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.”
The complete record
Every one of 397 lines we hold for Ong Seh Hong, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 8.
“Sir, Singapore has an excellent education system that is looked upon with envy. However, we can still improve further on our education system. I understand that all the secondary schools are now single sessions. I am keen to know what is the progress of single session for primary schools. I would be grateful if the Minister could give us an update. And I would like to know also whether the Ministry intends to make all primary school classes single session. Sir, single session for primary schools has many spinoffs. One of them is that we can actually change the starting hour to later than it is now. Because of the two sessions that are currently still going on in many schools, primary schools here start at a very unhealthy hour of 7.30 am. I understand that some schools even start their assemblies at 7.15 am. On a normal school day, tens of thousands of students wake up before 6.00 am to make it to school. I am sure they do not really enjoy this type of morning routine. For many a family, actually the whole family wakes up before 6.00 am and then they have to rush to prepare the kids for school. This routine repeats itself in the evening. Thereafter, the parents are expected to have the energy and the time to spend with their children and, maybe, even make more babies for Singapore! I think we can do something about it. Therefore, I urge the Ministry to change the starting hour of our school sessions, maybe to 8.30 am. This is surely doable, with more schools becoming single session. I know of a Singaporean, Mr Rajindran Ramasamy, who is a professional working with Reuters in London. He will strongly vouch for schools which start their session late. He lives with his wife and three children.”
“In order that our students could learn Chinese well, we should not be lowering the standard of Chinese because this is like putting the cart before the horse. When the standard of Chinese is very low, even if you get an 'A', the 'A' means nothing. Most importantly, as Mr Ang Mong Seng has said, we need to change the mentality and attitude of the parents and the students in the learning of Chinese. There are many ways that parents could do to help their children to learn Chinese and create more opportunities for them to practise using Chinese. As Prof. Koo Tsai Kee has said, they could send their children to the PCF kindergartens and let them watch Chinese TV programmes. They could also buy more Chinese newspapers and magazines for them to read, so that they have more opportunity to come into contact with Chinese. Of course, I would support the suggestion by Mr Yeo Guat Kwang that we have to improve on the teaching method of Chinese. I do not think I need to repeat this. I am hoping that the teaching of Chinese would be linked to our daily life and our culture so that the students will get to learn a lively language and not a deadpan subject. Only with this multi-faceted approach, can we genuinely raise the standard of Chinese in Singapore. Chinese Teachers”
“Sir, I read this story on the Internet. A young man from Columbia was encouraged by his father to take up a foreign language. He heard about the emergence of China and thought maybe he should take up Chinese as there was hardly anyone in his country who knew how to speak Chinese. Knowing nothing about China and wanting to know about China and its history and culture before embarking on the study of the language, he posted a message on the Internet to seek more information about China and whether he should learn Chinese. One month later, he received a letter from a young lady in China saying (presumably in English) , "I understand that you want to learn Chinese. Learning Chinese is not difficult. All you need to do is to put your heart and soul in it. I am sending you two Chinese words: one expresses joy, while the other represents sadness. If you take a good look at these two words, I am sure you can tell which is which." The two Chinese words were 哭 ku (meaning cry), and 笑 xiao (meaning laughter). This young Columbian took a good look at the two words and he had no difficulty making out which word was "laughter", and which word was "cry". Thus he received a confidence booster to start the learning of Chinese. Many westerners learn Chinese as an adult and the environment in which they learn Chinese may not be as good as that in Singapore, yet they could learn Chinese very well. In the newspapers, we read that some westerners came to Singapore to perform the "cross talk" with impeccable Mandarin. They are successful because they worked hard in their learning, and put their heart and soul in the process. Of course, their love for Chinese culture also helps.”
“To this group of people, even if the Government is to give way again and again, they will not be contented. They will be testing the Government's bottom-line. What is next? Are we going to take out Mother Tongue from the PSLE aggregate? And are we then going to follow the suggestion of Mr Giam Meng Tuck of Lianhe Zaobao, by allowing the parents to opt their children out of the mother tongue language, and stop the young children from learning it?. With the emergence of China, India and other Asian countries, I am not worried about the long-term development of mother tongue in Singapore. However, if the Government does not affirm the status of mother tongue, and keep on giving way, we will polarise our society, with the masses supporting the mother tongue on one side and the minority, whose voice is also the loudest, on the other. The development of this kind of polarisation will do harm but no good to our social cohesion. As such, I hope that the Government should be mindful of the long-term implications in making any adjustment to the mother tongue policy. We should not slaughter the sacred cow just because we want to slaughter a cow. Mother tongue is the dignity of a nation which we should not kill wrongly. I think we should look carefully into the matter.”
“Sir, the extinction or weakening of a nation's mother tongue can be due to, firstly, the total destruction of the nation followed by the disappearance of its language and culture; and, secondly, the invasion by enemies or ruled by another nation for a long period of time, resulting in the foreign language becoming the mainstream language and the mother tongue relegating to that of a secondary language. This phenomenon appears in many former colonies. Singapore is now a sovereign and independent Republic. The Government has retained the languages of the various major ethnic groups and designated them as our official languages. In addition, the mother tongue policy has allowed the various ethnic groups to retain their own mother tongue and preserve their own culture. This is something we should be glad of. However, a small group of people in Singapore hold different opinions on the mother tongue policy. Like what Prof. Koo Tsai Kee said, they exaggerated the difficulties of learning Chinese. They have continually presented arguments to demand that the Government abolish the mother tongue policy. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education could not stand firm and has been giving way again and again. Its recent "action" of relaxing the mother tongue requirement for university admission has brought much delight to this small group of people. A columnist of an English newspaper even declared that this is "the most gratifying news in many, many years." Sir, I must stress that I do not oppose the idea of helping students with difficulty in learning the mother tongue or any other subject. However, I am profoundly worried about this extremely hostile attitude of this small group of people against the mother tongue.”
