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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“I think the camp against the casino is speaking out because they want a stake in Singapore. Their views should be heard and have been heard. The people who are for the casino, I think, also have an interest in Singapore.They also want to have a stake in Singapore. First of all, not everybodywho goes to the casino is a gambler. You could just walk in and have a drink, put a chip there and then walk away. I think the vast majority of people who go to a casino are in this category. There is an addicted group of gamblers, a smaller group, that would go anywhere to gamble, put any stake, and risk it all. There are three issues I think the Cabinet should look at carefully. The three issues are economic, moral and responsibility. Dr Tony Tan has put up, perhaps, a fourth dimension, called the "branding" issue. First, is it an economic issue? Yes, it is an economic issue. If the Government does not gain from it economically, it should never go in.And I am convinced of the economic pluses. TakeMacau, London and other Australian cities. You could not say that they have not benefited economically from having a casino. Is it amoral issue? It is a moral issue because there are vices attached to gambling and some casual gamblers might become addicted gamblers, bringing grief to themselves, their families andrelatives. Is it a responsibility issue? One MP spoke during the inauguration speech that it is not a responsibility issue. It is a moral and a money issue. I think it is also a responsibility issue becausewhether to go to a casino and gamble is basically a personal responsibility. If we could not take responsibility for ourselves, then I think we are not mature ourselves as a society.”
“For various reasons,because it has been said many times, and I have seen it with my eyes, the Chinese are compulsive gamblers. We may not be congenital gamblers because congenital means it is wired to the DNA and there is no hope. But I think we tend to be compulsive and,in a sense, we are risk takers. The Chinese are risk takers and we have to mount massive educational campaigns to convince the Chinese that"bu zhi shi dujiu shu", but should be"shi dushi shu" - in other words, when ten people gamble, nine people lose, one person wins. But a Chinese always thinks he is the one who will win. Actually we should tell the Chinese that "when ten people gamble, ten people would lose". But I am not closed to the idea of a casino. Why? Because I have not seen the proposal yet. I think the proposal comes in today.All Singaporeans should reserve their final judgement. They have their views and we should respect them. Religious leaders have their views and we should respect them. Some havestrong moral views, andwe should respect that. But, behind all these, we should look at the proposal objectively. Does it address our concerns? At the end of the day, is it a plus for our nation? I think, if we recall, one of the pillars of Singapore 21is nation before self. We may dislike something. We may, in fact, condemn it, but do we have to influence so strongly that the Government would take a position which might be against the nation? However, I think this debate about the casino is a good thing.Has it united us or has it divided us? Some people said that this issue should never come up. This is a new Prime Minister and straightaway witha team of younger Cabinet Ministers, he istalking about gambling. Instead of unifying us, this issue is dividing us. I think otherwise.”
“Xian zai nianqingren she me dou you, zheng fu hai yao gei ta men." So I emailed the PM telling him the gist of this monologue; in fact, she dropped it into the voice box. The PM emailed me and said, "Well, you wait tillBudget time". He has not forgotten the old. So I went back to the senior citizens andtold them that they should read the inauguration speech again to see the substance of it andwait until Budget time. Older people have been watching and they say, "Wo bu zhi yao tingqi yan, hai yao guan qi xing" - I want to hear him and, more importantly, I want to see his action. People like Tan Sai Siong wrote a piece of articlelast week in Today. She is past 60 now, self-confessed 60. She said she gave three cheers to the Prime Minister. The first cheer is for people who are above 60 years,which she is in, for the $350 top-up in Medisave. The second cheer is for people above 50 years, for the extra $100 in CPF top-up. Then what is the third cheer for? The third cheer is for just being old. Why should old people get more? Because the Government cares and the Prime Minister has not forgotten the older people. I want to come to the casino issue because it is an issue that has embracedadult Singaporeans of all races, languages and religions.People have come out very passionately, mostly against it. Those who are for it, speak softly. I talked about squaring the budget circle, where you are collecting less and spending more down the road. The Government could dig into the reserves, but that should be the last resort, and it isa dangerous thing to do. Where do I stand on the casino issue? Personally, I am a non-gambler and I am very worried about the setting up of a casino in Singapore.”
“In the case of education, I think we need to spend more, not less, because it is our only hope to grow the economy. In defence, I think it is imperative that we spend enough to keep our operational readiness. Defence, for us, is measured by percentage of GDP. But actually the defence budget, if you look at it in absolute dollars, if the adversary has X number of weapons and X number of platforms, to counter that, we could have more or we could have less, but we supplement that withadvanced systems and technology. But, at the end of the day, it is the absolute dollar output and not the GDP share of defence dollar that we spend that makes us effective. So in these three areas and, perhaps there are others, I find it very difficult to see a lower budget further down the road. How do we square the budget? I think it is something the Minister for Finance must apply his mind to. And this brings me to the casino issue. But before I go to the casino issue, I want to thank the Finance Minister, especially on behalf of my senior citizens, because I am the MP of an area which is predominantly inhabited by older people. Soon after the Prime Minister made his inaugural speech in the Istana, where some perceived it to be heavily accented on youth, I received emails that the Prime Minister is nurturing a future generation of young leaders. He was speaking out to the young, reaching out to them, but somehow neglecting the older people. I got it directly from the meet-the-people sessions, emails and, also, I heard it from the radio. After listening to one segment of the radio, FM95.8, one ofthese talk-back sessions, one old lady said in Mandarin, "Wo men nian qing deshi hou, shen me dong xi dou mei you, ye mei youyao qiu she me.”
“I think it is evolutionary because it sets clear goals and lays out a clear roadmap to a low tax regime. There are clear targets now as to when we will move to a 20% tax regime. I think it is also revolutionary because it strikes both pro-business and pro-citizen at the same time. Think about it. To be pro-business means you collect less money per dollar of business output. To be pro-citizen means you spend more money per citizen. How do you square this circle? I have been looking at the Budget and recalled my days in the Finance Ministry. Historically, the operating revenue is about 23% of GDP. Today, the operating revenue is about 15% of GDP. If you look at the historical expenditure, it hovers around 15% of GDP. Today, it is still 15% of GDP. In other words, over the years, the Government has been collecting less but spending the same. It is okay if you collect less and spend the same because, in the past, we had a 5-10% buffer. But, I think, the Government would have a hard time holding the line for too long. Because in at least three areas, the Government would have difficulty holding the line in expenditure. First, it is healthcare.We have not been spending a lot of money on healthcare because it has been well-managed. But, having said that, it is also because we are a young nation. The baby-boomers, like myself, are coming onstream and we are beginning to knock on the doors of health administrators. Groups like us would be big users of healthcare. To cap it at the present GDP of about 3%, I think it is going to be difficult. I think the Minister for Health would hold the line, carry out reforms, but, at some point, I fear, there would be more demand because the population is ageing and, it islegitimate demand.”
