S. Vasoo
Singapore
“I would like to ask DPM whether the public as well as the Government-linked companies would be looking at some ways in which jobs could be created to absorb some of the older workers. In the longer term, I think job creation will become an issue, especially when many of the industries in the manufacturing sector are going to hollow out.”
“Our recruitment has been excellent over this past period and our attrition has been relatively low. But I am realistic enough to know that it is not just because of the Ministry of Education, the economy has helped a lot. I believe that I have answered most of the questions posed by Members.”
“Can I ask the Minister of State, when he claims that the LRT is of world-class standards, but the Member for Sembawang is complaining that there are so many frequent breakdowns, what world-class standard are we talking about?”
“May I ask the Minister whether the viewpoints of the commuters and the private bus operators will be solicited in his review? Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, we are in touch with the private bus operators and we would definitely take the views of the public into consideration in the context of the overall framework of the public transport system.”
“It would be the last resort, as the Minister has put it, to institutionalise persons because, by institutionalising them, one breaks them up from the family, and family dynamics are disrupted. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that we have other means of rehabilitating young persons and juveniles within a community setting.”
“All the time, we emphasise on marriage as a partnership. We also accept, as one of our core values, the family as a basic unit. It is, therefore, desirable that the wording, at the beginning of this Bill, should reinforce this value. Under clause 13, the Minister will have powers to exclude certain classes of persons.”
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“I hope that the Ministry would, in five years' time, consider recognising the legal status of these Chinese physicians who will have completed five years of stringent training under the new Diploma Course. Secondly, I understand that many medicines which are used in Chinese medicine such as huanglian (Coptis chinensis), xionghuang (red orpiment), huangbo (Phellodendron), pengsha (borax) etc do have considerable curative effects on certain diseases. However, the Ministry of Health fears that they may be misused and imposed a total ban on these medicines. This is indeed regrettable. Since a good number of poisonous and prohibited drugs can be used in Western medicine under control, the Ministry of Health should consider allowing the Chinese physicians who have qualified through five years of stringent training and passing the examinations set by the authority in Chinese medicine in China, in five years' time to prescribe these prohibited medicines. I think this will be of great help to the development of Chinese medicine. Thirdly, I think the Government should also consider and study the possibility of giving recognition to the professional status of the Chinese physicians who have qualified through the system of unified admission, unified curriculum, unified examination, and even unified award of Diploma, and also to legislate against the unlawful practice of Chinese medicine by unqualified people. Sir, I understand that the Governments of China, the United States of America and Japan had already legalised or semi-legalised the practice of Chinese medicine, and allow the Chinese physicians to enjoy legal recognition. In ASEAN, the governments of Indonesia and Thailand have recognised the practice of Chinese medicine, as provided for under their Constitutions.”
“I would like to find out from the Minister what are the steps that are being taken to upgrade polyclinic services in the city area. Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC)( In Mandarin): Sir, I am the adviser to two major organisations of Chinese physicians in Singapore. This is the third time I am raising the issue of traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese physicians during the budget debates in this House. Two major organisations of Chinese physicians - the Singapore Chinese Physicians' Training College and the Institute of Chinese Medical Studies have already adopted appropriate measures to raise the status of traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese pysicians in Singapore. On 9th March this year, they have officially entered into a cooperation agreement to implement a system of unified admission, unified curriculum, unified examination and unified award of diploma for a five-year course in traditional Chinese medicine to train the future talents in traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Physicians. Only those with a full certificate in the G.C.E. "A" Level or equivalent qualifications may apply for admission to this Diploma Course. This unprecedented cooperation will help in the development of Chinese medicine in Singapore. I believe this is the first step in our efforts to enhance the status of Chinese medicine in Singapore. It is a good start. Therefore, I urge the Minister for Health to actively consider the following suggestions: First, I hope that the Ministry of Health will further assist and support the organisations of Chinese medicine and Chinese physicians in Singapore, especially in the training of Chinese physicians.”
“Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate. I share many of the viewpoints raised by Dr Michael Lim on the need to deploy more resources for preventive health care. I would like to point out that about 15% of health care expenditure is directed towards primary health care. If you ask me whether this figure is reasonable, I would say that it is, but more could be done to deploy resources in that direction. With changing lifestyles, health disease patterns are changing and there is a need to alert people on how they could take preventive steps in meeting their health care needs. This is important because if people do get admitted into hospital finally, it is going to cost more money to the taxpayer. Prevention therefore is better than cure. I would like to persuade the Ministry, in fact, to take active steps in moving in this direction. Community care, as suggested by my Parliamentary colleague, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, would be an answer but it is still expensive, because you have got to build a number of community hospitals. It will need a small catchment. It can organise various services in that direction to meet preventive health care, but it may not necessarily be that effective. So I would say that there is a need to address this problem. At the same time, the population in the city centre is ageing. The demography is changing. The polyclinics in these areas need to be upgraded. They are in a state which imposes great difficulty for accessibility, or as an attraction for use by the older population. I feel that there is a need to review the services, particularly polyclinics, in the city area to meet the changing needs of this greying population.”
“Sir, I would like to point out that there is still this basic concern about affordable health care, particularly for class C and B2 patients. I hope the Minister will give the assurance that the charges, particularly for these two classes, will remain as affordable as possible.”
“Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, I share some of the viewpoints brought up by the GPC Chairman for Health. Sir, there is still a nagging concern about health care cost. This is particularly so with families that have older and aging parents. When they are treated for illness and are hospitalised, the cost is likely to be quite high as the illness can be protracted. Therefore, one needs to find alternative care approaches to deal with this growing problem. As we all know that we are moving into an aging population, I feel that the health care delivery system will help to address this crucial issue in the near future. Sir, I would also like to draw the attention of the Minister that the Health Care Review Committee has, in fact, made a number of recommendations which are positive and directed at capping health care costs. This is in the right direction. I am also pleased to note that Medifund has been established to help those who are unable to foot their medical bills, and they will be helped at all costs to meet their health needs. There is a need to implement one of the crucial recommendations by the Health Care Review Committee and, that is, to conduct medical audits as quickly as possible. And I would like to ask the Minister to what extent has this medical audit process been implemented. Sir, I note that there is a growing demand for class C and B2 wards in terms of admissions and there is also a high occupancy rate in these classes of beds. There has also been a concern raised by the people that there is a need to improve the facilities, particularly for B2 and C class wards where they hope that the services provided and the charges will remain affordable.”
“Sir, the previous system of booking allows the applicants to plan ahead, whether they get the house in three years, four years, or even five years. I would like to suggest to the Minister to consider bringing back in part this booking system. It can be a hybrid of booking and a ballot. People can queue up for booking and if they feel like going for balloting, come out of the booking queue and ballot. I hope the Minister can consider this.”
“Although HDB claims that after three ballots, priorities are considered for this group of people, theoretically, and also from the number of cases that I have known of, there are people who have gone for balloting for more than three times and are still unable to get their flats. Perhaps the demand of flats in those areas they have applied for may exceed the supply. At the same time, this in a way creates the impression that they are participating in a lottery system, and this is a common saying amongst the people who are participating in this booking system. I am thinking whether the HDB is looking into further ways to improve this allocation system. The other very basic concern facing families, particularly in the 2- and 3-room flats, is the prices for resale flats. Because resale flat prices today have gone up very much higher than what they can afford to pay in terms of cash outlay. The loan policy of HDB is based on the posted prices. These posted prices are far below the market prices that are available. Because of the wide discrepancy, many of those who want to upgrade, particularly the 2-room and 3-room families, find it difficult because they need to have additional cash outlay from their pockets. I would like to find out from the Minister of State whether HDB is, in fact, reviewing its loan policy, in order that it could allow more families to benefit from upgrading into bigger flats. Dr Ho Tat Kin: Sir, I agree with what Dr Vasoo says. The present system of booking for flats by balloting is very uncertain. Many of the unsuccessful applicants are very frustrated by the system, because they cannot plan ahead. They do not know when they can get a flat.”
“From what I know, the six blocks of flats in the Whampoa area were built way back in 1963. The built-in area of each unit is 48.93 square metres. Compared to a 3-room flat built in 1985 it is smaller by about 13 square metres. Furthermore, a newer 3-room flat has a second toilet and a store room, and the kitchen is very large. I feel that if we want the residents of the older estates to share the progress of our society, then the Government should consider the addition of a toilet and a store room as a basic necessity in the standard package of upgrading for 3-room flats. At the same time, the owners of these 3-room flats should be given higher subsidies and lower cost-sharing. By so doing, I believe we will be better able to improve the living environment of these residents. Next, I would like to ask the Minister what arrangement he has made to help the residents settle the mode of payment and the terms of loan available to them. I believe that there are still a small number of residents who cannot afford to meet their share in the upgrading cost. Under such circumstances, how will the Government help them? Dr Vasoo: Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to talk on housing allocation and loan policy. Sir, the HDB has introduced a new allocation policy, that is, the new booking system as well as the walk-in selection. I am thinking whether this allocation policy itself is satisfactory. How is it working? What is the feedback received on this allocation system? What I was given to understand is that there are a lot of people who still feel very frustrated with the allocation system because some of them continuously go for balloting, but they still do not get the flats.”
“" I hope that these three Opposition Members will behave like Mr Chiam See Tong and wait patiently in their queue. On the other hand, Mr Low Thia Khiang is more realistic. He knows that his constituency will have to wait a long time in the queue, and so he has decided to strike a compromise. Like what they say in the Hokkien dialect: " No fish, shrimps will do (Half a loaf is better than no bread)." So he requested the Minister of State to consider approving partial upgrading. The reply by the Minister of State was very appropriate: "When you perform a surgical operation, you must complete the operation at one go. You cannot leave the scalpel inside the body, and stitch back the wound. That would be too troublesome." So, his answer was very clear and appropriate. I am afraid Mr Low will have to be more patient. Wait for a long time and he will get what he wants. He has to queue up, just like the others. Sir, here I would like to report to the Minister what I have gathered by way of feedback during my block visits. First, almost all the residents expressed the desire to have an additional toilet. Or, at least to separate the toilet from the bathroom. We have, from time to time, to answer the call of nature, especially in the morning when children have to go to school and the adults have to go to office. There is always this problem. In circumstances like these, there are a lot of inconveniences. If there are more members in the family, then the problem is even greater. The kind of tolerance one has to exercise in this situation is simply beyond our words. Residents will not be able to make good use of their precious time. Under certain circumstances, if they cannot go to the toilet in time, it may even create family squabbles.”
