Vikram Nair
Singapore
“I thank the Minister of State for the answer, as well as forming a workgroup to look into this issue. I think it is worrying that platform workers have a much higher rate of workplace injuries than many other groups and I think compensation is one component, but does the Minister of State think any interim measures are needed while the wo…”
“I thank the Minister of State for the answer. I think it is an improvement from the last time this question was asked two years ago, which was 17 minutes and 164 minutes. So, there is improvement. But a one-and-a half-hour waiting time is still quite long.”
“Thank you, and I thank the Minister of State for flagging the answer to me as well. So, I have a supplementary question. The answer was that the Ministry is engaging the digital service providers as well as preparing advisories for parents.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the response and to explain that the OCHA Directions are being issued to Telegram as well. The only reason I mentioned Telegram specifically is it seems to emerge in a whole range of crimes, including selling of drugs, etomidate, sexual crimes, scams.”
“It seeks to enable efficient cross-border travel while retaining Singapore's legal framework and ensuring that foreign officers cooperate within defined limits. It also provides for reciprocity, so that Singapore officers can exercise similar functions in Malaysia.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I note that amongst the different sources of energy, diesel prices have risen much higher than electricity prices. And diesel fuels many commercial operators, including buses and lorries, which feeds into many other sectors.”
The complete record
Every one of 760 lines we hold for Vikram Nair, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 15 of 16.
“Mdm Chair, in September 2013, it was reported that a young Singaporean was the fifth to be self-radicalised and was detained for two years under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for trying to join an insurgency in Thailand. According to reports, he had been influenced by what he read online to join this insurgency. I understand that, in this case, he was detained under the ISA after he had been handed over by the Thai authorities following his arrest and conviction in Thailand for immigration offences because he entered Thailand illegally. The threat of self-radicalisation is one of particular concern because it seems that the material on the Internet that influenced this individual is readily available and continues to be readily available. In this regard, is MHA able to provide an update on the regional terrorist threat and, in particular, on any measures it plans to take to deal with the threat of self-radicalisation in Singapore? Operational Readiness”
“I would like to thank the Minister for reconsidering the bankruptcy regime. I look forward to the changes. The clarification that I have to ask really is on the Singapore International Commercial Court. One of the concerns raised was the enforceability of judgments they are under. Are there any plans to expand the number of countries covered by the reciprocal enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act which might be helpful in this regard?”
“I am personally troubled when credit is sold like a consumer good with attractive marketing. For example, in areas such as consumer credit, credit cards and even licensed moneylenders. If lenders know that borrowers can be easily discharged from bankruptcy, they will be much more careful in lending and this will hopefully reduce the amount Page: 103 of unsecured credit that is extended to people who should not be borrowing such credit. Protection from Licensed Moneylenders”
“Mdm Chair, the Insolvency Law Review Committee, which was formed by MinLaw to review the insolvency regime in Singapore and comprised a team of distinguished insolvency practitioners, published its report in 2013 which proposed a thorough rationalisation of the insolvency regime in Singapore, including modernising and harmonising the laws on bankruptcy and corporate insolvency. What is the Government's view on the recommendations of the Committee and does it plan to implement any or all of the recommendations? One important matter on which the views of the Committee members differed was on whether there should be a regime of automatic discharge from bankruptcy. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada and the UK all have automatic discharge from bankruptcy after a prescribed period of time, provided the bankrupt complies with his obligations while a bankrupt. On the one hand, some members of the Committee felt that such a regime would take away personal responsibility on the part of the bankrupts and encourage irresponsible borrowing. They observed that filings for bankruptcy tended to increase, the easier it was to be discharged from bankruptcy. On the other hand, other members felt that a regime that permitted automatic discharge would significantly reduce the cost of administration of bankruptcy and would better incentivise bankrupts to work towards their discharge. I am particularly interested to know the Government's view on whether we should have a regime that permits automatic or easier discharge from bankruptcy. Personally, I would favour a regime of automatic discharge, at least in relation to personal bankruptcy, because it would place more risk on lenders and make them more cautious in lending practices.”
“That is welcome. Given that we have limited resources, if we are looking at a further review of these schemes, rather than having universal free education for everyone, what I would advocate is that we have greater subsidies to make sure that everyone has access to higher education and access pre-school education. I would, therefore, prefer more targeted subsidies for those who need them more. Recognising that tertiary education is probably becoming more of a necessity – whether that is at ITE, polytechnic or University – for many families, especially low- and middle-income families whose children may be going to polytechnic or ITE, the expanded availability of bursaries will be very welcome. Let me just wrap up on a final note on how this Budget works through a financial perspective. I think we are running a very modest deficit in this Budget but that is more or less catered for by our recent surpluses. So, I do not think that is a major concern. Conceptually, I think the idea that we can fund a package as broad-ranging as the Pioneer Generation Package from a single year's Budget is exceptional. It also shows that we are still committed to fiscal discipline. Even as we become more compassionate and spend more on social spending, we should still maintain our commitment to fiscal discipline as that will allow the future generations to not have to worry about carrying the burden of the past. 2.07 pm”
“This too may seem rather counterintuitive because while it was perhaps raised as the biggest concern on the minds of many of my residents, when we asked whether any of them had difficulties with particular big bills that they could not pay or bills that they could not manage, no hands went up. I guess there is a fear of exceptional healthcare cost even though we probably have a system in place to take away a lot of the strains. One of the most important developments in this front will be MediShield Life. The intention is that Pioneer Generation Package is going to be one-off. But what that would mean is that for the next generation, in order for their long-term healthcare needs to be taken care of, a system like MediShield Life will be crucial to plug that gap. In that sense, the idea of mandatory insurance to deal with big bills is something that is important, and something that I think it is good to plan for early so that we will not have to come up with packages for each and every Page: 57 generation to meet their long-term medical needs. The expanded subsidies at Specialist Outpatient Clinics are also welcomed because these are, again, ongoing costs, especially for people who might have chronic conditions. A lot of these assistance schemes in healthcare will ease more of the concerns that many of the younger families have as well. The final aspect that I want to deal with is education. One of things that was unique for Singapore in the earlier years and what has helped the children of the pioneers do better than the pioneers themselves is the fact that they had access to education. In that sense, the two areas of education that are potentially more expensive are pre-school education and tertiary education which are the exact two areas that this Budget is targeting.”
