Toh Keng Kiat
Singapore
“Having said this, Sir, the Ministry, of course, is concerned that the IIS should also, in the public eye, be perceived to be doing its job well. Whilst we feel that the IIS should continue to be within the Police set-up, the Ministry has, in fact, begun the process of examining to see how it can be further strengthened.”
“I have two supplementary questions, Sir. The first one is whether the Minister will consider a rotational posting of good principals and teachers to all the neighbourhood schools to uplift the standards. And the second one is whether the Ministry of Education will proceed with the ranking of primary schools.”
“Sir, if I may ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, what have been the problems raised by people involved in this scheme? In particular, has there been any complaint about the adequacy of time given for completion of a project? I have spoken to one or two people involved in this and they said that ---”
“Yes, Sir. We have already heard that the aged in Singapore today have many facilities. But I would urge the Minister to consider seriously the setting up of a national agenda for the aged and to include in this: (1) recognition and constant review of the changing needs of the aged; (2) public education to increase awareness of these needs…”
“This would then shorten the travelling time and lessen congestion due to frequent filtering into and out of bus stop bays. The mini-bus service, on the other hand, should be as flexible as possible with regard to routes, drop-off and pick-up points within its area of operation.”
“It is a variation of the group experience used by psychologists for group therapy, and by political and religious groups to secure the commitment of members to their causes. Such techniques can be exploitative. Schools and members of the public should be aware of their possible dangers.”
The complete record
Every one of 132 lines we hold for Toh Keng Kiat, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 3.
“Mr Speaker, I rise to speak in support of the Bill. Dr John Chen had asked the Minister to draft a list of additional places where smoking will be prohibited. I hope when the Minister does this, he will also include hawker centres, because these will be places visited by families with children and it can be a most annoying experience to be having one's meal in front of a smoker. The question is: how do we implement this? One way of doing so is to urge hawkers or to ban them from providing ash trays. And if the smokers are so inconvenienced, they will face being served with CWOs for indiscriminate disposal of cigarette butts and cigarette ashes. The other point that I would like to raise is that while this amendment Bill provides for punishment of managers and proprietors of establishments, who do not take up complaints against smokers, it also does not give them sufficient protection against offensive smokers. While the Act, section 6(5), has provided a $1,000 fine and/or six months' jail sentence, I would also urge the Minister to consider a caning order on people who are abusive and use physical assault on managers who try to stop them from smoking. We have done this with offensive drivers and road bullies, so why can we not do it with smokers?”
“I have two supplementary questions, Sir. The first one is whether the Minister will consider a rotational posting of good principals and teachers to all the neighbourhood schools to uplift the standards. And the second one is whether the Ministry of Education will proceed with the ranking of primary schools.”
“Having said this, Sir, the Ministry, of course, is concerned that the IIS should also, in the public eye, be perceived to be doing its job well. Whilst we feel that the IIS should continue to be within the Police set-up, the Ministry has, in fact, begun the process of examining to see how it can be further strengthened.”
“Sir, may I ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether his Ministry will take up the suggestion by a member of the public, who had been in the Police Force before and had served in the IIS, that the IIS be made an independent body? Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Currently, as I have elaborated in my answer, the IIS is independent of the ground units which it is investigating. It comes directly under Police HQ. I think we have to be careful about this because it is natural to say, why not make the IIS independent. But the point is this. The Police Commissioner is given the authority over his men. What comes with this authority will be the powers to ensure that his men do their job properly. If there is any recalcitrant, that person should be punished. I think this should continue. As the commander in chief, he should have that assurance, authority and power. So the bottom line is: do we trust the integrity and the professionalism of the Commissioner of Police? We certainly do. Because if we do not trust him, then he is not the right man for the job. We have to see this in perspective. As I have mentioned just now, it has been shown by the statistics that the IIS is doing a good job. As Mr Mike Chan himself said in the Forum page of the Straits Times, having been a former investigator, he does not doubt its integrity or professionalism. That there have been cases in the past when investigations have in fact been substantiated, shows that there is no question of cover- up. If there is any breach of rules or wrongdoing, it will be uncovered. It has been uncovered in the past. It will be uncovered in the future. And I think we should allow the IIS to continue doing its job.”
“It teaches us that as you sow, so shall you reap, for parents who neglect must in turn be neglected. It teaches vengeance, for it tells us to give an eye for an eye, neglect for neglect. It invokes retribution. Do we want all these in the Year of the Family? Sir, we have just promoted the core family values. Let us allow time for these to mature and foment. I am for education. It will be slow. The changes imperceptible, but the effects last. Sir, the Senior Minister has shown us an excellent example. Reputed for jealously guarding the privacy of his personal life, he agreed to open the doors the intimacy of several generations of the Lee family in Singapore in a delightful pictorial biography. Surely, it is not without purpose. Strong family ties, like those of the Lee's, will see us through. There is no need of a law to make our young to look after their parents. Matters such as this must come from the heart: to want to and not to have to. I congratulate NMP Walter Woon for a laudable effort in proposing this Bill, but I will not support him as I see this as an unnecessary legislation. There is only one possible scenario where this Bill may have a place. The diaspora of young Singaporeans as expatriates in pursuit of our external economy may result in aged parents being left neglected at home. Finally, Sir, I would like to request that when a division of votes is called, the Whip be lifted for PAP MPs so that they may decide to either vote with their hearts or with their heads.”
