Sylvia Lim
Singapore
“Thank you, Speaker. I have a supplementary question for Senior Minister of State on PF. It was pointed out in the FATF report that representatives of foreign flag states have a very low understanding of their PF obligations.”
“Thank you Speaker. I have noted what the Minister is proposing that the House do. I am not standing up to object to it. But I think it is important for me to also state that my response on some of the issues that she mentioned, I have made them on 14 January during the debate on the Motion of the Leader of the Opposition, and I do not thi…”
“Thank you, Speaker. A clarification for the Minister. I think it is quite clear that we are not denying that services were provided and residents had benefited from the services. I also would say that we do appreciate that MND did this internal review to undercover this problem, if I can say that.”
“Thank you, Speaker. I have one clarification for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, and that is on the necessity for the retrospective legislation.”
“Sir, regardless of which country may have primary jurisdiction over a particular case, both governments may feel pressured to retain cases involving their own nationals. This could be for various reasons, such as the differences in law and punishments or to give their nationals better access to justice in their home countries.”
“One clarification for the Minister. This is in relation to when Singapore may have to give up its primary jurisdiction to Malaysia to investigate incidents and particularly on clause 39(2).”
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“Despite the issues in financial management, our residents' interests have not been compromised. Madam, I have set out the circumstances leading to the lapses in relation to the management of Sinking Funds and the related-party transactions, so that the public may more fully understand what led to them. We thank the public and, especially our residents, for their kind understanding and support of our work. We will continue to put in efforts to do better. 5.10 pm”
“Because the AGO was in here and FY2013 ends in March 2014. Madam, one more point which the Minister brought up was the issue of cyclical information. He mentioned that our Town Council was slow to submit the information to MND and I would like to just make a few points so that there is no unnecessary worry on the part of our residents. First, I think the Minister would know that we have been corresponding with MND and making the submissions. Admittedly, we are late but we have submitted some things and we are discussing with MND on some of those issues. So, it is not as if we have not paid attention to it. Page: 77 Secondly, Madam, the Minister alluded to lifts and saying that there might be concerns about whether the lifts are overhauled in time and so on and so forth. So, I would like to just state some facts based on the information that I have. The current state in our Town is that, in terms of lift overhauls, there are just 12 lifts that are overdue for overhaul, so we will be attending to them. Some of the other lifts are due for the Selective Lift Replacement Programme. All the parts, hoist ropes and all that are up-to-date. And for the battery replacements, we are replacing them on schedule as per the MND timelines. So, that is the situation with lifts. I just wanted to make that clear, so that the residents are not unduly concerned about those comments. So, Madam, for now, let me round up. FY2012 was a full year of our operations in Aljunied-Hougang Town and, despite the almost year-long intensive audit, the 16 auditors have not uncovered any basis to suspect deliberate malpractice nor any loss of funds. There has been no finding that we have been dishonest or have falsified records.”
“Members will see that there is one payment voucher outstanding but there were actually originally 22 requests; there is only one outstanding. Attachment 3, there are three items outstanding out of an original 75. And if Members look at Attachment 4, although the heading says "Outstanding contracts, quotations, supplemented agreement" and so on, if Members were to read the last column of that table, PwC's response, Members will see that, actually, the auditors confirmed that they have received most, if not all, of the documents. So, I urge Members to note that. We have done our best to provide whatever information we could to the auditors. Next, Madam, the Minister highlighted the fact that our financial statements were late and, in particular, he mentioned the financial statements of FY2013/2014. Minister would, of course, recall that the AGO audit was called in February 2014 and continued from March 2014 all the way until January. So, all the papers were stuck for this audit and it was not reasonably possible for the FY2013 annual audit to commence while this audit was going on. In his speech earlier, the Minister mentioned that some of the conditions that he might want to impose on the Town Council, going forward, is that he would require us to submit our financial statements for FY2013 and FY2014 within certain timelines, I believe he said June and August. Well, Minister, we are not certain whether we can meet these timelines but we will discuss with MND what is possible after discussion with our auditors. An hon Member: Late for one year?”
“The Town Council Chair is also now asked to sign off on works orders before invoices are issued for project management fees. Next, Madam, for MA and EMSU fees, additional procedures have been introduced. Instead of direct invoicing, a Works Order is raised by the Office Manager and countersigned by the Town Council Chairman. Thereafter, FMSS would raise its invoice, which is forwarded to the Finance Department. The payment voucher would be approved by the Deputy General Manager before the cheque is issued. These enhancements were noted by Pricewaterhouse in the report, Appendix C, at para 1.39. Madam, going forward, we will draw up a checklist in assessing tenders and contracts to ensure that the necessary information is captured and presented to the persons deciding on awards. The decision-makers can then also decide on how best to manage the conflicts of interest. Madam, before I end, I would like to just respond to three points raised by the Minister earlier when he presented the Motion. First of all, the Minister stated that the Town Council or the Members of Parliament had shown disrespect to the auditors and to Parliament by not providing information. Now, Madam, this is not the case at all. I would like to highlight to the House that thousands of documents were given to the AGO and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). As an example, they looked at 16,481 Works Orders. And if we looked at the appendices that are attached to the AGO report, they were actually much shorter than what they originally were, Page: 76 meaning the attachment which Pricewaterhouse included in the report saying that certain matters are outstanding. Members who have the AGO report, if you care to turn, I would like to highlight certain things. Appendix C, this is page 3, Attachment 2.”
“The Town Council had explained that the supporting documents had been detached after the cheques were signed as they needed to be filed by the Estate and Projects Department. So, Madam, it should be remembered that these transactions took place in FY2012. Next, for the MA payments, which are based on agreed monthly rates, the level of services provided is subject to evaluation on a daily basis. These include some of the channels that are mentioned in Annex 2, and I would not want to belabour the point. I think Members can read from Annex 2. If there are other best practices from other Town Councils which other Town Council Chairs would like to share on how they verify that the Managing Agent's monthly payments are due before signing the cheques, I would be very enlightened to hear Page: 75 what can further be done. Next, Madam, for the EMSU services, how do we check whether the services have been rendered? Monthly reports are churned out to show performance based on time of response and actions taken based on various indicators. Next, Madam, how are we going to manage the related-party transactions better? We have started to introduce more oversight into works and payments to the MA and, in this regard, Annex 2 is also relevant, which we distributed earlier. But I would also like to highlight a couple of points. First, as regards project management, we continue to require the architects' and quantity surveyors' certificates before processing project management fees. Since April 2013, the Members of Parliament have started attending project meetings to assess the necessity for works and the details. Since late 2014, the Town Council's Estate and Community Liaison Committee has been tasked to approve works and project management fees before the works commenced.”
