P. Selvadurai
Singapore
“Why the limitation of the reliefs in each case to a maximum of $10,000 when the loss to revenue is only marginal? Further, why are the reliefs confined to married women only? Why not married men as well? There is no logic in the discrimination.”
“In a letter dated 30th September 1981 written by the Assistant Estates Officer (Sales), Estates and Lands Division of the HDB, it was stated as follows: 'Reinstatement of the former registration number for applicants who have transferred their applications to a bigger flat prior to the implementation of the policy for modified corner flat…”
“Sir, there is only one clarification which I seek from the Hon. Minister of State, and that is with regard to the first case which I cited, i.e. the Bras Basah Complex case.”
“Sir, any decision made by the Registrar under clause 6 must be an administrative decision, and any appeal to the Minister from the Registrar's decision and the consequent decision made by the Minister himself must also be an administrative decision. If the hon.”
“stood up, and addressing himseff to the Clerk of Parliament said: Mr Lopez, I support the proposal. There being no other proposal the Clerk then declared Dr Yeoh Ghim Seng to have been elected as Speaker of Parliament. Mr Speaker, standing at the Table, made an Affirmation of Allegiance. Mr Speaker went to the Chair and sat down.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this matter merely concerns a piece of open land next to the Philips factory in Lorong 1, Toa Payoh. I believe, Sir, that this lot was originally reserved for a school, in fact, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. I have been informed (I may be wrong though) that the Convent has now turned it down.”
The complete record
Every one of 172 lines we hold for P. Selvadurai, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 4.
“The productive section of the population would be busy not only in raising the next generation of Singaporeans, but would also be increasingly busy in contributing towards the defence and security of the State. The burden on the productive section is already a heavy one and is bound to increase, not decrease, in the future. In the circumstances, it would not be difficult to build a convincing case for State intervention for the provision of old age welfare. How the resources required for funding the schemes for old age welfare are to be garnered is a matter that must be left to the specialists to work out. It is conceivable that the required resources would ultimately come from the State, the private sector and the trade unions; but, before the end-result is achieved, a certain amount of arm-twisting would have taken place. Sir, these are my broad observations on an otherwise admirable Report. In the final analysis, when the work is done, we would have made provision for the ta ii-end of the life of "that timid staring creature, man, who is so compounded as to require, not only money, but light, air and water, not to mention such uneconomic goods as tranquility, beauty and affection". Sir, I support the motion standing in the name of the Hon. Minister for Health, as amended by the hon. Member for Kebun Baru. 6.28 pm”
“If completely moral individuals could be produced by the inculcation of Eastern ethical values in our schools, then the problems of ageing could be solved within the confines of the two or three-tier family system. But for the reasons set out on page 11 of the Report and also due to the sheer physical factors that are atomising our traditional family ties in our HDB estates, I am not sanguine that the mere inculcation of Eastern ethical values would provide the required solvent, I am afraid that the coercive intervention of the State is inevitable whether we like it or not, if we are not to let the aged fend for themselves as best they could. If the premise is right that retirees represent a section of the population that has made its contributions to society, it is equally right that the State should assume responsibility for providing for its welfare. There are limits to what an individual can provide in an Industrial Society. He cannot create by his isolated action a healthy environment or establish an educational system with a wide range of facilities, all conditions which make the difference between happiness and misery and, sometimes indeed, between life and death. In so far as they exist, and I am happy to point out that they do in great measure in Singapore, in the shape of a reasonably healthy environment, good health services and an effective educational system, they are the source of a social income received in form, not of money, but of increased well-being. But I would urge that we go further and instead of tampering with a person's CPF contributions and placing reliance on the employer/union collective bargaining system, the State should assume full responsibility for structuring the well-being of the aged.”
“He did not also have to contend with a system of governance based on political democracy. The ethical systems of the mature civilizations of the East were developed during times when the character of the Chinese and Indian societies were agricultural. The natural consequence of the simultaneous development of an industrial civilization and of political democracy had yet to be felt, as we in Singapore are feeling now. An agricultural society, with its scattered households and unspecialized economic life, is normally both unconscious of requiring elaborate social services and incapable of providing them. An acute observer of the Western experience has made pointed reference as to how Western societies were ignorant of the need to make compulsory social provision on their first plunge into the world of great industry. He said that in carrying the habits of the peasant into their new urban environment, they allowed for a generation to poison its body and starve its soul, before they realized that what was innocuous in a village was deadly in a town and that in their enthusiasm at the spectacle of increasing profits and wages, which were the natural result of increased productivity, they were disposed to interpret well-being as a commodity which, if unham- pered by the State, individuals of character and intelligence could buy in the necessary quantities by their own exertions. Sir, the result in the West was, as it is beginning to be here with us, a paradox of rising pecuniary incomes and deepening social misery. The question is whether we could obviate the need to repeat the Western experience in our ascent into an industrial society.”
“The State's compulsions are to be devoted to education, specifically in the inculcation of the desirable virtue of filial piety in the young and the productive sections of the population, in dealing with errant members of the family who fail to look after their parents and grand-parents and in providing marginal incentives to the private sector in order to induce it to gainfully employ the aged. The reference to the Confucian ethic and the dichotomy between individualism of the West and the collective ethic of the East were referred to in passing in the Report. But that dichotomy is not a simple or easy one to maintain and should be seen in its proper perspective. The economic arrangements that we have adopted for ourselves and which have created the wealth of the community are those of the free, open competitive market. Private enterprise provides the motive power for the generation of our wealth. The ethic of the free market is that of the individual entrepreneur and not the deadening hand of a collective which stultified enterprise and initiative. Given the evident success of the individualist ethic in the market-place, it would be difficult not to feel its impact in the other spheres of our social life as well. It is the same ethic that is shaking up all the traditional societies of Asia which have embarked on industrialization in order to solve their grave economic problems. In the light of these developments, I do not think that any fundamental dichotomy between individualism of the West and the collective or group ethic of the East would persist for long. In any event when the Sage wrote his precepts in ancient China, he did not have to contend with the pressures of life generated in a modern industrial society where most people live in high-rise apartments.”