“Sir, I have raised the issue of streaming before and I shall not shy away from it in this budget. I would just like to repeat my call to the Ministry to stop streaming at Primary 4. I am not for streaming at Primary 4. While I do not disagree that no man is created of equal ability, some are better and faster learners, some are slower learners, streaming at Primary 4 tends to add stress unnecessarily at a tender young age. The stigma and the stress of streaming have been alluded to in this House by many Members, and I shall not repeat them. But looking purely from the psychological development point of view, streaming at Primary 4 means that the students are streamed between the age of 9 and 10 years old. According to several psychological theories of development, eg, Piaget's Theory, at this age, the kids are not even capable of abstract thinking yet, and to stream them before they are actually fully developed psychologically is, to me, too premature. Moreover, streaming at Primary 4 also means that the schools internally will stream their students at P2 or P3, and that, in itself, is another additional source of stress to the kids. So, I do not support streaming at Primary 4 and call on the Ministry to actually move it to a later stage of a student's life.”
“Just a quick illustration. The cost of operation in a private hospital may be $4,000 and the patient pays $4,000. But the cost in a public hospital may actually be $5,000, but the Government pays $3,000 and the patient pays $2,000. To the patient, it is still cheaper to go to a public hospital. So, I hope the Ministry will look into this and enlighten us on some of these issues. Performance Indicators”
“Sir, we thank the Minister for the publication of the medical bills on the most common procedures of various hospitals. Now, Singaporeans are more aware of the issue of efficiency in the healthcare sector and the public hospitals are given the task of keeping wastage as well as medical cost down. Sir, I share the sentiments of Dr Chong that clustering does not improve the efficiency. Someone actually lamented to me that with the clustering - with this additional administrative structure put in place - they now have to deal with three MOH headquarters. I would actually suggest that efficiency can be driven through open market competition, not between the clusters, but between public and private hospitals. MOH should consider buying more services from the private sector, whichever can deliver the services at the cheapest. With that, MOH would be better able to set its own benchmark of what is the actual cost of any services. Like Dr Chong, I would like to ask: what is the underlying rationale behind rewarding hospital managers' performance based on profitability? With this orientation, the result would be that only the Government subvention portion of the total bills would be managed better, but the increase in the cost may be simply passed on to the patients. So the Ministry should review the underlying principles and set better yardsticks for rewarding public hospital managers. A more accurate measure of hospital efficiency should consist of comparing the total medical bill, which includes Government subvention and patient co-payment portion, against the total patient's bill of a similar procedure in other hospitals in Singapore, as well as in other regions. This will uncover the misalignment in the perception that our public hospital is cheap.”
“Because if we say that based on this income level, they can only enjoy x% subvention, for a small medical bill, for example, a simple operation that costs $2,000, if there is only 50% subvention, we just need to pay $1,000, that is fine. But if it happens that a person is to be in the ICU for a few months, and the bill can be, say, $100,000, then 50% of $100,000 is a lot of money. Finally, I would like to urge the Ministry to avoid creating a bureaucratic monster just to administer means testing. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang: Madam, members of the public have perceived that there are considerable savings if they just simply change their choice from "A" to "B" or "B" to "C" class wards. The key factor contributing to the difference is, in fact, the level of Government subsidies allocated to the respective wards. For example, the portion borne by a patient after the subsidy for "B2" is almost double that of "C". Since manpower constitutes much of the total medical costs, the only difference is in terms of the hardware and the amenities, for example, toilets, TV and the number of bedsunder the respective wards. The actual medical bill a patient will have to bear between "A", "B1", "B2" or "C" wards could be marginal if the Government reviews the formula of subsidy using the means testing. There is a need for the Ministry to clarify such "public myth" that if members of the public choose "B2" or "C" wards, they should be entitled to considerable savings from the lack of luxurious fittings, and advise the public that with means testing, how would the level of subsidies be different for patients from different income groups.”
“Madam, actually part of the ground isedgy over the Ministry of Health's intention to introduce means testing in the allocation of resources. These are especially Singaporeans who are in the middle-class group and they are worried that they may be squeezed out of this subsidised healthcare. It also means that when means testing is applied, this group of people will enjoy a smaller subsidy, if any, from the Government. Most of them have no quarrel over the MOH’s argument that means testing is to better allocate limited resources in favour of the poor. However, they are worried that healthcare can be very expensive especially with an ageing population. They would like to be prudent and to stretch their healthcare dollar longer and further. They also feel that they have contributed in paying taxes and so on, so they should be entitled to subsidised healthcare. I would like to urge the Ministry to be mindful of this concern. Currently, the means testing is supposed to be used only in step-down care, supposedly only for the 50th percentile of income level, which means half of the population may not enjoy it. For acute medical care, some of the bills can be quite high and even for those who are just above the 50th percentile, it could be a very big burden on them. Their limited savings will be depleted very fast. Secondly, the current system of means testing on a per capita income basis is also biased against smaller families because regardless of the family size,the fixed cost of running a household is there. Maybe there is a need for further modifications on the current system of means testing. Thirdly, the percentage of subsidies should also vary, depending on the nature of treatment and the size of the medical bill.”
“Madam, yes, I support Dr Tan's call to actually give this lift upgrading free to all residents, because our population is ageing and the main purpose of the LUP is to really provide this 100% barrier-free access to all residents within a block. Lift, being a common facility used by every resident as well as people visiting the block, should actually be treated like IUP items and be given free. Secondly, I also urge the Ministry to add this new selection criterion for LUP, using the proportion of the ageing population within a precinct, because the single most important item that elderly residents always ask for is lift accessibility. So, the older precincts should have a higher priority for LUP. Thirdly, the requirement of obtaining 75% yes vote should be changed to a simple majority. We should not penalise those who really support the programmes. Fourthly, I also support the call by Mr Ang Mong Seng and Dr Amy Khor to also consider giving LUP to low-rise apartment blocks. Lastly, for those blocks which have failed the IUP voting criterion, they should be given a second chance.”
“I am only hoping that the Minister will consider this. I agree that this will add to the administrative cost but this is part of our history. That is the first point. Secondly, speeches made in the mother tongue in Parliament are not that many. The additional cost involved may not be very high. I hope the Minister will consider conducting a feasibility study and see how much cost would be involved. Please do not tell us that it is not feasible right away.”
“I would like to seek further clarification from the Minister. Just now the Minister mentioned that speeches made in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are already recorded on CDs. This, I know. But the record is only in audio and visual. In future, if we want to do research and need to refer to previous speeches, it would be difficult to access these records. I am hoping that we could have written records. This would enable us to have easy reference. Of course, if we can have our speeches transcribed and kept in the written form in our Library, it will be much more convenient for our future reference.”
