L. P. Rodrigo
Singapore
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would just ask the Minister whether in the implementation of this law there would arise a situation where a blood test is required but it is not available under the circumstances, and in such a situation should the person concerned be unable at the particular time to produce the required urine, would that constitute a j…”
“On the question of education policies and their implementation, teacher unions cannot afford to posturise or compromise to achieve administrative convenience at the risk of a deterioration in the content of education. Principals of primary schools had their post allowances withdrawn.”
“All our constituents need one badly, and although requests have been put forward by some of my colleagues, including the Minister of State for Labour, who is the MP for Upper Serangoon constituency, we have so far received no response.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head R be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead AAA 1004*. (* The same amendment also stood in the names of Messrs Hwang Soo Jin and P.”
“Sir, one of the hazards of being on good terms with the Member for Katong is that in allowing him to speak ahead of you on a head of expenditure such as this, you find that there is not much else to say. I quite realise that in a debate, repetition is inevitable.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head M be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead AAA 1003*. (* The same amendment also stood in the names of Messrs Ho See Beng and P.”
The complete record
Every one of 287 lines we hold for L. P. Rodrigo, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 6.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in view of the explanation, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendments stood in the name of Mr L. P. Rodrigo - (36) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2129. (37) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of item (3) of subhead 2132.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2128. This concerns "Vocational Guidance Expenses". My queries are as follows. What is the extent of vocational guidance in the schools today? What consti tute the activities of vocational guidance bodies in the schools? Is vocational guidance in schools also an attempt to recognise aptitudes for careers and pro fessions and to offer the necessary guidance? Or is it merely the effort of informing students of the various careers and professions so that they may be convinced that they are suitable for a particular career or profession? Vocational guidance in schools these days is necessarily limited to informing the student body of the kind of professions or careers available to them with their relevant qualifications. I think vocational guidance should go beyond that. It should try to devise a scheme to ascertain the aptitudes of the pupils and inform them of the aptitudes which would be conducive to their professions or careers.”
“In view of the explanation, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2123. This subhead deals with "Substitute Relief Teachers". I notice that the amount voted for is $1,287,500. This is quite a substantial amount of money for relief teachers. If I may formulate my queries immediately, may I be informed how many such teachers are there, why are they required whom do they relieve and to what basic duties are they assigned?”
“I beg leave to withdraw, Sir. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2117. Sir, what moves me to make this amendment is purely curiosity. I see from the Estimates that "Rent and Maintenance of Playing Fields" for 1968 is $400 and for the extending financial year of 15 months, it is $250. Perhaps I may be informed how this small sum of $250 can accommodate the rent and maintenance of playing fields of our schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2110. This subhead concerns free textbooks and stationery for pupils. I understand there is an extensive scheme for free textbooks and stationery for pupils. Is the officer in charge of school textbooks in the Ministry of Education also concerned with the school curriculum? If so, to what extent, if any, is the accumulation of free textbooks and their availability to the schools a factor which determines changes in the curriculum of schools? In fact, in view of the stringent budget of the Ministry of Education, one might be tempted to say that one has got a vast accumulation of old textbooks so one will not change one's curriculum and therefore make use of the old free textbooks, when perhaps there need to be progressive tendencies in curriculum changes at the same time. May I know, also, when and in what circumstances are curriculum changes made and on what basis? Finally, what becomes of the free textbooks which are no longer required for issue?”
“Sir, I am not speaking on this amendment(The same amendment also stood in the name of L. P. Rodrigo).”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Mr L. P. Rodrigo - (24) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1451.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1441. Sir, my queries under this subhead are similar to the one preceding, namely, what are the objects of industrial training; who will be its trainees; how will this training be conducted, whether or not underlining this training there will already be a manpower survey of the needs of industry; and what is the relationship of this training with this survey?”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. 4.45 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1431. Sir, I believe institutional training is a new concept. My queries are: what are the aims and purposes of this training and the content of such training, and how will such training be carried out?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, my queries under this subhead have been raised to some extent by the Member for Kampong Kembangan. Perhaps I could start off with the aims and purposes of the College. What factors will determine the selection of students applying for seats in the College? Will the students in the College receive a kind of education substantially different from that in the pre-university classes in secondary schools? How is the education system in the College to produce the kind of graduate that the College intends to produce? Is there not a danger of developing a psychological complex in the students who are in pre-university classes but out of the College? I think they will consider themselves academically qualified for admission to the College.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1251. Sir, the purpose of this amendment is purely to seek information on the functions of the educational television service. 4.30 p.m. What is the principal object of educational television? Is it to supplement classroom teaching or is it to replace classroom teaching in some subjects? Is there no scope for innovation in educational television like education in the responsibility of the home, in beneficial leisure, or general health education, or education in sports? In other words, instead of limiting educational television to formal classroom subjects, what scope is there for educational television in education other than formal classroom subjects?”