“Yet, clan members cared for one another with single-minded determination to ensure that their clan succeeded. The lessons from these two societies are obvious. But I fear for our next generation, as Assoc. Prof. Walter Woon's Bill implies that we are now so influenced by alien moral values that come with progress and economic success that we must need a law to make children do something which is basic and decent as looking after one's own aged parents. Sir, I will not go into the technicalities of this Bill, but I can foresee that its implementation will be devilled by more problems it will create than it sets out to solve. We have just heard Dr Soin talk of the problems in the Indian community because of marital customs. I will give another example. When several children are being sued by the parents for maintenance, how are we to ensure equitability? Do we want to set means test and asset evaluation? What if a sibling contests on the ground that parental love cannot be dispensed equitably in the first place? Can love be quantified in percentages and measured in monetary terms? Again, some neglected children may still look after the parents, not out of love, but charity and compassion. This group could now end up abandoning their parents because they can claim that the law does not require them to do so now. To carry this law to its ultimate conclusion, we will also have to amend it in the future to include unmarried, widowed and orphaned relatives and siblings who are destitute and unable to care for themselves. Will we then have a Maintenance of Siblings and Relatives Bill? This Bill does not teach filial piety. On the contrary, the provision for excluding parents who have neglected their children breeds vindictiveness.”
“Following that Report, Members will recall that Singapore embarked on an education programme to inculcate Confucian values in our young at school. Scholars were invited from abroad to write a new curriculum of Confucian studies in more conventional scripts. Our leaders went around the world speaking of our Asian values and how we have succeeded because of these. Millennia of unbroken civilisation, with strong family ties as the basis of society, that have provided our forefathers with a life raft. Are we to tell the world another story so soon, that our young has squandered away this legacy that has taught us, amongst other things, to honour our father and our mother first? Sir, it is this bond of kith and kinship which will see us through. I have witnessed two societies with and without it and see how they could end. Not too long ago, I visited a city in a country which now wants to regard itself as Asian for economic reasons but is still occidental in many other ways. Walking across the city square, I noticed a young woman, not quite out of her teens, child in her arms, begging. I spoke to her and found that she was a single parent and an unmarried mother. Her own parents had divorced when she was young and she has had not much of a family life. Hence, her sorrowful plight. I was instantly grateful for the cardinal core values of my Asian heritage. As a child, I grew up in the Hainanese enclave in a poorer part of Singapore city. There were many clan associations where I lived. Newly-arrived members of a clan were clothed, fed and housed by those who had already been here for a while. Few had conjugal ties. The only geneological link was a common surname. There was no law which required it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I disagree with the view that Assoc. Prof. Walter Woon's Bill is only about the maintenance of parents and nothing else. It is not. This Bill has resurrected issues which were once debated in this House in 1984. The Committee reporting on Problems of the Aged then had recommended a change in attitude towards the elderly. Filial piety was considered pivotal to this. Legislation for maintenance of parents was also considered but only as a last measure. Hence, no attempt has been made to pass a law on this by the Government, even up to now. And why now, Sir? If we could wait 10 years, can we not wait a little longer? Are we not being over pragmatic in wanting to set up this safety net because of a recalcitrant few who have neglected their parents and in so doing shake the very foundations upon which our society is built? We know that the problems of the aged will not go away. But the fundamental question is: are the aged always a problem? Or is this a mindset that we have created based purely on demographic projections? Sure, the shifts in age dependency ratios are there. But are we correct in measuring the needs of the elderly of tomorrow with the yardsticks of today? The elderly of today are of our parents' generation. They belong to a different era. Many grew up in a society where children were the only social security, sons in particular. Or as they say in Mandarin, yang er fang lao ( ). Our generation is tomorrow's aged. Better education, sounder personal asset management and healthier living, together with the enforced savings through CPF, will see tomorrow's aged through without undue strain or pressure on society. Hence, the often talked about fear of excessive demands by the aged of tomorrow may not even materialise.”
“Sorry, Sir. In particular, as I said, the adequacy of time allowed for the completion of the project.”
“Sir, if I may ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, what have been the problems raised by people involved in this scheme? In particular, has there been any complaint about the adequacy of time given for completion of a project? I have spoken to one or two people involved in this and they said that ---”
“Sir, does the ROV go into the medical history of a prospective taxi driver? For example, will an epileptic be allowed to drive a taxi?”
“Sir, may I ask what proportion of this new housing will be on the design-and-build scheme?”
“Sir, may I ask the Minister whether he considers it cost effective in view of the fact that the revenue from taxation on estates forms only a very small part of the taxation on assets?”