“Sir, I support the hon. Member Mr Ang Mong Seng's call to keep records of speeches delivered in Mandarin, Malay and Tamil made by Members in this House. Sir, some Members in this House, indeed even myself on occasions, made our speeches in official languages other than English. Just this morning, Mdm Cynthia Phua delivered her maiden Mandarin speech in this House. On these occasions, only audio recordings and video footages of these speeches are kept on record, and there is no written record of the original speeches. Sir, while I commend the proficiency and competence of Parliament interpreters, we must acknowledge that the translated records in English archived in the Hansard might lose much of the nuances intended in the languages spoken. Moreover, in future, if we want to retrieve the original speeches, it will be very difficult in the current audio and video records. In this age of modern technology, I am sure it is very easy and possible to archive transcripts of these speeches in their original languages in a very easily retrievable format. This is an important part of our parliamentary history and heritage worth preserving. Professional Support Staff”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, should the Government want to launch a campaign to have more babies, I propose to use this slogan, "One is no good, two is no better, three is all right, four is nice, five is most reliable."”
“Our early policy on family planning heavily penalised mothers who have more than two children by way of preventive maternal hospital charges, low priority in school admissions and placement in childcare centres. While we should refrain from punishing those who choose not to have children, we ought to make them prepare for their old age, eg, by making them contribute to an account known as "Preventive Eldercare Account" so as to prevent them from being a liability to other people. The money in this account would provide for their needs when they are in their old age. Apart from encouraging couples to have more babies, we should also look at other means to increase our manpower resource. We should continue to allow foreign talents to come here and hopefully, they will become our citizens one day. We must make sure that they can integrate into our societies. In this respect, differential treatments between PRs and citizens should be substantiated. There should be some form of compulsion for permanent residents to become citizens. For example, a timeframe of five years should be laid down for a permanent residential status. If at the end of five years, after enjoying all the privileges of a PR, they do not take up citizenship here, they should lose their PR status. Of course, we will continue to welcome them to stay and work here. In this way, we will get rid of those who want to become just PRs and not citizens, while at the same time enjoy all the privileges conferred on a PR. In addition, we should make full use of our manpower resources by getting rid of retirement age. As long as people are physically and mentally fit, they should be allowed to continue working.”
“Companies that provide such childcare facilities should enjoy double tax relief. As for childcare services provided by VWOs, most of the capital cost should be borne by the Government, as mentioned by Dr Lily Neo yesterday. I support her appeal to give greater assistance to VWOs in running their childcare centres. One frequently heard pretext for not having babies is the pressure that our children have to bear under our education system. However, after a detailed analysis, we found that the bulk of the pressure comes from the parents who force their children to attend one kind of tuition class or another - all kinds of classes - dancing class, music class, calligraphy class, etc. So we have to address this misconception on the part of parents. For those who are not able to conceive, they should receive assistance. Those who cannot conceive should be given financial assistance to seek medical treatment. The expenses for such treatments are generally high. Those who want to have babies at later stages of life will find problems in conceiving. Therefore, they should be allowed to use their Medisave to pay for such treatments. If medical treatment does not help, then we should simplify the procedure for child adoption to make it easier for them to adopt children here or from abroad. At present, they have to go to foreign agencies to get children adopted. Therefore, MCDS should set up a one-stop centre for child adoption to assist those who would like to adopt children. Those who insist on not having babies should be responsible for their old age needs. If they decide not to have children, then we should make sure that these people be responsible for the provision of their old age needs so that they will not be a liability to the nation.”
“If a woman employee gives birth, then she will be granted leave for a few months. Mothers themselves feel that too long a maternity leave would disadvantage themselves. They would be discriminated against and their service may not be renewed or their promotion hampered. Instead of extending the maternity leave, we could consider allowing maternity leave for more babies, so that the mother would also benefit from the birth of the third, the fourth and the fifth child as well. I hope the Government would consider this. Employers and employees should also have the flexibility to decide on matters of maternity leave. For example, the two-month maternity leave could be extended to six months if the employee could work half a day, so as to cause the least disruption to the company. There should be more support for infant childcare. After their birth, the mothers will have to go back to work. So, looking after their babies is a problem. The present allowance for each child on childcare service is $150 and this amount has not been raised up to now, and this applies to designated full-day childcare centres only. I think the Government should raise the amount substantially, especially for the infant-care centres. Flexibility is also called for in matters of childcare allowance because many children are being looked after by grandparents, nannies or maids and so such allowance should be paid to them too. To prevent abuse, each maid or nanny could be paid an allowance for not more than two children. We should also encourage employers to set up childcare centres at places of work to make it convenient for parents to send their children there without much hassle. During lunch hours, they could go there and look at their children.”
“Such a message could be transmitted through television serials, highlighting the joy of having more children and having them early, as well as the sorry plight of a childless old couple and the grave problems faced by an ageing society. Through such dramas, the message could be vividly brought to the audience and to tell them what the consequences would be if we do not have babies. At the same time, the Ministry of Education should also inculcate pro-family and pro-procreation values among the students, right from Primary One, as suggested by other Members as well. But mere preaching is useless. The Government should walk the talk by providing practical measures to help people to get married and have babies earlier. I feel that the Government should consider this. To encourage couples to have more babies and to have them early, I propose to have the incentives linked up with the age of child-bearing and the number of babies born. Mothers who have more babies and have them at an earlier age would have better incentives. For example, a mother who has a baby before the age of 25 will enjoy better incentives than a mother who has a baby after the age of 25. For the second and the third babies, the differentiation may be fixed at the age of 30. Birth order should also be made a criterion. A mother giving birth to a second baby enjoys better benefits than one giving birth to the first baby and so on. When DPM Lee raised the issue of extending maternity leave, there were heated responses from the various walks of life, including employers and women folk. Employers feel that the extension of maternity leave would add to their cost, especially to the small companies which employ only a few workers.”
