Warren Lee
Singapore
“Sir, there are 300 clan associations, approximately 200 of them belonging to a single umbrella for Chinese clan associations. They have played a significant role in the development of Singapore, especially for early immigrants, who faced hard times, financial assistance, job placement, building communal facilities, dispute resolution, sch…”
“With the community parent, children who need to work long hours or overseas need not worry endlessly about their elderly parents living alone.”
“Sir, I am really glad to hear of the Minister's vision for the revived waterways. Can I ask whether he might include plans for Sungei Sembawang or Katib Bongsu canal? Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Certainly, we will include all our waterways. I have been told that we have done something at Sungei Sembawang.”
“Preparedness Against Infectious Diseases Sir, during World War II, losses due to malaria and other preventable diseases among allied forces operating in the China-Burma and India theatre far exceeded the number of casualties inflicted by enemy action.”
“In fact, in the latest issue of Pioneer, which was just circulated by the Minister, on page 8, you will find these brighter, better gymnasiums. There are 12 of them, the latest ones, across the SAF camps. There are also the latest gymnasiums in the SAFRA clubs. Some of the machines emulate what Dr Warren Lee has been saying.”
“Sir, like other Members of this House, we have noted that relations between Australia and Singapore are broad-based and go back many years. Our troops train in Australia, Qantas uses Changi International Airport as a major overseas hub, and our two peoples have strong ties of friendship and family.”
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“With this kind of information, at least grassroots leaders can do a little bit of checking themselves and maybe vouch for the residents whose bills are unreasonably high to say, "Please, SP, can you send somebody over to check the leak?" I appreciate Singapore Power for having thought of the vouchers scheme to tide some residents over. Yet, this cannot be the only solution. In fact, this solution has stopped. Yes, some residents have temporary cashflow problems and, yes, some will rather smoke cigarettes than pay their bills. But as many have said, this is not a one-size-fits-all problem, and you cannot have a one-size-fits-all solution. Some of my residents earn only $600 and they need to pay arrears of power supply bills amounting to $200-$300, town council bills amounting to $60-$100 each month, just for repayment. When they have to pay for their own transport, food and children's needs, what is left? If they pay PUB, they cannot pay someone else. They cannot pay school fees or they cannot buy food. So, what do they do? They pay each debtor in turn, on a round robin basis. But the people we meet at various places, like Singapore Power, seem to be, in their description, the personification of somebody out of a Charles Dickens' novel, "pay up, or else", never mind what your MP's letter says, never mind that you seem to have been trying to pay something every month. This fact seems to be the most cruel cut, especially for those who have genuinely been trying to pay something every month out of what little meagre salary they have. No, I am not advocating for forgiveness, but I think that we should at least offer a moratorium or suspension of credit and convert some of these people from a post-pay power supply or utilities supply in favour of a pay-as-you-go system.”
“They may have no money to pay a plumber to replace a leaked tap or water closet and sometimes, what they truly have may be a malfunctioning meter, and they can find no one who will believe them. If they have no power, they find it hard to rent out a room to earn more money. They cannot cook cheaply but must use the meagre money to eat out. If they have a young child, they cannot sterilise the milk bottles effectively; so the child falls sick and incurs more expense. It just does not make sense in modern Singapore. Talking about the economic recovery to these Singaporeans seems like a cruel joke. Why are we driving fellow Singaporeans to the wall when we can send aid elsewhere? Why are we spending money on IUPs to ensure that neighbourhoods do not deteriorate if we are at the same time prepared to countenance the whole family living in filth and darkness in our newly-built blocks of flats? Are we really trying to force people who can actually pay up to pay up? Or are we merely blinding ourselves to a problem that will not go away in some of these families? If Singapore Power feels that they are not able to help residents with inexplicably high utilities bills, to check their meters and their premises without payment of a fee, perhaps Singapore Power can empower consumers and grassroots leaders by publicising simple reproducible test methods and statistics which residents and grassroots leaders can use to test expected consumption rates for themselves. For example, if I switch everything off, except the refrigerator, the lights and fans, at what rate is the meter expected to turn, how many digits will they change in four hours? And if I turn all the taps off, just how slowly will the meter run?”
“But as MPs and grassroots leaders know only too well, the ones in trouble are often precisely the ones in de facto single parent or single wage earner households with more children than they can afford to look after. These children have already been born - they need help - and they cannot go back into the womb. I hope that when the details of the ComCare Fund come out, MPs and grassroots leaders will have some discretion to meet urgent needs on the ground within the context of available resources. Sir, one of the issues that really concerns me right now is the slowness of Singapore Power to implement a system of cashcard or coin-operated power and utilities supplies, rather than just to take the option of cutting off power and water completely. While I know that much has been done in this area and they have tried very hard and have been very, very understanding to-date, I fear that, if we are simply prepared to leave households without power, gas or water, we will eventually reap the harvest of disease, loss of educational potential and hopelessness that will far outweigh the cost of efforts to solve the problem for our poor. Yes, I realise that those whose power supply has been cut off have been caught in a trap of their own making. Some of my residents with large unpaid bills still persist in using their home air-conditioners. Some do need to be taught a lesson. Yet, others simply do not know where to turn to. Since they are poor, they cannot afford energy-saving light bulbs as these are more expensive. They use old power-hungry refrigerators because these are what were donated by well-meaning friends.”
“I would like to applaud the Prime Minister's baby-friendly initiatives, including the decision to reduce the maid levy. This, Sir, would reduce the burden of many families now struggling with stark choices. In the end, it is not so much of how much the wife currently earns vis-a-vis the cost of employing a domestic helper but, really, the question of what the future will bring if this lady was helped to remain in the workforce. In an age of uncertain jobs and globalisation, it is perhaps unwise to have only one wage earner in a family, especially when they are well qualified. And one must also consider that the working mother might bring a wider view of the world to her children. Whatever the reasons, these initiatives seem to be working. I count now, over 14 colleagues, male and female, among my department and clinic staff, are expecting babies this year. I hope that many more will be doing so before the year is out, and certainly more than last year. Next, Sir, I would like to touch on the problems our citizens face when retrenchment or other job losses strike and the family quickly gets into arrears of school fees and utilities bills. I eagerly look forward to the details of the ComCare Fund, as what we seek to do is to try to help those that need help most. Often, people have genuine needs that deserve help, but they may not fall nicely into permissible categories. There should be a distinction between trying to help people and trying to achieve a population policy objective. For example, currently, some of the funds will only benefit nuclear families with two children.”
