Ong Kian Min
Singapore
“Sir, on the first case, as I said, my resident approached me at the MPS. I wrote to the Traffic Police to appeal for him. I am sure the Traffic Police would look into that appeal and reply to that resident accordingly. The two other cases were not based on hearsay upon hearsay because those were personal encounters by these two friends.”
“My point in raising this is: among the motoring community there is this fear, whether it is real or perceived, that they should not seek medical treatment immediately in case the Police were to issue them with a summons for careless driving.”
“Unless the motorcyclist is so seriously injured that he has no alternative but to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, he would steer clear of the hospital so as to avoid the fate of being reported against and penalised.”
“They are counted as having taken two HDB loans. They are deemed to have had their two bites of the cherry, but is the quantitative number of bites or loans a fair measure of the amount of subsidy enjoyed?”
“Still on the matter of languages, I am of the view that schools should promote more actively the learning of Malay or Bahasa Indonesia by non-Malays, the reason being that Indonesia and Malaysia are our immediate neighbours.”
“And are there more efficient ways of apprehending errant litterbugs? NEA raised the composition fine for first-time minor littering offenders from $200 to $300 last year. I would like to ask: can and do the foreign workers that have been caught littering pay up this fine?”
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“Sir, I wish to express my support for the proposed amendments to the Penal Code. Section 377A. I would state categorically that I am not in favour of mainstreaming the homosexual lifestyle, but have not intended to speak on section 377A as the Government has consulted widely. Many have spoken on this issue and most Singaporeans let out a sigh of relief when they noticed that this Amendment Bill left the existing section 377A intact. Well, I do not want to dwell into the hypothetical scenario painted by Mr Baey Yam Keng as the fact remains that, outraged by Mr Siew Kum Hong's open Petition, many of my concerned constituents and friends have come forward to voice out their extreme unease about how this issue might evolve. And they feel that it is about time they let their stand be made known. They have come out more forcefully to make their views known and the Tampines GRC MPs have promised to express some of these views for them, the hitherto silent majority. I would like to quote from one of my residents from my GRC, Miss Samantha Wong of Tampines Street 81: "I cannot imagine the repercussions it [repeal of section 377A] would have on the morality of the society. This is a place where my children and children's children would grow up in. Thus I plead that this decision [the Government's decision in not changing section 377A] would not change for the sake of upholding the moral standards and family values in this nation. In no way does this petition [Mr Siew Kum Hong's petition] serve the interests of Singapore or us as Singaporeans, but only a small portion pushing to serve their own personal interests/agenda." Sir, whether section 377A should be repealed or retained is an emotive issue that has aroused much debate.”
“But at 10%, it will grow to $226,300, almost 10 times more, which would be more than what these proposed CPF changes can give to the retiree. Sir, I am 47 this year. I would happily put aside $5,000 out of my SMRA for such long-term investment so that if I get to enjoy extreme longevity and live for 40 more years, on my 87th birthday, I have a good chance of this $5,000 growing to $200,000 in my own personal retirement savings to enjoy my golden years. To me, that would be the true meaning of self-reliance, as I would not have to rely on the Government's grace to deem I am deserving of help and to decide to pass some of its surpluses my way. I asked around my contacts of fund managers and private bankers, but none of them is willing to manage this $5,000 of mine. But if a million CPF members pool each of their $5,000 together, there will be a whole lot of very experienced fund managers willing to manage this $5 billion. Sir, I support the proposed CPF changes which aim to change the "work and save 40 years : retire for 20 years" rule to "work and save 45 years : retire for 35 years and beyond". But the reality is, nobody becomes rich by savings and interests alone. The difference is so significant that we cannot afford not to give investment returns a try. Investment returns are a crucial, but missing, weapon in our armament to combat our ageing problem. 2.45 pm”
“Sir, for the average Singaporean working and saving for 40 years and lending his CPF savings to the Government at the market rate of interest is not going to generate enough in his own nest egg for a good retirement to last 20 years. Mathematically, this 40:20 rule - work and save for 40 years, enjoy retirement for 20 years - does not work if the returns generated are not higher than a certain threshold rate. Sir, the Minister may reply that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to work out the exact sharing formula as CPF money is co-mingled with our past reserves and with Temasek and GIC. In turn, I would like to propose that for a start, a simpler, more tangible and easily understood way of doing this would be to set aside $5,000 per CPF member in a newly-created investment account within the member's SMRA, pool this money together into a fund and co-invest this with the Government's other investments to achieve a higher rate of return over the long term. I think my colleagues, like Inderjit Singh, Siew Kum Hong and others, are asking for the same thing in different ways - please let Singaporeans participate directly in some of the investment surpluses the Government is making. I would like to stress that this would not lead to the Government having less money to invest and generating less surpluses from its investments. If the Government were to issue 10-year SGS, paying the same market interest it pays CPF, I am sure many financial institutions, corporations and individuals would buy these Government bonds using money outside the CPF. Sir, the difference between a fixed interest of 4% per year and an annual return of 10% over 40 years is huge, even for a small sum of $5,000. At 4% a year, $5,000 will give you $24,000 in 40 years.”
“I cannot understand how the Government can say it will not be responsible for providing for my retirement but I must lend the Government my retirement savings for investments and any gains earned on my money is not my money. It is not the Government's as well, but it is up to the Government to decide how best to use it because the Government knows best. Sir, in calling for higher CPF returns, what I am basically asking is whether the Government would share a portion of the returns it makes with the individual CPF members from whose money the Government has invested and made money. Sharing is a very common arrangement in commerce and finance. In hotel management, the hotel owner engages the hotel manager to manage the hotel and pays a basic management fee plus a percentage of the gross operating revenue and/or a percentage of the gross operating profit. In simple operations like food courts, the stallholder pays the food court owner a basic rent plus a percentage of his revenue and/or profit. In the finance industry, there are some financial products that pay a basic interest and if certain investment scenarios occur in future, any extra gains achieved are shared between the bank and the depositor. This provides an incentive for the bank to out-perform. Put in the CPF context, would CPF pay its members a basic interest plus a share of the surplus the Government makes on investing the CPF money, by way of more regular, more systematic CPF top-ups? I believe such a sharing arrangement will be sustainable not only for a few years but for generations to come, without the Government running deficits or drawing on past reserves.”
