Toh Chin Chye
Singapore
“--- And meet their friends. I do not know. How do we go about it? Supposing we have an impasse. We cannot find anyone who is willing to take on the job of the President. It is a lonely job, yes. I have no ambitions to be called "His Excellency".”
“28 also provides that if the Government is going to change the Constitution in order to modify the powers of the President, he must go and seek a mandate from the people twice (not once, but twice) - first,in a general election and win a two-thirds majority, come back to this House, change the Constitution, and then take the amendment bac…”
“The Minister has not made it quite clear what is tax avoidance, what are the examples of tax avoidance that he would like to close. The Comptroller of Income Tax no doubt has many cases on his hand. If the public, who are paying taxes, are given to know what is legitimate and what is illegitimate, then I think they would be more at ease.”
“It will be invidious for special legislation to be passed for companies that provide essential services so that Government control over them can be maintained.”
“For a whole family to lose their property just because of the act of one is unjust. It is similar to what happened during the days of the Emergency in Malaya when whole villages were resettled because a few were deemed to have collaborated with the Malayan Communist Party. It is exactly the same principle.”
“And, of course, on the HDB side, its accounts will show a deficit because it has to pay high interest, or vast amounts of money in terms of interest, back to the Government. Yesterday the Member for Rochore pointed out to this House the sum of $8.8 billion which was loaned by the Government to the HDB.”
The complete record
Every one of 563 lines we hold for Toh Chin Chye, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 12.
“This Report might not have been written had not the failure to achieve bilingualism was shown in the high failure rates of 62% for PSLE and 66% for the GCE 'O' level examination over the years 1975 to 1977. The lesson is that educational policies must have priorities and they must be given time to mature. It is true that an egg requires incubation. But applying more heat to the egg will more likely kill the chicken in the eggshell than make it hatch faster. And that is exactly what has been happening to the Ministry of Education which has been receiving a lot of heat. What is implicit, of course, is that the existing heavy load on students must first be eased. Bilingualism and technical education, as the Minister of Education explained to Members yesterday, do make an impact on the well-being of our economy. But it also makes an impact in making our society more cohesive. ECA does not, and should be treated as part of the joys of childhood and adolescence, as I treated ECA during my childhood days. Switzerland has been publicised in our English newspapers as a model where bilingualism or multilingualism has succeeded. I am amazed that the Ministry of Education has picked this line from the newspapers or could it be that the Ministry of Education fed that line to the newspapers. Maybe Switzerland has succeeded because it does not have a Ministry of Education. But I can tell Members that its citizens are encouraged to participate in policy making by way of referenda. Multilingualism in Switzerland is based on French, German and Italian, but these are languages derived from Latin, having a common Roman alphabet and are phonetic. But spoken German in Switzerland is different from High German taught in the schools.”
“A mother came to see me about her daughter who was in a morning class in one of the girls' schools in Singapore. She was very worried for her daughter who was being retained in Secondary 2 for two years. She sought my advice. I found out that the daughter was participating in the Youth Festival year after year. And since she was a willing student, they made a donkey of her by making her run in inter-school sports races. Furthermore, she took part in other tournaments like basketball and ping pong. Although she left for school at six o'clock in the morning, she did not return till eight in the evening. That, of course, made the mother very worried indeed. The solution was simple. I advised her to cut out part of her extra-curricular activities and, in any case, she was not going to be recruited into the Army. As we gave the push to ECA - every school was competing for the title, "The Best School Band", or to win a Cup in inter-school competitions - the need for bilingualism was also emphasised at the same time. It began first with the secondary schools and later it was extended to primary schools. So we have two apposite objectives, the yin and yang. If we read Dr Goh's Report. we will find that he has honestly annotated the history of confusion sown among principals and teachers between the years 1966 and 1978 and when hardly a year passed without policy directives emanating from the Ministry. So it was not to be unexpected that the Ministry of Defence in the course of time discovered that the rugged society was producing illiterate soldiers. So we have soldiers wearing different tags to indicate the dialects they speak.”
“In the United States, they have what is called the Scholastic Aptitude Test which is taken by students who wish to enter colleges and universities. Likewise, American parents were dumbfounded when they found that Johnny could not read or could not count. On reviewing Scholastic Aptitude Tests over the period 1963-75, they were astounded that there was a decline of 44 points in verbal ability and 30 points in mathematics. The drop in educational standards was attributed to New Mathematics again, television, plus a host of other factors beyond the control of the school. The Singapore education system is not as bad as it has been made to appear in the newspapers and through parental discontent with the failures of their children. In fact, the Singapore education system has moved in tandem with our economic policies since 1968 and has contributed in no small measure to our economic success today. But there are failures too in the education system. If there are failures, they are due to our own making. The first reason for the failure was the call to build "The Rugged Society". The Minister of Education was then the Minister of Defence. As the Minister of Defence. he found that school leavers were skinny and bespectacled. He did not think they were potential recruits, either for the Army or the Police. So directives were given out to the Ministry of Education to step up extra-curricular activities and, as a carrot, points were given for ECA which would qualify students for admission into pre-university classes. This, of course, means that if a student spends more time on ECA, he is going to spend less time on studies and on home work. Let me relate to Members a personal experience.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it has been a long time since the Government tabled a paper for debate in Parliament, and I am indeed pleased as this will give newcomers to Parliament an opportunity to participate in a debate of this kind. It is not just we in Singapore alone who are concerned about the state of education. If we require any consolation, we can examine the woes over education in Britain, the United States and other parts of the Western world. In fact, in October 1976, the British Prime Minister, Mr James Callaghan, joined in a public debate on the low standards of basic education in the United Kingdom; the debate grew out of the failure of the government to overcome its economic crisis. The U.K. needed better educated people to help regenerate industry. What did they find? In the engineering industry, they found that apprentice recruits did not have an adequate grasp of the four operations of arithmetic - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The culprit was New Mathematics taught in the schools. New Mathematics was being directed at making students competent in computer language. Worse still, they discovered that at 'A' level, students with only 3Cs were studying engineering at a university, whereas better qualified students were studying medicine, arts and the social sciences. In fact, many of the engineering and technology courses in British universities and polytechnics would have closed today if vacant places had not been filled by overseas students. Higher School Certificate, or 'A' level education, bore no relation to the needs of an industrial trading state living off its manufacturing and commercial skills.”