“For this upgrading programme, the people who pay the money will get more than value for money. From what the Minister of State had said, it would appear that the residents will get back ten times the value for the money they are paying. Take the 3-room units for example, the owners pay only 10% of the upgrading cost under the "standard package". This can truly be said to be money's worth. The downward adjustment of the owners' cost-sharing is good evidence of the Government's care and concern for the lower income families. This will ensure that the lower income families can better afford the cost-sharing and the flat-owners need not worry about the implementation of GST. As for the town councils, the Government will bear the cost originally meant to be borne by the town councils. This is indeed hard to come by! Our burden will be lightened and we can use the savings to improve the facilities in our housing estates. From the reaction of the Opposition Members over the last two days, we can see that they are also very concerned and interested in the upgrading programme and are rather apprehensive about it. In fact, they are like "ants on a hot pan". Of course, in their position, they may say that this is a vote-catching stunt of the PAP. But, there is one thing which Mr Chiam See Tong has forgotten, that is, the object of this upgrading programme is to improve the living environment of the people, and it serves as a gesture of rebate to the people. This is something which gives no cause for criticism. Other PAP MPs will also have to take their turns and queue up for the upgrading. Mr Chiam and the other three Opposition Members will also have to queue up. As the colloquial saying goes, "Wait for a long time and you will get it.”
“Sir, I share the points raised by Dr Tan Cheng Bock. What I would like to add is that the facilities in the old housing estates are poor and old, and there is a need to look at how these facilities could be further improved. Young people who are living in these old housing estates, particularly the housing estates in the city area, want to leave these estates because they are not very attractive. At the same time, the type of flats in many of these old housing estates in the city area are 2-room and 3-room flats. There should be plans to see how these housing estates could be further improved and I would like to find out from the Minister of State whether there are plans or priorities given to upgrade the estates in the older housing estates, particularly in the city area, that is, Tiong Bahru GRC itself. Mr Choo Wee Khiang( In Mandarin): Sir, the statement made by the Minister of State, Mr Lim Hng Kiang, on 10th March with regard to the upgrading of old housing estates is indeed most welcome. It reflects the Government's intention to share the fruits of our economic success with our people, particularly the lower-income group. At the same time, this is also a kind of reward to the people for supporting the People's Action Party. This gesture of the Government is of great significance and has far-reaching effects. Here I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the Government for the special consideration given to the residents of the Jalan Besar GRC (Kallang Division). On behalf of the residents of the 6 blocks of flats in my Constituency which will be among the first batch of old HDB flats to be upgraded in this exercise, I would like to thank the Government for the efforts taken to improve the living environment.”
“Government has to come out with a more effective action plan to deal with this problem. And I think the earlier we set up a monitoring system or even a hotline to deal with this problem, at least to identify which are the pockets that profiteering seems to be rampant, it might in fact ease off the potential urge by various quarters to profiteer. So strong deterrent actions such as cancellation of business licence, as suggested by my parliamentary colleague from Ang Mo Kio GRC, and prosecutions against offenders could be instituted. Sir, the final thing that I would like to bring up is the need to encourage people to save more. Since GST does activate savings, may I recommend the Minister to consider exemption from tax the interest derived from the first $100,000 savings in any bank, besides Post Office Savings Bank. This will provide further incentive for people to save and to also participate in building our economy. Sir, with that note, I support the motion.”
“An additional annual direct financial support of $100 may help them a little. Sir, the small-time pensioners would also be more adversely affected, and the increase of $30 of the Singapore Allowance is so small and really not worth arguing about. The Minister could be more generous, and perhaps a $50 allowance will reflect a better recognition for the plight of the small-time pensioners. Households with more dependants, Sir, particularly those with school-going children, are more likely to be hit by the GST. More rebates to cover school and food expenses have to be considered. In the case of small businesses, they are likely to be caught with some increase in the administrative cost to implement GST. They may also face a little cash flow problem as they have to pay upfront for their goods to be re-exported. It will be helpful to small businesses, which form a useful part of our economy, to be given a one-time grant for the administrative set-up of the GST collection. We also need to ensure that the period of reimbursement for payment could be shortened so that it could ease their cash flow problem. Sir, in order to arrest the regressive nature of GST for the lower income group, it would be more useful to grant GST exemption to hospital charges, public transport, rice and oil. I see no reason why this cannot be done. Is there a cogent argument against this? Is it not administratively feasible to look into this, so that we will be able to reduce the impact on the lower income families? Sir, on the question of excessive profiteering, most of the ground feedback is that people are concerned about the pending rampant profiteering that will come about before the GST is implemented. There is much talk about this than GST itself.”
