Ong Seh Hong
Singapore
“The target groups are often the defenceless youth. We have an obligation to protect them and it is important to raise awareness and educate the public on the threat of all these cyber bullying, cyber crimes and cyber sexual hunting. Close cooperation with the parents is another instrument to combat the scourge.”
“And if the book is published, the writer still has to go through book dealers who will take a 50% cut and the books will be put under consignment, ie, payment once every three to five months. The sale of Chinese books has dropped from more than 10,000 to a few thousand, and now to around 1,000.”
“Therefore, I seek an update from MCYS on the nature and the extent of social problems relating to gambling at the casinos following the full-operations of these two casinos in Singapore. What are the control mechanisms in place and how effective have they been so far? Gambling”
“There is, for me, a simple way to tell if the Budget brings real benefits to the people and the country. If the Budget hinders us, if it taxes so severely or gives too generously that we lose our motivation to work, if it makes onerous administrative demands on us and on businesses, then it cannot be a right budget.”
“Sir, I have a few supplementary questions. First, besides denying employees from taking sick leave which is a very clear infringement of the Employment Act, there could be other forms of exploitation of the workers, such as requiring them to work unnecessarily long hours.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for giving this detailed account of what happened because there were discrepancies in the newspaper reports in the accounts by Mr Goh as well as the Police. However, I would like to ask the Minister how does the Police ascertain whether personal safety is being compromised.”
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“Sir, there has been some debate in the media on the importance that is placed on private tutors and tuition centres. UNESCO refers to this group as the "shadow education system". They provide reinforcement for what is taught in the schools and allow students to practise until a level where they understand and learn. In fact, Singaporeans are very generous in spending on tuition. A survey in 2000 revealed that actually about $70 million was spent just on Chinese tuition alone. Given the significant role that private tutors and tuition centres play in the education of our young Singaporeans, we have to pay heed to the rumbles from the ground about this industry. In a recent Straits Times' article titled "MOE-certified - What Does It Really Mean?", a writer lamented the lack of clarity on tuition centres which claim they are MOE-registered. My point is that MOE should make it clear what it means when a tuition centre claims that it is MOE-registered. As the lead agency for education, MOE must ensure that tuition centres do not misrepresent or take advantage of the lack of knowledge. Sometimes, it is very confusing. I understand that for the tutor, "MOE-registered" simply means that the teacher has "qualifications beyond the levels that the school has proposed for them to teach". Worse still, I also understand that there is another segment of private tuition that is not being regulated, ie, private tutors from tuition agencies. So I hope MOE can consider whether there is a need to certify the private tutors instead of just registering them. This will ensure that, by saying "MOE-registered", it actually means that the tutors have been certified to meet the minimum standard set by MOE and are actually qualified to teach the subject.”
“" Sir, the questions I have for the Minister are as follows: First, while accepting that MICA's main agenda is inward looking, and that it seeks to develop creative industries in Singapore, what does it see as its role in informing and promoting ASEAN arts and culture, especially to the young? Second, would he consider developing Singapore as an international hub for ASEAN arts and culture? I see this as a plus in economic terms as well. Third, can MICA endeavour to make ASEAN culture more newsworthy? Because I can see that our media reporters do not find ASEAN culture worth reporting. Finally, can MICA, together with PA, foster more people-to-people cultural exchanges? Understanding our ASEAN neighbours is of great value, not in the sense of personal edification but it makes great economic sense as well. Museums and National Archives”
“Chin Tet Yung: Sir, the ASEAN 2020 Vision sees an ASEAN community conscious of its ties in history, aware of its cultural heritage and bound by a common regional identity. It is now not a vision as such, but seems to be like a fading dream, if not a pipe dream. In terms of government participation, culture is always put on the backburner to political and economic issues. For a very long time since 1978, there was only a Committee on Culture and Information (COCI) seeing into this culture aspect. Only in recent years, we have the Ministerial Meetings, and the first meeting was in 2003; second one, last year; and the next one, 2007. ASEAN is now nearly 50 years; next year it will be 50. COCI has made a statement assessing the tasks ahead. It says, "Cultural promotion and appreciation activities today are aimed at the younger generation. In spite of more than three decades of ASEAN cooperation, Southeast Asian people still have a long way to go in understanding and appreciating one's another culture." And in drafting what ASEAN is and how it is relevant to their lives, let me recount one example. I went to a digital music and media show, and was very impressed with the youngsters doing all the digital music. So I asked one of them, "Can you reproduce music as if it were from the gamelan?" So the youngster looked at me puzzled and flustered. Finally, he said, "Yes, we do "LAN-gaming" as well." Yet the gamelan is one of the more recognised musical instruments in this region. I often wonder what he would have made of the Vietnamese musical instrument called the k'longput. I always suspected that he would say, "Yes, we would play digital golf as well and k'longput is a hole-in-one!”
“Mr Chairman, last year, I asked the Government to provide more grants to our local writers and associations. The answer I received was $325,000. Compared to the Government's grants in the other fields of performing and visual arts, this amount is like a drop in the ocean. As such, despite our performing and visual arts being dynamic and vibrant, the field of literary arts is often described as a cultural desert. I hope that the Government will substantially increase its grants to support and promote our local literary compositions and writers. First, through sponsoring the publication and circulation of literary magazines to provide more space for our writers to publish their works. We are particularly lacking in space for regular publications. I suggest that the Government sponsor the writers' associations in publishing and circulating regular literary magazines on a monthly or weekly basis, or even subscribe to space in the newspapers for local writers to exhibit their talent. Secondly, promote newcomers. We must make a conscious effort to promote new blood. I suggest the Government, the local writers' associations and the press jointly initiate some "Newcomers Awards", and there should be secondary school, novice, university and open sections. Moreover, the awards should be presented separately for the four official languages. In this way, we could be more flexible and effective in obtaining our objective. Thirdly, we should sponsor our local writers' participation in literary camps and conferences overseas and organise international activities here to help them go international and widen their scope. Mr Chairman, I look forward to an early conversion of our local cultural desert into a green pasture. ASEAN Culture Assoc. Prof.”