“In the later colonial era and early years of independence, we went through significant uncertainty. The success of Singapore where we would be today was clearly not pre-ordained, and, in a sense, these were the people who cast their lot and stayed with Singapore so that many of us today can benefit. Perhaps the biggest worry in the minds of many in this generation who grew up at the time before things like CPF became properly institutionalised, is what is going to happen now. For those with children who are doing well, it is less of a problem, but those whose children may not be doing so well, or for those who do not have enough CPF, healthcare is probably the single biggest concern on their mind. Healthcare comes in many forms. It comes in fear of big hospital bills; it comes with ongoing bills at the clinics. So, in that sense, the Pioneer Generation Package addresses a broad range of concerns on their minds. The underlying message that the pioneers would have to worry less about healthcare or, in fact, perhaps not even worry at all, is probably a heartening one. The biggest concern on their minds can be taken away and they can really enjoy their golden years. From what I understand for the younger families as well, many of them who have pioneers in their own families will appreciate this, too. This is a very welcome expenditure – it is one of the largest expenditures in the Budget, but one that I think will be supported and welcomed by all. Now, let me deal with the second one because healthcare affordability was also another concern raised by many of my residents.”
“The ward I represent, Admiralty, was, at least until very recently, a ward with mostly young families. Recently, we have had a few Studio Apartments come in. What I find very moving about this Budget, and there are three main things I would like to discuss, which I think would make a very big difference for young families. The first, perhaps counter-intuitively, is the Pioneer Generation Package; the second, the improved subsidies for healthcare; and third, the development in subsidies in education. First, on the Pioneer Generation Package: this may come as a surprise, but in many of the dialogues I had last year, even with younger family members, one of their biggest concerns was what was going to happen to their parents – they are falling sick, they are living longer. Is anyone going to help with their medical bills? And in that sense, this Pioneer Generation Package is very timely. For each of us, in each of our families, those who are second or third generation Singaporeans, we probably have people who would have been pioneers, either our grandparents or our parents. Each of us knows the depth of gratitude we owe to them. In my own family, my grandparents came over from India at a time when travel was by ship so there was no aeroplane to go back for quick visits, no telephones to make phone calls to keep in touch. They stayed through World War II which was a very tough time. They saw the early years of Independence. In many of our families, if we have pioneers to go back that era, their stories will be similar: the personal sacrifices that they made were tremendous. In some families, it may be the parents as well. In my case, my parents qualified for the Pioneer Generation Package, too. They were born in the Page: 56 immediate baby boom after World War II.”
“Madam, just one more clarification. What about cases where the driver cannot remember what happened at the time the offence was committed or if someone else was driving the vehicle?”
“He was also saying the powers of search and seizure extend to ships and aircrafts in section 12, which means if an aircraft flies over Little India and someone consumes alcohol inside, technically you could search that aircraft once it lands in Changi Airport. But I do not think that is the legislative intent either. Some of the powers may have been broadly drafted, but I think the powers will be read in line with legislative intent. Legislative intent is clearly to prohibit the public consumption of alcohol and to limit the sale of alcohol. The powers will only be used insofar as it is necessary to get evidence of those offences being committed. For that reason, I would support this Bill. 6.15 pm”
“I would suggest the powers in section 9 have to be read together with the limitations in section 4. That is, these powers will only be deployed if someone is consuming alcohol, say, someone is drinking alcohol and then decides to hide it when the Police comes. I would suggest that that is the only situation in which such powers would be deployed. There is no general rule that prohibits the possession of alcohol and, therefore, I do not think that powers of strip-searching someone would be used simply because of possession of alcohol. I would also suggest the same thing applies to the powers to search vehicles. I do not think it would be applied randomly to any vehicle, not least because other sections, such as section 7, permit the delivery of alcohol by a vehicle. I do not think the powers in section 9 mean it necessarily becomes an Page: 104 offence in and of itself just to, say, possess alcohol or to have alcohol in your vehicle. If someone is going to Little India to go shopping at Mustafa's, to buy alcohol and he is driving out of Little India, I do not think that would be an offence just because the powers of search technically allow the vehicle to be searched. But I think it would be helpful to clarify that it is clearly the legislative intent that the powers should not be read expansively. Maybe a few other powers as well: the powers in section 10, for example, to require reasons for entry. I do not think that means that anyone who enters the zone will be asked, "Why are you here?" I think it will only be used if the Police have reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed somewhere else. One last power which I think Assoc Prof Eugene Tan highlighted earlier on.”
“If you are buying alcohol to consume on your own, you could definitely Page: 103 buy within reasonable hours; you do not have to buy it at 3.00 am or 4.00 am in the morning and so on. So, I do not think that is unreasonable either. I think those two prohibitions go together. In that respect, the broad objectives of the Bill to prohibit the public consumption of alcohol and to limit the sale of alcohol are measures that I would support. The second area, I think is probably a little more troubling. And this is the major concern with the breadth of powers this Bill might confer. The main comfort I draw in this is that it is very clear, at least from the Minister's reading of the Bill, that the intention is not to expand present powers but to limit it. What that means is that any seemingly broad powers in this Bill will be read in that context. Maybe just for the record, I will highlight some of the powers that I have concerns with as well. These largely stem from sections 9 and 10. I remembered there was a very strong reaction about the powers that were enacted by this Bill because newspaper headlines read "Police powers include being stripped and searched for alcohol". Suddenly, a lot of people panicked, and people thought, "So, if I go and buy alcohol in Little India, will I be stripped searched?" If you look at the strict reading of the Bill, Articles 9(b), 9(c) seem to suggest that – "you can remove all articles from entrant's clothing" to search for "any prohibited item or alcohol". Now, the search for prohibited items – no one would object to – because those are basically weapons, explosives, corrosive substances. But does this power really extend to strip-searching a person for alcohol? I would suggest that it does not.”
“When they were asked what they thought might have caused this, they volunteered themselves, "Alcohol". It was not just one worker, but it was echoed by a number of others. Some of the other workers said, "These were probably young people, new in Singapore and they were drunk". In response to that, we asked whether they thought restrictions on alcohol would be something that would be useful, and, almost without pausing for breath, their answer was "yes". This was actually quite illuminating because, obviously, these foreign workers who were not involved in the riots, were concerned that their reputation might be tarnished by other people who did get drunk and were involved. If we step back, on a broader level, prohibitions on public consumption of alcohol are actually quite common in many countries. Dr Lam Pin Min has run through a very long list of them, and they include Australia, Russia, a good number of Scandinavian countries and probably countries that have had some experience with drinking and unruly public behaviour. The prohibition on the public consumption of alcohol is something I would support even if we did not have the riot, because it looks like there is a very strong correlation between unruly behaviour and public consumption of alcohol. I do not think it is an unnecessary restriction on people's rights because people can still consume alcohol in their own homes, within establishments and so on. The only place they cannot do so is on the street and also in other public places. Broadly speaking, I would support prohibition on the public consumption of alcohol. Now, correlated to that, of course, are the restrictions on the sale of alcohol.”