“The Government must expect to get a return higher than the interest it pays for this to be fiscally sustainable, as otherwise it would not be able to convince our President that the interest payments to CPF will not cause a draw on past reserves. Therefore, let me rephrase the question I posed in March: how about sharing some of these gains from investments so that individual CPF members can have higher returns? But that is not how the system is supposed to work. Under the present scheme of things, the CPF Board can only lend our CPF money to the Government by purchasing bonds issued by the Government and it is paid the interest. The Government then invests this money borrowed from CPF. When it makes gains on the investments, it decides on the most prudent use of the surpluses. Although there have been CPF top-ups in the past, the surpluses may not be returned to the members proportionately, but it can be redistributed and spent on worthwhile investments and services for our country, such as in public housing, education, healthcare and Workfare, all to be decided by the Government. The Government knows best. Sir, I fully understand the merits of this system. This is how we have done it so far and it has brought us economic progress and prosperity. It is sound and robust from the fiscal management and national perspectives, and it is for our collective good. But how about the retirement needs of the individual? What I cannot reconcile is how can the Government say to me, I must be self-reliant, I must work and save for my own needs, including for my own future needs in old age, but I have no choice on how to grow the money I have in my SMRA that I have saved, except to lend it to the Government who will only pay me non-subsidised market interest rate.”
“That is the kind of returns they achieved on a balanced portfolio spread over the major currencies, diversified across different industries and business sectors, and invested in equities, fixed income, cash and other alternative investment products, over a long term with the view to ride over fluctuations, such as the recent financial market turmoil mentioned by Minister Ng. It is feasible, as otherwise the 2002 Economic Review Committee would not have recommended it. The risks are there but they can be managed. But the Minister for Manpower said that after studying this proposal thoroughly, the Government concluded that "to get higher returns, members must expose their CPF money to more market risks", and that this would be too risky. After hearing Minister Tharman's explanation yesterday, it is clear to me that it is not too risky per se in absolute terms, but too risky for CPF members. We have to be clear about this fundamental point. It is not too risky for the Government when it borrows from CPF and, in turn, invests the money for higher returns. If the risks are so high and it is so unwise to invest, Temasek and GIC would not be making investments but would perhaps be buying long-term Government bonds instead. Minister Tharman made it clear that with the extra 1% in interest, the Government's "debt servicing cost will increase", and it will "have to meet this through returns on investing the CPF monies". Whatever is said about past returns do not predict future returns, the Government does have some degree of confidence of getting a healthy return.”
“Sir, the difficulty with being slated to speak on the third day of the debate is not only to have the points that I wanted to raise being covered by other MPs, but they have also been clarified by other Ministers, such as Minister Tharman and Minister Lim Swee Say who spoke before me. Sir, I would like to beg your indulgence as I press on with the one point I have left - the one thing that I find is missing from this slew of proposed changes. Mr Speaker, Sir, there is no magic to retirement planning. There are basically two ways to have a larger retirement nest egg. First, is to put aside more money from time to time into your nest egg. Second, is to earn a higher return on what you have put aside. Since its inception in 1955, CPF has required Singaporeans to save a substantial portion of their income, but with the CPF paying only an annual interest of 2.5% on the Ordinary Account and 4% on the SMRA, we have been relying mainly on savings and interest to build up our nest egg. And even after more than 50 years of forced savings, six out of 10 active CPF members do not have the Minimum Sum when they turn 55. Can the Minister give us the projection, in the next five, 10 and 20 years even with this re-pegged interest rate, how many will still not have their Minimum Sum when they turn 55? We cannot rely on fixed interest alone. We must also generate higher returns compounded over the long term to make our nest egg grow faster. It is with this in mind that during the Budget debate earlier this year, I challenged the CPF Board to achieve a return of 8% to 10% a year. This figure was not derived by tikam tikam. I had consulted fund managers and private bankers who manage large sums of money for their clients.”
“On taxi service, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would agree that there is a difference between cinema seats and taxis. For cinema seats, they have to take in patrons based on their show times, so the supply is fixed. Whereas for taxi service, the taxi-drivers can withdraw the supply of taxis at their discretion, which means that just before, let us say, 11.30 at night, you find that there are no taxis available because taxi-drivers would hide somewhere while waiting for the surcharge to kick in before they come out onto the roads.”
“Mr Chairman, I understand the Minister's explanation on the supply of taxis and demand by commuters. But the extra fees and charges that are imposed on the basic fare will influence and distort the supply and demand equation. Would the Minister look into and review these fees and extra charges or would it be left to market forces to decide? Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: Actually, I take a completely different view from the Member. I think we need these different fees and charges. If we are talking about taxi surcharges it is because taxi demand varies according to different locations and different times, and it is not the same demand throughout the whole day. It changes, so if you want to match supply and demand, you have to use a different pricing. There is no difference from, say, going to a theatre and their advance booking is a particular fee. If you go on the day itself, it will be different. It is the same concept of differential pricing, that is, to match the supply and demand. I do not think it distorts the market, it actually facilitates the working of the market due to differential pricing when demand changes across time and place.”
“I would like to ask about the ez-link card. What is the amount that the LTA or EZ-Link Pte Ltd will receive from expired ez-link cards, ie, the unutilised balance in expired cards? Would this amount be taken into consideration in setting the $5 deposit on the issue of these cards?”
“Sir, I would like to ask a number of clarifications. Firstly, it is about accidents and suicides at MRT stations. I would like to ask the Minister whether the recent publicity given by the media on some of these cases has encouraged or prompted copycats to use this as a mode of suicide. Secondly, has the Ministry done a study to see why do people choose being run over by the MRT trains as the mode of suicide? I know it is difficult to ask those who committed suicides. But what about asking psychiatrists and psychologists as to what is the psychology behind those people who choose this? Thirdly, people who wanted to commit suicide would exhibit some tell-tale signs and behaviour. For example, the recent case at the MRT station, it was observed that the female person hesitated and loitered on the platform for close to 10 minutes and waited for a number of trains to pass by before she took action. I was wondering whether our MRT operators could be trained to spot these tell-tale signs and behaviour.”
“I wish to call for more competition and alternative modes of public transport. We should encourage more operators, big and small, to step in to fill the gaps whenever there is commuter need. We need to make taking public transport the best option for travel in Singapore. Until we develop a more comprehensive MRT system, travelling by bus will still be the most efficient mode of public transport for many commuters. Premium Buses”
“Sir, when I attended ACJC some 30 years ago, I took about 60 minutes to go home by bus to Katong. The same journey by car took half the time - about 30 minutes. Today, my daughters go to a school about 10 minutes' car ride from home, but they take between four and eight times as long to reach home by bus - 40 minutes if the bus comes soon after they reach the bus stop, and 80 minutes if they just miss the bus and have to wait for the next one. It therefore makes sense for me to use the car to pick them up. Sir, to encourage more people to take the bus, waiting and travelling time must be reduced, and the bus system must offer such convenience that one can get around easily and economically without having the need of a private car. The 2006 Bus Passenger Satisfaction Survey showed that commuters want to see improvements in waiting time (71.7%) and travel time (44.9%). 3.15 pm We should make it mandatory, not just out of courtesy, to give way to buses pulling out of bus bays, or when buses have to change lanes due to an obstacle in their lane. I believe we should incorporate this into our Road Traffic Act. I do not see the difficulty or hassle of flashing our headlights to indicate and give way to buses to come out in front of our cars. Niche bus services will provide commuters with a wider breadth of options and can be a viable alternative to private car usage. However, the niche bus services are restrictive. They only serve those passengers who are willing to pay at least 1.5 times the equivalent fare of basic public transport. This would mean that, effectively, only those in relatively well-to-do estates will have a wider choice of bus services. We should find ways to expand this to cater to more people who live in the heartlands as well.”