“Sir, in view of the explanation, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi - (17) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by the whole sum in respect of subhead 1164.”
“Quite true, Sir, I am quite aware that I have got a "vertical" debate going across here and I certainly will not start a "horizontal" debate. I thank the Minister for supporting me In my appeal to the teaching profession and I also thank the Member for Moulmein. I now beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I will withdraw my amendment but I will not allow the Member for Moulmein to dilute the cogency of my ---”
“We need a tremendous teaching zeal, founded upon a precise understanding of the aims and purposes of education in the context of our national growth. And what is supremely important, a vocation to teach. It means that the teachers need continually to improve upon their own capability by perusing material relevant to the profession and thinking about problems relating to education. In this respect, it was suggested to me that one indictment against the teaching profession is that a journal called the Teachers World Today cannot be sold in Singapore for want of purchasers. It may be so. I remember some years ago when the agents for this periodical made quite a business. But it appears that they have relinquished their agency. There can be no half-way measures in teaching and it is imperative that teachers today be conscious all the time of the fact that they are teaching, because if they are not, as I elaborated yesterday, the danger of falling into the rut of instructing is always present. Theirs is a difficult task of finding the time and the opportunity, in addition to the curriculum, to educate their pupils for character, for social cohesion, for citizenship, for democratic living, for critical inquiry, for respect, for dignity in work, for racial and religious tolerance, for community development and for intelligent leisure. They must undertake all these if we are to have educated school-leavers. Such needs require teachers to involve their professional selves with the aspirations of the country and fully commit their professional expertise to the aims and purposes of education today. For the sake of our country, Sir, I call for these responses from the teaching profession.”
“Sir, in as much as it takes two to do the tango gracefully, it takes the teaching profession and the administration in a huge co- ordinated exercise to make our new education system succeed. I have previously spoken of the responses from the administration which are necessary, and I now wish to speak of the responses which. I think, are required from the teachers. Generally speaking, I believe the teachers attempt their best under reasonably harsh conditions, having to contend with excessively large classes, a voluminous curriculum and extensive extracurricular activities ranging from art clubs to volley ball. No doubt the duties of the teachers today are onerous. But there is, however, a small negligible segment of the profession to whom the profession has lost all appeal, whose teaching responsiveness has long atrophied into the callous principle of doing the least for the maximum benefit. I must speak out against this segment of teachers. I think they had better make up their minds whether to be in or out of the profession, and they would be sparing themselves if they left the profession, because I do not think one can be half committed if one is in the teaching profession. One either teaches or one misteaches, and we certainly do not want teachers who misteach. As we move into the next decade and after having gone through a series of educational changes in the previous one and having finally set our system, there is need for the teachers today to assimilate the trend and the progress of the times in the country if they are to contribute their utmost. At this stage of our educational development, Sir, we need - as I have said before and I do not think this can be over-emphasised a positive awakening of teaching power.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1157. Sir, I seek your leave to range over the subject arising out of subhead 1159 as well - amendment (15)* * Amendment(15) reads as follows: That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1159.”