“When fully implemented, these proposals would have provided a rudimentary structure of welfare for that section of the people which, having completed the productive phase of its life, would have earned the right to a dignified and humane retirement, be it in the form of continued employment on easier terms or in the form of creative and soul-satisfying activities. It is certain, however, that activity there must be for the mental and physical well-being of the aged; and it is equally certain that in the circumstances obtaining in Singapore the mechanics for the provision of old age welfare must be worked out by the State and not be left to the haggling of the market-place. Whilst the Committee is to be congratulated for its definition of the problems of the aged, criticism must be levelled against it for being too tentative in defining the administrative machinery and the fiscal techniques required to implement the social provision for the aged. The structure proposed is a combination of voluntarism and compulsion. Collective bargaining between trade unions and employers and the roles to be played by charitable and other benevolent associations or societies represent the area of voluntarism. There is too great a reliance on the operations of market forces. There is no guarantee, however, that the voluntarism envisaged would deliver the goods, and the Hon. Member for Kebun Baru has already adverted to the many reasons that have militated against any durable provision for retirees emerging from the collective bargaining process.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is perhaps a symptom of the changing perceptions and attitudes of the vocal sections of the people of Singapore that they seize only upon those proposals of the Report of the Committee that dealt with the extension of the CPF withdrawal age from 55 to 60 and 65 years and characterize them as a further illustration of the persistent civil servants' arrogance in managing the problems of the community on the assumption that the average Singaporean could not be trusted to adequately manage his finances and fortunes to provide against the risks of life. Indeed, Sir, I received a letter from an irate constituent, soon after the publication of the Report of the Committee, who made that very point and reminded me also that he was, far from being an ignoramus, a university graduate and that his right to freely deal with and dispose of his fund with the CPF at age 55 should not be tampered with by the State. He had earned that right. It is implicit in this contention that should a retiree become improvident as a result of his unwise management or disposal of his capital, the State must assume responsibility for his continued welfare. It is this proposition that requires closer scrutiny. It is sad and unfortunate that public comment on the Report stopped short of its reaction to the proposals concerning CPF withdrawals. The comprehensive merits of the total proposals designed to organize a healthy and purposeful life for the aged were not adequately appreciated.”
“As you please, Sir. I support the motion, Mr Speaker. 7.17 pm”
“Thank you very much, Sir. It is a fairly important point which the Member for Anson -”
“Why the limitation of the reliefs in each case to a maximum of $10,000 when the loss to revenue is only marginal? Further, why are the reliefs confined to married women only? Why not married men as well? There is no logic in the discrimination. Sir, apart from these observations which I have made, I have no other critical remarks to make on the Budget proposals and I support the Motion. Before I sit down, however, I should say a few words apropos the amazing propositions about the requirements of parliamentary democracy advanced in this House by the hon. Member for Anson on the 2nd of March. The record of the Workers' Party in supporting parliamentary democratic norms and traditions has not been an unsullied one, to say the least. Its role in the politics of Singapore has been that of a maverick and its present-day reincarnation in the shape of the hon. Member for Anson has only added to the confusion.”
“Members would no doubt know that in the Singapore context, due to the impact of many factors, including, in particular, the physical environment in which the future generations of Singaporeans would grow up, the preservation of the integrity of the extended family system generally would be an impossibility and the enormous problem of caring for the aged would be upon us sooner than later. This is a matter that successive Budget proposals have glanced at from time to time and made symbolic gestures of recognition but no conceded effort has been mounted to attack the problem in perspective in the manner in which the question of the genetic health of our society is being dealt with today. I would urge a good look at our social system in its totality by the time of the 1985 Budget proposals, and this brings me to the debate that has been generated in Singapore by the statistics that forecast the genetic profile of Singapore. A close colleague put the problem thus: You have the situation in, say, the 1-room apartments with each family having three and four children and more, all growing up in the environment of those flats; and set it against the situation in the HUDC apartments where the only child per family is the centre of the universe of its parents. The national imbalance in the qualitative development of our people becomes apparent. The objective then must be to invite the HUDC families to have more children. Hence the enhanced child reliefs proposed by the Minister. Put in this way, shorn of all biological implications on which scientists are in more than two minds, the problem becomes intelligible and does cause concern. Why then the tardiness in the reliefs given?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is a simple straightaway Budget that the Hon. Minister has presented to this House. This was only possible because of the sound health of the economy and the less one tinkered with it through State intervention the better. Incidentally, the success that the economy has been registering year after year despite the world recession bespeaks the correctness of the economic strategy we have evolved since 1965; and the essential soundness of the proposition that in economic matters, having defined the targets and objectives of development and growth and having provided the incentives, it is better for the people to be left alone to go for their gains stands vindicated. With the wealth thus created, one would have expected all areas of human distress to have been ironed out of our social fabric; but this is not yet the situation and increasingly one becomes concerned with the condition of the unemployable aged. It is not difficult to see that Singaporeans, like those of other affluent countries are fast becoming an aging population. Hitherto, the convenient assumption on which we had proceeded in this regard was that the problem of the aged must be solved by and within the family system evolved over many centuries by the Eastern civilizations. Hence, the latter day emphasis on values like filial piety and other aspects of the ethic that is concerned with the integrity and happiness of the extended family; in other words, the 2-tier, if not, 3-tier family. Hon.”
“The father-in-law was the one who was insisting on getting a flat in the Bras Basah Complex, not the applicant.”
“Sir, there is only one clarification which I seek from the Hon. Minister of State, and that is with regard to the first case which I cited, i.e. the Bras Basah Complex case. If it was true that the applicant and his father-in-law were first and second on the reserve list, ready for allocation, and if there were seven vacancies, how come they were not allocated those flats in the Bras Basah Complex?”