“Thank you, Madam. As Members can see from Annex 3, there are three key points which I wish to highlight in the annex. The first point is, again, to reiterate that out of the $6.6 million invoices, about 96% of them consist of monthly Managing Agent and EMSU payments which are based on fees approved by the Town Council earlier. Second, the point raised where the GM certified work done and approved the payment, 99.9% of these 11 invoices were, again, such pre-approved rates which had been endorsed by the TC earlier of MA and EMSU services. And the listing of the 11 invoices can be seen in the table here and Members will see that these are, indeed, for Managing Agent and EMSU services. If I can ask Members to turn over the page of Annex 3, the third point I would like to highlight once again is that, as far as the segregation of duties is concerned, it can be seen from the Attachment 1, serial numbers 30 to 84 that, at this juncture, we had already implemented the segregation where non-shareholder officers were involved in the payment approval process. Next, Madam, I would like to move on to the question which was asked of me and also of the Vice Chairs as to how we would verify that works were done before we signed the cheques. Madam, the three categories of works that these queries related to were FMSS' services for project management, MA services and EMSU services. So, Madam, first, I would like to touch on project management fees. For projects, the cheque signer would usually see the architects' certificate and the quantity surveyors' calculations of the value of the works done. The project management fee is a fixed 3.5% of the works. The auditor said that they were unable to verify what was presented to the cheque signer at the time, namely, FY2012.”
“As for the 11 invoices highlighted by Pricewaterhouse where the General Manager also certified the work done, these were invoices before July 2012 and nine of them pertained to agreed monthly fees for EMSU and Managing Agent services approved by the Town Council earlier, leaving just two items, amounting to $1,165, which were not such agreed monthly fees. Page: 74 Madam, at this stage, may I have your permission to distribute Annex 3 to my speech?”
“First, regarding cheque payments to FMSS, the Town Council had adopted an SOP on 8 September 2011, soon after the new management took over. It was the policy that no cheque to FMSS of whatever amount could be issued unless either the Town Council Chairman or one of the Vice Chairmen co-signed the cheque. Thus, it was not possible for FMSS to pay itself unless it was authorised by the Town Council Chair or Vice Chair who have no interest in FMSS whatsoever. Secondly, out of the amount of $6.6 million in payments, about 96% of that, or $6.4 million pertained to agreed monthly sums for Managing Agent and EMSU services rendered. These were monthly sums under contracts approved by the Town Council where the rates were already approved. Third, regarding the issue of segregation of duties, it is clear from Appendix C's list, if I may invite Members who have the report to look at Appendix C, the Attachment with the 84 invoices. Attachment 1 to Appendix C of the AGO report. It will be seen from this list of 84 invoices that from item 30 onwards to item 84 – and this was following the appointment of a new finance manager – we adopted an approval process whereby there were three other persons who were not directors of the Managing Agent who were involved in the certification of work, issuing of payment vouchers and signing of cheques. In other words, the segregation of duties was done on the Town Council's own initiative within FY2012 itself. It should be noted that the bulk of the invoices in Attachment 1 are subject to the improved approval procedure; 55 out of 84 invoices were subjected to this improved segregation of duties.”
“There was absolutely no intention on the part of the Committee nor the contractor to approve higher payment rates for this interim period of nine months. Next, Madam, I move on to the issue of disclosures of the related-party transactions. It was pointed out that before entering contracts with FMSS, the relationships and extent of past or existing dealings should have been recorded, as considered by the Town Councillors. We note the advice and will exercise more diligence in detailing and recording the RPTs in future and discuss how to mitigate the risk. To this end, we will implement a checklist to be filled in by all tenderers and contractors to facilitate this. I wish to highlight, however, that, in the circumstances, there was little risk that the Town Councillors did not know of the relationships and the past contracts. At the time the contracts in 2011 and 2012 were entered into, the appointed Town Councillors remained the same. They knew of the circumstances of the formation of FMSS and contracts being awarded to FMSS and their values. When the tenders from FMSS were received, the ACRA-profile of FMSS was submitted and considered by the committees evaluating the tenders. Page: 73 Next, Madam, I move on to the issue of oversight of payments. Much has been published about the fact that the Secretary and General Manager issued invoices, certified work done and approved and signed cheques to FMSS. Appendix C, Attachment 1 and its total amount for 84 invoices of $6.6 million have been the subject of a front-page headline on 9 February 2015. The Lianhe Wanbao headline was entitled "TC Secretary and GM pay their own companies $6.6 million" and it has caused the intended alarm. However, Madam, the alarm is not warranted. Let me explain why.”
“By the time the official reply was received, it was mid-September, two weeks before the contract expired on 30 Page: 72 September. The Town Council had appointed a committee to evaluate a proposal by FMSS to step in due to the urgency and the public interests. The committee met on Sunday, 18 September 2011, and went through the proposal to use the existing rates charged by CPG FM and EM Services. Unfortunately, it was not noticed that for two of the items, the wrong multiplier was used. The items were costed per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU) rather than the correct unit which should have been per block and per lift. There was a rounding off of a unit rate to two decimal places instead of three, resulting in an erroneous calculation. Approval was obtained from the Town Councillors via email for an estimated fee of about $70,000 when the fees should have been in the region of about $50,000. We have gone back to investigate the matter. Though the approval was for a fee of $70,000, the actual amounts billed by FMSS were lower, being about $67,000 to $68,000 each month. The TC has since calculated the amounts, using the correct multipliers. There was an unintended overpayment to FMSS for the nine months. A sum of about $122,000 has since been paid back to the Town Council to correct the error. Why did the error occur? I bear personal responsibility as I was Chair of the Evaluation Committee. Despite the urgency of the matter, I should have ensured that the former contractor's invoices were sighted for comparison before the Committee accepted the pricing proposal and obtained the Town Council's approval. That said, the error was not deliberate.”
