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.”
The complete record
Every one of 879 lines we hold for S. Vasoo, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 18.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I shall be short and sharp. Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the relevant amendments that have been made. They are useful amendments because, with the aging population and many of those who have very small accounts in their CPF, such a move for voluntary contribution would help to provide support for them. This is indeed timely because they can meet their old age needs, in terms of provision of social security. Sir, we need to provide a boost to make this scheme more successful because voluntary contributions between account holders may be helpful to an extent, but there are others who like to make cash contributions to their family members and friends. For such contributions, it may be necessary to provide some incentives for those who contribute under this scheme by way of tax deduction. This will perhaps encourage more people to transfer savings in their accounts to help others who are in need. Sir, a lot of them, who are not covered, have very low CPF accounts. The question is whether voluntary contribution itself is going to make any significant difference. I would like to ask the Minister whether there are any other efforts or plans in which he would boost or reinforce this voluntary contribution. The other aspect is the Special Account, Sir. The transfer or top-up of $40,000 in the Special Account is very useful. But what is of most concern to many people is that they need medical support for their old age. And to lock in such an amount in the account which cannot be moved, is not in a way helpful, particularly to those who are old and who require medical treatment. I would like to ask whether people who are participating in this scheme by topping up their Special Account can be allowed to move some of their money to the Medisave account.”
“Sir, in short, why are we not responding quickly?”
“We will be able to reduce the social divide in the community and people will participate fully in community building. I hope that the funding formula and support for the voluntary sector could be reviewed and the Minister for Finance would be able to think of ways in which he can urge and encourage people to do more.”
“But how can we help them to have a better mileage, in terms of contributing to the community? What more than by providing them adequate funds to enable them to achieve the missions and objectives to do public good. This is an area where we should examine seriously, in terms of what support we can give them. Sir, some of these organisations are affected by spending a lot of time in raising funds. I suppose more than 70% of their time is spent in raising funds and 20% in terms of service delivery, thinking about what and how they can plan ahead. So I hope we can relieve them of this fund-raising burden. It is not easy to raise funds today, because many of us are all the time approached by many organisations, persuading us to do what is possible, and many of them are very supportive. I hope that people will continue to do so, but there is a threshold to how much we can do. And the heart of the matter is that volunteers and others can do things up to a point. But Government must demonstrate its capacity to do more and should be encouraged to do a little more so that it could inspire more volunteers and people in the community to contribute to this common good. To reduce the problem and burden of fund-raising, it is necessary for the Ministry to persuade the Ministry of Finance to increase grants for the voluntary sector. I would like to persuade the Minister for Finance to see whether the CDC funding formula of $3 to $1 could be applied to the voluntary sector, ie, for every $1 raised, the Government will give $3. If it is matched by that formula, then I think the voluntary sector would be able to do more and the community would be able to benefit in the longer term.”
“For many of the voluntary organisations, their facilities need to be upgraded and I see that some of the facilities are really down to the pits. So what we have to do is to see what can be done in terms of providing grants for them to upgrade their facilities. I assert that more could be done in this area. Sir, I know that moral support alone is insufficient. I can understand the Minister's predicament. He has been persuading the Ministry of Finance, year in and year out, to get more funds and since the Minister for Finance is here this afternoon, I am glad he is here, I see that it is important that he be persuaded to support community building cause and to note that the funds that he will be releasing is in terms of investment for the social infrastructure. It is the people that we are looking at, ie, community building and community cohesion. We want to prevent social divide in the community. If the community is divided, how could we harness them to be productive people? Sir, almost every sector of the community is important to us. Whether they are the able or disabled, I feel it is important for us to find ways to support them. And I hope that next year the Minister for Finance would be better persuaded to release more funds. I am sure my colleagues would agree with these suggestions and persuasion. 1.00 pm Sir, I hope that the Minister would consider this matter seriously. And I hope he is not suffering from compassion fatigue but able to see what he can do to boost the voluntary sector as well as the Ministry of Community Development. Sir, increasingly voluntary organisations are also encouraged to provide more and more services. We ask them to develop programmes. We persuade them with all good intentions and purposes. Many of them want to do good.”
“Sir, I feel we should ask ourselves one basic question. Are we giving enough help to the voluntary sector? I am sure Members would be able to assess this. They have been involved in the various voluntary sectors and encouraged people to participate in various voluntary activities. Sir, my own assessment is that, yes, we have given some help to a certain extent. Moral support and encouragement, plenty. You and I can give all this to the many organisations. But this is insufficient. Just appeal to the hearts and cajole people is a good thing, but it is insufficient because a lot of efforts go into the raising of funds, to run projects and to translate ideas, interests, concerns, into concrete programmes. If you assess the financial grants given to voluntary organisations, I would say that some are given, perhaps a little. Let me tell you what has been provided to the voluntary sector. First, you have the matching grants for various programmes. It is up to 50% for selected programmes. The voluntary organisation has to raise the rest. It is a good thing, but how much can you raise because a lot of organisations are competing out there for funds, including the CDCs today who are also in the scene competing to raise funds from various people. And you and I are being cajoled all the time. It is good if we can help. But I think at some point, many of us could suffer from compassion fatigue. But, nevertheless, we should do something for the community. For capital grant, I think there is good mileage because organisations get up to 95%, but these are for a few buildings, and new facilities and other developments. This is an interesting development and I must say that the Ministry has given support in this aspect.”