“In a letter dated 30th September 1981 written by the Assistant Estates Officer (Sales), Estates and Lands Division of the HDB, it was stated as follows: 'Reinstatement of the former registration number for applicants who have transferred their applications to a bigger flat prior to the implementation of the policy for modified corner flat applicants to transfer to four-room flats without loss of priority can only b? brought about either upon the request of the applicants themselves or is discovered during our normal course of work.' It has taken the HDB more than two years to discover the applicant's application during its normal course of work. But at no time in the meanwhile was the applicant and those in his category informed by a general notification or otherwise of the said reinstatement policy in order to enable them to request such reinstatement. So the applicant was penalized both ways and is still waiting after more than five years for the allocation of a flat. What went wrong and what is the redress?”
“But the more pertinent question is: why were the applicant and his father not allocated flats in the Bras Basah Complex when there were more than one flat for allocation in the said Complex? The second case, Sir, concerns sales registration No. VDT 4199761. The applicant originally registered to purchase a three-room modified corner flat in July 1977. In May 1978, he transferred his application to the four-room register and a new registration number was issued to him. The HDB closed the register for three-room corner flats in August 1978 as it had ceased to build such flats and allowed those remaining on the three-room modified corner flat register to opt either for a three-room ordinary flat or a four-room flat without loss of priority. In other words, they retained their original registration numbers. Since the applicant had earlier transferred his application to the four-room waiting list, he was not informed of the new policy as were those who had remained on the three-room list. So the constituent lost out. However, as a concession to the applicants who have, like this applicant, transferred their applications to the four-room or bigger flats register, the HDB decided to reinstate the original registration numbers when such applicants were discovered during the HDB's course of work. The said reinstatement policy came into force in 1979 but the applicant's application was not discovered in the course of work till the 8th September 1981, a wait of two years.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to raise two matters under this amendment. The first concerns the HDB's implementation of its policy on joint balloting. It involves a constituent bearing sales registration No. C4265912 who was eligible for joint balloting for adjoining flats in the Bras Basah Complex under the joint balloting scheme. Before the balloting for 4-room flats in the Bras Basah Complex on the 12th January 1980, the applicant found out from the Resettlement Department that his father's application had been recommended for the reserved flats in the Bras Basah Complex. The applicant further found out from the Sales Section that both his father's and his applications were Nos. 1 and 2 on the reserve list and that rejected flats would be offered to the applicants on the reserve list. It must be pointed out that both applications were live applications at this stage and it was learnt that there were as many as seven rejected flats in the Bras Basah Complex. Indeed, it was confirmed in a letter dated the 2nd July 1980 by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Development to the applicant that there were a few rejected flats in the Bras Basah Complex. Instead of being offered the said flats, the applicant and his father were offered three-room flats in Bukit Merah which were, however, rejected. In March 1980, the applicant and his father were told that there was only one flat left in the Bras Basah Complex and they offered it to the father on condition that, on such allocation, the priority accorded to the applicant bearing sales registration No. C4265912 was to be cancelled. The applicant was hence unfairly treated by the imposition of the said condition.”
“Sir, any decision made by the Registrar under clause 6 must be an administrative decision, and any appeal to the Minister from the Registrar's decision and the consequent decision made by the Minister himself must also be an administrative decision. If the hon. Member for Anson says that some fundamental legal rights are involved in these decisions, there is nothing in this Act or in the amendment to prevent anybody from going to the law courts. They can still go to the law courts because there is nothing here which says that the Minister's decision shall be final. Even if the provision says that the Minister's decision shall be final, if any fundamental rights are infringed, any member of the public can still go to the law court for the purpose of asserting those rights. So nothing is really taken away.”
“Resolved, That this Parliament doth agree with the Committee of Privileges in their Report contained in Paper Parl. 3 of 1982, and that Mr Speaker do reprimand Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam, Member for Anson, for his dishonourable conduct and contempt of the House and do warn him. Ordered, That Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam do attend in his place forthwith. - [Mr E W Barker]. Mr Speaker then called Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam by name, and Mr Jeyaretnam standing up in his place, Mr Speaker, sitting in his Chair, delivered the following reprimand: The House has expressed its agreement with the Committee of Privileges in their Report contained in Paper Parl. 3 of 1982 and has decided that you are guilty of dishonourable conduct and contempt of the House under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act (Chapter 49) for having raised a matter in the House in which you had a direct personal pecuniary interest without first disclosing the extent of that interest. Upon the instructions of Parliament, I reprimand you for your dishonourable conduct and contempt of the House and warn you against committing similar breach of privilege in the future. JUDGES' REMUNERATION (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 3.55 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this is a sad and unfortunate situation. As the Hon. Minister for Law has pointed out, this is the very first time in the history of this House that we have such a Motion moved in this House to censure a Member of this House. It need not have come to this, Mr Speaker, Sir, because the hon. Member for Anson, as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court, should have known better. All he had to do was to tell the House that, due to an oversight, he had forgotten the requirements of the Standing Orders relating to the declaration of personal pecuniary interest in any matter raised in this House and to apologize to the House. I am sure hon. Members of this House would have taken a lenient view of it and, due to the fact that he was a new boy, would have just cautioned him and let him off. But now, listening to the Member for Anson a few minutes ago, it is quite clear that he is recalcitrant. He is not prepared to withdraw or he is not prepared to own up that he might have been at fault. He still stands by what he had said before the Committee of Privileges - that what he had done was not wrong, that he had not derived any personal pecuniary interest in those cases that he had raised in this House - and invited the Committee and also this House to pronounce once again as to whether what he had done was right or wrong or whether what he had said before the Committee was, in fact, true or false. The finding of the Committee unfortunately amounts to this, Mr Speaker, Sir: that he had not told the truth before the Committee. The Motion as it stands lets him off lightly. I think we are treating him with unnecessary leniency but I would support the Motion as it stands. Question put, and agreed to.”