“We must instil financial discipline in all our borrowers, but we must also have a heart. If we have asked commercial banks to take on HDB mortgages and the banks have no choice but to take back the flats of those with non-performing loans, we need to ask ourselves what alternatives we need to provide for those who have lost the roofs over their heads. I think that if we need to bring back the 1- and 2-room flats of old, perhaps we should face up to it and do it. While many of us can remember the days when 12 to 13 people lived in one flat out of sheer necessity, we need to ask ourselves if this is still a viable option for modern Singapore. There is, after all, one important difference between the Singapore of old and the Singapore of today. We can no longer go and farm a small piece of land or put up a shed somewhere. The march of globalisation and structural unemployment will mean that some families who have escaped poverty for one or two generations will once again feel poor in relation to their neighbours. Some children may once again know the disappointment of having had to put their plans for higher education aside to provide for the family. As a nation, we know we are much better off now than we once were. Many have and still will continue to benefit from bursaries and scholarships, but others will still need to choose to work to support the family. We need to allow these young people who have put their own dreams aside for now to rejoin the race at some future date. Present poverty should not be a bar to a brighter future through further education, if one is allowed some detours taken for good reason. I hope that the Government will announce initiatives to give hope to these affected children.”
“The cost will not be high but the impact would be greatly felt. We need to see how we can help those children who live in homes where the power supply has been cut off. How can we ensure that they are still able to do their homework and get the help they need? We had many children who had to stop school prematurely during the 60s and the 70s due to family poverty. We must ensure that the children of today are able to take full advantage of our improved educational systems. Sir, I have seen residents coming to me saying that they have turned down jobs paying $600-$700 because they feel that after deducting transport and CPF, they have almost nothing left. Perhaps we should encourage them by making it easier for the families of those who are actually in employment to receive financial aid, in order to signal the value that we place on individual responsibility as opposed to just looking at pure earning capacity. Sir, HDB makes many rules to make it hard for people who sold their flats to quickly rent or buy another one from them. That was in the days when people were making profits. But now we are seeing people selling their flats out of sheer desperation. We may need to bring back rental flats for those who have no way to go and ease the rules for those who are genuinely trying to rebuild their lives, instead of giving them long debarment periods. I remember a now successful doctor friend of mine telling me how during her childhood, there was a period when her family had no money even to pay the rent. They got through that period, and her father later recovered to head a financial institution. So, I think it is very possible that the people we helped are not down and out but people who would be the success stories of tomorrow.”
“We have to ensure that we are a nation that looks to the welfare of its citizens even as we should be a nation that does not seek to be hobbled by an entitlement mentality. I feel, in some ways, that those who are asking for more breaks even when they have enough are actually demonstrating the very entitlement mentality that they say they do not like to see in poorer people. In particular, I would applaud the move to promote civil society by making contributions to a wider group of societies tax exempt. Private giving is a mark of many developed societies. As a means of redistributing wealth within society, it allows the individual greater say in where his or her charity dollar should go, unlike in many welfare states where the tax burden is higher but one does not think so hard about where to put the charity dollar. It also presumes that the individual accepts the need and responsibility to contribute back to society. I hope we move more in this direction. Like many other Members, Sir, I think we need to examine the question of whether we are providing sufficient safety nets in an efficient and effective way and to ensure that in our pursuit of efficiency, we do not unwittingly cause those who are most needy to lose out, such as those low income families who already have more than two or three children. We should not punish the children for the sins of the parents by denying them timely help. Sir, in the old days, we had schemes to give needy children food and milk rations. Maybe we should consider bringing back some of these schemes. Children who lack proper nutrition during their early years in school will not reach the full physical and education potential. This would be a poor use of our most precious resource.”
“But, unfortunately, this system may not always give the intended results. What could happen is that the contractor could then go bust or survive by giving a sub-standard job or sub-standard fixtures. So it is actually very costly if the product was obtained cheaply but is defective and needs rectification. In such cases, the true cost is high, as the problem then needs to be corrected. People need to take leave to chase contractors, chase the Town Council and so on and so forth. And not all defects might be detected during the warranty period. Some might become apparent just after the warranty period is over. Others even more slowly. Perhaps we may need to disqualify unrealistic tenders. What Member Wee Siew Kim has talked about awarding the second highest tender for purchases might also be applicable. Yes, implementing this will be difficult, but it would be false economy to carry on with what we are currently doing. As Mr Alex Chan said yesterday, we must not confuse efficiency for effectiveness. Sir, some grassroots leaders have fed back that they felt that the middle class was squeezed in this Budget, and that the poor have many concessions to keep them afloat, the rich have tax breaks to keep them contributing to Singapore. But for the middle income earners in 5-room and Executive flats, it seems that they are the ones whose tax rates will rise since the CPF contribution ceiling has been lowered, and they do not get the generous rebates nor the larger portion of ERS shares. Sir, their sense of pain is understandable. However, I support the notion that this Budget is meant to leave no one behind by ensuring that all have the opportunity to progress.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in the wake of the consolidation of the banking industry, many people with skills, previously in great demand, suddenly found themselves without suitable employment. While we needed to consolidate the local banking industry to make our banks globally competitive, I am heartened to see that the incentives to develop Singapore as a place to locate charitable trusts, wealth management services, capital markets and Islamic banking have been put in place to help bring back jobs to this sector along with an increased demand for supporting services. I am also happy to see that we are trying to improve Singapore's attractiveness as a logistics, transhipment and shipping hub. Singapore faces great competition from ports in the region that can take away our transhipment business. Every little bit helps. Having a superior total business environment and an efficient and non-obstructionist bureaucracy will be crucial to maintaining our port's attractiveness. I would also like to address the issue of saving costs in an effort to be more efficient and also the principle of transparency and value in Government procurement contracts. Perhaps we need to make a distinction between the lowest price versus the lowest cost measured over the expected life cycle of the building or product that we are buying, and the economic cost of the end user having to arrange for rectifications and replacements should the original products go wrong. I think Members know what I am talking about. We have many instances. Recently, people talk about suicide bids, especially in the building industry. Our system is open, transparent and based on lowest tender, unless a good reason can be found for not going with the lowest tender. This is good.”