“The other category was a category of appointees who were informed that they were rejected for the substantive appointments but that they were to be appointed in an acting capacity until one year from the date of the appointment or until the incumbent for the post arrived. This would mean that this second category of appointees would revert to teaching and they would suffer some embarrassment. But what is alarming is that when some of these appointees approached the officials in the Ministry and indicated that this was something for which they had not bargained, and when they asked whether they could refuse the second type of appointment, it appeared that they were informed that they could, provided they signed certain documents to the effect that they reject the appointment on condition that they are prepared to forfeit promotional opportunities which may come their way in the future. If this is so, I think this is a very iniquitous practice on the part of the Ministry, it is unfair to these applicants. It is just like inviting a guest to your house for a cocktail party and as soon as he gets into your house, you grab him by the scruff of his neck and drag him to the backyard to clean up the mess, perhaps in preparation for the "Keep Singapore Clean" campaign! And when he protests, you threaten to blow off his brains with a blunderbuss. I think this situation ought to be resolved somehow or other, because I understand that they have been informed by the Ministry that their appointments would proceed until further notice - in other words, until a further one year from the date on which they were last notified or until the incumbent came along to displace them. I hope the Minister will look into this situation with a view to remedying an undesirable situation.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, yesterday I was engaged in the topic of principals of schools before we were terrorised by the Environmental Public Health Bill. I was calling upon the principals of schools to make their contribution to education in a form beyond their administrative duties as heads of schools. I was calling upon them to apply their minds to problems in education relevant to the times and, especially,. relevant perhaps to their respective localities and schools and to put this thinking on paper for submission to the Ministry of Education and also to be published and sorted out for the benefit of the teaching profession. Sir, the heads of schools, having stored up that much experience and ability to merit their appointments as heads of schools by the Public Service Commission, should gladly undertake these duties without insistence on the part of the Ministry, and I certainly would look forward to such responses from principals of schools. But they also have hard times these days. I would like to refer the Minister to the last appointment of principals of primary schools. I do not know whether this may be within the ambit of the Public Service Commission. If it is, the Minister can still do something to remedy what I think is an undesirable situation. The appointment of the princi pals of primary schools was last made on the basis of a circular to the schools calling for applications for this appointment and the indication was that the appointment was meant to be a substantive appointment. A number of applications were made. Subsequent interviews followed, and then short-listing, and eventually the appointment was made in two categories. One was a category of appointees who were appointed substantively with the usual probationary period. 3.00 p.m.”
“Perhaps the Minister may have some explanation because, as he said, the preparation of this Bill has taken about a year. But I must express a regret that this is a harsh Bill and, unfortunately, we do not have sufficient time to ponder over it. 8.50 p.m.”
“call upon him to show cause why he should not be punished for failing to attend in compliance with the notice delivered to him and if cause be not shown may order him to pay such penalty not exceeding two thousand dollars as the Court thinks fit or may commit him to prison for a term not exceeding two months.' In other words, if the accused has not complied with the summons, a warrant is issued to arrest him and bring him before the Court. There he is tried for the substantive offence and convicted thereon. Having been convicted, he is also asked to show cause why he did not comply with the original summons in the first place and he is again convicted. Sir, this is what I mean by a double-barrelled provision. I think it is unnecessarily harsh. Another unhappy clause, if I may refer the Minister to it, is clause 19 (2) which reads: 'Without prejudice to any proceeding& under subsection (1) of this section and whether before or after the commencement or conclusion of such proceedings, the cause of the nuisance may be removed by the Commissioner.' This is where you might have a case pending, and it continues to say: '...who may recover the costs and expenses thereby incurred from the occupier or the owner of the house or premises in the manner provided under section 119 of this Act.' Where the accused is the occupier or owner of the house, there is a case proceeding against him and the nuisance: is removed. In other words, the exhibit of the case is removed and his whole case might depend on that exhibit. So, first of all, he is prejudiced to the extent that the exhibit is removed and,, secondly, he has got to pay the cost of the removal. I am rather unhappy with such provisions.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, proceeding on the principle that brevity is the soul of wit, I shall try to be as brief as possible. Sir, much as I agree with the Minister that the campaign to get rid of dirt and squalor must be pursued relentlessly. I must express a regret that this Bill is being taken through tonight at this unearthly hour. Frankly speaking, Sir, in trying to go through the Bill last night, I managed to cover about 10 pages only and I came across 18 penalty clauses and about ten forced payment clauses whereby the Ministry officials can undertake construction or work and cause the defaulter to pay the Ministry the cost of that undertaking. It is a harsh Bill, Sir. Some of the provisions are highly loaded and, in fact, some of them are double- barrelled. If I may refer the Minister, for example, to clause 26 (7) , which, in my opinion, is a provision that can impose excessive hardship. You will note, Sir, that this clause reads: 'Upon a person arrested in pursuance of a warrant issued under subsection (6) of this section being produced before it,..' In other words, this is the case of the accused not having complied with the summons and therefore a warrant of arrest has been issued and the accused has been apprehended. It continues to read: '...a Court shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section and shall at the conclusion of such proceedings...' That means the proceedings in sub-clause (1) . In other words, the accused shall be tried and, if found convicted, it says: '...”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1153. However, Sir, I seek your leave to range over the subjects coming under subhead 1158* as well, as I intend to make some observations on principals at large. Recalling my suggestion that the time is opportune for the administration to secure the total commitment of teachers with the aims and purposes of ensuring that we succeed in our new educational system, I would urge the administration to provide opportunities for principals of schools as well to undertake inquiry and research into the educational problems of the country, and those having special reference perhaps to their own school of environment. The principal of the school must, in my opinion, be involved if his staff are to he similarly enthused. But his contribution can certainly be much more than that of school administration only. I am sure that the principals of schools, who are people with vast experience, keen minds and are alive to the innumerable problems of education in the country, will also be the persons who, apart from the inspectors of schools, can contribute to education by keeping their minds alive to the problems of education in the country. * The amendment reads as follows: (14) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1158. 8.00 p.m.”