“Mr Yeo Toon Chia asked the Minister for Labour whether it is feasible for the Central Provident Fund Board to work together with the Hawkers Department of the Ministry of the Environment to request all licensed hawkers to contribute to the Central Provident Fund as compulsory savings for future purchase of Housing and Development Board flats and for old age.”
“They can have access to Tan Tock Seng Hospital which is close by. This, of course, touches on the point which the Member for Kim Seng raised in the debate on the estimates for my Ministry, that is, the problem of rezoning of patient catchment areas for the different hospitals. As I pointed out, a hospital is a long-lived building. But Singapore is in a state of flux. A criticism has been made at my Ministry by a consultant - and I think it is a well made criticism - that all these donkey's years the Ministry has never had a long-term policy. This is a point which has been driven home to my administrators, and we are trying as best as we can to correct the errors of omission. Nonetheless, Sir, Members in the House will realise that health care is very personal. In many countries, it is no longer pushed into the back of the budget of a government. Health care can be inflationary in character and, in fact, in the United States it is. It is a great contributor to the cost of living. Likewise, in other European countries health has become a political issue. We have done our best up to date. But I am afraid that policies of other Ministries sometimes overtake policies in the Ministry of Health. I have now made it a point that my administrators in the Ministry catch up with other Ministries which are responsible for urban renewal or resettlement of population, so that we will not be left high and dry. CPF CONTRIBUTIONS BY HAWKERS 3.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is not possible to expand facilities in Bright Hill Drive Clinic because of physical constraints. Construction of Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic will begin in the middle of 1979 and will be completed in early 1981. The Polyclinic will provide outpatient, curative, maternal, child health, family planning, dental and psychiatric services. There will also be facilities for X-ray and minor surgery. As for Toa Payoh Hospital, I share with the Member for Ang Mo Kio the same concern. Toa Payoh Hospital was built in 1957, before the PAP came to power. In the first instance, it was built in the wrong place, on top of a hill and is inaccessible to patients. In the second place, at that time Toa Payoh housing estate and Ang Mo Kio housing estate were never conceived at all. So today we find that Toa Payoh Hospital which has less than 800 beds has got to serve two enormous housing estates plus the population from Sembawang. I have visited Toa Payoh Hospital on a number of occasions and have suggested how we could improve or increase the facilities at Toa Payoh Hospital. But the terrain is such that we have to embark upon a major development scheme, if at all Toa Payoh Hospital is going to improve its facilities. As of this moment, I regret to say that we can do very little except to move the student nurses who are living there out of their quarters or to move the housemen who stay there and convert some of the buildings into wards. That can be done at short notice, But it is an unsatisfactory solution. However, we are trying to manage and initial steps have been taken to convert some of these quarters into wards. However, may I also add that those who are living in the Ang Mo Kio area or Toa Payoh area need not necessarily go to Toa Payoh Hospital if it is overcrowded.”
“I studied that complaint in some detail and conferred with my officials on the statistics and on the number of patients involved. They told me there were approximately 10,000 diabetics and another 10,000 hypertensive patients. These are figures rounded up. I have to take their word for it. This means that they see 20,000 patients less per week. They see them only once a month, as was the practice in the past. Because they complained of the overload of patients, I therefore agreed that we would resume the past practice of giving these chronic patients their monthly supply of the medicine. But they must pay for the month's supply. They cannot go once a month to collect one month's supply but pay for one attendance. So a directive was issued to all OPD doctors that if there are patients who find it inconvenient to go to the OPD clinics once every fortnight to get themselves checked and to collect their fortnightly supply of medicine, then they could be given one month's supply of medicine but they will have to pay for it. But not all would want to go to the OPD clinics only once a month because there is the advantage of being examined either by the doctor if he is free or by the nurse practitioner. That practice has been implemented and I hope the Member for Khe Bong is satisfied. But from the medical point of view - the Member for Kim Seng can confirm it - it is very bad indeed for the doctor to go along and give one month's supply and does not see the patient any more. From the patient's point of view, I think it is even worse.”
“Thank you for the information. I am obliged to the Member for Khe Bong for that clarification, and he supported my point! We have got 80 to 85% lady doctors in the Outpatient Departments. who are watching the clock. On the average, an OPD doctor sees 100 to 120 patients a day. The doctor can spend on the average three minutes per patient. In Scotland, they did a survey and the general practitioner spends four minutes per patient. This is for $3. It was past bad practice in giving one month's medical ration and not seeing the patient. I was trying to correct the practice and make sure the patient sees the doctor. Now the Member tells me that the patient no longer sees the doctor. So I presume he just goes to the clinic and produces his OPD card to the nurse in charge who says, "You are a chronic patient. What is your supply? What is it, diabetes or hypertension?" She then gives the card back to him. But we have to cover up the shortage of doctors and the load on them. To reduce the workload we have introduced nurse practitioners. If a person is hypertensive, the nurse practitioner can take his blood pressure very easily. She is quite competent. If he is a diabetic, she can measure the glucose in the urine. It is very simple. In fact, she teaches chronic diabetics how to measure glucose in the urine. They are given Benedict's solution to take home. Diabetics are not just given tablets for oral treatment, they are given insulin for injection and insulin is very expensive. This complaint of having to report to the doctor at the OPD every fortnight so that he can collect his supply of insulin or oral hypo-glycemic or anti-hypertensive drugs was made to me last year.”
“No. I think it is good medical practice that the general practitioner is doing that. The general practitioner wants to know what has happened to his patient. Is he taking his pills? Is he better? Is he worse? If he is not responding to his pills, he had better prescribe another kind of pills. If a blue pill is no good, then he will have to give him a red pill. For this reason, I discussed this very deeply with the Deputy Director of Medical Services (Primary Health) who has a very soft heart like the Member for Khe Bong, and she strongly objected to it. But I told her that from the medical point of view it is bad. If I were a patient I would like to be seen by a doctor. Would the hon. Member for Khe Bong like to be seen by a doctor if he were a chronic patient?”