“Since the implementation of the revised requirements, the LTA has seen a significant decline in the use of petrol-driven bicycles on public roads. So far, only four riders have been caught using petrol-driven bicycles on public roads. They were advised to remove the engines and fuel tanks from their bicycles if they wished to continue using their bicycles on public roads. The LTA and the Traffic Police will continue to take enforcement action against riders using suchbicycles on public roads to ensure the safety of the riders themselvesas well as other road users. A*STAR SCHOLARSHIPS (Expenditure) 16. Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether it is justifiable to commit $900,000 each on young A*STAR scholars, whose goals and directions may change in time to come; (b) will this money be better spent by training these scholars at the NUS and NTU, which are world class in their own right; (c) whether there is a minimum number of such scholars, who are Singapore citizens; and (d) how will his Ministry ensure this pool of A*STAR scholars has a minimum number of Singapore citizens.”
“If the site is very close to HDB flats, then, obviously, the Adviser in the area should advise the organisers to limit the number of loudspeakers in the first instance. MOTORISED BICYCLES 15. Dr Warren Lee asked the Minister for Transport what actions the Government intends to take regarding motorised bicycles using internal combustion engines, now that only electrically powered motorised bicycles are allowed on our roads. The Minister for Transport (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Traffic Police (TP) have since 1st January 2005, introduced a revised set of requirements for low-powered motorised bicycles that can be exempted from registration. These requirements are to enhance the safety of riders as well as other road users. Prior to this revision, motorised bicycles using low-powered internal combustion engines (also known as petrol-driven bicycles) with an engine capacity of up to 23 cc were treated like conventional bicycles and were allowed for use on public roads. However, the LTAfound that petrol-driven bicycleswere being fitted with higher capacity engines that ranged from 30 cc to even 90 cc. These bicycles have higher power and were able to travel at higher speeds, whichtheir construction and brake systems were not designed to cope with. They posed a danger to the riders as well as other road users. In view of the serious safety risk,the LTA decided not to exempt petrol-driven bicycles from registration and technical requirements. As such, with effect from 1st January 2005, all petrol-driven bicycles, regardless of engine capacity, are treated like any motorcycle and must meet the technical and registration requirements of a motorcycle.”
“Sir, while some of these events may not need to be licensed, nevertheless, there are many community events where the loudspeakers are actually quite loud and the people who actually run these PA systems may not be very experienced and may not knowwhat the permissible sound levels would be. Surely, it might be possible for some sort of noise limiters to be made easily available to themso that even if it is not under legislation, people can engage contractors who have these noise limiters, if the Government pushes for it. Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee: Mr Speaker, Sir,I think the Member is referring mainly to religious festivals.Before any religious festival is organised,there are usually several procedures. The organisers would need to approach, for example, the Adviser himself. The Adviser would be in the best position to advise the organisers what to do and what not to do.Then it goes to the Town Council or the relevant Government authority which owns the land. On the event day itself, if the noise level is still too loud, the Police is usuallynotified and the Police will comeup and advise the organisers to tone it down. There is a time requirement. They cannot start blasting the noise through the loudspeaker before 11.00 am and they cannot go beyond 10.30 pm. So, these are some of the constraints that organisers already face. We think, with these constraints, the organisers should not be compelled further. Sometimes, there are good reasons why the organisers need to have slightly louder loudspeakers because the event is a mass event in a very open space, and they need to reach certain audience who may be very far from the stage. But, having said that, the key to controlling the noise level is actually the location of the site.”
“I feel that MediShield could be tweaked to pay for a higher proportion of big bills and a lower proportion of smaller bills so that it fulfils the function of taking away the burden of catastrophic claims from insurance companies and individuals, while making it a viable proposition for companies to make sure that more people are being covered. We need to have a system where healthcare insurance cannot be rejected without good cause and that the exclusion clauses are fair to both the consumer and the industry and not, as currently is often the case, rather one-sided. Deciding what proportion of large medical bills should be left to private pockets or insurers or MediShield is best left to the experts. But I hope that the Government will be mindful that one reason why we have smaller families now may be that in the planning for children, the provision of adequate reserves for future healthcare needs must surely be in the minds of our potential parents, especially those who have to care for three-generation households. Any move to ease their fears and burden will be most welcomed.”
“But how do we also, at the same time, prevent the buffet syndrome in healthcare? I agree with the Minister's comparison with car insurance. Third party cover is cheap if you are driving a car, but the insurer is potentially liable for huge sums if you cause major injury and losses to third parties. However, you do not get covered for anything that happens to your own car. So you drive very carefully and you will be careful not to knock your own car. And because of that, you are also not likely to knock at other people. Comprehensive cover will cover you for a dent in your car. But they will make sure that you lose the no-claim bonus, an excess amount which you have to pay first. They make it such that if you have a small dent in your car, you are better off paying for the repairs yourself. But if you wreck your car around the lamp-post, then you will be glad that you paid for the comprehensive cover. If we take that sort of lessons to what we think should be good for health insurance, we should then have a system where MediShield Plus or private insurance should be the primary source of payment for the first tranche or the first 20-30% of a "C" class bill or "B2" class bill and maybe 40-60% of a paying class bill. There should be a co-payment in this first tranche, so that even with the "C" class bill, there will be sufficient co-payment component to make sure that people think twice before frivolously over-consuming healthcare. But then we could always waive co-payment if there is really a chronic illness that cannot be helped. MediShield, as an universal coverage, could then provide coverage but only pay for the higher amounts, say, 70-80% of a "C" class bill beyond the first amount and maybe 50-60% of a "B" or "A" class bill, past a certain fixed amount.”