“Instead, we will do better to ask ourselves, after looking at our country's needs as a whole, how our nation's funds can be better employed. I am confident that we will succeed in building a society that will be a pride and joy for us to live, play, work and raise our children. Sir, I support the Budget. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence and the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak at this late hour. I thought I would be speaking on Tuesday. I would like to hand out something here. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir,I would like to read a Tang Dynasty's poem to Members of the House, and particularly to the Prime Minister. This is the year of the golden rooster and this poem was written by Cui Dao Rong, a Tang Dynasty poet. The title of the poem is known as "ji", meaning rooster. It says, "mai de chen ji gong ji yu, chang shi bu yong deng xian ming, shen shan yue hei feng yu ye, yu jin xiao tian ti yi sheng." The gist of the poem says that in a moment of darkness and despair, the people hope that somebody somewhere will bring hope, will shine a torch and bring us out of this darkness into daylight. I want to congratulate the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister, who is the Minister for Finance, for making a very good Budget. Dawn is not completely bright. Dawn is still quite dark but, at least, we are moving into brightness. It is a good Budget, Sir, because I think it is both evolutionary and revolutionary. No newspapers say that it is a so-so Budget or, at least, some people say that it is neither evolutionary nor revolutionary. I think otherwise.”
“Balancing is both an art and a science that must encompass and carefully weigh the needs of the nation as a whole. Whatever is allocated to any given cause will affect the amounts allocated to other areas. We should move away from asking what more and how much more the Government can give to this or that. Instead of looking to the Finance Minister as the God of Fortune and asking for more and more ang pows to be given to more and more people, one should ask who need these ang pows moreand who would benefit most from these ang pows. As we evolve into a more inclusive society, we should encourage more Singaporeans to express their views and concerns, not only on such basic issues as whatGovernment can do or how much more the Government can give but also on specific issues like which areas the Government should target their spending and the manner in which funds should be dispensed. Take the top-ups to Medisave accounts, for example. The top-up will cost the Government $320 million. Instead of spreading the funds evenly but thinly so that each Medisave account gets between $50 and $350 depending on age, why not target the funds to those who are in real need and employ the balance saved towards more deserving causes? In conclusion, we have developed into a nation that is comparable to the world's best in many respects. We are moving towards a more consultative, open and inclusive society. However, we must take care not to let the fruits of our labour whittle away through unguarded policies. While the needs and concerns of specific groups require attention, the inclination to expect ready handouts from the Government should be discouraged.”
“I questioned that he was not here to contribute to Singapore the last10 years, and he retorted, "But I am a Singaporean." Sir, many of our benefits are pegged to one's status as a Singaporean or permanent resident. For example, one can be away from Singapore all his life but is still entitled to buy a new subsidised flat from the HDB as long as he still has his Singapore citizenship. I think we should question this rationale and move away from tagging benefits to the status of citizenship. The man who reminded me that he is a Singaporean after all thinks that he should be entitled to whatever other Singaporeans receive no matter how much or little he has contributed to his fellow men. The tendency to look to the Government for ready solutions is a worrying trend that has to be stemmed, if not reversed. We must be mindful that the Government does not possess bottomless pockets that can dish out endless amounts of money to satisfy every demand. From the feedback I heard recently, I am heartened tonote that more and more Singaporeans are saying, "This is taxpayers' money". There is increasing recognition by Singaporeans that we have a personal interest in the way the money is allocated and spent by the Government. More and more take the view that since Government funds come from taxpayers, they are, rightly as taxpayers, entitled to question and opine on the fiscal policies of the Government. We do not have a lamp to rub as many times as we desire to release a genie that can produce from thin air a table laden with delectable culinary delights on gold platters every time. Instead of possessing a genie, we should possess ingenuity. We must appreciate the importance of balancing the budget.”
“For this reason, the challenge now is to ensure that the ComCare Fund gets up and functioning as soon as is practicable so that it can responsively address the needs of less fortunate families, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, senior citizens and disabled persons who may need longer term assistance. However, in giving out financial assistance, we must not breed a culture of entitlement. It seems to me that the more effort the Government makes to foster a caring and inclusive society, the more people feel that they are entitled to Government handouts. I was awakened to this attitude by two recent incidents. In the first case, a housewife approached me last year and wanted to appeal for public transport subsidy as she had missed the application deadline. I appealed for her but was unsuccessful since the funds had already been drawn down from the transport fund. She was very upset and I offered to help her out of other financial assistance schemes available. She replied that even if I could obtain benefits under other schemes, say, schemes B and C, to help her, that would not satisfy her becauseshe should have gotten scheme A, in addition to B and C. She had lost the benefits under last year's scheme A forever - that is gone,and that could not be compensated by any other benefits under any other schemes. Hence, surely this is a clear example of wanting to grab all that they feel entitled to. In the second case, a Singaporean man asked me to appeal for him to be given his entitlement of New Singapore Shares and Economic Restructuring Shares. He said he had been away from Singapore the past10 years and did not top up his CPF accountas he only learned about these free shares when he came back for a holiday.”
“Hence, there is an anxiety on the part of the small enterprises that before they can reap any benefits from last year's good economic growth, they will yet again be hit by another downturn, by cutbacks on spending or by the withdrawal of corporate hirings and investments. I can see that the Government fully recognises the crucial role small businesses play in building a robust economy and is fully committed to growing the local SME sector. Apart from the carry-back of losses, various programmes have been in place to help small enterprises lower their expenses. But the real test is whether all these incentives and schemes will help them increase their revenue and profits. Sir, to add fuel to our economy and our community for the purpose of further advancement, I am pleased that this year's Budget provides for top-ups to the Lifelong Learning Fund, Edusave accounts, Medisave accounts, Medifund, CPF Special/Retirement Accounts of older Singaporeans and the new ComCare Fund. These top-ups in total will cost the Government a staggering $1.3 billion. Both the objectives of the Budget- to create opportunity and to build community- are clearly behind the rationale for these top-ups. In the long run, the programmes that receive the top-ups will benefit our country. However, many people are complaining that there is no 'real money', that means hard cash, going into the hands of the intended recipients. For those who are in dire need of immediate financial assistance, the top-ups provide little comfort. They are already facing difficulties meeting their daily expenses and have little interest in long-term gains that do not immediately benefit them. What they would appreciate is immediate financial assistance to alleviate their struggles. We must understand their concerns.”
“Basically, ARF is calculated as a percentage of the landed cost (or OMV) of the car and varies from car to car, whereas COE is a flat fee based on the category that the car is registered in. Any reduction in ARF may lead to an increase in the price of COE as most car buyers look at the total price for the car and not in the breakdown of the taxes. Sir, although our economy grew by 8.4%, led by the manufacturing and services sectors, the benefits of last year's economic growth have not filtered down to our local smaller enterprises and those which are structurally affected. Many are still struggling to maintain their revenue and with meeting their operating expenses and overheads. Many have difficulties in financing. Most of all, small businesses find it hard to grapple with the changes in the economy and in their sector that can occur globally, regionally, nationally or even in their backyard in their neighbourhood at the most inopportune times. Having to react swiftly to competitive forces at every level, small businesses have a tough challenge to stay viable as they are limited by their resources, market reach and financial strength. The introduction of a one-year carry-back of tax losses will be a helpful relief to small businesses facing a downturn, although they are asking for three years' carry-back. In recent years, we have experienced saw-tooth economic growth. SARS in 2003 dealt us a heavy blow. Reports of bird flu in the region had more than a trickle effect on our tourism, aviation, food and retail industries. And many foreigners thought Singapore was wiped out by the tsunami. We do not know when the next catastrophe will sweep over us.”