“They are all devoted to topics concerning lifestyle, fashion and the pursuit of physical pleasures. They do not encourage the setting up of families. As Dr Wang has said, there was this board game called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" that promotes materialism but discourages people to have families. Given the context of such culture and social ethos, that our birth rate has been plummeting is not surprising. People say that child-bearing is a matter of personal preference. But I feel that it is not only the bounden duty of everyone to procreate, but it is also the moral obligation of every citizen towards his family, parents, society and the state. Mencius said, "Among the three instances of unfiliality, the worst is having no descendants." This saying is still relevant in today's society. Many old people complained to me that their children did not want to get married or, if even after they were married, they did not want to have babies. They are disappointed, as their hope of spending time with their grandchildren has come to nought. Is this not an unfilial act? Not having children will result in the rapid ageing of the population, thereby causing economic downturn and threatening the survival of the nation. Is this not being irresponsible to the nation? Every common man is responsible for the well-being of his country. A person who is not willing to have babies will be a liability to other people, because they would have to support them in their old age. Is this not an irresponsible act towards others? We cannot use just financial incentives or loans to induce procreation. The problem should be approached on a multi-faceted basis. As many Members have said, I think we should go all out to promote family values to proclaim the serious consequences of not having children.”
“(In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Budget Statement presented by DPM Lee, the Minister for Finance. I would like to offer my views on the issue of procreation. Manpower is the foundation of nation building. That Singapore, a small country with a small population and lacking in natural resources, has been able to achieve economic growth is due mainly to the development and optimal use of its manpower resource. Hence, we must ensure that we have enough manpower resource to sustain our economic growth, and enough taxpayers to support our various social and healthcare programmes. However, many young people do not want to get married and have babies. Even those who want to have babies would come out with a lot of excuses to say they dare not have babies, would have fewer babies or have babies only at a later stage. By then, their reproductive function has already degenerated. Thus, we find people who want to have babies but are not able to conceive. The fall in the birth rate cannot be attributed to one single factor. The approach to solving this issue should, therefore, be a multi-faceted and long-term one, in order to turn the tide around. Many people have talked about the factors for the fall in the birth rate. The family planning of the past has been too successful. The then slogan of "The more babies you have, the less you have to share" was indelibly engraved in the minds of the last generation of Singaporeans. Moreover, economic prosperity, the world trend, the emergence of individualism and hedonism tend to make many young people unwilling to get married and have babies. Take a look at the present day media, such as the TV programmes, movies or fashion magazines. None of these makes any attempt to encourage people to get married or have babies.”
“Sir, the Minister of State mentioned that there were five cases of deaths and they were all children below five years of age. Is it because of the failure of early detection, especially among this group of pre-school children who were not in any kindergarten or child care centre and therefore they were missed out and not detected earlier? That being the case, could the Minister of State tell us what has been done or will be done to improve the situation, so that we can detect all these very young children who are being abused at an early stage before death results?”
“I therefore urge the Ministry to work closely with and through the religious leaders to spread the correct message that the act of organ donations is endorsed and approved by the respective religions concerned and to eradicate the public's fears and misconceptions on organ donations and transplantations. Lastly, let me touch on the performance of last religious rites for the deceased before the organs are harvested. May I urge the Minister to deal with these concerns with sensitivity and maybe to allow some form of rituals to be conducted for the deceased. Because at this dire moment before organs are removed, we should allow some religious representatives at hand to conduct the appropriate last rites for the deceased and his family. Because these religious rituals are important for the family to bid farewell to their loved ones and, in the due process, it actually helps the grieving family psychologically, spiritually and emotionally. Sir, with these four comments, I support the Bill.”
“Secondly, I urge the Minister to consider inclusion of more types of organs in the Bill. With advancement of medical science and technology, we will be seeing more and more of different body parts being transplanted to save lives and improve the quality of life. If this amendment Bill aims to save more lives, I do not understand why the skin and lung are not included while cornea is. Skin grafting is actually a life-saving procedure for patients with severe burns while lung transplant is the only hope for those with advanced lung disease in end-stage respiratory failure. In fact, many other organs, such as pancreas, have also been transplanted. May I urge the Minister to consider including at least the lungs and skin in this amendment Bill that could be used to save many precious lives? Thirdly, I would like to touch on the need for more public education, a point that has been alluded to by many hon. fellow Members here. With HOTA in place for more than 16 years and MTREA more than 30 years, we are still having a shortage of organs available for transplant. I think this is partly due to some public ignorance and misconception on the procedure on organ harvesting and transplantation as well as the lack of knowledge of their own religious stand on the issue. One of the common concerns that has been brought up by other Members here is the fear that removing organs from the body of the deceased will breach the norms defined by the traditional belief relating to death and the rituals associated with death.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, with the amendment, many of us can play a greater part in helping those most in need of an organ donation. While I applaud the move to expand the Act to cover more organs and to include non-accidental death, I think that the amendment has not been bold enough. I would like to call for the inclusion of all Singaporeans as well as more types of organs in the Act. Sir, as I am not a scholar on religions, I have surfed the Net to gather information and comments on the views on organ donation by various major religious systems. Not surprisingly, although with some differences, all major religions support the act of organ donation with a common view that saving life takes precedence and that the act of donating one's organ is seen as an act of charity and is accorded with great merit. From a humanitarian viewpoint, donating one's organs to save lives of fellow human beings is also of highest calling. Therefore, I would urge the Minister to consider expanding further the Bill to cover all Singaporeans regardless of race and religions. As this is an opt-out system, anyone objecting to organ donation will still be able to exercise their right to be excluded. Sir, we should also remove the age criterion of limiting the potential cadaveric donors to those between 21 and 60 years of age, which precludes many otherwise suitable potential donors. Many of these younger and older persons who have died may still have organs that are medically suitable for transplantation. Hence, I would urge that the age limit for HOTA be removed in order to increase further the number of organs available to save lives. Again, for those below 21, their parents or guardians could still exercise the right for them to opt out of the system.”
“When it was eventually my turn to be served, instead of proceeding to change my ATM card which was the purpose of the visit, he zeroed in on my bank account and said, "Uncle, your money in the savings account is earning very low interest. Why don't you buy this other product? It will give you more interest." I smilingly declined his offer. But, today, if you ask me again, I would say, "I hope the Government would amend this Bill to cover banking, finance and insurance industries as well."”