“I had both of these concerns and maybe I will share how I dealt with them. The first concern: was alcohol really the cause of this? The Committee of Inquiry is still out looking into this and I do not wish to give my views directly on what exactly happened in that riot. But after the event, there were at least two stories I can share. The first was that I had the chance to accompany Deputy Prime Minister Teo to visit some of the first responders at the scene. These were the firemen and Police officers. These were the people who were actually face-to-face with the rioters; the people who were hit by projectiles, which included alcohol bottles. Certainly, the stories from them made it quite clear that they felt that some of the people who were attacking them were inebriated and had been pushed by alcohol. Page: 102 The second experience that was quite illuminating for me was a visit to a foreign workers' dormitory together with Minister Shanmugam, Mr Dhinakaran and some senior union leaders. At the time I visited this dormitory in Kranji, I did not really know what to expect. I was not sure if the workers were going to say they had been really unhappy with living in Singapore, they were being abused and, therefore, they were rioting; or they were going to give some other story for what happened. Now, these were not the workers involved in the riot but these were other foreign workers who would have been in the area, would have gone to Little India many times, and would have known what happened there. What was interesting was they were asked a number of questions. First, they were asked whether they had any issues with their employers. The almost-immediate, unanimous answer was "no" and some of them even said, "If we have any issue, we can bring it up with MOM".”
“Mdm Speaker, I think the Little India riot was probably the most dramatic and shocking event we have had for a very Page: 101 long time. I was doing reservist at the time it happened and one of the officers who was serving with me was this big, strong Indian officer who had been in Afghanistan. He had parents living in the Little India area and he was telling me that when he saw the pictures, he felt, "Wow, this is like a bad day in Kabul. How can people do this in Singapore? Please make sure you do something, you bring justice to these people and it never happens again". At the time it happened, people were so shocked, so moved that there was a very strong desire that such a thing should never happened again. That is probably universal in this House. After the Little India riot happened, there was a difficult question of what should be done and views were so divergent. I remembered when I was in camp at that time, people were looking at some of the videos of officers running away, and they said, "These guys should have opened fire, why are they running away from the riots?" But obviously, if they had opened fire, it would have been a very different situation. There was certainly a very strong desire that more should be done, and that more could have been done as well. The debate in this House turns on a couple of issues. Everyone agrees that there is a need for more security, for tough measures. There are a couple of points that people disagree on. The first is given the Committee of Inquiry has not completed its job, is it right to take measures, dealing with alcohol specifically, given that this has not been officially ruled as a cause? The second broad issue is: are the powers too broad and will they be abused?”
“At the moment, the Advisory Committee has very senior lawyers; it has retired judges; so I have no doubt that it has the capability of dealing with the evidence there. But, perhaps, because we do not have representation from the judiciary specifically in there, it may be subject to criticism on the basis that there is no judicial involvement in the process at all. I have no objections with having judicial oversight in that particular limb of the CLTPA test and that would at least have an experienced sitting judge hearing the evidence where necessary, using his own training as a judge to deal with such issues. I stand and support this Bill. I think it needs to be renewed for the next five years. I also think there is space for putting this Bill on a more permanent footing if we are going to be dealing with organised crime for a long time to come. 4.48 pm”
“If the CLTPA is not renewed and people currently detained under the CLTPA are released, then I am definitely concerned about a resurgence in more aggressive types of organised criminal activities. One final point that I think we should look at going forward is what form you would like the CLTPA be able to take. Amongst the critics of CLTPA, two criticisms come out. The first is that it is called "temporary provisions" but in fact, it has been enforced since 1955. The second is that there is no real mechanism for judicial oversight of it. Page: 77 I do not think massive changes are really necessary. Personally, I would have no objections to having something like this on a more permanent footing if necessary. The basis for that would be that as long as the threat for organised crime exists, and organised crime makes it possible to subvert the trial process in some way, whether it is to intimidate witnesses or whether it also means losing the ability to get informants from inside to come out, then it might be necessary to have a more permanent provision to deal with it because I do not see this threat going away. Secondly, personally, I am extremely comfortable with the safeguards we have at the moment because there are many avenues involved for evidence to be heard from the accused and for the accused to be represented if necessary. The only thing that is not permitted is for the accused to have the opportunity to hear the evidence or to meet the evidence of his accusers directly. That is necessary to protect the secrecy of the people giving evidence. One measure that might be introduced is to include judicial oversight in the Advisory Committee.”
“When I asked them why they did not want to tell the Police, they said, "Oh, if I make a Police report with my name on it, people will come and get me." So, what I think gave them comfort in the end was that they could make the reports and have their identities protected when necessary. Loansharking was another major problem when I first came in, and in almost every other house visit, I could see reports within that block of at least one person who had been subject to some form of loanshark harassment. Not all were borrowers. Many were innocent victims who happened to be living next door or were somehow associated with the borrowers. They were subject to, at the very least, vandalism. In other cases, threats of violence. In the very worst cases, there was even one case where kerosene was poured under the door and a threat to set the place on fire. The crackdowns in the last two years have helped this problem significantly. And this has been a combination of regular Police enforcement methods along with the use of CLTPA where necessary. The number of reports of loansharking activities has come down quite significantly in the last two years. And I am quite happy to say that I think the measures are moving in the right direction. It is still a problem but what I can see now is that loanshark runners are a lot more afraid of getting caught. In one of the incidents recently that I came across, the alleged harasser threw a cup of paint at the door because he was so afraid of getting caught and then ran away. So, it is a nuisance but it is not the menace that it used to be. However, I believe this menace is always simmering just beneath the surface.”
“When asked, Malaysia's Home Minister attributed the rise in lawlessness to the release of more than 2,500 of what he described as hardened criminals, who were previously detained under the Emergency Ordinance. These gang members were apparently re-engaging in activities which they used to, fighting to take back old turf and, in some cases, taking revenge on those who they believed might have assisted in their arrest and detention. Just last month, the Malaysian government tried to re-introduce measures for detention without trial, in new form, with new measures. But the basic principle is that they have found it necessary to re-introduce these measures to bring the crime situation under control. And this is much closer to home, just across the Causeway. For most Singaporeans, the idea of violent crimes, the type which I have described, might seem very remote, something we may read about. We may be a bit scared because many of us still go down to Malaysia. At the same time, we may think it would not happen here. As a Member of Parliament, I have to say that my own experiences would lead me to think otherwise. I remember when I first came into contact with ex-inmates, a number of them had been in prison for loansharking and drug-related offences. These were people who were convicted by the normal criminal process who were tried in Court. But even they were afraid of speaking up Page: 76 because they were saying there would be very serious repercussions if they did. Speaking with them, it became extremely clear that the fear of repercussions when you are dealing with organised crime is very real. Amongst my own residents, there were reports of potential drug trafficking near my rental blocks.”
