N. Govindasamy
Singapore
“Sir, in the hope that the Ministry of Finance will release the funds required for the Telok Blangah community centre within the next six months, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Mr J F.”
“Member for Serangoon Gardens, would show that numerous criticisms were made in this Chamber. Some of the pitfalls of the education policies were pointed out and they could have been avoided.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am still a little confused. Would the Minister of State categorically state in this House whether the restructured education scheme is on or off? Even the teachers and the principals are arguing among themselves whether the restructured education scheme is on or off.”
“Sir, I have no intention of joining in. The problem here is riot a question of marrying abroad or in Singapore. The problem is still faced by people who were married in Singapore. There is the case of a woman who has been married here for eight years and has four children all living here in a Housing Board flat.”
“Perhaps when the Minister replies he will want to use it. Sir, the woman has been here for eight years. She was married in the Singapore Registry of Marriages. Four children were born in Singapore and they are now living in a Housing Board flat.”
“Sir, the Minister has set a specific number of hours and he says. "Well, if they do their part-time national service in 12 years they will have to do so many hours of work, and if we reduce it to five years, then they must perform the same number of hours of duties." This would mean that they have to go for duty practically everyday.”
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“The Minister has my consent. Do I have the general assent of Members for the Minister to move the motion? Hon. Members indicated assent. Resolved, "That, under the provisions of Article 27 of the Constitution, Parliament elects Mr N. Govindasamy, the Member for Telok Blangah, to perform the functions of the Speaker for as long as Dr Yeoh Ghim Seng is currently exercising the functions of the office of the President of the Republic of Singapore". - [Mr Barker]. EMPLOYMENT (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 3.35 p.m.”
“We have 26 Questions today. Perhaps the Member can submit another Question later on for answer.”
“Sir, for out-patient treatment they have got to pay at the moment. The point raised was, this: as Government servants are accorded free outpatient treatment as well as ward treatment, why should not suck benefits be extended to the families of aided school teachers?”
“May I have your guidance, Mr Speaker, Sir? To whom shall I direct my question if the Minister for Health thinks that it does, not concern him?”
“Sir, if at the moment the medical authorities cannot provide ward facilities for members of families of those teachers who are employed in the aided schools, can they at least provide them with outpatient services? And if they cannot, why not?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in view of the fact that there are people who have been on the waiting list for Housing Board flats for two years or even more, will the Minister care to review the position so that not only the middle income group but also the lower income group can utilise their C.P.F. deposits to buy private houses?”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $2,286,790 for Head 1402 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.”
“Sir, will the Minister also, at the same time, look into the possibility of doing away with the $10 fee for renewal of a visitor's pass every six months?”
“Sir, the Minister has made a very important point, that is, whether the husband is able to support the wife. Sir, the wife has been here for years on a visitor's pass, renewable every three or six months. The husband has been supporting her for two years, and if he can do that, surely he can also look after her. Whether or not permanent entry is given to her, she is still in Singapore. Renewal of a visitor's pass is not too difficult. How do such people become a burden to us? The husband is a Singapore citizen. His wife is not asking for citizenship, but just a right to stay with him with official sanction, instead of going every two weeks to Woodlands to get her visitor's pass extended.”