“The second writer, called "Noodie Mak", I do not know whether that is a man or woman, said that he or she obtained personal details of a friend from a local institution, including her IC number, just by doing an Internet search. He said that, armed with that, and a little bit more, he could get a SingPass and then sign up for a lot more things. Finally, a low-tech example. The third writer mentioned that he was required by LTA to display his name, address and IC number on his goods vehicle. He felt that persons unknown have misused this and this led to his bank informing him that two of his credit cards have been compromised. Sir, all these are worrying accounts and show that any data protection regime must be comprehensive and not sectoral. The right to be given to data subject to object to the use of their personal data must be clearly and succinctly stated. Sir, I would, therefore, like to ask the Minister to update us on the work of the Committee and to extend the terms of reference, if necessary. Aside from the more obvious sectors such as Government, financial and medical sectors that require stringent rules, we must also take into account workplace privacy. It is increasingly the trend that employers instal monitoring software to see how or what their employees say in their emails. The regulation of data protection is not a luxury in an info-tech world. It is a necessity. It is a fundamental right.”
“A great deal of water has flowed under the bridge since then and no code has emerged. Indeed, I am not even sure what has happened to the National Trust Council. Be that as it may, the question I would like to ask the Minister is: what are the terms of reference for this Inter-Ministerial Committee? Is it going to take a more holistic and comprehensive approach in reviewing the area of data protection and privacy? I ask this because, without a properly thought-out data protection regime, we are not just going to be on our way to be the intelligent nation, we could also become the most monitored and exposed nation. Because of technology like RFID, we can literally be tagged as to where we are and what we do. Personal data is collected on a grand scale, even now, and databases are being sold and mined. By matching data collected in several databases, our life stories are being recovered and revealed without our knowledge, let alone our permission. This is a high price to pay for the convenience that technology offers. We are lulled and seduced into accepting such technologies that rob us of our privacy. I believe it is the duty of the Government to act responsibly and provide protection to the individual for this most important right. This is no academic or theoretical problem. Coincidentally, when I was looking into this problem, I glanced at Today paper on 27th February. It had a section called "Voices", and in it three readers wrote in to complain of misuse of personal information. The first writer complained about the dangers of misplaced credit card slips containing one's credit card information, which can be retrieved and used by fraudsters to buy goods on the Internet, for example.”
“In this regard, an appropriate IT governance framework such as COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies) needs to be established to govern and manage IT activities in the five domains of IT governance, namely, strategic alliance, value delivery, risk management, resource management and performance measurement. Mr Chairman, Sir, as effective IT governance is the single most important predictor of the value an organisation generates from IT, I would like to ask the Minister as to what are the current status and implementation problems, if any, of the IT governance landscape in the Government agencies, especially with regard to the five domains of IT governance I have mentioned earlier, and how the Government plans to achieve a desired level of maturity in IT governance practices in Singapore, both in the private as well as the public sector. For example, what structures, mechanisms and processes will be in place to ensure that organisations get the most value from IT spending without incurring wastage or extravagance, while minimising risk to an acceptable level? 12.15 pm Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung (Sembawang): Sir, in answering Prof. Ivan Png last month on data protection, the Minister announced that an Inter-Ministerial Committee comprising 16 Government agencies started to look into the regime of data protection and that they are expected to finish the work in the middle of this year. This is indeed good news. When I raised the matter in this House, in the Committee of Supply in 2002, the then Minister had pointed out that a sectoral legislation would be the way to go and that the data protection code in the private sector would be spearheaded by the National Trust Council.”
“Sir, since the early 1980s, the Government has been exploiting IT for continuous improvement of its business processes and innovations for Singapore's competitive advantage in a global marketplace. Thanks to the tremendous effort of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore today is reputed to have the best e-Government model in the Asia-Pacific region, and the world's third best in the global ranking of e-Governments by Accenture's 2005 e-Government Leadership Study. Sir, we have only heard success stories about how IT has been well deployed, used and managed by our Government agencies. There are no horror stories except for the few cases of IT security lapses reported by the Auditor-General in the past year. The governments elsewhere have been spending a lot on IT also. It is generally perceived by the public that more money has been wasted on computerisation than has been created by it. For example, there was a report in Australia that quoted that 50%-90% of IT projects go over time, over budget, or fail to meet expectations of productivity or efficiency benefits. Given this background, Sir, I would also ask the Minister to periodically share with us when they come across areas of implementation problems, and show direction in helping enterprise to invest in IT. A recent research carried out by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), a global leader in the IT governance, has highlighted the need to clearly align IT goals with business goals, to optimise value creation from IT investments, to properly manage information risks, to effectively manage IT resources, including outsourced IT capabilities, and to adequately measure IT performance.”
“It is also well-known that in Korea, Internet users first got a taste of high-speed access at Internet cafes, so called "PC bangs" and subsequently wanted the same rapidity at home. There is also a "copy-cat" syndrome; once one person gets something, everyone else wants it also. Sir, can we have the same effect on the growth of the IT industry similar to that in Korea? We would need to have the sub-culture of wanting better and greater speed access from our broadband service providers. There are, however, several issues as I see them. Firstly, we need to make it readily available to all, which means that the cost must be low. At the moment, the infrastructures are owned by two service providers. Therefore, any additional service provider would have to rent from the current two. The cost would have to be passed on to the consumers. For a new national broadband network, I ask if MICA could look into this aspect of freeing up the cost of the infrastructure so that more service providers may be available, leading to a real mushrooming of the IT industry. Secondly, how would MICA ensure that there will be developments in the content providers to bring in the economic benefits as we invest millions, if not, billions of dollars on this national network?”
“Sir, I agree with the strategy to stay steps ahead of our competition through the enhancement of our broadband capability of ultra high speeds to our homes. Being proactive rather than reactive will give any business the cutting edge. In the IT industry, what is available today would be considered obsolete tomorrow. However, I urge the Ministry to carefully review what we have learnt from the Singapore One initiative launched in 1996, before jumping into the waters. I understand that there were some areas of concern over our existing Singapore One, such as there was no clearly identified demand for the service, there was a lack of local content and applications to take advantage of the broadband infrastructure implemented under the Singapore One. There was never any "killer app" for Singapore One. Content and applications usually came from overseas. Deploying high-speed infrastructure within Singapore is of relatively little assistance when the content to be accessed is outside of Singapore. Because of the limited local market, few content providers seek to produce local content and applications for Singapore One. On the other hand, I think we could also learn from Korea. Koreans use the Internet for lots of activities, like audio and video streaming, gaming, e-commerce and also for government transactions. The main difference between Korea and Singapore is that Korea has content together with infrastructure. Content creation is driven by these service providers in almost everything, like from weblogs to producing videos, music, etc, what they refer to as Culture creators. And because they have a unique language and culture of their own, they are able to develop a self-contained web-culture to link Koreans together in the cyberspace.”
