Seng Han Thong
Singapore
“In the Bill, it also mentioned about applying a blanket permit for usage at same location. So, is it possible for our Grassroots Organisation (GRO)'s new media team to do it for our community events coverage all year round?”
“Mr Lee has left. Let us uphold the Singapore Spirit, stay united in front of crises and seek consensus when facing differences. We will let Mr Lee know that Singapore will continue to develop for another 50 years! Page: 20 We will always remember you, our founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. [Applause.] 4.42 pm”
“Through open tender, we now see real market competition in terms of management solutions and fees charged by the competing companies to operate the bundles of public bus routes.”
“Madam, in view of the heightened international terrorist threat, what will be the measures taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) to enhance aviation security and safety at Changi Airport? Changi Airport served a record 54.1 million passengers from around the world with 340,000 flight movements last year.”
“For patrons who drink, taxis are vital in ensuring the journey home is safe for themselves as well as other road users, while we hear of the difficulties of serving such a segment of commuters, especially relating to drunken patrons.”
“Maritime safety. Madam, as our maritime strategy is to strengthen Singapore as a premier global hub port and develop Singapore as a leading international maritime centre, a strong maritime safety culture needs to be nurtured and developed to support the strategy. What are the work plans and programmes to further enhance maritime safety?”
The complete record
Every one of 495 lines we hold for Seng Han Thong, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 10.
“Hence, watermelon became wa de mei ren, (my beauty), and the word "English" became yingou liushui (water flowing in the drain). Half way through my secondary school, all of a sudden, the medium of instruction for mathematics, chemistry, physics lessons was changed from Chinese to English, and we had to use English textbooks. It was hell for me. But, what could I do? It was very difficult, but I just refused to say die. I had to bite the bullet and work harder. I was prepared and willing to work hard because I wanted to have a good command of English for my future endeavours. If you have to suffer, you must suffer it willingly. Then, the suffering is less painful. Otherwise, you are really suffering for your whole life. There are bitterness and sweetness in learning a language. If you have the will, you will have the way. Mr Zainudin can speak very good French. I am sure he must have put in a lot of efforts learning it. Dr Ahmad Magad speaks German. He must have sweated and toiled for some time before he could master it. Now, they are reaping the harvest of their hard work. During my time, I was fortunate to have a very good English teacher in the night school, and I still have the dictionary that was given to me by him. Even now, I keep in contact with him, as I am ever grateful for the patience and guidance he gave to me. Under his tutelage, my English was good enough for me to find a job as a court interpreter. Recently, a friend of mine gave me a recording of the famous soprano from China, Song Zuying, who gave a performance in Vienna. Among the songs she sang were the well known Chinese folk songs, Moli Hua (Jasmine flower) and Longchuan Diao (Dragon Boat Song).”
“And in the 90s, they had the Tiananmen event which had very seriously impacted their society. But we could all see that the economy of China has taken off. The giant has awakened and the Chinese language is of substantial economic value now. Many parents in Singapore send their children to English schools because English is the working language in Singapore. But we still want to maintain our ethnic roots, and hence we want our children to learn Mandarin. Just now, Mr Low said that our Members were able to speak Mandarin because they had benefited from the bilingual system. I came from a Chinese school and many of our Members have narrated their difficulty in learning the languages. Mr Ong Ah Heng also told us how the Chinese teachers were afraid that parents would send email to the MOE to complain if they had pressurised the students to complete their homework, so they had to relax their demands on the students. This is a fact. But English itself is also a difficult language to learn. This reminds me of the hardship I suffered when I was studying English during my school days. I came from a Teochew speaking family. I learned it the hard way. I had to check the dictionary every now and then when I was reading the newspapers. I used to listen to the radio to brush up my English with the hope that I would score good results. I had to learn spelling, dictation and sometimes with just a "t" missing or "d" missing, I would fail my examinations. And I had to study grammar - past tense, present tense, past perfect, present perfect; come, came, come; sing, sang, sung, and so on. We had to learn the pronunciation. I devised my own system by using Chinese characters of similar sound to help in my pronunciation of the English words.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Hougang has spoken very eloquently and very rapidly. I could understand him. Our interpreter is also interpreting very fast. But I am afraid many of our Members may not be able to grab the essence of his speech. So I would like to tell him, if it is a matter of importance, it should be spoken steadily and confidently. If he is not confident about the arguments he is putting forward, then he should not have spoken at all. It is too early to predict if these recommendations would result in better results, and I would like to rebut his arguments. If he is not happy with my criticism on his arguments, he should tell me so. Mr Low said that we had to be grateful to Mr Deng Xiao Ping. If there was no Deng Xiao Ping, there would not be economic reform and opening up in China, then China's economy would not have emerged and this report would not have been prepared and presented for debate here today. I agree with him so far. But he said that the PAP Government had not practised what it preached, and that we had changed our stand. I do not agree. Actually, if we do not have our bilingual system from the early days of nation building, we would not have the SAP schools and I would not be able to send my children to a SAP school. I can tell you that both my children are effectively bilingual. They also study Malay as the third language and have scored good results in it. This is the advantage of our bilingual policy. Mr Low said that if China's economy had not emerged, then we would not have this report. I do not think so. We have to look at the general trend in the world. Chinese is a very ancient language. China is a very big country. But, unfortunately, in the 60s and 70s, they had the cultural revolution.”