“In order that GST can go down well and be consumer-friendly, it must be started off well. Current taxpayers must have, at the end, in terms of what the Minister has stated earlier in his Budget Statement, a net gain when GST is implemented. If they are worse off in the year of implementation, then the GST would leave a negative impact as a start. The Minister has assured that the majority of the people will not lose out. I hope that this will be the case and not just on paper. However, Sir, I am sceptical about this, especially when excessive profiteering spirit is unleashed and the impact on the consumer will be adverse. The compensation package to cushion the effect of GST on the working class will be outweighed by the surge in increased costs by excessive profiteering. Sir, to cushion this, it may be advisable to consider a further $100 rebate per annum for 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-room families. Or, perhaps, one may for the next five years consider pegging the rebates on the basis of some inflationary index. Sir, I also have a number of other concerns regarding the Budget Statement. What are the implications to retirees, pensioners and households with more dependants? How would small businesses be affected? Why are some goods not exempted? What effective actions will be taken against profiteering? Sir, the retirees, pensioners and households with more dependants will be affected most by GST. Retirees with little or no savings require a higher compensatory package to cope with the anticipated increase in cost of living. The present rebates and financial assistance are inadequate and may not reach them at all, although we have suggested a system through the CCCs to assist them. I hope that this plan could be implemented more effectively at the grassroots level.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, I would like to commend the Minister for Finance for the tax changes introduced and the implementation of GST. Sir, I know you will agree with me that we need to generate resources in order to provide better quality of health care, housing and education. To sustain these services, we need to continue to have economic growth. If we do not, many of these services, their quality and standard, will go down. In many countries where there is this problem of generating economic growth, they run into budget deficit. This is the reality of the situation that we will have to look at, and we will have to grapple with and manage. As a case in point, the Opposition parliamentarians run town councils. They still have to generate finances to manage their town councils. I am sure they do not give excessive rebates or refrain from imposing high fees to run the town councils. In short, I do not think they provide a free service to run the town council. These are some of the realities that we see. It is fortunate that in the context of Singapore, we have been able to have good economic growth. Because of this, we have been able to sustain and improve the quality of our social services. This is because we have good government and good leadership to manage our economy. In the context of our good economic situation, I am thinking whether the Minister for Finance would have been a bit more generous in trying to provide the various rebates and support to groups that will be seriously affected by the change to our tax system. Sir, I am not sure that the consumers or the taxpayers know what GST is all about. It is a foggiest idea to them, and all they know is that it is another tax system.”
“The other concern that I have is the people who are sitting in the committee verifying and assessing the applications. Would there be a wider representation of community leaders or would the committee comprise mainly people who are within the hospital system? I want to argue that a broader representation of people from the community itself, particularly community leaders assessing the cases, would provide probably the best input in terms of the cases that are being reviewed. Mr Umar Abdul Hamid (Ang Mo Kio GRC)( In Malay): Mr Speaker, I support the Medifund Bill. I would like to say that the proposed Medifund scheme is very timely. As Singapore moves on to further development and progress, we cannot ignore the inter2ests and the health of its population. A healthy population will bring about a more stable development and economy for Singapore. Mr Speaker, I welcome the Medifund scheme because it would reduce the burden of needy, poor families in meeting rising medical costs. Furthermore, the Medifund scheme would act as a safety net for every citizen, rich or poor. Every citizen, rich or poor, should not be denied access to quality medical care. Mr Speaker, the Government has been a responsible one. It has spent a lot of money introducing various schemes, medical and otherwise. I would like to propose a further improvement to this scheme. May I suggest that the criteria for approving disbursements out of the Medifund should not be too strict, so that more needy families could enjoy them. On the other hand, we should also ensure that the scheme would not be abused in the manner suggested by Mr Low Thia Khiang, because if we are not cautious, the scheme could well result in unfairness.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I must say that this Medical Endowment Scheme is a very innovative scheme so far. With the growing number of the single unsupported aged in our community, particularly those living in estates that are greying, there is an urgency to see how this scheme could be implemented as quickly as possible. I agree that the principle is to assist those who really need the fund, but the question is whether those who really need it will get their needs addressed as quickly as possible. I think we should be concerned about the time lag from the time that a person applies to get the fund to the time the decision is made. And if the scheme is indeed to help those who really need the support, then I feel that they should be given the Medifund support as quickly as possible. Otherwise, one would find that various types of means tests are applied by the bureaucracy. If applicants are made to wait unnecessarily longer, then I think the scheme would lose its credibility. Sir, the other question that we should address is the question of how flexible the scheme is. I would like to ask the Minister whether, besides the essential criteria that are established in the Bill, the scheme would be compassionately applied to people who really require it but they may not necessarily be citizens, ie, those who are permanent residents. Will they be eligible to apply? For those who really are rooted in Singapore and who have spent a large part of their years contributing to Singapore, we should see how the criteria should be compassionately applied and the necessary support given to them. I would like to find out from the Minister whether other more specific eligibility criteria will be spelt out to provide access to Medifund.”
“Is the Minister of State aware of some public complaints that the prices of flats in the last five years have increased quite dramatically? They feel that these flats may not become affordable in future. How does he propose to advise potential buyers in addressing such a problem?”
“Sir, would the HDB be reviewing its loan scheme for helping low income families to uplift themselves in the light that there is a wide discrepancy between the posted price and the actual market price and that many of them cannot furnish the 20% cash outlay?”
“I feel that they should not be discriminated because they are still our children who are studying in special schools and, to all extent, equal treatment will have to be extended to them. I hope the Minister will be able to look into this matter. Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M( In Malay): Mr Speaker, in August 1991, as the Member for Potong Pasir had mentioned, the PAP contested the General Elections by proposing Edusave as a plan to raise the educational standards of Singaporeans and to enhance our education system. Mr Speaker, Edusave is one of many programmes that the PAP Government had proposed in past elections. And as far as I can remember, PAP is the only party to have contested the elections on a platform of plans and programmes meant to uplift the people and improve the economy. I cannot remember any other party having done the same. And it came as no surprise that today we heard the representatives of SDP and the Worker's Party opposing this programme.”