“To all intents and purposes, some of these people who have their wives or husbands permanently staying in Singapore, with periodical extensions of the visitor's pass, own shops or are otherwise self-employed. I can understand the difficulty of their not being able to obtain Singapore citizenship, but I cannot understand the difficulty of their not being able to obtain permanent stay here even though they are holding permanent jobs or are self-employed and are capable of maintaining their families. If you say they do not earn enough and deny them permanent stay, they will keep their wives here continually on a visitor's pass. I would like the Minister to inform the House why these people, who to all intents and purposes have been residing here for years, are denied permanent stay in Singapore.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1402 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1001*. Sir, the Immigration Department is another department which is always considering applications. Applications for visas are considered for a very long time before decisions are made. Many of our citizens apply to the Immigration Department to bring in their wives, children, friends, etc., for a visit to Singapore. When an application is made, supporting evidence like marriage certificates, birth certificates, etc., are called for. Even after the submission of the required evidence, it takes the department a considerable length of time before a decision is made. 7.15 p.m. Enquiries about the application evoke the reply that it is under consideration. When this consideration takes a long time, one begins to wonder whether the application is really under consideration or whether it is filed away and forgotten. Another sore point concerns citizens with wives or husbands born in Malaysia. In many cases their marriages were solemnised by the Registrar of Marriages in Singapore and yet permanent entry into Singapore is denied to them. In such cases, the wife or husband stays in Singapore on a visitor's pass. They have to go for a fortnightly renewal of their visas either at the Immigration check-point at Woodlands or at South Quay. Some people even take a fortnight's leave to Johore Bahru and come back with a new chop. Sometimes this visitor's pass is extended to three months. One has to pay $10 for the renewal of a three-month visitor's pass. I wonder whether it is cheaper to pay $10 and get a three-month visa or have it stamped every fortnight.”
“Sir, may I ask just one more question? Is it true that if the police officers perform duty over and beyond their duty hours, these hours are not taken into consideration? As a result, they tend to close an eye to minor crimes, but not major ones. They are very good in major crimes.”
“Can this be one of the causes for the recent investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau into corruption by our traffic police?”
“Such dislike may probably be accounted for by the fact that minor offences do not count much in relation to the promotional prospects of the officers involved. I am also told that the additional time involved in making reports, and having to go to hospital in accident cases, if done outside duty hours, cannot be taken into consideration as working hours for the purpose either of overtime pay or for taking time off. If this is so, steps must be taken to rectify this anomaly. If there is any truth in the remark that policemen avoid apprehending criminals because of the attendant cross-examination by defence counsel, then the policeman concerned should be given training in court craft. The fact that junior police officers lack confidence when it comes to court proceedings implies that there is much room for improvement in the training programme devised for them. Court craft and correct orientation to their duty should form a major part of the curricula of the Police Academy. I wonder if this is being done, There is too much compartmentalisation of our police force. Traffic officers do not seem to worry about anything else unless it is associated with traffic offences. Other officers in uniform, even those in patrol cars, pretend not to notice traffic offences. These are problems which can be eliminated by correct orientation of our police force. Sir, I also wish to refer to another matter. Recently traffic compounded fines have been increased. This may give rise to a situation where many traffic offenders, instead of paying a compounded fine, may think it cheaper to offer bribes to the traffic police. In other words, the temptation to bribe is made greater by the increase in the compounded fines.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, before I express my misgivings about the police force, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate them on the efficient manner in which they have tackled major crimes, as the Minister has mentioned just now, and in apprehending the law-breakers in the republic. We can be proud of them, as the Minister is, for effectively giving credence to the proverbial long arm of justice and thus deterring more anti-social elements from indulging in robbery, kidnapping, raping and other reprehensible crimes. Sir, the Minister for Home Affairs has mentioned the Chartered Bank robbery case. The recovery of the money and the arrest of the criminals involved in this case, and the apprehension of the kidnappers of a millionaire recently are proof of the mettle and calibre of our police force. 6.15 p.m. While the police force, as a whole, appears to have made a glowing impression on the public as well as the Minister himself, unfortunately the morale among the rank and file members seems to be not what it should be. What I am about to refer to may be considered as a serious reflection on the integrity and dedication of our police force, but it is a matter of vital importance that I think it should be aired in this House so that investigation may be made into it and remedial measures taken to rectify it. In the course of my constituency and trade union work, I have come across remarks made in all seriousness, by responsible citizens to the effect that even the mata mata try to make themselves scarce at the scene of traffic accidents or minor crimes. It seems that policemen also share the layman's aversion to court proceedings, and intensely dislike the amount of paper work they have to do in connection with any traffic offence or minor crime they may have witnessed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, since the Member for Sembawang has raised many points, can I wait until the Minister has replied and then I can raise my question?”