“Our freaky weather of rain and shine in the last few months is a good reminder to all of us of the risk of being caught by the rain, of not being able to get across a street from the bus-stop or MRT station without getting drenched. It is no wonder that motorists want to drive and park, not just near, but at their final destination.”
“I do not think LTA has any way out of not increasing ERP rates if and when traffic builds up. If you charge $4 and traffic is still crawling, drivers who are stuck there will ask, "Pay so much for what? Still jam!" Singaporeans are brought up to expect good value for money. When we pay for something, we expect to see results. Can ERP ensure a smooth-flowing traffic? There is a psychological limit to how much higher ERP rates can go, beyond which the motoring public will go up in arms. Paying ERP is painful. How much pain do road users have to bear to enjoy smooth-flowing traffic? LTA says it is the motorist's choice, but many people do not have much of a choice, but to use that road during that time because the alternative is even costlier in terms of time, cost and convenience. Are we prepared to pay $5, maybe $10, every time we pass through an ERP gantry? I think LTA should find out before we go down this ERP road further. I do not believe ERP is a sustainable solution as our population increases towards the 6.5 million mark. Mass rapid public transport is the way to go, but there are many areas that we need to improve. To increase its usage, MOT should focus on making public transport a more attractive mode of travel and not by making private cars more expensive or more inconvenient to use. We must also remove as many of the obstacles and objections to taking public transport as possible. If our connectivity to public transport is better, more people will come on board. Other major cities have vast networks of underground passages and above-ground covered walkways, even underground plazas linking the buildings to MRT stations through which people can move almost seamlessly.”
“Sir, I would like to now touch on some mundane local traffic management issues. Compared to other major cities, it is quite a breeze to drive in Singapore most times of the day and night. Outside of the morning and evening peak hours, our traffic is generally smooth flowing, so much so that travelling time is predictable and we can time our journey almost to the minute. "Being caught in traffic" is not a common excuse we hear for being late. However, from time to time, traffic jams still catch us by surprise. I would like to urge MOT to find effective ways to warn motorists when such unexpected congestion arises. There is, at present, the radio broadcast, such as Trafficwatch, but it relies on calls from the public. Can we have a more systematic way to compile and disseminate traffic news? How about a dedicated radio channel for traffic news or an SMS service where the motorists can text the name of a road or landmark, and the SMS reply will inform him of any congestion in that vicinity? Sometimes, we are caught in a long, snaking jams, only to find, when we get to the source, a minor accident and some motorists exchanging particulars in the middle of the road. What a waste of valuable productive time for every person stuck in that jam! We have to improve efficiency of handling accidents and vehicle breakdowns. The performance of LTA, in managing road traffic, should include how promptly accident and breakdown vehicles are removed and how quickly traffic flow can be restored to normal. Sir, our authorities have deployed a slew of measures to get traffic flowing smoothly, the main one being ERP. Recently, ERP rates for some heavily used sections have increased and it seems that the LTA will have to increase ERP further if average traffic speed does not improve.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, a clarification about the case of the mother coming up with cash to help her son to buy a property. My proposal does not detract from our existing measures to deter speculation in properties. The buyers still need to come up with the 5% cash. The change I am proposing is, instead of paying this cash directly to the sellers, that the parent is allowed to put this cash into his own CPF account. It is still cash, but it goes through the CPF, so that it ranks equal to someone who uses the CPF to pay for the property. I do not think this requires an overhaul of the CPF rules. It is also not meant to solve domestic problems. It is meant to protect the interests of another Singaporean who may not be a CPF account holder, vis-a-vis the interests or rights of a CPF account holder.”
“Fourthly, does the Minister not agree that that is exactly one of the problems that I was asking CPF Board to address, that is, to restructure the CPF Investment Scheme and actively help CPF depositors to maximise their returns? So, for example, if you have $10,000, you go to a private banker, you may not even see the receptionist. But if there are 1,000 CPF depositors, they pool $10,000 together, and so they have $10 million. I am sure the professional fund managers will be very keen to manage this money for them. 2.15 pm”
“Mr Chairman, I have a number of clarifications. I do not know whether I heard rightly. I was heartened by the response from the Second Minister for Finance in the Budget debate. But I must say I was somewhat disappointed when I heard comments from the Minister for Manpower just now. So, I would like to ask a few clarifications on this. Firstly, addressing the concerns over our Net Investment Income, the Second Minister for Finance was willing to study how top endowment funds, such as Harvard University, manage their long- term returns. So I would like to ask the Minister for Manpower whether he would study these endowment and pension funds, maybe even the same endowment funds that the Minister for Finance would be studying, and see how they manage their risk to maximise their returns. Secondly, the Minister for Finance quoted the comments from Mr Warren Buffet that 4% is a realistic return. I think those comments are academic. I would like to ask: in real life, is the situation different? Is the Minister aware of the kind of returns that endowment and pension funds, in practice, are getting over the long term? Thirdly, on the investment behaviour and fears that the Minister for Manpower spoke about - and he also cited the writer who contributed his comments to Today - is this not a representative of the typical CPFIS investor? When the market is up he is delirious, and when the market goes down south he licks his wounds. Like last week, when the market went down south, he licked his wounds. Is such an investor concerned by the short term and focuses on timing the market and picking the right stock? Does the Minister for Manpower not agree that that is a very narrow and myopic view of investing for our long term for our old age?”