“Sir, on the area of juvenile delinquency, questions have been asked whether juvenile delinquency is a serious problem. There are differing views on this, Sir. The youth agencies will say that the problem is a growing one. The crime control agencies say that the problems have been contained. I assess that the problem of juvenile delinquency is a multi-faceted one. It requires a concerted effort to tackle the problems through the levels such as the family, the community and the schools. We have to take tougher measures and a more concerted effort at different levels to tackle the problem. The Children and Young Persons Act, particularly the section dealing with juvenile offenders, has to be revised. Sir, at the school level, there have been concerns about the disciplinary problems of students. Many schools have reported that there are juvenile delinquency problems and they have been trying to tackle the problems. There is a need to examine whether we should ensure that there is better discipline at the school level to deal with these problems. What is important is also to empower the teachers in the school to deal with the problem because we have to identify some of the early problems of students who are vulnerable to juvenile delinquency. The school can play an important role and it should be empowered to deal with this disciplinary problem at an early stage in school. I want to ask the Minister what steps are being taken to make the Children and Young Persons Act more effective. Perhaps he may want to explore the possibility of empowering those teachers, who are playing a policing role in school, to refer students with juvenile delinquency problems to the juvenile court so that the problems faced by schools can be tackled early.”
“The Minister has not responded to my point on assistance for retrenched workers.”
“There is a large talent pool out there and many of them can contribute further to our society. There is a case to see how their talents and expertise could be tapped and redeployed and how they could be helped to be re-engaged in our society to continue to be useful members. Sir, in time to come, we will also witness that there will be less carers available because of a declining population. On average, the family-size will be less than 2 children. Many of these children will be left with the problems of the burden of care and we have to see how these dependent family members can be supported through a strengthened support network within the community itself. Sir, in the light of this acute greying scenario, the Ministry should take a lead role to implement a more comprehensive plan to meet the challenges posed by our ageing population. Sir, what comprehensive and coordinated plans are going to be put in place to deal with the ageing problems more effectively? This is an important issue that we have to deal with because there are more and more families that will be affected by this problem out there. We still require many of these family members to contribute to the economy. We need to find ways to lessen their burden and there is an urgency to find a better coordinated effort to deal with this greying issue of Singapore.”
“On the area of care for the aged and dependants, Sir, this area should receive serious attention although we have been discussing about this area for a long time. It has been attended to by a number of ministries, ie, the Ministry of Community Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour which deals with retired workers. So there are a number of ministries involved in this whole issue. There is a need for a more coordinated effort to examine this whole area of care for the aged in a more comprehensive manner. Although there is a Committee which is studying into this whole issue, there is a need for one ministry to orchestrate, manage and direct the whole plans for the care of the aged. And this is very important because you require a single agency to set directions to deal with a problem, the greying problem of Singapore, in a more comprehensive manner. Sir, in the next 10 years, at least 15% of our population would have aged. Population ageing will pose an acute challenge to our society. I note that in my meet-the-people sessions there are increasing numbers of families who are requesting for help for the dependent aged and particularly the aged who are sick and disabled. Many members of these families are working. They work in different sectors. It makes it difficult for them to render assistance, ie, the care and support to their aged parents who require special care. With all the goodwill and intention, Sir, many of these families run into serious stress and problems. It is important that we examine these issues very closely and see how this whole problem of the care of dependent aged can receive the kind of service delivery which would be effective. Sir, more people are also expected to retire.”
“In anticipation that more older and unskilled workers are likely to be affected by retrenchment, it is helpful for the Ministry to put in place additional measures and plans to assist them. Some of these retrenched older workers, particularly those with less skills, may be less employable. And I foresee that there will be this group of people who require help. They may face hardship. I would like to find out what additional contingency measures that the Ministry will be taking to help older retrenched workers.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head J of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, having heard chickens, eggs, fishes and other related issues, we will move to people and people-orientated issues. We should pay more attention to social and community development. I think this is very important, because we can reduce the social divide amongst people. We need to enhance community building. Otherwise, there will be abrasions in the community amongst different groups and, therefore, it is essentially necessary that we pay very close attention to the area of community building. Sir, the social health of Singapore society varies directly with the degree of Singaporeans' civility. The more civil we are, the more caring we are, the more cohesive the community will be. My parliamentary colleagues and I join the Minister to urge the Ministry of Finance to deploy more resources to the Ministry of Community Development, so that they will be able to undertake more programmes for building a more cohesive community. I think this is important because there should be more resources to be allocated in the area of prevention of social problems and in helping to build better communities. Sir, in terms of the preventive programmes, we should pay close attention to this. There is a need to invest in people. I feel there is a need for more resources. We are not asking for handouts but it is important to invest in the social infrastructure. And this is crucial because it is in the interest of building a better community, a better social health of the people. Sir, I now turn to the assistance for the retrenched workers.”
“We will have to encourage a more saving culture so that we will be more consolidated and be able to manage even in difficult times. Sir, on the question of training for workers, particularly older workers, companies that have older workers should be given tax rebates for training of their workers besides the funding from the Skills Development Fund. The Skills Development Fund is not comprehensive to cover various grades of workers. An additional tax rebate for companies which take active steps to retrain older workers should be considered. The present incentives are cosmetic and not serious enough to step up the interest to train our workers. It is important to encourage some of these companies to think about more innovative ways to retrain older workers. And I am sure the Minister could be a bit more liberal and provide grants and support to companies which are more positive and prepared to undertake the retraining of older workers. On that note, I support the motion.”