“Sir, I declare my interest in asking this Question.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his reply and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Yes, Sir. We have already heard that the aged in Singapore today have many facilities. But I would urge the Minister to consider seriously the setting up of a national agenda for the aged and to include in this: (1) recognition and constant review of the changing needs of the aged; (2) public education to increase awareness of these needs; (3) assessment of current facilities to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency and to coordinate them; (4) formation of a wide community-based network of assistance to the aged which should be affordable and easily accessible; (5) inclusion of facilities for the aged in housing and town planning programmes; (6) concessionary and complimentary admission to places of interest and recreation. Finally, Sir, as many more Singaporeans go overseas to work as expatriates, this will compound the problems of the aged, as parents are being left behind and the expatriates do not return to look after them.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J of the Development Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JD03990013. Sir, I was prompted to make this cut after reading three stories about the aged in our newspapers. The first concerned an aged trishaw rider who shared his 1-room apartment and $150 Public Assistance allowance with another aged trishaw rider and a young man who was mentally retarded. The second story told us that an old man kept his dead wife at home for several days before seeking help. The third story concerned a 97-year old woman who got up at 3.00 am to travel several kilometres just to receive a $50 gift. Will stories like these become regular features in our newspapers? I do not think so. There is no lack of social service clubs, civic organisations and even individuals who are prepared to do charity in Singapore. But, unfortunately, while many Singaporeans have learnt the virtue of giving, many have also not learnt to do it in a gracious manner and not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing. Everyone wants to play the solo virtuoso and seeks to perform publicly so that he can get acclaim. Let us learn to play together as an orchestra. But we must first learn our scores so that we do not play out of tune. We start by recognising what the needs of the aged are. The public's perception of the aged is a destitute person, very much dependent on social welfare for his very existence. People forget that the majority of the aged are the aged well and not the aged sick. Their needs may not be just material but also psycho-social and recreational. They do not just need homes, food and clothing, but also company, appreciation and love.”
“This would then shorten the travelling time and lessen congestion due to frequent filtering into and out of bus stop bays. The mini-bus service, on the other hand, should be as flexible as possible with regard to routes, drop-off and pick-up points within its area of operation. It could even be a door-to-door service and the whole island can be divided into different zones. Each mini-bus service is given a zone and it can only operate within its designated area. Mini-buses can then be linked to the arterial bus routes and MRT stations to enable travel across zones and into the central business district. In order to improve service, competition should be involved and the mini-bus services should not be run by TIBS or SBS. The Town Councils, for example, could run these services. Sir, with the public bus service improving, some car owners can be persuaded to leave their vehicles at home and we will achieve what our Minister for Communications wants to do, the objective of not restricting car ownership but controlling its usage.”
“This implies that we have to further improve our public land transport programme. Our land transport programme is a symbiotic one which involves the MRT, buses and taxis. Because of the availability of alternatives to the commuters' advantage, no operator of any one type of public transport can raise his fare to a self-destructive level. This was clearly demonstrated by the boycott of taxis in 1985 when fares went up because of the diesel tax hike. The public just went for the buses. On the other hand, operators of public land transport cannot be expected to run at a loss. We have heard the reasons for this, just given to us by the Minister for Communications, why some bus routes which are loss-making have to be removed or re-routed in the rationalisation of the service through its linkage to the MRT. By reducing the subsidies to the less lucrative routes, the price for a ride on a more profitable one need not be raised. Sir, this has caused much unhappiness in our commuters whose buses have been affected. Many MPs, the most vocal of whom, of course, is the Member for Changi, have come back with feedback on this to the House. There have also been many complaints in our newspapers about this. There is a way to address the problem. Mr Goh Choon Kang has alluded to this and several other MPs as well. This is to introduce an alternate bus system using mini-buses. I would like to elaborate and give my suggestions on this. We can retain our larger buses and convert them into express commuters linking the new town bus interchanges, MRT stations and places of public interest. They should run on fixed schedules along only major routes and have fewer stops, and only then at restricted points.”
“Sir, many Members have pointed out the deficiencies in our land transport programme. Although we do not have an ideal one, I think Singapore does have a good land transport system. Those who dispute it need only to travel outside of our country to appreciate what we have. Our roads are not choked with paralysing traffic jams and we have some form of public transport 24 hours of the day. Take the United States, for example. In many cities, the people do not have a good public land transport and the car has become an almost essential means of transportation for most people. In the United States, the debate is whether it is because of the availability of cheap cars that the public land transport cannot be developed or, whether in the first place, it is because of a poor public land transport programme that the car has become essential. For obvious reasons, we cannot have this situation in Singapore. Our land transport system must be an integration of both the public and private transport services in a complementary role. Car ownership in Singapore, we have heard, does not come cheap. Consider this: a prospective car owner has to pay almost a dozen taxes or levies of one kind or another before he can start to enjoy driving it. To begin with, he has to pay income tax, because cars are bought with after-tax money. Then comes the COE, followed by Customs and Excise duties, ARF, registration fees, road tax, insurance, ALS and soon the GST, and later on the ERP. Singaporeans are very practical people and will not unnecessarily part with a huge sum of money for a car when this same sum of money can buy them an investment property elsewhere. So the car, to some people, has become a necessity, and not just a show of wealth.”
“The Australians have practised this. They have a qualifying examination run by the Australian Medical Examination Council (AMEC). All who graduated from foreign universities, including Australians themselves, have to undergo this examination. I am told that the pass rate is about 15% per year. I now come next to the use of Medisave in the private sector. During the debate on the White Paper, the Government has intimated that they will control the use of Medisave in the private sector by not allowing balance billing. The former Minister for Health has indicated that the details of this implementation would be let known this year. May I ask his successor in the Ministry whether this has already been done and, if not, when? I have brought up during last year's debate that problems may arise when we have multi-disciplinary care of the same patient or when the same doctor has made repeated attendances on a very ill patient within a 24-hour period. Let me illustrate. Some time ago, I was approached by a member of the public and was told that a patient admitted to the NUH ICU for one day had a bill of more than $20,000. I did not believe my ears but I have to believe my eyes when I saw this. I have here with me a copy of this bill. I am here not to debate or to question the items or the expenses, but I want to use this to illustrate the problems of limitation of balance billing.”
