Tang Guan Seng
Singapore
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is true that there is stringent control on visitors from PRC. However, recently, there has been a relaxation on the requirements. For example, the Banker's Guarantee for group visits I mentioned earlier has been reduced from $150,000 to $100,000.”
“STB has been encouraging a group of tour agencies who are members of the National Association of Travel Agents in Singapore to work closely with the authorised tour agents in China so that collectively they can improve on the quality of the package tours in Singapore, thereby increasing the number of tourists from PRC and also improving o…”
“If the Member has information of this nature, can he please give us the particulars and we will refer to the relevant agencies for action? CIVIL SERVICE (Discharged and undischarged bankrupts) 10.”
“Power and electricity tariffs are reviewed quarterly based on fuel oil prices at the time of review. Changes in fuel oil prices are passed on to the consumers, which is fair. Fuel oil makes up, as my Senior Minister of State said, about half of the cost of producing electricity.”
“As I said just now, it is the policy of JTC to require the owner of the property to reinstate to its original condition, if there is a breach of the lease terms. In this particular case mentioned by the hon. Member, if he can give me the details, we will follow up on this.”
“Furthermore, such contamination problem would not have arisen if the sanitary pipes were kept in good condition and the water tanks covered. The new rule in 1989 was an added precautionary measure. In view of the incident, PUB and ENV will require old buildings to take adequate measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident.”
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“While I appreciate the points made by the Member for Yuhua, the Ministry has no plan to employ more watchmen. As regards the use of school facilities, I notice that a similar question has been tabled for Oral Answer next Tuesday. So I will give a reply next Tuesday. EFFECTS OF REDUCTION OF CL2 PERIODS 19. Mr Yeo Choo Kok asked the Minister for Education whether he is aware that as a result of the reduction of CL2 periods by some principals, the CL2 teachers of these schools end up in teaching more classes and increasing their teaching and marking loads and whether this trend will lead to a deterioration of the standard of Chinese in schools. Mr Tang Guan Seng (for the Minister for Education)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, there is no trend indicating a deterioration of the standard of Chinese amongst our pupils. In fact, from the PSLE and 'O' level results over the past few years, the opposite is the case. Between 1981 and 1986, the PSLE pass rate for CL2 went up from 96.6% to 98.8%. For 'O' levels, the CL2 pass rate went up from 82.5% to 90%. The workload of CL2 teachers is within the workload expected for all teachers. CL2 teachers teach on average the same number of hours as teachers of other subjects. VACANT SITE FOR SCHOOLS AT BEDOK NORTH ROAD/NEW UPPER CHANGI ROAD (Building and naming of) 20. Mr Teo Chong Tee asked the Minister for Education (a) when will schools be built on the vacant land fronting Blocks 74 and 78 of Bedok North Road/New Upper Changi Road which has been earmarked as a school site; and (b) in determining the names of the new schools, whether the names of the old schools which were demolished in Changi Constituency can be used.”