“Should all TCs then make such related-party disclosures? Madam, I also note that due to certain media reports, there may be a misconception that the values of the project management fees and EMSU fees paid to the MA were not recorded in the financial statements. Madam, there are no off-book payments whatsoever. These fees are recorded in the Sinking Funds' and operating fund's expenses. The auditors' issue in FY2012 was that they wanted specific disclosures under a related-party transaction heading. So, I thought it is important to clarify that. Madam, next, I would like to move on to the AGO's finding on the EMSU contract that was awarded for nine months in 2011. AGO has flagged several lapses relating to this, such as not planning properly so as to call a tender and lack of due diligence in assessing the fee proposal. We agree we should have handled the situation better. However, please let me explain the situation at the time. The new team had just taken over management on 1 August 2011 and was focused on priorities, such as stabilising the estate management operations and also of upscaling the computerised financial accounting system to cater to the GRC accounts. At that time, the EMSU services for the six wards in Aljunied-Hougang Town were then provided by three different contractors due to electoral boundary changes for GE 2011. Aljunied GRC had four wards serviced by CPG FM, one ward drawn over from Marine Parade GRC being serviced by EM Services and Hougang SMC being serviced by FM Solutions & Integrated Services. The TC had wanted to preserve the existing contractors until a tender could be called for EMSU services for the whole Town. There were verbal discussions with CPG FM to extend their contract for six months but, in the end, it did not materialise.”
“Thank you. Madam, as Members can see from Annex 2, this sets out, not just the composition of the Town Council itself, but also its constituent committees that oversee various aspects of work, such as estate, finance, tenders, audit, projects and so on. On the last page, Members will also see some additional channels by which the MA service levels are monitored by the Town Council, in particular, the Members of Parliament. Later on, my colleagues will also take Members through some of these points. Madam, in relation to the related-party transactions, I would like now to talk about the disclaimer in the FY2012 financial statements on this point. In our Town Council's audit for FY2012, our auditors put in a disclaimer that because the project management fee details were not disclosed in the financial statements, they were unable to determine the Page: 71 completeness of the related-party disclosures. The Town Council could not understand this at that time as there was no clarity of practice in the financial statements of Town Councils. For instance, the same auditors audited us earlier in FY2011 and only required the related-party disclosure to disclose MA fees. The former Aljunied Town Council Management also had related parties and yet there were no related-party disclosures in the financial statements which had no disclaimers. Madam, the Town Council has no issue with disclosing the value of the related-party transactions. Moving forward, we have suggested that the Ministry make it clear which parties are considered related in the Town Council's context. Most Town Councils are managed by managing agents with the Town Council's Secretary and General Manager being fairly senior staff in their respective companies.”
“Sorry, Madam. May I have your permission?”
“It also covered assessing whether the evaluation and award of the tender was conducted in accordance with existing requirements and good corporate governance practices. The auditors examined the records of the evaluation done and also sat in on an evaluation meeting. After this voluntary audit in 2012, the Town Council was graded "A". Nine, contrary to some misimpressions that the Managing Agent has a free hand to manage the Town Council, the Town Council, in fact, has in place various structures to oversee the work of the Managing Agent. I would like now to distribute Annex 2 to my speech showing the various committees and channels that aid monitoring of MA services.”
“There was an urgent need to put in place a computer system due to the termination of the former system in use. FMSS was appointed for a one-year period only to help the TC in the transition phase. Their rates were the rates that CPG FM charged the former Aljunied TC. Six, for the first contract in 2011 for EMSU, there was no intention to waive competition. The TC's preference was to extend the existing contractors until a tender could be called for the whole Town. However, the existing contractors were not agreeable. FMSS was appointed to provide these services for nine months until the tender could be awarded for the Town. I shall elaborate more on this shortly. Seven, in 2012, open tenders were called for MA services as well as EMSU services for the six wards in Aljunied-Hougang Town. For MA services, three companies purchased the tender documents, including EM Services, that is, the Managing Agent for many PAP Town Page: 70 Councils. When the tender closed, only FMSS tendered to be Managing Agent (MA) for AHPETC. Prior to submitting the tender, FMSS also submitted their declaration of interest in accordance with Town Councils Financial Rule 76, sub-rule (3). Eight, as the Town Council was left to evaluate FMSS as the sole tenderer in 2012, the Town Council decided that it was prudent to have a tender process for MA services, subject to a voluntary audit. It called for quotations from three audit firms and appointed one firm to do the review. The agreed upon scope included considering whether the current procedures and practices were adequate to ensure that the procurement was made in the ordinary course of business and whether there were adequate controls to ensure that the award was conducted in an unbiased, objective, fair and transparent manner.”
“In a small set-up like FMSS, which focuses on managing one town, it is inevitable that the Directors of the company would be involved in holding key positions in the Town Council as well. This issue of RPTs in our Town Council has been the focus of much media attention. Misimpressions have been created that the TC Secretary and its General Manager were the main directors and shareholders of the company, are freely being given contracts without tender and paying themselves handsomely without accountability. Contract values have been highlighted in media headlines as if these were profit margins. It is necessary to highlight some key facts as these misimpressions need to be debunked. One, the MA has no decision-making power in relation to the award of tenders. Tenders are awarded by a Tenders and Contracts Committee consisting of Members of Parliament and appointed Councillors with no interest whatsoever in the MA. Two, the MA is not involved in evaluating any tender in which it is participating. When the MA and Essential Maintenance and Services Unit (EMSU) tenders are involved, the MA is excluded from the deliberations. Three, the only time FMSS was appointed to provide services without tender was in 2011 in the aftermath of the General Election. These waivers were only for two contracts for very short periods of time. One, for MA services for one year; and the other for EMSU services for nine months. These were transitional arrangements. For all subsequent contracts involving FMSS, open tenders were called and advertised in the papers accordingly. Five, for the first contract in 2011 for MA services, it was triggered as the incumbent MA, CPG Facilities Management, asked to be released from the contract with the TC for business reasons.”
“We have also done the transfers for FY2013 and have been making transfers for FY2014. As for the errors in transfer amounts flagged by AGO, we have also made the corrections and payments. AGO noted that the Town Council had wrongly used Sinking Funds for the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP). The TC had assumed that funds for NRP should be deposited into Sinking Funds and paid from there. However, as there was actually no legal requirement to keep the NRP funds in Sinking Funds, we have corrected this and, henceforth, transacted for NRP projects out of routine or operating funds. This error arose because the Managing Agent had not encountered managing an NRP project before and was not certain whether such NRP monies should be transacted out of Sinking Funds or operating funds. This was not a case of using the Sinking Funds for the wrong purpose. Madam, there is still one issue to be attended to and, that is, the amount of GST refunds to be transferred back to Sinking Funds. This will take some time to unravel. Going forward, the Town Council will work with its IT system vendor to implement a function to capture Sinking Fund payments that attract GST. This will make it much easier to compute how much GST refunds from IRAS should go back into the Sinking Fund. The observation about the Sinking Fund lapses has, thus, been substantially addressed. Next, Madam, I move on to related-party transactions. The Town Council has never disputed that the Town Council and its Managing Agent (MA), FM Solutions and Services Pte Page: 69 Ltd, are deemed to be related parties under the financial reporting standards.”