“Sir, two scenarios may arise out of this. First of all, we may end up with having to exclude people who have studied in approved universities abroad, as the Council has stated that it will not register beyond 30 foreign graduates each year. This is, of course, the unlikely scenario as the 28 approved universities in the revised schedules are the toughest in the world and I doubt many Singaporeans, as historically has been shown, will make the grade to enter some of these universities. The opposite scenario may present, which is that over the years it will end up with a shortage of doctors because I envisage that less than 30 will be able to come back from these universities. If so, how are we going to meet the shortfall? The obvious answer would be to recruit foreign graduates and in keeping with our opinion that only those from the 28 universities should be allowed to practise here, then they must come from these universities. Coming back to the question of surpluses, in any one year if there is a good cohort and more than 30 from these 28 universities return, what yardstick would the Government employ to weed out the excesses? My proposal to solve this problem is that we resort to a kind of licensing examination. By doing so, we will be able to allow more people to study in more than the 28 universities around the world. This will also fine-tune our doctor demand and supply equation and allow us a quick response in any one year where there is a shortage or a surplus. The number that we require per year should be the cut-off point. In a year of shortage, the NUS cannot suddenly produce more doctors because there is no reserve team of medical students who can be quickly put through an accelerated modular course to be trained as doctors.”
“I have here an article which appeared on 22nd May, 1992, in Business Times announcing increases in ward charges for different Government and restructured hospitals. We were told that for Government hospitals, for A class, the price increase has gone up $30 from $165 to $195, and for SGH A class, either from $220 to $250 or $240 to $270. But what is more interesting is the graphic illustration which shows that even after the increases, the subsidy remains high. For A class, it was quoted as 23%. A year later to the day, this time in the Straits Times on 22nd May 1993, a second fee increase was announced. For the Government hospitals, the price increase for A class went up from $195 to $225. As for SGH, it is written here as no change. I want to quote from paragraph 7 of this article: "However, the SGH will not revise its class A1 ward charge." Sir, if a subsidy of 23% existed in 1992 and charges have not been revised, I would have expected that the subsidy continues, in fact, it should increase, taking into consideration the normal increase in labour and other costs. The question is: why should we, using a public hospital, continue to provide private facilities to those who can afford it? I hope this courtesy will not be extended to the A class patients when GST is introduced next month. Sir, I come next to the other cost containing measure, which is the control of the number of doctors. It has been stated time and again that the surplus of doctors will lead to increased costs on the debatable assumption that a surplus will result in profit-driven demand. To solve this problem, the Medical Council recommended that the number of doctors to meet our needs into the next century will be about 180 per year - 150 to be trained in NUS and 30 from universities abroad.”
“Sir, I would like to declare my interest as a specialist in private practice. Health care has been very much debated in and out of this House recently, particularly cost of health care. Singaporeans, as a rule, pay very little for the quality of the care that they have been receiving. The right to health care and the question of who pays for it is a very emotive issue. And I would like to quote from a book, The Limits to Medicine, by Ivan Illich for he seems to have put the subject into very good perspective. He has written and I quote: 'Either society must choose the same stringent limits or the kind of goods produced within which all its members may find guarantee for equal freedom, or society must accept unprecedented hierarchical controls to provide for each member what welfare bureaucracies diagnose as his or her needs.' Singaporeans have made a choice. Out of the debate on health care, our consensus is that we should restrict health service to a basic package. On top of it, we should restrict excessive and unnecessary consumption of this by keeping cost low. The Government has proposed a set of measures to contain cost. Some of these are already operative, others will be implemented in time to come. It is on the implementation details of some of these that I seek clarification from the Minister. 2.45 pm First, subsidies. The Government has set up long term subsidy targets for different ward classes in order to keep health care cost down. Put in another way, it is the same as the co-payment that Dr Wan Soon Bee has spoken about. My question to the Minister is: how far have we gone in this cost-recovery exercise? Have we reached completion in the recovery of cost from those who can afford it? My interpretation from newspaper reports is that we have not.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code LA 2300. Sir, as most of the points I want to raise have already been brought up by Members before me and addressed by the Ministers, I shall confine myself to two or three very short ones. The first is whether in its efforts to solve the manpower shortage problems in schools, the Ministry will consider the use or extend the use of closed circuit television in classrooms. There are plus and minus points for this. The disadvantage, of course, is that they do not have eye contact between teacher and pupils but the plus point is that a good teacher need not repeat himself to several classes and let many students simultaneously benefit from his teaching skill. The second point I want to raise is whether the Ministry will consider using non-teachers as administrative heads of schools. This has been tried in tertiary institutions where good administrators who are not academicians have become Presidents of universities. In Singapore, we have also dispensed with the use of doctors as Medical Superintendents to take charge of hospitals and we use now a new group of administrators known as Hospital Administrators. The last point is one that concerns foreign teachers. On 8th March, the Straits Times carried a report from the Ministry of Education that to solve its manpower shortage, the number of foreign teachers has doubled and they have been hired from non-traditional places. My concern is whether, with this constant and prolonged exposure of young and impressionable minds to foreigners, social values, moral values and cultural values, and even political values, which are alien to Singapore, will be imbibed by them.”