“In the same way, that if all of us, who have a driving licence, were asked to set aside $50,000 just in case we need to pay the other driver if we cause an accident, not many of us could drive, let alone own a car. So health insurance happens to smooth this out as a cost of doing business and as a cost of living life. We understand that insurance is a business proposition. The idea is to pool-risk and not take on the manifestly uninsurable risks. But if we see insurance as a public good as well as a business proposition, the balance must surely be tilted in favour of ensuring that everyone has a fair goal and that everyone has to bear a fair share of the risk burden. And while we want to make the MediShield umbrella a good umbrella, we cannot let the pool be depleted by making MediShield pay for lots of small bills. We cannot have it cheap and we cannot have it comprehensive at the same time. We have to educate people to understand that $10 or $20 a month for MediShield is not too much to pay for ensuring that they will get good catastrophic health insurance and that they will need to continue to buy affordable healthcare insurance for themselves for non-catastrophic illnesses. However, we must ensure that everyone, whether he or she has a pre-existing illness, will be able to buy health insurance at an affordable price with reasonable coverage and at a reasonable deal. I am told that insurance companies covering medical insurance in Singapore have it good that there are 15 or 16 on the market. There is currently no law insuring universal coverage. So the company is able to cherry-pick only the healthy individuals, and as the Minister has said, they further fragment the MediShield risk pool. I favour regulations to prevent this situation from continuing further.”
“For most of us, the $30,000 in our Medisave accounts will be barely enough if a catastrophic illness strikes. Fortunately, not everyone will need to make use of this money and for most of us, not till our old age. Therefore, we all need our employee health benefits and some elements of health insurance because sometimes we might need this money. MediShield currently covers only 40% of our hospital bills. This leaves Singaporeans to pick up the rest through their own pockets or through private health insurance. What really happens is that some people with pre-existing health problems that will be insurable in other jurisdictions may find themselves uninsurable in Singapore. These include, as I have mentioned, babies born with congenital defects and those with birth complications. They include people whose risk over a lifetime, or even in the short-term, is not that high, in relative terms and perhaps certainly not higher than somebody who is a heavy smoker or heavy drinker who happens to have bought his health insurance because he was not born with a "congenital" problem. This is a serious business because now that the Government is moving us away from providing full employer-paid healthcare benefits towards employer-paid healthcare insurance, the issue of who can and cannot find insurance cover is a very important thing. It will mean that the people who most need help may not be able to get help. It will mean if he or she has no means of paying, Medifund or some other Government mechanism will need to pay. But Medifund only pays in severe hardships. Health insurance is meant to moderate the cost of healthcare over time.”
“Some of us actually need hospitalisation as well, and because of this, I would like to touch on the question of universal coverage with MediShield and universal coverage of children born with birth complications and birth defects, people with congenitally acquired medical problems and those with a pre-existing illness at the time of application for medical insurance. The ultimate insurer in any country is the Government in ensuring that the healthcare system has good infrastructure and is run properly. In that regard, I am quietly confident that the Ministry of Health and the clusters will lead the way with these management programmes and quality control measures. But we know that modern healthcare is intrinsically expensive because much of it involves paying not just for service, but for intellectual property rights whenever we use a newer and better treatment or product to give better care. And treatments are available now which, in the past, were not available and one would have just waited for death to supervene. The other problem is that, if you have pneumonia or appendicitis today, it is not like servicing a car which can be put off till next month if you are a little short of cash this month. Sir, if we want good affordable healthcare, we need to remember we want it cheap, good and fast, you usually have to choose something somewhere. To quote our Prime Minister, "yang mao zhang zai yang shen shang", which means, the wool will only grow on the sheep. In trying to be a centre of excellence for the region, we cannot expect our own people to be content with out-of-date healthcare and we cannot pretend that it is all going to be paid for by our fairy godmother.”
“What then prevents our GPs from doing more? Many GPs do know what to do, but feel they cannot do what they want to do for the patient because they feel that the patient cannot afford the charges. If GPs are allowed to have these scripts for chronic medications filled at Government clinics, they may have more leeway to prescribe what they know should be prescribed. This should not be a carte blanche right but perhaps be limited to a short list of drugs which, by common consensus, are cost-effective at the population level and on disease management principles. There may be a view that the private sector should not be subsidised by the public sector and there was recent furore in the newspapers over whether GPs should be allowed to dispense medication at all. However, I think some people have missed the point that there are far more GPs in pharmacies and that if half the middle age and elderly have chronic conditions like hypertension and hyperdelimia, and a third of the elderly have diabetes, it makes a lot more sense for the ubiquitous private GPs in the HDB blocks to be a primary provider of Government-subsidised medical care for these chronic conditions and a shared care model, rather than depending on the elderly with limited mobility to travel to the two dozen or more polyclinics. If nothing else, they may save on taxi fares. Let us ask ourselves: what is the desired outcome? If greater healthcare at lower cost is the desired outcome, then perhaps we should not worry so much about who or where the subsidy is coming from, if it can reduce the burden of complications and hence, the total healthcare bill for the nation.”