“But these rebates are not permanent and they are indirect. So, once we revoke such rebates, they will not enjoy any benefit. I think it will be more direct if we could exempt them from paying GST on the basic essential goods and services. Finally, I would like to reflect the disappointment of some of the small businessmen on this Budget, particularly the neighbourhood shops. Many of them say that they have not felt the benefits of our economic growth. I think one of the problems may be that the Government has lumped them together with the small and medium enterprises for the administration of the various assistance schemes. These schemes are not specifically tailored to their needs. I think this may be the crux of the problem. At the moment, I think our definition of SMEs is too extensive and too wide. Some SMEs may have just two or three workers like, for example, in the neighbourhood shops, and there are also some which are factories with more than 200 workers and a turnover as much as $10-$20 million. To these neighbourhood shops, they face a different set of problems from that of the factories. I think the Government should have individual committees or departments to look into the problems of the neighbourhood shops and help them to revitalise this trade for the benefit and inconvenience of the heartlanders. Sir, I personally give strong suppport to the 2006 Budget as announced by the Prime Minister. 5.40 pm”
“I hope that while trying to attain the target of a lean and clean civil service, the Government will take the route of improving efficiency and doing away with bureaucratic and cumbersome workflow practices. I would like to ask the Prime Minister how is the Ministry of Finance going to assure us that it will continue to provide good service to the public. Otherwise, reduction in the number of civil servants may compromise the service standard. How does it ensure that the Government will not try to outsource its work and transfer the civil servants to the outside organisations, and thereby transferring the cost to the public, eg, increasing the charges, etc? The next point I wish to raise concerns the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Prime Minister seems to have anticipated that some Members will raise this issue of exempting certain essential goods from GST. In the past, I used to agree with his view that by exempting these goods from GST, the higher-income people would be the ones who enjoy the greatest benefit, rather than the lower-income families. But I think the Prime Minister is looking at it from the tax loss perspective and not from the perspective of the lower-income families because, for the lower-income families, their main expenses are on daily essential needs, transportation fees, medical fees and children's education. GST may well be the only tax that they are paying. If such essential goods and charges could be exempted from GST, then they will benefit directly. They can save 5%. To them, for an expenditure of $1,000 a month, a saving of $50 is a big bonus. The Prime Minister said that we could use other means to help the lower-income families, eg, the service and conservancy charges and utility rebates.”
“Thirdly, helping the older Singaporeans. This is a very clear principle and spirit in this year's Budget. However, just by giving them the financial assistance is not enough. We should step up our investments in all elderly and disabled-friendly facilities. More importantly, we should extend this concept to the various Government departments and statutory boards so that it could be implemented in all the infrastructures and facilities, eg, in the markets, parks, hospitals, schools, MRT stations, bus interchanges and all public transport vehicles. Why am I saying this? Perhaps in the past few decades, we did not have this problem of an aging society and many of these Government agencies did not have this concept and it was not their practice when they were building these facilities. A few years ago, we had an upgrading project of our markets and hawker centres and I actively participated in the design. However, I subsequently discovered that we could not have both lift and escalator in the same centre. If you have a lift, you cannot have an escalator. This is something very puzzling to me. Eventually, we were fortunate to be able to come to a compromise. We gave up one of the lifts in exchange for an escalator. But in an aging society, we should provide barrier-free facilities for the convenience of our residents. This is a case in point. We should let hawker centres and markets have both the lift and escalator as a norm, and not as an exception. The other point I would like to raise is that the Government, in a plan to have a lean civil service, has set some targets for reducing the number of civil servants. The Prime Minister has also said that he will continue to freeze the number of civil servants for three years from 2006.”
“Some of the wives are even foreigners and do not qualify for PR status. Many of them are just here on long-term social visit passes. They can hardly make ends meet and are constantly in arrears of utility charges, service and conservancy charges, housing instalments. Their children, if they are attending PCF kindergarten classes, would have to depend on the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS), and even with KiFAS, some of them are unable to pay the other half of the fees. Many of them are trying very hard to look for jobs. I hope that the Government could relax the restrictions on the qualifying age for Workfare Bonus. Many of them may be below the age of 40, they have families and children, and their wives are not working. I think we should look after them. Of course, the Government wants to look after the older workers, and maybe we should also consider giving these people, who are below the age of 40, a lower bonus, maybe about 80% or 3/4 of the normal Workfare Bonus. Another point I would like to raise concerns the Government's Housing Grant for the low-income families. The Government is very generous in giving CPF Housing Grant of between $5,000 and $20,000 so that the lower-income families can own their own flats. But I would like to ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, for those qualifying low-income families, if they have already purchased their flats, would they also be entitled to this concession? I wish that the Government would announce that these people also qualify for this allowance. For the low-income families, the very fact that they have worked so hard to buy their own flats shows that they are self-reliant, and this is in line with the spirit that we want to encourage for our Workfare Bonus.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Prime Minister announced the Budget to share the fruits of our economic success with the people. I think the people are most concerned with, and welcome, the various schemes that the Government is using to look after the low-income families, the workers and the senior citizens. Encouraging the people to work in order to qualify for the Workfare Bonus and the additional housing grant is something which Singaporeans would generally endorse. Most Singaporeans will recognise the defects of a social welfare system. Most people in Singapore are still maintaining the good work attitude and spirit of diligence. They want to work, not just depend on the Government for direct financial needs. Yesteday morning, I participated in a breakfast meeting with our residents in the coffeeshop. A 70-year-old resident had some financial problems, but he did not ask me for financial assistance. Rather, he asked me to help him get a job. Of course, people will all welcome the Growth Dividend and Workfare Bonus announced by the Government. Especially for the lower-income families, the amount is quite substantial. This will help them settle their immediate needs, or they could save it up for a rainy day. However, I have some suggestions to make with regard to the qualifying age for the Workfare Bonus. Among my residents, there are some who come from low-income families. Because they are not yet 40 years of age - maybe about 20 to 30 years old - they cannot qualify for this help. Most of them are lowly-educated and doing some manual work, with low income, in the region of $800 to $1,200 per month. Among them, many are married with two or three children and their wives are like them, lowly-educated and not working.”