“However, only registered organizations are considered able to ensure optimum use of the facilities and for security reasons. So if any RC, CCC or MC wants to make use of the facilities, they can approach the school principal to work out an arrangement acceptable to both parties. Now on the subject of funding of aided schools brought up by the Member for Kebun Baru. As we all know, education at all levels is highly subsidized by Government and community participation is certainly welcome. The point made by the Member is noted. However, as far as allocation of funds is concerned, I am afraid the Ministry of Finance has to be consulted. Finally, I will respond to the point on free textbooks brought up by the Member for Radin Mas. Although certain criteria have to be met, the principals are given the discretion to approve the grant or loan of textbooks to needy cases. Whenever special requests are found to be deserving, they have been approved. I would like to assure the Member that my Ministry will continue to meet the needs of the students who deserve such financial aid. Mr Lim Boon Heng: Sir, in view of the long answers given by the Minister, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $1,409,096,700 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $337,945,900 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head M -”
“Sir, I will respond to some of the points made by hon. Members on behalf of my Minister. First, the subject of Confucian ethics brought up by the Member for Yio Chu Kang. Confucian ethics has been introduced into the Upper Secondary curriculum as one of the Religious Knowledge options. A pupil has the freedom to choose the language medium in which he wishes to study Confucian ethics. The programme is available in both Chinese and English. The Member would also like to know the number of students taking the subject. The total number of students in 1986 exceeds 13,000. The breakdown of the figures is as follows: Secondary 3 - English 1,860; Chinese 5,100. Secondary 4 - English 670; Chinese 5,640. It appears that the students have shown a preference to study the subject in Chinese. It should be pointed out that, however, the programme in Chinese has been fully implemented since the beginning of 1986, while the teaching of the subject in English began only in 1985 and is still in the try-out stage. It is available in only 14 pilot schools for Secondary 4 this year. From next year when the programme in English is in full swing, more pupils are expected to opt for it. However, a better assessment of pupil's language preference for learning the subject can only be made after both programmes have been fully implemented in all schools for a few years. Another point brought up by the Member for Kaki Bukit is the use of school facilities by residents. My Ministry's policy is to allow the community to have access to school facilities, like school fields and halls, for recreation purposes after school hours or during school holidays. Many grassroots organizations, in fact, have already been making use of them for their activities.”
“Can the Ministry fix a definite date, say, a certain date in March, for the announcement of the examination results?”
“If, after study, we think that it is still better for us to have a Joint Examinations Syndicate with Cambridge, then I would like to suggest that we should negotiate with the Cambridge Examinations Syndicate to give us the results much earlier in the interest of the students. Of course, this examination involves many people and much time. Can we make this request jointly with other countries which have similar arrangement with the Cambridge Examinations Syndicate? If it is a problem of finance or of manpower such that the results cannot be announced much earlier, then perhaps we can pay Cambridge more to enable them to engage more people to mark the papers. If it is a problem with the Ministry of Education in Singapore because the officers need time to process the results, then perhaps the Ministry could look into it and try to solve the problem locally. If all the above suggestions cannot be put into effect, then we ourselves could make some new adjustments. Perhaps, one way is for Pre-U classes to start later in the year, in early or mid-March after the results have been announced. The 'A' Level Examinations should therefore be shifted later to the earlier part of the following year. I think these adjustments can be made successfully and they would not affect the students in joining the University or National Service. I hope the Minister would consider the various proposals mentioned earlier. If all these could not be put into practice, then I would like the Ministry of Education to consider trying to let the students know of the date of announcement of the results much earlier. Usually around this time, the press would receive a lot of enquiries regarding this matter. The Ministry, of course, would also receive many telephone calls.”
“The next problem is when results are announced, there will be a "typhoon" in so far as the student movements are concerned. About 20-40% of students have to withdraw, or to change schools or to change their stream. This is a problem that we see every year. I remember that in November 1983, the Singapore Monitor reported that the Ministry of Education had made a study into the proposal to prepare examination questions as well as to mark the answer scripts locally. Since then, there has been no further news. I do not know what the result of the study was. Can the Minister enlighten the House? I would like to make my own suggestions. In the initial stage of our nation building, we had reasons to have the Joint Examination Syndicate with Cambridge because the examinations were recognized by many countries throughout the world. But now, after 25 years of nation building, we can do many things by ourselves and our reputation has also been raised internationally. There are two examples I would like to mention. First, the standard of our National University. It is recognized worldwide. However, NUS does not have a joint examination with other universities. Perhaps there are external examiners for some of the NUS examinations. If that is the case, we should perhaps ask some Cambridge experts to be the external examiners of the 'O' Level Examinations. Secondly, our judicial system. Although it is linked to the Privy Council in the UK, we have our own judges in the High Court and Appeal Court. This has not made anybody doubt the efficiency and standard of our Judiciary. In view of these two examples, I would like to ask whether we could now consider preparing 'O' Level Examinations locally.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, every year in March it is a time for business people to watch us debate the Budget in this House but to the students it is a time when they wait anxiously for the announcement of the results of their examinations. During November and December, they sit for their examinations and in early March they wait anxiously for their 'O' Level results. Some two weeks later other students wait for their 'A' level results. Every year it is like this. I would like to talk about the announcement of 'O' level examination results in March. The 'O' level examination is conducted from November to early December over some 20 days, whereas the results are announced only around the beginning of March the following year. There is this waiting period of roughly about three months. It is about two months from the beginning of school year on 2nd January. This has been going on for years. Many students, parents and teachers are asking this question, "Why do we, after so many years, still have this practice of getting the results of the last examination only in March?" When the students want to enrol in Pre-University classes, they depend on their last school examination results. But some schools are stricter in marking than others. That means some students are at a disadvantage in joining Pre-U classes. They can join only after examination results are announced in March. 12.30pm The second problem is that many students who have been admitted to Pre-U I in January cannot concentrate on their studies until their results are announced. Therefore, they cannot excel and the teachers are also affected. Because of the volatile mood of the students, they cannot be effective in their teaching.”