“When I was waiting to be served, I noticed that the counter staff were persistently promoting some of their products to the customers. I heard one of them telling an elderly lady, "Auntie, you put your money in a savings account, the interest is very low. Why don't you put in this particular account where you can earn much more interest?" In fact, this particular account is not a savings or fixed deposit account but an investment product, like a unit trust fund. It may not be suitable for everyone. Moreover, in the course of his sales talk, the counter staff kept emphasising the returns and did not take the trouble to understand the needs of his customer, nor explain the possible risks of such investment. For an elderly person of 60 or 70 years old, why does he need to buy a long-term investment product? And should he be buying a unit trust? He does not even know what a unit trust is! In this process, the counter staff did not tell his customers that they could also lose money from this investment, and the various fees and charges were not explained to them. If we go by the definition under this Bill, such a sales tactic should be classified as an unfair practice, because it is in violation of clause 4(a) of this Bill, that is, failing to explain certain items to the consumers, or misleading them, and under clause 4(c)(i), that is, failing to protect the interest of the consumers. It also violates clause 4(c)(ii) as the unique features and nature of this transaction are not explained. Apart from them, the banks are in the habit of using the small print to conceal some very important and disadvantageous terms to the consumers. This is exactly what is described in Unfair Practice No. 20 in the Second Schedule.”
“I think putting the onus on the consumers to seek compensation is not fair. We should take some legal sanctions against these unscrupulous merchants. For example, if they refuse to pay the compensation, the officer-in-charge, the shareholders or the directors should be charged in court and fined, and the court should have the right to increase the compensation to the victims. Only then would it be fair to the victims and it would also have a deterrent effect on the unscrupulous merchants. I am also very disappointed and puzzled as to why this Bill does not cover the insurance, financial and banking industries. As we know, almost every single Singaporean, even a little boy, would have some dealings with the bank. As we know, many parents nowadays would open bank accounts for their children. Besides, many Singaporeans are taking up various types of insurance coverage. There is no way the ordinary folks can take on these banks and insurance companies who are financial giants. As such, these ordinary citizens need the Government to protect their interests and to help them, so that they would not be bullied by these big banks and insurance companies. Recently, a very big insurance company refused to fulfil its commitment under some of the insurance policies. I think this is a good example. Apart from that, there is strong competition among the banks. Apart from receiving deposits, they are promoting all sorts of financial products. When they are marketing these products, they use all sorts of unfair means which we read frequently in the newspapers or heard from our friends, residents and even our family members. In fact, I have a personal experience. Recently, I went to a bank to change my ATM card.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Bill. Once it comes into force, the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Bill will effectively help to protect the interests of Singaporeans and tourists when they consume, make purchases and obtain services in Singapore, thereby enhancing our reputation as a shoppers' paradise. This Bill has also clearly defined "unfair practices" and has listed out 20 specific unfair practices so that the victimised consumers can use as a basis to take legal action against the unscrupulous merchants. When you make a claim at the Small Claims Tribunal, you need only to pay just about $10. It is convenient. It saves time and money, and you do not have to go through a complicated legal process. I have two issues to raise with the Minister of State: First, the Small Claims Tribunal is operated mainly in English. For those ordinary citizens who do not speak English, they feel that they are being shut out. Therefore, can I suggest that separate service counters manned by officers who speak Malay, Tamil and Chinese be set up to serve these non-English speaking people. Secondly, under this Bill, unfair trade practice is not a criminal offence. So if the merchants do not comply with the order of the Small Claims Tribunal and refuse to compensate the consumers, keep on delaying payment or even close down their business, these claimants would have a big headache. They will have to apply for a writ of seizure and sale. If the other party has absconded or has deliberately closed down its business, the claimants will have to go through more legal proceedings to enforce the court order. Otherwise, they will just have to resign to fate and give up their claims. These unscrupulous merchants will just run away scot-free.”
“" We have to look at the amount of food on the table to see how much we can eat, so that there will be enough to go round. Therefore, we, the people, should be flexible. I remember when I was young, there was a time when my father lost his job. He had to work as an odd-job worker and as a hawker to support the family. We switched from the Thai fragrant rice to the cheaper rice from China. When we ran out of even the Chinese rice, we had to contend with broken rice. I can understand that when the people are making such adjustments, they hope that the Government will also take corresponding measures. They hope that the savings, as a result of the lowering of CPF and wages, should be used to help the people, to lower education charges, transport charges, road tax, petrol and diesel tax. Transport companies should also pass on such savings to the commuters. Cost of housing, rentals and property tax should be lowered. The Prime Minister said "no fish, prawns also can". If we are determined to reform our economy to lower business cost and to reform our wage system, we should be able to raise our competitiveness in the global economy, and attract more investors here to create more and better jobs for our people. By then, we will not only have ordinary prawns, but tiger prawns or even lobsters! And we can then say, "No fish, we will go for good prawns."”
“If we can raise by 1% on the rate of return, we will be able to get $960 million for them, which compensates almost as much as the $1.3 billion cut in CPF contributions. Therefore, I agree fully with the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, that the funds should be managed by qualified fund managers. The second suggestion is that we should remove the present retirement age of workers. As long as they are healthy, they should be allowed to work, so as to ensure that they are healthy, mentally and physically. The lifespan of our people is 80 years. The Prime Minister said that they are even likely to live to 100. The present legal retirement age of 62 years will mean that they still have at least another 20 years after retirement. We should allow them to continue working. Many jobs do not need physical strength. Age is no longer a hindrance to work. In this way, they will need less resources after retirement. They will continue to contribute to the society and depend less on the State. This will lessen the financial burden on the society and our reliance on foreign workers. Let me focus on the short-term impact. There was a Lianhe Zaobao reader [Huang Shan Chang] who said that clothing, food, housing, transport and healthcare are our daily necessities. How do we tighten our belts to cope with these needs? The former two should depend on the individual, but the latter three will depend on the Government. We should work with the Government to cope with the new situation. It is inevitable that there will be lower wages and lower CPF contributions. Therefore, our people should make the necessary adjustments. There is a saying in Cantonese: "Eat according to the food on the table.”