“When this happens, consumers would have to carry the brunt as they have limited alternatives to purchase services, other than telecommunications where there has been competition in telecommunication services. A number of operators have come in. Prices have been reduced and I am sure you would agree with me that it would be a welcome change to have a number of other operators to provide public services so that they can give the monopolistic private sector services a run for their money. I must say that the interest of the consumers must be protected and regulatory bodies must be established to make them accountable. I read with much concern the comments of the Public Accounts Committee which stressed for more accountability of corporatised public services and statutory boards. It is high time that the Government imposed some controls on them so that the interests of the consumers are safeguarded. I think this is very critical at this stage of growth and there is a need to ensure that there is good accountability from these various corporatised public service bodies. I want to find out from the Minister whether these corporatised public service bodies are efficient in making surpluses or cost effective in providing services. This is essentially a very important issue that we would have to review and examine. Sir, on incentives for savings, we have to encourage Singaporeans to save more, and not to spend money that they can save. The spend culture will make us more indebted and economically vulnerable. We cannot expect to be a strong society if we have low reserves. I would like to urge the Minister to give incentives or rebates to those who save.”
“These pensioners have given sterling services to the Government during their time and it is about time that we gave them an uplift their life and their shoe-string income. And this is particularly the case for those without children and immediate relatives. I think they do deserve our attention and we should provide the best of support we can give for this group. Although there is an argument that there is the Singapore Allowance, I do not think that the allowance together with their meagre pension would reduce their burden at all. I feel that the Minister should give very close attention to this group of low income pensioners. Sir, the other issue is to look at the effects of corporatisation. In the last five years, Government has corporatised various public sector services. The question we should ask ourselves is whether the corporatised public sector services are achieving their objectives. Are these corporatised bodies efficient and effective? I think it is very important to review their performance at this stage. Sir, a number of public sector services such as health care, telecommunications, power and gas, and broadcasting have made their presence felt in the last number of years through corporatisation and restructuring. They set charges and commit huge expenses. A lot of them spend millions of dollars. All these decisions have implications on the consumers, namely, cost and efficiency of services. In short, one cannot ignore that these public services must be affordable to the majority of the population. Sir, I must say that there is always the temptation that these corporations strive to make high and mindless surpluses, as they do not want to show up as inefficient.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I heard a very refreshing and interesting speech by my parliamentary colleague, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, but not the speech and viewpoints of the NCMP. That aside, I know that you are functioning on a very tight schedule. So I shall be very precise and raise a few issues. Sir, I would like to state that this year's budget is rather prudent and I expected some giveaways for low-income families, but there are less giveaways this year. This is understandable as the economic situation is expected to be tight for the next few years. However, I would state that it would be better to maintain a status quo in terms of the budget, rather than to increase other related charges because there were off-Budget charges which had been implemented earlier such as electricity, medical and property charges. The increases which have been announced by some Ministries and restructured Government bodies have increased the burdens of the households and companies. These increased charges should be reviewed as they were implemented before the economic downturn. I hope the Minister, in his off-Budget proposals, would take this into consideration. Sir, such practices should be carefully monitored to ensure that the budget is not jettisoned out of course. Sir, I would like to touch on a number of issues. First, is the plight of the low income pensioners. The pleas of low income pensioners have been heard by the Minister many a time. I hope he will not just hear but act to bring some relief to the pensioners. It is high time that we revised the pensions of very low income pensioners, particularly those whose pension is very low and meagre, much lower than the public assistance rate.”
“Sir, as a follow up to my earlier question, if the school bus operators were to increase their charges unnecessarily, what action would the Ministry take?”
“Sir, can I ask the Minister whether the Ministry has done any survey on the impact on the cost of goods and services to consumers with the implementation of ERP? Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, we have not done any detailed surveys on the impact of ERP on goods and services. But the Ministry of Trade and Industry has given us an indication that, all things being equal, there will be a marginal impact on the cost of doing business. Indeed as a result of the massive tax rebates that have been given to businesses, particularly businesses involved in transportation, freight forwarding and so on, hopefully there will be some passing back of those savings to the consumers.”
“I hope that the Minister of State will be able to look into ways to strengthen these provisions further by perhaps, as my learned friend Mr Rai, the NMP, has said, adopting some of the rules and regulations provided for under the Maintenance of Parents Act. If we adopted these rules and regulations, then I am sure the work of the mediation centre will be effective and efficient. Sir, what is also important is to take note that we need to have respectable community leaders, who have integrity and honesty and who are well-known to the community, to serve on these community mediation centres. We need not just have JPs to deal with the problem. If we look around, I am sure there are enough community leaders who have sufficient standing and public interest in mind to serve in these mediation centres. Sir, on that note, I would like to support the Bill.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, this is a very positive Bill in the sense that it will provide a basis to solve community problems, particularly inter-personal problems between residents. In the longer term the Bill, as the Minister of State has pointed out, will also promote community relations. I think there are a lot of problems in the community and between people that can be resolved through mediation. So such a Bill is timely and a lot of inter-personal issues could be resolved through the mediation centre. Sir, what I am concerned about is that this centre would deal with issues based on voluntary commitment and voluntary initiatives of the parties in dispute. This is good for a start. But there are growing numbers of people who cause problems to others and whose problems can only be resolved if the mediation centre has sufficient teeth. And the numbers will be growing, Sir. I think the mediation centres should, in the long term, be given sufficient teeth to deal with these problems effectively. Then there are disputes which are agreed upon. The parties to the disputes finally get a decision or arrive at a mutual agreement. But there are difficulties of enforcement of these decisions or mutual agreements. When this happens and the centre is unable to enforce it, then people would lose confidence in the work of the centre. What I am saying is that it is very important for the mediation centres, at some point, to have sufficient teeth to deal with protracted problems. Sometimes human problems are really protracted and some people refuse to address the issues concerned, and they could cause disharmony to the community. And such people will have to be dealt with, and dealt with effectively.”