“Sir, we have heard Senior Minister Goh's response. It is a typical Goh Chok Tong's response. He is humble. He mentioned that this motion is not necessary because he is not used to praises. Senior Minister Goh, we are not here to praise you. We are here to set on record your contributions to Singapore, to society and to all communities. In fact, more than 30 of us had indicated our intention to speak on the motion. But due toparliamentary procedure, only seven of us had the opportunity to speak on the motion. I am sorry that opposition MPs did not indicate that they want to speak on the motion. We all spoke with genuine affection for Senior Minister. We delivered our speechesin four languages. But the message is clear, and there is only one message,that you are the people's PM and you will be loved by all Singaporeans. Sir, may I, on behalf of the Members who have spokenin support of this motion, thank Senior Minister,in particular,for his sincere response. I agree with him that MM is our national resource. We always say that we have no natural resources. Now we have national resources, and you, SM Goh,will add to our national resources. Question put, and agreed to. Resolved, That this House expresses its gratitude to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong for his contributions and services to the nation during his tenure as Prime Minister. ADJOURNMENT TO A DATE TO BE FIXED Resolved, "That, at its rising today, Parliament do stand adjourned to a date to be fixed." - [Mr Mah Bow Tan]. ADJOURNMENT MOTION”
“His black spectacles have also turned to silver. His contributions to the nation, society and the people are here for all to see. On behalf of the workers and the ordinary citizens, I would like to say a big "thank you" to SM Goh and to convey our most sincere greetings to him. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, "We wish you good health, with ahearty look, and continue to make contributions to Singapore."”
“Such convenience extended to the residents in general, and the old folks in particular, is also an expression of his care and concern for the people. Now, let me talk about "Pillar of the nation and prosperity to the country". SM Goh stands at 6’3" tall. He is certainly tall and big. When he first stepped into politics, due to his height and stature, he was immediately deemed to be arrogant. Some people thought that he was so tall and aloof that he appeared to be very arrogant. However, over the years, his amiable manner and pro-people image have completely changed the people’s impression of him, especially when they saw SM Goh standing tall among all the VVIPs attending the international forums such as APEC, ASEM, World Economic Forum, and consolidating Singapore’s ties with the various countries. They are very proud of him and deemed him to be the pillar of our nation. In the past, people used to say that there is no diplomacy in the small nation. When MM Lee Kuan Yew was the Prime Minister, we made many friends and broke through this traditional belief. As a result, we became a small nation with a big diplomacy. SM Goh further expanded the diplomatic network and turned it into an economic network,so that our economic development will not be stifled just because of sudden changes in a certain region or country. This is indeed a pillar standing majestically. In the past decade, we went through a financial crisis, avoided terrorist attacks, and conquered SARS. Now, our economy is beginning to recover, and SM Goh can go according to his original plans to pass the baton to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This is prosperity for the country. SM Goh joined politics at a young age of 35. He is now 63. We notice that his dark, black hair has turned to silver and grey.”
“That is why the Government was able to implement CPF and wage reform during the past two years when we faced economic recession, in order to enhance the competitiveness of Singapore, thereby creating more job opportunities for our workers. Let me give another example to show how the people loved and respected SM Goh. SM Goh told the media that, on the average, he would visit his mother once every two weeks. As his mother lived with his younger brother and sister, they would have the chance to have a family gathering whenever he made the visit. They would also have family gatherings during the Chinese New Year and on special occasions. As the Prime Minister, he was so busy with all the national affairs, yet he would make special efforts to visit his mother every fortnightly, and had gatherings with his siblings. In the eyes of the residents, the filial piety exhibited by the Prime Minister was a kind of subtle education, withimperceptible influence on the ordinary citizens. When he came to the HDB estate to visit his mother, some children who saw him coming would ask their parents, "Why is the Prime Minister coming here?" The parents would say, "He came to visit his mother." This is a living example of filial piety for the children to emulate. The residents told me that whenever the Prime Minister came to visit his mother, he would greet them cordially. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister who once lived in a HDB flat, was also the one who initiated the upgrading programme for the HDB estates. The Lift Upgrading Programme is mostwelcomed by the people, particularly the old folks. Theyare now very happy that they can now visit their children and friends even when they are staying in the top floors.”
“" Pointing to the 100 bus drivers, taxi drivers and MRT workers present at the ceremony, he said, "Without them, the economy cannot function. Without them, our seaport and airport, our telephones and factories will not work. Without them, the public transport system will grind to a halt." These were words from the bottom of his heart. He meant what he said. These low-income workers often thought that they were "useless". Having heard the encouraging words from the then Prime Minister, particularly when they saw their colleagues posing for photographs to be taken with the VVIP, and then they had the opportunity to go overseas for study tours, they feltthat they were not so "useless" but probably be "of some use" after all. When they came back from their overseas tour, they began to feel that they were "quite useful". Giving a shot in the arm for the low-income workers, converting their "useless" mentality to "some use" mentality and then to "quite useful", is still relevant in today’s context. At present, we still have some older workers who feel that they are "useless", unable to find jobs. We must encourage them to go for training, and become useful workers. In fact, some model workers had the opportunity to take a flight overseas for the first time in their life only after they had won the prize. Prior to that, the only way to go out of the country was to take a bus to Malaysia. Many workers were so proud to have shaken the hand of the Prime Minister that they told me they would not wash their hands. Over the years, SM Goh has adopted a gentle and amiable style, winning the trust of the workers and the support of the union leaders.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,"That this House expresses its gratitude to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong for his contributions and services to the nation during his tenure as Prime Minister." (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has been in politics for 28 years, and he was our Prime Minister for the last 14 years. His contribution to the nation and the assessment of the people of him can be summarised in the couplet appearing on the special feature on SM Goh published by the Shin Min Daily News. The couplet used the two Chinese characters "Chok" and "Tong" in his name as the opening. The couplet says: 作风清和， 民众爱戴 栋梁屹立， 国家隆昌 Meaning，"Gentle and amiable in style; Well-loved and respected by the people; Pillar of the Nation; Prosperity to the country." I would like to give two examples to illustrate SM Goh’s gentle and amiable style and how he was loved and respected by the people. Since 1996, NTUC has been awarding 100 model workers each year for their hard work. Over the years, workers who received the award from the hands of SM Goh Chok Tong included cleaners, bus drivers, taxi drivers, construction workers, shipyard workers, port workers, hospital workers, and daily-rated workers from various industries. This Model Worker Award was SM Goh’s idea. In the Prize Giving Ceremony in 1996, he said, "We have national awards like the Public Service Medals for those who serve society. The private sector also recognises the outstanding businessmen and entrepreneurs with its own awards. But ordinary workers are often overlooked. It may be because their individual contributions are not big enough. Or it may be because, like bolts and nuts, they are often not noticed.”