“Thank you. It was last year when I raised the fee by 50 cents for outpatient treatment, and in the process I discovered the practice which the Member for Khe Bong has just recited to the House, namely, that patients are given monthly supplies of drugs and that they do not return until the next month. I thought this over from the viewpoint of a good doctor and a patient. If I were a doctor, it should be good medical practice for the doctor, who has prescribed a two-week course of medicine to his patient, to see his patient so that he knows whether his patient is alive and still well, or whether his patient is responding to the drug treatment, or requires a change in the drug regardless of whether the patient is a diabetic or a hypertensive. For this reason, I had suggested to the Outpatient Department doctors that they should put this into practice - that chronic patients should not be allowed to take home just one month's supply of medicine and do not see them at all. They may be dead. They may be alive. Nobody would be the wiser. If the chronic patient were to go to a general practitioner, I would lay a bet with the Member for Khe Bong that the general practitioner would insist that the chronic patient comes back once a week.”
“Sir, when the Member for Khe Bong talked about 60 tablets, I did not know what the tablets were for?”
“As of this moment, the zoning for the Singapore General Hospital includes Woodlands, Bukit Panjang, Bukit Timah. It is a very strange way of zoning. I cannot understand the thinking behind the zoning system. I was not responsible for that. But that will change. If the staff in Tan Tock Seng Hospital or in any hospital find themselves overworked, it is quite easy to change the zoning system and re-direct the ambulances. But I ought to add, in all fairness, that when the orthopaedic surgeons are overloaded at Tan Tock Seng we do send across a spare surgeon from the Government Unit to Tan Tock Seng to help out. If the Member for Kim Seng would like to volunteer his services, we will be happy to receive him, to help out his peers, in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The Member for Kim Seng will have to remember that he has also to attend outpatients specialist clinics. I am quite sure he will be quite pleased to do that and set an example to his colleagues in the university. In fact, he is tempting me with the idea that 1, as Minister for Health, should take over all the doctors in the university under my wing so that we will have a fair distribution of talents in all our hospitals. But I think it will create a general row among the academics over university autonomy and academic freedom. So I will postpone that idea to some future date. I am surprised, Sir, that this year I have been let off so easily!”
“When we began the A & E Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in 1977, only during daylight hours, the attendances were 23,900. When we opened it for 24 hours, the attendances increased to 37,600. Ambulances have their directions. They have their zones. Their main objective in caring for patients who have met with an accident is to take them to the nearest hospital. I agree with him that the catchment zone for Tan Tock Seng Hospital is large. In fact, it extends to Katong and Bedok. It surprises me considerably. The zoning system is very artificial. It can be changed. We have been overtaken by urban renewal and population resettlement. Hospitals are long-lived buildings. Once you build a hospital, you cannot move the hospital together with the residents. We have been caught flat-footed. This is the problem that the Ministry of Health has faced; that instead of following what is in the think-tank of the Housing and Development Board or the Ministry of National Development, they thought that the Ministry of National Development officials would go to the Ministry of Health. It should be the other way round. So we have been caught out. But the zoning system affects not only the Ministry of Health but also the post offices. The post office, as I understand it, is now revising postal districts, for the same reasons that I have explained: resettlement of population and the building of more roads. When Kent Ridge Hospital becomes operative in the early 1980s, probably 1982 or 1983, those who are living in Bukit Timah, Bukit Panjang, Woodlands, will find it very convenient indeed to travel down Bukit Timah Road, turn into Clementi Road, which is a dual-carriageway, and land themselves in Ayer Rajah Road, and that is Kent Ridge Hospital.”
“They can make a lot of money. The trouble, of course, is that babies pop up in the middle of the night and they have got to rush from home to the hospital to deliver. Some of them tell me that they do not mind so much the obstetrics part of it but they do not like the gynaecological part. It is very difficult indeed to have female doctors on the establishment who do not want to do this and that but who want to work office hours, and watch the clock. I have been getting complaints. Our outpatient dispensaries open at 8.00 a.m. and close at 4.30 p.m. I had a complaint from a patient who went to a dispensary at 4.15 p.m. but he was turned away. He was very annoyed, and quite rightly because there was a big notice down there saying, "Opening hours - 8.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m." Nearly 85% of the OPD doctors are females. I hope they are doing a good job, otherwise I will get more complaints. But this is only one of the reasons why we are imposing a limit and I had previously suggested that it should be 30%. We are more generous. So we are making it one-third - 33%. The Member for Kim Seng was speaking on behalf of Tan Tock Seng Hospital doctors. I refer to his special field of Orthopaedics. I think the Member for Kim Seng is particularly more interested in orthopaedics than internal medicine. The quarterly statistics bulletin (July - September 1978) showed that in the Orthopaedics Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital there were 492 discharges and deaths. That is, 492 admissions. For the next quarter, October - December 1978, the figure was 413. So there has been no dramatic increase between the two quarters. But I do agree with him that there has been an increase over 1977 for the simple reason that attendances at the A & E Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital have risen by 57%.”
“I must get married, otherwise I will be an old maid." It is very tough indeed for a woman who has to perform multiple roles: firstly, as wife to the husband; secondly, as mother to her children: and thirdly, to be on night calls at the Hospital or to look after sick people. She will not have time to do even cooking. In fact, I know that as of today, quite a number of lady doctors are not even in private practice and not all of them are working in the Ministry of Health. They would rather act as locum tenentes and they can bring up their children, which I thought was a very clever idea. They have time for their profession as well as for their family. When the husband gets home, he has a happy wife waiting for him. Attrition rate among women doctors is very high, 15%- 20%, as the Member for Kim Seng has reiterated. We have 140 vacancies in the Medical Faculty in Year 1. I think about two years ago I was alarmed when I came to know that it took in about 60 females. If we have an attrition rate of 20%, that means we are not going to have 60 doctors who will be actively working. We will have only 60 doctors minus 20%. That is a considerable loss in investment, and their places could have been easily filled by male doctors. And the other objection - it is not quite an objection really - is that female graduates are very choosy. In America, when a woman graduates as a doctor, her first choice of field of specialisation is obstetrics and gynaecology; second, paediatric; and third anaesthetics. Here in Singapore when I meet women patients they tell me they want to see a female doctor. But most of our obstetricians and gynaecologists are males, not females. I cannot understand why Singapore women do not want to do Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It is an open field for them.”