“If the person is a genius or a prodigy, his talent will not go away just because he has to lay-off for two years to serve National Service. In the National Day Rally in 2002, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong mentioned about the "stayers" and "quitters". I think we should be accountable to all these stayers who are prepared to stay and defend our nation. One day, if we are faced with a major crisis, it will be the stayers who are going to defend us, and not those quitters who will just run away for their own interest. 5.43 pm”
“We must understand that for the institution of National Service to be complete, there must be some limit to the period of deferment allowed. We could not allow people to keep on deferring their National Service indefinitely. For those who are well-to-do and can afford it, paying a fine is nothing to them. Accordingly, they will let their children continue their studies or to do what they want before they come back to Singapore. If they know that they do not have to go to prison, they will be prepared to pay and ignore the enlistment order and pay the fine for defaulting later on. I hope that the Minister will look into this and make sure that it will not become a loophole. Just now, some Members suggested that those who were talented should be allowed to serve their National Service in other ways. I do not agree because this will create a loophole and people will make use of this loophole to escape National Service. To punish the deserters, I think it is not just a question of tempering justice with mercy. Our National Service is compulsory for all male Singapore citizens.. We must, first of all, put national interest ahead of personal interest. This is the major premise. As a small nation, we could not afford to sustain a large army to defend ourselves. So, we must depend on National Service so that we could have a credible military force when necessary. If we were to give special concessions to some people, this will tantamount to unfair treatment to others, and this will create a lot of unhappiness among the people. We must look at serving in National Service as a sacrifice for the nation. We must look at national interest and be prepared to make sacrifices. We all know that if there is no nation, there is no home.”
“Sir, we know that when a National Serviceman who is absent without leave for just one day will be punished by being detained in the detention barracks. Yet a defaulter who has not even spent one day in the army is just let off with a fine. Is this fair? The fine of $3,000 is even lesser than the accused who was found guilty of public disorderly behaviour by quarrelling with his neighbours. The Minister said that even after the amendment to the Enlistment Act, there would not be mandatory jail sentence for defaulters. I believe many Singaporeans will be unhappy about it. This is an insult to the sanctity of our institution of National Service. If we do not press for deterrent sentence, it will not reflect the severity of the crime of defaulting. In order to reflect the Government's concern for ill-treatment of foreign maids by our local employers, we enhanced the sentence on such cases. Likewise, Singapore citizens who defaulted in National Service should also be punished severely. All Singapore male citizens who are physically and mentally fit should serve their duty in National Service. If they fail to do so, they shall be punished. The Minister said that he would not be asking for mandatory jail sentence on the amendment to the Enlistment Act. I think many Singaporeans will be unhappy about it. If that is the case, then anyone who has defaulted will not necessarily be sentenced to imprisonment. I think this will create a loophole. Those who ask for deferment or disruption will make use of this loophole to ask for deferments infinitely and even default on enlistment to continue their studies or to do whatever thing they wish to do.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, since National Service was implemented in 1967, Singaporeans have moved from the initial resistance to general acceptance for this institution, because we realise the importance of National Service to our survival and the positive role it plays in our national defence. All Singapore citizens upon reaching the age of 18 will gallantly "drop everything" for the time being, shave their hair and contribute two or two-and-a-half years of their precious youth to the nation. After serving full-time National Service, they will also return to the army camps to fulfil their obligations as operationally-ready servicemen. Although National Service has caused inconvenience to our studies, our career and our family life, we have no regrets and we want to fulfil our obligations. Why? Because we know that by doing so, our parents, our family members, our friends and all Singaporeans can have comfort and they could sleep peacefully every night, just as the Minister mentioned a while ago. Likewise, after we have served our term in the National Service, like all other male citizens, we will still fulfil our obligations to defend our nation when the need arises. As such, when a famous pianist, who has defaulted National Service for more than 30 years, returned to Singapore and was let off by a mere fine of $3,000, many Singaporeans were very unhappy. The Minister told Parliament just now that, since 1993, many who had defaulted National Service were only fined and not jailed. Understandably, many Singaporeans who have served National Service, and their family members, are unhappy. They cannot help asking: is all the hard work they have put in during their National Service worth just $3,000?”
“Sir, the question is: there is really a need to continue to protect workers who are gainfully employed after the age of 60.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, just now the Senior Parliamentary Secretary said that when they go to age 55, the premium goes up to $250-plus, but there are still people who will buy it for one simple reason. He mentioned that workers can use their CPF savings to buy investment-linked protection, but those can cover only up to 2.5 times the premium. The lower income workers are unlikely to have high savings in their CPF account because, if I remember correctly, investment-linked insurance policy is only up to 2.5 times. So, to have a protection of, say, $50,000 you will have to spend at least $20,000.”
“I think there is a need to raise the coverage. In fact, the older and lower income workers need more protection.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary: does he not agree that actually those older workers who still have to work are likely to have more dependants and who will need the protection? In his answer to an earlier question, he said that we need a holistic approach when we want to raise the retirement age, and in PM's National Day Rally speech, he also mentioned that there is a need to change the mindset of the workers as well as the employers. I think the Government also has to change the mindset and be more flexible. If there is a need to raise the premium, they can still tier it so that if you want to extend it beyond 60, they can raise the premium and for those who want to opt out, they can opt out. I recently had a case of a family who approached me for help.”
“There should be some clear indications or guidelines from the authorities. As Dr Wang Kai Yuen has mentioned, if some voluntary welfare organisations have raised more funds than they need, they could be regarded as an organisation that is just raising funds for the purpose of raising funds. I think we need to have some clear indications and guidelines by the relevant authorities so that the VWOs know what they should do and this would also clear the doubts of the people. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should learn from our past experience. We should adopt a positive and prudent attitude to deal with this matter. I firmly believe that under the leadership of Minister Khaw Boon Wan, the NKF episode should bring positive effect on our charity works in Singapore so that members of the public would have more confidence in our charitable organisations. I would urge more Singaporeans to join these welfare organisations, donate their money, put in their efforts and even join in full-time to help these organisations and become the backbone elements of these welfare organisations. Column No : 1106 ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE Resolved, That the debate be now adjourned. - [Dr Lee Boon Yang].”