“Thirdly, I want to look towards healthcare. I look forward to the changes that Minister Khaw Boon Wan has alluded to in his Addendum to the President's Speech. I support Mdm Halimah's contention that the basic MediShield plan be made compulsory. Help with MediShield premiums is easier to deal with than help with medical bills once they arrive. Dr Chong Weng Chiew suggested the provision of services to the house-bound elderly. Again, I agree. I am heartened to read that the Ministry of Health will be implementing more quality care, benchmarking and disease management programmes to further improve the delivery of services. All this is very good for those who actually do show up at our hospitals and polyclinics, or who are known to these service providers. As a doctor MP, I have noticed that several elderly residents with chronic conditions have actually given up their medication and doctor visits because they have difficulties paying for transport to the clinic, let alone the fees and the charges. I hope we can find a way to help these people and fully utilise the skills and resources of our family practitioners to help the Government provide accessible and affordable healthcare to those of our people who cannot even afford to pay the already low polyclinic fees. I support the idea that VWOs could work with MOH and grassroots organisations to bring certain services to those with limited mobility. Befriender services, rehabilitation in the home, home-care skills education and comprehensive screenings at RC centres and community centres are some of the ways in which this could be done. I also congratulate MOH for taking the initiative to have chronic care partnership programmes, linking GPs and the elderly poor. But I think the take-up rate is not as much as we would like.”
“If schools have difficulty finding time to conduct CCAs during the five days of the week, do we need to relook how we can incorporate PE and sports training into the curriculum? Otherwise, our hope that children will take up healthy lifestyles would be just that - a hope - even as we train them from young to accept a hectic lifestyle with little time for rest and reflection. The Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has emphasised that he wanted our children to study less and learn more. I heartily agree with the sentiments. I hope that the relevant agencies will look into this so that our children do not suffer unintended consequences of an admirable policy shift. Secondly, I would like to make a comment about singles, since I was a single once myself. In the MCYS' Addendum to the President's Address - in fact, in the whole document - it seems that the only mention of singles would be where we are trying to find them mates, get married and start a family. Much as I understand that we are encouraging the formation of families, we have to realise that the number of singles is increasing. Many singles do not choose to be single but are so by circumstance, and do want to belong or be part of a family. In fact, every single is part of a family too, and singles often do have dependent parents and siblings. I hope that the Government will also look into how singles can be helped to age gracefully, especially for those who do not have the support of extended families. We can and should do more for the singles as a group now, in terms of housing options and care options, and look to the day when we may need to find solutions for housing and caring for larger numbers of either never-married, widowed or divorced individuals.”
“But the reality is that not all can afford the luxury of a 5-day week while some parents are coming home later every day during a 5-day week, since the employers have agreed to implement the 5-day week with the proviso that working hours during the week must go up. Even as some of these parents may be working on Saturdays, students may not be able to spend their time learning social and physical skills at CCA, if the schools are closed. Instead, some may hang out at shopping centres or stay at home playing computer games. So, we need to examine how we are implementing this 5-day week. Are we simply cramming six days of curriculum and work into five days, or have we actually caught the true spirit of having a 5-day week, which is to work in such a way that there is a better balance between work, rest and play, between office time and family time? As one parent asked me plaintively in my doctor's office, "I know we are all supposed to be better off with a 5-day week. But is it the Government's intention to give me back a zombie at the end of the day?" I had no easy answer for her. Some cope better than others, and I know we are in the early days yet of adapting to these new schedules. Yet, we must ask ourselves these questions: If kids are only eating one meal or less at home, can we ensure that tuckshop meals will produce healthy kids? Should we move into common school lunches? How can we ensure better family bonding under these circumstances? I have heard of parents complaining because schools have stopped certain sports or UYO programmes, because they just cannot find enough time and resource to schedule these things in during the week.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for letting me join in the debate. I rise in support of the motion to thank the President for his Address to Parliament, and I would like to shift the focus towards social and local issues. I would like to focus on three areas. Firstly, I think that the Government may need to look into potential effects of the 5-day week and single session schools on our school-going population. Children now go to school early in the morning, often rising before 6.00 am, to get to school by 7.20 am or even earlier. They then spend the whole day in school, typically consuming a recess meal in mid-morning, and then another afternoon break meal before going on to often remedial classes and CCA programmes. Many children only reach home at 5.00, 6.00 or 7.00 pm even though school officially ends between 1.00 pm and 3.00 pm. So, after maybe 10 to 12 hours of school, children reach home tired, with homework to complete, and they have little energy left to interact with their parents and their siblings. They have had two or more meals in school, if they could afford them, and have only the evening meal at home with their parents to serve the purpose of generating interaction between parent and child, and between siblings, and also to eat a balanced diet. However, many parents work long hours, and the family may not cook at home but habitually eat out, either singly or as a family. In some families where the breadwinner is on shift work, families do not even eat together, except on rare occasions. Yes, the 5-day week is supposed to free up time for the family to interact together on weekends.”
“There really are ample opportunities for our children to be in touch with Chinese, as long as they care to use them. Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the recommendations in the White Paper.”
“But after I finished my secondary school, I was sometimes described as a "banana man" - yellow outside, white inside. I do not want to be a banana person so I began to read about the history, the geography and the culture of China - in English. Just like what the Senior Minister had said, "No fish, a shrimp will do." Although my command of the Chinese Language is not good enough to read about China using Chinese, at least, I made an effort to study about China using the English Language. But after I became a doctor and a Member of Parliament, I have a favourable environment and plenty of opportunities for me to speak Mandarin. The only question is whether or not I have the confidence and the courage to do so. I am a very patient person, thick-skinned and persistent. Hence, I am making progress. In conclusion, I would like to say that given the opportunity, the environment and the will power, I am sure anyone would be able to learn Chinese well, and be able to converse in Mandarin. Mr Speaker, Sir, I not only support the recommendations in the White Paper, I am also urging all other English-educated parents like me to give their children more opportunities, and build up their confidence in speaking Mandarin. Do not say that they cannot take it. I think we should encourage them. We should give them the opportunity to read more magazines, novels or even cartoons that would be of interest to them. If you want to look for Chinese books, there are many types. Some talk about moral education, values, how to behave yourself and this would not arouse the interest of the children. On the other hand, we also have many English story books, like Harry Potter, translated into Chinese. There are also documentary films, like the National Geographic, dubbed in Mandarin.”