“So for parents who wish to finance their children's education beyond the current CPF education scheme, instead of paying for the school fees or giving cash to their children, the parents should be allowed to voluntarily contribute the cash into an education account within their CPF account which their children can withdraw from time to time, on condition that the children undertake to CPF Board to repay the amount withdrawn from the parents' CPF account plus interest. I think my proposal is a more practical and realistic solution than saying or hoping that all children should be filial and take care of their parents or leaving the elderly parents to fend for themselves, which will eventually end up as a problem for the State or society to bear. Medisave”
“15 pm Sir, the result in this case is that her healthy young son would have more than $123,000 in his CPF account which he can use to pay for his next flat, while Mdm Ng would be left with hardly enough savings to see her through her remaining years and is at the mercy of her son to provide for her. In fact, in this case, her son recently married and Mdm Ng informed me that her son and daughter-in-law want to sell the flat to purchase another one but they do not want her to live with them. She has approached me to help her to apply for an HDB rental flat. Sir, my proposal to address this problem is straightforward. For the cash portion of a property purchase, we should allow parents to voluntarily contribute the required cash into their CPF's Ordinary Account and treat this as part of the initial cash payment for the property. The parents would then have a stake or interest in the property which ranks equal to the child's CPF. After repaying the outstanding loan, the balance would then be refunded to the parents' and to the child's CPF accounts proportionately. At least, the parents would have money in their CPF for their retirement needs. Otherwise, if the parents pay cash directly to help purchase the property, they rank last in priority of payment. This is similar to the existing CPF rules regarding parents using their CPF to finance their children's education. The student has to repay the full amount of CPF withdrawn plus interest from their parents' account. If the student does not pay up subsequently, CPF Board will chase for repayment. I think this is a good scheme and should be extended.”
“This is simply because of the CPF rules which override Mdm Ng's legal and equitable interest in the property. When a CPF member uses money from his CPF account to finance the purchase of a property, he will have to refund fully the CPF monies withdrawn plus interest when the property is sold. This is a requirement under the CPF rules. The order of deduction from the sale of Mdm Ng's property is as follows: Resale price of $210,000 less outstanding loan from HDB or commercial bank of $78,000, less her son's CPF refund plus accrued interest which amounted to $123,000, and deducting other charges, such as property tax, Town Council's service and conservancy charges, etc, the balance left for the owners is only a few thousand dollars. Mdm Ng had provided $40,000 cash from her savings to help pay for the $190,000 flat. But she will not be receiving 20% of the sale proceeds. She will, in all likelihood, only receive a few thousand dollars from the sale. This is simply because she came up with cash, while her son's money came from his CPF account. Sir, it pains me to explain to Mdm Ng that because her son used his CPF, CPF rules will protect him and safeguard his interest to the detriment of his ageing helpless mother. Out of the proceeds of the sale, CPF will get for her son $123,000, the first bite of the cherry, after deducting the outstanding loan. The CPF rules will protect him to the extent that, even if he wanted to take $40,000 from the sale proceeds to refund his mother, he is not allowed and CPF would ensure that his CPF account is topped up first with what had been withdrawn plus interest. 12.”
“Mr Chairman, most children need their parents to help them pay for their education or for the cash portion for the purchase of their first home. More often than not, parents, out of the kindness of their hearts, will do so to the best of their financial ability. More often than not, parents have to draw from their hard-earned savings that are meant for their own retirement needs. The parent-child relationship in our Asian society is such that parents often will not even broach the subject of repayment, whether in cash or in kind, by their beloved children. They hope, with good upbringing, their children will be filial and look after the hands that fed them. Unfortunately, this hope does not always come true. We are beginning to see more and more sad cases of children heartlessly abandoning their elderly parents or kicking them out of their flats, even though they are enjoying successful careers and high incomes as a result of the help their parents had so generously given to them. Take the example of one of my constituents, Mdm Ng of Tampines Street 44. Mdm Ng helped her son to purchase a four-room simplified HDB flat from the open market on 1st July 1996 for $190,000. At the time of the purchase, for the initial capital payment of $72,000, Mdm Ng chipped in $40,000 cash out of her hard-earned savings. Her son used $32,000 from his CPF. The flat was registered in their joint names. So, Mdm Ng should be entitled to at least 20%, ie, $40,000 divided by $190,000, or so we think. Her son now wants to sell the flat and it can fetch about $210,000 in the open market. Although the flat can be sold at a small profit, Mdm Ng would not get back much of the $40,000 cash that she had put in about 10 years ago.”
“This is because the present Edusave is only available to a child who is a Singapore citizen studying full-time in a Government, Government-aided or independent school, junior college, centralised institute, Institute of Technical Education or special education school. I would like to urge the Ministry of Education to extend Edusave to all Singaporean students studying full-time in any institution, whether publicly or privately funded, that adheres to our bilingual policy, incorporate National Education into their curriculum and meet the criteria of common educational experience, national identity and social education. Tuition Centres”
“Sir, recently, Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman of A*STAR, said that parents should diversify their children's educational experiences to create a greater diversity of backgrounds and talents so that our youths will be in a better position to respond to new technologies and industries as they arise. I would like to ask the Minister for Education whether he agrees with this view and what are his Ministry's plans to achieve this diversity of educational experiences and whether these plans include having more privately-funded educational institutions here. In this year's Budget Statement, the Government also announced the creation of Post-secondary Education Accounts for every Singaporean aged seven to 20 which could be used at publicly-funded universities, polytechnics and arts institutions and ITE as well as UniSIM and WDA-accredited lead training providers. Does this mean that Singaporeans studying at other institutions, such as the privately-funded UNSW (Asia) and UNLV (Singapore) will not be able to benefit even though the rationale behind the Post-secondary Education Account is to enable as many Singaporeans as possible to obtain a post-secondary education? Sir, also at present, not a small number of Singaporean students are attending privately-funded schools, such as ACS International, SJI International and Hwa Chong International. Three of my children are in such privately-funded schools. And I think the number will increase with time as we allow greater diversity in education. But Singaporean students studying in these schools in Singapore are excluded from the benefits of Edusave.”