“However, one thing is very clear to me, ie, the non-profit making voluntary welfare organisations should not be linked to the commercial enterprises in terms of salaries and welfare, because the objectives of these VWOs are definitely different from the commercial enterprises. In fact, people who join the voluntary welfare organisations must, to a certain extent, have this perception that they want to serve the society. Only then can they meet the objective of the voluntary welfare organisations. I personally feel that the Government may perhaps consider linking the salaries and welfare of the VWOs to the public service. I think the public service salaries and welfare scheme could be a source of reference for the VWOs. I think there is a lot in common. The main purpose of the public service and the VWOs is to serve the people. I feel that if we take the standard of the public service for VWOs, it would be acceptable to the vast majority of the people. As for the funds of the VWOs, I think for any organisation to be able to operate smoothly, they need to have adequate funds. The same applies to the voluntary welfare organisations. Apart from their daily expenses, they also need additional funds to develop new services and facilities. They also need to provide training to their staff. Therefore, for VWOs to organise some fund-raising activities from time to time is reasonable. When the economy is no good, they may not be able to raise enough funds for their activities. When the economy is good, they should raise more funds so as to set up some reserves for the rainy days. However, this NKF episode has given rise to this question: What should be the target of the fund-raising and how much reserve is reasonable so that it would not be too excessive?”
“We should not expect all these people who join voluntary welfare organisations to work on a voluntary and unpaid basis. Indeed, the VWOs have problems attracting people to work for them. Are their salaries attractive enough? What are the career development prospects for these people? Can they be promoted to better and higher positions? What about their welfare and benefits, and so on? In fact, some people are worried that the organisations may not be financially stable, and would close down if they cannot raise enough funds to sustain their operation, and the staff will not get their salaries. These are some problems faced by the voluntary welfare organisations. No doubt, we do have people who join these VWOs because they want to do charitable work and good deeds. However, we should not expect every one of them to work for free. I think, for some of the big charitable organisations, this is all the more not feasible. Like anywhere else, the employees of these organisations have families to look after. Their children have to go to school, they need to eat and pay for their bus fares and utilities. I think they should be compensated reasonably. While we want charitable organisations to be professionalised, we should not fall into the trap of expecting the professionals to be doing charity all their lives. We are faced with this problem: what type of compensation is reasonable and what type of welfare and bonus is appropriate, and whether or not they should be linked to the profit-making commercial organisations? I do not have an answer to these questions. I hope that the relevant authorities will give us a clear guideline on these issues.”
“Fortunately, from the reports I read yesterday, it would appear that after the initial response, some members of the public are restoring their donations to NKF, after Mr Gerard Ee has taken over control of the NKF. I think people are beginning to respond in a calm and rational manner now. In fact, we should learn from this episode and derive valuable experience, so that it would benefit everybody. I have a number of hopes: I hope, first of all, that members of the public will have a better understanding of the challenges and difficulties faced by the local welfare organisations, particularly the problems they have in raising funds and getting the right talents to work for them. Secondly, I hope that more people would be attracted to participate in voluntary part-time or full-time work in the welfare organisations. Thirdly, I hope that the Government and the relevant authorities could propose some recommendations on the remunerations and welfare of the staff of these voluntary welfare organisations, and also some guidelines on fund-raising and the building up of reserves. In this way, we will be able to clear the doubts and suspicions of the public. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, for any organisation to succeed, we must, first of all, have sound management, outstanding leaders and good workers. The same applies to the voluntary welfare organisations. They face the big challenges trying to get enough funds and talents, and talents would include the leaders and other professionals who are required for these organisations, plus some ordinary workers. For example, in a hospital, apart from a very competent CEO, we must also have a good supply of experienced doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers to satisfy the needs of the patients 24 hours a day.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to participate in this debate. First of all, I would like to declare that I am working at Renci Hospital, which is a charitable hospital operated by a voluntary welfare organisation. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, over the last two weeks, the NKF episode has aroused much controversies and some very emotional reactions from the public. However, I hope that the public, the Government and even the other voluntary welfare organisations would not over react to this matter, so as not to cause long-term harmful effects on our local charities. In fact, if we adopt a positive and correct attitude to deal with this matter in a calm and rational manner we would even derive valuable experience from this episode. Then it would be a meaningful development to the benefit of the public, the welfare organisations and the beneficiaries of these welfare organisations. While investigations and auditing of the NKF are still in progress, and the Government and the relevant authorities have yet to issue any report, we should not speculate and arrive at all sorts of hasty conclusions. I think we should wait patiently for the reports to be released by the relevant authorities before we pass judgment on any individual or any practice of the NKF. We should remind the public that NKF and the many other voluntary welfare organisations should continue with their normal operation and look after the unfortunate people, whether they are kidney or cancer patients - men, women, young or old. Life must go on! We have to look after these unfortunate people.”
“So, when they grow up, if they really want to gamble, they should do it more for leisurely or entertainment purposes. I hope that strict measures could be adopted to punish those who abet youths to gamble. Fourthly, Internet gambling. I know this is not very prevalent or a very big problem in Singapore as yet. I hope that we could look at it and study this and enact some laws to prevent such activities because when you go into Internet gambling, you do not have to pay an entrance fee. The problems that it brings about in the future could be even greater than the problems brought about by the two casinos in the IRs.”
“Another problem is that, with the Internet becoming more widely used, there are more and more problems of Internet gambling. Our youths always log on to the net. What they face on the net is even greater. I hope that the Government will have some measures to help them. This may entail the Ministry of Education, etc. We should have some funds to study whether the youths have such a problem and how bad it is, and we have to find preventive measures for those youths who are already addicted to gambling and find ways to help them overcome their addiction. Secondly, we must also step up moral education in schools. I find that, especially when we want to build casinos, it is very important the schools should continue to infuse the right moral values into the students so that we will not lose our forefathers' honest and hardworking values. We should also have more activities to let the students have better and more wholesome activities and not spend their time on gambling instead. Thirdly, we must look at the problem of gambling squarely. We must also teach the students what gambling is about, and not just to scare them. For example, when I was young, even though I came into contact with a lot of these gambling activities, I could withstand the temptation to gamble because I understood the dangers of gambling. The chances of losing are more than winning, so it means that the odds are never in favour of the gamblers. That will prevent us from being trapped into indulging in gambling. We will be a little bit more objective when we look at gambling. Through education on gambling, the students will know that gambling is not an activity that will bring about economic gains.”