“The Japanese appear to have avoided the horrendous side-effects of the Western social security systems. There is a statistical darkness, Mr Speaker, Sir, surrounding the condition of the aged and the disabled, and much work remains to be done by the Ministry of Social Affairs to throw needed light on a dark area and to measure the enormity of the problem. If this premise is accepted, the question then is whether the Ministry of Social Affairs is adequately staffed with the technical expertise to monitor the situation of social distress and to adopt measures for their redress. For far too long has the Ministry of Social Affairs remained the Cinderella of the Government departments. In fact, the sum of $14.56 million allocated for Social Welfare in the Main Estimates represents a mere 0.29% of the total recurrent expenditure of $4,578.93 million in the Budget and I notice that there is no Development Estimates for the Ministry. If we are to further improve the social condition of the weaker sections of our society, this Ministry should be adequately equipped so that answers to some of our residual problems could be found. Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Motion. 5.33 p.m. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]”
“The economic strategy spelt out by the Budget Statement cannot be faulted. In fact, it should be justly commended. What is of equal importance is the expression, for the first time I think, in a budget statement of the beginnings or rudiments of a social policy. The words of the Hon. Minister that gave expression to this policy bears repeating. He said the building bricks of our structure is the family unit, closely knit by abiding ties of mutual love and mutual support. Without these strong bricks each bundled to another by lasting ties of mutual respect and trust, the whole structure of our society will crumble under its own weight of intolerance, divisiveness and strife. For our society to remain durable, the old must take care of the young, and the young the old. The able must support the disabled and the destitute, the employers must look after the interest of the staff and the staff must be loyal to their companies. Having thus defined our filial society, the Government must begin to implement it. It is a hard fact of life that families are breaking up at a rate that will soon make us sit up and look for its causes. Increasingly, the old and the disabled are not being cared for by the young, and the rate at which the old and retired members of our society are applying for hawker stalls is now a major problem. What happens then if the young refused to maintain the old? If the State is not to be burdened with this responsibility, an adequate system of sanctions must be devised if the situation is not to become scandalous. In any event, a start must be made to lay the framework of a satisfactory social security system, much along the lines that the Japanese have devised for themselves.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, just a few short points which I feel ought to be made regardless of the fact that they have been touched upon by the other hon. Members of the House. Sir, the Hon. Minister for Trade and Industry has taken off from where he left off last year, and he has taken further steps to loosen the tightness that was building up in the economy. For there are many in Singapore, particularly among those who voted for the first time in the recent elections, who felt that we were an over-governed people. So the Hon. Minister's invitation to the private sector to play a broader and bolder part in expanding the economy is timely and would be welcomed. Indeed if we were to discern the trends in thought and attitudes of the future, trends that are beginning to express themselves in political terms, we would realise that the psychological aspects of freedom would loom large. The accent so far has been on disciplined work, to break the back of unemployment and poverty and also at the same time to transform Singapore from a primarily commercial society to an industrial one. Not an easy transformation at the best of times and in older societies fraught with social tensions and depressions. Coming late to industrialization, we have the benefit of hindsight. We can learn from the experience and mistakes of the pioneers. So all the criteria we have employed to-date are quantitative, our terms of reference by and large mechanistic. It is in the core of this scheme of things that I suspect and fear that the give would take place should the mood of the thoughtful in our society change in the future. The hon. Member for Katong gave an elliptical expression to an aspect of this problem in his inimitable language in this House yesterday.”
“Where the rise in the family income was insufficient to match the general rise in the cost of living due to galloping inflation, there comes a point when the people begin to look to the Government for relief. The hardship is greatest on the old age pensioners and the unemployable. It is a hard fact of life that the old eastern family system is breaking down. The causes and reasons for this are many and complex. It is not simply a case of the Singaporean becoming too westernised. Indeed, I believe the same process is also taking place in Japanese society. So when families break-up and fail to perform their traditional functions, the old and the infirm members of our society are the hardest hit. I am gratified to note from the Acting Minister for Social Affairs' Addendum to the President's speech that he proposes to do something about this problem. I hope that it is not too much to expect his Ministry to move in this matter as speedily as the tax-collecting departments of Government. This House would no doubt go into the specifics of the impact of inflation on the welfare of the weaker sections of our society in the forthcoming debate on the Budget proposals of the Government. Sir, I have pleasure to add my own voice to the chorus supporting the Motion. 3.50 p.m.”
“Unlike the situation in Singapore, a Japanese employee enjoys security of tenure. The characteristic feature of the Japanese employment system which the team found was that terms and conditions of employment were less and less influenced by considerations of the price a worker might get for his skill from another employer in the external market but more and more fitted into an internal structure of relative rankings peculiar to the enterprise and predicated on the assumption of relatively stable long-term employment. Singapore society is unlike that of Japan and before we rush into legislation it is important that we get our priorities right. In essence, what we are seeking to do is to mould men and the relations between men in such a way that the machines can be as productive as possible. Indeed, this is the objective of industrial enterprises everywhere. But when we swing away from the Western model of industrial relations based on antagonistic management-worker postures to the Japanese model of manage- ment-worker teamwork, we must find our own mix to suit the temperament of the Singaporean. "Nothing is for free", is not merely a slogan with us. It is an axiom of policy and, by and large, the people have come to accept the wisdom of this policy. So every time the cost of oil and other materials that affect our daily lives goes up, it is not long before the PUB rates and the conservancy charges are also put up. The constant grouses that one heard from voters during the recent general elections related to the literal doubling of PUB water and energy bills and the rise in conservancy charges.”