“Sir, from 28th February 2003, the rates of excise duty for various grades of petrol are fixed as follows: (1) Premium petrol at 44 cents per litre; (2) Intermediate petrol at 41 cents per litre; and (3) Regular petrol at 37 cents per litre. This petrol duty is imposed on the petrol price before GST. What this means is that, for every litre of petrol we pump, we have to pay the petrol duty and then the GST on top of that. I went to the petrol station recently. For 51.1 litres of petrol, the total, including GST, was $63.57, of which $22.48 was the petrol duty. I calculated. The total GST amount was $3.03, out of which, the GST on the petrol duty was $1.12. Sir, 5% on 24 cents of duty works out to 2.2 cents. With 7% GST, this goes up to about 3 cents. It may seem to be a very small amount, but this is for every litre we consume, and it all adds up. More importantly, I would like to ask the Minister for Finance whether, in principle, it is right and fair to charge GST on top of excise duty. Is this not a tax on another tax? Should the GST not be imposed only on the non-duty portion of the petrol price? 2.15 pm Sir, on road tax. The amount of road tax payable in respect of private cars is calculated based on the engine capacity of the car - the higher the engine capacity, the higher the road tax payable. So if the car engine's capacity is 1,600 cc, your annual road tax is $950. If it is 3,000 cc, your road tax goes up to $3,050. But this road tax formula is based on the assumption that expensive cars have larger engine capacities and that there is a correlation between the size of the engine and the price of the car. In this day and age, I would like to ask whether this assumption is still valid. Accounting Standards and Corporate Governance”
“Secondly, CPF Board may say that it publishes the Semi Annual CPFIS Funds Report which CPF members should read to educate themselves and to be more aware. I would like to ask how many of us here have actually read that report and, anyway, when I read it, it says it only serves as a simplified guide, it is not designed to offer investment advice of any kind, and, in fact, it cautions those who require investment guidance to engage their own investment adviser. Madam, the difference between 4% and 10% per year may seem small but over the long term of 40 years to retirement, an initial sum of $10,000 at 4% per year will only become $48,000, but at 10% per year compounded will see it growing to $453,000, almost 10 times more. This will surely make a very significant and meaningful difference to our retirement sum. I would like to, therefore, urge the Government to restructure the CPF to go beyond paying interest on our CPF savings and to take on a more active role in managing our assets more like a pension or investment fund manager. With that, I support the Budget. 5.55 pm”
“We can start with the funds that the CPF account holder would otherwise have for share, gold and unit trust investment. For those without any money left in their Ordinary Account, they should be allowed to use their Special Account or Minimum Sum as these are meant to be kept over the long term for their old age. CPF Board should either manage this pool of money itself as an umbrella fund of funds or facilitate CPF depositors pooling their money together so that they can tap the expertise and services of professional fund managers, to invest in a greater variety of assets and funds. CPF Board can help by actively assessing the performance of the fund managers, and when circumstances change, investment philosophy change or key fund managers leave, CPF Board can take the decision to shift in or out of these underlying funds. Such diligence and scrutiny is not available to the ordinary person who may continue ignorantly to hold on to certain unit trusts and investment funds even though they are under-performing. Instead of leaving them to fend for themselves, I think the CPF Board should be active in helping its members to maximise their returns, just like investment advisers and private fund managers are doing for the high net worth customers. Madam, I think I know how the CPF Board will respond to my suggestions. Let me try to pre-empt them. Firstly, they may say the interest earned on CPF savings are risk-free returns, and high returns mean high risks. To that, I would say that Temasek Holdings, Warren Buffett, George Soros and a whole host of top private bankers would disagree that they are taking excessive risk to achieve the kind of returns they are getting.”
“Over the long term, over 20, 40 years, with compound interest, the money sitting in our CPF account will definitely be much more than the 2.5% we are getting now from our Ordinary Account or the 4% from our Special Account or the Medisave. Is the high net worth individual or his private banker satisfied with a return of 2.5% or 4% per year? Surely not. If not, why should the CPF depositor? The CPF Investment Scheme should be reviewed and revamped. The present CPF Investment Scheme is no more than a share trading account with a brokerage firm. Figures from CPF Board showed that the majority of CPF account holders lost money when they traded in stocks and shares using their CPF money. Maybe more will make money in a bull run like the present one that we are seeing but that only encourages more to jump in and take a gamble in the stock market. Now we all know that there are bull runs and there will be corrections and bear markets. When the bears come, I think more ordinary people will lose more money. There are other investment schemes, such as unit trusts and mutual funds available to CPF investors, but how do they assess and choose which to invest in? Not all funds perform well. I would like to suggest that the CPF Board take on a more active role as pension fund manager, rather than just a bank paying interest at 2.5% or 4% per year. The CPF has played a crucial role in financing our infrastructure development in the early years, and is still a key element in our home ownership scheme as it sets the concessionary interest rate for HDB mortgage loan. We can still retain these social purposes but, at the same time, make our money work harder and maximise the returns we are getting.”
“I just want to refer to the example Dr Ong Seh Hong mentioned just now of his grandfather. He wished his grandfather had the foresight to invest $40,000 at two dollars per square foot in a piece of land in Bukit Timah which after 40 years today would be worth $10 million, and that is an increase of 250 times. But if his grandfather had the foresight to invest with Warren Buffett 40 years ago, his $40,000 would have become $218 million today. So that is the example of the power of compound interest. So just imagine again, if every Singaporean on turning 21 years old gets a sum of $1,000 earning 24% returns per year compounded, by the time 40 years later when he retires at the age of 62, his initial capital of $1,000 would have grown to $5.5 million, surely more than sufficient to meet all his retirement needs. In such a situation, I do not think we have many of the problems of a greying population that we face today. Now, perhaps, we think the returns of 24% per year is wishful thinking. Temasek Holdings, in 32 years, grew its total portfolio value from S$350 million to S$129 billion (that is, from S$350 to S$129,000 million) but even with new capital injections along the way, I believe the compounded annual growth rate of Temasek Holdings was comfortably double digit. Private bankers conservatively are expecting to get for their high net worth clients 8% to 10% a year for a balanced portfolio. Top pension funds are looking to achieve 10 to 12% growth per year on a sustainable long-term basis. Therefore, Madam, we should make our CPF money work harder. I would like to pose this challenge to the CPF Board. Can the CPF Board help the ordinary CPF depositor grow his money by 8 to 10% per year?”
“How can the wealth gap not widen? Therefore, the logic behind the saying "the rich will get richer". Madam, I am not suggesting that we hold back the high income earners. Other countries have tried and failed. We simply cannot tell them to keep still and let others catch up. Therefore, we need Workfare. We need to resolve structural unemployment and to increase the wages of the lower-income group. But I believe not enough is being done to even start to bridge the gap between the returns the ordinary man is getting from his assets and the returns the high net worth is getting. The well-to-do have access to a multitude of means to help them grow their capital. Private bankers and professional fund managers are more than happy to service them and help them grow their money for a fee. This expertise is not available to the common man. I think we must find ways to improve the returns an ordinary man can get from his capital and help every Singaporean to create and build wealth. Madam, by the "capital of the ordinary man", I am referring to his money in his CPF. Many of the programmes designed to strengthen our social security system are linked to the CPF. Employer CPF contribution rate will be increased. Most of the Workfare will be paid into the CPF. But what are we doing about the CPF itself? Are we making our CPF money work harder for us? Are we maximising the returns from our CPF? I am a voluntary Executive Committee member of the Financial Planning Association of Singapore and this subject is close to my heart. Warren Buffett, who was a Great Depression baby born in the year 1930, started with almost nothing, but he became the second richest man in the world that he is today by growing his capital at an annual compound rate of return of 24.7% over the last 50 years.”