“Sir, may I ask the Minister of State whether in the new towns where there is a shortage or inefficient feeder services to some extent, he would consider allowing private operators to operate in such new towns?”
“Sir, I would like to thank the Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the People's Association for the proactive steps that will be taken to deal with community issues and to promote community bonding. Sir, it is important to think about how we can attract good people, volunteers, as well as committed and competent staff to strengthen the work of various voluntary organisations and also the grassroots organisations. I hope the Minister will give serious thought to improve the various service conditions of these people and the volunteers too. On that note, Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“In this connection, it is timely that we should not forget the many people who have committed their life in the service to this sector.”
“Yes. Sir, the next area which I would like to cover is an area of significance and it needs to be highlighted. This is in relation to manpower and salaries. We cannot afford to neglect the salaries and service conditions of the personnel involved in the social and community service field. We need at the same time to attract and retain more competent personnel in this sector. Sir, most of the time, this sector appears to be neglected because we tend to pay more attention to sectors which are productive and contributing to the economy. But I feel that this sector needs the attention of the Government itself because there are a lot of people who are committed to this sector, particularly, in the area of social defence. If social defence is considered to be an important aspect of our Total Defence concept and plan, then we must take action to recognise the efforts of the many social and community service personnel and revise their salaries and service conditions. They are not getting the best deal. In tandem with the various actions and recommendations that have been taken by the police, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education, it is indeed timely for the Ministry to see whether it can placate the Ministry of Finance to review their salaries and service conditions. But the Ministry should in fact have more muscles to take its course of action and make their suggestions or recommendations heard. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister what plans are being taken to improve the salaries and service conditions of the said personnel who are large in number and we are in fact talking about the Community Development Councils and the various promotion activities to strengthen the work of the various grassroots organisations.”
“Sir, of late, there have been some highlights on the question of child abuse. Child abuse is a recurring problem in our society. Every abused child who goes undetected for protection adds a social scar to our community. The Committee of Inquiry on Child Abuse had suggested a number of measures to be implemented to deal with child abuse cases effectively through the joint efforts of the various Ministries, like the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Community Development. Sir, I would like to find out from the Ministry what progress has been made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on Inquiry on Child Abuse because various suggestions have been made to various Ministries on how they could strengthen their coordination work, the early detection of child abuse and the follow-up on such cases identified to have been abused. So it is relevant to find out from the Ministry what steps have been taken to implement the various recommendations that have been suggested.”
“It is only when we understand and appreciate these problems that we will be able to take various preventive and remedial actions to deal with them and therefore as we go along reduce some of the problems faced by children and young persons. In this connection, I gather that the Children and Young Persons Act requires to be strengthened. Sir, at present, the Act is rather limited. A few options are available to tackle the problem. What I would like to ask the Minister is what steps are being taken to revise the Act so that the various provisions of the Act can be strengthened to deal with these new issues and problems.”
“Sir, it is already the fifth day that we are entering into this debate and I am sure Members are still fresh to bring up new ideas and points. Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head J of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, my GPC members and I will be touching on some areas of concern related to the poor and the problems arising out of affluence. These are two important areas which any society has got to deal with. The poor and the less fortunate will still be with us. There are new issues and problems that we have to confront with because of the changing demography, changing family patterns and changing family dynamics. We will continue to persuade the Government and the community to give the necessary support to enable the less well-off to achieve their best. Sir, the hallmark of a civil society is that those who have must lend support to help those who are less well-off. In this way, we are able to promote the overall well-being of the community. Sir, a major issue that I would like to take up is on children and young persons. There is a growing public concern about the problems of young gangs and juvenile delinquency. Much has been debated on this issue and various reports have been made public, and I would not like to dwell further into this area except to highlight that it has become a community concern. There is a need for us not just to prescribe remedy and solutions to these problems but to understand what are some of the factors contributing to this issue that we have been concerned about. There is a need to make a more comprehensive study of the problems so that we can understand and appreciate the various factors that precipitate big problems for children and young persons.”
“I would suggest that in the next Budget to be announced in seven months' time, the Minister for Finance would allocate more funds from the surpluses to give our welfare organisations full support so that we have more volunteers to come forward to look after the old folks' homes, creches and other welfare organisations. If we want to build a gracious and cohesive society, we should have more volunteers to look after our less fortunate people. These volunteers should be extending their helping hand and not begging hands all the time.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this is a fact. Voluntary organisations have not only to raise funds but also to worry about funds. Because the Government has a certain quota for the grant of development and recurrent expenditures for charitable organisations, many civic organisations which have taken over this kind of work have to worry about funds. If they want to extend their facilities or rebuild their premises, the problem is even larger. The Ministry has already fixed a ceiling for such expenditure. But this kind of ceiling must be reviewed from time to time. For example, if a charitable organisation has a recurrent expenditure of $600,000, this organisation will have to look for $300,000, that is, 50% contribution - "co-payment", as in the case of the healthcare co-payment system, in order to prevent abuse. But when civic organisations take over the running of welfare work, they must have the full support of the Government. Since the Government has surpluses, the Government should pay for it. The good work must be financed by the Government and we will be able to do more in welfare work. If you insist on a co-payment in the welfare work, I think it will deter those who are willing to take on welfare work from coming into the picture. Now that they know the Government does not want to pay anymore, they would not dare to take on welfare work. We will then have problems finding volunteers. If we want these volunteers to keep on raising funds all the time, then we are not making good use of our limited resources.”