“On 3 September, Miss Fie and her family were driving along Jalan Tebrau when two men on a motorcycle smashed the front passenger side window of the car, snatched her handbag which contained her driver's licence, three bank cards, house keys and money – just driving along a road. On 30 July, Mdm Rajeswary was abducted outside Sultanah Aminah Hospital by three men, and was bundled into the backseat of a car, bound, blindfolded and gagged with tape and said she would be murdered if she did not comply with the abductors' demands. Eventually, she was robbed of about $360 and about $4,000 worth of jewellery and her mobile phone – just standing outside a hospital. Page: 75 On 19 March, Mr Effendi Mohamad and some friends were preparing to leave a friend's home at Gelang Patah when a white Honda stopped in front of them and men wielding a rusty parang, a metal rod and a baseball bat came out and robbed them of a handbag containing their ICs, about 10 credit cards and $100 in currency – this is just leaving a friend's house. On 3 March, Miss Serene Tay was robbed by a motorcyclist while she was waiting in her car for her cousin at Taman Sentosa, which is quite a nice residential estate. The motorcycle rider used a rod to smash the front passenger side window, and when she got out to escape, she was attacked physically and robbed of her mobile phone and wallet containing about RM1,500. The scary thing about all these incidents is that they were happening to ordinary people doing ordinary things. And these were just incidents relating to Singaporeans which was why they were reported in the Singapore press. The best part is the explanation for all this lawlessness.”
“Over the last seven months, some of the stories that have been coming out of Malaysia have been downright scary. According to Malaysia's Home Minister, on 23 October 2013, he said 74 people had been gunned down in the last seven months. That is about three people every week. Quite apart from the killings – killings obviously make the headlines because of how violent they are – even ordinary crimes, I guess less serious crimes, became more rampant, and nobody seemed to be spared. Even the Youth and Sports Minister Mr Khairy Jamaluddin had his house robbed in broad daylight, and that was amongst the more senior officials. Amongst ordinary Singaporeans going there to visit, a New Paper report on 2 November 2013 had quite a lot of scary stories. Mr and Mrs Lim, a couple who go up to Johor Baru quite regularly, had just finished shopping at a mall and were going to top up petrol there at about 11.15 pm. At the petrol station, they were approached and threatened by two men who demanded money. There were a lot of other people at the petrol station but no one came forward to help. They then tried to flee in their car, but the two men followed them, swerved in front of them, stopped them, then proceeded to get out of the car, threatened them with a knife and they were not just satisfied with the RM3,400 that they had with them. They, in fact, asked Mr and Mrs Lim to go to a series of ATMs to draw out more money and give them that money as well. These are just regular visitors to Johor Baru visiting a mall, getting their hair done and then topping up petrol at the end of it. But that is not all.”
“I remember watching the movie "The Untouchables" as a child, which I think was mentioned a little bit earlier. It was about US Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, who was after the notorious Chicago gang leader Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro. Two things were especially memorable about the show. The first was that even the heroes got killed in the movie. I remember Sean Connery, who was one of my favourite actors as James Bond, and he was one of the heroes in this show, ended up getting killed as well. So, it looked like no one was really safe. The second, the bad guy, Al Capone, as in all Hollywood movies, went to jail in the end. But he did not go to jail for any of his gang-related crimes. He went to jail for tax evasion. The reason he did not go to jail for his gang-related crimes was because he was able to suffer the entire justice process. Witnesses were afraid of coming forward, jury bribery was rampant and the scary part is that although this was a Hollywood movie, the real Al Capone also was not prosecuted for any of his gang-related crimes. In fact, he did go to Alcatraz in the end for tax evasion. The story of Al Capone, a New York gangster, also a Chicago gangster, from the Prohibition era may seem very far away from Singapore, but what is scary is that much closer to home we have seen examples of violent crimes. In fact, just across the Causeway, Malaysia had a very similar provision to Singapore's which was called the Emergency Ordinance. Malaysia had the benefit of a Page: 74 falling crime rate from 2009 to 2011, at least if official releases were to be believed. And maybe that gave them the confidence to decide that it was time to remove the Emergency Ordinance.”
“Mdm Speaker, I speak in support of the Motion. The CLTPA is a Bill that traces its origins to the post-war colonial era. It was first introduced in the Legislative Assembly by then Chief Secretary Sir William Goode on 18 August 1955. Over the years, it has been modified and its uses have evolved. It is now mainly used to fight organised crime, such as secret societies, drug trafficking and loansharking. The most controversial part of the Act is probably the powers under Part V that permit the Minister to subject a person to Police supervision or make Detention Orders where he believes that the detention of a person associated with activities of a criminal nature is necessary in the interests of public safety, Page: 73 peace and good order. As a lawyer, I am not generally in favour of having alleged criminals detained without a proper hearing. The main benefit of the trial process is that it allows an accused person to be charged in an open process and the opportunity to hear and respond to the evidence of his accusers. The person is then given a chance, either individually or through his lawyers, to ask questions of his accusers and test the evidence. However, the merits of a public trial process are probably also its greatest weakness when facing organised crime. The challenge with organised crime is that each individual who stands accused of a crime might potentially have both the support and scrutiny of his organisation behind him. Witnesses are, therefore, going to be much more unlikely to come forward to give evidence. Where the witness is a mole or informer within the organisation, this might even compromise his ability to continue to provide useful evidence. In very bad situations, judges and prosecutors may face retribution, too.”
“I thank the Minister for his clarifications. One of the criticisms about the new regulation is that a lot of the mischief can be handled by existing regulations, such as the Class Licence Scheme. What are the additional benefits of having this new scheme? Page: 79 Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Under the Class Licence Scheme, there are content standards and there are existing rules and regulations dealing with mischief or misbehaviour. As I mentioned in my reply, it is really about holding these sites which purport to be online news sites to a higher standard. It is a matter of content. Finally, we have to ask ourselves if we hold the traditional mainstream media to individual licences because we expect them to behave responsibly in terms of reporting issues of race and religion, public order and so on and so forth, why should we not hold online news sites to the same standards? At the end of the day, it is really about recognising that there is a new trend and we have to put a new framework in place.”