“It would be a fascinating and useful exercise to sketch the profiles of the different monolingual types that we have and compare them with one another and with the type that the new education policy is designed to produce. Of equal moment are the impending changes in our Industrial Relations. The SIAPA episode has now become a pilot project. Again, statements have been made recently comparing the British and Japanese styles of conducting industrial relations. Since the Japanese system has been more successful than the British in harnessing the productive energies of the people in present day circumstances, it is an example worth emulating; if only, such emulation would tell our managers how they too can, like Hitachi, by taking thought double their turnover every three and a half years. But the dangers and pitfalls of piecemeal borrowings are well brought out in a comparative sociological study made by Professor Ronald Dore, formerly of the London School of Economics, and his team of British and Japanese researchers, entitled British Factory - Japanese Factory. The Origins of National Diversity in Industrial Relations They make many important points. In analysing the attitudes and assumptions which underlie what they call "the market oriented system of Britain" and the "organization oriented system of Japan", they caution that before one decides that the Japanese system is a good thing one needs to understand how it relates, on the one hand, to the general security of employment in Japan and, on the other, to the general cultural assumptions about the importance of age common in other spheres of Japanese society. It should be noted in this regard that employment in a Japanese corporation is for life.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there are two issues of national concern with which this House would be deeply involved in the ensuing years. They are Education with regard to which a vast restructuring is already taking place, and Industrial Relations, a field in which refor- mation of a similar dimension is about to begin. The structure of both Education and Industrial Relations would determine the ultimate character and texture of our lives. Hon. Members would be familiar with the national discussion outside this House generated by the new education policy. Despite the information and explanations given by the Ministry of Education both on the need for streaming and the desirability of giving double weightage to two languages many parents remain unconvinced by the arguments supporting an examination system with a built-in language bias. They point out with considerable emotion that if the current policy had been effective a generation ago, many of those who are professionals and academics today would not have gained admission to a Singapore university. They point out that if the ends of university education are to produce good professionals and technocrats who would man and run our industrial society, the double weightage given to the languages is irrelevant. If, however, the ends of education are to be more than functional, and value-oriented, in other words, the evolution of a cultured human rooted in his classical heritage, such ends are yet to be defined. There are vague stirrings and periodic statements of an, as it were, ex cathedra nature in that direction. But a coherent philosophy is yet to be evolved.”
“stood up, and addressing himseff to the Clerk of Parliament said: Mr Lopez, I support the proposal. There being no other proposal the Clerk then declared Dr Yeoh Ghim Seng to have been elected as Speaker of Parliament. Mr Speaker, standing at the Table, made an Affirmation of Allegiance. Mr Speaker went to the Chair and sat down. Then the Mace (which before lay below the Table) was placed on the Table. ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS 2.32 p.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, just a few observations on this Bill. It is to be welcomed that at last the Con- stitution of the Republic of Singapore will be consolidated into one compendious volume. At the present moment, to find out what the Constitution of Singapore is we have to look into the Malaysian Constitution and also at various Acts that were passed by this House from time to time. So it is to be welcomed that at last we are going to have one document that will have within itself the entire provisions of the Constitution. But more important, Sir, is the provision that is being made now for the appointment of Judicial Commissioners. While it is to be welcomed, I find it a little strange as to why it should be difficult for us to appoint full-time Judges instead of appointing Judicial Commissioners. Furthermore, Sir, I would also recommend that the time has come for us to develop our judicial system by the appointment of a permanent Court of Appeal instead of having an ad hoc Court of Appeal, so that our Judges would have more time to develop the law instead of being harassed by having to listen to cases at first instance. In this Court of Appeal, our Senior Judges could be appointed on a permanent basis and the new Judges appointed can hear most of the cases at first instance. Apart from that, Sir, I welcome this Bill.”
“After having got it, he applied for another flat in Ang Mo Kio on a purchase basis with the same family unit and he got it. In the meanwhile, he got married and soon his wife and his mother fell out. The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law just could not live under the same roof and the young man's condition was pretty harrowing. So he approached the Housing Board and said, "i have got these two flats. Can I keep my old flat and put my parents in the new one or vice-versa so that I keep the family separate." The answer was no. The Housing Board said, "When you applied for the flat your original family unit was your parents and your sister, whereas now your second family unit is yourself, your wife and your children. Therefore, you are not really eligible for the original application that you made. All you have got to do is to reapply all over again and get back to the bottom of the queue." The fact remains, Sir, that if the young man had been married at the time when he applied for the second flat in Ang Mo Kio and he had applied in the name of his wife and his children, he would have got it today. 3.15 p.m.”
“Sir, I merely want to raise two concrete situations for which provision ought to be made either in the Housing Board's rules or in terms of Housing Board's policies. The first one, Sir, concerns an old lady of 62 years old who has been going in and out of Woodbridge Hospital a number of times simply because Woodbridge Hospital, the place where she ought to be for any length of time, was unable to keep her. Whenever she is out of hospital, she returns to the Housing Board flat to live with her daughter who is a Singapore citizen. As her condition deteriorated she showed a tendency to harm little children, especially her grandchildren, and there was a tendency on her part to throw children out of the balcony. For this reason her daughter had to force her out of the house and made her live on the Housing Board corridors. She soon became a nuisance to the other adjoining house owners who made a series of complaints. One day one of her other daughters who is, in fact, a blue identity card holder came to me and said, "I cannot get a flat but my mother is a Singapore citizen. I am prepared to look after my mother. If the Housing Board will give my mother a flat, I can stay with my mother and I can look after her." Unfortunately, the Housing Board said that they cannot give a flat simply because the mother is unable to form a family unit. I thought it was a bit odd for a reply but I let the matter stand. I think we should make some kind of provision or variation insofar as the rules are concerned to look after this kind of condition. The second case, Sir, involves a young man who applied for a Housing Board and got one on a rental basis. His family unit was his parents and the sister.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the hon. Minister for the hint given and, if the Convent does release the land, we would like to have it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this matter merely concerns a piece of open land next to the Philips factory in Lorong 1, Toa Payoh. I believe, Sir, that this lot was originally reserved for a school, in fact, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. I have been informed (I may be wrong though) that the Convent has now turned it down. It is not interested in that piece of land at all. If that is so, and if there is no definite plan for another school on that plot of land, I would be grateful if the Hon. Minister would consider releasing that land for a community centre.”