“Secondly, it will enable those residents who are willing to donate their rebates to these charitable organisations to do so. This is good for bonding the people with the Government and among themselves - the successful and the less successful, and this will be very useful. Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government is now trying to hand over the administration of welfare work to civic organisations. Many of these civic organisations which have taken over the old folks' homes, family service centres, etc, have problems raising funds. They are always short of funds. So they have to start raising funds. That is their first job. The community leaders go to the shopkeepers in the HDB estates to raise funds. Professionals raise funds from the more successful people, and we have more and more fund-raising activities. In the past, every Saturday we walked past the Capitol Theatre, we saw a lot of young people holding metal cans to collect donations by selling flags. Now if you want to raise funds, you cannot depend on the cans alone. You have to use all kinds of devices such as 1900 telephone-calls, the $1,000-a-table charity dinner, and all kinds of lucky draws. The civic organisations have to resort to all these fund-raising activities to help solve their financial problems. Too much time and energy is spent on fund-raising, leaving behind not much time to look after the welfare of the less fortunate people in our society, to help them live a better life. Some volunteers told me that the shopkeepers were afraid to answer their calls for fear of being asked to donate. A businessman told me that he wanted to do charity, but because there were more and more fund-raising demands and the amounts requested were getting bigger and bigger, he just could not cope with them.”
“This year, Singaporeans will receive a lot of rebates on utilities, S&C and rental charges and residents of 1-room to 5-room HDB flats will receive the benefits. A lot of residents do not really know how much rebates they get, and they think it is only a few dollars a month. That is the reason why the Member for Hougang said, "Don't talk too much." But I estimate that every household will benefit by $150. To the lower income family, this is not bad. I think this policy is "pro-people". They not only make the people happy but also grateful. For those who live in 4-room or 5-room flats, they enjoy better conditions of living and they are living quite well. So some of them told me that they feel too shy to accept these rebates, and some of them think that these are small amounts of money which they do not care too much about. I would propose that the Government issue a letter to every household informing them how much rebates they will get and at the same time ask them whether they are prepared to donate these rebates to charitable organisations or grassroots organisations. Because the rebates are to be used to offset their payments to Singapore Power and the Housing and Development Board, we should also inform the residents how much utilities rebate, rental rebate and S&C rebate they are getting. The Government can then liaise with the CDC, the self-help groups and other charitable organisations, the Community Chest so that the residents who are willing to donate their rebates to these organisations could do so. Although this may add to the administrative work of the Government, it can nevertheless achieve two objectives. First, all the residents will understand very clearly how much rebate they will get from the Government.”
“So we will tax those who are more successful and plough back the surplus as a rebate to the lower income group. Does the Member for Hougang not agree with this way of reallocation of wealth? Yesterday, the NCMP also referred to the plight of the workers. He said that some workers had to take on two jobs just to make ends meet. Yes, there might be some workers in Singapore who are doing this. Unfortunately, they do not join our trade unions. If they do, they may come across some good union leaders who can advise them on how to go for retraining and upgrade their skills so that they can get one better-paid job, instead of taking on two lowly-paid jobs. According to my statistics, in July 1997, there are some 9,900 workers attending training courses initiated by NTUC, and in the WISE course, we have 7,200 students. All these people know how to do their work and how to go for retraining in order to increase their ability to earn a better income. These workers will certainly sing the song: "Tomorrow will be better". Mr Speaker, Sir, in seven months' time, we will be debating the 1998 Budget and that will be another budget with surplus. There will be some more rebates for the people, and then the Member for Hougang will say, "No big deal!" But then, how many countries in this world can do this? I would like to make two proposals here. First, the Government should inform every household how much rebate it will get and allow those who are willing, to donate these rebates to charitable organisations. This I will elaborate later. Secondly, the Government should plough back from our surpluses more funds into the charitable organisations for their development and recurrent expenditure.”
“The Minister for Finance announced that there will be a surplus of $4.1 billion in this year's budget. Although it is the smallest since 1992, a surplus is a surplus. As we always say in our greeting during the Chinese New Year " The Minister for Finance has done the same. We have surplus year after year. Just now, the Member for Hougang described the rebates as "pittance". This is what we always say. "If we do not give, you complain. We give, you complain even more." I think the Member for Hougang is a Teochew. So let me use a Teochew saying which, translated liberally, means, "if you do not have, you complain that there is none for you. If you have, you complain that it is not good enough." Mr Low Thia Khiang: Can I seek a clarification? (In Mandarin): "If you do not have, you complain that you do not have. If you have, you complain that it is not good enough." Let me give you another Teochew saying which, loosely translated, means, "No big deal!" Mr Seng Han Thong( In Mandarin): The Member for Hougang also referred to other matters, saying that the workers in Singapore are facing heavy pressure in life. He claimed that the amount of rebates is very small and of not much use. If we look at the rebates, it totals $36 million for rentals. For the utilities rebates, it is $72 million. Which other government in the world can give so much rebates to the people? The Member for Hougang also said that these rebates are only a small fraction of the revenues collected by the Government. This is the way we manage the country. Those who are required to pay income tax are the more successful Singaporeans - about 30% of the population. The other 70% do not pay income tax. So those who can afford to buy cars are, of course, richer than the lower income group.”