“That is right, Sir. Other than that, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, before I withdraw my amendment, I notice what may be a misprint in the Estimates. Can I refer the Minister to footnote (v) on page 189 which reads: 'Officers who were in service on or prior to 30-4-58 are on scale: (II-4A) for Pass Degree; (II-13) for Certificate Course and (III-23) for Normal Trained.' I do not know whether the salary scale "(III-23)" is a misprint. I think it should be "(II-23)" because in Appendix L at page 542 I see that the salary scale for Normal Trained teachers is $325-l5A-490/530-20A-690 under Code Number II-23. I wonder if this is a misprint.”
“Will the Minister consider seconding to this department a greater number of teachers who have been specialising in physical education or extramural acti vities to undertake what is clearly a massive piece of work?”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1121. Sir, in doing so I seek leave to range over the subjects coming under subheads 1131* and 1l32+ since I intend to relate them. The amendments read as follows: *(10) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1131. +((11) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1132. I note that, on the one hand, we have a Department of Extramural Activities. To my mind, I get the impression that this Department of Extramural Activities will embrace the activities coming under subheads 1131 and 1132, in other words, the activities of the National ,Recreation Centre. Although subheads 1131 and 1132 have to do with inspectors and assistant specialist inspectors (physical education). I understand that their work is, to a large extent, con nected with sports and extramural activities which should come under extramural activities. I do not know what the development has been. Perhaps these two departments have merged. This is a question of form, Sir. Secondly, I note that the Estimates list out 10 posts of assistant specialist inspectors (physical education), but I understand that eight others have been seconded to the department, and so you have 18 assistant specialist inspectors (physical education). I understand that these 18 inspectors are required to supervise physical education in a great number of schools, involving about half a million pupils and about 20 .000 teachers. I wonder whether, even in the course of a whole year, these assistant specialist inspectors will be able to supervise all the teachers in the schools.”
“Sir, in view of what the Minister has said on research, I am not moving this amendment.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn The following amendment stood in the name of Mr L. P. Rodrigo - That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1111.”
“Sir, perhaps we can do away with the word "integrated". To me, it sounds as though we have a racial problem in Singapore when we name a school inte grated. I do not know whether it is possible to do away with it. My view is that it would not take a lot of thinking to remove the word "integrated". It conveys the impression that we have got a set racial problem. To the tourist who comes to Singapore, especially if he is an American, and who sees the expression "integrated school", he, of course, draws the analogy. 7.45 p.m.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1020. This subhead concerns staff officers, a subject on which the ambit of my debate has been somewhat reduced by the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to my question earlier. However, there are two points that I want to raise. I believe that a directive stands to date requiring the staffing of qualified teachers only in Primaries I and VI and that in between (Primaries II to V), these classes could be staffed with unqualified teachers. I am not saying that my information is factual. I do not know. Perhaps the Minister for Education or his Parliamentary Secretary can enlighten me. That is what I have been given to understand. If that is so, the point that I wish to raise is that the staffing on this basis in primary schools should be looked into, because if we need to staff qualified competent teachers in any school, it is in the primary school. I think if the pupils in the primary schools are somehow mishandled, by the time they reach the secondary classes, they will be so atrophied that they will not have much of a potential as students, in these schools. I think that whatever staffing formula is being applied by the staff officers, it should be such as to ensure that more qualified teachers be staffed in primary schools in view of the fact that the children in Primary schools are in a formative age, and if they are malformed, we are going to get a good deal of maladjustments which would be difficult to reset in the secondary schools. That is one observation which I would like the Minister to consider. The second observation that I wish to make is in reference to what we call "integrated schools" these days.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“I do not mean the classroom subject Composition but composition in speech, composition in thinking, composition in articulating so that when the pupils go to secondary schools, they will not be shocked by the amount of work that requires compository skills in the secondary schools.”