“Since I am in a good mood, I am not moving my amendment. The sum of $155,272,180 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $56,263,400 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.”
“I hope the SWAT team which was formed, as a result of the wage restructuring committee, can help companies instil a sound communications channel and, at the same time, instil this spirit of sharing the bliss and adversity together. To conclude, I must say that my observation is that unionised companies move faster in their wage restructuring as they have the unions to work together with. Those non-unionised companies move slowly as the management is adopting a wait-and-see attitude.”
“Sir, wage restructuring is a painful process as it involves structural changes. It is not wage improvement but wage reform to make us more competitive. In the process of the wage restructuring, the Government, the management and the workers have to work closely to share the bliss and adversity together. Feedback from the ground is that, though workers are prepared to stick together with the management through thick and thin, when it comes to bliss, the management is not that willing to share the bliss. Workers in general understand the disadvantage of our high production cost which includes the wage cost. They experienced it last year when we faced the threat of SARS. Many union leaders initiated the wage freeze and wage cut to save jobs. This is what we call - go through thick and thin. Workers understand that as long as they can keep the job with the basic pay which can cover their basic needs, they are prepared to share the adversity with the management. The recommendations by the wage restructuring committee are not new. In the 50s and 60s when my father was employed, I knew that his take-home pay was just enough to cover our basic needs. We knew that, at the end of the year, if the company made good profit and if the employee performed well, he would get a big bonus in the range of a few months' salaries or even more. In fact, in the process of wage restructuring, the problems we faced are that companies are not transparent enough, the performance appraisal system is not open enough and the management system is not sound enough. As a result, when it comes to wage restructuring, we can only see the downside but not the upside. Thus, the workers' perception is that wage restructuring means wage cut. We should have both the downside and the upside.”
“At the same time, the Workforce Development Authority needs to introduce more programmes to re-skill workers who cannot match the jobs available here.”
“Though Government has repeatedly reassured our workers that the introduction of S Pass is to allow companies to employ foreign workers whose skills we lack and this will not result in the influx of foreign workers, the concern of our workers, especially those who are out of job, is understandable. They are concerned that employers may take advantage of this system and employ more foreign workers, thus taking away their jobs. They are also concerned that these workers may finally settle down and become our citizens. I urge MOM to follow the S Pass guidelines in issuing the pass, ie, to issue only to foreign skilled workers for the sectors which we are short-handed, like healthcare, infocomm, aerospace and pharmaceutical, but not to the sectors in which we do have our own skilled workers. This is to prevent the abuse of the S Passes. On the other hand, I would like to urge Singaporeans to have a big heart to welcome these workers. They are here not to take away our jobs but to create more jobs as companies will expand with the inflow of more skilled workers. We should welcome them to settle down here and become our citizens. We are a small country. It is difficult to compete in the global economy if we do not have enough skilled workers. Why does the Government introduce S Pass at a time when workers are worried that foreign workers will take away their jobs? The real reason is that there is a mismatch. There are jobs where there are not enough Singaporeans with the relevant skills to take on. At the same time, there are Singaporeans who are looking for jobs but cannot find enough jobs which they are competent of handling. Thus, we need to introduce S Pass for foreign workers to take up the jobs that Singaporeans do not have the relevant skills.”
“Why not just say “extra space”? Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head T of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code TI 2100. Space adding item is a term we often use in our upgrading programmes. This term is a mouthful. When it is translated into Chinese, it is equally mouthful, kuojian mianji xiangmu. I always forget how to mention it. Whenever we urge residents to vote for the upgrading programme, we tell them that space adding item means that you can have an extra little room. And our upgrading exhibitions always show this little room with a bed and a table. Residents are told that they can make use of it as a study room, children's room, computer room, maid's room or mahjong room. So, why not just call it an extra room? I am told that, legally, a room which is less than six square metres cannot be called a room meant for human habitation. But why do we tell residents that it can be used as their children's room or maid's room? Sir, I think we need to change either the law or our marketing. I believe it is better to change the law as many residents already make use of it as a living room. An extra room, in Chinese, means jiafang. I think it is good. Good government gives good citizens jiafang, just like a good employer gives a good employee jiaxin and a good stallholder gives jialiao to good customers. So, for simplicity sake, we should just ask the residents to vote for an extra room. If we cannot change the law, then I think we can just ask them to vote for extra space, instead of a space adding item.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave withdrawn. The sum of $302,693,120 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $250,464,700 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head T - Ministry of National Development 3.00 pm”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QM 3100. Chatline business is flourishing. At least, the numerous pages of advertisements in the print media can testify to this. However, I am concerned that many curious youngsters, both male and female, may have fallen into this type of bogus "friendship" and wasted money and time. They may have done so because of various reasons, eg, lack of parental guidance and love, and ease of access to these chatline services. I also fear that many innocent girls may be misled into becoming the target of these unscrupulous chatlines. Sir, I would urge the Government to manage it to ensure that our young will not be exposed to such undesirable lifestyle.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his detailed answers. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“We also have to cultivate our talents - our local talents, together with the imported foreign talents. This is a long-term policy. We have to explain to the people so that they could understand. For example, many people thought everything was going to be all right with the arrest of Saddam Hussein. Suddenly, there was this series of explosions in Spain and people began to be alarmed, saying, "Ah, the terrorists are coming again". So how are we going to explain to our people the implications of such events? This is where public communication with the people comes in. It is a very important function. Recently, our television channel stations have gone to the various constituencies and they do a lot of out-door telecast. Channel U has also gone out to the people and reach out to them and find out what are their views on Avian flu. I think this is very important. For the VIPs to be on TV all the time is very important. For the small people, once they get the chance to go on TV, they will treasure it forever. So I think it gives them a chance and they would like to participate, and give their views. I think when we are to explain our Government policies to the people, we should involve more public servants, civil servants, so that they could explain all these long term strategies to our people. Library Services”