“In the past, we have been attracting more investments and promoting automation to improve our productivity. But to invest in more advanced machinery can have certain limitations because our operation processes now are already highly automated. What we have to look into now is how to improve the quality of our human resources to improve our productivity. To improve productivity, we also have to go through training and to change the work attitude of our workers. It has a lot to do with the basic educational level of our workers. All this will take some time before we could see any effect in improving our productivity. In order to alleviate the burden of our people, the Government will have to provide more financial support to the service institutions so that they will not have to increase their charges. By providing financial aid to these organisations does not result in the people depending on Government's subsidy because this does not mean providing free services to the people, but just to make sure that the charges will not go up too much. So I feel that the Government should consider giving subsidies to the following areas: public transport, maintenance of HDB flats, waste disposal charges and university tuition fees. Our people will then not have to bear the very heavy burden in our cost of living. Mr Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, yesterday the Member for Kreta Ayer-Tanglin described the Budget as a "Shenton Way Budget" because it benefits the financial sector the most. I think this is a "Shenton Way Budget" because NTUC is also in Shenton Way and it benefits the workers as well. As for the rebates for HDB residents, our taxi drivers, bus workers and factory workers all live in HDB estates and they also benefit from these rebates.”
“Yesterday, the Member for Jalan Besar said that the Government was sharing its fruit of success with the people by giving rebates in rental and SC/CC charges through the HDB. What he had forgotten to alert the people in his speech was that these are a very small token of return after the Government raises the charges and taxes. In this so-called "pro-people" budget, the various kinds of rebates given by the Government to the people are not very much. The rebates proposed to be given by the Government to the people total not more $400 million. But the various levies to be collected from the people are increased by leaps and bounds. For example, the revenue from licence fees and permits is estimated to be $3,178.4 million. Vehicles-related revenue is $2,197.7 million. GST collection is estimated to be $1,860 million. As such, the tiny bit of rebates provided by the Government to the people is simply paled into insignificance when compared with all the tax revenues I have just mentioned. Sir, as a long term strategy for our economy, I think the Government should look comprehensively into how to reduce the cost of living and the cost of doing business here. The dilemma we are facing now is that if we increase the charges and the wages are not increased, the people will have difficulty in making ends meet. 20% of our salary goes to the CPF, which we cannot touch. A small increase in wages will not be sufficient to defray the increases in charges. On the other hand, if we keep on increasing the wages, the cost of doing business will go up and we will lose our competitiveness. Many people have argued that we could reduce costs by increasing productivity. But to improve productivity will take time.”
“In the manufacturing sector, the problem of rising cost is troubling the SMEs in Singapore and I think the Government should not take it lightly because this might result in many factories closing down. Faced with a situation where the manufacturing sector began to suffer a negative growth in the third quarter of 1996, the Government's reaction was to recommend through the NWC that the workers' average wage increase be restrained to not more than last year's 6.7%. The Government wants the workers to accept moderate wage increases, yet the cost of living here keeps going up. For example, bus fares, MRT fares and taxi fares have increased. Waste disposal charges have gone up, and university tuition fees were raised. Water tariffs will go up by 7 times. HDB flats are getting more and more expensive, and there is this impending electronic road pricing that is sending chills down the spines of the motorists. If the Government does not prudently address the problem of rising cost of the manufacturing sector, resulting in the manufacturing sector not being able to survive or to register positive growth, then there is surely no question of higher wages for the workers. Yet, on the other hand, the Government continues to raise various charges and the ordinary citizens will have to face the serious problem of rising cost of living. Rise in service charges and the cost of living will make life more stressful for the people. This Budget gives the people some $3 to $5 a month, or rebates of $100 to $200 a year. In comparison to the higher charges and cost of living as well as the more stressful life, the giving of these rebates is like trying to put out a burning cartload of faggots with a cup of water. It is an utterly inadequate measure.”
“I would urge the Minister to consider whether a tax offset can be given to this increasing number of families who engage domestic maids to look after their aged parents. The bottom line is that either you build more institutions to look after a number of them or you encourage families to look after the old within their own neighbourhood or community or within the family itself. The option is to enable the families to strengthen the family's capacity to look after their aged sick parents. It is, indeed, Sir, a serious burden that many families have to face. I would urge the Minister to seriously look at this whole issue because it is an issue that we will face critically in future. Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore's economy began to show signs of weakening from the third quarter of 1996. According to the Economic Survey of Singapore, in our GDP there was a negative growth of 3.9% in the manufacturing sector in the third quarter of 1996, and there was -0.7% growth in the fourth quarter, and in the first quarter of this year, there was again a negative growth of 6.7%. In the other sectors of our economy, the building sector, for example, the growth was also reduced from 26.9% in the first quarter of 1996 to 10.7% of the same period in 1997. In the commerce side, the growth was reduced from 10.4% to 3%. In transport and communications, it also dropped from 10.7% to 0.6%. Only the financial services sector performed well and was our star performer for the first quarter of this year. According to the newspaper report this morning, although our external trade has put up a better performance in the second quarter of this year, we do not know whether this trend would continue. It is still an uncertainty.”
