Wang Kai Yuen
Singapore
“Sir, would MDA not, in monitoring these sites and when they have found such a content on its own, make it as tenable evidence and pass it to the Police rather than have the complaint from the public?”
“I would like to find out from the Minister of State when will the content of these blogs start becoming from being just mere offensive to tenable and verifiable evidence that could be tendered in court for an act committed in Singapore that is punishable under the Penal Code, such as homosexual act, oral sex and sex with underaged ladies.”
“Once they are disqualified, they might as well close shop. Sir, I am sympathetic to their plight and that it is unfair to apply the demerit points to a single company as a whole, regardless of the number of ongoing construction projects. This could act against big companies with multiple projects.”
“Individuals just make less money when they sell their flats. Hopefully, if they were to buy another flat, they could also pay proportionately less as well. However, when the market is on the way down, like in the last few years, or stagnate like now, the loss would be substantial, as many would be saddled with negative equity.”
“Sir, would the Minister agree that since the Singapore law is primarily based on the common law and since the UK Parliament has found it necessary to legislate that glorification of terrorism is a crime, would he agree that there might be a gap in our laws that our current law would not cover where the current UK law would now cover?”
“Thank you, Sir. The Minister indicated that he would monitor and would plug the hole when the need arises. Would he want to follow the UK example that they would only pass such a law after a terrorist attack in the tube? If a similar event happens in Singapore, would it be a bit too late to plug the gap? Assoc. Prof.”
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“At the same time, they are also adamant that the parents' right of choice for their children is inalienable. They are quite insistent that this right is not taken away. Secondly, that so long as the child is educated to an agreed standard, the goal of compulsory education would have been met. Compulsory education legislation should provide options to allow this. They do not accept that compulsory education means attending the national education school system. At first glance, most people regardless of their ethnic or religious background will support those views. After all, giving parents the choice cannot be all that bad. However, in the course of deliberation in such dialogue sessions, when these arguments were pushed to their limits, most participants ultimately changed their views. They quickly realised that it is possible that different communities in Singapore could set up their own schools to educate their children along their own ideal concepts of social and religious values. Today, there is actually no legal barrier for any group to do so. The main hurdle is primarily financial. Yet, Muslim parents are already prepared to pay more when they send their children to the Madrasah. As Singaporeans become better off, financial burden would become less of a hurdle. Assuming that is the case in the future, then it is possible, as an example, that the Catholics would set up their own schools to impart Catholic religious values, the Buddhists would do likewise, and so on. For a multi-racial and multi-religious society like Singapore, this would plant the seed of potential future racial and religious conflicts. Once this possibility was highlighted, most participants in this session would move away from their idealistic position towards a more central position.”
“Sir, I had participated in several dialogue sessions on compulsory education both as Vice-Chairman of the Feedback Panel as well as a member of the Committee on Compulsory Education. As we are aware, the CCE has yet to complete its task and I think it is only appropriate that we wait for the findings of the Committee to be published before we spend too much time on this topic. Nonetheless, judging from the number of cuts on this topic, it is obviously one of public interest. With your indulgence, Sir, I thought it might be appropriate to share some of my observations, in particular, those of the participants in the dialogue session organised by the Feedback Unit. In fact, many Singaporeans are surprised that we have not already made education compulsory in Singapore. It would seem logical for a country like Singapore with its high level of education and standard of living and where our Government does not hesitate to influence people's behaviour, through compulsion. Most agree with my hon. colleague, Mdm Claire Chiang's compassionate plea in Parliament that one child not educated is one too many. Majority polled also felt that four years' compulsory education is too low a number. Many felt that six years is the minimum with 10 years the ideal duration. Sir, among those participants who expressed strong views in these forums are the parents who strongly supported home schooling. While I do not necessarily agree with their assertions about our education system, I do admire their dedication and commitment. They hold the following principles to be true, which I thought are useful to repeat here. Firstly, they support compulsory education, ie, the State has a right to intervene to ensure the child's right to an education.”
“At first glance, it would imply that the universities are not adjusting the enrolment mix quick enough to meet the demands of the economy. For many days now in this Chamber, we have heard how the new economy is moving at Internet speed. Yet, for students deciding on their majors, they need to spend three to four years in that particular major before they come out to the job market. Because of this time lag, it is becoming all the more important that forecasting of manpower needs be taken seriously. Sir, I would like to find out from the Ministry how quickly we are adjusting the university enrolment in the face of a fast changing job market. 1.00 pm”
“I would like to know how would the Ministry prevent this from becoming an additional burden on the students on top of their commitment to "A" level studies. Furthermore, how would that contribute to greater involvement in other co-curricular activities? Perhaps, can we take one step further? Some parents have suggested that if we set the threshold for the number of distinctions that would be considered for admission into the university and that more than this threshold, the additional distinctions will carry no weight, might we be able to change the emphasis on examination results? Perhaps if we put more weightage on co-curricular activities, such as participation in sports, especially participation in a national team, more students might be encouraged to spend time in healthy activities beyond burying their nose in books. Sir, on the next subject under university education, I would like to touch on the linkage between the number of student intake of the various faculties and the projection on manpower needs in the economy. In fact, I recall that at the depth of our recent recession in 1998 and 1999, around 9,000 tertiary educated persons were unable to find suitable employment. Perhaps by now, this number has dropped to a number that is less worrying. What is disturbing to me is that even in the depth of the recession, we were indeed short of computer professionals, web designers, and other IT professions, and yet, on the other hand, there were graduates unable to find jobs. In other words, we are not just having structural unemployment problems amongst our older workers but also amongst our young graduates. Fortunately, Sir, this state of affairs is only transient, it is temporary. But are there any lessons we can learn from this?”