“Therefore, it was difficult for them to respond in consonance, because the medium of communication was mainly English, Other than two poems in Chinese and the few audio-visual programmes being dubbed into Chinese, the main language used was English. So the object of the Exhibition was hardly achieved. As I said, we should mobilize all people in Singapore to participate in our nation building, including those people who could not speak or understand English. Recently, I heard that in Kreta Ayer area, there was a Chinese New Year festival going on, with decorations and lightings in that part of Chinatown, and huge crowds were milling around. I turned up to have a look. After one round, I found only two streets full of people. If we had been to Shanghai or Calcutta, you could really find waves of people crowding the streets. Here, we only have 2.5 million people. So we must treasure all our human resources. We must mobilize everybody to take part in our nation building. Whether Indians, Malays or Chinese, whether they are educated in English or Chinese, or without any education, we must mobilize each and everyone to take part in our nation building. For the past 25 years, we have achieved great progress in economic, social, cultural and various other fields. Our second generation leaders have also charted a vision and a course for us to achieve. That is, before the end of this century, we want to achieve the target of a distinguished city and an excellent society. So we should mobilize every Singaporean in this task of nation-building.”
“If we were to translate it into Chinese, it will be a very long term, such as Housing and Urban Development Corporation flats. It is a very long term. Any person educated only in Chinese will not be able to call out this name. But maybe he could call it as middle-income group flats. It is not a precise name nor an official name. Therefore, the people concerned should try to figure out how to give it a proper name. There is another example. Under the Ministry of Education there are so many terms. As a press-man, I am also confused sometimes. For instance, 'A' level education. When the Member for Siglap mentioned it, I listened very carefully to the simultaneous interpretation, and I heard it as 'A' standard ( ). It means that for such term as 'A' level, 'O' level, or 'N' level, there is practically no proper Chinese term for it. It is not so much a matter of translation but a matter which needs the attention of the relevant authorities, which should take into consideration the need of those people who know only Mandarin or dialects. I will give another example. We have spent a lot of energy and money in setting up the 25 Years of Nation Building Exhibition which depicted the historical events and the efforts and hardship that have taken place through various phases leading to our present stage. Many organizations and individuals were involved in this effort, Community organizations, like residents' committees, mobilized many people, young and old, to turn up at the Exhibition. But, older people and those who did not understand English found it difficult to understand the theme of this Exhibition.”