“Sir, hon. Members would recall the Government's decision some years ago to allow CPF contributors to use their CPF contributions to purchase Housing Board flats. As a consequence, amending legislation was passed to ensure that HDB flats were immune from legal attachment by the general creditors on an owner in the event of bankruptcy. As hon. Members know, CPF contributors are similarly immune from such attachment. We have now come across some instances, Sir, where the CPF Board has demanded a refund to the Fund of CPF contributions used by undischarged bankrupts to purchase HDB flats. There is no basis in principle or reason for such action on the part of the CPF Board. I would be grateful if the Hon. Minister would review the Board's policy in this regard so that an undischarged bankrupt and his family are at least allowed a roof over their heads. I believe, Sir, that the Official Assignee has got no objection in most of these cases to the bankrupt purchasing Housing Board flats with CPF contributions.”
“Yet we have heard declarations from time to time by leaders from the EEC, the United States and Australia and elsewhere that the collective viability and strength of ASEAN were relevant to the ultimate security of the major democracies of the world. But side by side with these statements, we have also had the activities of the trade unions of these developed countries designed to hamper, if not, prevent the economic regeneration of the developing countries. This contradiction must be combated and the protectionist tide stemmed; otherwise the nascent and growing industries of ASEAN must suffer. This is not a compassionate world. The answer lies in our collective strength. Sir, much will be said in this House in the forthcoming Budget debate on the state of our education system. Hitherto, our education policies were fashioned on an ad hoc basis to meet acute political issues. Only now are we taking the first steps to evolve a national integrated educational system. The tension that still exists between the different language streams of education must be resolved if there is to be orderly and peaceful social progress in Singapore. The various Ministerial Addenda have outlined the directions which Government policies would follow in the future. The implementation of these policies would itself provide the critique to these policies. At that stage, Mr Speaker, Sir, no doubt questions would be raised in this House. 3.00 p.m.”
“In this regard, I should refer to a curious and ironical episode that recently became a part of the Kampuchean tragedy. Hon. Members will recall the international campaign of denigration and vilification conducted by a tribe of European intellectuals against Singapore's success in development. One such intellectual who had been championing the cause of the Kampuchean communists in international forums came to grief at Phnom Penh in the hands of the very people they have characterised as liberators. This is indeed a Southeast Asian reality which the political leadership that is to guide the destiny of Singapore in 1980's would have to measure up to. Hon. Members would perhaps agree that the task ahead and the prospect are not enviable ones, particularly when it is also realised that the governance of Singapore must continue to be carried out openly and democratically. It is in this context that ASEAN is relevant and important. It must stand the test of facing and balancing the emergent Indo-Chinese power structure both on political and economic terms. Further, the world economic recession that is still with us has provided an added reason for the need for ASEAN uniformity in its dealings with the protectionist and parochial trends that are shaping up in the economic policies of the major democracies. There is here a contradiction, to use a polite term, between the words and deeds, the protestations and practices of our trading partners in the EEC, Australia and the United States. The recently concluded air transport agreement between Australia and Britain is the latest manifestation of this trend.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I also support the motion standing in the name of the Member for Serangoon Gardens, and I express my sincere congratulations and best wishes to the President on his re-election for another term of high office, wishing him also continued good health for many years to come. Sir, we as a nation have reached a crucial stage once again in our progress towards a modern, stable and open society in which our people are able to organise their work and pleasure in safety and relative freedom. That we have been able to build up economic resilience in the context of a hostile environment and at the teeth of communist violence without at the same time having to jettison the democratic procedures of Government is no mean achievement. The test of strength between us and the communists is a continuing one, with no sign of abatement but with every danger of the contest becoming complicated by the dramatic changes that have taken place in the power structure of the Indo-Chinese states. It is important that we, as a people, understand the implications to our security of the cynical roles played by the big powers supporting the different parties in the Indo-Chinese conflict. In the final analysis, the sufferers in all such conflicts are the ordinary people. The harrowing conditions of the peoples of the Indo-Chinese states have been documented from time to time by the international press. This is the fate that we have been mercifully spared. It bears repeating that side by side with our swift social and economic progress we have also preserved our basic democratic liberties, and that had we failed and the communists taken over, the cruel fate that befell the gentle and peaceful people of Kampuchea would have overtaken Singapore as well.”
“Sir, let me confine myself to drug traffickers. Could the Minister confirm that despite the punitive provisions of the present law, the number of drug traffickers are, in fact, on the increase?”
“The woman is now unable to perform her filial duty to her parents who must leave the flat. In the second case, an illiterate man qualifies for a HDB flat but purchases it in the name of his eldest son who has an English education. The father provides the entire purchase price for the flat. In due time the eldest son gets married and seeks to transfer the flat back to his father so that he, the son, could apply for his own flat, The HDB says he could not do it under current policy. In the third case, an unmarried son qualifies for and buys a HDB flat and houses his parents, brothers and sisters. He decides to get married but proposes to transfer the flat to his brother so that his brother could continue to look after his aged parents. He further proposes to apply for a flat for himself and his wife. HDB says, "Under current policy such transfers could not be entertained." Sir, instances could be multiplied to show how an inflexible application of policy resulted in dispossessed families, due to no fault of these families but due only to changes in Government's housing policy. It would serve the ends of Government's policy if greater discrimination was shown in avoiding genuine hardship when the HDB used its powers of acquisition of flats in given situations. Sir, I also join in the chorus of support for the Motion standing in the name of the Hon. Minister for Finance. 6.57 p.m.”