“Sir, the published criteria for university admission by the various faculties in NUS and NTU are actually the minimum standard where an application will be considered. However, practically, no student with that level of minimum standards is admitted today. As in the COE system, applicants to the faculties are stack ranked by their "A" level results and then based on the vacancies available, a line is drawn. Those above the line are admitted and those below are not. It is as simple as that. Except for the Medical and Law faculties where interviews are part of the admission process, very little weightage is given to other attributes of the candidate. In fact, for the Faculties of Medicine and Law, where we actually have a limited number of vacancies available, they are turning away candidates who would otherwise be highly sought after in other universities. Notwithstanding my hon. colleague, Dr Jennifer Lee's comment, I believe that it is not true that parents are not aware that more than 60% of the cohort is admitted into tertiary education. It is which faculty they get admitted into. I doubt increasing the percentage will help the problem. So long as we have a quota system for the more desirable faculties, the competition for more "As" and the pressure to acquire higher academic result will not go away. What we can conclude is that university admission criteria strongly influence the behaviour of our students. No amount of exhortation will change the behaviour if the bottom line is whether they get admitted into the faculty of their choice depends on their "A" level results. I am aware that a tentative step has been taken to include Scholarstic Aptitude Test (SAT) results as an additional criterion for admission into SMU as well as into NUS and NTU.”
“It seems this is clarification time. May I get the Minister's clarification on my comment on the requirement for the 3rd year medical students having to resit their examinations? RAdm Teo Chee Hean: My apologies. There were two points that Dr Wang raised, one was the third year medical students examination. The other one was P1 registration. P1 registration is a very complex matter. We try to strike a balance between many, many factors. If Dr Wang has any suggestion on how I can solve this problem, please tell me and I will implement it straightaway. On the 3rd year medical examinations I think this is a matter which I will leave to the university. The university has to take these things seriously and I am sure they do, and the academic matters are matters for the university to settle. And they have to make sure that the integrity, the reliability of the assessment system that they have including the examination is maintained and the people have confidence. So this is a matter which I will leave to the university to resolve and I am confident that they will get to the bottom of this. If there is a mistake made, they will correct it and they will restore the confidence in the system.”
“In fact, half day schools in Singapore are left-overs from the time when the nation experienced a rapid population growth in its early days of nationhood. Now that we are back to the norm, it is up to the parents and teachers to fully exploit the opportunity to benefit our students. Sir, on the allocation of primary one places, the recent case of Michael Ong who wrote to the Minister regarding his long school day struck a chord with many people. Many questions were asked. Why should pupils spend so much time on commuting, for instance? Should not the pupils in general be allocated schools closer to their homes? In Michael Ong's case, his father actually has clarified their position. Nevertheless, his case highlighted the unique primary one allocation scheme in Singapore. Under this scheme, parents sometimes would go to the extreme to get their children enrolled into their choice schools. I wonder whether the Minister will review the scheme to see whether it is still relevant or whether it could still be further improved.”
“Sir, on this cut, I would like to address two topics, namely, single session schools and primary one priority allocation. Sir, a major step was taken on 2nd January this year by MOE when all remaining double session secondary schools were converted to single session schools. It is a significant conversion that took place quietly without causing any disruptions. Conceptually, a conversion of this scale would require having twice as many schools this year compared to last year. That the schools were able to do so in a clean sweep point to the tremendous amount of planning and effort that have gone behind the scene. Sir, now that the school children have greater access to the school facilities, I would urge the teachers and students to make full use of the facilities. We should avoid carrying on business as usual. We should aim to make attending school a more enriching experience for them. Furthermore, we should aim, through core curriculum activities, to create common educational experience that will imprint the Singapore value on these students. I would like to find out from the Minister whether the Ministry is monitoring how schools are adapting to the single session schools and whether he is satisfied with the situation. I understand that there is some resistance from some parents regarding single session school, because they have grown used to half day schools. Many had made use of the half days to send their children to other enrichment programmes and part-time religious education programmes such as part-time madrasahs. For these students, single session schools actually take away their half days that they used to have. Sir, on this point, I think it is useful to point out that half day schools are actually not the norm in most countries.”
“Some have told me that they spent as much as 60% of their effort on Chinese. Consequently, few of our primary school graduates have been exposed to other more interesting aspects of human endeavours such as music, arts and history. Sir, we must adapt our current system to cater to the needs of the new economy while retaining what has worked for us all these years. The question is how to cater to the creativity of the bright and yet ensure that the weak are not left by the wayside. How do we reduce the stress level without compromising the high standards we have attained in our schools? How do we fully exploit technology to make education better tailored to the capability and interest of the individual students? How do we encourage greater student participation in sports? The list is long and the journey is an equally long one. Since taking over the Ministry, the Minister has instituted many changes. For instance, course load for students has been reduced. The compensation packages for teachers have been enhanced to render teaching a more attractive career choice. But the impact of these changes would take some years to show results. As we look forward to a Singapore in the new millennium, would the Minister elaborate on his vision of the education system as well as the areas where he would focus his attention on? Could he lay out the milestones where the various changes introduced by him would produce visible and tangible results?”
“Nonetheless, this system has served us very well in our economic development where up to now, we need only to adopt established technologies and procedures and improve upon them. Furthermore, we are also able to cater to the less academically endowed so that when they leave school, they have acquired some basic skills enabling them to function in an urbanised society and an industrialised workplace. This, Sir, is not something to sneeze at. Now that we have arrived at the developed stage and the next stage of our economic development is knowledge based, we recognise that the focus and the emphasis of our education system must change. As the US economy becomes the centre of innovation and wealth creation, we are also becoming more inclined towards the US education system, to an extent that it is tempting to think that if we adopt more western education practices, the problems in our school will be by and large solved. This is not necessarily so. It is useful to remember that many high school graduates in the US have such poor command of reading and writing that the employers have to send these new workers for remedial classes. While the western education system might be more conducive to the brighter students, they could also be quite unforgiving to the weaker students. Furthermore, to make the comparison less meaningful, our bilingual policy is the cornerstone of our education system. As a result of our emphasis on bilingualism, our pupils in primary school only learn four subjects, namely, English, Mother Tongue language, Mathematics and Science; the last two combined as a single examination subject. For many pupils with Chinese as the mother tongue, they spent a disproportionately high percentage of their effort in learning Chinese.”