“The top earners command international wages, but the income of lower-wage workers is being held down by globalisation. We are doing much to help raise the income of low-wage workers with schemes like Workfare. But salary is only one aspect. While the low-wage workers rely on his salary, the top earners have two income drivers or income streams. The first is their salary income that they earn from their work, and the second is the returns from their investments or the assets that they have accumulated. With the stock market having risen to record levels last week and the increase in property prices at the top end, the top earners have become much richer in the last year or two. And I believe our Gini coefficient that Ms Irene Ng mentioned just now is even larger because in Singapore, capital gains on investments are not treated as taxable personal income. Madam, I have an analogy. It is like two power-boats moving on the water, not the sampan or sailboat that Ms Irene Ng mentioned just now, but two power-boats. The power-boat of the top earners has two high-performance outboard motors. The first is the wages they earn which go up at a much faster rate with higher increments year on year. The second is the investment returns they get from their capital and assets which increase at a compound rate year after year. These two income engines power their boat forward - both engines not only churning at full throttle but increasing their horsepower output continuously year after year. Whereas the power-boat of a low-income earner has only one outboard motor, which is the wages he earns, struggling to maintain his power output with small annual increments. And maybe another low-performance motor producing meagre returns from a small capital. How can the income gap not widen?”
“The option to move somewhere significantly cheaper without having to migrate to another country to maintain a similar lifestyle is not open to him. If a 3-room HDB flat in Marine Parade or Bishan proves too expensive, one can consider Woodlands or Jurong and save about $70,000, but that is as far as it goes. All other costs do not differ much within our little red dot of less than 700 square kilometres. This lack of options is especially troubling to the lower-income group, as the minimum cost of living, in a first-world city, which ranks highest in Asia for its quality of living may be far beyond their modest means. Therefore, we need to raise their income and I believe Workfare is a very good way of achieving that. Workfare will raise income and provide social security for the lower income group while encouraging them to stay employed. This is especially relevant now that life expectancy is longer and expenses can get correspondingly higher. I, therefore, support the GST increase, as this will give the Government an additional means to fund Workfare and address the widening gap between the higher and lower-income groups, and allow us to tilt the field a little bit in favour of the lower-income group so as to maintain a tenable balance for the inclusive society that we strive for. Madam, besides Workfare, we should also look at other ways that can help all Singaporeans to achieve a stable degree of self-sufficiency so that we are able to cope with the reality of the high cost of living that comes with a city state we live in. The Second Minister for Finance has highlighted that the income of the top earners has increased much faster than the lower end of our workforce.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I support the Budget Statement delivered by the Second Minister for Finance. In view of the time constraint, I will not repeat the commendations and the issues that have already been raised, but go straight to the one point that I would like to make. We are often reminded that Singapore is a city state. For a country that is also a city, it is all the more important for us to find ways to level up Singaporeans from the lower-income group. The cost of living in the city is always higher, just like every big city. But for Singapore, there is not much space to go outside of the city. In larger countries where there is a countryside, one can choose not to live in the city itself with its high cost of living, congestion and hectic high-pressure lifestyle. There is the rural countryside where one can be less engaged economically, enjoy a more relaxed pace of life, lower housing cost, bigger houses and lower living expenses. Flourishing cities such as London, New York, Shanghai and Sydney are bustling, fast-paced, competitive and yes, can be unavoidably expensive. However, they are cities situated in bigger countries where people are able to exercise their choice to live either in the capital, a smaller secondary city, a breezy suburb or out in the quiet countryside. We do not have slums or squatters. We do not have a vast hinterland with rural areas where cost of living and cost of housing are much lower. HDB is helping as many Singaporeans as possible to own their homes with various schemes and measures, but some are still finding it a struggle to afford a home in any part of Singapore. In a city state like Singapore, how can a resident reduce his cost of living?”
“Sir, on behalf of Members who have spoken on this Head, I would like to thank the Minister for Transport and the Minister of State for their comprehensive replies and clarifications. In view of their answers, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $293,495,270 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,793,307,400 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Column No : 786 Head N - Ministry of Foreign Affairs”
“Sir, on air transport, I am pleased that, notwithstanding Changi Airport's record performance last year, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore continues to be proactive in anchoring airlines at Changi through various incentives. These include generous financial incentives for airlines, a dedicated Budget Terminal and upgrading of our existing passenger terminals, just to name a few. All these moves put us in good stead to capitalise on the rise of China and India, the growing trend of budget travel in the region and ASEAN's progressive move towards open skies. Against this backdrop of liberal civil aviation policy and open skies, many Singaporeans are extremely disappointed, to say the least, by the Australian government's decision to defer Singapore Airlines' entry to the Pacific route. I would like to ask the Minister whether we had been misled by the Australian government officials during the negotiations on our Free Trade Agreement, the Air Services Agreement or otherwise and had given away too much. Secondly, had we gone out of our way to accommodate the Australian airline, Qantas, by granting it all the necessary operating freedoms in Singapore? Thirdly, what other ammunition or leverage do we have to force an opening of the Pacific route in the near future? Sir, regardless of Australia's decision, I believe we should continue to adopt a liberal aviation policy to grow Changi's hub position and not succumb to the temptation to engage in a tit-for-tat. To protect our national carrier in the way Australia has decided to do would work to our detriment rather than to the benefit of Singapore's economy in the long term. Air Rights”
“Sir, on sea transport. We achieved good port and maritime growth in the year 2005, setting new records in areas like shipping tonnage, container and cargo throughput and bunker sales. Efforts to grow Singapore as an IMC have also gained momentum. I am especially pleased to note MOT's and MPA's continued efforts in reviewing and fine-tuning existing incentive schemes and introducing new ones, where appropriate, so as to be responsive to industry needs. For instance, as Prime Minister and Minister for Finance announced in the Budget Speech last week, the Government will be introducing a Maritime Finance Incentive Scheme to encourage the development of ship financing activities in Singapore. As for the Approved International Shipping (AIS) scheme, the maximum incentive period for qualifying companies will be increased to 30 years from 20 years previously. I would like to ask the Minister for an update of the performance of our port and maritime services cluster. Sir, in promoting and providing incentives for new activities in this cluster, I hope we will not neglect the traditional players and the small and medium enterprises in our maritime sector.”
“I observe that there are not many pedestrians walking along the roads in Tuas. This is understandable. The roads there are dusty and unsheltered from the elements, and workers spend most of their time working within the compound of the factories. Unlike the CBD and Orchard Road, factory workers there do not have to come out of their factories to visit other factories for meetings. Even for lunch, workers do not venture far on foot. Many of the factories have their own canteens or food is brought there for the workers. Sir, it does not make sense to subject the public transport operators to the universal service obligation that they must and can only ply approved routes and pick up and drop off passengers at designated bus stops. Tuas needs a rethink and a different system. We should carve Tuas industrial estate out, exempt it from the universal service obligation and try something different. For example, how about adopting some variation of the mini-bus service that one finds in Hong Kong? These mini-buses can wait at MRT stations and, when a sufficient number of passengers have boarded, make shorter loops into minor roads in the industrial estate. Instead of only being allowed to stop at designated bus stops, they could be allowed to stop, drop off or pick up passengers at the factory gates. Instead of being required to run most hours of the day, they should have the flexibility to adjust their operating hours according to the passenger demand. Companies could also be encouraged to band together with other factories in the vicinity to organise these mini-buses to pick up their workers at specified times and to take them back to the MRT station.”