“Oral examination is, of course, a different matter. But after graduation, how many of us could actually converse in Mandarin? I believe there are many like me who are English-educated and who use predominantly English at home. I think not many would converse in Mandarin. Fortunately, when I studied medicine in the university and after I became a doctor, I had a lot of opportunities to converse in Mandarin with my nurses, my patients and with some physicians from China. Although the standard of my Chinese is not so good, we managed to get by. To a certain extent, they could understand me and I could understand them. After I became a Member of Parliament, I had even more opportunities to converse with my grassroots leaders and my residents in Mandarin. With all these practices and also at home, sometimes, before I go to bed, I would pick up a dictionary and read it as though it is a novel and read myself to sleep. Although it is a bit thick-skinned to use such methods, but more and more, I gathered enough courage to speak in Mandarin. And today, for the first time, I am using Mandarin to address this august Chamber. Why am I saying this? In my younger days, my environment was not so good. I came from an English-speaking background. At home, although my parents could speak Mandarin, English and even dialects, English was still the predominant language at home. I did not have much opportunity to use Mandarin. When I was in school, I would converse with my classmates in English. I did not have the environment or the condition for me to speak in Mandarin. I had to take Chinese tuition for 12 years. I believe my parents had spent a lot of money. If they had invested the tuition fees on shares instead, I would have been a rich person now.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have been thinking for quite sometime whether I should speak in Mandarin or in English to present my views with regard to this White Paper and the recommendations therein. Eventually, I decided to speak in Mandarin because I am a Chinese and I want to express my views on these recommendations in my mother tongue language. I believe that if anyone who has the right environment and the confidence, he should be able to learn the Chinese Language well enough to converse and communicate in his daily dealings. Let me use myself as an example. During my younger days, I spent one year in the Chinese-stream kindergarten and then I went for another year in an English-speaking kindergarten. Following that, I had two years of English education in Kuala Lumpur before I came over to Singapore to do my Primary Three. I faced many difficulties and a lot of problems, particularly in the learning of Chinese. At that time, when a teacher asked me to read an article, I would not be able to read about half of the characters in that article. There was no hanyu pinyin so I invented my own phonetics. Whenever I was asked to read in class, I would read from my own symbols rather than the Chinese characters. I am sure many of our friends here would have the same experience. So during the examination, when I looked at the Chinese characters, I would look at the radical and the shapes of the characters and guessed the meaning of it. When it came to essay-writing, I would memorise about 10 prepared essays with the hope that at least one of them would fit the subject matter prescribed in the examination. If the title was correctly spotted, I would simply write my "essay" from memory. I believe many students managed to get through the Chinese paper in the 'O' level examination.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think Singaporeans would do well to heed the travel advisories given by the Government, especially when going to places where there are possible dangers. But hostage-taking might actually happen in any country when Singaporeans are abroad. What would be our Government's stand should situations like these occur?”
“I think it is a technical term which refers to the way that a load is redistributed within a network, as opposed to switching of fields.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State, in his reply, alluded to two sets of problems that can cause power failures. One was the generation of electricity, and the other was the switching system in the event that one part of the system fails. I wonder whether he could enlighten us on any plans that the Government or the Energy Market Authority has in place or made possible in the near future on switching to another part of the system in the case of isolated instances of power failure.”
“I join my colleagues in this House in applauding the Minister, especially since I am still a serving reservist. I would like to ask the Minister to what extent has improved matching of the educational, medical and physical attributes of our National Service cohort contributed to the ability for the SAF to take this bold decision. Can we do even more to prepare our future batches of National Servicemen in this regard, so that we can make the best use of the time available for National Service? Finally, I wonder whether, in terms of administrative details of enlisting a National Serviceman, consideration will be made to time the enlistment of future batches in such a way that there will be a minimal need for disruption, as has been brought up by other Members in this House, for the purpose of further education abroad or in local universities. Mr Heng Chee How (Jalan Besar): Sir, I applaud the bold decision by the Ministry of Defence, and I fully support it. My question relates to National Service (Police) and Civil Defence because they will also be affected by the same policy change, and I ask if MINDEF will be working very closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure a smooth transition such that Police presence and the effectiveness of the Civil Defence will also be maintained.”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for the Environment for a clear explanation on the measures taken to reduce the dust problem. However, my residents have also pointed out that one problem is from the engine emissions of ships in the shipyard. Would the Minister care to comment?”
“We need to assure that the environmental hazards that our men will face, eg, infectious disease risks, will be managed and planned for as well as military risks will be planned for. If we do this, then I believe that all Singaporeans will do their part towards the total defence of Singapore.”