“Sir, I understand that by bringing this subject here, we will bring undue pressure on the University administration and might be considered as uncalled for interference. With your indulgence, I think it is nonetheless useful to discuss some basic principles. I believe that so long as no students are given undue advantages through the use of past years' questions itself, while undesirable, there is basically nothing wrong. So long as the syllabus remains unchanged, I believe questions about the same topics are by and large in the same ballpark. In fact, some repetitions are unavoidable. We all remember our "A", "O" level days where we practised ourselves extensively on past years' papers in the 10-year series. Hence, I would say that in handling such a blunder, the students, who are the innocent parties here, should not be unduly penalised for enduring to sit through the examination one more time. Sir, of course, besides this, there are other issues of concern. Over the past decade, as our students become more proficient in scoring high marks in examinations, it is beginning to become difficult to differentiate the very good from the good students. So, from time to time, we are aware that standards were raised and the screw was tightened a little bit more. As a result, stress in our education system is high. Everyone's focus is on the examination results and the holistic development of the person is relegated to a distant second place. Our students learn too much facts and problem-solving methods in a structured environment. But we did not learn enough reasoning and problem-solving skills in an unstructured environment that would allow us to handle real-life problems.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, when it comes to education, every Singaporean has an opinion, sometimes a rather strong one. This is not surprising because most adult Singaporeans below the age of 45 have gone through the Singapore education system and know the system well. Furthermore, for those of us with children, we have endured the triumphs and tribulations as they progressed through school. In many cases, it is as if we ourselves have gone through school once again. Our education system could be visualised as a process where at one end, in go young, bubbly and fun-loving young children, and at the other end, out come disciplined, trained and educated young adults. From Primary 4 onwards, the school children are graded every two years and streamed to different ability streams. They will move on to career paths depending on their achievements. Some 20% go on to the universities, another 40% to the polytechnics and the rest to ITE. They would have been imbued with the Singapore values, ensuring a strong Singaporean heartbeat. We can affirm that our education system is an efficient and a well-oiled one. Of course, from time to time, there are hiccups, for instance, the Straits Times' report on its front page today on the blunder in the administration of examination for third-year medical students. In the year-end examination they have just sat, some old questions were inadvertently used. As a result, the students had been told to re-sit the paper this Saturday. The University authority had rejected their appeal to waive that examination.”
“The sports schools could be modelled after those in Malaysia where students with the talents in sports could focus their energy in developing their skills and yet receiving a quality academic qualification with classes tailored around their training schedules.”
“Sir, may I begin by stating that I am the President of the Singapore Badminton Association. The Prime Minister has set goals for the nation to achieve in the international competition for football, badminton and sailing. For Singapore to achieve consistently high standards in all these sports and other core sports, there should be a concerted effort to train the athletes. Obviously, the skills, interest and commitment of the athletes have to be inculcated from young. The best period is actually when they are in schools. However, the Ministry of Education views sports as only part of its core curriculum programme. In order to win honours for Singapore in the top league competition, it is necessary for the new Ministry to take on producing athletes as its mission. Today, we are depending on chances for young boys and girls to emerge who are prepared to sacrifice the standard career path to pursue their interest in sports. Furthermore, to do so, they need to have the support of their parents in this area. Given the Singapore environment, therefore, producing champions is going to be a random and very rare event. If we were to have any chance of meeting the goals set by the Prime Minister, I believe we need a process, something that Mr Ong had pointed out, to produce a steady stream of young athletes so that some might go on to become champions. Perhaps, the Ministry should take this on as part of its mission for producing sportsmen and women who are able to stand on their own in international competitions. One way of doing so is to establish sports schools for young and budding athletes.”
“In this aspect, I think I am treading on very thin ice. If we need to change the woman's perception from career orientation towards family orientation, and it is the only way to reverse this trend, I think we have to do it. However, turning around this view will require the concerted effort of the whole Government and not just one or two Ministries alone. In this respect, I would support wholeheartedly the call by Dr Jennifer Lee, Dr Vasoo and Prof. Low Seow Chay to have an Inter-Ministerial Committee to work on this very important matter.”
“We should dwell into what are the perceptions of young men and women regarding family life. It must be stating the obvious, Sir, to say that the number of children a family would have is largely determined by the wife. Whether a woman would like to have a large family or a small one depends on the values inculcated in that young lady many years ago. Presumably, those growing up in large families that are warm and loving will hopefully prefer larger families, and those growing up in small families will naturally consider small as beautiful. I would like to use my own family as an example. Growing up in Singapore, I was conditioned to believe that two was the right number. On the other hand, my wife grew up in Hawaii in an extended family So when we married 19 years ago, her ideal family was to have five children. Reality set in very quickly as we both discovered that bringing up children was a very demanding process. And the end result, we ended up with four. But the important thing is we should start with a large number and hopefully you end up with something close to what we want to have. To me, Sir, the lesson learned is that it is very important for a man to find a wife who wants a big family in the first place. Sir, I am not asserting that we can draw conclusion based on a sample size of one. But I believe, unless we inculcate the desire for children in our young women, we cannot reverse the trend towards our declining birth rate. Since we do not have large families today as role models, we have no choice but to turn to the schools. But I doubt this is a task that the Ministry of Education considers as part of its portfolio. So somehow we must change the perception, especially among the young women, towards family.”
“Sir, Assoc. Prof. Low Seow Chay who spoke before has already touched upon the declining birth rate in Singapore. I agree with him that nations that cannot reverse their declining birth rate are effectively committing collective suicide. In Asia, Japan has the most severe challenge in this respect as the number of children per woman in that country has dropped to 1.38. The Japanese government recently commissioned a survey of young men and women of the marriageable age group to determine the reasons. I thought it would be interesting to share some of the key findings. Of the men surveyed, 30% considered marriage a burden, and of this, 50% gave financial factors as reasons. Secondly, 40% of the women surveyed also viewed marriage as a burden, and the reasons given included house work, child rearing, looking after aged parents-in-law and coping with the dual responsibilities of work and homemaking. Asked whether they felt that married couples should have children, over 20% of the women between the age of 18 and 39 said "no". And this is close to twice the percentage for men. Sir, it would be interesting to find out the views of young Singaporeans regarding child rearing today. In response to the survey I mentioned earlier, the Japanese government is introducing some of the measures to help to promote child rearing support and they are: (1) establishing day care facilities near train stations, which is quite interesting, and (2) extending child allowance for children from birth to pre-schools. Sir, to me, of the various conveniences and incentives that Members have come up with, all are remedial actions. I think it is more important to determine what is the root cause of declining birth rate.”