“Members will see from the Annex 1 that some of the key improvements and updates have been tabulated in this two-page attachment and some of the Members of Parliament and myself will be taking Members through some of the specific changes later on. Madam, in this debate, all the Members of Parliament of the Town will be giving more insight into specific areas to enable the public to have a better understanding of the matter and the actions we have taken and are taking in response to the AGO audit. I will focus on Page: 68 the findings about the Sinking Funds and related-party transactions. First, Madam, the Sinking Funds. We note that there could be a misunderstanding amongst some members of the public that the Sinking Fund monies were somehow lost. This is not the case. At all times, the monies that were not transferred to the Sinking Funds were still in the Town Council's operating fund bank accounts. The issue picked up concerns the transferring of the monies from one bank account to another. Let me explain how the omission of the transfer arose before I go into the corrective actions taken. Monies, such as income and Government grants, are first received into the Town Council's operating fund accounts. During FY2011 and 2012, the Town Council made some payments for Sinking Fund expenses out of the operating fund accounts, believing it could net off the Sinking Fund expenses before making the transfer to the Sinking Fund accounts later. The Town Council accepts that it should have transferred the full amounts due to the Sinking Funds each quarter and should have paid Sinking Fund expenses directly from the Sinking Fund accounts. We have taken steps and made good the transfers. For FY2011 and FY2012, the necessary transfers have been done.”
“Madam, we support the Motion and, as the Town Council Chair, I would like to put the concerns about the accounts of AHPETC in proper perspective. As we have said before, we welcome the audit by the AGO. The Workers' Party believes in transparency and accountability. We have given whatever documents we could to facilitate the audit, including documents with mistakes made or that it embarrassed us. The Town Council has done its best to prioritise the audit with resources it has. The past year has been gruelling for the management and staff as we were running a "live" operation at the same time. The team auditing us consisted of eight members from the AGO and eight from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a total of 16 for the past nine to 10 months. I wish to record my sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who worked long hours to complete the audit. The Motion expresses concern about some aspects of the Town Council's accounts and record-keeping, particularly in FY2012, two years ago. We, the Members of Parliament for Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East, are concerned about these matters. Some of the matters flagged out have already been addressed or improved upon; others are works in progress that require more time. To facilitate the public's understanding of the key improvements we have made or are making, I wish to distribute Annex 1 to my speech. Madam, may I have your permission to distribute an annex?”
“Mdm Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of the Members present to move that the proceedings on the item under-going discussion be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order 48(8) to remove the time limit in respect of my speech?”
“No, Madam, my question was whether the Police had looked into the reasons for the antagonism and how they could actually build some bridges, in that sense, to ameliorate that because part of effective policing is for you to have the buy-in of the community, as far as you can go.”
“Thank you, Madam. I have three clarifications for the Second Minister. Earlier in his round-up speech, he was saying that hawker centres were treated under the same regime as coffee shops. I would like him to clarify that because in the literature of the MHA statements, they put coffee shops as licensed premises but in some of the FAQs we have seen, hawker centres appear not to be licensed premises but I am not sure whether those stallholders selling drinks there are considered to be retailers or off-premise consumption. So, I would like him to clarify that, if different rules would apply. Secondly, could the Minister comment on the scenario that some of us brought up about the Seventh Month dinners. What would happen to the people who have opened Page: 72 drinks after 10.30 pm? That would be important, I think. And the third point is, Geylang, since it is going to be zoned as a Liquor Control Zone, I was asking in my speech whether the Police had looked into the reasons why there is antagonism towards the Police in Geylang and how we could actually ameliorate that?”
“To summarise, Madam, I support in general the Bill's purpose of restricting the public consumption of alcohol after 10.30 pm for the greater good of all. However, once this is done, I believe that we can retain the status quo for takeaway sales. We also need to ensure that those who are enforcing the provisions of the Bill act with reason and discretion, and that the auxiliary police are adequately trained. 3.45 pm”
“It is important that the public, whether local or foreign, understand the need for enforcement measures and believe the enforcement approach is fair and also reasonable. To this end, I was glad to note that just five days ago, the Police launched Project Transient Workers Outreach, an initiative aimed at promoting mutual understanding and creating awareness of Singapore's laws among foreign workers. While various Government agencies were reportedly involved in the project, such as the Civil Defence Force and the Central Narcotics Bureau, it was not mentioned whether the auxiliary police are in any way involved in such outreach. As auxiliary Police will be at the forefront of enforcing the Act, I am concerned that they are traditionally not trained in community policing and relationship building. Their historical focus was to protect the property of their clients and guard installations, though in recent years their roles have expanded to include policing migrant workers in public places. I believe it is critical to look at how to involve the auxiliary police in building bridges with the Page: 52 community. Otherwise, all the outreach efforts by the Police may be undermined. Furthermore, if we expect the auxiliary police to engage the public and manage potentially hostile situations, they must be given the training and support to enable them to enforce the law purposefully and with discretion. I note that in the Police Force (Amendment) Bill tabled for First Reading yesterday, there is a provision to formally expand the role of auxiliary forces to include assisting the Police in detaining and arresting offenders. This further underscores the need for the training and mindsets of our auxiliary police forces to be raised closer to the level of the state Police.”
“The Act distinguishes between Police Officers and the auxiliary police, the latter of whom are termed "approved persons" under clause 3 of the Bill. While there are some powers under the Bill that can be used by both Police and APOs, under clause 30 of the Bill, only a Police Officer may arrest without warrant a person committing an offence in the Police Officer's line of sight. Thus, if an offence of drunken trespass under clause 14 is committed in front of APOs, it would seem that these APOs cannot arrest the suspect but can only direct the suspect to leave the place. If he does not, it is not clear what, if anything, the APOs can do at the scene. Accordingly, I would like to ask if the proposed mode of operation is to team up both Police and APOs in joint patrols, or to respond to cases jointly. If they are to be working separately, there could be some awkward situations where auxiliary police may have to wait for Police to arrive to take certain actions, by which time, harm may already have been caused. Finally, Madam, I would like to make a general observation about the approach to enforcement. During the Committee of Inquiry into the Little India riots, the then-Commissioner of Police spoke about the policing challenges in Geylang and noted that there was open hostility and antagonism towards the Police in Geylang. He called Geylang "a potential powder keg". Have the Police thought about how the open hostility and antagonism can be ameliorated? Force-wide, the Police have embraced community-oriented policing as a model. This model requires relationship building and partnerships and removing distrust.”