“Sir, I would not detain this House very much longer. Apropos of what I had raised in the earlier debate on the President's address, there are a few concrete cases bearing upon the implementation of the policy of the Housing and Development Board that I would like to raise. Hon. Members would recall that in 1975 we passed the Housing and Development Board (Amendment) Bill which provided, among other things, that the Board may compulsorily acquire any flat, house or other living accommodation, if the owner thereof, his spouse or any authorised occupier, has at any time acquired, whether by operation of law or otherwise, any title to or an estate or interest in any other land. Barring dishonesty, all owners who obtained flats from the HDB did so because they qualified for their flats. At the time of acquisition, they owned no other house or flat. Since obtaining their flat. however, they went on to invest in other landed properties. The amending Act now empowers the HDB to reacquire the HDB flats from such owners who have gone on to acquire other property and to improve themselves. Whilst one accepts the need for empowering the HDB to reacquire the flats in special circumstances, the way in which this power is used in practice has caused hardship. A few cases would illustrate the difficulty. In the first case, an unmarried woman, a Singapore citizen, qualifies for and is given a HDB flat. She lives in it with her parents and sisters, all of whom are permanent residents but with Malaysian citizenship. In due time the owner of the flat marries and moves into the matrimonial house of her husband. Because her husband owned his own house, the woman was asked by the HDB to surrender her flat.”
“We may have to evolve a more authoritarian and patriarchal form of society to achieve the desired end. Whatever the ultimate dispensation, the time has come for us to begin laying stress on non-material values so that human life can become whole once again. I can see no other solvent that could dissolve our acute drug-trafficking and other criminal problems. We shall, I am sure, have time enough during the life of this Parliament to discuss the impact of Government's policies on the social fabric of Singapore. If the basic unit of our society is to be the family and not the individual the Government must rethink its policies on the basis of the family and not the individual. A beginning could be made at once in the practice of the Housing and Development Board, which is unable under current policy to transfer the tenancies of flats from a tenant who dies to another member of the family - say from a dead husband to a surviving wife or in the event of divorce from an erring husband to a deserted wife. The consequence is a dispossessed family. Sir, I shall have more to say of this and related social problems during the forthcoming Budget Sessions. 5.35 p.m.”
“It was a fitting honour to see the portrait of Uncle Ho being carried throughout the capitals of the world'. Hon. Members would see how the question of values, ethical values, are bound up with our security problem. Raman and some of his colleagues had all the benefits of education and progress that Singapore society could give, but they repaid their debt by turning against that same society and calling it the lap-dog of imperialism, The rehabilitation of such benighted individuals to normal life is going to be a long process. They appear to have abdicated their rational faculties and we would need the help of psychiatrists to restore their mental balance. The economic and social categories that we have used in planning the industrialisation and economic development of Singapore are Western. Whilst we have achieved full employment by using these categories, it is also true that their impact on our traditional Asian values has resulted in the progressive break-up of our time-tested family system which has been the foundation for our social ethics. We need only examine some of the assumptions behind our Income Tax Act and the family law provisions of the Women's Charter to appreciate how they are helping to dissolve our family system. Sir, one of the implications of modernisation is that our traditional values have had to give way to the new essentially materialist values of an industrial society and we have ourselves told our people that the only measurable criterion that could be employed in ascertaining the worth of a human being in society is his economic worth, If we accept the inexorable logic of this doctrine, I hasten to say that we would find it extremely difficult to preserve our desirable Asian values in the context of our democratic system.”
“We already see in Cambodia, the incarnation of the ultimate barbarity that Marx had predicted for capitalist societies. What is of immediate relevance to us is that our educational system appears to have produced in the Raman group, men who were feeble enough in mind and character to succumb to Marxist mythology despite the phenomenal progress registered in Singapore in all the major fields of endeavour. In fact, there is a school of thought which affirms that the rate of social and economic change registered in Singapore during the last decade was too rapid to enable our people to make necessary adjustments. This indeed is the Singapore that Raman had thought fit to characterize in a letter that he wrote to Malcolm 10th September, 1974 freak created by British Imperialism. He went on to assert that British Imperialism was culpable for the sins that its lap-dog was perpetrating. The sin that Raman was concerned about was, of course, the Government's consistent policy of detaining communists and pro-communists for so long as they did not denounce and disavow the violence and terror employed by the CPM to achieve its political ends. The Singapore Government was said to be repressive because it repressed the pro-communists in the interests of the people of Singapore. But the present regimes in Indo-China were said to be democratic because the communists repressed and liquidated everybody else. This, in essence, is the intellectual dishonesty that we should expect from Marxist groups. It is reflected in 21st May, 1975 by Raman to Malcolm CaIdwell in which he stated: `the Vietnamese people have given the world a gift which should inspire us to greater endeavour. Our salutes go to all those who are fighting the oppressors.”
“These gentlemen were associated, in their clandestine schemes and activities with foreign communists and pro-communists like Malcolm CaIdwell, who is a lecturer in economic history in the School of Oriental and African Studies. London; Amir Dastan, a Malaysian communist now living in the salubrious environment of Ireland and A. Balakrishnan who runs the Maoist Workers' Institute in London. There are also other minor individuals teaching in universities in other countries. It is significant that all these gentlemen, including the Raman group, live and prosper in countries where parliamentary democracy is an active principle of political life. Not for them the paradise of countries where communist parties have imposed their dictatorships. Sir, post-1917 history has given the world vivid illustrations of how all-powerful general secretaries of communist parties in power have dealt with intellectuals of the stripe of these gentlemen after they have outlived their usefulness. They are liquidated or banished to concentration camps to undergo corrective thinking through hard labour or put away in lunatic asylums. Marxists in opposition in democratic countries talk volumes about democracy and the lack of it in parliamentary democracies; about equality and the lack of it in such democracies and about exploitation and the fullness of it in these democracies. Marxists in power, however, after liquidating non-marxist parties and intellectuals, have ended up by killing off their erstwhile comrades who had doctrinal differences with the clique in power. It should not be difficult for a political analyst to abstract from post 1917 communist history, a universal law that governed the development of communist dictatorships.”