“Sir, thank you for allowing me to join in the debate. I would like to rise in support of the Bill. I see that the Bill provides the enhancement of educational potential of all our children in Singapore. The argument by the Member for Hougang that there is a disparity in terms of allocation of resources between ordinary schools and independent schools does not hold, because one has to examine whether the schooling children are discriminated based on their income backgrounds. I think that children of working class backgrounds do get access to the system, both the ordinary secondary schools and independent schools. On the scholarship scheme that is being accorded to independent school children, one has to ask whether children of working class backgrounds do have access to such a scholarship. The scholarship is applicable to children of working class backgrounds as well as other children of better-off backgrounds. Therefore, I see that there is basically no discrimination because access is based on performance and results. And children of all backgrounds have access to this scholarship, be they in independent schools or non-independent schools. What I would like to say is that, in response to this enhancement of children's education, I hope that we do not forget that there are children who are less endowed. There are children who are in special education and they are our children. I hope that this Education Endowment Scheme could be extended to children who are in our special schools, particularly the disabled children who are now studying in these various special schools. What I would like to ask the Minister is whether the benefits will be extended to this category of children.”
“Will the Ministry review the 20% downpayment requirement for new purchase flats so that the problems faced by rental applicants in applying for such flats will be reduced to some extent?”
“Sir, may I ask the Minister two supplementary questions? Is the current new booking system working better than the old system? Are there plans to address the concern about increasing prices of HDB flats?”
“Sir, is there a plan to privatise or restructure the hospital?”
“Besides the Upgrading Programmes that the Ministry has in mind, would the HDB be prepared to look at small package programmes for improvement of older housing estates?”
“Sir, thank you for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, the HDB's Upgrading Programme has generated tremendous interest among residents, particularly residents of older housing estates. Although I would agree with my Parliamentary colleague that Teban Gardens is old, the housing estate where I am associated is older. If you go to Tiong Bahru, Bukit Merah, Henderson housing estates, and ask the residents, Sir, many of them would say that they are looking forward to the implementation of the Upgrading Programmes. I think the older housing estates deserve much closer attention because there are visible deteriorations of the precincts and there is an urgency to look into how the problems could be solved. Sir, in the last debate we have discussed the implementation of such a programme. But it seems that it would take 10-15 years before the Upgrading Programme would be implemented in my constituency. With the passing of the Bill, I am wondering whether there would be a subsequent review in terms of increasing the upgrading tempo to ensure that people would not have to wait that long, particularly people who are living in older housing estates like those in my constituency. The other matter that I would like to ask the Minister is whether, instead of waiting for such a long period for improvements to the precincts to be implemented, there will be marginal or small package programmes to improve perhaps the facade of the house, particularly the windows, the corridors, the doors and the kitchen balcony windows. If you go through some of these estates in my constituency, you will find that many of the facilities have deteriorated. There is an urgency to see whether these facilities could be improved.”
“Sir, I am not really convinced that in giving incentives to people it does not help the nation to save on health costs. By encouraging people to be on a programme to keep themselves healthy, the nation will, in a way, save cost on expenditure. In many companies where they have this wellness programme, results have shown that there are less absenteeism and less people taking medical benefits. I think the same philosophy could be applied by giving people incentives so that in the longer term we are encouraging a healthy and proactive behaviour.”
“People who are above the age of 40 are most likely to get into all kinds of illnesses -- stroke, heart disease and other related illnesses -- we may perhaps allow them some rebates. Maybe credit it to their Medisave account. In the longer term, if they are hospitalised, they will be able to utilise some of these funds that are credited to their Medisave account. In this way, we are encouraging people to ensure that they keep themselves healthy as long as possible. How do we then ensure that they can participate in such a scheme? Perhaps a scheme like the IPPT where they can be assessed and certified to be healthy. People who are certified to be healthy for a period of time, perhaps on a yearly basis, they can be given some incentives, say, a rebate which can be credited to their Medisave account. This has not been attempted. It is quite a radical idea and I think it is important for us to look at it, because we are only rewarding people who become ill to a great extent. They are hospitalised, they need to be treated, which is in a sense providing thorough health care. We are not in fact trying to see how people who are keeping themselves healthy can be encouraged to do so further. This needs serious review and I think the Ministry should look at it, study it carefully to see whether a scheme such as this can be implemented. If it can be implemented, then in the longer term, we could help reduce the Minister's worry about increasing health care cost.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, if you speak to any lay person on the street, you will see that the basic thing that they are concerned about is health care cost. Health care cost has been a recurring theme. I am glad that the Ministry's Health Review Committee has come up with recommendations to control health care cost. Sir, I would like to focus attention on the need to direct more efforts on preventive health care. If you look at the Ministry's budget, about 70% was spent on hospital care. Only 10% was spent on primary health care. The amount has not changed significantly over the years. Though the Minister may disagree with me, I think the efforts have not been directed in that area. We have moved quite a fair bit into high-tech medicine. I feel that we should look at providing basic health care and controlling cost and, if possible, we should review the ward classes that we have. Maybe three ward classes would be sufficient -- A, B and C -- instead of the present ward classes that we have at the hospitals. Sir, if we spend more effort in preventive health care, I think in the longer term we will be building up a healthier population who would need less to be hospitalised and, therefore, health care cost can be reduced to some extent. I would like to suggest that more efforts be directed at helping people to become more pro-active in terms of keeping themselves healthy and fit. There is no incentive at the moment for people to keep themselves healthy. Perhaps a health care rebate for people who keep themselves healthy would be essentially a good thing, that is, for people who keep themselves healthy.”