“I have just recited to Members the figures of those who opt to do Medicine since 1972. From zero in 1972, it has risen to 41 in 1978. Whether it is coincidence or whether it is by design, 1973 was the year of the Tet offensive, if my memory is correct. 1975 was the year when the Americans packed out from Vietnam and since that time the figures of those who wanted to do Medicine have shot up dramatically. In fact, the cut-off point for Medicine, I was told, has gone up as high as 48. It was astounding. When I was Vice-Chancellor, we were quite happy to have the cut-off point at 40. I did mention that even for two years I had to lower it to 38 points to allow Singapore students to study Medicine. Even so, it was almost like scraping the bottom of the barrel. 3.00 p.m. It is important that we should understand the objective of this exercise. We are not trying to prevent clever students from wanting to be doctors but we are trying to achieve a better spread of talented students who will in future occupy leadership roles, either in the public sector or in the private sector. We must have them, otherwise Singapore must collapse. Doctors alone cannot keep Singapore afloat. They can cure Singaporeans who are sick but they cannot keep the nation economically viable or make it stable. We will not have a painless budget as we have this year, if Goh Chok Tong was a medical doctor. As regards objections to the quota of females joining the Medical Faculty, I said in Parliament (Hansard, Vol. 35, col. 364, dated 16th March 1976.) three years ago that I wanted to conscript them into national service because of a shortage of doctors. Those who were in the Medical School vigorously objected. They told the newspapers, "My gosh, by the time I graduate I will be 24 years old.”
“But as long as all places can be filled with candidates who by referees' reports and at interviews are judged to have the personal qualities and stamina to make good doctors and have also done well in examinations, it is scarcely possible to prefer those mediocre examination results.' Just look at the state of Britain today. I do not need to denigrate the state of the economy in the United Kingdom, nor do I have to say anything in detail about the National Health Service, filled with very bright doctors. But when the Minister in charge of the health services in the United Kingdom was hospitalised for a circulatory defect (I suspect cardiac infarct) and he had to deal with strikes by hospital porters, hospital nurses, those who are in charge of auto cleansing linen and operation equipment - the strikers declared that they did not want to serve the Minister. I hope that I will not be placed in the same unfortunate position in Singapore! The Member for Kim Seng will recollect when, in his maiden speech at a budget sitting, he took up cudgels on behalf of his medical colleagues, I said that if a three-star general went off in a boat or in an aeroplane, he would end up in a foreign country probably as a restaurant waiter, at best a taxi driver. But if he were a doctor, he would be welcomed. Members have read very recently of the many boatmen who landed in Singapore or on the coast of Malaysia. The Australians picked them. First, "Who is the doctor?" They pick him. The Vietnamese refugee who is a doctor will not take too long a time to pick up a few words of English. Then they post him to some bush station which no Australian wants to go to. But the Vietnamese will only be too happy to go down there.”
“Last year, 1978, it was 41. As against students with these points who opted to study in other faculties such as Arts, Social Sciences, Law, Accountancy, Business Administration, Architecture, Building Management, in 1972, there were 9. In 1973, there were 14. In 1974, there were 24. In 1975, there were 26. In 1976, there were 18. In 1977, there were 18. In 1978, there were 16. There was, therefore, a disproportionate number of top talented students concentrated in the Faculty of Medicine, whereas at least four other faculties were starved of top talent. The Member for Kim Seng and Members of the House will agree with me that it is necessary that we should try and spread talented people in different fields. If a doctor through negligence kills a patient, he kills one patient. If a politician in power makes a mistake, he cripples a whole nation. It is very necessary, therefore, that we should realise this trend that has been taking place over the last six years. We should not starve the administrative service in the Government nor should we starve those who aspire to take over the reins of Government, nor should we starve those who are in the commercial and banking sectors of talent. This is a problem which we face and which the British also face. Let me refer to an article in the Lancet on medical education, dated 4th March, 1978. I have been following this. But I must thank a good friend of mine who reminded me of it. I have read the article but forgot all about it. This is what is happening in England. It says: 'it may well be true that we are at present admitting too much high talent for the good of the country and even for the good of some sort of doctoring.”
“On the one hand, he advocates doctors who have finished their education at the University and the housemanship in the hospitals should serve the Government. On the other hand, he objects to compulsory bonding. How does one go about making doctors serve the Government without bonding or without making them sign an undertaking to serve the Government? So it is natural indeed that those who are in receipt of bursaries and scholarships should be bonded and, in fact, they are always bonded by the Public Service Commission. I agree with him on the point that "bonding" may not be a very nice word. It takes us back to the film that we saw on television, a series called Roots. "Bond" connotes slavery. Doctors are not slaves in my Ministry. In fact, many of them talk back to me. So we agreed on an undertaking; I gave them very ample time to think it over and finally all private students signed their undertaking. I cannot speak on behalf of the University as I am no longer its Vice-Chancellor. The new rule about controlling admissions into the medical and dental faculties is related to a trend which has been taking place since 1973. May I take the time in reading out to Members certain figures which I had not really prepared to distribute, I am referring now to pre-university students who have finished their 'A' level and who scored 60-64 points. If a student scores 60-64 points, he is a very good student. I was the Vice-Chancellor for seven years and I know it is pretty hard for students to be in that category. In 1972, there was not a single student who wanted to do Medicine. No student with 60-64 points wanted to do Medicine in 1972. In 1973, there were eight. In 1974, there were 12. In 1975, there were 11. In 1976, it shot to 21. In 1977, it was 30.”