“30 pm and midnight, a person who wants some drinks, say, after working late, can no longer purchase takeaway alcohol for consumption at home. He or she will have to go to a licensed premise to consume the alcohol there before the journey back. This may inadvertently lead to a higher incidence of persons riding or driving under the influence of alcohol. Since the Bill will already curtail consumption at public places after 10.30 pm, I do not see the need to have a general prohibition on takeaway sales between 10.30 pm and midnight for private consumption. Next, Madam, let me move on to some questions about the intended policing approach. Firstly, for public places in general that are not liquor control zones, will the 10.30 pm rule against consumption be actively policed? For example, do we expect to have foot patrols searching for violators or will the Police only act on complaints? Secondly, what will be the approach to drinkers found drinking in public after 10.30 pm but do not appear drunk and are not creating any annoyance to anyone? Under clause 12(4), such an individual commits an offence of prohibited consumption. How will the Police handle this? Would the Police just ask the person to leave with no questions asked or will records be kept? As for persons found drunk and incapable, or drunk and causing annoyance, clause 14(3) seems to favour an approach of just directing the person to go away and pouring away the alcohol. Are there expected to be further follow-up steps after these or will the authorities prosecute only when persons do not comply with directions of the Police to leave the place? Page: 51 Another matter of interest is the division of work between the Police and the auxiliary police.”
“Another concern is community events where alcohol is served, such as Seventh Month dinners, a point touched on by Mr Baey Yam Keng earlier. While the permits or permission for such events require the events to stop at 10.30 pm, it is common in these social gatherings for bottles of alcohol to be shared in the course of the evening. Even after the events formally end, it is common for attendees to stay back to quietly finish up their drinks together after 10.30 pm. To now say it is illegal to drink after 10.30 pm would mean everyone would have to either waste their drinks or to drink up to meet the timeline, which will be harmful and an overkill. Can the Government not accommodate this innocuous activity? Page: 50 Madam, there are also other aspects of the Bill I am concerned about. First, takeaway sales. Let me touch on the proposed prohibition against sales after 10.30 pm for takeaway consumption. This will be stipulated by Police as a licensing condition for alcohol retailers. Currently, most retailers of alcohol for off-premise consumption are able to sell alcohol until midnight, for example, convenience stores, supermarkets and petrol stations. I am not convinced that this should change. Many consumers purchase alcohol for takeaway between 10.30 pm and 12 midnight to drink at home or to bring along to social gatherings at the homes of relatives and friends. Since alcohol consumption in public after 10.30 pm will soon be outlawed, one will no longer be permitted to hang around a public place to consume alcohol after 10.30 pm. Therefore, the main concern about disamenities caused by public drinking late at night would have been significantly addressed. On the other hand, by prohibiting takeaway sales between 10.”
“Madam, as mentioned by my Party colleagues before me, the Workers' Party agrees that there is a need to strengthen liquor controls, in particular, the consumption of alcohol in public. While we support the Bill, we believe the Bill may cover too much and ask for particular areas to be relooked. For my speech, I will touch on protecting the quality of life in neighbourhoods, takeaway sales of alcohol and the policing approach to the Bill. First, protecting quality of life in neighbourhoods. The need to have tighter alcohol controls stems largely from the density of human activity in Singapore. The scarcity of land has led to intensified and mixed land use where residential and commercial spaces co-exist side by side. Over the last few years, the increased density of population has seen alcohol-related public nuisances and disorder spill over into residential spaces, affecting the quality of life in neighbourhoods. While it is true that many drinkers are responsible and do not disturb anyone, others camp at HDB void deck tables, merrymaking into the wee hours and leaving broken bottles and unfinished food in their wake. In private residential estates, too, spillovers can happen, especially in areas where there are nearby nightspots and liquor sale points. Thus, having a prohibition of alcohol consumption in public places after 10.30 pm will be welcomed. Nevertheless, I am of the view that the status quo need not change for public places, such as hawker centres, where retailers sell alcohol till midnight and patrons consume the drinks purchased within the hawker centres. Can we not preserve this, which is a self-contained space and an important outlet for Singaporeans of all income levels?”
“Thank you, Madam. I have one clarification for the Minister concerning the role of the Law Society after these amendments. The Minister mentioned that the Law Society basically retains much of its role. But in relation to clause 27 of the Bill which introduces a new section 71 on the Professional Conduct Council (PCC), I believe that the Law Society had given feedback about its concern that the PCC would be given the power to issue rules, such as practice directions, guidance notes and so on which the Law Society is currently doing. I would like to ask the Minister whether this is indeed a change, that is, the Law Society will no longer be empowered to issue those guidance notes and practice directions, but now it will be the PCC doing it.”
“The Law Society too, expressed grave concerns that there may be abuse should non-lawyers be permitted to participate in law practices as they "anticipate that such entities would inevitably be profit-driven which may result in higher legal costs for the public". They expect that lawyers might be urged to maximise billing hours resulting in unnecessary and protracted proceedings. They were also worried that conflicts of interest might arise if non-lawyer owners had ties with large corporations such as banks and real estate corporations which are profit-driven. Earlier, the Minister mentioned some safeguards to ensure that non-lawyer owners are subject to the same standards of the Legal Profession, for example, in ethics and confidentiality. I would like him to elaborate further on the safeguards, for example, are there any professions forbidden from being non-lawyer owners and in particular, whether there are any additional safeguards against excessive legal costs. 5.32 pm”
“Madam, I declare my interest as a Singapore lawyer holding a practising certificate. The Bill makes rather drastic changes in the way the legal profession is organised and regulated. While I am generally supportive of the Bill, I would like to seek clarifications on two areas. First, I understand that the Law Society had, in April, expressed some concerns to MinLaw about the Bill. They observed that the Law Society's self-regulatory role was being further eroded. For instance, the Director of Legal Services takes on a big role to register firms, and non-practitioners will also be involved in issuing practice directions and sitting on the Professional Conduct Council that oversees the relevant rules governing professional conduct matters. The Law Society had also indicated in its letter in April that it had insufficient time to provide feedback to the Ministry of the changes. How did the Ministry engage the Law Society before this Bill was presented to Parliament and how did the Ministry take the Law Society's feedback into account? My second concern is about the new section 36G under which non-lawyers can be approved to own shares in law firms. Reservations about this were expressed by the Committee chaired by Mr Sundaresh Menon to review the regulatory framework of the Singapore Legal Sector in his report in January 2014. The Committee noted that such Page: 89 alternative business structures risked consumer protection. Lawyers might have competing duties to the Court and to shareholders. Non-lawyer owners might have conflicts of interest. There were also concerns about client confidentiality, as different professions have different standards of duty, core values and ethics.”