“Sir, I am pleased to hear of the change of uniforms. I hope our uniformed staff will also be pleased with the new uniform. I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1301 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2093. Sir, in moving this amendment, I would like to refer to Hansard, Volume 29, , when in the course of debating this particular subhead last year, my colleague, the Member for Anson, raised the question of uniforms for office boys, postmen, etc. He described the material for the uniforms as being coarse and unrefined, and that the uniforms did not look smart. His proposal was to change the uniform for one made of better refined material. The then Minister for Finance said that the proposal of the Member for Anson was an excellent one and that he would look into the matter. Sir, during the present debate, the Member for Mountbatten has also raised the question of uniforms for our postmen. I think it is time that our postmen and other uniformed employees be supplied with a uniform made of material which is not only durable but also comfortable to wear. I hope that at least by the end of the current year, the Government will do something about changing the uniforms of our uniformed staff.”
“Sir, will Minister consider setting up a Personnel Department to look after the interests of the civil servants, as this will prevent the passing of the buck? This is important, because I have noticed from the civil service structure in the Ministry of Finance that there is only one Executive Officer (I think he is acting as Higher Executive Officer) looking after the interests of about 13,000 daily-rated employees. The civil servants do not know where to take their problems to. If they take them to the Ministry concerned, they are asked to refer to the Ministry of Finance, and they do not know whom they should approach there. I think it is about time the Government prevented further frustrations of the civil servants and set up a Personnel Department in the Ministry of Finance to look into the problems of the numerous civil servants that we have. Will the Minister consider the possibility of setting up such a department?”
“Sir, I was not criticising the civil service but the Ministry of Finance. Officers have been asked to act for umpteen years and they are doing a good job. This is quite clear. I am not criticising the officers who are acting. If they are found to be suitable to act for a number of years, they should be found suitable to hold the job substantively. As far as I am concerned, officiating means somebody officiating a marriage. There must be a tremendous shortage of suitable persons in the civil service if officers are asked to officiate two steps above their substantive appointments. This shortage, as I mentioned earlier when we debated the Minister's financial policy statement, is due to the fact that we are not getting the appropriate persons into the civil service, as we are not offering competitive salaries and attractive terms and conditions of service. Therefore, my point is that there is justification for a salary revision, which the Government accepts, and as a result ad hoc salary revision committees have been set up for daily-rated and senior civil servants, the Police Force, the Fire Brigade and the teachers. I think the Minister accepts that the cause for revision is there. My point is, why not do it once and for all for the whole civil service instead of department by department and division by division?”
“I believe it is high time that the Ministry of Finance gave sufficient thought to the whole structure of the civil service and drew up a comprehensive programme for streamlining the civil service in respect of the salary structure and working conditions if we are to have an efficient civil service. A solution that is framed in a haphazard manner and in isolation from other considerations is worse than no solution at all. Sir, I have mentioned all this quickly because perhaps the Minister has only ten minutes to reply and I sincerely hope he will delve into this problem and not into the business of the high cost of living, because, however important it may be, it has been raised before. 7.15 p.m.”