“I urge our businessmen not to abuse the more relaxed rules and to remember that the consequences of their actions are much wider than their individual misdeeds. In developing our brand, I feel that this year, now that we have passed the Parks and Trees Act, we should have done more to make our statement that we are concerned about protecting the environment we live in and the air we breathe. I thought this year would have been a good time to introduce some fiscal incentives for environmentally less pollutive vehicles. There has been much interest and action taken to promote hybrid vehicles. But these vehicles, being naturally more expensive to own and operate, need Government fiscal intervention to make them commercially more attractive. As a society, we should make a decisive stand on whether we consider ourselves mature enough to support cleaner environment-friendly options, most likely at an economic sacrifice, even if it means making a sacrifice in terms ofprice. We are penalising unclean leaded fuel by making users pay more. At the same time,we shouldgive incentives for choosing environment-friendly options. On the subject of vehicles, I would also like to mention that many people are expecting a reduction in Additional Registration Fees (ARF). ARF was introduced to dampen demand for cars by raising the total price so that fewer can afford them, and hence slow down the increase in numbers. However, now that we have the COE system which is singularly effective in controlling vehicle population, should we not take steps to continue to reduce the ARF further? The total cost of buying a car may not change much.”
“It does not have much of an operational presence here in Singapore, but it is often quoted as a Singapore company. Therefore, initially, I was very upset when CAO brought bad press and publicity on Singapore. When foreigners spoke about CAO at that time, I was quick to correct them and pointed out that CAO is only listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, but its main business was in China under PRC Chinese management, not Singaporeans. Then came local corporate high flyers like Citiraya and ACCS, in quick succession. In the news today, another public listed company,Greatronic Limited is under probe. Sir, the Singapore brand name is a valuable one that took all of us several decades to build up and uphold. But just as it can take years to erect a building from empty ground, it can be destroyed and reduced to ground zero in a flash. We have taken decades to build Singapore's reputation, but our efforts can be undone in a very short time. We are evolving from a tightly regulated environment to one that is more open, disclosure-based, more pro-business and entrepreneurial. In the past, only what is permitted was clearly prescribed, and one should assume that what was not prescribed was not allowed. Now we want to have a defined line before which one is free to be creative and can operate. Surely, insider trading, false claims and corruption arebeyond that line. Some feel that we should not be so tough. I disagree. I join the many who feel that while the stock exchange promotes new listings and more trading, the CAD, MAS, the Police and the other regulatory authorities must be there to enforce discipline and to rein in therogues.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the Budget Statement delivered by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. Its dual themes of creating opportunity and building community are very relevant and timely, given the global and local situations we are facing today. As the more able among us reach out, create and capitalise on new opportunities, we must foster a stronger sense of community and shared values among all Singaporeans, and not forget those who deserve help in keeping up in this fast-changing world. To make Singapore a land of opportunity, we mustbuild and leverage on what we have achieved. Many things distinguish us from our competitors, but one that comes to mind first is our good reputation. We are known worldwide to be trustworthy, reliable, clean and honest. We have gained good standing for integrity, discipline and pragmatism. This is very valuable and sets us apart from many other countries. Recently, on the issue of casino, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan reminded us to examine its impact on the Singapore brand. Having a casino here will have an impact on what we are known for. But the recent spate of corporate scandals has cost us dearly and made a very adverse impact on our reputation. China Aviation Oil, Citiraya Industries and Accord Customer Care Solutions (ACCS) are names familiar to individual and institutional investors. But now these names are associated with CAD probes, weak corporate governance, corruption, falsifying records and false claims. Sir, we are prominent enough to be noticed internationally. Although Flextronics, one of the largest global electronics contract manufacturers, is a Singapore-registered company, it is listed on NASDAQ and has its management in the United States.”
“I will not be surprised that the perception of these students will be that there will be an increase in their Chinese workload as they have to make sure areas focused in both the existing and new curriculums are covered, just to be on the safe side. I hope that MOE and the schools can spell out as soon as possible what is expected of the students in the interim. Sir, on that note, I support the recommendations.”
“I applaud the recommendation to boost our oral skills. This is especially relevant, as many of us have observed that many of those who speak Mandarin cannot help, but insert English words or expressions into their speeches whenever they have a lapse in their Chinese vocabulary. However, in my view, to truly train a student in oral skills, requires face-to-face live communication with the Chinese proficient speakers. No doubt oral skills can be acquired from books, audio and video aids, but these helpful supplemental materials cannot replace learning in a live environment, which provides human-to-human interaction between learners and proficient speakers. In a class of learners, the students will be able to learn more from guided conversation with their teacher than from unguided conversation with each other. Unfortunately, Sir, the truth of the matter is that the larger the class size is, the fewer the opportunities for students to practise their oral skills with a trained teacher doing a routine lesson. As a typical class size is about 40, which will be reduced to 30, this is an issue that deserves consideration. I hope that the Ministry of Education will find ways and means to provide students with regular meaningful interaction with proficient speakers who can guide them and help them practise speaking the language. Sir, lastly, I would like to also point out the concern about the uncertainty over current students who will be taught an extended interim period between the introduction of the new curriculum in 2008. The students and their parents are unsure of the areas in which they should pay attention.”
“Sir, our bilingual policy has succeeded, even for ACS Boys, as it has given an adequate base and foundation for them to improve. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that many ex-ACS Boys from English-speaking backgrounds are now actually working and living in China. And much to their astonishment, they find it comfortable to use Mandarin as part of their daily lives. Some tell me they have learnt to recognise the words when they sing karaoke. Some others practise their Chinese with Chinese girlfriends. Sir, I am not suggesting that we go out and get a Chinese girlfriend. But there must be a conducive and affirming environment for practice, exposure and learning of the language here in our local community. Sir, when I talk about the environment, that includes the home environment, and this is crucial. Why do I say that? This morning, at a town council's event, I was talking to a Chinese news reporter, Janice Ng. She is a young girl, effectively bilingual in English and Chinese. So I asked her, "How did you manage? How did you become bilingual?" She said that she speaks to her father in English and her mother in Chinese. When she was in school learning Chinese, her mother would be cooking with one hand, and with a cane in the other hand, pushing her on to memorise the phrases, to learn by rote, the Chinese phrases. Her opinion is that Chinese parents nowadays are softer with their children and not pushing them as hard to excel in Chinese. To have a group of bicultural Chinese-speaking elite, the key success factor is the parents who are dedicated and committed to also push their children to excel in the Chinese Language. For the average Chinese student, the task of bringing the language to life falls on the schools, the teachers and society.”