“One need only walk down Telok Ayer Street to see the historical accretions over a long period of time, and these are all assets. They are all part of our cultural assets. So really the task is not just to say Government spends more money, buys more objects, gets more curators, gets more expertise, more airconditioning, more dehumidifiers. I think the real challenge is how to get the message down to community leaders, to businessmen, to our school children, so that with each generation our cultural depth will have thickened. 1.45 pm”
“I was very pleased to hear that there were discussions between the Federation of Clans and NTU about the possibility of returning the old Nanyang University (NU) administration block to the clans for them to develop a museum about Chinese migration. And I think that is a very interesting story to tell because the voyages, the wanderings of the Chinese people had been one of great achievement and great sorrow. And if you can tell a good story, I think it would meet an important, I would say spiritual, need of the Chinese people, not just in Singapore, but Chinese people worldwide. The President of NTU, Dr Cham, is prepared to return the administration block and the Yunnan Garden back to the clans. The Federation of Clans has expressed interest, so they are now conducting a feasibility study. Government will extend some assistance but the major part of the work will have to be done by the clans themselves. I have also had informal discussions with some members of the Malay community, just a few weeks ago, about the possibility of doing the same thing for the Malay community, because they too have a very interesting story to tell. They are drawn from all over the archipelago -- the Buginese, the Makasarese, the Javanese, Minang people, Achenese, and so on. Also the Arabs and the Indian Muslims. There may be a chance that we can also get them together and do something for themselves. And, indeed, I hope not just the Chinese and the Malays, but also the Indians, the Arabs, the Jews, even the Armenians, if there are any left in Singapore, will also do something, because somewhere in their long wanderings, some of them who had come to Singapore had left their marks here. Even though we are a very small country, small population, we are an incredibly complex society.”
“Now that the basics have been satisfied, we should worry about the less tangible side of social development and it is for this reason that the National Heritage Board would be formed. Our museum development plan calls for the development of three museums within the next ten years. The Singapore History Museum which will incorporate what Dr Vasoo has suggested, the story of the struggle for survival, the Second World War, and so on. Then we are having the Fine Arts Museum at the old SJI building. At that Fine Arts Museum, we intend to do what Mr Peh has suggested which is to have special spaces dedicated to some of the very great artists of Singapore, like Dr Chen Wen Hsi. In addition, we are going to have a Museum for Asian Civilisations with three separate sections within it, one on Southeast Asia, one on East Asia, and one on South and West Asia. It will take a long time and a lot of money to build up the exhibits. Government can spend the money, Government can hire the curators, Government can get the expertise, but that itself does not achieve our objective of implanting in Singaporeans a sense of history. That takes much longer and that takes the enthusiastic participation, not just of Government, but of the business sector, of our schools, of everyone, and really our efforts should be multi-pronged. We should direct it not just at physical development but also in education and in developing a tradition of collecting and of making contributions for public enjoyment and for public education. I hope that, in addition to having our national museums, the different community groups could also seize the initiative and develop their own museums and cultural centres.”
“On the other hand, I hope that the Ministry of Information and the Arts would consider setting up some mini memorial halls in the new Art Museum to commemorate artists, such as Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsi, Tan Chong Swee, Song Nam, Pang Shou, etc. I am sure that members of their families would be very pleased to donate some of their works to the Museum so that their magnificent works could be appreciated by the people. I hope that the Minister for Information and the Arts would give us a positive reply on this suggestion. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, I am very grateful to Members for their great support of our museum activities. Like Mr Goh Choon Kang and Mr Peh Chin Hua, I too was very distressed when I heard of Mr Low Chuck Tiew's donation to Hong Kong. But I asked around and found out that, in fact, he did have a long association with Hong Kong and there might be good reasons why he made the decision he did. I do not think we should second guess him. But having said that, there is no doubt that we could do much more to attract Singaporeans and also non-Singaporeans to make donations to our museums. We must learn how to honour them in a gracious way, in a thoughtful way; how to make sure that the things they gave are properly looked after, properly displayed, though they may be stored from time to time, they should also reappear from time to time and the donors informed, that we bring them in as friends of the museums. All these we must do. There is a lot of work that we have to catch up on. And this is inevitable because in the last lap of our national development, we had to concentrate on the basics, which was to put food in the stomach and a shelter over our head.”
“I feel that a documentation of this and a separate section be made available and our Struggle for Independence Museum would be enriching for the young. It also provides a basis for us to relook and review history and to enrich the sentiments and the lifeline for our young. Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC)( In Mandarin): Sir, like Mr Goh Choon Kang, I was very distressed when some time in the middle of last year, a Singapore art collector, Mr Low Chuck Tiew donated his very precious art collection to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Fortunately, subsequent to this incident the Government announced that it will be making an overall plan to develop Singapore into an international art centre. This good news has immediately prompted a local couple, Mr and Mrs Tan Kim Chuang, and a prominent local architect, Dr Ho Kok Hoe, to generously donate some works of art, which have been in their personal collection for many years, to our National Museum. This illustrates the point that so long as the Government attaches importance to these works of art, there will be people donating them. I feel that, apart from Mr Goh Choon Kang's suggestion that the Ministry of Information and the Arts should set up a special department to deal with Chinese calligraphy works and paintings, the Ministry should not only collect these valuable works but make arrangement for these works of art to be exhibited regularly to the public. In addition, there should be an incentive scheme to give the donors due commendation, such as naming an exhibition hall after the donors, or give them a National Day Award.”