“Sir, recent conflicts have shown us that it is no longer sheer numbers and firepower that win wars. Small groups of well-trained and well-equipped forces with superior information about the enemy forces and intentions have often tipped the balance in their own favour. We have a situation where the SAF can no longer count on increasing headcounts or bigger budgets alone to keep our fighting edge. The SAF will have to do more with less. While transforming itself into a force that can effectively face the challenges of these asymmetric warfare, unconventional warfare, defence against terrorist attacks, and keeping the peace. On the one hand, our soldiers will have to use more simulators while, on the other, more will be called upon to protect our own local vital installations from real threats in peace time, and even to serve overseas. We will need to restructure our forces, reprioritise our plans for acquisition and replacement of equipment and reskill our men to meet these new challenges. We will need to maintain unit cohesion and inter-unit cooperation, and improve our capability to mount joint operations on land, sea and air, even as we try to lessen the burden of reservist training on our Operationally-Ready NSmen and their employers. Sir, our NSmen are now better educated and most, if not all, are highly motivated to defend their country. We should strive to ensure that their time in NS or reservist training is not wasted while adequate time is given to rest and recreation after training. We will need to reassure them, their parents and their loved ones that the SAF will conduct rigorous and challenging training while ensuring that the safety and welfare of the men are never taken lightly.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head T of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code TL 3100. Sir, the slowdown in the pace of building new flats has left many residents in non-mature estates with a problem of tracts of undeveloped land, stray dogs and mosquitoes. At the same time, amenities such as sports stadia or swimming pools will be in short supply as they tend to be built only when there are enough residents to justify the amenities. It is a chicken-and-egg situation. I am glad that the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has already mentioned that the Ministry would consider working with residents and grassroots leaders to create temporary parks, recreational facilities on these often large tracts of open ground. Done gotong royong style, these facilities need neither be expensive to build nor maintain. As to the temporary nature of these facilities, I think we need to keep matters in perspective. Even though a biking trail or an unofficial soccer pitch, or even a hobby farm, may be available for only three to five years, it will benefit a whole cohort of children in the neighbourhood and lots of residents who may feel strapped for cash to travel to other sports facilities far away. I hope that the Minister would consider this. East Coast Park”
“Sir, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for his reply and his promise to reconsider the issue. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head T of the Development Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code TJ 5100. Sir, in view of the slowdown in HDB's building programme, would the Minister consider the provision of temporary heavy vehicle parking on land previously designated for future residential and light industrial development? Heavy Vehicle Parking”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $293,655,190 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,913,110,500 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head V - Ministry of Trade and Industry”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head W of the Development Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code WH 5200. Sir, residents in Sembawang New Town have been wondering when the new bus interchange and the bridge across the Sembawang River can be completed. I wonder if the Minister could enlighten us. Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The bridge will be completed in June this year. The bus interchange will be completed middle to late next year and we expect to see the project begin in the second half of this year.”
“Madam, recently our Prime Minister led a delegation to countries in the Middle East, which included Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, with a short stop-over in Dubai. I would like to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs for his assessment on how he feels that we can improve our relationships with the countries from this region. In what ways can we learn from them? In what ways can we further engage their scholars and the people in the civil societies on issues of mutual interest, eg, issues that affect our Muslim community? Are there also opportunities that we can learn from them in the area of trade? For example, I note that Bahrain and Dubai appear to be really after wealth management of wealthy overseas Indians. Perhaps we could learn something from these countries with regard to wealth management activities as well. Does the Minister feel that there may be further opportunities for free trade or other trade agreements? Does the Minister feel that there may be opportunities to upgrade further our diplomatic presence in the region?”
“Madam, Brunei and Singapore have had a long and fruitful relationship. We have also had very strong defence ties through the years and, in fact, even now many of our servicemen go there to train. I would like to ask the Minister in what other ways can our relationship with Brunei be improved? Are there any other ways in which our economic cooperation can be improved, even when oil runs out, for example? How can the leadership of both countries continue to engage and how can we continue to make our point of view heard and noted? Myanmar Mr Ravindran: Madam, I would like to ask the Minister as to the state of relations between Singapore and Myanmar. In particular, I would like to ask the Minister as to what is happening with regard to the road map that was proposed by Thailand, in order to set the path of change for Myanmar? And, in the light of Myanmar, the chairmanship of ASEAN next year, how will it impact relations between ASEAN and Myanmar, vis-a-vis the EU and the Americans? Foreign Relations”
“Of course, if we are made more welcome, and we feel more welcome, we might also visit more. Would the Minister comment on this? Indonesia”
“Madam, Malaysia is our closest neighbour and I share the concerns that have been expressed by other hon. Members of the House about how our relationships with our closest neighbour are going along. But while it is appropriate to speak of relations on a government-to-government basis with more forefront countries in ASEAN and in the world, we may need to see our relations with Malaysia because of its close proximity. It is not just the question of promoting relations with government-to-government or even people-to-people in a sort of amorphous sense, but realising that actually the people of East Malaysia, Terengganu, Kedah, Klang Valley and the people of the southern Peninsular Malaysia may actually have different views and attitudes about their closest neighbour, Singapore. How does the Minister see this set of relationships? Do we not feel that good feelings among the people in the various regions would be to our advantage? Down at the ground, and given that the various regions of Malaysia have their own peculiar local government politics as well, do our neighbouring people share our view that Singapore has a prosper-thy-neighbour approach to business? Or do they believe the line that we are trying to beggar our neighbour? I believe that as the independence generation moves on, and younger people come to power, it becomes so much more important for the relationships between the two people to be revisited, that all bonds be renewed and new bonds forged, perhaps without the baggage of the past, but certainly with better hope and understanding for the future. People might agree with me that sometimes Singaporeans are very familiar with countries and cities far away from Singapore, but we may be guilty of not being very familiar with the places nearby.”
“Madam, Singapore's technical cooperation programmes have been in existence for many years. We are told that they bring many benefits to recipient countries. But how does Singapore benefit from these programmes? I have a different angle from Dr Tan Cheng Bock. If we train people in port management, air traffic control, town planning and so on, are we giving away our economic advantages? Yes, from time to time, we read of people in other countries wanting to follow the Singapore model of economic development. But, at the end of the day, being a small country and needing to use our resources, as it were, to create economic and political space for ourselves, how does our technical cooperation programme really fulfill these objectives? Are we sure that our schemes are actually attractive to donor countries in this regard? Perhaps, the Minister may want to comment. Malaysia”
“While Government school teachers have the Singapore Allowance to their pensions adjusted to meet the cost of living, aided-school teachers, on the other hand, received only prevailing CPF terms. While the Government is not contractually obligated to help these people, perhaps some assistance could be given to these same teachers who had given of their best years to produce many of the top students in Singapore, students who include many of the Members of this House. On this note, Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Budget.”