“But Dr Ong Seh Hong said, "yi jian shuang diao", and just now Mr Yeo Guat Kwang said the simpler or local use of it is yi shi er niao. So this can intimidate those who are less fluent and discourage them from using more of the language in the presence of better Chinese speakers. So, in the presence of Mr Chan Soo Sen, Mr Seng Han Thong or Prof. Low Seow Chay, often I prefer not to open my mouth in Mandarin, in case I show my inaptitude and ignorance! So, Sir, I can understand how less proficient speakers, like myself, are deterred by our inability to communicate at the same level. I would, therefore, like to urge good Mandarin speakers not to look down on those who are poorer at it but to encourage them and try to help them along their conversation when they falter or hesitate, because the reality is that we have to persevere to use the language, as we can only improve with practice. Therefore, the challenge is that, to succeed together with the changes in curriculum and pedagogy, we have to create a conducive environment for practice and usage. Yesterday, when I listened to some of my parliamentary colleagues, like Mr Lim Swee Say, Prof. Low Seow Chay, Dr Ong Seh Ong and Dr John Chen, making their speeches in Mandarin, I marvelled at their choice of words, so beautifully strung together. I copied some of these down and made notes to remember them. But then, when would I get to use such phrases again? Chinese is a beautiful language. Mastering it needs practice and exposure. Anyone who has the chance to mix and mingle long enough with any community, whether of doctors, Singaporeans or Chinese, would inevitably pick up and learn their jargons quite naturally.”
“It was not a programme for children but, by using contemporary English, the commentator was able to communicate with the general audience, such that even 8-year-olds had no difficulty appreciating the subject. What if the same programme on the same subject matter was produced in Mandarin? Would it be able to reach out to the general viewers in English-speaking homes, if it were not sub-titled? I do not think even I, an adult with not so bad Mandarin who obtained a P2 at "O" levels, would be able to understand it. To be well regarded by Chinese viewers, producers of Chinese programmes of that nature have to use the language to a certain standard which would prove to be too difficult and profound for the average English-speaking Singaporean. So there are calls for more Chinese programmes, serials and even cartoons to be aired on television. But would the average Mandarin speaker have that level of competence to be able to comprehend, appreciate and enjoy such programmes without English sub-titles? Two of my daughters are doing Higher Chinese in school, yet they rely heavily on English sub-titles to understand our Chinese television serials. Added to this, I found out that the good Chinese speaker loves to use highly descriptive language. In English, one would be labelled bombastic if one uses language that is too flowery. But the Chinese like to embellish their language, in fact, the more and crisp the language is, the more it is admired. For example, after listening to Dr Ong Seh Hong on the first day of this debate, I went back and, over dinner, asked my daughters who are doing Higher Chinese, "The English expression "to kill two birds with one stone", how would you say it in Chinese?" One of them said, "yong yi li shi tou sha si liang zhi niao".”
“Added to the tonal nature of the Chinese Language, this makes learning and using the Chinese phrases difficult, as the context can be pretty unique to the subject matter. Of course, abbreviation is also practised in English but, in English, letters are used as abbreviations. For example, Singapore Stock Exchange becomes SGX, which makes it equally difficult because, unless you are familiar with the jargon or context, it is almost impossible to decipher what the letters "SGX" mean. But if you do not know the abbreviation, does that make you less proficient in English? No. To illustrate, I was talking to a group of doctors, and they were discussing "GE". I thought it referred to "General Elections". But, in fact, they were referring to gastroenteritis or, more simply, food poisoning. So, if we do not know "GE" refers to gastroenteritis, does it make you a less proficient English speaker? It does not, because we know that even a visiting English professor would not have guessed that "ERP" refers to electronic road pricing, and "TSC" refers to Takashimaya Shopping Centre, unless he had come across those abbreviations before. However, in Chinese, the abbreviations can be used not only for names but also for feelings, situations and other expressions. One requires a certain level of proficiency to comprehend the abbreviation and has to know the meaning of each individual character it comprises. The other day, my 8-year-old son was watching the National Geographic programme about volcanoes on television. It was in English and he could understand most of it, because he could repeat and describe to me what he had learnt.”
“Chinese was not among my favourite subjects in school but, after spending more time in China in recent years, I have come to appreciate the beauty of the Chinese Language and also why it is so difficult to learn and master the Chinese Language. Unlike phonics in English, there is no system as to how a Chinese character is formed and why a character should be written that way. Teaching a child to recognise Chinese characters is like teaching him to recognise and remember the make and model of the cars on the roads. As the cars go past, the Chinese reader must be able to recognise almost instantaneously that that is a Honda Civic, there goes a Mercedes E230, and that is a Subaru WRX. I used to think that Chinese characters come in pairs. For example, walk is zou lu, chopsticks is kuai zi, window is chuang kou. Maybe that was how we were taught when we were young. This may sound laughable to many Members of this House, who are naturally more proficient in the language. But only recently did I realise how each single Chinese character is complete in itself. Standing alone on its own, it contains all that is required to convey its unique meaning. Putting another character before or after it serves to elaborate, enhance or differentiate the root character, just like the purpose of an adjective in English. Do not laugh, because I never fully appreciated this. But from this basic approach, two or more single words can be strung together to form intricate expressions or phrases, giving different meanings or flavours. This leads to the fondness to truncate and shorten Chinese names and phrases. For example, changes in teaching methods become, in Chinese, jiao gai. So, the fewer the words, the more profound and intricate the expression.”
“Sir, like many of my fellow Members of this House, I am delighted that the Government has decided to implement the recommendations of the Chinese Language Curriculum and Pedagogy Review Committee. In particular, it is heartening to note that the emphasis will now be on practical, real-life usage of the language that aims to stand our students in good stead long after they leave school. Very often, English-speaking friends told me that in spite of scoring decent grades in Chinese Language all the way up to 'AO' levels, they cannot conduct a decent conversation in Mandarin now, have difficulty following the Mandarin news or reading Chinese newspapers and, even more embarrassingly, are unable to help their primary school children with the Chinese homework. How often do Singaporeans who did Chinese for at least 10 years in school marvel at some westerner who only put in a couple of years of effort in learning Mandarin to be able to confidently converse on any given topic in fluent Mandarin? I believe the reason for this marked difference in the ease with the language lies in the level of interest, the learning environment and the motivation in learning it. The new approach in teaching the Chinese Language will certainly produce a more positive and upbeat attitude to the learning of the language. Sir, at this stage of the debate, I would just like to share some of my personal experiences, difficulties and discoveries in learning Chinese. Before I begin, I must first of all declare that I came from an English school, having spent 12 years in the ACS family of schools where students during my time were not shy to score an F9 in Chinese.”
“I would like to ask the Minister what steps would be taken to increase the market size and trading volume of listed bonds and, ata later stage, listed business trusts on our local market. On that note, Sir, I support the Bill.”