“Sir, the task of formulating our educational and social policies on such selection is, I am afraid, not going to be a simple one. We would have some anxious moments and, if we are to preserve our rational balance and prevent violence in the process, we should learn from the "teachers by negative example" - an attractive phrase. For non-communists in Southeast Asia, the latest of such teachers is Indo-China, in particular Cambodia. Marxist-Leninist dogma which is disrupting much of Asia is a crude and savage European theory. It emerged Out of certain specific conditions that obtained in European society more than a hundred years ago. It is diametrically opposed to the time-tested values of the Asian culture-systems. The horrible happenings in Cambodia demonstrated once again the fate that inevitably befell people who allowed a communist take-over of their society. Non-communists in Southeast Asia must now address themselves to the task of preventing such take-overs. Recent revelations in Singapore have once again high-lighted the nature and enormity of the problem we faced. It involved anti-national activities and deceit. It also involved a pernicious form of intellectual dishonesty perpetrated within the Socialist International by foreign Marxist groups acting in concert with a pro-communist group in Singapore. We have collared this group; but the security problem as typified by it should be grasped in all its aspects. I am, of course, referring to the recent G. Raman revelations that resulted in the arrest and detention of his group of pro-communist collaborators.”
“Let me, Mr Speaker, Sir, say a few words in support of the Motion standing in the name of the Member for Ulu Pandan. The President's Address has dealt both with the nature and scope of the security problem we faced and the premises underlying Government policies in the context of the changing social and economic condition of Singapore. It also dealt, in passing, with the question of the social values that we should preserve and inculcate and asserted that more attention would be paid to "the cardinal precepts of our long proven culture systems". The inculcation of these cardinal precepts; the formulation and implementation of Government policies relating to our economic requirements and the isolation of the political aspects of the security problem are inter-related. In an important sense they all involve the question of the values that are to govern our existence in society. The reference in the Address to "the cardinal precepts" has disturbed some hon. Members as this implied a fundamental difference between Asian and European values on the social plane and, as life in Singapore was already an amalgam in various degrees of Asian and British values, the problem now became one of identification and selection. What were the cardinal precepts of the Asian culture systems that should be preserved so that social and political life remained refined and certain and what were the European values that ought to be accepted by us in the interests of our economic progress. Hon. Members would agree that, whether we like it or not, economic progress and change, there must be in Singapore if we were to solve our continuing employment and security problems on a relatively permanent basis.”
“The Minister's answer has interesting implications, Sir. Can he now tell us how it was possible for Mr Tan Wah Piow to move in and out of several countries and entered the United Kingdom, without difficulty, on an expired passport with an obviously forged extension? He must have had backers not only to foot the bill for his journeys but also to get through Immigration.”
“Everything is relative and all progressive societies are in a constant state of flux, change and evolution for the better, Some new states are lucky in having leaders who have the knowledge and the skill to bring about social change and modernisation peacefully; others have leaders who can only move with violence and repression. For these latter, politics is more a matter of passion and belief than one of scientific precision. Sir, we have, I hope, escaped passion and dogma and have settled down to work with scientific rationality.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, that the depression, recession, (or by whatever other euphemism one may choose to call the phenomenon) of 1973, 1974 and 1975, has left Singaporeans relatively unscathed is a tribute to the collective resilience and organised response of the people and Government of Singapore. It testifies also to the foresight which went into the planning and implementation of the economic strategy that provided the framework which has happily helped us withstand the shocks of the past few years. The problem now is to strengthen the same framework and to enhance the economic security of not only Singapore, but of South-east Asia as well. If we have saved Singapore once, we shall now have to bend our energies, in concert with like-minded people and leaders in ASEAN, to make ASEAN secure as well. The Finance Minister has, characteristically, defined the formula adopted to meet our economic problems as "the tried and tested mixtures". The Government and the public sector are to continue to provide the necessary facilities and services required to sustain growth. The private sector is given the task and the opportunity to increase and diversify production and secure new markets. It is a mesh and a mixture that has hitherto succeeded in releasing the creative and productive energies of the people without undue regimentation. In political terms it has also enabled us to keep extremist and adventurist politics at bay. There are no absolutes in practical politics and there is no such thing as a social framework perfect for all time.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Third time." The Bill was committed to a Select Committee by a Resolution passed by this House. No written representations were received. The Select Committee went through the Bill and made minor textual corrections and some amendments. The corrections and amendments recommended by the Committee are incorporated in the Bill as reported. Sir, I beg to move. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Third time and passed. ADJOURNMENT Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn to Thursday, 20th November, l975."-[Mr Hon Sui Sen]. Adjourned accordingly at Fifteen minutes to Four o'clock p.m. to Thursday, 20th November, 1975. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS RADIO AND TELEVISION PROGRAMMES (Cols 1293 - 1303) VOCATIONAL INSTITUTES (Cols 1303 - 1304) JOINT INDUSTRIAL TRAINING CENTRES (Cols 1305 - 1308) OVERSEAS TRAINING SCHEME (Cols 1307 - 1308) INDUSTRIAL TRAINING SUBSIDY SCHEME (Cols 1307-1308) INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME (Cols 1309-1310) DOCTORS' ATTENDANCES IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS (Cols 1311-1312)”
“I must also point out that the laws relating to hearsay, corroboration and the reception of caution statements were originally fashioned and laid down by the great judges of the common law in the context of jury trials when juries had at all times to be guided by judges on how to decide fairly without caprice or prejudice. Now that we do not have juries a greater latitude should be left for the free exercise of judicial reasoning and discretion and, insofar as this Bill achieves this; this House should welcome it, particularly so where over the years we have enacted laws that have in some measure taken away the business of judging questions dealing with rights of our citizens from the judiciary and placed them in the hands of the executive. This is a derogation from the judicial power under our Constitu- tion and may well be ultra vires and void. This, however, is a different question and I shall have occasion to expand on it in this House at the appropriate time. Mr Speaker, Sir, if all of us do our work properly under these Bills, it is conceivable that the provisions we seek to introduce today may work out to be more humane to an accused person than it otherwise is today. Sir, I support this Bill.”