“When he was talking about outpatient clinics, was he referring to outpatient clinics in the Government hospitals and privatised hospitals? Or was he talking about polyclinics as well? Cdre Teo Chee Hean: All of these clinics.”
“Sir, can I have a clarification from the Minister of State?”
“I would like to suggest that the widows and dependent children should continue to enjoy the same medical benefits as if their spouse and father were still alive until the children come of age. Finally, Sir, I would like to deal with some general aspects of Singapore's economy. We had a robust growth last year and experienced actual growth in productivity of 6.4%. We are also told that investment capital grew by $3.9 billion. I wonder how much of this is due to infusion of capital. If largely so, then we will do well to heed MIT Business School Prof. Alwyn Young's warning on the dangers of productivity growth spawned by continuous capital infusion. Already our capital output ratio has been considered high compared to Hong Kong's and our total factor productivity low. Our annual expenditure is adequately covered by revenue through taxes. We have increased our surplus and our wealth through taxation. Can we continue to become richer by dipping deeper into our citizens' pockets through more taxes, levies and enforced savings? The answer is obvious. Sir, I end by giving my support to the Finance Minister's 1994 Budget.”
“Employers should also not begrudge the increase in contributions to the Skills Development Fund as it is an investment for the future. On our development expenditure, the Government's policy has been to invest in infrastructure that will have long term benefits, particularly in education. I welcome this as a good education will ensure that all Singaporeans, under our meritocracy system, can start at the same starting point and succeed or fail on the basis of ability and hard work. But, Mr Speaker, Sir, there are some who cannot even make it to the starting point. These are the people who are handicapped by physically disabling genetic diseases they never chose to inherit or who are born with a lower than normal IQ that makes them less than able to perform even the perfunctory. The Edusave Endowment Fund already has $1 billion and many more millions to come to enhance the learning capacity of our normal children. The financial year 1994 estimates show that only a paltry $115,300 will be spent on development of the Special Education Schools Programme. This is nearly a 90% drop from financial year 1993 expenditure. Surely some money from the Edusave Endowment Fund can be used for this group of people or perhaps they could have a separate endowment fund of their own. Sir, one other group has not been neglected in this, a people's budget - the pensioners. Pensioners must now feel reassured that their interests will be protected by the proposed pension fund, especially after the shock announcement that medical benefits to which they were entitled were at one time threatened with replacement by a system of co-payment for medical services.”
“The same arguments have also been raised over the reduction in property tax for commercial properties. Any savings would be eroded by the capital appreciation and upward valuation on properties. The cost of doing business would therefore not come down much due to this. But, Sir, the Government has also been pro-business in many areas, especially to the securities industry and those dealing in trading of some precious metals. Generous extensions of the tax relief periods and a shortening of time limit for issue of assessments have also been granted. It is, however, Sir, in the additional reliefs to the lower income groups for which this Budget will be best remembered. Despite the Minister's reassurance that last year's package to offset the effects of GST is more than enough, further help has been given in the form of waivers of HDB rentals and service and conservancy charges. Like Mr Cheo Chai Chen, I am also concerned whether the poor will be able to meet this increased cost due to consumption tax when the five-year grace period of a fixed 3% GST runs out. Hopefully by then, their lot will improve and they will get out of this poverty trap. Otherwise subsidies will have to become institutionalised. Another way out is to give more grants to accelerate their upward social mobility through better and higher education. Mr Speaker, Sir, education, or rather the lack of it, in our workers is worrying. The Minister has highlighted that our workers are less educated than their counterparts in the other NIEs, let alone the OECD countries. We should therefore not only upgrade the skills of our present labour force but enhance the general education of our next generation of workers by making schooling up to secondary level compulsory.”
“Coming on the eve of the GST, some felt that it could give wrong signals to retailers and hawkers, some of whom had already been queried for raising prices. They felt that this was a double standard. As the GST is anticipated to bring with it some teething problems, I would like to suggest that a national task force be set up to monitor prices and study the impact of the GST on consumption patterns. CASE has already started doing some of these. The other suggestion is that the Government and related bodies should withhold further price increases for at least one or two years. One other area of discontent with the business community is the restoration of the 1.5% CPF by employers. Their reaction to this has been very strong as they felt that this would increase costs and reduce competitiveness. But the trade unions' reaction to this reaction has also been very strong. Many workers are still sore that their total CPF has been cut from 50% to 40% and that it has taken such a long time since the recession for the full restoration of this cut. Sir, I am pleased that the Government has gone ahead with this full restoration. We have just heard Dr Tan Cheng Bock speak about the close bond and trust between our first-generation leaders and the trade unions. This closeness is important to Singapore. To delay the restoration any further would be to break faith with our labour force and put the Government's and the labour MPs' credibility to question. But the employers' worries about rising costs are also genuine as workers have enjoyed larger salary increments in the interim years and the 1.5% will now be on a higher base. I hope that both parties will bear these in mind in the next round of wage negotiations.”