“Sir, my third point relates to third parties dealing with the business trust. It is envisaged that the business trust be structured in the form of trusts with no separate legal existence. As the trustee-manager has legal ownership of the assets of the business enterprise and manages the business, creditors could only claim against the assets of the business trusts via the rights of indemnity of the trustee-manager, provided the trustee-manager has acted properly in incurring the liability. It would be cumbersome, impractical and probably impossible for creditors acting in good faith to conduct checks on whether the trustee-manager is acting properly for every single transaction entered into. This differs from the situation of a company and creditors dealing with a business trust would not have the same level of protection as creditors dealing witha company. Consequently,there is a need for potential creditors and people who intend to transact with the business trust to be educated on its structure, the inherent risks involved and their rights as creditors and counter-parties. Sir, to conclude, there is a need to continually create new asset classesfor investors and add more breadth, depth and sophistication to our capital markets and business trustsare one such additional asset class. However, to strengthen our capital markets, we should also continue to promote the traditional investment instrumentslike stocks, bonds and other debt securities. I am told that following the Asian financial crisis, when financial institutions in Thailand were cash-strapped, the Thai government and corporations went directly to the market to raise funds by issuing bonds. This resulted in the Thai bond market taking off and growing rapidly.”
“Sir, larger and more established businesses already have a multitude of options to raise funds from the capital markets, such as public offering and public listing of their shares and issuing corporate bonds, notes and other commercial papers. For small businesses, the extra expenses associated with such mandatory requirements may prove to be prohibitively high. While protection of unitholders should not be compromised, I believe every effort must be made to keep cost to the lowest possible minimum without sacrificing the quality of the safeguards. The cost of setting up and maintaining a business trust should not be so high that it becomes unattractive compared to other more economical alternative structures. For example, for smaller companies, venture capitalists are familiar with redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares. This is an extremely flexible and established instrument that is widely adopted by companies to obtain funding. These redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares could provide for redemption of the invested amount under certain conditions, payment of preferential cumulative dividends, conversion to equity ordinary shares and preferential rights in the event of distribution of assets, thus giving them quasi-loan and quasi-equity elements. Hence, the funding difficulties faced by small companies may not actually be due to a lack of viable or conducive investment structure alone and the introduction of business trusts may not address the difficulties of attracting investors' interest in the first place. Sir, if private investors and venture funds are keen to invest in a particular business, there are already existing funding mechanisms for them to make and protect their investment.”
“First, the Business Trusts Bill requires the business ofbusiness trusts to be run by a single responsible entity known as the trustee-manager who would have the dual responsibility of safeguarding the interest of unitholders, as well as managing the business trust. Although this combined role addresses the difficulty of apportioningfiduciary responsibility between trustee and manager, the people I spoke to, who are already in the trusts industry, are reluctant to be trustee-manager because they have no expertise running active business enterprises and the additional liabilities of having to manage the business are onerous. Therefore, it seems that the trustee- manager would probably be made up of people who are managing the operations, who now have no choice but to accept the additional responsibility of a trustee of the assets if they want to set up a business trust. But would these managers be so pre-occupied running the business that they sacrifice the interest of the unitholders? How qualified and competent would they be to act as trustees and discharge their duties to safeguard the interest of the unitholders? Sir, this leads me to my second point which is about compliance cost. To protect the interest of unitholders, the Business Trusts Bill makes it mandatory that trustees-managers have on board independent directors and an audit committee to serve as a check and to ensure that the interest of unitholders are objectively considered. But these independent persons would require to be adequately compensated for assuming and discharging these onerous responsibilities. Moreover, the trustee-manager must be a public company incorporated in Singapore and could only run one business trust at any one time. This will result in additional expenses.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on the Business Trusts Bill. As a lawyer in private practice, I advise clients on corporate and commercial law and welcome the introduction of any new mechanism such as business trusts to help companies raise funds for their business needs. I, therefore, support the Business Trusts Bill. The business trusts structure is particularly well-suited for businesses with stable revenue and high cash flows with minimal on-going capital expenditure requirements. As most banks in Asia tend to lend against physical assets and have displayed reluctance to lend against cash flow, the Business Trust is a good alternative vehicle for steady cash flow low asset companies to attract funding. Recently, Iwas cited an instance of a business that had a resilient cash flow of $700,000 a year but could not find a bank to finance it as it had little by way of hard assets, that is, real estate.Business trusts may be a viable option for such companies. Further, mature businesses that offer limited capital gains potential have a better chance to get a higher valuation throughbusiness trusts than an equity offering. For the unitholders of the trust, they would benefit from regular distribution out of net cash profits as opposed to accounting profits. However, notwithstanding these benefits, I wonder whether business trusts, in the form envisaged in the Bill, would be attractive enough for our local investment community. I would like to raise three specific points on the provisions of this Bill.”
“I understand from my discussions with the other Government agencies that the second point is not so much a problem as taxes and duties can be adjusted and fine-tuned. The main concern is in relation to pollution. I hope the Ministry can bring forward the adoption of Euro 4 standards, and with that, make changes to the tax and duty structure to allow vehicle owners a more balanced choice between petrol and diesel-powered cars.”
“Next year, the European Union will adopt Euro 4 emission standards. I would like to ask the Minister if it is possible for Singapore to leap-frog to Euro 4 standards and, if so, when. Under the Euro 4 emission standards, diesel will have sulphur level of not more than 50 parts per million as compared to Euro 2 standards of 500 parts per million. Euro 4 standards will therefore reduce drastically the level of sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions from diesel-powered vehicles. Adoption of the Euro 4 standards for diesel, coupled with the use of particulate filters and stricter standards of vehicle maintenance, will make the case for diesel much stronger than ever before. A comparison of the cost of petrol and the cost of diesel, not taking into account the excise duties, clearly shows that diesel is significantly cheaper than petrol. This being the case, switching to diesel can translate to significantly lower foreign exchange payments for national fuel imports. However, car owners in Singapore face a major obstacle if they wish to purchase a diesel-powered car. In addition to road tax, diesel cars, other than taxis, are levied a prohibitive diesel tax of six times the road tax of an equivalent petrol-driven car. For taxis, the diesel tax is $4,700 per year. Such a high tax deters ownership of a diesel car in spite of the economy offered. I believe the reasons for the high diesel tax are two-fold. One, to contain smoke emissions, which will be significantly improved with the adoption of Euro 4 standards and high vehicle maintenance standards that we have. Two, as diesel does not attract any duty, unlike petrol, to equalise the operating cost of the car.”