“To the ordinary Singaporeans who want to go on a cruise or to Genting to gamble once or twice a year, then $100 is a big sum. If they go to Genting, the trip may cost less than $100. When you do that, the money will flow out to the neighbouring countries. We want to keep all this money within Singapore. It is better. I suggest that we change this entrance fee to a sliding scale, for example, for the first time, it is a minimum sum, for the second to fifth times, $100, more than six times, you need to pay $200 or $300, and the annual membership fee should be $10,000. This will deter those who like to go to a casino frequently. At the same time, we can allow those people who like to go for a spin-around in the casino a chance to do so. Next, I would like to talk about gambling among the youths. What can the Government actually do to help them? I know that we have a lot of measures to prevent gambling from getting excessive. But we do not have anything which actually pinpoints at the youths. For example, in America, some studies have shown that students in universities have very serious gambling problems. Youth gambling problems are much higher than the adults, and some studies have also found out that if you start younger, there are more chances of becoming problem gamblers. I have also seen that in China, from the Internet, they also have such problems with the youths. In Singapore, I do not have any real figures to look at. But when I talked to some of the students, I find that football gambling is prevalent among them. Some of them even buy 4-D. If they are under-aged, what they will do is that they will get their older friends to buy or to put the bets down for them and to get the winnings from them.”
“It is not quite possible to ban gambling completely. The Chinese have been known to be a race of people who love gambling. This is not a question of right or wrong. From the Chinese history, we know that gambling has been banned before. In the warring states, if any ordinary citizen gambled, he would be fined three gold coins. If the prince gambled, he would be caned. During the Han Dynasty, the founding Emperor Lui Pang stated that if a senior official gambled, he would not only be removed from his position, but his possessions would also be confiscated. During the Sung Dynasty, those who gambled would have their hands chopped off. Despite all these severe punishments, gambling still remained within the Chinese community. Here, we need to adopt a more practical attitude to face the problems which gambling will bring about. On the one hand, we need to strengthen our values. On the other hand, we have to reduce the number of people who are likely to become compulsive gamblers. It is very good that the family can stop certain people from going to the casinos. I do not think an entrance fee of $100 will really serve to deter the gamblers. This can be improved. When we levy this entrance fee, it is to prevent Singaporeans from going there every now and then, and thus becoming compulsive gamblers. But there are some Singaporeans who may want to go there once in a while, for example, those who go to Genting or Batam. For those who are already addicted, $100 is not going to deter them. They will go anyway. They can go to the neighbouring countries to gamble, or they may pay the yearly fee of $2,000 and go there more frequently to make full use of the subscription. This may encourage them to go there more often. It is not going to help.”
“Some may be so because of their family background or have some psychological problems, like depression, drug addiction, personality problem, alcoholism, etc. From scientific research, we found that neuro transmitters are closely linked to addiction. Some found that in gambling, it stimulates the production of dopamine which is a neuro transmitter. This neuro transmitter, once stimulated, will make the people feel high. That is the reason why these people go for the games and get addicted in the process. Some scientists are studying to find out which part of the gambling brings about the release of dopamine. They used monkeys to do the experiment. During the experiment, they put a monkey in front of the computer screen and on the screen, you can choose five different designs, just like the jackpot machine. There are some combinations of pictures, and you can win a prize if you strike any one of them, for example, a mouthful of fruit juice. Then they found that when there was a certain combination where the monkey could not guess what was coming up next, not knowing what prize it was going to win, the dopamine secretion becomes more. So if the monkey can guess whether they will win or lose, the dopamine secretion becomes lower. This means that during expectation and guessing, the stage between the two, the brain is stimulated to secrete more dopamine. That is how people get addicted. We need to have some preventive measures. Of course, the Ministry of Health will set up funds to conduct research in the Institute of Mental Health. We are very happy to learn that they are going to do this. From here, we can see that not everyone will get addicted. Just because we are going to have a casino, it does not mean that everybody is going to become a compulsive gambler.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, the question is why there are people who get addicted to gambling and why I did not. For example, Senior Minister Goh and other Ministers have gone to casinos but they did not get addicted. There are few reasons for that. First, we all know that the attraction of gambling, whether you are buying 4-D or you are playing on the jackpot machines or blackjack, the odds are not good for the gamblers. The chances of winning are very low. I am lucky that when I was in school, we actually learned permutation and combination in our mathematics. We can calculate and hence realise how difficult it is for one to win. Secondly, during my school days, we were taught good values. There is no free lunch in this world. So we have to work hard to make a living. I am a Buddhist and I know we are not supposed to have greed and to get ill-gotten money. But there are many other Singaporeans who aspire to have a better life. I am like them too. When it comes to gambling, to me, it is a game. I know as a fact that it will not bring about great wealth. For me, small gains are good for the temperament. I can lose a few dollars, a little bit of money. That, I can afford. People oppose the opening of casinos because they believe that people will rush to the casino and become addicted to gambling. In Geylang, there are brothels and prostitution. They have been in existence for decades. That does not mean that everybody will go there to frequent the prostitutes. No doubt, even if there is only 1%, 2% or 3% of the population addicted to gambling, it will be bad for our society. At the moment, we do not know exactly why people become compulsive gamblers, but we do know that some of these people like to take risk.”