“With a growing population, increasing consumption due to rising standards of living, imported inflation and an almost fully developed infrastructure, commonsense dictates that we should have more reserves and not less. The Government of the PAP has been doing just that. Sir, the acronym PAP has stood for different things to different people. To some, it is pay-and-pay; for me, it spells prudence-and-pragmatism. Apart from having their aspirations unfulfilled, the businessmen have also felt that the 3% in corporate tax rebate granted last year was insufficient to offset the cost of implementing the GST. This was a common grouse at the Feedback Unit's dialogue with the business community. Rightly, some have complained that it only favoured those who are already making profits with more profits, while those with little could end up with losses after spending money on starting up the GST. One member complained that he had to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade the computers and the weighing scales in his chain of retail food outlets. As the GST was an on-going thing, additional staff had also to be employed to keep meticulous records of receipting and invoicing. All were unhappy that extra costs had to be incurred on a tax reform they never bargained for and in the end, acted as surrogate tax collectors for the Government. In view of this strong reaction, I would like to suggest that the Government consider a once-only tax rebate for businesses to offset the cost of GST implementation. Fears of profiteering and inflation were also expressed. The recent price increases by some Government and statutory bodies had not helped matters.”
“Mr Speaker, that verbal exchange has left me speechless. The 1994 Budget is a good one. The problem with good budgets is that the next one is expected to be better. Good budgets are also addictive. You need to give more the next time round in order to gratify. Anything less will lead to a severe withdrawal. Hence, the business community's disappointment when a self-initiated prophecy of a further cut in the corporate tax additional to last year's 3% did not materialise. Like other recent budgets, this year's will also end up with a surplus. This appears to be the Government's policy which is to meet all expenditure, operating and developmental, with our operating revenue. Our revenue is mainly from taxes, fees and statutory charges. The billions of dollars from investment returns and other capital receipts have been left untouched to swell our ever growing reserves. Our surpluses and, therefore, our wealth come mainly from our citizens through taxation. This is why some, including Opposition MPs, have questioned the necessity for continuing this accumulation of hefty reserves and have advocated that more be returned to the people. Let me remind them that, had it not been for the Government's foresight, we would have landed in debt during the recession and relied on loans to fuel our economic expansion. As it was, the Government could fire the economy again with our own funds by going into infrastructural development. Singapore also depends entirely on imports for our existence, from raw materials to food, to medicine and energy. Our reserves can only buy us six months of these.”
“Sir, I want to declare my interest as I live in the area.”
“Question No. 14, Sir, on behalf of Dr Soin. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, for news coming to Singapore, our local newspapers and media organisations are able to obtain information on their own without the need for a central agency to supply them with news. For news going out, we already have many foreign news agencies based in Singapore reporting on events here. In any case, many foreign news organisations view reports from a national news agency with scepticism. There is therefore no need to establish a National News Agency. LIBRARY 2000 REVIEW COMMITTEE (Publication of report) 15. Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Information and the Arts whether the Library 2000 Review Committee has completed its review; if so, when will its report be published and, if not, when will the review be completed. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Library 2000 Review Committee has completed its review. The Ministry is studying the recommendations of the Committee. The Report of the Committee will be made available to the public together with the decision of the Government on the Committee's recommendations in the near 22future.”
“It is a variation of the group experience used by psychologists for group therapy, and by political and religious groups to secure the commitment of members to their causes. Such techniques can be exploitative. Schools and members of the public should be aware of their possible dangers. The NAC rightly takes a very cautious approach towards them, and has stated that it will not fund forum theatre projects. 3-ROOM HDB RENTAL FLATS AT BLOCKS 35 AND 38, TELOK BLANGAH RISE (Sale to sitting tenants) 13. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Acting Minister for National Development whether the Housing and Development Board will sell its 3-room rental flats at Blocks 35 and 38, Telok Blangah Rise to the sitting tenants as soon as possible.”
“Sir, on behalf of Dr Soin, Question No. 12. She has requested that I declare her interest as a Director of The Necessary Stage. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Straits Times' article on 5th February 1994 reported that the two principal dramatists of The Necessary Stage had attended a workshop in New York in April 1993 organised by an avowed Marxist belonging to a group called the Theatre of the Oppressed. The article asked whether The Necessary Stage had similar political motives. The Necessary Stage subsequently clarified that it had no such motive whether in the past or for the future. Prof. Tommy Koh, Chairman of the National Arts Council (NAC), wrote to the Straits Times on 7th February 1994, stating that the NAC was satisfied that The Necessary Stage had not politicised its past performances. While the Straits Times' article was somewhat sensational, it did focus public attention on a potential problem which we should be mindful of. It is not good for the arts in Singapore to become politicised. While art, especially theatre, cannot avoid commenting on social and political conditions of society, in Singapore art should not be used to promote particular political causes, and certainly not in a covert way. Otherwise, the Government will be forced to treat and regulate such performances as a form of political activity. This will be quite different from the NAC's present approach towards the arts, and will surely retard the development of the arts in Singapore. Forum theatre makes the audience a part of the performance. It can create a very intense experience for the audience, who become participants. The technique is not new.”