“8 a.m. to 8 a.m. That is right - 24 hours. It is also his duty to switch on the steriliser daily at half past seven in the morning. "Please confirm that you agree to the duty hours before accepting the caretaker's quarters." Mr Ashari was given ample time. In fact, he replied very promptly on 5th January, 1972, the very next day. He said: "Thank you for your letter, reference .... of 4th January, 1972, I wish to inform you that I shall be shifting in on 10th January, 1972, and also to confirm that I understand and I agree to the conditions stated therein in your letter." So the Member for Kampong Kembangan must know the full story before he listens to a yarn put to him by a member of his constituency. I think he should be experienced by now that, in the meet-the-people sessions, one has got to be a little more careful in listening to grandmother's stories. Otherwise Members of Parliament would be on a futile chase. The Member mentioned the point that the AUPE approached my Ministry on re-rostering the duty hours of a medical and health servant after the style of nurses. It is true we have got a study team doing this survey. It is trying to find out what it means in terms of costs and in terms of manpower. But while we were doing this survey, as Members are aware, my headquarters in Palmer Road got burnt down. So we are back to square one and we have got to restart the study again. But as soon as the study is completed, we will contact the AUPE. I hope that satisfies the Member for Kampong Kembangan and that the complaint lodged by the AUPE has been seriously looked into and we will give the AUPE a reply in due course. The Member for Kim Seng is a paradox.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I first take the easier question that was asked by the Member for Kampong Kembangan. I presume he is referring to Mr Raja Ashari bin Raja Hamid who, as he has said, is a member of his constituency. From the records that we have got, it would appear that Mr Ashari was keen to be a caretaker because he could then have a caretaker's quarters. In fact, a letter dated 4th January 1972 was written to him by the Medical Officer in charge of Outpatient Services telling him that his duty as a caretaker is to look after the dispensary building and the property after office hours, Mondays to Fridays 4 p.m. to 8 a.m.; Saturdays 12.30 p.m. to 8 a.m.; Sundays and holidays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Encik Mansor Haji Sukaimi: 8 a.m. to 8 a.m.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I make a point of clarification regarding paragraph 2 (Hansard Vol. 38. No. 1, col. 21) of the Addendum submitted by my Ministry to the Presidential Address. I am thankful to the Member for Whampoa for pointing out to me the inflated morbidity statistics arising out of lung cancer, coronary heart disease and hypertension. There has been a printing error. The sentence should read: "Last year 22 out of 100,000 people died of lung cancer, a 37% increase over 1973; 72 out of 100,000 died of coronary heart disease, a 41% increase over 1973." The two zeros were missing in the Addendum which was distributed to Members of the House and the public. I think that is a very dangerous error. The official responsible has been enlightened. In any case, I am thankful that the Member for Whampoa has done his homework.”
“I am not saying that a sole incident like this should be justification for the imposition of a $10 charge on people using the A & E Departments, but it certainly does help to release doctors from the A & E Departments to assist cases like this. LIFE ASSURANCE IN CPF SCHEME (Introduction) 4. Mr Hwang Soo Jin asked the Minister for labour whether, in view of the recent increase in the rates of central Provident Fund contributions, he will instruct the CPF Board to consider introducing an element of Life Assurance into the CPF scheme to give protection to (i) depositors with family responsibilities who are in the earlier years of their working life and whose deposits are consequently insignificant; and (ii) depositors with outstanding housing-loan commitments, so that in the unfortunate event of their premature deaths their families will not be left unprovided and in debt.”
“Mr Speaker, a letter of complaint against the four doctors has been submitted to me and I have forwarded it to the Singapore Medical Council to investigate. The Council will meet at the end of August to discuss this case. I ought to add that it is a sad episode in the history of the medical profession and it is not a good prognosis to Singapore's efforts in building civic consciousness among the population. As far as I can gather, the reason why the four doctors did not go to the aid of the girl whose hand was caught in a potato grinder was that they had patients in their clinics when, in actual fact, only one had some patients in his clinic while the other three had very few patients. But the major reason given was that they were not surgeons. I would have thought that it is human instinct to go to the assistance of any other human being in distress. Let us take the case of the petroleum tanker which exploded in a camping site in Spain. The people who went to the rescue of the victims were not doctors or surgeons. They were just ordinary tourists and civilians and they did their best to assist the injured so that they could be taken to the hospitals. In the case of the Sembawang incident, the people from the Fire Brigade were there. They were not doctors but they had to saw the machine to release the girl's hand so that she could be taken to the hospital. The ambulance nurses were there but unfortunately they were not allowed to inject morphine into the girl who was in a state of shock. I am happy to say that the reorganisation of the Fire Brigade, alerting the Accident and Emergency Departments, has proved that our policies have been operating in the right direction. Rightly, the A & E Departments should be used for what they are.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in the last two years, 26 patients using contact lenses were found by the Eye Department to have suffered from cornea abrasions, ulcers and allergy. The Ministry will consider legislation on the prescription and sale of contact lenses after further studies. Meanwhile, I would advise those who are using contact lenses for cosmetic reasons, rather than for medical reasons, to go back to spectacles which avoid foreign material from coming into contact with eye tissues. In any case, the Member for Thomson should know that contact lenses are expensive. If he is wearing contact lenses, he should know that he is liable to lose them while drinking his soup, or to drop them in the sink while washing his face, or to lose them in the toilet or lose them in some other way. DOCTORS' REFUSAL TO AID INJURED GIRL (Steps to prevent recurrences) 3. Mr Yeo Toon Chia asked the Minister for Health, in regard to the recent incident in which some doctors refused to go to the aid of an injured girl whose fingers were caught in a grinder, whether his Ministry intends to take action against the four doctors, and what steps are being taken to prevent recurrences of such a nature.”
“It is anticipated that the granting of these benefits would encourage more persons to take advantage of the 3-year Work Permit Scheme and hence contribute significantly to meet our skilled manpower requirements.”
“I do not believe the Member understands English! WORK PERMITS (Scheme for Skilled Workers) 3. Mr Tan Soo Khoon asked the Minister for Labour if he will consider introducing a more favourable work permit scheme for those who have special skills or good qualifications so as to meet the manpower requirement for skilled workers. The Acting Minister for Labour (Mr Sia Kah Hui): Mr Speaker, Sir, hon. Members may recall that my Ministry has a 3-year Work Permit Scheme for foreign workers who have acceptable training qualifications or have been certified as skilled by the Industrial Training Board. Under this Scheme a 3-year work permit holder will be eligible for permanent residence if he has completed at least two years of employment in Singapore relevant to his skill. He may eventually also be granted citizenship after satisfying the 10-year residential qualification. To further enhance the 3-year Work Permit Scheme, the Ministry of Labour has taken steps to increase the range of benefits to be offered to 3-year work permit holders. The current Scheme will also be liberalised and extended to non-industrial workers with good academic qualifications. Besides the benefits the present 3-year work permit holder enjoys, he will, after he has obtained his permanent residence, be eligible to rent a HDB/JTC flat or purchase a HDB/JTC flat at non-subsidised rates. Subsidised medical treatment at Government outpatient clinics and hospitals will also be offered as a privilege to these workers and their immediate families. Their children can also receive education in Singapore at old rates of school fees. In addition, their immediate families will be granted Dependant Passes. Social Visit Passes of sufficiently long duration will also be given to their parents.”
“The Ministry of Health does not have the facilities to determine or assay the contents of cigarettes but we can submit samples to the Department of Scientific Services to do the necessary assay.”
“Mr Speaker, I am not a member of the Consumers' Association, nor do I smoke. I therefore cannot distinguish whether cigarettes have more tar content or less tar content. The answer to the question raised by the Member for Potong Pasir is that it is a very timely piece of news and all cigarette smokers should take heed that we are becoming a dumping ground for poisonous cigarettes.”