“The first time when I went to a casino was after my graduation. I went to Genting. I played the jackpot machines then. Very quickly, I realised that I had lost about 200 ringgit. For me, at the time, that was a big sum of money. After that, whenever I had a chance to go to a casino, I would set a limit on how much I would spend on the jackpot machines. If I lose $50 or $100, I would stop playing the game. If I manage to hit the jackpot, I would leave immediately. This actually helps me not to get addicted. As for betting on the gaming tables in the casino, I only did it once and that was in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. I was attending the Commonwealth Ministers' Conference and there was a casino at the hotel where we stayed. It was a very far out place and there is no other place to go during our leisure time. So I took the time between the meetings to take a walk in the casino. It was not a very big casino. It was more like a club. But there were a lot of Chinese there. In fact, almost all the gamblers were Chinese. This was because there were a lot of Chinese going there to set up clothes manufacturing factories. I stood near to a table to watch them playing blackjack. I saw there were three Chinese gamblers. Lady luck was apparently not smiling at one of them. He lost all his money and started borrowing from his friends. Soon, all three of them lost all their money. I set down and started playing. In fact, my luck was pretty good. I won about $30-$40. Then I stood up to go. The three gamblers looked at me enviously. They said, "Your luck is so good. Why don't you continue?" Of course, I did not continue to play because I knew if I had continued to play, I would end up losing back all that I had won, and I would lose my own money as well.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, when I first heard that the Government was studying the possibility of setting up an IR with casino, my immediate reaction was that the opening of a casino here is not a good thing, although personally I am not against gambling. But after a year of getting views from all quarters, and understanding what an IR is all about, its economic benefits and possibility of creating jobs, I have changed my stand on it. From religious and moral standpoints, gambling is not a good thing. But if you think in a deeper level, you will realise that the problem is not on gambling but on the people. If people become compulsive gamblers, they will bring about other social problems. I come from a low income family. Those around me used to engage in various forms of gaming, such as mahjong, cards, etc. There were old people who played the four-colour cards and young people who played various games with the poker cards, such as the three old men, blackjack, rummy, and so on. They also played number games. Some actually engaged in underground, illegal gambling or 4-D. Every weekend, a lot of them indulged in horse betting or other games. From young, I learned a lot about all these games. When I was younger, I played with cards. As I grew older, when I was in junior college, I started playing mahjong. I realised that mahjong is a highly skill-based game. But it is also very easy for one to get addicted, especially when you are young, you can play it through the night. Later on, I realised that this was not healthy. So I decided that I should play not more than eight rounds of the so-called "healthy mahjong". Small gambling is good for temperament, but do not indulge in big gambling. Ever since I became an MP, I have less time to play mahjong. I have been to casinos.”
“By working, these older workers could also lead a more dignified and meaningful life in their twilight years. CPF as Retirement Savings 2.45 pm”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I have in this House raised the issue of artificially setting a ceiling on retirement age. I argued and still stand in the firm belief that chronological age is no indication of a person's psychological, physiological and mental well-being. A person at 62 years could still be very healthy in all aspects and he could expect to live longer if he is actually working. I have also argued that it is not helpful to have a retirement age as it would neutralise the person's economic productivity. This is especially painful to his loved ones as his dependency on them will start the moment he loses his job because of age. Artificially removing a productive worker because of retirement age will also worsen the labour market in the light of our dramatically falling fertility rate. Given that the life-expectancy of Singaporeans is now 77 years for men and 81 years for women, retiring at 62 years would mean that the dependency of this person on someone else's income would be 15 years or more. In addition, retirement would also mean a downward spiral of inactivity and stagnancy, which could lead to many problems including poor health and depression. Let me take this opportunity to challenge the Ministry's view that the prescription of retirement age is a floor, ie, the minimum age whereby a worker can retire and not the ceiling. More often than not, both workers and employees view this as a ceiling. So I would hope that the Ministry would change this erroneous view. I ask the Minister: is it not good to keep a person working? Because if someone could continue to work beyond 62 years, he would continue to contribute to the society and depend less on the family and the state. His savings for old age could also last longer.”
“Sir, the Minister said just now that after reducing the number of prescribed texts, the teachers could make use of the extra time available for other activities. In this way, will our Chinese standard be lowered or improved? We have seen from this Report that various schools have taken measures to make Chinese a living language, but this is confined to just a few schools. I would like to ask the Minister whether the Ministry of Education has categorically informed all schools that they must do all these things and take all these measures. The Minister said that the Ministry was considering the framework for examinations. I have already made a suggestion to MOE that when we are examining the Chinese Language, there are three principles to be considered. One is to examine our students on whether they could use the Chinese they learn to live. Second, whether they could use it to study and acquire knowledge. Third, whether it helps them to be a better person and mould their character. These are the suggestions that I have made to the Minister. I hope he will accept my suggestions. [Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Chew Heng Ching) in the Chair] 4.30 pm”
“We should not be testing the students on the number of words and phrases they can memorise any more. On the other hand, I think we should make them livelier so that the students would learn how to use Chinese for their daily conversation, to use Chinese to absorb knowledge, to upgrade themselves and to cultivate themselves to become virtuous persons. The Government wants to cultivate a pool of some 200 Chinese elites each year. I think this is not enough. We should not be confining ourselves to the cultural and educational fields only. We should cast the net wider to take in Chinese elites in the fields of politics, business and the arts as well. We should involve even the civil servants and the professionals so that we have a lot of people who know the culture and language of China, in depth and breadth. Bahasa Malaysia”
“I do not blame them because over the last two to three decades, after rounds and rounds of reforms to the Chinese education, it seems that the standard of Chinese has gone down again and again. This is an undeniable fact. Our only hope now is on the implementation of the recommendations of the Chinese Language Curriculum and Pedagogy Reform White Paper which we endorsed last year. In the early part of this year, MOE announced the relaxation of the Chinese language syllabus by cutting out a substantial number of prescribed texts. This is worrying to many. By this reduction, the students would be learning less words and it would naturally impact on the learning of the Chinese language. Would it also imply that the standard of Chinese language would slide again? The key now is whether or not our students and teachers could make use of the time vacated by this relaxation of the syllabus in other ways and deploy more flexible methods of teaching and learning. If the schools and teachers stick to the old methods of teaching Chinese, the standard of Chinese will definitely slide further. I think we should make the learning of Chinese livelier, then, and only then, can the standard of Chinese be raised. I am very glad to see that many schools are deploying all sorts of ingenious way to make the learning of Chinese more relevant to daily lives. On 6th March, Lianhe Zaobao had a comprehensive report on this. Now even the kung fu novels have gone into our curriculum. Some SAP primary schools are going to conduct "Chinese elite classes". I hope that the Ministry of Education will encourage all the schools to do likewise. Apart from teaching, the examinations should also be livelier.”
