and the knock-on effects from the higher energy and transport costs. In response to a recent PQ that I filed, MSE replied that based on NEA's surveys, the main cost drivers for stallholders were ingredients and manpower, which combined, account for 70% to 80% of the hawkers' expenditure. Over the weekend, I had a chat with Mr Ong Chye Lai, who runs the popular lor mee stall at Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre, to validate NEA's numbers. And he shared with me that, indeed, a major bulk of the cost increases come from his ingredients, such as the fish and meat that he serves, as well as the spices for his lor mee. He added that post-COVID-19, the prices of these ingredients have fluctuated at a wider range and he is trying to cope with the volatility. How do we fight rising prices that are externally driven, such as supply chain disruptions, the war in Ukraine, the weather, the volatility in the global food commodity markets and that we import almost all of these inputs?”
“Sir, the society at large can also play a part to keep the hawker trade going by not only consuming at the hawker centres, but also respect hawker trade as a profession of choice. Many enter the trade as a calling and because of their passion for culinary and local food culture. We should show appreciations and cheer them on, including their stall assistants and the cleaners and the dishwashers at the hawker centres. The second challenge is insufficient manpower. Hawker cooked food businesses are labour intensive work. The number of meals served and how long is the stall opening hours are, are dependent on the number of stall assistants available at the stalls. These days, it is difficult to find local stall assistants. Among the reasons, the work at hawker centres is physically demanding and the work environment not so appealing. The policy position has always been that hawker stallholders should be reserved for Singaporeans and PRs, to safeguard the local identity of our hawker culture. Senior Minister of State Dr Koh Poh Koon announced last month that NEA will be relaxing the manpower policy to allow hawkers to hire LTVP+ holders in January next year. I hope that can, in some way, alleviate the manpower situation. Of course, the other aspect to help hawkers improve productivity is also important. I understand that hawker centres have tapped the various productivity support programmes, such as the Productive Hawker Centres programme, to enjoy the 70% tiered subsidies for centralised dishwashing. The Hawkers Productivity Grant has also helped individual hawkers with 80% co-funding to purchase kitchen automation equipment and digital solutions. There are also other bulk-purchasing services initiatives to reduce the toil on the workers.”
“While I am glad that the Government has decided to resume building hawker centres and giving the hawker trade a new boost in life, we also know that it comes with both new and old challenges. First challenge, succession. Our first-generation and even second-generation hawkers are catching up in age. It is understandable that the younger generation may not see hawker trade as their first career choice, although I have also met quite a number of younger ones as well, including at Bukit Panjang. Mr Walter Tay is one of them and he runs "Father and Son Carrot Cake". But clearly, the numbers are still not enough to replace the earlier generations of hawkers. This is a serious challenge to the hawker trade and to our hawker culture. In recent years, the Government introduced a number of programmes with the aim to encourage more to join the hawker trade, such as the Incubation Stall Programme to assist aspiring hawkers with pre-fitted equipment to lower the startup cost; Hawkers Succession Scheme, which aims to assist veteran hawkers who intend to retire but are unable to find successors, to pass down their skills, recipes and hawker stalls to aspiring hawkers and which also come with a generous $23,000 ex-gratia payment as well as monthly stipend in the initial months. There is also the Hawkers' Development Programme, which helps to equip aspiring and existing hawkers with the relevant skills and competencies to run a hawker business. We have to keep reviewing these programmes to see if it achieves the intended outcomes and if need be, to introduce new schemes to encourage new hawkers to join the trade.”
“There is a need for the Government to intervene by way of supplying more hawker spaces then to stabilise the markets, no different from how the Government intervene to manage, say, our currency, the Singapore dollar, to keep within a trading band or the cooling measures to tame the hot property markets. Hawker centres are relatively low capital expenditure infrastructures, they are mostly non-air conditioned and built with a pretty unsophisticated design deliberately, with the purpose to keep maintenance costs low. Because of the typically large floor spaces, it can accommodate more stalls under one roof and offer a wide selection of food choices. As a result, hawker centres are a more competitive marketplace, which helps keep prices of food in check. With lower barrier to entry and lower running costs, it helps improve the viability of hawker trade businesses and keeps the hawker trade and its food culture alive. So, I am glad, in 2011, that then-Minister Vivian was able to finally persuade the Cabinet to resume building hawker centres and the first 10 new hawker centres were announced – with the first one being built in Bukit Panjang, although I must declare, I was not the Member of Parliament there yet. But after some wait, I finally have one at my then-constituency, in the Senja area. And that is how we entered the new era of hawker centres development. I would call this the Hawker Centres 2.0, where a new generation of modern hawker centres sprouted up across the island. At my last count, we have added 14 new hawker centres since 2011, with six more in the pipeline to be built by 2027. NEA still directly managed the existing 121 hawker centres and markets.”