“I was referring to Minister's earlier explanation that because we have a small Bar, there was a limited pool of people whom you could tap on. So, some people wanted to go back to practice after trying it out and so on. But what I was saying is that in the current Supreme Court Judiciary, I do note that, I think all of them started off as JCs, but some of them never took a break to go back to practice – as in, they probably went into the JC-ship, well, with the intention, hopefully, to make the Judiciary post a career in that sense. Page: 70”
“I have one clarification to make and two clarifications for Minister. First, the Minister mentioned that Mr Pritam Singh and myself were speaking more on the changes which we wish the Government was making rather than the changes that it is making. But the point is that in this Bill the Government does reorganise those provisions that allowed for temporary Judges so we have to take a stand on the Bill because of this. Second, I would like to ask Minister whether I heard him correctly that he says that as a matter of principle, he does not disagree that having Judges of short tenure actually undermines the principle of judicial independence. I would like him to clarify because that was the sense which I have got from him. Page: 69 And the second clarification for Minister is that he mentioned that we have a small Bar and the practical matter was that it may not be so easy to find people who are willing to take on the judicial appointment. But I do notice that in the current High Court Bench, for example, although many of them, if not most of them, started as JCs, quite a number of them continued on to be confirmed as Judges without taking a break at all to go back to practice. So, is it a question of just finding the people who see taking on judgeship as a vocation and are willing to go into it without thinking about practice?”
“However, the continued policy of having Singaporean Judges on short terms, or even to hear particular cases, is not acceptable to us. However, one issue that Singapore has faced is that many of our Judges, upon reaching 65 years, still have much to contribute on the Bench. They are a wasted resource if forced to retire at age 65. To be fair, 65 years as a compulsory retirement age for a Judge is very early, considering that Singaporeans are living much longer and we are already encouraging people, in general, to work till 67. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, Judges retire at age 70. In the United States' Supreme Court, Judges are appointed for life and many of them are still issuing very lucid judgments well into their 80s. It is timely to relook at whether the Constitution should be amended to postpone the retirement age of our Supreme Court Judges from the current 65 years to, say, 70 years, so that the country can continue to benefit from their rich experience and wisdom. Madam, as far as the other aspects of the Bill are concerned, my colleague Mr Pritam Singh has sought some clarifications about the post of Deputy Attorney-General and the gratuity scheme. I wish to reiterate again that we have no objections to the set-up of the Singapore International Commercial Court and to the creation of the post of International Judges, as proposed in the Bill. However, we have grave concerns and object to the re-enactment and further entrenchment of Singapore Judges of temporary nature, either Judicial Commissioners, Senior Judges or the Chief Justice. Because of these concerns which are fundamental in nature, the Workers' Party opposes the Constitution amendment Bill. 3.47 pm”
“Thankfully, this has not happened. But there is no guarantee that it will never happen. We should remove this risk. Instead, the present Bill re-organises and re-enacts these problematic provisions and even creates a new term of Senior Judges for Judges appointed on contracts beyond the retirement age. Madam, the Workers' Party is opposed to such temporary Judges. These Judges are appointed for short terms, and whether they get their contracts renewed would depend on whether the renewal is recommended by the Prime Minister and concurred with by the President. The uncertainty of the appointment also carries a risk that short-term Judges would be wary of making decisions that put the Government or ruling-party politicians in a bad light and might make safe decisions so as not to jeopardise their reappointment. I am not saying that this has in fact happened, nor am I impugning the integrity of the President or the Prime Minister. But if we are to improve the design of our constitutional institutions for the long term, these provisions do not help instil the highest public confidence in the Page: 61 independence of the Courts. One aspect of the Bill that we have no issue with is the creation of International Judges. Though these are also short-term appointments, the International Judges will sit only in the new Singapore International Commercial Court and their expertise may be necessary to boost SICC's standing and to encourage parties overseas to submit their disputes to the SICC for decision. As these International Judges will only hear disputes of an international commercial nature, the risk of such judges worrying about not being reappointed due to the judgments they deliver is, in my view, negligible.”
“Madam, I will focus my speech on the amendments relating to the Supreme Court. These amendments appear innocuous but, in fact, seriously impact some fundamental aspects of judicial power and judicial independence in Singapore. Our Westminster system of governance separates state power into three functional and sovereign domains – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. And as the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, the final interpreters of the Constitution are the courts. To ensure that they decide without fear or favour, judicial independence is ensured through security of tenure and remuneration. Article 98 of the Constitution provides that a judge shall hold office till he reaches 65 years of age and he cannot be removed from office except under very limited circumstances of misbehaviour or ill-health. Neither can a Judge's remuneration and other terms of office be altered to his disadvantage after his appointment. These safeguards are designed to ensure neither of the other two branches of Government can influence our Judges. Even before this Bill came before the House, the Constitution already had two Judicial Offices that are exceptions in this sense: contract Judges and Judicial Commissioners. The current Article 94(3) provides for the appointment of Chief Justice and other Judges beyond their retirement age of 65, while Article 94(4) provides for the appointment of Judicial Commissioners. More worrying is Article 94(5) which empowers the President to appoint a person qualified for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court to be a Judicial Commissioner to hear and determine a specified case only. These provisions leave Judges and Judicial Commissioners open to possible interference by the other two branches of Government.”
“But if I am meeting a person for the first time, I may not know this person and the LPA process does not take too long. What is so difficult about requiring a check with someone who knows the donor – not a certificate issuer but someone who knows the donor – to confirm that this LPA would be in keeping with what the donor wishes to do? The third question is about the role of the Public Guardian. The Minister spoke about this current case where the OPG has taken a number of applications. I am not just referring to that but in general, besides this one, has the OPG ever looked into any other case on its own accord?”
“Thank you, Madam. Three supplementary questions arising from the Minister's answer. I agree with the Minister that there are two forms currently under the system. But it seems from my observation that Form 1 has become the default form. In fact, I think at the grassroots level, there has been a big concerted effort to get people to issue LPAs – that is the cheaper version, anyway. My question is this: I do not think it detracts from what the Minister said about giving options and so on. Earlier on, the procedure before this year was that the donor was asked whether you want to notify someone. It is not that you have to, but you are asked "Is there Page: 42 someone you would like to notify of the making of a LPA". It was always an option given to the maker, but the point is that it was the duty on the part of the person issuing the certificate to make sure that the maker of the LPA addressed this question and addressed his or her mind to the question of whether he or she wanted to notify someone. It still remains an option. I am not really convinced by the Minister's answer that it is cumbersome, because it is just an additional question that you would like the maker to address his or her mind to and at the point of giving the LPA, even if it is in the default Form 1. The second question is concerning the certificate issuer. The Minister said that by putting too many people into the process will somehow make it such that people are not responsible. I do not really agree with him on that either. In the case I mentioned, which is the Scottish case, what they require is, for example, as a lawyer, if I am making an LPA for my client, I know that client personally, then I can vouch for that client and that this is what that client wants.”