“For example, why should a low-income resident from my constituency, Tampines, be prevented from taking up a job in Tuas just because, for him, the transport cost of getting to and back from his workplace would be prohibitive in relation to his income. Sir, as a poor student in London, season passes allowed me to travel to college and visit places of interest that I would otherwise not been able to. There were London Transport season tickets, Brit Rail passes, Inter Rail, EU Rail and in the US, Greyhound bus passes, etc. Our public transport operators are not issuing season tickets because they say that would result in them collecting less revenue. They dictate that commuters pay on a per trip basis. Sir, there are only two public transport operators here. If SBS and SMRT do not offer, then commuters have no choice but to pay for every trip. I think the Government should step in to provide for the lower-income group to give them more mobility to get to their place of work and earn a living to provide for their families. A season ticket can also serve as a cap on their transport expenses, help them in their budgeting and allow them to take their families out of the neighbourhood to visit other places of interest. Sir, my next point relates to Tuas Industrial Estate. We still have thousands who are structurally unemployed. There are jobs available for them in Tuas. There are companies there that cannot find workers to fill vacancies. The present situation which has existed for many years is unsatisfactory. We have spent millions of dollars developing that industrial estate. We should not allow poor accessibility and inadequate bus services to prevent us from realising its full potential. We need to adopt more creative solutions to tackle the present shortcomings.”
“Sir, adverse feedback has been received from the public about the quality of our bus service. The dissatisfaction centres around unreliability of service, long waiting time and overcrowding. This may stem from commuters' rising expectations. I would like to ask how this adverse feedback can be addressed, whether any new requirements or standards are to be imposed and whether their compliance would lead to an increase in cost of operation, leading to increase in fares. Sir, in imposing any new service standards, I would like the authorities to be mindful of the fact that while operators can ensure that the buses leave the bus interchange according to the schedule, unreliability, long waiting time and overcrowding further down the route could also be due to unpredictable traffic conditions along the way. Traffic congestion along the route can cause uncertain arrival and bunching. I think complaining against the bus operators would not solve the problem, because traffic condition is beyond their control. Also, penalising the operators is not the solution. I would like to ask what measures will be taken to enable our buses to ply their routes with more certainty. Sir, next, on public transport concessionary fares for the lower-income group. When there is a downturn, the transport operators, NTUC and other organisations may volunteer to come up with a few million dollars to start a transport fund for that period. I think we should have a more permanent Government-supported transport fund to give those from the lower-income group the mobility and ability to travel further, whether for work or leisure.”
“Sir, on our early warning displays, I observe that, at present, the early warning LED displays along the expressways do not tell us much about the actual traffic situation. "Accident on Lane 1 after Kallang" or "Jam after Kallang" does not give motorists a sense of how bad the jam is. It does not tell you how long is the tail-back. How long would the driver need to take to pass through that section? I only know that if it says "Massive Jam", I better give it due respect and avoid that section at all costs. I would like to suggest that the severity of the traffic jam be represented by similar colour codes. So motorists can see at a glance and be better informed of the situation, so as to decide whether to join the jam or to take an alternative route. Sir, on "clean" vehicles, I would like to ask about the amount of incentives granted to encourage the use of "clean" vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are still more expensive to buy and the cost benefits still do not add up. It is also a question of infrastructure and demand - chicken and egg. Take compressed natural gas, for example. One major complaint is the lack of convenient refuelling stations. But private companies would not want to take such a big risk to invest large sums of money to build the infrastructure and the network of refuelling stations unless the demand can be assured. And without convenient refuelling stations, few motorists will be prepared to own and use a compressed natural gas vehicle.”
“5% in FY2004, and it is hoped to maintain at at least 95% in the revised FY2005. I would have thought that congestion along arterial roads worsened as motorists avoided the ERP along the expressways, and used other roads instead. Could the Minister clarify and explain these figures? Sir, I would think that these figures and statistics, which I have just quoted, would sound rather academic and meaningless to the man-in-the-street. What do these figures translate to or reflect in the actual situation he is facing day to day? To the average motorist, these figures are meaningless because, to him, the actual traffic situation that affects him every day is more important. At least, 95% of expressways above 45 kph may sound very impressive on paper, but the motorist would be most unhappy if he were to be caught in the remaining 5% of expressways every day. Sir, next, managing traffic jams. I think it would be most meaningful to motorists if we introduce a code for the different levels of congestion. We need not be too specific or exact as in the system which informs us of the number of minutes required to arrive at a certain point along the expressway. I would like to propose, for example, "green" can mean that the expressway traffic is smooth flowing and moving at above 45 kph; "yellow" means slow moving traffic at between 30-45 kph; "red" means crawling traffic at between 20-30 kph; and "black" means drivers are stuck in the traffic, at standstill, and most of them have black faces! This will be easier to interpret and give the drivers a clearer mental image of the situation than mere speeds expressed numerically in kph.”
“But, if for some special ad-hoc reasons and occasions, many more drivers decide to descend or converge in a particular area, a massive jam or gridlock can occur. We cannot really control how many cars come for a particular occasion and we cannot impose ERP on short notice. One example is the Investiture ceremony last year, where for the first time the ceremony was delayed. Most of the special events can be predicted, for example, Kreta Ayer, Chinatown, during Chinese New Year, Orchard Road during light-up and other major events and festivities. But some can happen without warning. I would like to ask the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority to work closely with other agencies like the Traffic Police to foresee and cope with such situations effectively. Statistics and key performance indicators of the Ministry of Transport. A desired outcome of the Ministry of Transport is to have a quality integrated and efficient land transport system. One of the key performance indicators (KPI) is the percentage of expressways and arterial roads which are congestion-free during peak periods. By congestion-free, it means expressways where traffic can move at a speed above 45 kph and arterial roads with speed above 20 kph. I observe that using this KPI, the percentage of expressways with speed above 45 kph has dropped from 99.2% in FY2003 to 97.9% in FY2004, to only at least 95% in the revised FY2005. I am puzzled by this steady decline over the last few years, especially since during those years the ERP was implemented and rolled out along many stretches of expressways to ease and smooth out traffic flow. On the other hand, the percentage of arterial roads above 20 kph has increased marginally, from 94.7% in FY2003 to 95.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head W of the Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, 2005 was another excellent year for Singapore's transport sector. On the land transport front, the Land Transport Authority continued with its mission to develop Singapore's land transport infrastructure. The Punggol LRT east loop and Sengkang LRT west loop were opened on 29th January 2005, boosting our rail network by 8%. Construction on the Circle Line is well underway, while plans for the downtown extension and the Boon Lay extension have been announced. During 2005, the road network was also expanded by more than 100-lane kilometres. In addition, adjustments have been made to several land transport policies, regulations and schemes and the outcomes have been positive. As part of the Government's commitment to foster a more inclusive society, I am happy to note that wheelchair-accessible buses have been introduced in Singapore. Sir, I will now go into details on some issues regarding our land transport system. Our total vehicle population has grown by 44% from 509,000 vehicles on our roads in 1989 to 735,000 that we had last year. This steady vehicle population growth over time, accompanied by lower ARF and COE prices, has enabled many more people to own cars. I would like to ask whether this vehicle growth rate is sustainable over the long term and what is the allowable rate of increase going forward. In connection with the new growth rate, will there be an increase or reduction in the COE quota for 2006? Sir, although there are now more vehicles on our roads, we can still be proud of a well-managed and generally congestion-free road system. With ERP, we manage well under normal circumstances.”