“Sir, one of MITA's main functions is to explain the Government's policies to the people. Last year, during the SARS epidemic, MITA and the media played an active role in educating the public on how to deal with SARS and explained the strategy very clearly to the people. As a result, Singapore was very successful in its handling of SARS, and everyone became a SARS expert. This year, with the appearance of the Avian flu in some Asian countries, we all heard that Minister Mah Bow Tan was going to slaughter some 5,000 chickens as a preventive measure, to assure the people that the remaining chickens were safe to eat. As a matter of fact, it is quite safe to eat chicken in Singapore, but just do not eat too much. But, please, carry on eating our national favourite - chicken rice. Why was the message transmitted so effectively? That is because it is a matter of life and death. If you eat the wrong thing, you will die. So everyone is concerned. I hope that MITA would not jump to the conclusion that our means of communications with the people are already perfected. The subject matter concerns life and death, therefore the message is noted, and the communication means effective. But for those long-term policies and intangible policies, people do not understand. I think we should work harder on that. Take for example the Budget Statement, as announced by our Finance Minister. People said that it was very uneventful. I told them that this was an important Budget which urged our people to have more children so that we could have enough young people to look after the ageing population. Otherwise, when the present generation of people get older, there would not be enough young people to support us.”
“I think we should promote that. The Indian people like to come to Singapore. They like to go to movies, they like to go shopping - particularly in Mustafa. I think these are all very good storylines that we can use to make movies and that they will sell well not only in Singapore but also in India. We should work hard towards this aspect. We can help our movies go into the world market, into the Indian market. So now, apart from Hollywood, Bollywood, Lollywood, maybe one day we could also have a Singolywood. Film Industry”
“Sir, if you go to India, you will come to one conclusion, that is, if you want to make money - make movies - because Indian people like to watch movies, and it has a population of one billion, which is a very large market. Some people may be biased against the Indian movies saying that there are usually just one boy and one girl, singing, dancing and chasing each other around a tree, and it could go on forever. The Indian movies of today are no longer like this. They are now moving out of that sort of stereotype image. In Singapore, our Jack Neo also knows that. From "Money No Enough", he is now going to the "Best Bet". I hope he has the best bet. In fact, he has already given full play to his potential, that is to say, our local movies can not only attract the local audience, but also the audiences overseas. But the Government should give him the necessary support and assistance to market his movies overseas. However, when we talk about Singapore movies, we should not have only one Jack Neo. We should have many more Jack Neos. In the past few years, there were quite a number of local producers who made documentaries and short films. They worked very hard and tried to make contributions to our local film industry. But, without the Government's support, they are not making any headway. Yes, they need support from the Government, not only hardware support but also software support. We should pool our resources to have the scriptwriters, playwrights, directors and even camera crews to come together to make good, impressive films. I hope MITA would see what it can do to help our local movies prosper and make their way to the international market. Just now Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has said there is a big Indian film festival to be held in the month of May in Singapore.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. It is heartening to note that, despite SARS and the economic downturn last year, attendance to paid performance rose. This can be attributed to MITA's effort to widen and deepen the audience base. Indeed, the Singapore Arts Festival, The Esplanade Huayi, the Pesta Raya and the Kalaa Utsavam have in a big way brought the arts to everyone everywhere. It has been four years since the Government announced in year 2000 that the arts would be given a $15 million top-up, and this top up is part of the Government's plan to turn Singapore into one of the top cities in the world to live, work and play. May I ask the Minister if this top up from the Government will suffer a cut of 2%, as announced by DPM Lee? More importantly, will the progress of the proposed Arts School also be affected by this decision? Sir, we have set up the Sports School which shows our commitment to nurturing sports in Singapore. Likewise, we should show similar support to promoting the arts. While the former focuses on physical development, the latter is necessary for our spiritual and cultural development. The arts place vibrancy and creativity to our nation but, at the same time, create jobs for our people. Many have argued that those who have attended concerts and productions are those who already know how to appreciate the arts. As such, more efforts should be made to reach out to others. One effective way is to incorporate the arts into the school curriculum. The other way is to set up an Arts School to nurture young artists. I believe we have to do both. Arts and Culture”
“I read in the papers that now, many big companies in the west are outsourcing their call centre to India, but they do not want their clients to know that the call centre was operating from India. In order to get these jobs in the call centres, many Indians are learning to speak better English and get rid of their Indian accent. Now many Indian ladies are working in the call centres, speaking impeccable English. They earn a lot of money, just as telephone operators, so much so that their parents are worried, thinking that their daughters were working as "call girls"! "Why are they always working at night and earn such a lot of money?" But now, they understand. They are all encouraging their daughters to learn and speak good English to get these lucrative jobs. This is a breakthrough! If we want to develop our service industry, if we want to embrace the new economy, we must change our mindset. We should explain this new phenomenon to the ordinary citizens so that they would understand. Otherwise, they can have a lot of complaints, but no solution to the problem. As political leaders, we should look for the solution and help the people, rather than moaning over it. DPM Lee has proposed this Budget under the present circumstances so that we would be prepared to face the future challenges, and that we could seize the opportunities that come with the new economy. We want to compete with India, with China, with all the emerging economies. This would depend on our employers and our employees and, with our political leaders, we are all in the same boat. We should help one another. 2.18 pm”
“Just imagine, even in the middle of the night, they were still selling the gold ornaments. Not only Indians are patronising the store but many Singaporeans as well. They enjoy shopping in Mustafa because the prices are reasonable and the service is good. It does not mean that with a 2% cut in the budget the sky will fall down. They can still offer good and effective service if managed prudently. In the past, people had said that Singaporeans are arrogant. But my conclusion is that Singaporeans are not arrogant. Many people said that because in the last few years Singapore had progressed very well, the economy was well and they were all very proud of themselves. I think Singaporeans are simply confident of themselves. This is an important quality which we must maintain. MOM and WDA have put in a lot of efforts. Last year, in order to encourage the people to take up skills development and skills retraining, they went all out to promote the concept of re-skilling for better employability. We should change the mindsets of our people. This year, I do not know what would be MOM's new theme. I suggest they should use the theme of "Let us show our best! " So long as we are prepared to learn from the basics, improve ourselves, and promotion is waiting for those who have successfully completed their courses." Because many citizens feel that the situation before us is hopeless, we must help them to clear this hurdle. We should impress on them that there is hope in skills training, so that they can look further ahead and keep moving on. Let me quote you one or two examples. In our economy, there are many things that our people do not understand.”