“Once over-extended, and forced into a lower paying job, many fall into a spiral of juggling debts, such as the power bill, conservancy fees, HDB instalments and telephone bills. School fees and examination fees also go unpaid. Little luxury like the air-conditioner for a hot night becomes unaffordable and the spectre of bankruptcy looms, further threatening existing jobs where companies may not want an employee who is an undischarged bankrupt in certain posts. Young people, who see their peers and neighbours in this situation, could draw the wrong conclusion that in the midst of such financial uncertainties they too would rather put off starting a family. In this regard, I would echo the concerns put forward by many of my colleagues in this House regarding the affordability of university education. For young couples planning to have kids, an important question is: can I give my kids the same opportunities that I had, including a shot at tertiary education and perhaps a leg-up on owning their first home? Some of my colleagues have spoken of the need to build the spirit of the nation. Starting a family is about exercising an option on your own hopes for the future. Hope, enthusiasm, a belief that there is a future for Singapore and, more importantly, a belief that there is a future for themselves and for their children in Singapore, is a plus point for the national budget that cannot be easily quantified but perhaps is more important than any budget surplus or cut waste campaigns. We should continue to seek to build that spirit for Singapore. Finally, I would like to put in a word for those retired teachers who taught in Government-aided schools at the time when their counterparts teaching in Government schools received both pensions and medical benefits on retirement.”
“Children born with congenital conditions or illnesses that start in childhood, and those who have lost jobs and have lost their medical benefits after having developed a medical condition during their working lives, are particularly vulnerable to being denied insurance coverage just when they needed most. In Australia, there is a scheme in place which ensures that anyone can get medical insurance coverage even if you had a previously diagnosed condition like, eg, cancer, on the condition that no claims can be made for that pre-existing condition for a period of, say, a year after the inception of the policy. As my hon. colleagues have exhaustively covered points on the Budget for Singapore, I would like to say a few words on the Singaporeans' budget. With flexi-wages here to stay, has the Government focused on educating our people on how to budget for themselves and spend prudently within their means? With the flexible component of wages set to become 30%-50%, perhaps the rule of thumb of, say, setting aside 35% of household income for debt servicing should become lower, maybe even 25% of the income. For the financially savvy, this is not an issue. But I feel that for many of the people, financial information should be simple, straightforward and perhaps even prescriptive, such as if you have a basic income of $1,400, a flexi-wage component of $600, it is best not to spend more than $350 on loan repayments. Some of the people whom I get to see at the meet-the-people sessions, have gotten into trouble over relatively simple renovation loans and hire-purchase items. A prudent budget would have allowed many of them to keep their heads above water, even with job changes and wage reductions.”
“Whether the first or second pregnancy of a twin or multiple pregnancies, it would be good if parents could use Medisave for the third child or for the fourth if the mother actually has two sets of twin pregnancies. People who want to have another baby after having twins obviously like children and should be encouraged rather than punished. Mr Speaker, Sir, I laud the Deputy Prime Minister's plan to contribute $50-$100 to the Medisave accounts of elderly Singaporeans. But I think that the money will go a longer way if it could be directed towards a medical insurance policy for the first cut of all medical costs, even as MediShield is targeted towards mitigating the second tier of costs of major illnesses. People should become accustomed to having to set a portion of their family budget for healthcare. However, we know that Medisave is often insufficient when illness strikes one or more members of the family and especially when the Medisave account holder is a self-employed person, for example, a taxi-driver struggling to pay his annual Medisave contribution, or when the complications of child birth and the neonatal period strikes a young couple having a baby early in their working lives. This proposed type of policy could still be based on co-payment and have a limited pay-out but could be compulsory and have universal coverage of all Singaporeans so that while avoiding the buffet syndrome, it will help alleviate the hardship caused when illness strikes. I would also like to appeal to the Minister in his capacity as Minister for Finance to further refine the regulations of medical insurance in Singapore to ensure that no Singaporean is without medical insurance coverage in the long-term.”
“On the issue of maids, I agree with my colleagues in this House that for many families, if having a maid is not a necessity then the deciding factor is in terms of their timing for starting a family. We need to ask ourselves about the options available to families who need care arrangements for young children. For many, having a domestic helper makes more sense than childcare because childcare often costs more and childcare cannot do the laundry or help with the house chores. One simple relief could be that for families with two children, the maid levy could be reduced and reduced further for those with three or more children but with a cap. Some of my colleagues have also mentioned that we should rationalise the policy of where exactly a maid can be located. I recognise the Government's intention to prevent the abuse of domestic helpers' work conditions in having to look after two households on one salary. Nevertheless, it may be a practical arrangement for the granny to oversee the maid who is physically looking after the grandchildren. In this way, the child's parents would have the security of knowing that the family member is overseeing the children while the grandparents will not have to feel overwhelmed with the task of looking after the grandchildren by themselves. If what we are after is a fair arrangement for family and maid, will it not be possible to have a form of differential pricing of both the levy and the maid salary to take this into account rather than saying it cannot be done at all? At this time, we are still saying to people - have three children if you can afford it. However, I would like to ask the Government to consider the situation of twin pregnancies.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, having four to six months of extended maternity leave has been suggested. It is an attractive sounding option for some potential mothers but the employers may not be happy and female employees may not dare to take up this offer for fear of losing their jobs or promotion prospects. As one of my grassroots leaders very succinctly said, "You want to take six months, do not bother to come to work!" These are real attitudes that we must face. Another option might be to make it a statutory entitlement for companies to give parents, both male and female, maybe an extra 5 days a year for the first few years of each child's life and maybe three days a year extra for the next few years to age 10, with a maximum number of days of family leave, which would, in this case, have to be subsidised by the Government. The cost for this child leave could be shared by the employer and the Government and will not be deferrable or accumulated. We will need to send a signal that it has to be taken by both parents for the purpose of sharing out the responsibilities of sending the child to the doctor, attending a kindergarten performance or seeing the teacher about the child's work or just spending a day at the beach together as a family. Sir, bringing up a child is an expensive business in Singapore. Not all will be able to use the tax incentives that have been offered. And at a time where many people with so-called "good jobs" are now worrying about job security, it will be better to assure them that the child will be looked after should something happen to the parents, rather than to give tax incentives which may not be for everybody.”