“When can we expect the Ministry of Finance to streamline the civil service so that all appointments are filled by permanent employees who are more likely to give better service, since one of the main grouses and frustrations of our civil servants is that, although they may be good enough "actors" for many years, they are not able to qualify for the substantive appointments in which they have acted. If they are not suitable for substantive appointments, it is not fair to ask them to act for long periods. Perhaps we should try to induce more suitably qualified persons to apply for civil service appointments. The salary scales for senior civil servants are not competitively attractive and their working conditions leave much to be desired. I spoke about this aspect during the debate on the Government's financial policy statement, and I was not properly answered. A committee was set up on an ad hoc basis to revise the salary structure of the open-vote daily-rated employees. Another committee was set up to look into the salaries of the Police Force. And yet a third committee was set up to look into the salaries of senior civil servants. Yesterday we were told by the Minister for Social Affairs that the salaries of the Fire Brigade staff and their terms and conditions of service will also be looked into after they have settled with the Police Force. The Ministry of Education is again looking into the salary structure of the teachers. Are we going to continue to look into the salary structures and working conditions department by department?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, after going through the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of Singapore for the current financial year, I find that I am more confused about the actual staffing position in the various Ministries and departments. Let me illustrate my point by referring to the Ministry of Labour, for example, where the incumbents of various positions, from that of Permanent Secretary to those of executive officers, are not substantive holders of the posts. They are merely acting in the posts. What is most puzzling to me is that some of them are acting in posts two grades above their substantive grades. If these acting appointments were made for a short period of time, it would have been more understandable. But the strange fact is that these acting appointments are often of several months' duration and, without exaggeration, they may be said to be made for life. Such a situation is obviously very unhealthy. The same can be said of practically all the other departments in the Singapore civil service. Even in the Ministry of Finance, I believe there are more "actors" than substantive holders of the posts. The civil service has many types of employees, namely, open-vote employees, temporary employees, acting employees, officiating employees, and supernumerary employees. Open-vote employees are also known to be temporary. However, some of these open-vote employees have been in service for more than 30 years and they are still known by the nomenclature. Temporary and officiating employees are either acting for some other incumbents, who themselves are acting or officiating for others or are officiating in their own right, but in both cases for long periods. In addition, we have supernumerary posts filled by people who have no business to be there at all.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“No, but we have got to cope up with the requirements which we are not able to do. Perhaps there may be other causes too. May I suggest one or two other causes which may have resulted in this big backlog? One could be that at present there is no means of preventing members of one family from making separate applications and using one another in substitution of their respective applications for one flat. In one family of six people, two or three can make separate applications. The enforcement of the income ceiling for eligibility for the Board's flats militates against fixed wage-earners, people who earn monthly incomes in the form of salaries. It benefits business people who are likely to claim very small incomes and the Board is not in a position to check and provide flats only to those whose wages do not exceed the requirement. Similarly through the absence of a cross-check between the Board and the Property Tax Department, property owners, people who own houses, may be also allotted flats. Not all attap dwellers are really impoverished. Hawkers may be people who earn very much more than what they claim to earn. There is no check to prevent them from applying for these flats.”
“Yes, planning, but I would like to come to urban renewal. I admit this is a gigantic project. I admit there are bound to be problems in a project of such vast dimensions, but I have, as the Minister knows, gone to the Housing and Development Board and looked at these plans. My objection is to the chopping and changing of a decided pattern of a plan, in the sense that one area was laid down for the first phase of development and you moved out the people from there, and then half-way through, perhaps for some good reason, it was decided to move the phase to another location where the people would be evicted. So you have the situation where half of the people were evicted in the first location, and the other half still remain behind, thereby creating unnecessary problems. If there had been planning, if this change in phase development had not taken place, there would not have been these problems. Sir, I also admit that the backlog in the Housing and Development Board is bound to increase as a result of using C.P.F. funds for purchase of houses. The high-cost houses developed by the private developers will again further --”
“I am glad the Minister agrees that the applicants will have to wait one and a half and sometimes even two years to get a Housing and Development Board flat. This is the point I made, but there are also one or two other points.”
“There is no planning! Mr Barker: The plans are there, otherwise you would never have a new town, but I think there is a little confusion here. There are plans. The work is going according to phases, but certain areas were cleared to make way immediately for urgent projects. For instance, two areas within the town were cleared for the development of the P.U.B. substation and the Singapore Telephone Board Exchange. Hence eviction. Yet another place was cleared for the cutting of a hill as well as an access road to this hill in order to provide for the Pasir Panjang Reclamation Scheme. These clearance projects were undertaken and they might have given the Member the impression that there have been no plans. I can assure him that there are plans. They are well laid-out plans, but any plan to be implemented must be a flexible one. You cannot say, "I am moving in here on this day and there on that day." Circumstances change and if there is hardship we regret it. In order to avoid more hardship, I would suggest that the Member call at the Ministry of National Development and look at some of the plans, which I assure him we have in the Ministry. I do not know how much time I have for the Member for Toa Payoh.”