“Jack Neo has just produced a few movies and the last one, Home Run, was particularly successful. One of the young actresses won a prestigious Golden Horse prize. I understand he is embarking on a new film called The Best Bet. I sincerely hope that he would win the best bet! Just now, Mr Low has said that the Government departments are reducing their budgets and many people are concerned about it. I am concerned too. But I think we should first understand the motive behind this move. The Government, as a whole, is trying to reduce expenditure. Deputy Speaker, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, mentioned just now that she hoped the reduced budget would not result in the Government departments' efficiency being compromised. One resident told me recently that he used to cut his hair once in three weeks, and now he is cutting his hair once in four weeks. I said, "Why don't you buy a pair of scissors and cut your hair yourself? Then you will save more." So, when the Government department has to cut its budget, it has to find other ways to improve productivity so that the same, if not more, work could be done. This must be the spirit. Let me take Mustafa as an example. First of all, I must declare that I have nothing to do with Mustafa. I am not related to any of its owners. Recently, I visited India, and many people whom I met there told me that whenever they visited Singapore, they would go to Mustafa. Mustafa has become a very famous brand name. Their business philosophy is to be honest, do not cheat on customers, be humble and not arrogant. I visited Mustafa myself and I noticed that the jewellery and silverware department was open for business in the late hours of the night. The sales persons were very knowledgeable and polite.”
“Another resident told me that he was lucky to get a three-year contract work, because "no contract, no job". So this is the trend! The bigger trend is globalisation. The whole world is looking for talents. Therefore, we should try our best to attract foreign talents to Singapore. We are competing with the other parts of the world for rare talents. They will help to contribute to our economy. At the same time, we have not neglected our local talents. The recent S Pass issued by MOM is a good measure. But other people are afraid that this may deprive them of their jobs. In fact, the S Pass is given only to a special category of semi-skilled workers in the healthcare service, the pharmacists and nurses. Although we have highly talented people to handle the jobs at the higher plane, we still need other types of talents to cover some jobs in the middle and lower echelons. Although on the surface, it may appear that the issue of S passes may lead to more foreign workers coming in to compete for jobs with our locals, they actually help to fill the vacuum in our service industry. With these semi-skilled workers around, we may enhance the confidence of the potential investors, and tilt the balance in our favour when they decide which country to invest in, thus creating more jobs for our workers in the other areas. We must spare no efforts in establishing our creative industries. However, Mr Chiam said that our film industry cannot be developed because of our PAP Government's rigid regime, which has made the people docile. But, he offers no help to turn it around. The Indian film industry has been thriving because of its own particular background. We should understand what makes the Indian film industry so successful. In fact, the film industry in Singapore is now taking off.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Hougang said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance was giving a lot of reasons and principles on the macro economics but did not notice the changing trend that impacts our ordinary citizens. What is the current trend in the market? The current trend is one of outsourcing in the manufacturing sector. Many manufacturing industries in the developed countries are outsourcing many of their production to other low-cost countries. Even our Singapore companies are outsourcing. Therefore, DPM's budget is targeted at addressing this trend. There are many people who are asking what care and concern this Budget gives to the ordinary people. In the past few years, we had given them a lot of rebates, reliefs and assistance. The main thing is that as leaders of a government, we should discern the mega trends. Unfortunately, although Mr Low and Mr Chiam have seen the main trends, they could offer no solution to help the people. Mr Chiam said that foreign investors had gone to other low cost countries. He did not tell us how to retain these companies in Singapore. Mr Low does not agree with our policy of attracting foreign talents. He seems to be jealous of the foreign talents. We believe that with foreign talents, we can attract foreign investors to come here to set up factories. Another trend is that of contract workers. Whether in the education field or in the financial sector, how do we protect our contract workers? This is most important. Because contract work has become a trend. One of my residents complained to me, "Why can I only get contract work and not a permanent job? And the contract is renewable after three years." This is a trend, an inevitable trend.”
“Every day, the Government has been thinking of how to restructure our wages. The Prime Minister has already raised a lot of points in this aspect, I would not repeat them. I would like to urge the Ministry of Manpower to get more Singaporeans upgraded through its newly set up Workforce Development Agency. The new economy has taken away many of our jobs, so we have to speed up our skills redevelopment programmes. NTUC has launched various upgrading programmes and many workers have benefited from this scheme. But some people do not see the benefits including Mr Low Thia Khiang. He has said that the Government should apologise to the people. Actually, the Government is looking at the big picture. Many years ago, we had already made the preparation by urging workers to adopt the lifelong learning approach. Now it is raining, and the weather is getting very stormy, so we have to prepare ourselves for the stormy weather. Mr Low Thia Khiang blamed the Government for the bad weather. My point is that we could not stop the bad weather but we can prepare for it. I think we should encourage more workers to participate in these training courses so that we could see the general trend. It is not the time for us to blame one another. We should be working together in one heart.”