“If he is looking for a candidate site, there are actually two in Clementi that will be quite suitable, failing which, of course, maybe he would include that two precincts into the MUP programme he has announced in Parliament just now. Sir, I too find that the priority allocations of various upgrading projects hard to decipher. Like Mr Low Thia Khiang, the residents in the two precincts which I mentioned have also waited all these years without seeing any upgrading opportunity. But unlike Mr Low's constituents, these residents living in the Bukit Timah precinct which was still a single Member constituency in the general election had voted overwhelmingly for the PAP with a majority vote that was within the top 10 in the nation. Furthermore, it is not too smart for Mr Low to belabour this point in Parliament. Maybe I should mention Mr Ang Mong Seng as an example. Many older PAP MPs envy Mr Ang in his ability to bring about many upgrading projects to his constituency. As I look at Mr Ang's circumstances, I identified two relevant parameters. Firstly, Mr Ang Mong Seng is a first term Member of Parliament. Secondly, he was returned from a ward that was formerly an Opposition ward. Judging from the priority Mr Ang has managed to obtain for his residents and given this fact, there is a possibility that Mr Low Thia Khiang's constituents might wake up one day to the fact that the best thing they can do for themselves is to vote for a PAP candidate in the next general elections.”
“Sir, I would like to add my weight to Mr Ang Mong Seng's speech supporting the SERS programme. Judging from the asset enhancement perspective, I believe SERS is a better upgrading programme for both the HDB and residents. For those sites located in the urban areas, they unlock the land value through better plot ratio. For those in the outlying areas, such as the Hillview Avenue project, mentioned by my friend, Mr Ang Mong Seng, it affords a complete re-design of the precincts. Furthermore, for estates built more than 20 years ago, the population is rapidly ageing as younger and outward mobile families upgrade to newer estates. As a result, in many of these estates, surface car parks are by and large empty because the household profiles are very different from the time when those flats were built. In the Bukit Timah GRC, the precinct in Clementi Town exemplifies this trend. Sir, by bringing back younger residents it will inject the redeveloped area with renewed vitalities. Consequently, if we also provide the children of those already living in the district a higher priority, like Mr Ang has pointed out, we could make use of the opportunity to keep multi-generation families closer together in the community. This goes a long way towards promoting multi-generation family concept in Singapore. Now that the budget is healthy once again, the Minister is likely to get the necessary funds from the Minister for Finance. I would like to urge the Minister to consider exploring wider implementation of SERS to bring about faster renewal of older estates in Singapore.”
“Sir, the Minister touched upon the privatisation of Singapore Power and said that it has been slower than expected. I thought one of the stumbling blocks was the valuation of land on which the generation plant was sited. In the next move, will the Minister review this perception and how the land is to be evaluated? BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, that is not the key issue. There are existing procedures for valuing land. 2.15 pm”
“Sir, from my experience of buying cars, most people will decide, first of all, what kind of a car they would like to buy. I do not think people will go and bid for a COE and having got a COE, then decide whether they want to buy a small car, a big car or a luxury car. Having obtained a COE, within a period of six months, unless I strike a lottery, I am unlikely to buy a bigger car than I originally planned to do so. I think the sequence that the Minister has illustrated is completely the reverse of what ordinary Singaporeans would do when purchasing cars.”
“Sir, I just like to reiterate that the stability of COE prices has been brought about at a price, in other words, at a price that some Singaporeans are unable to purchase small cars of their own choice.”
“Sir, may I inform the Minister of State that some Singaporeans are indeed very happy to be forced to compete in the small car category. Today, they have no choice but to buy larger capacity vehicles.”
“It is at page 18, paragraph 4 or 5. In other words, the merging of the two categories actually resulted in registration of vehicles with higher open market value, ie, bigger cars.”
“Sir, I am actually referring to the operative words in the statement that says ". the registration of more vehicles with higher open market value following the merger of the COE categories." 2.15 pm”
“Thank you, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to seek a very simple clarification from the Minister. The Minister actually touched upon the merger of COE categories in his reply and has said that it is a good proposal because it brings about very stable COE prices. May I remind him that in the Question for Oral Answer, I actually asked a similar question on merger of COEs and the MOS has replied to my question on the impact of the merger of COE categories, that is, the merger was based on non-budgetary consideration. In fact, it would be possible that the merging of the COE categories will bring about a lowering of revenue collected. I would like to seek a clarification on page 18 of the Budget Statement for FY2000. It says, "Revenue for motor vehicles taxes is expected to increase by 35.5% to $1.6 billion and this is due to more COEs released for quota year 1999 and the registration of more vehicles with higher open market value following the merger of the COE categories and also the recovery of the economy." May I ask how could the Ministry, once again, under-estimate the impact on the revenue collected following the merging of the COE categories?”
“The decline in the Dow Jones and the increase in Nasdaq indexes simply reflect the trend that many fund managers have been transferring funds from the old economy to the new economy. In fact, today, Nasdaq is the market where a company preferring to be listed would like to be, that is, to ride the wave of the new economy. Sir, therefore, I think the link between listing on the main board and the ability to raise money has been broken. Yet, I think it is still useful to maintain the segregation of the established companies and emerging companies. Therefore, I would like the Minister to reconsider how we allow companies to be listed on our two exchanges.”