“Sir, in the case of the Telok Blangah project, may I say that no such consideration was given in planning it. Unnecessary hardships could have been easily avoided if the planning had been thorough and if the original plan had not been changed, as I have mentioned earlier, half-way through the project.”
“On the other hand, other residents who are not supposed to move out until much later are suddenly required to move at short notice. All these unnecessary hardships could have been avoided if the order of development had been properly planned without having to make changes half-way through the project. Sir, people residing in an area prefer to remain in it for various reasons. Some of them because of their business associations, employment, children's education, and others merely because of the social contacts they have made.”
“Another matter on which I require clarification is the Ministry's urban renewal programme. I am sure Members of this House are aware of the Telok Blangah New Town project. This is to cover a vast area of about 932 acres. That it is a tremendous project cannot be denied, and in a project of such dimensions, many problems and vexations are to be expected. It is also to be expected that a great deal of planning has to be thought out and many preparatory measures in the form of land acquisition and eviction of residents and arrangement for their alternative accommodation have to be carried out before the first pile of the project can be sunk into the ground. My complaint is directed not to the fact that such a project will cause hardships for some of my constituents, but to the fact that unnecessary hardship has been caused. What is alarming is that the nature of such hardship seems to indicate insufficient planning of the project. The project was divided into several phases of development. Thus, the process of land acquisition and eviction of residents had been effected in accordance with the order of development of the various sections comprising the project. Suddenly it was decided that the order of development must shift from one section, where eviction had already begun, to another section which was originally to be the last phase of development. As a result, there is considerable confusion and suffering among the residents of the whole area, whether they remain in or move out of the area. Chief tenants of houses refuse to repair houses and the requests by subtenants for Housing and Development Board accommodation are denied as they are not deemed to be evicted tenants as a result of the shift in priorities.”
“In other words, the popular impression seems to be that we build houses only in sufficient numbers to meet the requirements of the urban renewal scheme. Added force is given to such impression by the fact that the disposal to private developers of well located plots of land vacated under the urban renewal scheme has proved very profitable to the Government. We in this House know that such an impression, though invariably popular, is erroneous and misconceived. A blunt denial, no matter how authoritative, is not sufficient to counteract it. A more concrete answer is required of the Board, otherwise the purpose of the urban renewal scheme will continue to be misconstrued. I understand and appreciate the great strain being placed on the Housing and Development Board as a result of the spiralling increase in the prices of privately-built houses and the rents of privately-owned houses. In addition, the decision to permit purchase of the Board's flats by making use of the Central Provident Fund contribution and the raising of the maximum income limit on eligibility have helped to swell up the Board's waiting list. Thus, if we continue at the present rate of building just sufficient housing units to take care of persons rendered homeless under the urban renewal scheme, the waiting list for public housing is likely to become longer rather than shorter. 2.45 p.m. What is worse is my fear that our building programme may not even be able to keep up with the urban renewal programme. Unless the Board is able to step up its building programme, I do not think there can be any satisfactory solution to the problem of mounting pressure in the demand for public housing as long as private housing remains exorbitantly priced.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1101 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1001*. (* The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Cheong Yuen Chee.) Sir, I am moving this amendment in order to seek some clarification of the policy of the Ministry, it is with some temerity that I do so, as I am fully aware that the housing programme of the Housing and Development Board has been accorded world-wide acclaim. The Housing Board's achievements dominate the low profile of Singapore's skyline with the presence of more than a hundred thousand housing units, many of them in blocks of high-rise flats which the Board has put up since its inception. The magnitude of the Board's achievements can be further gauged by the fact that nearly 30 per cent of our population are housed in the Board's flats. We are given to understand that the Board is constantly making plans to catch up with the past accumulated demand, and coping with future anticipated demand for public housing. Sir, all these heart-warming data, plus the proud claim that the Board is building one unit per every half-hour, undoubtedly make for a very effective advertisement of Singapore's image abroad. However, to the many thousands of citizens who are unfortunate enough to be still on the waiting list of the Board, they may wonder whether the housing shortage is ever likely to be solved. It is not uncommon to hear that an applicant has to wait for as long as even one and a half years before he can be housed. The only persons who are lucky enough to move into the Board's flats without having to wait their turn are those unfortunate, or rather fortunate enough, to be evicted as a result of the Government's development programme.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think this is the only department where the personal emoluments have been decreased by $7,090, although four new posts have been created. The Memorandum on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the financial year 1971-72 states that this is because variable and special allowances have decreased by $147,290. What are these variable and special allowances and why have they been withdrawn? I have heard of many resignations from the Fire Brigade. Does the Minister not think that the removal of existing allowances enjoyed by the Fire Brigade personnel could lead to more resignations, and does he not find it difficult to fill the vacancies caused? It is also known that there is a lack of response to filling them. Can the Minister confirm or deny that this is because of the unsatisfactory working conditions and perhaps also because of the unrealistic salaries offered? Since a commission has been set up to look into the salaries of our Police Force, will the Government not set up a commission also to look into the salary structure and working conditions of our Fire Brigade personnel?”