“Sir, hawker centres came about in 1971 when the Government relocated 18,000 street hawkers that operated under unhygienic and unregulated environments, and moved them into modestly built and inexpensive premises that comes with stricter hygiene regulation and proper licensing. Upon completing the relocation exercise in around the mid-1980s, the Government stopped building new hawker centres. And the reason is that the Government felt that the provision of eating places and food can be left to the private sector, such as coffee shops and food courts business operators. There is good reason for that, a good position to begin at that time. Indeed, the Government should not be the sole or dominant retail F&B space provider and manager. The private sector can and should have a role in this F&B ecosystem and besides, the Government also need to focus on its role as a regulator too. However, what happened around 2011 and prior was that the market mechanism had not worked out in the way as intended. Coffee shops and food court spaces were traded at bubbly high prices. It would have direct bearing on the stall rentals and thereafter, the cooked food prices. This would not be sustainable to the hawker trade and would impact the overall affordability of cooked food prices. So, my point here is that, while we leave it to market forces to sort out most of the things, there can be situations where the market forces can bring us to the wrong place, such as runaway coffee shop prices, unhealthy market power and monopolistic behavior by dominant players, or that where coffee shops or retail F&B spaces have become speculative assets for trading.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I felt compelled to speak on this Motion, having pushed the Government to resume building hawker centres since I became a Member of this House in 2006. The perfect opportunity came in 2011, when Minister Vivian Balakrishnan became the Minister for Environment and Water Resources. And I know him to be a Minister who has always been open-minded about new policy ideas or policy changes, and that he has no hesitation to move if he feels that it is the right thing to do. Hence, on our first Environment Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) meeting with him in 2011, I remember my first ask to him at that meeting was to review the hawker centre policy and to consider resuming the building of new hawker centres. My arguments then were, firstly, coffee shops were changing hands at very high prices at the time, in the tens of millions, which had direct flow-on effects on stall rentals and added upward pressures on food prices. There was a need for the Government to intervene, so that the mass retail food market would continue to be affordable. Secondly, we need to lower the barrier to entry for hawkers to enter the trade so as to keep the hawkers' trade alive and going. The inadequate supply of affordable hawker spaces then would be a major impediment to would-be hawkers. So, we needed to tackle the insufficient supply of hawker stalls. My third argument then was, it may not be intended that way at its inception, but today's hawker centres have become our unique social melting pot. There is huge social value in having a publicly-run, not-for-profit common eating spaces, where people from all walks of life can come together, under one roof to dine.”
“Mr Speaker, I was hoping that the Minister would give us a firm date on when the dual-loop services can be fully resumed. So, maybe my first question for the Minister is whether he can give us a clearer timeline, instead of just saying the coming months. Secondly, with the resumption of the dual-loop services in the coming months and also with the adding on of the new train cars into the system, I would like to ask the Minister whether that would improve the overall stability of the system or it can pose more risks. And if, indeed, there could be more risks, how can LTA and SMRT be better prepared for this very critical phase and also to reduce any inconveniences to our commuters should there be any disruption?”
“I am glad that the Government handled this matter in an open and transparent manner, with the Ministerial Statement on Monday to explain the Government's position and considerations and thereafter tabled this amendment to the Insurance Act so that we can have this debate. Mr Speaker, since our Independence, Singapore has always pursued pragmatic pathways in our nation building journey. We want to be an appealing global economic hub where as far as possible free market principles prevails. We will leave it to the invisible hand of the market to sort things out, but we are also fully cognisant that there may be pitfalls and areas where unfettered free market may not always serve us well. And that is why we do see, from time to time, the Government’s visible hands in action, to rectify a situation or to plug a service gap when necessary. This is the uniqueness of the Singapore model, what we call "same-same but different". We want to be a vibrant economy but we want to have the social safeguard. This is to borrow the words of Mr Lim Swee Say, the former Secretary-General of NTUC. Sir, social co-operatives can play an instrumental role in how we build a functioning and robust social compact, helping to give Singaporeans the needed assurances in this uncertain and volatile world, even as Singapore move forward to embrace the exciting opportunities ahead. Sir, with that, I support the Bill.”