“Sir, on this cut, I am referring to listing of companies without a track record of profit. I am not referring to the listing of companies that the speaker before me, Mr Inderjit Singh, refers to. He is talking about new companies, companies built on hope and potential without any measurable financial returns. I am referring to companies that have been in business for a few years but yet to show a profit. For companies in the new economy, these companies would have passed through the venture capital stage and are now looking to expand their businesses. With the relaxation of SGX, companies without proven profits, track record, could be admitted to the main board. Several companies have already done so. I have touched on this briefly in my adjournment motion at the last sitting. If I run the risk of incurring your ire for repeating myself, I believe I am in good company this afternoon. Traditionally, where possible, most companies would want to be listed on the main board. It is a sign of recognition, a sign of success. Of course, there are also tangible results such as better market recognition, getting a P/E ratio and many companies are indeed, therefore, reluctant to be listed on the secondary board. However, with the advent of the new economy, the situation is different today. Let us look at the stock exchange in US - the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. While the New York Stock Exchange has been dropping across the board, in the recent days Nasdaq has been breaking new record, heading for higher grounds, despite the repeated hint of interest rate hike proposed by the Federal Reserves. This reflects the enthusiasm of the investors for companies in the new economy, because they are looking for multiple time increase in capital gains.”
“Sir, my question relates to funding as well. What is the total budget his Ministry will be allocating for these two pilot projects, or other projects related to the improvement of private estates? Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee: Mr Speaker, Sir, we are still trying to work out the budget with the Ministry of Finance.”
“I surmise the total revenue loss if we undertake all these measures would be a small number and doing so would go a longer way towards promoting filial piety and the concept of extended families. Another tax incentive that I would like to see in the Budget but did not get a nod from the Minister is the tax incentives for the third and fourth child. Currently, the incentive is set at $10,000. But this limit was set close to 10 years ago. It is time to review the amount and I would like to urge the Minister to consider increasing this amount to encourage larger families for those who can afford it. Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore has gone through a recession and came through unscathed. Our coffers are in great shape. I would like to thank the Minister for his outstanding contributions as Minister for Finance during the period of his term of office and for his stewardship of the Ministry during this crisis. Despite his recent health problems, he has continued to serve Singapore selflessly. Indeed, Singaporeans are indebted to him.”
“These young taxpayers are probably still establishing themselves in the world and not many of them would be able to contribute up to $6,000 a year to fully benefit from this scheme. Perhaps, the Minister can inform the House how many taxpayers could take advantage of this particular scheme and therefore achieve his objective to enhance "inter-generation ties". Would it not be more beneficial if the Minister could review the CPF cash top-up scheme for parents, but not for grandparents? There are many taxpayers today who have made use of this scheme to continue to support their parents and have reached the limit of the tax relief for cash top-up because there is a provision for the Minimum Sum limit. I would urge the Minister to review the limit of this Minimum Sum so that those who have already reached the limit can continue to enjoy tax relief when they continue to support their parents. The Minister is aware that the Minimum Sum has actually been increased from $30,000 to $60,000 over the years. Depending on their age, different senior citizens today would have different top-up limits. The older ones would be entitled to $30,000 and the younger ones would then be entitled to $60,000. As we all know, the older the person the more expenses he would incur. So the Minister would find great support among Singaporeans if he could, in the first instance, revise all the top-up limits to $60,000 so that all those who have reached their existing caps today could continue to obtain tax relief for their filial sons and daughters who contribute to their support. Secondly, I would urge the Minister to increase the annual contribution limit from $6,000 to a higher number.”
“However, for most Singaporeans who are already putting away 30% of their income into CPF, I doubt many would be able to take advantage of this scheme. Furthermore, for those who are likely to participate, they are either high-income earners close to the age of retirement or young unmarried singles without many obligations. Although the details of the scheme are still being worked on, I would like to ask the Minister whether the saving in this SRS could only be withdrawn after the official retirement age, as at today at 55, or otherwise determined by the Government. Would he consider not imposing a retirement age at all in this SRS, so that the individuals who put money in this SRS could decide as and when to withdraw the saving? I think this flexibility is useful and important, and it would encourage the individual to save for rainy days, periods of unemployment, dire needs, or for those who are prepared to go back to study by taking time off from working. Since the Government is agreeable to allow foreigners working in Singapore to participate in this SRS, it would have addressed the concern raised by expatriates during the feedback sessions I mentioned earlier. It will overcome some of their concerns regarding how they would save for retirement. Next, I would like to touch on the extension of the tax relief scheme for CPF cash top-up for grandparents. This step is laudable but, again, I wonder what kind of impact this would have. First of all, most taxpayers with grandparents are likely to be young, below 30 years old, and furthermore their parents are still likely to be very active in their working life; in fact, in the most productive of their working life, and would be able to support their grandparents.”
“4%, and then later down to 25.5%. The question is why should we subject the businesses to this variation of corporate tax payable. Furthermore, the Minister is fully aware of "tax haven" provision in many developed countries that would be triggered against a host country when its corporate tax rate drops to 25% or below. As such, the use of lower corporate tax rate to make Singapore more attractive for multi-national companies has its limitations. For instance, in Japan, I believe that the "tax haven" trigger is exactly at 25%. So, after this rate has been lowered to 25.5%, there is really not much leeway left for the Minister to play with. I am sure the Minister has been exploring other fiscal measures to enhance the attractiveness of Singapore to foreign investors. So it would be useful if he could elaborate on some of these measures. Taking the half step in this fiscal year, it is clear that the Government is preparing the ground for a complete withdrawal of all the cost-cutting measures implemented earlier. So I think Singapore business leaders and workers are well-advised to be prepared mentally. On the personal income tax measures, most Singaporean taxpayers express disappointment that the personal income tax rate has not been adjusted this round. Furthermore, the once-off 10% rebate is also withdrawn altogether. As a trade-off, the Minister announces a few measures that while laudable, do not bring about much immediate benefits. I am glad that the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Ageing Population to implement a tax-deferred voluntary saving scheme next year. This is a good idea to complement the CPF scheme for those who can afford it.”