“I share Prof. Low's concerns. Except for taxis and goods vehicles, we rarely, if ever, see diesel-powered passenger cars on our roads today. By contrast, in Europe, diesel vehicles, from trucks to vans to motorcars, are a common sight. Diesel-powered cars are fast gaining popularity in western Europe, although the strictest envrionmental conditions are imposed. Many top-tier car manufacturers, including BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz offer diesel counterparts to their petrol-powered cars. I believe that in recent years, such technological advances have been made with the refinement of diesel engines and in the quality of the fuel itself that it warrants a serious relook at diesel as an alternative to petroleum. One major advance in diesel engine design is that the injection of the fuel directly into the cylinders has produced engines that offer demonstrable exhaust emissions and fuel economy gains as well as substantial noise and vibration improvements. I have been told that aside from the price of diesel being lower than petrol by volume, diesel engines can deliver on the average up to 30% better fuel economy than their petroleum counterparts. With less fuel being consumed, there is also lower carbon dioxide emission. Since 2001, vehicles registered for use in Singapore have had to comply with Euro 2 emission standards. This and our stringent regulations on the proper maintenance of vehicles in Singapore have resulted in a reduction in smoke emission from diesel-powered vehicles. In the year 2002, the Ministry of the Environment indicated that it would look into introducing Euro 3 emission standards at the appropriate time. However, in the region, Hong Kong and Thailand are already one step ahead, complying with the Euro 3 emission standards today.”
“Madam, a few years ago, the Government introduced the HDB Main and Interim Upgrading Programmes as our older estates built in the previous era were in need of improvement. Compared to the newer estates, these older estates looked rundown and there was a danger of them turning into slums. A few years later, the Lift Upgrading Programme was introduced so that lifts stop at every floor to serve the residents who were getting older and less mobile. These programmes were launched during the years of plenty when we enjoyed strong growth, rising property prices and budget surpluses. Now we have to tighten our belts and cut back on non-productive expenditure, and sensibly so. As DPM and Minister for Finance has emphasised, we have to live within our means. However, the need for upgrading remains the same, if not even more urgent, as our older estates are getting older with the passage of time, and our residents are also getting older and, hence, more in need of having the lift stopping on their floor. In every housing estate, there are some precincts that are fortunate to be upgraded and others that are still waiting their turn. I would like to ask the Minister whether the plan is still to upgrade them all. If that is still the plan, at the pace forecasted, over what timeframe will we be able to achieve this?”
“But right now, nobody is using the flats. Why can we not use them as rental flats? HDB Pro-family Policies”
“I just like to ask a simple question: who is going to help the downgraders? HDB says that they will give loans only for upgraders but I fail to see the logic. Those who want to upgrade, most, if not all the time, have the means to do so. And if they do not have the means to do so, they probably could obtain loans from private banks. The opposite is true for downgraders. I do not want to ask the Minister to answer any questions but I just like to propose four things. Firstly, can we reverse this policy of granting loans only to those who are upgrading and to give loans to those who are downgrading? They are not asking for handouts. They are prepared to pay market rate of interest but they are not being given the loans. Secondly, can we have, as many MPs have said, more three-room flats? DPM Lee has explained that we no longer can see the growth rates that we have seen before. It is obvious that many residents now will think that they have over-spent and they want to downgrade. I genuinely see that they do want to downgrade and it is not that they are trying to make a profit from having HDB flats. Can we build more three-room HDB flats? Thirdly, can we review our rental rules because they have been the cause of many MP letters in their meet-the-people sessions, asking for accommodation simply because even downgrading is not an option - for those who are unemployed, for those who have lost their jobs, retrenched and as someone has said just now, structural unemployment? Finally, increase the number of flats for rentals. As Dr Maliki has put it, there are many flats that are vacant and can be used for rental purposes. In Woodlands, I already know of two blocks where nobody is staying there and they were actually reserved for, at one stage, SARS emergency.”
“Sir, I would like to share the concerns brought up by many Members of the House who have spoken about the plight of downgraders. These residents have seen their income reduced drastically by the economic downturn and now, they even face structural unemployment. Their income has been reduced to the point where some even face difficulties meeting their daily household needs, not to mention their housing loans. The cost of living remains high and they have accumulated arrears of HDB loan repayments, electricity bills, S&CC, schools fees, etc. Of course, the ultimate solution is for them to retrain and upgrade their skills and get a good income. But as we all know, some simply cannot get out of the rut. So what are we doing to help them? We have assistance schemes to restructure their HDB loan repayments for a few months or to provide them with short-term financial assistance, subsidies for schools fees, and short-term measures like that. These small hesitant measures are unlikely to solve their problems. They need to downgrade to a smaller and more affordable flat. Even if they want to sell their flat at the present market value, they will not get much back after repaying the loan. And even if they sell their present flat, with their present low income and with the new rules on housing loans, it is unlikely that they will get a loan from HDB or a commercial bank to buy the next flat. Realistically, what can we do to get them out of this rut? How can we help them to downgrade, wipe their slates clean and lighten their burden so that they can start afresh and move on? Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung (Sembawang): Sir, many have spoken about downgraders and their plight. I do not pretend to understand the intricacies of HDB financial rules.”
“The need for transparency cannot be over-emphasised as we move towards full retail contestability, where not only large customers are involved, but the smallest consumer would also have a choice of who he buys his electricity from and how much he is going to be charged for it. My third question relates to the small non-contestable residential household customers who are still being supplied by SP Services. This segment represents about one-quarter of Singapore's total electricity consumption. Every week, some of our residents come to us at our meet-the-people session because they could not pay their electricity bills and are in danger of having the supplies cut off. To supply to these small consumers, SP Services buy at the vesting price of $94.24 per megawatt hour. Compared to the present pool clearing price and the wholesale price, this now seems very high. Can SP Services take advantage of the fall in prices? And, when can the small consumers expect to enjoy lower electricity rates? Consumer Protection”
“They are our largest commercial and industrial customers, such as wafer fab plants, petrochemical complexes, factories, hotels and large buildings, some of whom paid as much as $1 million per month for electricity and many of whom have in-house M&E facilities managers to maintain their plant and equipment, or have engaged experts to advise them on their power consumption and tariff plan. The concept of vesting is not new. It has been talked about since the start of liberalisation. One would imagine that if there was going to be such a long awaited market development, the majority of the more sophisticated market participants, if not all, would be able to do their sums and place them in a position to hedge their risk or benefit from the change. Could it be that not many people in the industry had foreseen the drastic drop in the pool clearing price and it caught both the regulator and the market participants by surprise? That brings me to my next question. Was there sufficient disclosure and dissemination of market information for the consumers to make informed decisions? Perhaps EMA, as the regulator, could not give advice on the type of contract consumers should enter into. However, more forums, seminars and discussions could have been organised to educate those who are interested, and where experts could be invited to give their opinion on the different scenarios, the implications and consequences of the anticipated new development. It is then up to the audience to make their own judgment and decision. Sir, for an efficient market, there must be adequate sharing of information, clear market signals, transparency about the rules, about developments and what the major industry players are doing. Any changes should be notified as early as possible.”