“A Morbidity Survey carried out by the Health Ministry in 1977 showed that 23% of the population aged 15 years and above were smokers. Inserting warning statements on the risks of smoking on cigarette packs alone has not been found to reduce the number of smokers in the United States or the United Kingdom. More stringent measures are required to control the smoking habit. They are taxation and prohibition of advertising. At present we already have two Acts, one which prohibits smoking in certain places and the other which prohibits advertising. In addition, periodical TV spots discouraging smoking are broadcast to the public. My Ministry will liaise with the Trade Division to require the cigarette industry to print a suitable warning on cigarette containers as a supplementary action to the measures that already exist. We are preparing a National Health Campaign for 1979 to show how lifestyles including smoking can be injurious to a person's health.”
“Govindaswamy had the courage to sign his name together with a few other Backbenchers a letter of protest to the Prime Minister. P. Govindaswamy proved that age was not a handicap to learning and trying. He spoke indeed, fluent Tamil in this Chamber but he knew that the emphasis and the nuances of his Tamil speech were lost in the process of translation. He switched to speaking in English. To be true, it was not even Singapore English, but he drove his points forcibly home. So he found his feet in Parliament and grew to become an endearing figure as he heaped ridicule on the Government Benches in his inimitable English. I believe he generated more laughter in this House than any other Member. With P. Govindaswamy's death, Anson has lost a good spokesman and Parliament will miss his earthy humour during Question time and debate.”
“Mr Speaker, when Encik Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff died in April 1961, the People's Action Party lost the constituency of Anson to David Marshall. In 1963, when the general elections were held, Anson was a bitterly contested constituency in a six-corner fight. On the surface, it was a fight between P. Govindaswamy and David Marshall. In style, character and background, P. Govindaswamy was the very opposite of the lawyer and ex-Chief Minister. But as the election results showed, it was not a contest between P. Govindaswamy and David Marshall. It was a fight between the PAP and the Barisan Sosialis which represented the Communist United Front. P. Govindaswamy won 46.5% of the votes cast and Barisan Sosialis 39.7% while David Marshall had only 4.8%. P. Govindaswamy truly represented the working class in his outlook to life. He came a long way from being a retired postman to becoming a Member of Parliament. But his elevation did not inflate his ego nor did he change his lifestyle. Neither did he alter his view of politics in the service of the ordinary man and he had held Anson in successive elections in 1968, 1972 and 1976. P. Govindaswamy, in Parliament, was what I would call a qualitative man. He had a political instinct of what he deemed was good or bad administration or legislation, partly because of his experience in trade union work and partly because he was in constant touch with his grassroots. He was not equipped with 'O' level or 'A' level certificates, much less a University degree. But he had courage. He had courage to speak out his mind. Members of Parliament will recollect the heat that was generated when increases in road tax, vehicle registration fees and area licensing fees were imposed on New Year's Day in 1976. While others were merely vociferous, P.”
“Mr Ng Yeow Chong asked the Minister for National Development and Communications what are the plans for the redevelopment of the Old Kallang Airport Estate and the Guillemard Road Estate, and when such plans will be completed.”
“The main Eye Clinic within Government hospitals is situated at the Singapore General Hospital. Eye Clinics also exist at Toa Payoh Hospital, Alexandra Hospital and the Institute of Health for school children. Another Eye Clinic is planned for Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The Ministry of Health is aware of the demand for eye surgeons. The number that can be trained depends upon doctors wishing to take up this speciality. Presently there are seven trainees in ophthalmology. Two trainees are ready to leave for further training in the UK this year. The Ministry intends sending two trainees away each subsequent year in order to build up a good number of ophthalmologists for the country. FLOWERING TREES AND PLANTS (Planting along pavements, walkways and roadside kerbs) 2. Mr Ng Yeow Chong asked the Minister for National Development and Communications if the Parks and Recreation Department will plan to plant flowering trees and plants along pavements, walkways and roadside kerbs to add more colour to our city. The Acting Minister for National Development (Mr Ong Teng Cheong): A country-wide programme to plant trees and shrubs along pavements, walkways, roadside kerbs and open spaces is already being actively implemented. Bigger flowering trees such as the Sea Apple (Eugenia Grandis) and Yellow Flame are planted on wider pavements and walkways, while smaller flowering trees such as the Orchid Tree (Bauhinia) and the Lilac Tecoma (Tabebuia Pallida) are planted on the narrower ones. Less colourful trees such as Angsana and Rain Trees are planted to provide shade along roadsides and major highways. Climbers such as Bougainvillaea, Maiden Jealousy and Allamanda will also be planted to further beautify the walkways. OLD KALLANG AIRPORT AND GUILLEMARD ROAD ESTATES (Redevelopment) 3.”
“I apologise to the Member for Kolam Ayer. I thank him for his clarification. If it was not the Member for Kolam Ayer, it was one of the other Members who said, "Yes, PUB has got to entertain the customers because it is going to buy equipment for the new power station or for the water treatment plant." So it is all right. Pay. But when a man has been treated and he is cured, you see nothing. You see a healthy man. But that is not appreciated. Mr Deputy Speaker, I know you are thirsty and waiting for tea time. So let me conclude just on one note, that is, the perverse distortion of news in the Straits Times, all under the cloak of freedom of the Press. The Clerk of Parliament handed out the revised scale of dental charges to a reporter of the Straits Times, but the newspaper in its issue of 24th March said that the scales were not set out in my statement. I have never mentioned civil servants in my statement to the House but the Straits Times reported that "a private patient calling at a dental clinic will have to pay $12 more for a simple filling in future while a civil servant will have to foot an additional $2." I cannot understand such obtuse journalism. The only advice I can give to the News Editor is that he should really consult his dentist for holes in his wisdom tooth. Question put, and agreed to. Resolved, That Parliament do now adjourn. Adjourned accordingly at Nine minutes past Five o-clock p.m. to a date to be fixed. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS EYE SURGEONS AND EYE CLINICS 1. Mr Ng Yeow Chong asked the Minister for Health if he will take steps for the training of more eye surgeons to meet the increase in the incidence of eye diseases, and whether eye clinics will be set up at the zonal hospitals.”
“May I remind Members of an Arab saying: "If the mountain does not go to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain."”