“The Prime Minister said that if we do not have a fish, even a prawn will do. But I have people telling me that prawns are as expensive as fish. It shows that people are not thinking what the Prime Minister was thinking. The Prime Minister said that if we do not eat fish, then eat the cheaper prawns but Singaporeans are thinking about the more expensive prawns. I think, in this case, if you have no fish to eat, you have to adjust downwards to have dried prawns, not fresh prawns. Earlier on, Mr Low Thia Khiang had said that the Prime Minister might have forgotten, might have amnesia that we promised a better life. In fact, Government has not forgotten what they have promised. They want to give the people a better living. Thus, the retuning of CPF is exactly with this aim in mind that you must first of all have a job before you can live a better life. So our Government is anxious about them. That is why we have to do this reform very speedily, as fast as we can. Mr Low Thia Khiang said that Government has not fulfilled its commitment to the people and we should apologise to the people. I think he did not understand the serious situation. For instance, if a father had promised the child that if he passed his PSLE, he would give him a watch. But now, the father runs into financial problem. He may not be able to afford to buy the son a good watch but he will still buy him a watch when he gets a job. The son can understand. I do not know why Mr Low Thia Khiang cannot understand. Mr Low compared the Government with that of a rabbit which has been sleeping and has just woken up from its dream. I must say that the Government has sleepless nights on the job situation in Singapore. So if you do not sleep, how do you have a dream?”
“They treated Singapore workers as foreign workers. I think the employers should redesign, re-engineer their work so that workers will find it more friendly and conducive to work. In this aspect, NTUC will work closely with the employers in various sectors on this so that more unemployed Singaporeans can get jobs. Secondly, the Government is very good in its financial management. But this CPF adjustment is actually a manifestation of Government's financial policy and philosophy. The ordinary folks may not be good in managing their finances. Singaporeans in general know the ways to prosper and want to make profits, but they do not know how to manage their fortune. It is said that if you save one handful of rice in every meal, in three years, you will be able to buy a horse. When we talk about horses, Singaporeans will always talk about horses in terms of buying 4-D during the weekends and make some windfall from there. It is also said that even billionaires should be calculative. However, Singaporeans take this to the extent that as they have a few thousands dollars in the CPF, they have to keep calculating about it every night and every day. They always look at how they can maximise it. The Prime Minister had mentioned about the inadequacy of the Minimum Sum and proposed that it be raised over a period of time. We have to explain to our people plainly. Otherwise, the Government may put in a lot of efforts. They may have very good intentions but the people would not appreciate it. In financial management, we do not just resort to the experts. We should teach every Singaporean how to manage their own wealth and property. Thirdly, the Prime Minister had mentioned that this reform is painful. In other words, everyone must be prepared to endure some pain.”
“We have accepted this CPF adjustment. The question they asked is, "Will the Government adjust our cost of living?" "Will the Government reduce its charges?" "Will the employers look after our welfare?" DPM has given us an assurance. The Government should change the mechanism. So, when the workers have adjusted, the Government should also adjust. One point brought up by many people is that they could not understand why is it that hospitals still insist that if you stay in a B1 or B2, you cannot downgrade to a C-class ward. And if you are living in a 4 or 5-room flat, why not make the downgrading easier for them? There is this song "Struggle to Win" saying that sometimes you go up and sometimes you go down. The Teochews said that if you can only go up and cannot come down, the whole family will die. So, I think the Government should do away with all the bureaucratic red tape. We are having a problem now. All said, we want to reform. But when the economy recovers, let us hope that the civil servants will not say that we will have to increase charges here and there. If that happens, everything will go back to what it was before. As far as the employers are concerned, I am very happy to note that although Dr Gan See Khem is also an employer, she feels that employers should do more to care about their employees. Many employers give a lot of lip service. They talk a lot but do very little. So, I think when the employers have benefited from this CPF cut, and if they are doing well, they should share the gain with their workers. As far as jobs are concerned, nowadays, we keep hearing employers saying that Singaporeans do not want to do certain kind of work. But the question is: what type of job - because the work system and salary are not conducive for locals.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister raised the proposal to retune the CPF. He said we have to throw away some of the burdens so that we can climb this road to the highland. This reminded me of the "Reform and Opening Up" of China. In the early 1980s, when China started to have this reform and this opening to the outside world, Mr Deng Xiaoping's famous quotes were displayed at big billboards along the thoroughfare in Shenzhen at that time. He said that, "If we do not open up and we do not reform, this would be a dead world for us." The Prime Minister did not mention about death yesterday. But at the National Day Rally, he said that if you cannot breathe, then you will die. If you just lose face, you would not die. And the Deputy Prime Minister had just proposed the relief packages. These are a shot in the arm. So, even if you may lose face a bit, you can still stand up and then you can walk. In the past, when we fell down, we just stood up and walked again. But now, when we fall down and scratch ourselves, we wait for the Government to help us. So, I think the people should take action themselves and cannot just rely on the Government. Thus, while I support the PM's retuning of CPF and DPM's relief package, the issue here is: what next? I have three suggestions. First, as the Prime Minister has said, we have to lighten our burden, to travel light, and we have to have a thorough reform. It is our hope that the Government and the whole set-up would cut waste, just like what the Deputy Prime Minister has said, the Cut Waste Panel (CWP). I think the Government should do it thoroughly and have a thorough reform of the whole service. NTUC had held dialogues with 38 unions involving a few hundred union leaders. They all understand that we needed to adjust our expectation.”