“Secondly, on the salary ceiling for CPF contribution, there seems to be a lack of flexibility. Every retiree has different needs, and we have been encouraging people to depend less on the Government. Can we not allow them greater autonomy in managing their financial affairs? A retiree may have very low income before retirement, and to ask that he should have $120,000 as a Minimum Sum in the CPF, I think, is too drastic. While others may have other retirement benefits, do we want to force them to leave behind such a high Minimum Sum of $120,000? Therefore, I think the amount of Minimum Sum should be determined by the last-drawn salary before retirement and whether there are other retirement benefits, such as pension. Thirdly, with the lowering of CPF rate, our people's savings in the CPF will be less. I would like to make two suggestions on how to increase their savings in the CPF. Firstly, we should raise the rate of return on their CPF. Secondly, extend their retirement age. At present, the rate for CPF is 2.5%. This is similar to the rate for treasury bonds. I think this is too low for any retirement plan. The CPF Board should help its members earn a higher rate. Let me give some examples. For a member who has worked for 37 years, ie, from age 25 to 62, and the average contribution per year is $6,000, if the rate is 2.5%, the return will be $358,000 after 37 years. If the rate is 3%, he will be getting $397,000. If the rate is 5%, he will be getting $610,000, which is almost double what is being given now. As far as the total amount of CPF is concerned, the members' total savings in the CPF as of December last year, amounted to $96 billion.”
“If this is not certain, the would-be investors may fear that the employer's contribution rate may move back to 36% or even higher, and therefore put away their intention to invest here. We all know that a cut in CPF rate is never a good mechanism in the lowering of wage cost. The Government should not make use of CPF as a means of intervention. Businessmen and the market should have the means to adjust their wage level. The Government should not micromanage the wage system. The CPF is a long-term safety net for the people. Therefore, there should be stability and certainty in a long-term objective. In this way, CPF members will be better able to plan for their retirement, their choice of housing and healthcare needs. There is a saying that managing a state is like frying a fish in a wok. If we try to stir-fry the fish in the wok, then it would turn out to be awful-looking and not presentable. Therefore, I hope the Government will set a specific long-term rate for CPF. We should make use of this opportunity to take proactive measures to promote the flexi-wage system, so that businessmen can adjust their wage cost according to the market situation in a more sensitive and responsive manner. The rate has been lowered by 3%, and this will result in total savings of $1.3 billion for the employers. Maybe some of them do not need these savings. The Government should encourage, or even by legislation, companies which are doing well to make use of this 3% saving to reward the employees by way of performance bonus. On this basis, the companies can increase their MVC component to reward their employees according to their performance. In this way, we will be able to allow employers to use this flexi-wage system to obviate the need to revise the CPF rate again.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Low Thia Khiang said that the PAP Government is having amnesia. I think the one who is suffering from amnesia is not the Government, but Mr Low himself. In the past 38 years, the PAP Government has transformed Singapore from a third world country to a first world country. The PAP Government has not forgotten its commitments to the people. What we are doing now, such as this debate on CPF retuning, is precisely because the PAP Government knows the needs of the people. It is taking these painful measures to protect their jobs, and even to create more jobs for them. Therefore, Mr Low should go to seek medical advice about his amnesia. Wage reform is one of the important links in the endeavour to reduce business costs. Prime Minister Goh has announced the reduction in CPF rates and the lowering of salary ceiling for CPF contribution. This is a clear signal to the market that the Government is committed to reforming our economy and implementing wage reform. I fully support the Government in this endeavour. I would like to raise some observations on the CPF retuning exercise. I hope the Government can determine a clear and specific CPF contribution rate, rather than a range of rates. This is good for workers as well as for companies. Business people would like to have certainty and stability. If the Government does not have a fixed rate, be it 30% or 36%, they would wonder: "When would the Government be raising the CPF rate again?" To play safe, the business would budget and plan, based on the assumption that the CPF rate would be the upper end of the range. This would defeat the purpose of our CPF cut exercise.”
“There are so many different training schemes. They are puzzled and confused. As such, WDA must provide a one-stop service which is user-friendly. There should be specialists who are able to understand the market requirements and would be able to help the workers with proper counselling and advice, and match them with the jobs available and suitable to them. Arrangement should also be made to keep a register of those who are looking for a job, with all the particulars fed into a database. Only then, will it be encouraging for the workers to accept training and embrace the culture of lifelong learning. Madam, I believe that most Singaporeans want to become phoenixes. WDA is the agency that will help them become phoenixes. I firmly believe that so long as we have confidence in this transformation, despite the difficulties and frustrations, we will be able to remake Singapore, and our workforce will become even stronger and more competitive, to justify our ranking as a world-class workforce. Madam, I support the Bill.”
“WDA is established with this target in mind to convince Singaporeans to re-visit the offer of jobs and the opportunity of retraining and re-skilling which they have previously declined. However, the WDA must first show some results through some real action to be convincing. Only then, can they succeed in changing the mindset of the people. Secondly, the WDA should have a correct focus on our employment situation. To forecast on the future employment scenario is very difficult. As the Minister has said, we have to cooperate with the EDB and other Government agencies to touch ground with the various industries, so that we know their needs and the development trends in the various industries. Only then, can we develop programmes to train our workers and equip them with the appropriate skills to meet the future challenges. Otherwise, the training would be in vain. For example, if we manage to convince the workers to be trained in biochemistry which was thought to be the industry with great potential, and suddenly we find that this industry is not taking off, all the sacrifices by the workers and resources invested therein will be in vain. What is going to happen to the poor workers who are now armed with irrelevant skills and no jobs? This will then give rise to yet another round of structural unemployment. The third point is that the WDA should strive to provide a one-stop service for all our workers. At the moment, if Singapore workers want to learn, upgrade their skills or acquire new skills, they do not know whether to go to NTUC, SHRI, MOM, SPRING, IDA, or CDC. There are so many agencies to go to before they can identify the courses suitable to them. When they go to a website they look at the SRP, OJT, PJTP, SMC and what have you, there is a whole string of acronyms.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, we are facing the challenges of globalisation. There are two options open to us. First, we can be an ostrich and bury our head in the sand, with the hope that when we take our head out from the sand, everything will be back to normal. Then we will be able to become an ostrich again. The next option is to become the legendary phoenix. Legend has it that the phoenix jumped into the fire, and after the baptism of fire, it became born-again and re-emerged a glamorous and dynamic "fire phoenix". Our choice is very obvious. We want to be a phoenix. But why? We often hear Singaporeans complain about their unwillingness to take a more difficult choice or embark on a more difficult task. Yes, no doubt, it is difficult to make hard decisions. The setting up of the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) now is very timely. This will help our workforce make the difficult but correct choice, thereby be a part of our transformation to the new economy, and face new economic challenges associated with globalisation. However, helping our workforce to make the choice of transformation is never easy. First of all, the WDA must produce results to prove to our workforce and our workers here, to persuade them that transformation is possible and restructuring is inevitable. This is something we have to do, because this is the only way to ensure that our workforce has its heart in Singapore. All Singaporeans will be able to continue to have jobs and enjoy a good standard of living. That is the only way out. To change the attitude of the older workers and persuade them to embrace lifelong learning is quite a difficult job. But this is something we must do, whether we like it or not.”