“Mdm Chair, energy demand in Asia continues to grow on the back of continued economic expansion. This, coupled with the rising cost of raw materials that go towards energy production, such as coal, oil and gas, has led to correspondingly high energy prices, and more demand in ASEAN and the region. This means rising energy cost for household and businesses, which contributes both to rising living cost as well as higher business cost. This affects the competitiveness of our businesses too. What can Singapore do to ensure that our energy supply remains secure in the region, and to support greater economic competitiveness? Privatisation of Essential Services”
“The second area I wish to deal with is about some of the SMEs in sectors that may be specially affected by the restructuring, including those in food and beverage, retail and construction. All these industries face the issue of labour crunch. This is because most of these industries have a very large proportion of foreign workers doing jobs which the business operators say they find great difficulty in getting Singaporeans to do. I understand that even in these difficult sectors, there are some success stories. A few companies were featured in The Straits Times last month, saying how they managed to reduce reliance on foreign manpower and employ largely locals now. I am just wondering if these success stories might be shared with other businesses in these sectors. More specifically, it would also be helpful if the Ministry can elaborate on schemes that are tailored to assist businesses in these sectors, to transition from the heavy reliance on manpower. What other steps can the Ministry take to help companies in these industries become aware of these schemes and take them up? The last area I wish to touch on is really a look at Singapore's future: how can we create an environment that would allow more SMEs to be set up here? I think encouraging youth enterprise is a very important part of this. I have seen a number of youths in our Universities, Polytechnics, ITEs and even Secondary schools come up with interesting and novel products and ideas. I am wondering if there are any schemes available that these youth could take up to pursue their ideas and become entrepreneurs. I am also wondering if there are any steps taken to make youth aware of any such schemes that may be available. Silver Industries”
“Mdm Chair, one of the groups that will be facing difficulties in light of the current economic restructuring would be Singapore small, medium and even micro-enterprises. Many of these have expanded over the past few years on the back of the easier availability of foreign labour. As it gets more difficult for these SMEs to get foreign manpower, many may face the question of whether they can survive. In this regard, I would like to focus on what we could do to help these SMEs. The first area I would like to touch on is Singapore's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). One of Singapore's greatest advantages for businesses operating here is that it has entered into a number of FTAs with various parties. These include individual, multilateral and regional FTAs. A recent example is the European Union and Singapore FTA. I understand that the EU is Singapore's second largest trading partner, accounting for over 11% of our trade. The EU is also our largest foreign investor with more than 9,000 companies that have set up operations here. Broadly speaking, I think FTAs will be helpful for businesses. The large corporates are very aware of this, and I am sure Singapore's extensive network of FTAs is an important consideration for large corporates wishing to set up here. However, I am wondering to what extent our SMEs are aware of the Page: 53 potential opportunities from these FTAs. These potentially mean that there are large foreign markets and opportunities open to them, if they wish to grow. I am hoping MTI can elaborate on what these FTAs have meant for the average SMEs in Singapore, and whether or not there are, indeed, opportunities they can exploit from these.”
“In particular, I think, that this could potentially offer lots of interesting opportunities for young Singaporeans and a good variety of jobs. I mean, the Secondary schools in my area, for example, produce very good design and technology students and I wonder if a centre like this would provide more opportunities for them. There are some specific questions I have in relation to this centre. The first is when will the centre open? The second is what is the aim of this centre and what types of programmes would it offer? The third, what types of opportunities will it offer to individuals and SMEs interested in this field? And, finally, will this centre have tie-ups with students in local schools interested in design and technology? The third aspect I wish to discuss is whether there are any plans the Ministry has to help firms use design as a competitive advantage. Now, many global businesses rely on design to provide them with a competitive advantage. This is especially important in the consumer goods industries, and companies, such as Apple, sometimes create entirely new markets through a combination of good technology and innovative design. I am interested to know how Singapore companies fare in using design as a competitive advantage. 3.15 pm I understand that the Design Singapore Council, working with IE Singapore and SPRING Singapore, has established a Design for Enterprises programme to help businesses adopt design for competitive advantage to the marketplace. I am interested to know what this programme allows, and whether there is any early success story to share. And does MCI have any plans to strengthen design Page: 72 adoption in local companies?”
“Mdm Chairperson, there are three different issues I wish to discuss in this cut but all of which relate to different assistance that might be provided to SMEs and young workers in Singapore. Now, the first – I was quite intrigued to read about a programme titled "The Infocomm at SME", which I understand aims to accelerate the adoption of infocomm technology by SMEs to help them improve productivity and competitiveness. SMEs are one of the groups that might be hardest hit by the current restructuring as they face a manpower crunch from the tightening of foreign labour and the prospect of rising labour costs as wages of Singaporeans rise. It will be important for SMEs to reduce their dependence on labour. Traditionally, the adoption of technology has been an important aspect of moving from a low-wage, labour-intensive business to a higher wage, less labour-intensive structure. This is your textbook illustration of a productivity Page: 71 increase as well. I am, therefore, interested to know how a programme such as this would enable SMEs to adopt to ICT in order to cope during this difficult time. It would be especially useful to know if this would also help SMEs that are not traditionally associated with infocomm, such as those in retail and construction, as these would be some of the industries facing the greatest difficulties. So, I hope the MCI would be able to elaborate on what are the systems it can provide to assist SMEs to deal with the current challenges they face using ICT technology. The second point I wish to discuss is with the National Design Centre. Like my Parliamentary colleague earlier, Mr Fong, I am also interested to know when this design centre would open.”
“Page: 44 Credit cards continue to be marketed quite aggressively, giving people additional spending power. But if people cannot pay these debts, then the interest rates are usually quite substantial and, again, they might end up in a vicious credit spiral. If people were to become bankrupt as a result of unsecured personal credit, we could probably be more liberal than letting them being discharged as well. I understand the main risk in having a more liberal bankruptcy regime is that we may create moral hazard where people may borrow excessively and borrow more than is prudent. But I also think that this risk is something that can be managed because what it means is that lenders will also become more prudent in how they lend. If they know that there is a chance that people may be discharged from bankruptcy more easily, they will be more careful in extending consumer credit and this, I think, is a good thing. Public Housing and Insolvency”
“A slightly different approach towards bankruptcy is the approach taken by Hong Kong where bankrupts are generally given discharge after four years if they conduct themselves well while they are bankrupt. Creditors may object to the automatic discharge but only on very limited grounds, namely, if the bankrupt did not comply with the conditions of the bankruptcy. This is obviously a much more liberal regime than Singapore. But I think it is probably a direction that we could move in if we want to encourage entrepreneurship and risk-taking. Hong Kong is well-known for entrepreneurship. And I also think the risk of credit freezing up is not that big an issue because businesses remain vibrant to Hong Kong. This might be one approach to allow those who fail in business to pick themselves up again. The second area where I think our bankruptcy regime can be a little more liberal is those who become bankrupt as a result of unsecured personal credit. These are typically people who incur a large amount of consumer debt. This can come in the form of credit card debt, generous consumer lendings, such as those offered by some electrical and furniture shops, as well as unsecured personal loans from banks and authorised moneylenders. Unauthorised moneylenders are also a problem, but they generally would not be creditors in bankruptcy. The main mischief here is I sometimes get very concerned when I see how easily consumer credit is extended. I see low-income families buying very large television sets, for example, because low monthly instalments are a great attraction. But when they default, the furniture or the electronic goods they buy get seized and they may be made bankrupt if the debt is sufficiently large.”