“Sir, I think the Minister did not answer my question, which is this: will the Ministry look into the possibility of again instituting part-time teacher training in order to overcome the present shortage of teachers?”
“Sir, what I said was that since we have finished with the quantitative phase, we should now talk in terms of the qualitative phase of education. My question was: when can we achieve qualitative education? Not quantitative education.”
“Sir, all persons who are interested in education and who have children in school would want their children and future citizens to be taught by persons who are teachers by training and by choice, and not by persons who act as relief teachers for $7 or $8 a day, or whatever the daily wage that the Ministry of Education pays them. So long as this phenomenon of substitute relief teachers exists in our schools, we will have to remind the Minister that it has got to stop. Can the Minister for Education inform the House of any plans that the Ministry may have to overcome this educational problem that we face?”
“Did the Ministry attempt to find out the reason for the lack of response from our school-leavers waiting for jobs? I can advance my own reason, but I will be accused of harping on salaries and working conditions all the time. Let the Ministry of Education advance their reasons for the lack of response from qualified persons for not wanting to become teachers. Perhaps one of the reasons advanced by the Member for Moulmein may stand up. Is it because teachers in training have to pay for their training and, as a result, they are not responding? Sir, you will notice that this year the vote asked for in the General Education Department alone is almost twice as much as that for last year. Of course, the allocation will have to be more if we include the vocational institutes and technical schools in this particular vote. If the Ministry of Education does not make any serious attempts to remedy the situation, I am sure that next year this vote of $2,400,000 that we are asked to approve this year will have to be doubled. When this sorry state of affairs is going to end will be a big question mark. Sir, not very long ago we were talking in terms of coming to the end of the phase of quantitative education and launching on to qualitative education. May I humbly suggest that we have not even arrived at this phase at all. A total of 99 per cent of our schools are still functioning as two-session schools. The number of classes in schools has not been reduced; the number of pupils per class has not been reduced; and the shortage of teachers has increased year after year. When can we have qualitative education at this rate?”