“Yes, the last two, Madam. These studies which showed that vulnerable lonely elderly people are particularly susceptible to being pressured to deal with their assets in a way that could amount to scams. So, I wonder whether the Government is concerned about this potential abuse in the LPA system and whether there are additional safeguards that are needed for such vulnerable groups. Last of all, the Minister did mention that the Public Guardian itself has a role to play as a safeguard. I would like to ask whether the OPG currently acts based just on complaints or does it, of its own volition, investigate suspicious cases?”
“For example, in Scotland, I understand that even as a professional, the professional will have to indicate whether they are forming an opinion of the donor's independence based on personal knowledge of the donor from the past or by consulting another person who can confirm that the person making the LPA is actually acting according to his or her own wishes. The fourth supplementary question is this question of vulnerable groups. I think the Government would agree that there would be certain vulnerable groups, especially lonely elderly people, who may be subject to undue influences in issuing the LPA. I think there are studies, including studies, such as the 2011 MetLife Study on Elder Financial Abuse —”
“Thank you, Madam. I have five supplementary questions for the Minister. The first is that I understand that prior to this year, actually our procedure for registering the LPA had an additional step and that was: the person making the LPA would be asked if there were other persons whom he or she wished to notify about the making of the LPA. This requirement was removed in 2014. So, I would like to ask the Minister why that was the case. Second, does the Minister not agree that this requirement is actually a good safeguard to ensure that other people, besides the attorney or the proposed attorney, are aware of the LPA being made? And would the Ministry look at bringing back this requirement as a better safeguard for the independence of the making of the LPA? The third point is about the certificate issuers mentioned by the Minister earlier. Under our current procedure, as he mentioned, there are three groups of people who are professionals who can issue the certificate. You could be a General Practitioner accredited to the Office of Page: 39 Public Guardian; you could be a psychiatrist; you could be a lawyer with a practising certificate. My concern is that the LPA actually, in our current format, is a standard form and I have gone through one of these myself as an issuer and it does not really take that much time for the issuer to go through the form with the person making the LPA. It is a question of ticking boxes, filling up blanks and professionals can make mistakes in such circumstances in judgement as well. So, I would like to ask whether the Government would consider an additional check for the certificate issuers when they are certifying the LPA.”
“Madam, in conclusion, our society can never be totally equal, and some differentiation gives incentive and motivation to work for a better life. Nevertheless, the ASPIRE's recommendations highlight the need to remedy the great divide in Singapore in the pay and standing of those with University degrees and those without. A national effort to improve the prospects of ITE and Polytechnic graduates is a worthwhile mission, and the Workers' Party supports this mission. Page: 85 5.39 pm”
“The recent set-up of the Singapore Institute of Technology is very welcome, as it gives Polytechnic graduates the opportunity to earn applied degrees in Singapore. Over time, our economy should be able to cater for a workforce which is not only better-trained, but better-educated. Next, Madam, at the cultural and mindset level, is it possible for us to change the prevailing mindset that a degree is the baseline for a good life? In order for ASPIRE to work, each of us must believe that our own children too should be content to go through the technical pathways drawn up by ASPIRE. As many have noted, this is a tough sell for Singapore parents. As for employers, they should be as open as possible to looking at qualities other than paper qualifications to hire and promote people. In this regard, the private sector fares better, as it tends to be more performance-oriented in its reward system. Instead, the biggest culprit at over-emphasising qualifications might actually have been the Government itself, as has been pointed out, which has even distinguished among the graduates: scholars and non-scholars have different career progression and pay, and employees with "good" Honours degrees may get higher starting ranks and pay than those with "less good" Honours degrees; the differences between graduates and non-graduates in the Civil Service are even more stark. It is noteworthy that the Public Service Division has announced some changes and said that a review is in progress. It may be necessary to review the entire Civil Service and uniformed services' hiring and promotion system; otherwise, we would only be paying lip service to the principles espoused by ASPIRE.”
“In theory, staff who are better trained and have larger job scopes are more productive and, naturally, will justify higher salaries. Ideally, with better training, the organisation's productivity and earnings would rise, and employers would share those rewards down the hierarchy. However, there is no guarantee. On the other hand, some employers may be reluctant to send their staff for training, as staff would return from training expecting a pay increase, which, in turn, would increase employers' costs. Given the challenges of implementing ASPIRE's recommendations, an approach involving Government, employers and employees makes sense. However, as the Senior Minister of State mentioned yesterday, it cannot be limited to these stakeholders; we need the concerted effort of everyone, "Government, industry, educational institutions, workers, unions, students, parents and educators" to move to a new paradigm where alternatives to Page: 84 a degree are equally respected and a viable economic option. Madam, next, caution against discouraging academic progression. In our zeal to deepen technical competence and uphold pathways to success, we should be mindful that we do not inadvertently discourage individuals from pursuing higher academic qualifications just because of their starting point. We should ensure that ASPIRE's recommendations do not get translated into advising our ITE and Polytechnic graduates not to aspire. Where an individual has good academic potential, he should be encouraged to pursue those goals. Academic progression must always remain open. To this end, ITE graduates must be able to progress to Polytechnics, and Polytechnic graduates must be able to progress to public Universities.”
“Employers were also reluctant to send their staff for non-compulsory courses for two main reasons: first, more costs may have to be incurred to hire cover staff, and secondly, staff would expect to have pay increases after completing the courses. While each industry is different, I believe this experience with the private security industry may hold lessons for other sectors on the possible challenges and buy-in needed to make the frameworks and pathways produce results, to create the "virtuous cycle" we aim for. Madam, I next move on to Part 2 of the Motion. The second part of the Motion calls upon this House to support a tripartite approach to instil a culture of lifelong learning and a reward system based on skills and performance. Instilling a culture of lifelong learning and having a reward system based on skills and performance, rather than qualifications, is easier said than done. For instance, an employer committed to lifelong learning will have to accommodate release of staff for courses and even hire cover staff, which can be disruptive. Educational institutions and course participants will also need to be flexible to accommodate work exigencies. I have personally had the experience of co-ordinating CET courses at my former workplace, where we had large cohorts of students who were law enforcement personnel working on different shifts. Major planning on the part of the employer and the educational institution was required to enable staff to attend courses, with disruptions to course schedules due to major deployments for events, such as World Bank meetings and General Elections. As for rewarding staff based on skills and performance, this, too, can have its challenges.”