“Mdm Chair, our bankruptcy laws currently try to strike a balance between allowing debtors to maintain a modest lifestyle, while providing creditors with the opportunity to recover some of the debts owed to them in an equitable manner. In many countries, bankrupts might lose their houses and life savings when bankruptcy occurs. In Singapore, the fact that HDB flats and CPF monies are protected from creditors in the event of bankruptcy provides significant protection for debtors. There are two specific aspects of our bankruptcy regime where I think we could be even more liberal to debtors. The first is in cases where the bankruptcy is the result of business failure. Now, this is quite a common cause of Page: 43 bankruptcy for small business operators who trade in their own name or for those who might provide guarantees for companies when securing loans. In relation to many of these businessmen, once the business fails, and they become bankrupt, that probably means that they will not be able to continue running the business and they may have to find a very different means of earning a living. If they do not have proper educational qualifications, this may mean a substantial drop in income. And this puts them in a bind because it means that their income would be reduced, which makes it more difficult for them to get out of bankruptcy. But if they do not get out of bankruptcy, they will not be able to go back to doing business. It also means that many of these operators do not get a second chance to get back into business even though they might have learned from the first failure and might be able to do better the second time.”
“Sir, in a CNA report of 21 October 2012, it was stated that the number of young drug offenders was rising in Singapore. The report stated that the drugs of choice were synthetics like ICE and Ecstasy. I also understand that increasing numbers of ex-drug offenders are being released, and I am particularly concerned that some of these might get sucked into drug abuse once again. I would like the Deputy Prime Minister to provide an update on the situation regarding the use of drugs, particularly synthetic drugs like ICE and Ecstasy. 6.15 pm Youth and Drugs”
“Sir, I am troubled by the spate of serious traffic accidents involving fatalities in the past few months. This is particularly so when some of these accidents involved young children in school areas. In my own ward, I visited some families who have been victims of such accidents, including one very tragic case where a grandmother was killed while walking her two young grandchildren to school. I want to know whether MHA has any further steps to take to enforce road safety and what steps it is going to take against traffic violators. Speed Offenders”
“Sir, in the presentation by Mr Albert Chua, the permanent representative of Singapore to the UN on 27 June 2012, he mentioned that the threat of terrorism in Southeast Asia remained serious. He Page: 127 specifically highlighted the spread of radical ideology and also said there were increasing dangers of self-radicalisation. I would like the Minister to provide an update on the regional terrorism situation and also what steps the MHA is taking to deal with this threat.”
“Overall, I think this Budget is a very good Budget because it goes towards helping us create a more just and equal society and to look after the welfare of the people. But I think there is more we can do in terms of reducing the significant cost pressures the middle income faces. One last point that I should probably make is, as a matter of philosophy, what this also means is that we will probably be growing our reserves at a less aggressive rate because we will be having less revenues going in from land sales, and less of a proportion of our net investment income. But, personally, I think this is something that I am comfortable with because, if we look at where we are in our stage of development, we are probably looking at a stage where the Baby Boomers will be growing older up to 2030. So, we are looking at a stage of exceptional spending for, maybe, the next 17 years or so. But after that, if we actually see a declining population, we may not actually need such substantial reserves. So, if we look at breakeven, that means balancing the budget and not seeing our reserves diminish substantially over the next 17 years, I think we would be in a fiscally responsible position as well. I certainly hope that in the upcoming years we can be more generous in extending our social safety nets and that we can still continue to balance our finances in the way we have always done. Page: 88 4.19 pm”
“Most Members in this House can see lots of areas where additional Government spending would be helpful, but the big challenge we face is where are we going to raise all these revenues from? I think there are some options we could look at. The first is revenue from Government land sales. At the moment, most revenue from Government land sales goes into the reserves and all we are allowed to spend is the income from it. Now, this, in a sense, appeals to one's innate sense of responsibility because when we sell away land, it may have a Page: 87 30-year lease or 99-year lease and it would be irresponsible to spend everything in one year. But if you look at a lot of the Government spending, a lot of it also involves investment. So, for example, if you are investing in infrastructure, if you are building hospitals, these also have a long lifespan. Certainly, in Hong Kong, government land sales are recognised as part of government revenue and used for annual spending. So, if we need more spending, this may be one option by which we can raise the revenues. Another option is to look at using a larger proportion of our net investment income for our yearly spending. At the moment, we use about 50%. I think there is potential to use a much larger proportion of this, provided that we account for inflation. This, again, would give us more options for fiscal spending. And, finally, of course, taxation. If we provide a society where we can say that we will socialise the cost of childcare, socialise the cost of medicine even more, then people might even be prepared to pay higher taxes if they do not have to worry about these costs on an individual basis. I guess this is a question that we can look at if the numbers require it.”
“I recognise all these measures would obviously mean much greater Government spending in the upcoming years. I could deal with that in a while. One more aspect, since we are being aspirational, that I would like to discuss is housing. Again, a number of middle-income families have told me that while they would like to have bigger families, it would be nice if there were bigger flats available and the specific request was flats with more rooms – four bedrooms or five bedrooms. One couple was telling me that they have two children – one is a boy and one is a girl – and the husband's parents. So, the parents take one room, he and his wife take one room, and there is one more bedroom for the children. It gets a bit awkward, as the boy and girl get older, for them to share the room. I guess in the past, we may have been more prepared to have more children sharing rooms and so on, but I guess, as Singaporeans get wealthier, their aspirations rise. I guess they would like to have more comfortable housing options available, too. As long as we can build flats higher, one more option might be to actually provide larger flats for people to buy. If we want to restrict these to families that are growing, we could even say that these flats are only available for those who are upgrading so that you will not have a lot of first timers going towards them. Those who have a bigger family who wish to take in their parents within the flat would have that option, too. Having mentioned a lot of measures which I think will probably add to the strain on Government finances, it is probably responsible to mention a little bit on the revenue front as well.”