“I understand there are many difficulties, and yet SBC has overcome these difficulties and succeeded in broadcasting our proceedings here, This programme has a wide audience. If SBC did not broadcast our proceedings in Chinese, many people would miss the opportunity of knowing what is going on here. I think the Government should mobilize everyone to participate in our nation building. In the Presidential Address it is also stated that both the old and the young are to be encouraged to participate in our nation building. But in the present circumstances, this group of people who know only Chinese sometimes feel that their needs are not being taken care of and they may feel that they are being dislocated from the present current of social progress. Let me give an example. Just now the Member for Rochore talked about "POSB". I do not know whether the older generation understand the meaning of this term when they hear about POSB. I have asked a few older people who do not know English. I asked them. "Do you know what is meant by POSB?" They could not answer. Then I found my answer in the press. There was a small news item which says that the POSB was called by the old women folk in Hokkien as "key label bank". This is interesting. POSB has a full Chinese translation of "Post Office Savings Bank" ( ). But if I were to ask somebody to recite the name "Post Office Savings Bank" in Mandarin or dialect quickly, I think he will find it difficult to read out. If POSB accepts the concept of the "Key Brand Bank", then it becomes easier for people to call it. Otherwise some other proper name should be found so that these people will find it easier to name it. Another example, HUDC flats.”
“If we want to succeed in our aim of building a city of excellence, we must have a society where there is a high standard of Western science and technology, while preserving the good traditional Eastern virtues. Before we can get clear-cut solutions or a better proven method to the above questions, we should preserve our bilingual education policy. Even if we have got the key to achieve what we aim for, we should still preserve and promote our bilingual education. In the Minister for Education's speeches and the Addendum to the Presidential Address, it was pointed out why we should promote bilingual education policy and pursue mother tongue as a second language. I will now touch on another matter that has something to do with the whole social development. In our society, there is still a large group of people who do not understand English. At the present moment, the popular use of English in our society will give rise to a false impression that the whole society is using English. In fact, the picture is not so. We still have a group of people who do not understand English and who need special care and attention. In fact, the Government has also paid attention to this particular factor in its policy formulation. Let me give some examples. Our Speak Mandarin Campaign is a means to find a common language for those people who speak different dialects, and to enable them to speak a common language. The Ministry of Communications had officially translated MRT as "land rail" ( ) in Chinese, thus clearing the confusion brought about by various translation terms, such as "underground rail" ( ) or "fast rail" ( ). Another example, SBC is presently producing a broadcast of our Parliamentary proceedings in Chinese.”
“We should augment this experiment and use English more extensively and at a higher level in the promotion of the spiritual civilization of the whole nation. In other words, we can try to use English as a means of communication for the promotion of spiritual and cultural values of our society and see what the result will be. This is the first point. The second point is, if the experiment proves to be successful in our unique society, a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-religious society, then the Government should try to take immediate measures to increase the pool of our translators and try to increase the resources of specialists for this task. This is a pressing need peculiar to our social conditions where because of, firstly, our limited land space with small population and, secondly, of the nature of our open society, we could not have segregated an independent cultural system and live on our own cultural source of ingredients. Just look at the books in the book-shops and the programmes broadcast by TV and radio. Many of them contain imported cultures. If we want to improve our spiritual and cultural standards and promote our civilization, we should try to imbibe in our younger generation with good traditional Eastern culture and value concepts so that they may inherit the good points of our forefathers. If, after our study and experiment, it does not prove to be successful, then the Government should find better methods to meet the needs and to find out the means to cope with the pressing demand for our long-term aim. We have quite a number of disadvantageous conditions as mentioned earlier.”
“The Government may consider augmenting its scope in addition to its studies by giving it certain responsibilities in devising ways and means to carry out the recommended policies in the promotion or inculcation of good traditional cultures and correct value concepts in our younger generation, covering and matching their development through family, school and social environment. In this respect, we would certainly meet with various difficulties. I know for sure the Government is paying much attention to it. The Ministry of Education has implemented from this year as an experiment the teaching of Confucianism in English and, at the same time, English has also been used to teach Hinduism and Buddhism in the schools. I think this is something that no other country has done before. We have invited specialists, professionals and scholars to come here to work out our curricula for this purpose. From the record of what we have achieved in the past, I have the confidence that the Ministry of Education will succeed in its endeavours again. The experiment of teaching Confucianism in English now appears just a subject in the curricula of the school. In fact, it is not just that. With the changes in our education system and the progress of our society, with the attendant rising standards of education and the more popular use of English, I can see that in future English will be more resorted to in social and educational and cultural activities. For example, the SBC is dubbing the film "The Silk Road" into English, or introducing Chinese music in English. We should therefore not just study the question of whether the use of English, as a medium for the teaching of Confucianism is feasible or not. We should extend the scope of the work.”