“Sir, I am asking this question in my capacity as a member of the Central Committee of CASE. As we have received complaints from members of the public on our hotline, is it necessary for SBC to increase the licensing fees when there is an accumulated surplus of more than $400 million, as given in the Annual Report, and for last year's operating income it was more than $270 million. Also, a lot of the programmes in this expansion activity of SBC is due to re-runs. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: In the accounting of SBC operations, we separate the budget for public service programmes from its commercial operations. The surpluses are accumulated in the commercial operations. They receive part of the licence fees and a certain amount of additional Government grants. I think it is important to have the accounts separate because otherwise this removes the incentive from SBC to operate efficiently. The question arises as to whether we should use the surpluses from the commercial side to subvent or to subsidise the operations on the PSB side. Here, I do not think it is wise because we are looking ahead to a television environment that will become very competitive. SBC has massive investment needs in the future to keep up with the competition and the technology. So I do not think it is wise now to tax SBC commercial operations in order to subsidise the public service broadcasts. In addition to licence fees, the public service broadcasting side of SBC also receives Government grants.”
“Sir, on behalf of Dr Soin, Question No. 5. May I have your permission to ask Question No. 6 in my name now?”
“Sir, as more Singaporeans proceed to work abroad, we should have a better tracking system so that the links then may not be severed and they remain Singaporeans at heart. Here, we can take a lesson from the Israelis. The Jewish community must be the most cohesive in the world. I have a Jewish patient who, despite being unwell himself, will travel to Israel every time a member of his extended family has a joyous or sad occasion, to celebrate or to share their sorrows. Jews around the world are known to respond to calls for enlistment when the country prepares for war. In peace, they lobby hard in foreign countries for their motherland. They form a tight network for trade and business. In conclusion, Sir, our only resource is human. Every Singaporean counts.”
“They could extend the scope of their work beyond just helping those at the periphery to get on to the mainstream. Sir, Singapore has barely enough people for our home economy. The second wing economic diaspora will further strain our manpower resources. Selective immigration may temporarily solve our problems but is no long term solution. We have taken migrants from Hong Kong. Immigrants from Hong Kong are now returning from Canada and Australia as their adoptive countries are in recession. Will we suffer the same fate when Singapore is in crisis? More important than this is we cannot afford to lose any of our people through emigration. Statistics from the Registry of Births and Deaths show that from the year 1979 to 1980, there was an actual drop in the number of Singaporeans affecting all races, particularly those classified as "Others". They are probably the Singaporeans of Euro-Asian parentage. Their numbers fell from 50,000 to 22,187. It took almost four years for the population to get back to the 1979 levels. For the "Others", it has never recovered. As there was no natural catastrophic disaster which had exacted a high death toll, my assumption is that the attrition must have been from emigration. The reasons for this might have already been uncovered, if not, the figures bear a second look. Members may query the benefits of this exercise into a historical event. We can always take a lesson from history, as Dr Ong has also pointed out. Was it the harsh policies that caused this and were there perceptions of discrimination by the minorities? In the last few days of debate, there was a suggestion from some MPs that the Government may now be ruling more with the head than with the heart.”
“The Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, and the Acting Minister for Community Development, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, have set the pace. Strong family ties will help us to solve the kind of problems of a greying population without the need for the kind of legislation that Assoc. Prof. Walter Woon is now drafting. Just now we have also heard Mr Harun Ghani ask for more tax relief for children-in-law who are looking after their aged parents-in-law. Sir, it saddens me that when every time the subject of looking after aged parents is broached, the question of tax relief comes into the discussion and love and duty take second seat. In the 1990 Population Census Report, some interesting information has emerged. The age dependency ratios (ADRs) for those below 15 years of age from 1980 compared to 1990 are for the Chinese, 42 to 32; Malays, a drop from 49 to 45; and Indians, 37 to 35. The ADRs for those above 60 for the same period are Chinese, 12 to 14, Malays, 7 to 11, and Indians, 9 to 15. One conclusion from this is that while the Chinese are not replacing them as adequately as the other two races, they will only have a problem of having too few young to look after too many old in the future, while the Malays and Indians are already facing this problem today. The Government has already put in place measures to take care of some of these problems like affordable health care through Medisave and MediShield and the proposed increase in the CPF Minimum Sum, possibly not tied to property. But there remain some social and societal problems which are ethno-culturally biased. These may be better taken care of by the ethnic-based self-help groups like CDAC, MENDAKI and SINDA.”
“And if you are married, please have two or more children if you can afford them, even as an act of national service. Last week, the hon. Member Mr Chia Shi Teck suggested that in order to swell our numbers, couples should have as many children as they can, even if they cannot afford them. The community can collectively nurture them through fostering. This form of irresponsible procreation is literally having others to carry your baby. It can only lead to welfarism and the crutch mentality, the very societal problems which we are fighting so hard to avoid. Nurturing is not just the provision of home, clothing, health care or a place in school. It is giving quality time to your children and providing a home environment conducive to the development of strong family values, such as filial piety, respect for elders, love and kinship, care of the young and elderly. 1994 has been designated the International Year of the Family. We must work towards making the family the basic unit of society in order to build a cohesive nation. The Chinese characters ( ) (Guo jia) for country best describe this - the nation as a large family of smaller family units. The Singapore Government is reputed for its low threshold of tolerance for marital infidelity from MPs and Ministers. Moral corruption is as bad as any other form of it. It is also a known fact that to enter this august House, one has to lead an almost monastic life, less the celibacy. I would rather that our parliamentarians not be given the same kind of silly indiscretions that have rocked the British Parliament and spoiled the chances of not a few American Presidential hopefuls. As good family people, MPs and Ministers will make good role models.”