“Participants of the session for the business community were drawn from the various chambers of commerce, small and medium enterprises, as well as selected corporations. The wish list is a long one and it is included in the report of the meeting. The general consensus of the business community was that the recession is by and large over. Nonetheless, the recovery is spotty with some sectors, such as construction, retail, still reeling from the economic downturn. Furthermore, many companies have suffered during the recession and are still in the process of recuperation. The participants generally would like the Government to maintain the various cost-cutting measures implemented by the Government for another year. Doing so will allow most companies to restore their health to deal with the challenges of the future. On tax-deductible savings for retirement, one participant, noting that expatriates are exempted from the CPF scheme, suggested that a tax-deductible individual retirement saving scheme be established. On saving for retirement, it was noted that most taxpayers do not enjoy tax deduction for their insurance premium payments as their CPF payments exceeded the eligibility condition for deduction. Perhaps additional tax allowances could be given to insurance premiums. Apparently, Sir, these appeals found a sympathetic ear with the Minister. He has maintained a number of cost-cutting measures, albeit at a lower level. For instance, property tax rebate is being extended for another year at a lower rate of 25%. Corporate tax rate will be lowered to 25.5% from 26% but only from Year of Assessment 2001. With the withdrawal of 10% corporate tax rebate for this year, Year of Assessment 2000, the corporate tax rate effectively will return to 26% from 23.”
“I would like to see development expenditure being maintained at a higher level compared to what is provided in FY2000. What strikes me as unusual in this Budget is that close to $1 billion has been set aside for new priority projects that may materialise in FY2000. This is a very interesting sentence in the Budget Statement, since most development expenditures would require careful planning, and it is unlike this Government to allocate such a large amount for new priority projects that may come about within a short period of 12 months. So my question is: Does the Minister have something up his sleeves? Is he saving some goodies for Singaporeans? If so, would he be kind enough to drop some hints? I am glad to note this Budget provides a significant increase for Education, historically the second largest allocation after Defence. There is a 15.3% increase in Operating Expenditure and 21.7% increase in Development Expenditure. This reflects the importance this Government attaches to education of our children, in particular for the coming knowledge-based economy. I hope this is not a once-off increase but part of a long-term investment in the future. Mr Speaker, Sir, let me now comment on the various tax changes in this Budget. Before doing so, allow me to report that the Feedback Unit had conducted a series of dialogue sessions in the middle of this January with the business community and the general public as a prelude to the Budget. The Feedback Unit moved the dialogue session ahead of the Budget so that the inputs of the participants could be considered in the preparation of the Budget. I chaired the English language session which was held on 17th January 2000.”
“It seems that some of these lower priority projects might include something like pedestrian bridges, road widening and other civil engineering work that would be needed sooner or later. In my own ward, I was informed by the authority that a pedestrian overhead bridge originally slated for completion in September 1999 would be done. Yet even at this very moment, there is no sign of any activity. Could this particular project be a victim of one of those lower priority projects? If so, are there many more such similar projects? As we all know, the recovery is actually spotty. So would the construction industry not be given a boost if these lower priority projects were actually let as scheduled? Furthermore, we are all aware that the Government has cut back on MUP and IUP in HDB estates because of the projected budget deficit. As the economy turned around towards the middle of the last fiscal year, could the Minister not be more generous by allocating more money back to HDB so that such upgrading programmes could be maintained? I feel that the Minister has been overly conservative in this particular respect. Mr Speaker, Sir, looking at FY2000, it is noteworthy that development expenditure has increased to $12.9 billion, an increase of $2.25 billion. But by doing so, it merely brings us back to the same level of development expenditure as in FY98. Part of this increased expenditure probably includes those lower priority projects I mentioned earlier. It is also pertinent to note that as a percentage of GDP, the new development expenditure stands at 7.8% and while it is higher than 6.9% in FY99 it is actually lower than 8.7% in FY98. Development expenditure is an investment into our future.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, just like Mr Leong before me, I too find the turnaround of a projected budget deficit of close to $5.1 billion in FY99 into an actual budget surplus of $3.1 billion, a swing of $8.3 billion, to be a great surprise. Like a magician, the Minister has managed to pull the proverbial rabbit out of his hat. Mr Speaker, Sir, maintaining budget surplus is a good thing. On the other hand, perhaps we should also revisit the circumstances under which FY99 budget was presented. Time was bad, prospect was gloomy. Economy was in recession. As we all learned in our first course in economics, the economy needed a shot in the arm from the Government's spending. FY99 budget was supposed to do just that. The Government planned to maintain its spending even though it meant incurring a deficit. However, by the close of the financial year, the Government's cup overflowed. I notice that in arriving at this budget surplus, besides higher than expected revenue, the Government actually incurred $3.4 billion less development spending partly because of better prices and partly also because of some lower priority projects being rescheduled. Development expenditure for FY99 stands at 6.9% of GDP, and that is lower than 8.7% in FY98. The question is why should some lower priority projects be rescheduled? Were there good reasons to do so? Is there a change of heart of the Government from trying to extend a helping hand to the economy into a hands-off stance? Basically, in my mind, Sir, if prices were good, should the Government not let out more contracts to gain better value for money? Should we not pump prime the economy a little bit more by keeping those lower priority projects in the pipeline?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have just one simple clarification to seek from the Minister. This is on the amendment to section 43. This amendment excluded two classes of individuals from holding office of trustee of a trade union. One group is undischarged bankrupts. The second group is individuals convicted of fraud, dishonesty or any other offence which the Minister considers them unfit to be a trustee. Yet, for the second group of individuals, there is a clause which says, "with the approval of the Minister." My question to the Minister is: why are undischarged bankrupts considered more undesirable than other individuals who have been convicted of fraud, dishonesty or other offences which render them unfit to be trustees? EXEMPTED BUSINESS (Motion) Resolved, That the proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today be exempted at this day's sitting from the provisions of Standing Order No. 1. - [Dr Lee Boon Yang]. TRADE UNIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL Debate resumed.”