“Sir, I would like to ask about the security for our commercial buildings and shopping centres. I would like to ask whether the police advises or guides the management on the appropriate level and practice of security checks in and around the building. The reason I ask this is that a businessman friend of mine from Taiwan told me just earlier this week that when he visited one of our regional shopping malls - I think it is Kovan, but I will have to check with him - and took photographs of the shops inside the building, he was approached by a uniformed security guard and told to stop. He was even asked to go into the security office as the guards wanted to go through the pictures that he had taken on his digital camera. He also noticed that the dustbins within the shopping mall had all been removed. So I would like to ask whether this is the position recommended by the police or is it something the building management has taken upon itself and, secondly, whether the private security guards have the power or authority to stop innocent people from taking photographs in public.”
“Information has to be copied manually from the NRIC to another medium. So the transfer and recording of information are not efficient or fast enough. I would like to propose that we replace our NRIC with one that has a smart chip embedded in it that can store a lot more information about the owner and certain particulars can be transferred instantaneously and contactlessly by tapping on the detector, like our ez-link cards. Terrorism”
“Sir, I think it is about time that we adopted a more intelligent identity card, and it is opportune now in the light of the threat of terrorism. Take, for example, the security of our office buildings. From time to time, I have to visit other offices for meetings. I notice that the security checks at these buildings range from non-existent, which is not satisfactory for security reasons, to having a manual register that visitors have to fill in their particulars, and I have seen people writing names like Superman and Wonder Woman, and no one bothers to verify whether the particulars are true and accurate, to security guards demanding that visitors produce a photo ID in exchange for a temporary visitor pass. Such manual security checks create a lot of hassle, impede the movement of people and cause inconvenience to visitors. For all the hassle, the security checks are not effective at all because, even if the visitor is required to produce his NRIC and this is in exchange for a visitor pass, his particulars are seldom physically recorded down. This is because manual recording is time consuming and requires a lot of work. When the visitor leaves the building, he takes his NRIC with him and leaves. So it does not serve any purpose because, at the end of the day, I am sure the security guards do not know or do not have any record of who has entered and left the building in the course of the day. If a terrorist incident were to occur, there is little information about who has been in the building. The reason for this is that the information on our NRIC, in its present form, is passive. Our existing NRIC is a rather dumb device in the sense that personal information of the holder is merely printed on a piece of plastic.”
“Or, do you go back with resolve of steel and determination to want to come back to show everyone you can do better and prove that they have been wrong? There are some Singaporeans who are of the opinion that our heydays are over and are convinced that in spite of all our efforts, Singapore has already seen her last peak. They see greener pastures on the other side of the fence and move to where money is easier to be made. I urge my Singaporean friends not to give up on our country. Together, we can join our hands and work together to build this nation. Look at the City of London today. Faced with competition from other cities in Europe, the people in the City of London refused to succumb to the Euro-mania and resisted relocation to the euro zone. They fought hard against the odds and won. Today, many European banks have shifted major parts of their operations to London. The lesson we can learn from London's triumphant boom is that we must not give up on our cherished homeland. If we stand firmly by our beliefs and create solutions to overcome obstacles with agility, we will continue to enjoy the sweet taste of success. ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE Resolved, That the debate be now adjourned. - [Mr Mah Bow Tan].”
“In life, the academically weak still can and do succeed. Second, how do we take criticism in life? We can see the different responses very clearly when the participants stand before the panel of supposed experts, especially Simon Cowell. Simon can be downright blunt, nasty and provocative in his criticism. Some take it graciously, and say "thank you very much" and hope to do better next time. Others get angry and throw insults back at him. And there are those who accept the remarks, but you can tell from their faces that they go away with the determination and resolve to come back to show him that he is wrong. Third, how do you take it if you are at the bottom? Later, when it comes to the final 12 participants, three participants who receive the lowest votes will be singled out, placed before the entire audience and publicly branded as being in the bottom. Imagine the stigma, the prejudices. They are put under the spotlight and even have to make a final performance. If you are the one booted out, what would your response be? Do you give up, break down and cry? Or do you put up the best performance in your life for everyone to remember you by? And, as a society, how do we treat those who have not made it? Do we scorn and avoid them? In "American Idol", the audience cheered, rallied behind and comforted the dropouts. Now, if you are one of the two who has been publicly branded as a lousy performer in the bottom here but is given another chance to come back to compete next week, do you give up because of the stigma, the prejudices? If you get posted to Normal (Academic), Normal (Technical), or ITE, do you say, "It's the end; there is no hope. I give up."?”
“In addition to the monetary "goodies" contained in this year's Budget, I would like to offer some words of encouragement to all those who are struggling in life, and I think that pretty much includes everyone of us. Three evenings a week now, we watch the American hit TV programme "American Idol" on television. It is now down to the last 24 in the pre-finals. I think we can draw at least three life lessons while watching this programme: first, do not be disheartened when some people are negative towards you; second, have the resolve to bounce back to show that your critics are wrong; and third, do not be disheartened and give up even when you have been branded as a failure. Sir, let me elaborate. First, who are our judges in real life? In school, our children sit for paper examinations conducted and marked in private within closed doors. In our workplace, our performance is judged by our superiors. In applying for a bank loan, we are judged by the bank's credit officer. In a traditional talentime, the judges are an appointed panel of experts and their decision is final. But that is not the situation in real life. As in "American Idol", our examiners in life are the people whom we come into contact with. In real life, just like in "American Idol", the contestants have to impress and win the approval of the people they come in contact with. The so-called experts, like Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, can give their two cents worth but ultimately the public decides by their SMS votes who the winners are. In real life as well, it is not the one who is technically the best who wins. Just like there are technically better MP3 players, but the Apple iPod is the market leader because of better business strategy, branding, packaging and marketing.”