“I think such division is no longer found among the various dialect groups in Singapore nowadays. This has been extended beyond ethnic groups. For example, satay was typically a Malay food but now we see just as many Chinese hawkers selling satay too! We even find Indians singing in the Chinese wayang stage during the "Hungry Ghost" festival. There is nothing wrong with all this integration. I hope that the WDA would have some very creative civil servants so that they can change the mindset of these workers. So long as they are willing to work, they should be able to do it. If they cannot do it, we would help them to do it. Sir, on adult education, Mr Chiam mentioned Lembaga. I learnt Malay from Lembaga (Adult Education Board) during my younger days, and now I can converse with my grassroots in Malay. Sir, in the long term, it is important that we place more emphasis on adult education. It is not the Lembaga of the old days. We want to help our workers learn new skills. That is an important point. It is said that if we have a skill, we can be employed forever. Now we need to be multi-skilled so that we have better employability. We could also think of the ways in which the adults learn. We should make it easier for the adult workers to learn by tailoring the learning to suit their aptitude. This way, we can encourage the older workers to continue learning, and acquiring new skills, so that they can continue to be employable. It is not a matter of "just sitting there and waiting to die". Mr Speaker, Sir, in the short term, of course, we see many people are unemployed. If we can encourage them to be less choosy and take up jobs that are available to them, we would have succeeded 50% already. Sir, I support this Bill.”
“We must share the experience with the various industries and help to work out programmes to train the workers. We should also encourage the companies to re-engineer their work, help the workers phase into their new jobs and improve methods of working. This will ensure that we transit smoothly into the new economy. We should look at how we can redesign the work so that we have the right workers to do the right work. The second point I want to point out is that we must reshape the image of some of our workers. In the past, some people have a set frame of mind for their work. We should change that image. In the past, some jobs were traditionally done only by women. This need not be the case. Men could also do them. For example, when you talk about telephone operators, the first thing that comes to mind is the sweet female voice that says, "Hello!" But, come to think of it, what is wrong with a rich baritone voice saying the same thing? Why can the job not be done by men as well? Another example is taxi-driver. It is traditionally conceived that taxi-driving is a man's job. When a taxi drives up and one finds a woman at the driver's seat, the immediate reaction is inevitably that, "Wah! Woman taxi-driver!" What is wrong with a woman driving a taxi? Likewise, in the past, all trishaw riders were old people, who spat everywhere. But now we see young people in colourful batik shirts, armed with a walkman, and happily riding the trishaw and speaking in English, Japanese or Korean to the European, Japanese or Korean tourists. In the past, even hawker food was divided along dialect lines. The Teochew people would be selling kway teow; the Hokkien would sell fried noodles or prawn noodles while the Hainanese would sell chicken rice.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Chiam See Tong doubted the purpose for the establishment of the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and suspected that it was meant for the retrenchment of workers. As the Minister has pointed out, there are in fact a lot of jobs out there but not enough people with the relevant skills to fill them. So, the important thing is to find out how to get the right people for the right post. He commented that the Minister for Manpower should "call a spade a spade". This is not old wine in a new bottle. It is an entirely new agency. We want our people to change their mindset. Our workers should learn not to be too choosy with the jobs offered to them. In the old days, people used to say that you could die but you should not lose face. Now, I would say, "Losing face is not going to kill you. It is only when you can no longer breathe that you would die!" No doubt, nowadays, it is difficult to find jobs, and many people have different perspectives about it. The workers who are retrenched, especially the older workers, think retrenchment means the end of the road to them. The employers, on the other hand, lament that they cannot get enough workers with the right skills to satisfy their demand. Each has his own perspective on the matter. Mr Chiam See Tong too has his own perspective and his own way of looking at this. The establishment of WDA is a way to help the workers. Just now, the Minister said that he wanted to first take immediate action to help certain sectors of our workers. That gives hope to the people. If the workers feel that the Minister is not taking any action, then it is no good. I agree that some immediate action should be taken to help the workers and the industry.”
“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 Q of the Development Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QI 5200. Sir, this topic is on heritage centres and museums. I must commend the National Heritage Board's decision to open our museums every day, a marketing drive to attract Singaporeans to visit the museums free during public holidays. This is one of the effective ways to cultivate the museum-going culture. The NHB's heritage bus launched earlier this year is another move targeted at the community. May I ask what is the NHB's overall plan in developing museums and heritage centres and fostering the museum-going culture?”
“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 Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QA 1500. Sir, the war has started, which we cannot stop, but I would like to ask the Minister whether he can stop another war - the media war - with the Media Competition Code. The Media Competition Code is to ensure limited competition within Singapore's mass media market. I have four questions to ask the Minister. One, whether the anti-competitive practice will be effective enough to ensure fair competition or prevent vicious competition leading to a media war. Second, what are the guiding principles in setting the Government's standards? Third, how will the authorities monitor the Code and how will breaches be dealt with? Lastly, how will the public's interest be safeguarded by the Code?”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, since your mood has changed, I will not tell another joke. The Censorship Review Committee's Report will be out soon. Could the Minister enlighten us on the possible recommendations it is likely to make? Will there be any major shifts in the censorship standards and approaches, and if there are, whether adequate consultations have been made by the Committee to ensure that the various sectors of our society are comfortable with such recommendations? While we allow for greater choice for individuals, along with a greater exercise of individual responsibility, we need to strike a balance between individual choice and community's preference. One lesson that we can learn from the last CRC's Report was that MITA had to modify the "R" rating to "R(A)" due to public outcry. 1.45 pm”
“Yes. I will give a very quick joke. One day, the Minister, Senior Minister of State, the Parliamentary Secretary, the Permanent Secretary and some senior officials were deciding on the name of this building. So they reviewed all the proposals - there were long names, short names - sexy names, sensitive names, and they went through them one by one. Some were too sensitive, eg, if you pronounce it in Hokkein or Cantonese, it may convey other meanings. So the Minister decided that they should call for coffee/tea to excite them to give more appropriate names. So coffee was served, and the Minister asked the three girls who served coffee, "Girls, we have problem in naming this building. Can you give us some ideas?" So one Malay girl said, "Explain, lah! Why you give this building a funny shape of a durian?" The Indian girl asked, "Explain, lah! Why you have this funny fly eyes?" The third girl asked, "Explain, lah! If we open this up, what will we see inside?" So when they left, the Minister said that since the Malay, the Chinese and the Indian girls all said, "Explain, lah!", let us decide on "Esplanade". I would say this is an achievement. Sir, the durian scent to entice Singaporeans to taste this fruit has spread wide. In Chinese, it is called liu lian piao xiang, chu chu wen ( ). I would like to urge MITA to ensure that this "durian" can sustain its drive with adequate attention and budget.”