“As a result, the wholesale price of electricity, which is the weighted average of the vesting price and the pool price, had also fallen to $83.74 per megawatt hour. This was certainly good news for the consumer. Business consumers had been lamenting our high electricity charges that add to the high cost of doing business in Singapore. It, therefore, came as a surprise to many of us when we read the 18th February 2004 Straits Times article with the headline, "Firms may pay less with new electricity contracts". But, it went on to state that, "Though wholesale power prices under deregulated system have eased by 10%, most firms are still locked into old pacts". Sir, I am an independent external Director of Singapore Power Limited, one of the generation companies, but I do not intend to go into the technical issues here, as these are complex and can be best dealt with at other industry forum. Instead, in the interest of the lay consumers, I would like to ask the Minister three questions: First, why, as reported in the said Straits Times article, although wholesale electricity prices had already dipped 10% since the start of the year, it was estimated that less than 1% of customers were paying these lower prices? How come so few customers were in the position to benefit from this drop in tariff? These are not small consumers who are ignorant or careless about what they pay for their electricity.”
“Sir, the new electricity market commenced operation on 1st January 2003 with five active generation companies, five active retailers and about 250 large contestable customers, comprising 35% of Singapore's electricity demand, having exercised choice, and switched to independent retailers. By 31st December 2003, a very successful retail market had developed, where more than 80% of contestable loads or about 55% of Singapore's total electricity load had already exercised choice and were being supplied by independent retailers. The competitive and robust nature of the new market has seen generation companies compete to raise efficiency and bring down costs, with the ultimate beneficiaries being the customers. Pool prices were below the long-run marginal cost of the most efficient combined cycle gas turbine and retail contracts with large customers were well below SP Services' published tariffs. There was no supply interruption. The lights did not go out. There was no market suspension. There were clear price signals when there was a forced outage or fuel supply disruption. The market systems were operating successfully. Apart from the delay in the introduction of vesting regime, by all accounts, the Singapore wholesale electricity market and retail liberalisation roll-out is a successful model for other countries to follow. The Energy Market Authority and the Ministry of Trade and Industry must be commended for this. The vesting regime was implemented on 1st January 2004 based on 65% of the system demand being allocated to four generation companies. The vesting price for the month of January 2004 was set at $94.24 per megawatt hour. Almost immediately, the average pool clearing price dropped to $66.00 per megawatt hour.”
“It does not allow drivers to hog the lots even if they are prepared to pay for them. It allows short stays to encourage people to come, do what they are there for, and go off quickly and efficiently. The turnover is fantastic, and businesses and customers benefit. Road and Traffic Management”
“Sir, one of the two points in the Ministry of Transport's vision to achieve a quality and efficient land transport system is to have congestion-free roads. I agree we should minimise congestion so that we do not waste time stuck in traffic. But we must also not forget that roads are there to serve a number of objectives, not only to get us there as quickly as possible, but once we get there, to allow us to achieve our other purpose of wanting to get there in the first place. By that I refer to parking places and loading and unloading facilities. I feel that the present policy emphasises too much on congestion-free roads. Vehicles are supposed to get off the roads as soon as they arrive at their destination by going into parking places provided either in buildings or designated areas. I feel that not enough attention has been given to providing for facilities for parking, waiting, loading or unloading, so that people can go about doing their business more efficiently. In our CBD, parking is always a problem for despatch riders and delivery men. These are important contributors to our economy. Parking for them is ad hoc, ill-planned and unsystematic. We see motorcycles parked along the pavements and loading and unloading done anywhere that is possible and not hounded by the parking wardens or traffic police. Traffic and parking in Central London used to be horrendous. However, in recent years, they introduced limited short-term parking, where you are allowed to park in curbside lots for up to a maximum time limit ranging from 15 minutes to one hour. It has now become quite easy to find a parking space for short-term parking. It is now so convenient to stop, park, run into a shop to do an errand and be off.”
“Sir, there has been much speculation and media interest about a possible merger of SMRT and Delgro. If it is proposed that the services presently offered by these two companies are merged and run by one operator, should the regulator allow it? The Ministry has stated that both companies are public listed companies and they will have to make their own corporate decisions for the benefit of the company. I can accept that it is up to the managements of the two companies and their shareholders to decide what is best for them. In principle, I have no difficulty about the rail operations being merged and run by one operator in the interest of efficiency and economy of scale. But should we allow the bus operations to be merged? We have to consider the consequences of a merger on the commuter. Even at the present, the bus services offered by these two companies do not actually compete along the same trunk services. Will a single operator lead to monopolistic behaviour, resulting in poor quality of service for the commuters? There is a contradiction, on the one hand, to take the stance that these are two public companies and they should be free to decide for themselves without Government intervention and, on the other hand, to restrict competition in bus trunk services by not opening up for other operators to come in. If we want to have free competition, why not let other local bus operators to come in to compete in offering public bus services? When there is commuter demand or where the incumbent operator is not providing adequate services, others should be allowed to come in to offer those services.”
“00 pm Therefore, instead of embarking on totally green field projects, like building an LRT in an undeveloped area that is only projected to be developed later, we should introduce other more flexible and low-cost mode of public transport, such as bus services first, to build up ridership. When there is sufficient commuter demand, and this is proven, these services can then be replaced by more fixed and capital intensive infrastructure like rail lines. Light Rail System”
“Sir, road and rail projects require huge investments in infrastructure which can run into billions of dollars and take a long time to complete. New roads, once completed and open to traffic, tend to attract more traffic and get filled up pretty quickly as motorists find them more convenient or faster to use. Also, through the ERP, the authorities can influence the usage of certain roads and divert traffic away from more congested stretches of our roads. However, unlike roads, rail lines are fixed and ridership numbers are dependent on the population living in the vicinity of that fixed route. We have long-term plans for rail projects such as the ERL, BTL, JRL and other LRTs. It takes many years of study, planning and construction, and involves multiple agencies. Before major projects get the go-ahead, there is no doubt that the Government spends a lot of money and attention engaging consultants and experts to conduct feasibility studies. Sometimes, projections and forecasts are an art more than a science. Also, circumstances change over time and new developments happen. If there is insufficient ridership when the project is completed, it will operate at a loss. From the recent experiences of Buangkok Station and Sengkang LRT, such systems will not be put into operation, although huge capital expenditure has been committed and incurred on the infrastructure. It is such a waste of public money to spend constructing such infrastructure only to see it lying there and not put into operation. 2.”
“Presently, such royalty payments are subject to withholding tax in the country of the payer and are also taxed as income when the royalties are received or brought into Singapore. This has forced many companies to engage creative tax advisers to park their IPs in tax haven countries and keep their royalty proceeds offshore. This is not healthy. We should, therefore, have measures to encourage both Singapore homegrown companies and foreign companies that choose to use Singapore as their IP centre to own, hold and register their IPs in Singapore, thereby bringing revenue into our country. Sir, I support the motion.”