“I am glad that there seems to be some steps in this direction made in the Budget as well. This is a measure that I would support. SMEs are another important area that need a lot of support. I welcome a lot of the schemes that are in place in this Budget. I have filed COS cuts on these and I will take that up in more detail in the next session. SMEs do employ a very substantial part of our workforce and it is necessary for us to make sure that any workforce restructuring we do still keeps their interests in mind. Now, let me deal with the third element that is big on the minds of many of these young Singaporeans and, that is, healthcare. A lot of the young working families tell me that they are stuck with paying very expensive cost for child raising. At the same time, they may have elderly parents staying with them and are concerned about what happens if their parents suddenly fall ill. For a lot of low-income families, there are very substantial subsidies for healthcare. But for middle income families, especially when means testing takes place, this may not be as generous, and the middle-income families may be forced to make more serious trade-offs, in terms of what they can and cannot do. This again places a greater burden on the middle-income families. Page: 86 Aspirationally, could we provide healthcare that would be substantially cheaper for a large majority of the population after they reach a certain age? I understand that the current measures that expand Medisave and Medifund are in the right direction. This could be one means of doing it. Another way of doing it would be to expand the coverage of MediShield and include a larger amount of conditions in that and reduce exclusions.”
“If we look at Primary and Secondary education, the philosophy we have always taken is that the large chunk of the cost of Primary and Secondary education should be borne by the state, with parents paying a certain amount of fees. The fees are never enough to pay for the whole cost, but the parents would, by and large, pay something so that they still value the Page: 85 service. As a matter of philosophy, it might be helpful if we did this for childcare as well. What this means is that we will be socialising the cost of childcare a great deal more and taking away the burden from individual families. This means parents will pay a certain amount, but it will not necessarily be in the hundreds of dollars. If we want to maintain the cost, we could make it something token. For lower income families, this already happens. Those who pay $5 or $20 a month for childcare are very happy. But this does not apply to the majority of the households. There is a hope for socialising the cost of child-raising even more and providing more subsidised childcare for middle income families. Another aspect in many people's mind for the young working adults is, "What are my prospects going to be like at work? What is going to happen?" A big concern here is what happens when we have rising numbers of foreign workers coming in. In this respect, the measures that increase the levies and tighten the quotas on both S Pass and Work Permit holders are welcomed, especially by lower income Singaporeans, who might feel that they are facing competition from them. As I mentioned in my previous speech for the White Paper debate, there is also scope for expanding this protection to Employment Pass holders, perhaps introducing some method of labour market testing, or even restricting the numbers.”
“In that respect, I support many of the measures in this Budget. I think the broadly re-distributive themes are in the right direction. The property taxes are a very good way of capturing those who have wealth and who are enjoying it. At the same time, the higher distributions in terms of bigger workfare payments, as well as more generous GST Vouchers, are very good means of redistribution. In this speech, what I hope to do is focus on another group – and this is really the middle-income Singaporeans, those who may live in 4- and 5-room flats, and who may be struggling with both the upbringing of children as well as caring for elderly parents within their families. Within my constituency, this certainly represents a very large proportion of the households. Many of the measures in this Budget move in the right direction for this group of people. But I think there are still some areas where more can be done, and I will just go through some of the bigger areas that are in many people's minds. The first is childcare and child-raising. I think everyone in this House agrees that one of the biggest challenges that Singapore faces is how to improve our total fertility rate, what we can do to encourage more people to have children. Certainly, in my ward, which is a much younger estate, there are many families with children. One of the biggest challenges that many of them raised to me is that getting childcare is difficult and very expensive. In that sense, I certainly welcome the expansion of childcare and student care benefits in this Budget, as well as greater subsidies for pre-school education. I also welcome the reduced levy on foreign domestic workers – they can also help with the child-raising. But perhaps, aspirationally, we could go even further in this respect.”
“Good afternoon, Mdm Speaker. I speak in support of this Motion. When Singapore proclaimed its Independence in 1965, one of the aims in the proclamation was to "seek the welfare and happiness of her people, in a more just and equal society." Reading this Budget brought that aspiration to mind, as it seemed that many of the measures in this Budget are geared towards building a more just and equal society in this modern age, with the welfare and happiness of the people in mind. In 1965, the reference to "a just and equal society" was a declaration that all people should be equal before the law and should have equal rights and opportunities. This is something that we take for granted in many ways, but, at that time, it had to be fought for. Now, over the decades, since Singapore's Independence, Singapore has prospered. Equality of opportunities has allowed many people to benefit, some more than others. Unfortunately, over the years, equality of opportunities often means inequality of outcomes. This has led to the current situation where we have rising income and wealth inequalities in Singapore. One big danger of this inequality of outcomes, in rising income and wealth disparities, is that it may lead to inequality of opportunities as well, if the children of the wealth-off have better chances, while the children of those who Page: 84 are less well-off do not have as many good opportunities. In that sense, the entire debate of whether or not we should strengthen our safety nets or maintain meritocracy, is perhaps not necessarily an accurate debate. What is perhaps a better characterisation is how we should strengthen and support our safety nets so that we can maintain meritocracy and keep equality of opportunities.”
“Sir, I agree that productivity growth is essential. And I think that raising wages is one way that you can encourage that because if it gets more expensive to employ people, you will innovate. But all I am suggesting is you do so on a more gradual way. So, you tighten the tap on foreigners. So, people will get fewer workers in the construction sites. You are not turning it off straightaway. You are moving there slowly, not a sudden cut. Page: 142”
“First of all, let me just address the point whether or not we are shutting off the tap to foreigners. The point is that even if we look at public works alone, there is a lot more work that needs to be done for which you need more foreigners. Let us take a smaller example. I asked about the Aljunied Town Council just because I wanted to know whether or not you were actually following your own prescription of paying high wages and therefore you do not need foreigners. The reality is that you are not. But if you were to get more blocks of flats, you will need to expand the Town Council cleaning force. If you had zero additional foreigners, then you have to find some way of getting Singaporeans to fill that. Do you want, say, the spouses, the old folks, and so on, to do the Town Council cleaning works? Some might want to do it. But is that something you want as a matter of policy or do you want to allow more foreigners to deal with the expanded capacity? The reality is even if you just want to meet your current objectives, you need to grow the workforce and, for a lot of jobs like construction and cleaning, and so on, you may want foreigners to do it. I think there is some scope for raising the wages and getting more Singaporeans to do it, which is what we are doing, but it is a combination of measures. You cannot solve it completely with just one measure.”