“Sir, the successful launch of the Esplanade with 1.03 million attendees and 1,300 artistes from 22 countries should be commended. It has become a centre of attention, as mentioned by the Minister. Our dreams of becoming a regional arts hub and a global art city with a good world-class performing art centre will come too sooner than expected. And I learned that from April to December last year, S$80 million in media advertising value was generated, with 1,200 media articles, of which one-third was overseas publications, including the New York Times, Washington Times, USA Today and South China Morning Post. The other key achievement is that the Esplanade staged 421 free performances and over-1,000 visual arts exhibitions for 1.5 million people. In fact, there is another intangible achievement which the Minister may know. It is that even ordinary Singaporeans are cracking jokes on the Esplanade. I will also consider this as an achievement. That shows the Esplanade belongs to the ordinary Singaporeans. Since we have time and, Mr Speaker, you are in good mood ---”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, the concept of cultural capital is a sound one. As MITA's vision is to develop a creative and connected Singapore, it should step up its marketing efforts to sell the idea of cultural capital to Singaporeans. In this way, we can ensure a collective national effort to develop Singapore into a creative and connected international city. And more and more ordinary Singaporeans now realise that the creative industry has the potential to become a key propeller of Singapore's creative economy. During these hard times, it is heartening to note that jobs are created for both young and old in the creative industry. And with the opening of the Esplanade, we see cheerful young men and women, working as ushers and at the restaurants. With the opening of the Asian Civilisation Museum and the exhibitions held at other museums and heritage centres, we are also seeing jobs being created for the older fellow citizens too. With the rise of a creative economy, may I ask what plans are in the pipeline to capitalise on Singapore's cultural scene for the arts to bloom and create jobs.”
“While some Singaporeans are facing difficulties in finding jobs, many unemployed Singaporeans shun away from certain jobs available. One observation is that the moment a certain job is performed by mainly the foreign workers, Singaporeans will see it as jobs by foreign workers. As such, it has become more and more difficult for employers to get local unemployed to take up a job and the employers will press for more and more foreign workers. I think one good example was mentioned by our Minister just now that when he has his hair cut, he has his ear cut, because the employer was pressing for more foreign workers. May I ask whether the Ministry will look into ways to come up with an incentive scheme to attract more unemployed Singaporeans to this kind of jobs.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Those who are courageous enough to be interviewed and featured are real heroes. They really have the guts. In the present situation, with jobs being so hard to get, people would say, "Well, there is no choice. Give me a job, I will take it even if I have to work seven days a week. Even if the salary is halved, I will still do it. If what I earn is just enough for me to eat, that is good enough for me. The Teochew term for beggar is kit jia (beg to eat). Now, you beg for a job, earn your salary so that you have enough to eat." Ministers and MPs have asked the people to change their mindsets. I think that is not good enough. We need to have the workers themselves to come forward and be the spokesmen for this change of mindset. This will appeal to the workers as they can identify themselves with the spokesmen. They are "fellow sufferers commiserating with each other." I think MOM should learn from the commercial advertisements. If you are advertising a hair-growing tonic, you would get some botak or bald guys to promote the products, by saying how they have applied the tonic and how their hair began to grow again. You do not get a long-hair beauty to sell the hair-growing tonic. She is better used in selling hair shampoo. I hope that we can have more local characteristics and a change of style in this year's Lifelong Learning Festival.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head S of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code SN 1500. (In Mandarin): Sir, last year, the Lifelong Learning Festival was very eventful and very extensively covered by the media. The most spectacular event was the fish-tossing demonstration by the foreign experts who were specially invited to perform at the festival. In Singapore, our people are saying, "Why toss the fish? You keep tossing the fish at the fishmonger's stall, and you would end up tossing away your rice bowl!" Indeed, in Singapore, we do not toss the fish, but we toss durians. I often see some workers tossing durians from the lorry to the people standing on the ground, who catch the durians and, in turn, toss them to the stallholder. You need to be skilful to toss and catch these thorny fruits, because if you miss any one of them, it will hit you on the face. It is not only painful but shameful too. So I think this year, in our Lifelong Learning Festival, we should have more local flavour in it. Last year, we awarded some scholarships to Singaporeans who exhibited good learning attitude. Perhaps, we should award some scholarships this year to people who have shown good results in acquiring new skills. Recently, Lianhe Wanbao launched a new series called the "Roll of Heroes" where they introduced a series of Singaporeans who had been unemployed but then, because of their determination and courage, they started to learn a new skill in a new territory and then created economic miracles. According to the journalists in Lianhe Wanbao, there are in fact many, many people who deserve to be featured but many of them declined because they felt embarrassed to be featured as the so-called "rags-to-richness" heroes.”