“We can do a lot more and I would urge the Minister for Finance to relook at the needs of this group of low income pensioners and see what could be done. I would suggest a top-up for this group of people, particularly those who are receiving less than $300, by increasing their base as this would indeed be a tremendous relief for them. This would be a very good gesture and we should, in fact, do the best that we can for this group of people. The second issue is that we need to be more generous in giving higher tax rebates for families who need to care for their aged sick parents because there is a growing number of families who need to look after their aged sick parents. We would like many of these aged sick parents to stay within the family so that care and support can be given within the family. The number is likely to become very acute in the near future. We need to take certain positive steps to register those who really look after their aged sick parents and they should be given higher relief than the $4,500 which will be generally accorded to normal families who have to look after their aged parents. There should be some differentiation in terms of support to this group of families who are facing quite a lot of financial strain if they were to continue to look after their aged sick parents. I would also like the Minister to see whether a tax offset can be given against the maid levy, particularly for families that are looking after their aged sick. If they hire a domestic maid to look after the aged person and he remains within the household, there may be a case for us to look at how these families could be supported.”
“I am indeed impressed by the fact that Singapore is worked on a surplus budget and this has enabled us to stay economically strong and to be able to counter against various economic contingencies that we may face in the near future. Sir, there are two issues that I would like to bring up. We have this surplus budget and we are doing reasonably well. I would like to take up two issues which I feel that we should be generous about and we could do more. First, despite the revision of the Singapore Allowance for pensioners - the lowest is about $10 and rising up to $300 or so - I would like to say that the impact on the low income pensioners has been very marginal and small. And this is a group of people that we should think of helping them alleviate some of the difficulties that they face. I do not have the figures but I know that there is a sizable proportion of low income pensioners who receive less than $300 a month. If that is the case, many of them are affected by the fact that the minimum household requirement is in fact more than $300. In this respect, I feel that the Minister for Finance should be more generous in trying to see what we can do for the low income pensioners. And I have been, together with my colleagues, advocating that we should review and see what we could do, because many of these people have in fact committed very long years of service to the Government. They have indeed done a lot of public good, supported Singapore during hard times and have given the best of their years of service to the nation. It is important for us not to forget them and the meagre increase in the Singapore Allowance needs to be reviewed.”
“But if we look at it objectively as a whole, the Singapore economy is moving along, although it is not performing as well as it should, but it is performing satisfactorily, according to the various reports and submissions that have been given by the Ministry of Finance together with the economic forecast by the Economic Development Board itself. Sir, what is important for us is to ask ourselves this question: why is the Singapore dollar still strong compared to other currencies in the region? I think that is a very fundamental question that we should ask. The Singapore dollar is very strong because, as the Minister for Finance has said, the Budget that has been planned is based on a surplus budget. And it is always good to work on a surplus budget, rather than a deficit budget. Based on a surplus budget that has been planned over the years, the Singapore economy has remained fairly sound and fundamentally strong. Therefore, that is one of the main reasons why the Singapore dollar has remained quite strong despite recent pressures by forex and other speculators on the Singapore dollar. Sir, we should, in fact, appreciate and commend the Minister for Finance for thinking through far ahead in terms of ensuring that the economy stays on track. Sir, we should ask ourselves whether a budget surplus is really necessarily good for Singapore or we should, like many other countries, look at the basis of deficit, and in many places budgets are worked on the basis of deficit. Many countries have run into budget deficits and they have gone into borrowing, and this has led many economies into serious problems.”
“Sir, the thing that we should look at objectively is that the Budget is a sober one. It reflects the socio-economic situation around and, therefore, it is in response to a slow economic situation that we are facing and hence it is a prudent Budget which has been tabled in this House. I must say that the Budget itself looks at the long term perspective in terms of how we can further strengthen Singapore's competitive edge and its capacity to meet the challenges ahead. Overall, Sir, some financial analysts and people have said that we should count our blessings. We are indeed fortunate that because of our prudent policy, the Singapore dollar has remained quite strong. The economic fundamentals are strong and this is what many financial analysts have said. This is true because if we look around, many of the currencies in the region have been affected by speculation, by socio-economic problems which the countries in the region are facing. And if we take the trouble to explore this and look outside Singapore itself, we begin to realise that many currencies in the region are being battered, and many people have lost money if they had invested in currencies of the region. Sir, for the Singapore dollar itself and the fundamentally strong economic situation and the plans that we have, we have seen that the economy is on track. We have been subjected to various vagaries of other economic changes which we have no control and hence we are naturally going to be affected in some way or other.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, I rise to support the Budget Statement delivered by the Minister for Finance. Some people are disappointed with the Budget, because over the years the tremendous expectations of incentives and various perks have been accorded. With these rising expectations, the present Budget did not provide for these incentives to be given, and it is natural that people have expected more but it has not happened. Therefore, there have been disappointments in various quarters related to the Budget. I personally feel that the Budget is well thought of and has got long term plans in trying to meet the various challenges ahead, and we should in fact thank the Minister for Finance for thinking through a Budget which would allow Singapore to deal with the various socio-economic challenges ahead. The issue is that social and economic environment changes and therefore we cannot anticipate how this is going to affect Singapore accurately, but we must be able to foresee some of these things and therefore the Minister has taken these issues into consideration. I must say that the Budget has not met with the expectations the people have in mind. Particularly those in the manufacturing and industrial sectors were rather disappointed with the Budget that has been presented. Indeed, they have expected more because they were anticipating that the economy would be shrinking, the economy is on a down turn and therefore they expected the Minister for Finance to pump prime the economy in order to stimulate it. But I am sure he does not believe in pump priming the economy at this stage, because there are other prudent measures that have been undertaken by the Minister in his well-considered Budget for this year.”
“Sir, besides IUP and MUP, there are other commuter needs. Why is the LTA not looking at other types of needs other than this tying-up with IUP and MUP?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, while supporting the issue raised by Mr Chng Hee Kok, what I want to ask is why is LTA not proactive in trying to look at some of the problems.”