“There are many who become daily-rated teachers today while waiting for some other employment. In any case, this business of unqualified relief teachers teaching in our schools is a bad reflection on our education policy and at the same time makes a mockery of teaching as a profession. Sir, to hear the Minister advance the practice of leave-taking among teachers as a reason for the need of relief teachers, it would appear that teachers have never taken leave previously. This is, of course, not true. Teachers have gone on leave before. It is not a recent phenomenon, as was pointed out earlier. But what really happened in those good old days, not more than four or five years ago, was that there were one or two extra qualified teachers in every school to take over classes from the regular teachers who went on leave. But now with the quota of teachers rigidly imposed on every school, there is the problem of relief teachers who are unqualified to take over classes from the qualified teachers. As a result, we have been relying on unqualified persons to act as relief teachers. Sir, if there is a shortage of qualified teachers - and I believe there is - as a result of some planning defect in the Ministry of Education, some serious attempts must be made quickly and effectively to obviate the need of using unqualified people as relief teachers in schools. One way is to increase the output of trained teachers. The reason for regular class teachers to be trained is equally applicable to temporary relief teachers. The minds of the future citizens of Singapore are too precious an asset to be imperilled by improper teaching. Sir, the Minister has mentioned that the response to advertisements in respect of recruitment of teachers was poor.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, for the last three years I have been harping on the matter of substitute relief teachers without appearing to make much headway with the Ministry of Education. If I have harped on the subject over and over again, it is because, having been long with education and having children in school who are sometimes taught by these substitute relief teachers, I sincerely believe that it is about time that the Ministry of Education gradually stopped its existing practice of using unqualified youngsters as relief teachers and made attempts to replace them with a corps of qualified teachers. It appears that the number of unqualified relief teachers increases year after year with no sign of any attempts being made by the Ministry of Education to rectify this, to say the least, unhappy education system. The provision for substitute relief teachers for 1969-70 was $1.2 million for 15 months. The provision for 1970-71 was $1.3 million. This year, as the Member for Moulmein has pointed out, the provision is $2.4 million. Can the Minister tell the House what attempts the Ministry has made to rectify this unhappy practice? Sir, amongst the ranks of the relief teachers there are many who would want to make teaching their career, but they are not given the opportunity or the training to become qualified teachers. Why cannot the best of these relief teachers who wish to make teaching their career be given part-time teacher training, as has been advocated by the Member for Moulmein, so that they will take up teaching as a career and not as a stepping stone to other jobs? What we must not forget is that the backbone of our teaching profession today comprises teachers who have had part-time teacher training.”
“I am glad to hear the reply given by the Minister for Education, but like my colleague, the Member for Moulmein, who said that he would take up his issue with the Finance Minister later on when the estimates are debated, I will bring up this matter of supernumerary posts with him later. With that I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1193. Sir, the term "supernumerary" really bugs me. Previously I had two amendments on similar posts which I withdrew under the head Ministry of Education. Throughout the Estimates, I notice Office Boys (Supernumerary), Clerical Officers (Supernumerary), Clerical Assistants (Supernumerary), etc. For the first time, we have "Teachers. Non-Graduates (Supernumerary)", 889 of them, and not just one or two of them as requested in other Ministries. Last year, there were no estimates for this special brand of supernumerary teachers. The amount required for them is $3,354,000. I would like the Minister to tell me who these supernumerary teachers are. Sir, the substitute relief teachers cannot be supernumerary teachers because under subhead 2118, another $2,403,000 is asked for "Substitute Relief Teachers". In the teaching service, we already have too many different types of teachers. We have graduate teachers, teachers in the General Education Department, vocational teachers, technical teachers and to this multitude of categories in the last few years. Two more categories have been included, i.e., the substitute relief teachers and Teachers, Non-Graduates (Supernumerary). What are these Teachers, Non-Graduates (Supernumerary), expected to teach?”
“Sir, I withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. 6.15 p.m.”
“Sir, in the Memorandum on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of Singapore, it is stated that the deletion of 111 specialist teacher posts, for which grade recruitment has ceased, has resulted in a saving of $1,237,360. I presume that this reduction is to be found under the three subheads that I have mentioned just now. The question is whether there will be any more recruitment of specialist teachers from now on. Sir, I also want to know the position of the present incumbents of these specialist teacher posts. Have they all retired or have those who are still in service lost their specialist allowances? One of the complaints that we often hear from teachers is that there is a lack of promotion prospects in the education service. There are no opportunities to move from one grade to another. The teachers have always claimed that the vast majority of them, in fact, about 90 or 95 per cent of them, would begin and end their career as teachers. There is no possibility of even a small fraction of them becoming principals or inspectors of schools. That being the case, it appears that now even the opportunity for some teachers to become specialist teachers has been denied. Can the Minister inform the House who the specialist teachers were, and why the posts have been abolished once and for all?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1154. Sir, in moving this amendment, may I range over the next two amendments* which also stand in my name? The topics I wish to speak under all these amendments are related. * The amendments read as follows: (7) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1155. (8) That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1156.”