“Moreover, should the current Internet boom burst, and burst it seems to be sooner or later, would the investors be turned off by all dot.com companies, including those deserving ones, thereby depriving the young and the promising entrepreneurs the lifeline for success? My own preference is for the Government to express stronger words of caution regarding new IPOs of dot.com companies. Perhaps we can follow the practice of cigarette companies printing words like "Smoking is hazardous to your health." But in this case, maybe words like "Profit stream of the company is uncertain. Invest at your own risk." On the other hand, on a more realistic note, I would prefer to see that companies with unproven track records, such as dot.com companies, be confined to SESDAQ, our secondary market, rather than be listed on the main exchange. Even though this is an unenviable and difficult task, I would like to urge the Minister to strike a balance between liberalisation of our stock exchange and the protection of our retail investors, especially in view of the bull run of high-tech and Internet stocks.”
“The danger of this asset bubble is that all the stock markets in the world are now pegged to the fortune of NASDAQ. It also means that if NASDAQ crashes, this would bring about a simultaneous crash worldwide. The scenario is indeed very scary. In recent days, while Dow Jones has been declining, the NASDAQ has continued to power ahead moving in the opposite direction. Despite all the talk of the new economy, nothing can defy the law of gravity ultimately. What goes up must come down. Yes, we shall embrace the new economy. Senior Minister in his Chinese New Year's speech at the Tanjong Pagar Community Club urged that young men and women in Singapore with bright ideas should be encouraged to take risks to ensure that their ideas could be brought to fruition. The investing public must be encouraged to give their support to the risk-takers so that a new entrepreneurial group could be produced that would give Singapore's economy that extra zip. The question, Sir, is how Singaporeans can participate in the Internet boom without being sucked into the asset bubble. Had our market been known for its high-risk investment environment where investors go into the market with their eyes open, I would be less inclined to be alarmed. As it is, most people still believe that so long as SGX approves an IPO, the company would have been vetted by one of the toughest regulators in the world. As such, sometimes I feel great unease standing by as the speculative fever sucks in the wise and the worldly as well as the greedy but ignorant. I am sure that in our environment, if things ultimately go wrong, our Government will be blamed. And scenes of the Taiwanese speculators petitioning the Government for assistance to recover their lost fortunes flash in my mind.”
“In Hong Kong, Pacific Century Cyberworks almost single-handedly leads the charge into the brave new world. Sir, in Singapore, taking advantage of the relaxed listing requirements, three dot.com companies were listed one after another since June last year, namely, I-One.net, MediaRing and Horizon.com. All these three IPOs were spectacularly successful with prices peaked at multiple times of the issue prices. The scramble is on. Let me quote from Hock Lock Siew column of 19th February issue of the Business Times: "There is big money to be made from the Internet craze in Singapore. The window of opportunity could be closing as more and more Internet firms get listed. Time is of essence. The faster to market, the higher an Internet startup's valuation." There are indeed many dot.com companies in the pipeline vying to go IPO. Gotcha, Nececity, iProperty, GeoAsia, just to name a few. Many companies, in fact, with very little to do with Internet are now frantically transforming themselves into dot.com companies. Of course, we are not alone in this. The scene in Hong Kong is even scarier as traditional brick and mortar companies scramble to join the bandwagon. Mr Li Ka-Shing has just launched his Tom.com hoping to raise HK$762 million. I am quite sure many of those dealmakers do not really know the difference between "bytes" and "bites". As the valuations of dot.com companies in the US continue to escalate, the dot.com phenomenon is beginning to look like an asset bubble. The Internet sector in the US has a valuation of around US$550 billion or 4% of the total market capitalisation. As an indication of the lofty height NASDAQ has reached, it is pertinent to note that Microsoft alone has a market capitalisation of around US$600 billion, a figure larger than the GDP of Canada!”
“In fact, MediaRing, when it was being listed, had projected to continue its multi-million dollar losses for the next few years! In essence, any company with a market capitalisation of more than S$80 million post-IPO and could find a merchant banker prepared to underwrite the IPO exercise, could tap the market for funds. In principle, I believe, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, these relaxations are appropriate if SGX were to remain viable and relevant in an increasingly dynamic equity market. Otherwise, more and more market players will bypass SGX and invest in other stock markets in the world, an undertaking made easier because of Internet trading. Unfortunately, as the liberalisation has been quite recent, the fact that SGX is now a less regulated market and hence a more risky place has not yet dawned in the collective memory of the public. Concurrently, in the liberalisation process, a new kind of companies has burst onto the scene worldwide: the Internet companies. High-tech companies and Internet companies have been the darlings of the US capital market for several years now. Companies, which lose money consistently, continue to see their share prices appreciate. Traditional indicators of company's performance no longer seem to be relevant. For instance, the P/E ratio has become meaningless or non-applicable. The famous example is Amazon.com. This fever has spread to other major stock markets in the world. In Japan, Softbank and Hikari become investment companies with the Midas' touch. With the success of China.com and Pacific Internet in the NASDAQ market, the Internet fever has spread to Hong Kong Stock Exchange, SGX, KL Stock Exchange, and even the Bombay Stock Exchange.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the long title of my motion is "Issues related to the liberalisation of the Singapore Stock Exchange in the midst of the boom of Internet Stocks". I would like to declare my interest as Director of several listed companies, including I-one.net. Until the departure of Mr Koh Beng Seng from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Singapore Stock Exchange used to be a bastion of conservatism. After the Pan-Electric episode, the SES had adopted a regulatory mindset and attempted to protect both the gullible investors and the reckless speculators in essentially a buyer-beware market. From time to time, rules for listed companies were made even more stringent with new requirements such as the requirement of an independent Audit Committee and full disclosure of directors' fees. Listing requirements of Initial Public Offering (IPO) were very stringent, especially those seeking to list on the main board. These companies must have proven track records of profitability. As a result, the SES became a comparatively calm equity market where speculations were minimal. It acquired a reputation of being a safe market, in so far as an equity market could be made safe. The collective memory of the public is that SES is a strict taskmaster. When a company obtained the approval from the SES to list, the public assumed that someone had done the due diligence and the company's fundamentals had been certified sound. This public image has remained unchanged today, even though in the post-Koh Beng Seng era, the SES, recently renamed SGX, has modified its stance, moving away from its regulatory role and becoming more a stock exchange like the New York Stock Exchange. Companies seeking IPO no longer need a track record of proven profitability.”