“Sir, I would like to advocate the establishment of two museums, basically the War Museum and the Museum for Struggle for Independence. I feel that these two museums are critical for us in the sense that for the War Museum, it is necessary for us to document some of the atrocities of war, particularly, the atrocities that our citizens had suffered during the Japanese Occupation. I would agree that we would not like to relive through some of these sad episodes, but to be very good reminders. It is educational for our young at least to be able to preview some of these things and that it will provide them as reminders about the past and the events of the past which many of our citizens had suffered. This is critical, Sir, because we should have to carry them through the corridors of history, at least contemporary history, in the sense that our young will be able to know what it means to have suffered through war time. Some of us who are here have, in fact, experienced the atrocities during the Japanese Occupation. Our parents had suffered one way or the other, some more grievously and others had suffered life and limb. This is essentially necessary as part of our history. The other museum that I would like to advocate is the Museum for the Struggle for Independence. There are contemporary historical events that we need to document because, over time, the young may need to be provoked, to be cajoled, to at least look at the contemporary history of Singapore. And during the struggle for independence there were a lot of events that our pioneers have contributed and if you ask any young person to name who are the ones who have struggled for independence, I am sure many of them are not even aware of the heroes and the pioneers behind this.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head R be reduced by $10 in respect of Code RD 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, there is a need to review whether the Oral History and Archives Department can be made more accessible. With a lot of documentations of history which are very important, there is a need to see how it could be popularised to a great extent, and whether there is any plan to re-house this section of the Department to a more convenient place so that school children and others do have an idea of what is provided and better access to the usage can be encouraged.”
“Sir, I am not really convinced that by opening the libraries earlier there will be no usage. Can I suggest that he could start, as a pilot project, with the library in my own constituency, which is the Bukit Merah Branch Library, to see whether it will be useful and monitor the usage pattern if the opening hours of the library are extended?”
“Sir, the library services have improved quite dramatically over the last few years. I feel that it is time to review whether we should bring library services to the neighbourhood where smaller libraries could be made available. There are a lot of young children who, because of safety and accessibility, may not be able to travel quite a distance to the central libraries. If we are going to promote better reading habits, and the earlier use of library facilities, such neighbourhood library facilities will be very useful indeed. Having a good library is not sufficient, Sir, because one needs to review the opening hours of these libraries. I think there is an urgency to assess this because we have mothers who are working during the day and we have a growing number of senior citizens who need to use the library. They have, in fact, sounded to me that many of these libraries do not open in the early hours of the morning. If we are going to popularise library facilities and allow maximum use of them, there is indeed an urgency to review the opening hours of libraries during the weekdays and weekends. I hope the Minister, in considering the extension of these libraries, will look at the opening hours of these libraries.”
“Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for his response and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. 1.00 pm”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head R be reduced by $10 in respect of Code RB 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, we are spending quite a lot of resources in relation to running national campaigns, and I would like to find out what is the impact of these campaigns and whether the money spent has produced the desired results that we are expecting. I feel that there is a need to give a new burst in terms of creativity, and to try and see how campaigns can be angled differently in order to persuade and encourage more people to participate and who are concerned about national issues. I would like to find out from the Minister what is the cost benefit of the campaigns that we have run so far.”
“Sir, I would like to also say that as long as the censorship remains within the confines of "R(A)", we will leave it as it is. If sufficient cuts are enforced and the programmes are well received by the public, then I withdraw my amendment, Sir. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“So this is something that we have to be watchful of. But on the general issue of censorship, Dr Ker Sin Tze will answer.”
“I spoke to an American consultant recently. He took one look at SBC's programming. He said it is very static compared to American television programming. I think once we move into a privatisation regime, there will be far more liveliness and there should be an improvement in the standard, in the variety of television broadcasting. But there is a problem, as the Member has raised, that competition tends to lead to a lowering of standards. It is like films. When we relaxed censorship, the market went downwards. So there is always a danger that the market will move towards the popular taste and will go downwards at the expense of minority broadcasting. And it is for this reason that we will always need regulations and we will always need some public financing, regulations to ensure that documentaries, educational programmes are not neglected, that minimum requirements are laid down. Public financing will be in two forms - through general taxation and by licence fees. Will licence fees go up? I would say not on account of privatisation because the whole objective of privatisation is to make us more efficient. But fees would still have to go up from time to time to match rising wages. That is inevitable. To achieve good regulation, a statutory board will be established and the details are being studied now. They should be ready by the third quarter of this year. I would like to add here that with satellite broadcasting, there will also be an increase in pornographic broadcasting, and this was a point raised to me by the Chairman of the BBC recently when he was on a visit here. He said that, now with greater competition in Europe and with satellite broadcasting available, there was competitive pressure towards soft pornography.”