“I do not think that their duties should be so mundane and so limited as to go around examining accounts and inspecting the teaching of teachers for bar crossing. etc. I think the Inspectorate can contribute best to education if it instils into the inspectors of schools a sense of careership, because inspectorship is a career. It does not involve isolated services like inspection of teaching, examination of accounts and investigation into complaints. I think there is an attitude, an approach, required of inspectors. This will only be achieved if the duties of inspectors, as I say, are more than just servicing schools and inspection of teaching. It must include a progressive and sustained inquiry into the many and varied problems of education from time to time. If the results of these inquiries are published and distributed among the teaching pro fession, then I think it will go a long way to help and improve the teaching effort of the profession. It certainly will benefit 19,000 teachers and indirectly will benefit half a million school-going children. Secondly, is the Inspectorate not aware that the teaching in primary schools these days places so much emphasis upon the passing of that infamous examination called the Primary School Leaving Examination that the pupils going to the secondary schools are, in fact, in difficulties when it comes to articulating and composing work in the classroom? I think this is due to the fact that the teachers in the primary schools have focused their efforts purely to get the pupils through the examination. Surely the Inspectorate is aware of this trend and, if it is, what has it been doing? Has it gone round to the schools to try and dilute this trend and to insist on the teaching of skills in composition?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1016. Mr Speaker, Sir, I seek your leave to range over the subjects that will come under subheads* 1017, 1018, 1019. * The amendments read as follows: (4) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1017. (5) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1018. (6) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0701 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1019. Sir, this subhead concerns inspectors of schools. I think the image of the inspectors of schools is fairly set by now. In some cases it gives rise to a lot of apprehension on the part of the teachers. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 7.25 p.m. But apart from their functions of inspection of teaching methods, the examination of school accounts and investigation into complaints against teachers and school heads, what are their residual functions, if any? I wonder if these inspectors of schools are expected - or a much more preferable term - required to submit research papers on the problems of education, analysis of problems pertaining to methodology, methods and teaching of special subjects and so on. If it is part of their duties to so submit treatises, theses and written papers on these problems, what have been their contributions so far? 7.30 p.m. Sir, I think it would be extremely desirable if the Inspectorate insists that inspectors periodically submit written papers on problems relating to matters of teaching. I think they are the proper persons with the expertise to undertake such a problem.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“I will come to that under a separate subhead. That is what I mean by the absence of co-ordination between the Registry of Marriages and the Immigration Department. This is very interesting confusion. When we have such a case, of course, the unfortunate husband is prejudiced ad infinitum and we do not know when his position will be resolved.”
“Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary's answer to the case of the non-citizen male who chooses to marry one of our charming citizens is not that neat and simple. It is all right for the male non-citizen who happens to be residing here temporarily. Perhaps he might acquire residential qualification. But there are cases where the male non-citizen is not even allowed to enter the country. He is stuck away in Hong Kong or some other place and he is a very frustrated husband. An hon. Member: How did he get married?”
“I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0601 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1005. Sir, we are at the moment accelerating the movement towards industrialisation, But at this point, it might be pertinent to ask what the Ministry is doing by way of research or planning to prepare for the various hazards of industrialisation, like injuries to the hand in the course of operating machines. Has the Ministry attempted to get figures of such injuries? I have, Sir. There may be need perhaps for a special department of experts in hand injuries in the Orthopaedic Ward of the General Hospital. Can I get some information on these matters from the Minister, Sir? 3.30 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to belabour the use of that phrase "unfriendly nations". If our foreign policy is sincerely posited upon the fundamental premise that all nations are friendly to us, then, in the first place, we will not be able to categorise any nation as unfriendly. Perhaps the Minister of State will enlighten the House.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have reason to believe that in such cases it might only tend to aggravate the financial situation of the family. Can the Parliamentary Secretary assure the House that in such cases the utmost consideration would be given with a view to preventing further hardship to the family?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in regard to those cases where public assistance was terminated, were there a number of cases where public assistance was terminated because the eldest child of the family was recruited for national service?”
“Sir, I would like to underline the observations of the Member for Changi in respect of the artificial valuation of premises which still obtains these days. In my constituency, the number of about 800 service lettings has been reduced to about 150, leaving house owners the choice of either selling their property or renting it out at competitive rates. However much they would like to rent out their premises to "locals" at competitive rates, they would find that it would be a losing proposition on their part because of the artificially high valuation which still obtains today in respect of their premises. If a genuine reassessment of valuation could be made and the proper level of value of the premises obtained, then I think we would get proper rentals and the local inhabitants would benefit from this situation.”
“In view of the explanation, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head D403 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2314. Sir, this subhead concerns "Contributions to Sports Organisations". The purpose of this amendment is to seek from the Minister information on how this amount will be apportioned among the sports bodies, whether there is a basis of apportionment as such, and whether this basis takes into consideration factors like the mass following of the sports and the fact that some sports bring in a certain amount of revenue to the Government.”