“34 universities. Sir, I withdraw my question.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I be permitted to seek a clarification from Mr Chiam? He mentioned in his speech that in Australia, there is one university for every 500,000 population. That means if you look at the population of Australia which is close to 17-18 million, he is talking about a total number of 300 universities. An hon. Member: 34 universities.”
“So if you take the total number of 2,000 and multiply it out, it seems to be that the total budget for SMU would be rather small compared to the other two universities, probably no bigger than the engineering faculties of the two universities. I am concerned that SMU's small size will pose a hindrance to its attractiveness as a centre of scholarship. Furthermore, to restrict to the field of management would seem to be detrimental to the emergence of a truly great institution as many fields of research are multi-discipline in nature. In my opinion, SMU would have to grow beyond the field of business and management studies to evolve into a university of high esteem. In conclusion, Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the establishment of SMU. I wish SMU great success and look forward to its contributions towards making Singapore a world-class centre of academic excellence.”
“However, I would like to sound a note of caution here that the universities do not engage in a bidding war for staff, especially undergraduate teaching staff. It would seem to be a zero sum game if most of the SMU staff were recruited from the other Singapore universities and few from overseas. We should also bear in mind that what makes universities excellent and famous has less to do with their undergraduate programmes and everything to do with their research and graduate programmes. It is a fact that in the American universities, research talent is valued greater than teaching ability when it comes to the granting of tenures. I studied at Stanford University in the late 70s. I still recall many Stanford University faculty members who were great teachers, well beloved by students but were denied tenure because their research ability was judged to be below par even though their teaching abilities were outstanding. It seems to be the culture in NUS and NTU today as well. In this respect, Sir, I am heartened to learn that SMU has already acquired close to $22 million in its research fund and is collaborating with the Wharton Business School to establish the Wharton-SMU Research Centre. Mr Speaker, Sir, at the current enrolment of 400 students per year, SMU will still have a total population of no more than 2,000 students when it is fully established. By all measures, it is indeed a small university and will remain so unless it has ambition to develop into a comprehensive university. The Ministry of Education typically funds the operation of the universities on a fixed dollar amount per student per year.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry has also disclosed earlier that it will be exploring the use of SAT as a supplementary measure for university admission. This is so because it feels that its sole dependence on 'A' level examinations has encouraged certain study habits of our youths and neglected creativity and innovativeness which are important in the KBE. I am glad to note that SMU, with its stronger emphasis on the American curriculum, is using SAT in its initial recruitment of 100 students out of close to 1,000 applicants. Selection will be done through personal interviews, review of essays written by the applicants as well as the SAT scores. Judging from the press reports of the students seeking admission, they are very impressive indeed. There is even one young lady with a SAT score of close to 700 which is very outstanding. If SMU were able to attract the better students, it will signal to the other two universities that they too need to enhance their attractiveness. It will be no longer business as usual as there will be competition for students. As we all know, a certain measure of competition is healthy in all fields of human endeavours. We can see that in the development of our polytechnics. With four polytechnics competing to attract the better students, our polytechnics have become more innovative in the course offerings and indeed more responsive to the changing time. I believe SMU will have a similar impact on our local universities as well. Mr Speaker, Sir, with all the flexibilities of a private company, SMU will have the maximum freedom to attract the best faculty through a better remuneration package. Already, it has attracted several staff from NUS and in response, the staff in NUS Business School have been offered better compensation.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, another impression that is left in the public mind is that the establishment of the SMU does not seem to have received a thorough deliberation as it rightfully deserves. From the press report, it seems that various proposals for the SMU were tabled in the past and were seriously considered. For instance, it was reported earlier that the NUS Business School would henceforth concentrate only on the graduate programme as the undergraduate programme would be transferred to SMU. Obviously, that is not the case now. And I believe my colleague, the hon. Dr Tan Boon Wan, who is most familiar with the circumstances, will elaborate on this. In view of this change at a relatively late stage, one gets a sense of see-sawing in decision making. So the question I have is: Is the current arrangement among the three universities truly the best for Singapore? Mr Speaker, Sir, having said that, let me assure the House that I support the establishment of the SMU at this juncture when we are rethinking the whole education philosophy and adapting the education scene to the demand of the knowledge-based economy. For a new university, an Act of Parliament gives it an aura of permanence and stability. It gives the SMU a stamp of approval, ensuring public recognition and support. More importantly, graduates of the University will be assured that their degrees will be recognised by the Government and their employability by the civil service and the statutory boards will be assured. In this aspect, I am indeed very glad to learn that our President has agreed to be appointed to the position of the Patron and Mr Lim Kim San has accepted the appointment of the Chancellor. This will indeed give SMU greater status.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, compared to the Acts establishing the NUS and the NTU, this SMU Bill is a very simple Bill indeed. As the Minister says, it is a minimalist Bill. The two Acts are very comprehensive covering many aspects of the operation of the University, including addendum schedules listing University Constitution which specifies exactly how the University is to be governed, including the roles and responsibilities of the officers of the University from the Chief Executive Officer all the way down to the Bursar. In contrast, the Bill simply established a company operating the University. Although this company is termed as the university company in the Bill, for all intents and purposes, it looks like a regular private company. It feels like a private company, and it is indeed a private company. Other than a few clauses empowering the Government to safeguard the assets, the Bill is silent on how the University is to be run. So comparing the two tiers of statutes, it is indeed a very significant contrast. As the Minister has said, the Government has chosen to grant SMU as much freedom as possible. In the light of recent announcement that the Government is giving the two established universities, the NUS and the NTU, greater latitude when it comes to self-governance, this is indeed the right approach at this juncture in time. The question I have in mind is this. Since this is a better way to run university, should the Government not also consider repealing the current statutes governing NUS and NTU and re-enact similar Bills for these two universities as well, if not now but maybe sometime in the future? Otherwise, are there any other reasons that those two universities need to be better safeguarded?”