“The Committee suggested that Polytechnics and ITE offer more development programmes to strengthen students' resilience. However, I would like to suggest that it is important to beef up the capabilities of staff as well, to help students undergoing emotional or financial stress. Besides having counsellors or specialists in sufficient numbers in educational institutions, academic staff should also receive sufficient baseline training to better support their students, since they are the ones who see the students regularly and know them well. Next, Recommendation 10: sector-specific skills frameworks and career progression pathways. ASPIRE recommends developing sector-specific skills frameworks linked to progression pathways for each sector to serve as national benchmarks. The intention is for all employers and employees in a particular sector to have a common reference point, to facilitate promotion based on skills. The intention is a good one. However, it is not an easy task to devise skills frameworks and progression pathways which are credible and usable across an entire sector. While getting the frameworks and pathways in place is one thing, making them effective to improve salaries is another. A case in point is the private security industry. For about a Page: 83 decade, a CET framework under the WSQ (Workforce Skills Qualification) scheme was devised. It aimed at imparting specific skillsets to security officers and supervisors, to enable them to be more professional and improve career paths. Yet, despite evidence that standards have risen and job scopes have increased, and despite a market shortage which can only be filled by locals and Malaysians, it remains a low-wage industry.”
“It was stated that the lead institution should work with Page: 82 the relevant economic agencies, employers and other stakeholders to ensure course offerings are relevant and to partner them in internships and industry projects. It was further stated that all institutions and students would be able to benefit. I would like to ask whether the lead institution would have any advantage for itself by doing the co-ordination role. For instance, if a lead institution is appointed for the hospitality industry, does this mean that it will have priority for research projects in hospitality, or is the lead institution just a co-ordinator who will have to open up projects to all institutions for discussion? As for the academic programmes themselves, will non-lead institutions continue to run them, or does the Ministry expect some sort of rationalisation, that is, individual institutions concentrating on certain industries? Next, Recommendation 6: more development and support for students. The Committee highlighted the challenges that some students face in their studies, due to their different abilities and family difficulties. It was stated that there were adequate financial schemes to cater to the financial needs of students. However, it should not be assumed that all is well on the financial front. My own observation is that not all students who need the schemes eventually get helped by them. Families in financial difficulties are often unstable, with some even selling their homes and moving to stay in Johor Bahru. Some parents perceive the application process for financial aid as cumbersome; some even pressure their children to work or even to stop studies to work full-time. These cases need strong guidance and support.”
“The practical difficulty is usually that during the internship itself, the exigencies at the workplace will trump any training plan, leaving interns to fend for themselves or help in repetitive tasks, such as storing documents for office renovations. It would not be fair as well to hold an employer accountable if some learning outcomes are not met. Already, it is not easy to find employers to take interns in some industries. With the additional responsibilities expected of the host employer under ASPIRE, for example, providing suitable mentors, greater employer commitment and buy-in will be needed. Perhaps, one way of getting more buy-in from employers is to alleviate the current manpower demands by providing student manpower during the peak periods for the industry, or to de-conflict the internship periods among institutions to ensure employers have a steady stream of interns throughout the year. Perhaps, the lead institution appointed for each industry sector could look into this. Students currently do internships from between two months and six months, but this may not be enough in certain industries. It would be good if companies could get involved earlier in the education process to ensure students are market-ready. One good example today is Temasek Polytechnic's Lufthansa Technical Training Centre, which provides training for the Polytechnic's aviation students, which helps prepare them for an industry accreditation recognised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. We should encourage more of such collaborations. Next, Recommendation 4: role of lead institutions. The Committee has recommended designating a key Polytechnic or ITE college as a lead institution, to co-ordinate efforts in working with different stakeholders.”
“We want Singaporeans to be able to find fulfilling work in Singapore and we want job vacancies to be filled by Singaporeans. At a more fundamental level, we should aim to reduce the current inequality between University graduates and non-graduates in terms of income as well as status. An egalitarian society is more stable and cohesive than one with high inequality. However, for ASPIRE to succeed, non-graduate pay must rise. For the remainder of my speech, Madam, I would like to share some observations about the Committee's recommendations. I will focus on Recommendation 2 on internships, Page: 81 Recommendation 4 on the lead institutions for key industries, Recommendation 6 on supporting students, and Recommendation 10 on skills frameworks. I will also touch on Part 2 of the Motion. First, enhancing internships. The Committee rightly noted that students' internships can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair with a wide range of students' experiences. The move to get educational institutions and industry partners to work more closely to ensure clear and relevant learning outcomes is good. However, it is also important that students do not misunderstand this to mean that the employers owe them a living and they should be doing interesting work all the time. Learning workplace and life skills, such as getting along with colleagues, working under pressure or doing mundane tasks for the business should also be part of the learning outcomes. Currently, I believe that there is already some form of pre-deployment consultation between the employers and lecturers supervising the student to ascertain the potential for learning during internship.”
“Mdm Speaker, reading the ASPIRE report, I was reminded of an anecdote told by a professor of sociology at NUS many years ago. He was reflecting on how Singapore society over-valued paper qualifications. He noted that society respected him because he was a University professor, but whenever his car broke down on the highway, he could do nothing but stand by his car while waiting for a mechanic to arrive. He said, "I just stand there while he rescues me. Yet, nobody takes notice of him." As a former Polytechnic lecturer, I have also seen Polytechnic graduates leave jobs in their field of study, disillusioned by lack of career paths or recognition. Besides pursuing a degree, many moved to commission-based sales jobs to improve their income. There is a strong desire for better pay, as pointed out in the ASPIRE report at Annex B. This is understandable as the disparity between University graduate pay and non-graduate pay is great. According to MOM statistics, the median starting pay for Polytechnic graduates is about $2,000 without NS, while that for a University graduate from the public Universities is over $3,000. ITE graduates' starting pay is around $1,350 for NITEC holders and $1,800 for Higher NITEC holders. The difference in pay is often amplified over time when annual increments are calculated from the base pay. The early departure of these Polytechnic and ITE graduates from industry is a loss as they could have become specialists in their technical areas if they had stayed and built on what they had learnt. To this end, the Workers' Party is supportive of the recommendations of the ASPIRE Committee. At one level, there is an economic imperative. Singapore will be in trouble if it cannot offer jobs to Singaporeans because their qualifications are not in demand.”