“The Member for Punggol wants a hospital in Punggol. The Member for Sembawang wants a hospital in Sembawang.”
“They can list their charges for a 2-minute, 3-minute or 4-minute consultancy and the injection or medicine that goes with the treatment. And if they have to stitch a wound, the charge per stitch. Patients are consumers of medical services and even the poor should have the right to know what the tariff rates are. At least the Government is bound to let the people know what Government rates are. That is why we announce them in the House and gazette them. After all barbers put up a list of what they charge for a hair-cut, a shave or a shampoo but private practitioners keep their charges a secret and in doing so not only prevent the freest access to medical attention but also prohibit freedom of choice by patients who are poor. Those private practitioners who find that their patients are difficult and take more than four minutes of their time should not send them to already congested A & E Departments with a mere chit, on which it is written "please treat", and that also in very bad handwriting. They should refer such patients whom they cannot or will not treat to a specialist. I mentioned in my Statement that among those referrals to A & E Departments, 9.2% came from private practitioners. Private practitioners can open their clinics at night. It will be a good idea for Members in the House to agitate the private practitioners to do so in their own constituency or they can even help organise A & E Departments with private hospitals. Why not? Members are not doing their job if they leave the private practitioners out and just keep on harping on the poor who is going away without treatment. In this way they can make even the poorest Singaporeans proud that they have the freest access to medical attention, if that is what they really want.”
“Spending money to suck lollipops with the risk of dental decay is perfectly all right, but when it comes to paying to preserve a tooth there is protest. Losing money on a horse is all right, but paying $10 for emergency medical attention leads to griping. I wonder what sort of Singapore we are building. I am receptive to practical suggestions and one practical suggestion which has emerged from this debate was that of the Member for Kallang. He has suggested what I think is a very good suggestion, that doctors in the A & E Departments should be assisted by para-medical staff. As a matter of fact, they are already using nurse practitioners in outpatient departments. I have given instructions that the training of nurse practitioners be institutionalised in the School of Nursing as a post basic course and these nurse practitioners will also be used in the A & E Departments in due course. My attention was also drawn to the idea proposed by a private practitioner that we should provide the freest access to medical attention. I do not know what he means by "freest access". It may be freest access, but it may not be free. We have only four A & E Departments, excluding Changi, which is remote. So it must be apparent to all that these centres do not have the capacity to handle all patients who go to them. As I have pointed out to Members, doctors in the A & E Departments make the assumption that patients whO go to the A & E Departments require a longer examination. Therefore, there must be a piling up of patients and hence I get complaints of congestion and long waiting times. But what then can be done? Private practitioners can come to the rescue and live up to their Hippocratic oath, that is, if they still subscribe to it.”
“Here again, one has a choice. A parent can let the child live with his toothache, have the tooth extracted for 60 cents or have it patched up with a filling for $1, which is the price of four of these lollipops. So let us stop the cant about poor children not attending schools because their dental appointments are due. The Ministry of Education has not given me a report that there has been a dramatic decrease of students in schools or students are playing truant. Far from it. The report that I get from the Dental Division is that the attendances are just the same. The Dental Division teaches primary school children to brush their teeth correctly and through annual health campaigns, more and more parents have become conscious of their children's dental health. They even send their children to the orthodontist to correct irregularities of the teeth. Charges have already existed for this cosmetic dentistry but they have not been increased in the new revision. For the child it may mean wearing dental braces for 11/2 to 2 years. Currently, there are 2,586 children under treatment and 1,247 on the waiting list. The duration of the waiting list is 15 to 18 months. So I do not believe the newspapers, neither do I believe Members, that parents will grudge paying for their children's dental care. Otherwise, Members know the song, Burong Kakak Tua, Gigi Tinggal Dua! The subsidy for dental treatment for school children is already 94%. If there are no revisions in dental fees, this subsidy will increase as there are now 93 dental clinics in primary schools. It seems to me and this is the point that I wish to drive home, that there are some Singaporeans who are living in a make-belief world where the value system is upside down.”
“Singapore's GDP per capita has increased from $1,974 in 1968 to $4,020 in 1977 at 1968 prices. It is a common sight now to see hundreds of people queuing every Saturday and Sunday to buy 4-digit lottery tickets even though there are only ghost horses running at Bukit Timah. Members can even see the so-called poor, their own constituents, rubbing shoulders in these queues, and back-street bookies have just as many 4-D customers. So every person has his own choice - either he saves $10 for a rainy day when he has to be attended to in an A & E Department if he feels that his life is in dire emergency or spends $10 on horses. My Ministry is monitoring the attendances at the A & E Departments. For the period 25th to 31 st March after I made my statement, the daily average attendance was 762. When the A & E fees were increased on 1st April, the daily average attendance from 1st to 6th April was 760. What does it prove? It suggests that $10 is no hardship. Is a person's life worth $10? If a person has a sick dog and he takes it to the Kampong Java Road Veterinary Centre, the surgeon will charge him a fee. If he thinks that his life is not worth a dog's life, then he should not go to the A & E Department. I feel that it is too early to make any conclusion from this short period of survey. We will do our analysis after four months of monitoring. Members know this lollipop [indicating]. It has a name that rhymes with pork-chop and costs 25 cents. I see on my TV that one is supposed to suck it if he is caught in a traffic jam. If grown-ups love it, children love it even more. Yet every dentist will tell those with a sweet tooth that toffee and lollipops are dangerous factors causing tooth decay. The price of indulgence in the sweet things of life is a toothache.”
“Now it seems that the capitalists also use the poor to enrich their cause. So let us stop the cant and hypocrisy and get down to the facts of why these things have got to be done. I anticipated the bellyaching that would arise when I announced these fees. Do not tell me that my nurses and the doctors do not know that there is going to be an increase in the fees. By the time the Member for Anson knew this rumour it was a public secret. As a matter of fact, the decision to increase the fees was made after my discussion with the heads of the A & E Departments who are in a better position to know what their staff are facing than Members in this House. Singaporeans are not that poor as Members and followers of the Straits Times paper that is monopolising the English educated make them to be. Perhaps we need a second English language newspaper in Singapore! Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!”