“A friend sent me an advertisement the other day of antennae now being sold in Saudi Arabia where they also ban dishes. These antennae are in fact Yagi antennae. They look like normal TV antennae, except that they point into the heaven, rather than horizontally. So within five, ten, fifteen years, it will be well-nigh impossible for us to stop satellite TV from coming in. So either we take the plunge and say, okay, the competitive arena has changed, this can no longer be a semi-protected market, going into the era of international competition, and we move into it decisively and deliberately, or we take a reactionary approach and say, well, we try to keep the water from coming in. You can try to keep the water from coming in for a while, but by various crevices the water will find its way in, and the water level is gradually rising. So we have to swim with it. In India and Pakistan, they have quite poor state television. And because of that, there is arbitrage. Now, many people are buying dishes to tune in to Star television which is beamed from Hongkong by Li Ka Shing's company. And there are six channels now. When I was in Pakistan recently I turned on the television set in the hotel and we received all kinds of channels, including a Mandarin channel beaming SBC serials. So really, if we do not privatise, the competition will eventually swarm us. The ground is eroding and it is for this reason that we are decisively pushing SBC towards a different structure and organisation. Mind you, they are not very keen about it because the present protected position is very comfortable, but we have no choice. Having said that, I think privatisation will make SBC more dynamic. It will force its programming to be more responsive to public taste and changing attitudes.”
“If you ask around, many people feel that the move towards relaxation of censorship over the one and a half years has led to the surfacing of soft pornography in Singapore. If you walk to any cinema today, you will be able to see this. This has increased, I must say, in many cinemas. Many of them are screening shows from Hongkong, although I was told that it has been curtailed recently because of public outcry. Nevertheless, if you walk on the streets, you would be able to pick up some of these pornographic publications. So, if there are no brakes, no controls, then the values and orientation of our young will be affected. I want to find out from the Minister whether there is a deviation of our censorship policy. Are we going to allow more soft pornography to be introduced in Singapore and more publications be allowed to come in? What controls are we going to implement? Sir, I would like the Minister to respond to these few key issues. The Minister for Information and the Arts (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Sir, on SBC privatisation, I think we have to take a step back and ask ourselves why we need to privatise in the first place. The point really is we are forced by technology and by the pressures of international competition. We have no choice. 4.08 pm [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] We have three SBC channels now. We receive three channels from Malaysia. There may be one or two more coming up. Indonesia may also introduce one or two more channels, and then there is satellite television. Right now, of course we control satellite dishes. We do not allow them for private households. But this really is a withdrawal battle because the dishes are getting smaller.”
“The other question to look at is whether privatisation will also lead to having an impact on the educational and cultural programmes which are at the moment not diluted. There will be less availability of such programmes that are going to be screened. I think we have to examine all these very critically in the process of privatisation of broadcasting services. The other area of concern that is much talked about is the censorship policy. Sir, over the past one and a half years, we have moved quickly to liberalising the censorship policy. There is a public perception that we are now beginning to be more relaxed in terms of the whole question of censorship on publications, films and other related media. This relaxation, though, can be sensational. It will have tremendous influence in terms of the value orientation of people and in the longer term. Sir, while moving to a very relaxed policy, are we opening up the Pandora's box? Though one may argue that we are moving to a very mature society, the question is, when do we pull the hand brake? And who is going to pull this hand brake of censorship, if it is allowed to relax further? I see that the whole issue of censorship has serious impact on the moral values of children. I can cite to the Minister hundreds of literature which point to this direction that films of violence, soft pornography and various other "exciting" materials, one may call it, have got serious influence on the value orientation, particularly of the young, whose whole orientation may be affected. They have a choice because the TV could be turned on, but the choice should be made by the adult population on their behalf.”
“Thank you. Sir, the topic followed very closely is the privatisation of broadcasting services. Many people are concerned whether the licence fee for broadcasting services will be affordable. Will a large group of people be priced out? I do not know whether they will eventually have to go to the community centre to watch the shows. This is quite a serious issue, Sir, because privatisation, although it does bring efficiency, a service like this, which is a public good, has its implication when it is privatised. The question is that of affordability and people are looking at this very critically and they are concerned about this. I understand that SBC television, and particularly broadcasting services, will be run by a Government-linked company. The Government's policy is that when it wants to privatise, it would want to encourage a number of companies to be involved. I want to know whether other private companies are allowed to be given a licence to operate and manage broadcasting services. This will allow the consumers a wider choice in terms of the stations that they want to tune in and the access to the various stations that will be available. The other more important issue that we have to look at is this whole question of the implication of the quality of the programme and its impact on the young population. How is SBC going to monitor this, especially when you are going to privatise the whole service? As we all know, value formation and moral values can be transmitted through this powerful media. What controls are going to be enforced to make sure that the programme itself is going to be of quality and that it reinforces and builds up the moral fibre of our society?”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head R of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, I have two cuts. Can I take one after the other?”
“This requires the attention of the Minister. Sir, Singapore's physical landscape has evolved so much that someone who has been to Singapore 20 years ago would not be able to recognise Singapore today. Singapore's transformation is more than skin-deep. We have more and classier shopping complexes. Our people are eating better to a point that they are more conscious of what they eat today. More of our children are going to schools and doing well. These are both signs of an affluent society as well as symptomatic of a costlier society. While there are changes all round, something appears to have been able to withstand the test of time. For one, the most recent adjustment to the personal income tax relief allowable to an individual was 20 years ago. In this age and time, the total relief of $3,000 allowable to an individual is stretching the dollar a little too far. Sir, I do not intend to be drawn into the debate over the cost of living for Singaporeans. Enough has been said about this topic. Rather, 20 years and subtle changes to Singapore suffice for consideration to revise this meagre sum. Sir, I urge the Minister to consider my proposals, given the ramifications of consumption tax to be presented some time later. The consumption tax would give the Government a surer and a broader tax base. Concomitantly, it would also burden citizens with a higher cost of living. Given that, a higher amount of personal tax relief is justifiable. Sir, I would like to support the motion of the Minister. 4.10 pm”