“We have to find enough people to defend ourselves and also to work at home and abroad. These were the long term issues we were asked to address when His Excellency, the President spoke to the nation. Sir, concern over our population trends was highlighted by the Senior Minister in his National Day Rally in 1983. Population control programmes which were necessary at the time were not hitting the right targets. Educated Singaporean females were having less children while the less educated continued to have more. An increasing number of educated females have remained single. Our fertility programmes, as the Senior Minister pointed out, had unwittingly set off profound changes on which we must think long and hard. Corrective measures, including packagings with incentives or disincentives, have only slowed the decline but not put things into reverse gear. Prime Minister Goh, speaking at the launch of the two books on "Singapore Women" and "A Woman's Place" last year, also expressed his worry over the persistent trend of increasing numbers of single females and decreasing numbers of children born per ever married woman, compounded by a high divorce rate. Marriage and procreation are very personal matters concerning the parties involved. But, to quote the new Minister for Health, "as the cock does the crowing and the hen delivers the goods," solutions to our birth problems must focus heavily on our women. It is not my wish that we impose our will on the Singaporean female. It is rather that we should appeal to her good civic sense. Ladies, if serious proposals of marriage from acceptable suitors come your way, please do not pass them up for the lure of your new found emancipation.”
“Sir, I rise in support of the motion standing in the name of Mr Loh Meng See. Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore has done well. We can be justly proud of ourselves and what we have achieved. We succeeded despite not having abundant natural resources or huge land masses or a large workforce. We succeeded because we have the competitive edge - the Government and the people. Competitiveness is not just being able to give the lowest wages or the cheapest rentals. It is Government which is stable, honest and consistent in the implementation of its policies. It is people willing to work hard for what they want and adaptable to change. We have these ingredients, and we should therefore continue to do well. But will we, and can we? The present Government looks set to remain for a long time to come, but will our people be able to maintain and preserve their ethos of hard work and adaptability? I had lunch recently with a returned Singaporean expatriate in the hotel industry. He had just completed a six-year stint in Beijing. I asked him what changes impressed him most, and his reply was that the Singaporean worker's attitude had changed - no longer willing to be trained even on company time. I hope this is not pervasive. Perhaps he had returned at the wrong time when the wheel of fortune, that is, the stock market, had distracted one and all. As the region's economies mature, our neighbours' workers will soon catch up on skills and technology. New sea and airport hubs have been planned to get some trade to bypass Singapore. One neighbouring country has already set up another financial centre to give us a run for our money. At home, our domestic economy faces the prospect of hollowing out. We grapple with poor demographic figures even as our population is fast aging.”
“The other matter, of course, is whether they can be given the option to retain their old benefits under the old contractual terms. For some of them, this is relevant as the prospect of a long life may not be there because of existing sickness. The other problem, of course, concerns health care workers which has not been addressed. Some of these people have expressed dismay over the fact that free medical benefits have now been removed from them. Their worries about catching some infectious disease, some of which are still not curable like AIDS, are real. In order to make up for this, may I ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether some form of compensation like hazard money can be paid into their Medisave accounts in addition to the 1%, so that this problem can be addressed?”
“Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me to speak on this matter. A friend of mine who is a banker gave me the profile of the people who have been buying bungalows developed by his bank somewhere in Holland Road in Singapore. The bungalows cost $6-$7 million each. The profile of a large number of prospective buyers are men who are less than 40 years of age, who drive Lexuses, who do not require end financing or mortgaging for these bungalows and by profession are either Simex traders or stockbrokers, both of whom have had a bumper harvest this year. Unlike Dr Soin, I am not going to compare our Cabinet Ministers with the stockbrokers and bankers, but surely those who are responsible for creating the economic and political environment for these people to enjoy what they are enjoying and for other Singaporeans to do so, should be adequately compensated for whatever sacrifices they have made to the State and country. I therefore support the proposal for the salary revision. There are a few matters which I would like to raise and these concern the pensioners. When the Finance Minister announced the new health package at our last sitting, several people who are near retirement called me up, especially those who are within a year or two of their retirement. They were upset, disappointed and felt let down, because they felt that after a whole life-time of dedicated service to Singapore, they now have their benefits removed from them. So I am really pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that this has been addressed and they will get an additional 1% paid into their Medisave accounts. But under the old pension scheme, their spouses and dependants enjoy medical benefits. What I want to know is: will this still apply now?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the Minister has missed the point. I said preferential rates of rental and purchase prices but under a restricted tenure. I think I brought this point up also at the feedback dialogue session, in the sense that there is now a free-for-all system. In other words, if there are 50 shops available in a HDB precinct for rental or for purchase, 50 doctors could bid for them. And if they overbid all the other people, we could end up with 50 clinics within a district and no clinics in other areas of the same estate. It will be a more equitable distribution if there is some kind of control. Now that we have got control on so many things, we could also control the distribution of clinics within a housing estate so that there will be doctors available in all areas within a district. With a restricted tenure, there should be no complaints because we can control the fees. Therefore, the savings on rentals and purchase prices can be passed back to the consumers.”
“Sir, can the Minister please repeat what he has said?”
“No, I do not think so. I think medical services are more important.”