“Members have all read the story, that is, if Members read newspapers at all, of the 81/2-month pregnant woman who endured the hazards of travelling from Kampung Balai in Tanjong Pinang in a sampan for 12 hours in the middle of the night and without travel documents so that she could deliver her baby in Singapore. When I compare the ordeal she was prepared to undergo with the bellyaching about the increase in A & E fees by $6, it makes me wonder whether some Singaporeans will ever understand that the everyday facilities they take for granted are other people's good fortune. To enjoy a sip of water one must first live in the desert. It is no use for the Member for Whampoa to pretend that he is speaking for the poor. He works in the University. He does not have to work on a budget of $300. He never has. But let me phrase the question of health costs in another way. When people take out life insurance policies, it means that they place a premium or a cost on their health and they are prepared to pay that premium according to what they think their health is worth. The only people who believe that their life is not worth $10 are those who are already dead - long before A & E charges were raised from $4 to $10. The ballyhoo that Members have been following in the Straits Times is tub thumping - an opportunity for advertising the paper in the name of the poor. And equally in the name of the poor, the Straits Times Press with only a paid-up capital of $4.3 million made a profit of $3.6 million before tax, paying out a dividend of 30% to its shareholders and it has made a bonus issue of one for two. So much for crying out in the name of the poor. Now I am beginning to understand how the poor have been so abused. Revolutionaries use the poor for their cause.”
“I am talking about Appendix I. Appendix II just substantiates Appendix I. If the Member has not read his homework, then he should not have spoken out. If we allow this arithmetic progression to go on in 1978, we must face a collapse of the A & E Departments. Doctors do not like to work in the A & E Departments because, firstly, they have got to make quick decisions involving matters of life and death. Secondly, it involves night shifts. No doctor wants to work on night shifts or even to be on night duty. Let me put it that way. So let us not have double standards. This is what I am trying to put across; there are double standards in the House and in Singapore. On the one hand, doctors who are in public service are good game for attacks. On the other hand, private practitioners who equal the number of doctors in numbers are always covered up. Why do Members not direct their attacks at the private practitioners for their lapses? I say it is a double standard of reporting by the press. Worse still, I am aghast that Backbenchers who are supposed to have a higher IQ cannot even see through this double-standard way of reporting. Now, let me disabuse those who are concerned over the inability of hardship cases to pay A & E fees. During the months of October to December last year there were 75,882 attendances, of which 29% were exempted from paying fees. Those dental patients whose treatment had begun but not been completed before 1st April will pay old rates. However, new items of service begun on 1st April will be charged new rates.”
“Sir, the Member for Anson has already spoken, I am sorry. I am not giving way. It is quite easy for Vigilante Corps members to give a ticking off to motorists who do not give way to pedestrians. That is enforcement with a threat of a fine and that means education with a rod. I do not think my nurses or the doctors are prepared to spend their time educating patients. We have only four major A & E Departments in the centre of Singapore, if we are to exclude Changi. We are faced with the problem that the whole of Singapore is converging upon these four A & E Departments, bypassing the Outpatient Dispensaries, where patients could go to. On the one hand, I cannot allow complaints about A & E Departments and not doing anything about them. On the other hand, Members are saying that the doctors in the A & E Departments are being put to the test. And if there is any doctor in the House, I can tell Members that posting to the A & E Departments is the most unpopular posting in the hospitals. Let me come back to the Member for Whampoa. I do not know whether he calls himself a statistician or an economist. I did not use three months' statistics. I gave the House statistics from 1974 to 1977. Members can see that in 1975, the number of attendances increased by 3.5% over 1974. In 1976, the increase was 12.1% over 1975. In 1977, the increase was 17.6% over 1976.”
“Let me ask the Members present here, how do they go about educating patients when to visit the A & E Departments or when to visit the OPDs. It is quite different from the Minister for Home Affairs who has Vigilante Corps members on roadside corners and if a car driver happens to cross - Mr P. Govindaswamy rose -”
“But I have made it a point and I did say so at the end of the 1976 elections that any financial charges, fiscal or policy measures should be debated in Parliament. When I made my statement, many of those who spoke today were sipping tea in the Members' room. They should have been here when the bell rang. I am afraid that some Backbenchers had forgotten the Parliamentary procedure that when the bell rang it was their duty to be at their seats, I was indeed taken by surprise that nobody stood up to ask me any question when I made my speech. The Member for Anson has been following very closely with the Straits Times and I have a feeling that he is in cahoots with the young man who wrote a specious editorial, 'Below the belt' on 12th March. If there is any Member in this House who, like the editorial writer has any complaint below the belt, I can give one advice: The place to go to is not the A & E Department. It is either the Kandang Kerbau Hospital or the Middle Road Hospital. The Member for Punggol has griped about his constituents having to take long taxi rides to go to a hospital. Everyone has to travel to go to a hospital. The last hospital that was built was in 1957. It was called the Thomson Hospital. It has now been renamed the Toa Payoh Hospital. We then took over the Alexandra Hospital and Changi Hospital, which I did not want, and the Sembawang Hospital which is a small hospital. As far as the Ministry of Health is concerned, it has been very much a cinderella Ministry, neglected to a large extent. It could have played a far more prominent role in social development but it has not been able to do so because of fiscal measures. I have been asked to educate patients first before we raise the A & E charges.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think I owe the House an explanation why the revision of charges in the A & E fees, dental fees and the OPD fees was not included in the Statement of the Minister for Finance during the Budget debate. My Ministry took four months to survey the position at the A & E Departments arising out of continuous complaints that I have been receiving regarding the congestion, the long waiting time and inefficiency at the A & E Departments. We discussed the problem and before making a decision we took another three months to confirm what the previous survey had shown. All in all it took us seven months of monitoring the A & E Departments before we made this decision. It was not a hasty decision, neither was it made off the cuff. I thought I had some respect for the Member for Whampoa as an economist. But after listening to him, I thank my lucky stars that I was not one of his students. I do not know which side he is really on. He is beating the poor and speaking on behalf of those who can entertain to make money. I think we can dismiss the Member for Whampoa as just presenting arguments which really do not have any logic. But, of course, they were very emotive, as every Member who has spoken has been. It could have been very easy indeed for the revision of charges to have been included in the statement of the Minister for Finance. But the paper presented by my Ministry to the Cabinet took some time to be cleared and it was too late to be included in his speech. That was why I thought it was a good opportunity to make a statement in the House. It would have been very easy indeed to avoid a debate just by publishing the revision of charges in the newspapers and leave it at that.”
“Fifty cents over 50 cents is a 100% increase. Do not misuse statistics.”