“In public education, I think that we should make greater efforts in propagating public health knowledge and information to our people. For example, the family of eight who was asked to wait for the ambulance at a designated spot outside the clinic, ignored the doctor's instructions and wandered around the vicinity, causing the whole area to be closed down and isolated. There was another vegetable wholesaler who had been running a high fever for many days and yet refused to go to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but went all over the places to see his family doctor and two Chinese physicians. This may perhaps be due to their ignorance. Besides, I also observe some irresponsible action of some people. My hospital is just next to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. My colleagues told me that many people had been throwing away their used masks along the walkway between Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Novena MRT station. We can see a lot of these discarded used masks all over the places. I presume these masks were thrown away by the people who had visited Tan Tock Seng Hospital. This is certainly very bad for public health. I think we should change our people's behaviour through public education. Perhaps our Health Promotion Board should reach out to the community and step up their efforts in public education to our people. At the same time, we should also look after the people who are not conversant with English. If possible, we may even use dialects or the minority languages to educate these people. Mr Speaker, Sir, the fight against SARS is the responsibility of every citizen of Singapore. I, therefore, support this Amendment Bill.”
“Now that we can see some of these people not taking the orders seriously and acting irresponsibly, we may just have to deal with them more severely. Therefore, I support this Amendment Bill so that the law enforcers would have more muscles to deal with the violators, to fine or even imprison them. This severe punishment would serve a deterrent effect, so that those who have been served with HQOs would not dare to violate them. With this Amendment Bill, we can further show to the people all over the world our determination to fight against SARS and to enhance their confidence in us. Mr Speaker, Sir, although I do support using harsh punishment against offenders, I hope that the Government would also work harder in public education and send the proper message to our people. If we want our people to act in a responsible manner, I think we should give them a better understanding of the matter. In a dialogue session yesterday, someone reflected that nowadays, there are a lot of rumours being spread through e-mails and SMS. Some would say, "Oh, this area was closed down because of SARS. Or so-and-so was infected with SARS and hospitalised." By spreading rumours it would only add to the fears and chaos in our society. For this reason, I urge the Government to send a very clear signal to the people so that everybody would rather depend on the television and the media for official updates on the SARS situation in Singapore, thereby dispelling all rumours on the emails and SMS. We should also deal with these rumour-mongers more severely. Just like after the September 11 event, there were some people who were spreading rumours, and we took harsh action against them. I think we should do likewise this time round.”
“First of all, we must identify the source of infection and the contacts who may turn out to be suspect or probable cases. The latter may be infected with the virus, and could spread the infection in the incubation period. Following that, we have to isolate the patients and the contacts from the healthy population. Generally, the patients will be admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for treatment. As for the contacts, because they do not show symptoms of the disease, they will be isolated, either at home or at other places of confinement, so as to minimise the possibility of infection to others. The quarantine method is definitely effective in our fight against SARS. In the last six weeks, there has been no new case of any medical officer or hospital staff being infected. This shows that the isolation method is a correct one. However, in our community, when we want to ring-fence this disease, we would depend on the cooperation of everyone, particularly those people who are served with Home Quarantine Orders (HQOs). Only then can this containment exercise be effective. Since the implementation of the HQO scheme, the majority of those served with the order have complied. Yet, there is a still a handful of people who have broken the order. They continue to go to office or participate in community activities. Mr Speaker, Sir, such irresponsible action is like breaking a hole in our ring-fence and allowing the SARS virus to go loose. Once the SARS virus is spread to the community, our work will be made so much more difficult. Besides, there are some infected persons who would not want to disclose that they had a high temperature or symptom, for fear of being isolated. Since the implementation of the HQOs, we have been moderate in our enforcement.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in the spring of a certain year in China, there was an epidemic plague. The epidemic was so contagious that it spread very quickly and the mortality rate was very high. China was trading with many countries at that time. Very quickly, this epidemic plague was spread to all over Asia and Europe. Through the merchant ships, it spread to Sicily in Italy and, in a few days' time, this epidemic plague had struck both the urban and rural areas of Sicily. It was said that an affected person had lunch with his friends. Yet, in the evening, he joined his ancestors in heaven for dinner! This epidemic ravaged Europe and killed one-third of its population in a short span of five years. Mr Speaker, Sir, fortunately, I am not talking about the SARS situation today. I am talking about the pandemic plague also known as "black death" in the 14th century. Seven hundred years later, fortunately, now our medical science is more advanced. We have better knowledge and better means to counter the various diseases and the mortality rate of SARS is not as terrible as that of the "black death". However, with our transport facilities being much more advanced now - we no longer travel by horse carriage or steamships - our people are travelling much more extensively and frequently. In the process, diseases also spread much faster and wider. In densely populated cities like Singapore, if we lower our guard, the SARS epidemic would spread to the community, and the consequences can be very serious. Mr Speaker, Sir, for this reason, when we are fencing SARS, we should not have soft knees. We should not avail any opening to the SARS virus to spread beyond the hospital ring-fence. From the perspective of medical sciences and public health, we have to break the chain of transmission.”