“Sir, I am not moving both of my amendments. The following amendment stood in the names of Messrs. P. Govindaswamy. Ho Kah Leong, and Tay Boon Too - (5) That the sum to be allocated for Head 080! be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1131.”
“Clearly, in the past two years, the department has encountered difficulties in justifiably enforcing these two sections of the Employment Act by granting days off in substitution for rest days and public holidays. Having encountered difficulties, it is up to the Minister to persuade his Cabinet colleagues to amend the two sections of the Act instead of continuing to perpetuate an injustice.”
“I understand that the International Telegraph Section of the Telecommunications Department alone owes the staff a total of 30,000 hours for working on rest days and public holidays from June 1969 to January 1971. The department owes the messengers 11,500 hours, clerical assistants 5,600 hours, and counter clerks 1,500 hours. Messengers have been put on duty without a single day of rest for several weeks at a stretch. They have worked for half a year without any rest days or public holidays. Sir, what is the problem of recruiting sufficient messengers, clerical assistants and counter clerks to cope with the shortage? These are not highly skilled personnel. Why have a sufficient number of messengers, clerks and counter clerks not been recruited? The employees in the department have shown great patience and understanding and have been hoping that steps will be taken to remedy this state of affairs. Will the department be able to meet this shortage this year? I doubt it. Although about 100 more clerks and clerical assistants are to be recruited, some of these will be replacing staff who will be retiring this year. From the Estimates, I notice that no additional messengers are to be recruited. How are the messengers going to collect their debt? Sir, can the Minister assure me that the Telecommunications Department will repay the debt it owes its employees, in the form of holidays earned, if not for the past two years, then at least this year? Sir, if time off cannot be granted within a reasonable period, the workers must be financially compensated, as is being done in the non-essential services. I understand the limitations placed on the department by sections 37 (4) and 41(4) of the Employment Act.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Expenditure Estimates for Telecommunications, appearing in the Memorandum on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of Singapore, state: `The increase for P.E. [Personal Emoluments] is $781,000. Six additional posts of Engineer .Thirteen operational and engineering Division II posts.At the junior level, 52 new posts of Technician are created to cope with the growth of telecommunications particularly in telex and landshore radio communications. Seventy-eight additional posts of Clerical Officer and Clerical Assistant are provided, again to cope with expansion.' The Memorandum goes on to stress the shortage of staff built up over the years and the increase in workload. A total of 67 additional posts were provided for in the 1970-71 Estimates, but in spite of this, we have a very serious shortage of staff in the Telecommunications Department. The employees in the operational side of the department work day in and day out without obtaining any time off for rest days and public holidays. The provision of rest days is to grant respite to a worker so that he could be given the opportunity for recreation. If the employees are not given their weekly day off as a rest day for a long period, then, however responsible the union or the employee may be, it is bound to lead to a deterioration of employer-employee relationship, and a demoralisation of the employee concerned. 3.30 p.m. The responsible workers of Telecommunications understand the plight of the department in not being able to give them time off for rest days because of the present staff shortage. Although they understand the difficulty of the department, how long can they go on without doing anything about it?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there are one or two issues raised by the Minister to which I would like to make further reference. The first is the question of the 39 officers who will be transferred from the Post Office Savings Bank back to the Post Office when the Post Office Savings Bank becomes a corporation. This information is gathered from the Memorandum on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of Singapore on page 28. On the question of the Post Office Savings Bank being a closed department, the point I raised was, is there an absolute necessity to keep the Postal Department a closed department? The Minister has mentioned just now that a senior official in the Postal Department was found suitable to head the Immigration Department and so a request was made for him to be transferred there. A similar occasion may arise where junior officers in the Postal Department would like to be transferred to other departments. If such requests are made, can the Postal Department entertain them? Could the Postal Clerical Officers and Postal Clerical Assistants be transferred out from the Postal Department, and the General Clerical Officers go to the Postal Department, making it an open department instead of a closed one?”