“Mr Chairman, yesterday at the Parliament library, I was having a chit-chat with Minister of State, Mr Chan Soo Sen when, full of zest, he suddenly recited an old Chinese poetry: "Or be a Liaodong hat, my integrity can brave the icy snow; Or be the command to send out the troop, even the ghosts will weep at the heroic and glorious deaths; Or be the oar of the boats crossing the river, vehemently conquering the barbarian enemies; Or be the tablet to hit at the traitors, breaking their heads.�? I marvel and admire MOS Chan for his mastery of the Chinese classics and his remarkable memory. Fortunately, I could at least remember that this came from the "Zheng Qi Ge" (Ode to the Noble Spirit), a heroic poem by the renowned General Wen Tian Xiang of the Song Dynasty. Coincidentally, I saw Dr Wang Kai Yuen reading a book of ancient poems yesterday. The first page of the book read: "I have the strength to move the mountain, But the time and luck are not with me; Even my faithful horse refuses to move, My beauty, my beauty, what can I do?" Immediately I saw, in my mind, Xiang Yu, the Conqueror of Western Chu Kingdom (西 楚 霸 王), crying out at the bank of the river at the end of his resources. A good man caught in extremely difficult circumstances immersed in love with his beloved concubine. What a sad and heroic picture! These are two passages of literature from the Chinese classics which are familiar to many Chinese school students of the past. However, this morning, when I read these passages to my young colleagues who came from the SAP schools, they seemed dazed and were completely at a loss.”
“We should let students know the significance of one another's religious practices. In addition, we should also arrange for our students to visit places of worship of the different religions. In so doing, we could nurture cultural and religious sensitivities of our students and build a more gracious and even more harmonious society. Sports as Co-curricular Activities”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I rise to speak on the importance of deepening the teaching of religious knowledge in our schools. Sir, our students in school are at an age where they are most receptive to learning. Our educators have made excellent progress in imparting a wealth of academic knowledge to them in their formative years. Recent changes in the education system envision that our students will become thinking adults. I applaud this approach and look forward to seeing more thinkers than rote learners. Sir, while we are in the midst of effecting these changes in how our young are taught, I ask that their personal development too be considered. Our multi-cultural, racial and religious heritage demands that we develop a more mature society through imparting knowledge about how we live in harmony. Religious knowledge, imparted in a way that is not politicised, will be an effective tool because it teaches our youth to recognise and respect the beliefs of their fellow citizens. I understand that currently, in higher primary schools, the students are taught a little bit about the festivities celebrated by other races, while the secondary school students learn some very basic information on religions. I find that inadequate. I hope the Ministry will consider the introduction of teaching more about the different religions and starting them in early primary school years. We should not just touch on religions superficially. We should gradually build up the students' understanding of all the major religions in Singapore. We must aim that, at the end of the lower secondary schools, our students understand the fundamental principles and values of each religion, such as the five pillars of Islam, the four noble truths of Buddhism, and so on.”
“I would like to seek two clarifications from the Minister. First, on the LUP for the low-rise blocks. I would like to ask the Minister whether he will consider extending this programme also to those ongoing LUP projects, ie, precincts which are undergoing LUP and have low-rise blocks. Can these low-rise blocks now go for voting so that we do not have to go through another round of tendering and the whole exercise of LUP for these blocks? The second clarification relates to my suggestion made during the debate on the Budget Statement. I suggested that HDB consider setting a minimum income requirement for purchasing of bigger HDB flat type. I wonder whether the Ministry would consider my suggestion.”
“This creates problems to the tenant who had sublet the unit to help ease his rental burden in the first place. Now he is faced with an even higher rental. Sir, I ask the HDB to thoroughly review all its rules and regulations governing change of use ---”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, during the Budget Statement debate, I spoke on the plight of HDB shop owners and tenants who face difficulties in making ends meet. I had called for the Government to extend further assistance to help lower the rental and business costs of HDB shops. I also called for the HDB, as the developer and landlord of HDB shops, to take an active role in the advertising and promotion efforts of the HDB neighbourhood centres. I, therefore, hope that the Ministry will give some good news to our long-suffering HDB shops in today's COS debate. Sir, to be fair, HDB had, in response, made several policy changes to alleviate some of the challenges. For instance, it is now easier to change the use of HDB rental units. HDB also allows HDB retailers to sublet their units, either in whole or in part to others. This is a step in the right direction. However, I have learnt that even with the policy on subletting, some new problems have emerged. For example, when a HDB shop sublets its unit, the rent is adjusted towards the market rate set by the HDB. And, for whatever reason, this market adjustment seems to always be an upward adjustment. The rationale is that the rental burden is now shared between two tenants, thus the final amount payable would be lower than if the tenant were to take up the unit on his own. Sir, when a HDB shop has to sublet, it is often due to the fact that the original tenant finds it no longer able to sustain his business. When HDB adjusts the rental upwards, it is counter-productive to the business. Another problem arises when the original tenant loses his subtenant. I understand from the ground that HDB does not adjust the rental back to the original level and, in effect, the rental is left at the higher market rate.”
“I thank the Senior Minister of State for pointing out that the amount is $325,000, and not $300,000 that I misquoted. Does he agree that this is very small compared to the amount that we spent on visual arts and performing arts? Second, I would also like to point out that the Senior Minister of State has misunderstood me when he talked about the prestige of the Cultural Medallion. That is not what I am referring to. I am referring to the Golden Point Award that he mentioned, which is more for art writings. It is actually a literature writing competition. I am asking: what does he think of the standard of this Golden Point Award, compared to what we used to have in Singapore, which is called the "Golden Lion Award" (jin shi jiang), which was in the 1980s and 1990s? I remember, in those days, it attracted a lot of good writers from all over the world. Did our current Golden Point Award, or Golden Point Competition, or whatever you call it, manage to do the same? If not, what does the Ministry intend to do to raise this standard further because we used to have something so good? Why are we not following up on that?”
“Sir, I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Dr Balaji for answering my cut on literary arts. I just need to seek a few clarifications. First, on the funding by NAC to literary writers for publications and their activities. He mentioned that $300,000 was granted last year. I would like to know what is the breakdown of this amount given to the different language groups of writers. Because in our dialogue with local Chinese literature writers, they always lamented that, first, the quantum they get is very small whenever they want to publish a book or organise big events. Secondly, they also find that the administrative process for getting the grant is very tedious. The other clarification is regarding the National Literature Award. I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for pointing out that there is this Golden Point Award for the literature writers in the four official languages. I just want to know how does he gauge the success and prestige of this award. I understand that in the past, Singapore used to have the Golden Lion Award (jin shi jiang), which is actually very well known internationally and attracts a lot of international writers from China, Taiwan as well as Hong Kong and Malaysia to participate. For this Golden Point Award, do we have the same type of standard and prestige? [Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr S Iswaran) in the Chair] 4.30 pm”
“Sir, in this light, I urge the Media Development Authority to consider promoting the setting up of an additional Malay language television channel. Radio Airtime”