“I also think we should assist SMEs, and I think SPRING has a lot of schemes, and I hope those schemes can be introduced to SMEs more. I am sure Mr Inderjit Singh would have more details on how that can help and what else needs to be done. But I think the Government should assist with the transition process, but it is not something you can do overnight. It is a long process. In conclusion, this Population Paper is one that I support. It is the one that I support because, ultimately, the first thing that we will see is a broader expansion of infrastructure which I think is something everyone wants. The second we would see is a tightening of foreign labour and foreign people coming in. I think we can do more things on the manpower side to make sure these opportunities favour Singaporeans. And the third, I think, is the immediate idea of shutting the tap to new foreign labour is something that will pretty much destroy our economy if we do it right now. In that sense, at least gradually tightening it gives businesses a runway and a chance to adapt. 7.17 pm”
“That is just a micro example. If you take bigger examples, such as high precision engineering, German companies that might come in and bring in high quality jobs, they may need some foreigners in the early years, but hopefully they can phase that out eventually, and get more Singaporeans in. These are all opportunities you have only if you allow some new immigration. If you say no new immigration at all, then all of these will die. Let us go a bit further because immigration is important not only for existing SMEs, and so on, but also for a lot of the expansion plans the Government is currently undertaking. For example, if we are building new HDB flats and building new MRTs, we need construction workers. Are you going to get a sufficient workforce of construction workers without foreign workers to build all these capacity in the next few years? One of the things about immigration is this. You have to make decisions on whether or not you allow foreigners to come in on a day-to-day basis. You do not have the benefit of hindsight to say at the end of the year, "I did not hit my Page: 140 1% growth in workforce, therefore, I will let immigrants in". You need to make the decision right now. You do not know whether you will get the 1% or not at the time you make the decision. You have to make the decision on projections. The reality is that you do not have hindsight when you make the decision. If you shut off the tap now, assuming you will get to the 1% growth, you will paralyse the new building, you will prevent new businesses that require the special skills to start and you will kill all the SMEs. This is why I think a tightening is probably the best way forward. I agree with the broad principle we should move the jobs to Singaporeans.”
“We have heard from both Mr Teo Siong Seng and Mr Inderjit Singh about the pain that SMEs are going through. SMEs are not just old-fashioned companies who need time to change and can change miraculously. SMEs also include new businesses. I have a friend from Primary school who was working in the UK for a very long time. He came back Page: 139 to Singapore heeding the Government's call for entrepreneurs. But he said he had a very, very hard time setting up a business here. In particular, he wanted to start a business providing travel services to Central Asia, Russia and Kazakhstan. He had an intern who could speak Kazak, German and Russian – a foreigner. And he said there is no way he could get someone with that set of skills in Singapore. It was almost impossible for him to get a work permit of any sort, even under the current scheme. In the end, my friend appealed through two Members of Parliament – not me; two other Members – and the appeal completely failed, and he said "Your PAP Government is completely messing up. You encourage entrepreneurs to come here but at the same time you do not let us get the workers we need." And his was a new business. In the end, he managed to get a pass after paying $4,000 or more in salary, which he is not happy about because that is a huge strain on his cost. That is what you get under the current system, with already tightened immigration policies. If you follow a zero new immigration policy – no new passes – then that is it. End of story. He would not even have been able to start. We have to be very careful in saying no immigration altogether. If we say tighten immigration, then at least we have some room for flexibility. People that may create jobs, that may have innovative businesses, can have the opportunity to do that.”
“They do not have to worry, "If I lose my job, what is going to happen? How will I survive for the next month? How will I make my payments?" This would at least give them a runway of three months or so if they have worked for a long time, and also incentivises employees to stay with the employer longer. Another aspect is creating statutory protection for unfair dismissal. Now, at the moment, this is not a major form of redress for employees who earn more than the Employment Act salaries because the maximum they can recover in compensation for losing their job is, say, a month of notice period. Most employees do not take action if they have lost their job unfairly but you hear a lot of stories about people saying, "I lost my job because I did National Service". Now they do not go for hearing because it does not make economic sense to. But if you have statutory protection for unfair dismissal, then there is a low-cost means by which employees can seek redress for these kinds of unfair dismissals. I guess the point of this is to make sure that Singaporeans do not get unfairly discriminated against. Now, these are the sort of measures that our changes to manpower policy will help to tilt the playing field in favour of Singaporeans and give them greater protection, even as our economy expands and even as we are getting more foreigners. The key point is, getting in more foreigners can create more opportunities but we want to make sure these opportunities stay with Singaporeans as far as possible. Now, let me deal with the second point on whether or not immigration is necessary because I think this is the crux of the difference between both sides of the House. The choice we face is very stark.”
“The good news is that because there are a lot of jobs available, it is easy for Singaporeans to find new jobs. One specific measure that would help, if we give greater employment protection to employees, there are at least three suggestions that I can make on this front. The first is to include a statutory protection period for employees who work for a long period of time. For example, our current Employment Act only protects employees who earn less than $2,000 in general, or $4,500 if they are workmen. So, this means that a lot of the Singaporean workforce do not get the very detailed protection from the Employment Act. The second, the main protection of the Employment Act, is that it provides minimum periods of notice that have to be provided before you terminate an Page: 138 employee. If you work for less than 26 weeks, you have to provide one day's notice. If an employee has worked for 26 weeks to two years, you have to provide one week's notice and this scales up all the way to employees who have worked for five years, where you have to provide four weeks of notice. What that means is that even for long-serving employees, there is no real advantage to staying a long time because the most you get is one month of notice. On the other hand, if you look at the UK, for example, they have increasing notice period based on the duration of employment. It basically starts at one week of notice if you have two years or less of employment, and it increases by a week for every year of service up to 12 years. So, if you are an employee who has worked for 12 years, that means you get at least three months' notice before you can be terminated. The main benefit of this is that employees will have some certainty.”
“This is actually not inconsistent with the White Paper but it may help us achieve the tighter targets because it will give us measures by which we can reduce the number of foreigners in such a way that it tilts the playing field in favour of Singaporeans. The second suggestion is actually something that comes out of what the EU does, which is, if you want to offer a job to a foreigner, you first have to advertise for it within the whole of the EU. And only if you do not get any applicants, can you then make a case to get a foreigner in. This could be an additional level, an additional barrier we put to companies that wish to employ foreigners. I think this would be particularly important for young professionals, engineers, accountants – and, perhaps, in this area, I should declare my interest, I am a professional working in a foreign law firm. By ensuring that the opportunities that come out of growth are channelled to Singaporeans first, I think we will make sure that Singaporeans will be able to benefit from this growth. This will be particularly important to young families, to people who are coming out into the workforce, undergraduates. I do not think criteria for employment passes should be based on salary alone because that would still create competition at all levels. Our PMETs are also feeling the strain. They are saying we may earn $4,000 or $8,000, but we are not rich. We should also make sure that we protect the PMETs as well, the young working professionals. The third thing that I think will be helpful is to provide greater employment security. Now, Singapore's employment laws are very, very flexible. "Very flexible", meaning it is very easy for people to fire employees.”