“In a social and economic marathon, there will always be people who are going to do less better and we want to ensure that they participate in the race and we should find ways to enable these people to achieve and to be in the race. We cannot afford to ignore them. To do so would make our society cold and uncaring. I look forward for more governmental contributions and together with community and voluntary efforts and corporate support, we can do more and help the less privileged and the less endowed. More Edusave scholarships and bursaries could be given to a larger number of families. I think the criteria need to be reviewed so that families that are outside the boundary can be included for help and education can be an inroad to assist them to achieve better lives. Sir, for the common man, basic services such as health care, housing, education and transportation should remain affordable. As you are aware, more public services are to be restructured or corporatised. It is necessary for the Government to set up a body to monitor and check the charges so that we can ensure that the prices that are charged by these institutions are fair and accessible for the common man. Sir, in conclusion, to make Singapore more versatile, we must work together as a team and promote the best of relationship with Malaysians and other peoples of ASEAN. On that note, I support the motion”
“On a more serious note, my grave concern is on the potential danger of the rise of fanatical individuals and groups outside Singapore who can do harm to Singapore and Singaporeans. Worse still from a fanatical leader that we may have no control. In the face of this potential threat, Singaporeans must be alert and be street-wise to band together to deal with such problems which can arise. We live in an uncertain world, and anything can hit us at any time, but we must be prepared to deal with it graciously. And this I am sure Singaporeans will be able to respond. We hope that there will continue to be rational and cooperative leaders in the region who will work for the common good of all peoples in ASEAN and other regions. It is through this common bond of brotherhood in international relations, mutual support and understanding that we can build a better regional community, a better world. Sir, I feel that Singaporeans and Malaysians all want to live and work as best friends and we have over the years cultivated very good relationship and we all want to maintain this positive relationship. We have good people-to-people relationship over the years and I hope that we can continue to build on this and strengthen better mutual understanding and support of one another. Sir, the second issue that we need to pay closer attention, I must say, is to enable the less better off to improve their stations in life. In our strive for material pursuits, we must not forget that we have social obligations to help those who are less better off and less socially endowed.”
“And history is obviously a good lesson and by examining the various episodes and problems faced by these countries, they are very important lessons that we all need to draw, appreciate and understand, so that in Singapore we can take pre-emptive steps to deal with these critical and crucial issues. Sir, our social institutions providing education, housing and employment must take proactive steps to enable our young to respect and appreciate one another, irrespective of their language, race or religion. We must continue to actively immunise our younger generations to socially integrate through economic, educational and community activities. In short, we have to socialise our young to think, feel and be Singaporeans. I say it is not just sufficient for Singaporeans to feel and to think, but to behave and to act as Singaporeans. I feel that this is most critical and most important. I am sure that all our social institutions will strive to achieve this objective by taking various conscious steps and different ways to encourage more multi-racial participation of people in various social and economic activities. I am of the opinion that it must be a conscious effort whether we like it or not because Singapore is a multi-racial society. We have peoples of various persuasions and this must remain an important and crucial thing within the backdrop of our minds. Sir, we can further strengthen our bonds among our ethnic groups. The first place to start with is in the pre-schools in our neighbourhoods where effective integration and steps need to be taken, so that the very young, having to socialise with various ethnic groups, can participate in various activities which can help us build stronger bonds.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I caught your eye, and I will not exhaust the 30 minutes that have been allocated to me. I would be short. Sir, I would like to bring up two major issues which are critical to Singapore's long-term social and economic stability. These two issues need to be pondered carefully and we need to manage them effectively. First, we must pay particular attention to the lurking danger in the resurgence of fanatical groups and individuals within and outside Singapore. We cannot take Singapore's racial, religious and language harmony for granted. Sir, as you know, many countries which have long progressive developments are now plagued by various types of fanatics. The first type, as you are aware of, is the religious fanatics who push for one religion over all others. The second type is the racial fanatics who demand for the dominance of one race over all others. The third type is the language fanatics who assert the supremacy of one language over others. Sir, you can see what has happened to countries such as Lebanon, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Cyprus and Northern Ireland. Many of these countries have long histories and today they are all broken. They are plagued by conflicts, issues and problems between people of various persuasions. They were thriving economies and culturally vibrant places, but if we examine and assess them they have become fractured by racial, religious and language conflicts. Sir, young Singaporeans must learn from the sad lessons of these places and take steps to ensure that various types of fanatics are deterred to take root in Singapore.”
“Will the Minister consider allowing those who have selected their flat but have not signed the lease agreement to opt for the premium scheme?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I join my Parliamentary colleagues to commend you on your re-election as the Speaker. I must say that you are a very passionate as well as a very patient Speaker. For my new Parliamentary colleagues, I hope that they will learn what our Speaker is passionate about so that they will be able to discuss and present topics which are of interest to the House as a whole. Sir, I have known you for more than a decade. When I first started, I had been rather long in my speeches but over the years, I have learned to be precise, because I kept watching you and having acquired the art of looking at your eyes now, I manage to be precise and concise. I hope that my new Parliamentary colleagues and others would not hesitate to bring up various topics which are of interest to the House as well as to Singaporeans. I am sure, Mr Speaker, Sir, you will continue to be patient to allow Members to express various viewpoints which will be of interest to Singaporeans. You will have more good years in listening to what we have to present. And I wish you all the best for the sessions you would be chairing.”