“Sir, Total Defence and NEWater exhibitions are great national events that we should be very happy with. Unfortunately and regrettably, these national events are conducted only in English. Our civil servants must have forgotten that about 30% of Singaporeans do not know English. These are mostly elderly people. The editorial of Lianhe Zaobao on 5th March commented, "Though our civil servants are the elite in the frontline, they lack the basic understanding of our own residents in the rear. The result is that while the Government is busy building the "Ideal Home" for the next generation, many older folks are increasingly feeling as though they are strangers in their own homeland." I would like to ask our civil servants whether they are unaware of the existence of the non-English speaking masses or do they just simply could not be bothered with them, to the extent that they become so insensitive and indifferent. Large scale activities like the Total Defence and NEWater exhibitions are meant to reach out to the people. The Government has the duty to see to it that these messages are conveyed to each and every citizen in a simple and approachable manner. As such, I urge the Government to expressively stipulate that activities like these should provide explanatory notes in all the four official languages for the exhibits. Every citizen, irrespective of his race, language or religion, has the right to share the information. The Minister should set out clear orders that all public activities that involve the participation of the total citizenry should have instructions given in all the four official languages.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his reassurance. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $5,129,060,080 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,414,373,100 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head Q -”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his reply. May I seek a clarification from the Minister? May I ask the Minister to assure us that using the bilingual approach to teach Chinese will not result in a further lowering of the standard of Chinese?”
“Sir, the role private institution plays in the education sector has grown significantly in the last few years. While it has brought diversity to the education landscape, there is an immediate need to come up with an accreditation system for the various programmes being offered. Sir, the education landscape has changed significantly over the last few years. Today, aspiring students have a diverse choice of professional certificates, graduate or post-graduate programmes. This is in itself a good thing. However, my concern is that there are few checks on the private sector institutions to ensure that what is taught is actually of good quality and useful to their students. The education landscape is characterised by local companies that act as representatives of foreign institutions of higher learning. In some cases, I must say, these foreign entities are of high standards. However, this does not give the full picture. Many private institutions act as re-sellers with the goal of gaining as many enrolments as possible. I have heard that it is now possible to get an MBA in nine months through an accelerated post-graduate programme. Enough examples of this cause me to raise the concern that the quality, content and delivery are highly suspect. This, of course, does not speak well for the educational industry as a whole. Sir, I, therefore, urge the Minister to give his Ministry the mandate to benchmark the courses offered by the private industry against established institutions of higher learning. This will ensure the reputation of Singapore as a centre for higher learning and, at the same time, prevent students from being shortchanged by private institutions driven purely by profit.”
“We should enhance our education in these aspects so that they can identify with the nation and be patriotic towards it. 6.00 pm”
“According to media reports, during the one-hour Question and Answer session, following the Senior Minister's address to the students of the three universities held at NTU, more than half of those who posed questions to the Senior Minister were foreign students. The questions asked by the foreign students were mainly concerning world or social affairs. On the other hand, our local students were only interested in asking questions that involved their personal interests. In another report, it was stated that the result of a survey revealed that some 10% of the students in Singapore do not know who our Prime Minister was. As the future masters of the nation, these young people are seriously lacking in sensitivity and the sense of crisis towards matters and the environment around them. This is a great cause for concern to us. Many young people are simply disinterested in knowing the history of our nation building, indifferent to politics, and are not concerned at all with the major world and national affairs. This is perhaps due to the comfortable and stable social environment that they are living in all this while. As it is said, "If everything is calm and peaceful, the people will not be concerned with the affairs of the nation." Because of our situation in the past where survival was at the top of our mind, we had placed too much emphasis on skills training and economic development. We have perhaps neglected the inculcation of a sense of national consciousness and values in our people. If we want our young people to venture into other countries while remaining emotionally attached to our country, we should also inculcate in them the political and national consciousness, values and loyalty to the nation.”
“Therefore, I would urge the three universities in Singapore to strengthen their teaching and research in China's social, business and cultural environment, and launch a series of courses and subjects to attain the following objects: 1) To enhance the university students' proficiency in written and spoken Chinese so that, in future, when there are exchanges with our counterparts in China, they would be able to write, read and communicate effectively; 2) To enhance exchanges with the Chinese universities and their business community, and to help our students understand China's social, cultural and business environment and the thinking of the Chinese people; and 3) To help our students to have a better understanding of the foreign students from China here, so that they would not discriminate against them. In future, if our students have the opportunity to go to China, they would be able to adapt themselves to the environment in China better. There are many Chinese students in Singapore. We should take advantage of their presence here to interact and learn from them, so that they can become a bridge for our understanding of China.”
“Madam, I would like to know the Ministry's long-term plan to meet the manpower requirements for our medical and life sciences sector. I would also like to know if the Ministry would consider the proposal to put the Medical School, the Graduate Medical Programme and the School of Health Sciences together for them to enjoy the benefits of synergies and close collaborations. Madam, I would like to take my next cut in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): Madam, the universities and polytechnics are institutes of higher learning that nurture the elite of our country and they are the pillars for the future economic growth of Singapore. The emergence of China is an undeniable reality, and it will soon become the driving force for the growth of the global economy. Therefore, we should equip our young people so that they can jump on the bandwagon. A friend of mine who is doing his MBA in the London Business School sent me an email from London, expressing his worries. He said that we are beginning to lose our advantages in China. The Chinese people look down on our less-than-satisfactory standard of Chinese, and they are catching up on English. We lack knowledge of the culture and the national situation of China, even the Americans are doing better than we do in this aspect.”
“Madam, we have a good standard of medical healthcare in Singapore. This is in no small part due to the hard work of our healthcare professionals, who have a reputation for excellence in the region. However, in order to continue to be the regional hub for medical excellence, and in our push for the life sciences, we must have a long-term plan to develop the human capital needed for this sector. While training to be doctors, medical students are exposed to new developments in clinical education and medical research. I am sure everyone here would agree that future medical doctors armed with knowledge of the latest developments in their field of study would be of great benefit to their patients. Madam, I note that the report on the university sector recommended the setting up of Graduate Medical Programme (GMP) leading to the MD degree, and the School of Health Sciences (SHS) at the Outram campus, while the Medical School training MBBS doctors would remain at NUS Kent Ridge. May I ask the Minister what is the rationale of separating the Medical School from GMP and SHS? How would the Ministry ensure that institutions that primarily train doctors, nurses and therapists for clinical care, and institutions that focus primarily on research, are working together in close synergy? By working together closely, there would be cross-fertilisation of ideas. Clinicians are exposed to the latest development in research, while the researchers are exposed to the clinical challenges and problems faced by their counterparts. They could then work closely together to apply research findings on the patients or conduct clinical trials or research together. Some clinicians may also be enticed to become researchers, and vice versa.”