“From the changes in education to changes in our society, we realize that there will be more and more opportunities to contact with the West. And the Western sub-culture and other less desirable influences will create more inroads into our society. So, what kind of resultant problems will there be? The first will be the problem of value concept. Not long ago, the Prime Minister also talked about it in this House. If the objective of nation building is to inculcate in our children the knowledge of the advance Western technology and science and at the same time preserving in them traditional Eastern cultures, then we must ensure that our future generation will preserve the good traditional value concept of our forefathers which would have a very great bearing on the fabric and structure of our society. We have an Institute of East-Asia Philosophical Studies which is currently studying the thoughts of Confucianism. I understand it will also study the philosophies of various East Asian countries. Apart from a comprehensive study of all these philosophies and related value concepts, we should also come to the question of how to inculcate in our younger generation the correct value concepts which are worth developing and preserving, and who should be responsible for the task. As to the question of which department should be responsible for the implementation of the promotion of such cultures and value concepts, I would suggest that the Institute of East-Asia Philosophical Studies could play a leading role.”
“Of course, we would like both parents to come out to work, but it is not possible now for the mother to play the role of taking care of the children. This is one of the changes in our society that I would like to address this House today. In the past, our parents came from China, India or Indonesia to this place. Although they were generally not well educated, they grew up in a traditional society. Therefore, they had brought with them the good traditions to this place. In olden times the parents used to spend a lot of their time with the children. Therefore, in the family they could easily impart the good traditions from their forefathers to the children. Now, this condition is hardly available. These are the changes in family conditions. The Minister for Finance in his Budget Statement said that education and training is the cornerstone of our economic upgrading strategy. Our children who are brought up under different family environment go to school to receive the education that they are provided with. There will be changes in our education system. From 1987, because of the need of future economic development there will be a unified stream of education where English will be the medium of instruction and mother tongue will become the second language. Briefly speaking, the next generation will be English educated. After leaving school, they will join the society. What kind of society will it be then? We all know that we have economic relations with the West. Therefore, in order to learn advance technology and science from the West, we have to use English as our medium of instruction and administration. It is only natural that English will be more widely used in the future.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, today we are debating on the financial policy of the Minister for Finance. The Member for Leng Kee and others have talked about the increase in diesel tax and road tax. I think tomorrow more of my colleagues will be touching on the same topic. Therefore, I will not touch upon this aspect of the financial policy to avoid repetition and will talk on something else. The Member for Anson has just raised a few points in his speech. I would like to comment on them, but he is not here. He talked about our promotion of tourism. He implied that since we have driven our hawkers away from the streets and resite them in hawker centres, life along the side streets has disappeared. I was wondering whether he was blaming the Government for not being able to attract more tourists to Singapore because of the policy of resettling street hawkers. It is not practical to bring back the street hawkers as can be evinced from history. The Member for Anson also suggested that the Government should give unemployment benefits to the unemployed. This is also not practical. Just look at some countries where welfare system is practised. They are faced with great economic difficulties! Another point he mentioned was that if we wanted to encourage our womenfolk to join the labour force, then we should reduce the levy on foreign maids. I do not want to say whether the levy on our domestic help is reasonable or not, but his argument is that if we want to emancipate our womenfolk from the kitchen, then we must engage foreign domestic help. I do not agree to this point. Just as the Addendum on Community Development in the Presidential Address has pointed out, the introduction of the domestic servant into the family has alienated the children from the parents.”