“To encourage the in-flow of this offshore money hitherto kept overseas, our rules have to be clear as to what is regarded as income earned in Singapore and, hence, subject to tax. Otherwise, there will always be the fear that a few years after the offshore income is brought in, the tax authorities may question whether it was in fact earned in Singapore. Such a risk would discourage people from bringing in their foreign-sourced income. Tax exemption for new companies Sir, my next point relates to tax exemption for new companies. When we allow full exemption from tax for the first $100,000 of normal chargeable income, excluding Singapore dividends, for each of the first three years of assessment within YA 2005 to YA 2009, we should be mindful of the risk of abuse. In other countries where such "3-year tax free and 2-year half tax" exemption is available, businessmen have been quick to incorporate new companies to park their profits for the three years and, towards the end of the 3-year period, set up other new companies and divert profits to these newly set up companies to continue to enjoy the tax exemption. Once the older companies have exhausted their 3-year exemption, they are then wound up. Withholding tax on royalty payments My last point relates to withholding tax on royalty payments. I fully agree that exploiting new knowledge and ideas is important for Singapore companies to compete internationally. But why limit ourselves to using other people's ideas and intellectual property? We should be bolder still and more optimistic about Singapore-based companies' abilities to generate new ideas, and plan for the situation where Singapore companies will own and hold their own IPs, and other companies from other countries have to pay royalties to our Singapore IP owners.”
“Most of the large commercial and industrial contestable customers, including many of our SMEs, which had embraced retail market liberalisation, exercised choice and elected to be supplied by independent retailers were surprised to see their electricity bills in January. Under the new electricity market rules and the contract they entered into with their retailers, payments for any excess volume under the vesting contract will be charged to them. For the month of January, they ended up bearing an additional 12% on their bills. Under our market settlement rules, the extra payment that these contestable customers have to bear is paid to the generation companies. The largest beneficiaries are the three large Temasek-owned gencos, one of them being Senoko, of which I am an external director. But, in the longer term interest of our new electricity market, we are not overjoyed by this extra profit. In fact, there are some industry concerns that the Government is trying to increase the profits of these gencos so that Temasek could get a better price for their divestment. Sir, such speculation is detrimental not only to Temasek's divestment efforts but also to the good reputation of Singapore. Foreign-sourced income My next point is on foreign-sourced income. It is a good move that we are exempting individuals' foreign-sourced income. Any money kept outside Singapore will not benefit Singapore. Any money brought in, whether to invest in stocks and shares or to spend on a BMW, will contribute to our economy and bring about other benefits, direct or indirect, whether in the form of vehicle taxes or adding more liquidity to our capital markets.”
“If she married, her husband would probably be from a one-child family. Hence, the two of them would have to support not only themselves but four parents and eight grandparents, and a baby, if they were to have a child of their own. She said she was very depressed by the thought of that prospect. This has serious financial implications on the young family and the state. Enhancing competition: Power industry Next, on enhancing competition and the power industry. Business people have been lamenting about our high electricity charges that add to the high cost of doing business in Singapore. We rely on imported fuel oil and natural gas to generate electricity, and the prices of these commodities are beyond our control. We do not have cheap domestic sources of coal or oil, nor large rivers to tap hydro-electricity, nor nuclear power stations. Sir, since the introduction of vesting contract on 1st January 2004 based on 65% of the system demand being allocated to the four generation companies, the vesting price for the month of January 2004 was $94.24 per megawatt hour (MWh) and the average pool clearing price was $66 per MWh. The wholesale price of electricity, which is the weighted average of the vesting price and the pool price, had therefore fallen. But given the high capital costs of the power plant and equipment, and the intrinsic costs of running and maintaining a power station, is such a low wholesale price sustainable over the longer term? Should the consumers be overjoyed and can they now revise their financial budgets with the expectation of lower charges for their electricity?”
“Once the assessor sees "4-room" as the room type, their application for subsidy is put on one side. Sir, realistically, what can they do to get out of this rut? Can we help them to downgrade, wipe their slates clean, lighten their burden, so that they can start afresh and move on? We can do this as a one-off exercise to apply these measures to clear the historical cases, and are not applicable to new cases if we fear that more people will fall into this group and be reckless in making property purchases in future, thinking that the Government will always bail them out. Next, I would like to comment on some of the issues DPM spoke about in the Budget Statement. Procreation - next generation of Singaporeans Many Members before me have spoken about more babies to be the next generation of Singaporeans. I would like to also touch on this issue. The declining birth rate has been discussed, debated and deliberated upon for a long time not just in the Government but also among the public. Not replacing ourselves is a serious problem not just for the country but also the individual families. Although we cannot over-emphasise the effects of the declining birth rate on our nation as a whole, we must also consider its negative effects on individuals and the family unit. To illustrate, let me tell you about a documentary I once saw on China Television about China's one-child policy. China, as we know, has the reverse problem of controlling her population, but the consequence of having only one child is similar in all countries. In one segment of the programme, a young woman in her 20s was interviewed. She said she had just started working and earning an income. Being an only child, she has to support two parents and four aging grandparents, ie, parents of her parents.”
“Restructuring for affected Singaporeans On a related issue on restructuring for affected Singaporeans and what I call the four-roomer's problem, we went through a period of high growth with escalating property prices. Now, we are faced with structural unemployment where some jobs may never return. There are those who had geared too highly during the boom years and bought properties that are now beyond their means. Their income has been slashed; some with income so low that they cannot even meet their daily household needs. The cost of living remains high and they have accumulated arrears in HDB loan repayment, electricity bills, SC&CC, school fees, etc. Although there is the need to retrain and upgrade their skills, some simply cannot get out of the rut. What are we doing to help them? We are offering small hesitant measures of help - restructure their HDB loans for a few months, short-term financial assistance, subsidies for school fees, for fear that if we are too generous, more and more people will choose the easier option, leading us down the slippery slope to become a welfare state with an over-reliant population. But these small measures are unlikely to solve their problem. Their main problem is housing. They had made a major mistake and bought too big a flat which they cannot now afford due to their changed circumstances. They need to downgrade to a smaller more affordable flat. Even if they want to sell at the present market value, they will not get much back after repaying the loan. Even if they sell their present flat, with their present low income and with the new rules on HDB housing loans, it is unlikely that they will get a loan from the HDB or the commercial banks to buy the next flat. When it comes to means testing, they tend to fail.”
“In the US, the management committee of the apartment building can stipulate, for example, whether babies or young children should be discouraged in the building or they can prohibit flushing of toilets in the middle of the night. Prudent spending - Living within our means Sir, next, I would like to touch on the second group of issues centering on prudent spending. On living within our means and HDB upgrading programmes, the HDB upgrading programme was launched during the years of plenty when we enjoyed strong growth, rising property prices and budget surpluses. Now, we have to tighten our belts and cut back on non-productive expenditure, and sensibly so. We have to live within our means. In every housing estate, you will find some precincts that were fortunate to be selected at that time and did in fact undergo upgrading, be it main upgrading, interim upgrading or lift upgrading. By contrast, just a stone's throw away, the next precinct that is not so fortunate is still standing forlornly waiting for its turn. Its residents are looking wistfully across the road, watching with envy their neighbours who are enjoying lifts that stop at every floor and upgraded common areas, and asking when it will be their turn. Across the country, there are many precincts and blocks of flats that have not been upgraded. Realistically, are we able to upgrade them all, and over what timeframe? What is the capital expenditure required? If our resources will be better deployed to fund other priority projects, I think we should start re-orientating the expectations of our residents.”