Wong Kan Seng
Singapore
“We all want a better future for our children and the future generations. Amid the debates, let us not lose sight of what we are working for – we are working for the benefit and future of Singaporeans. Not for growth targets, not for foreigners, but for Singaporeans.”
“Mrs Mildred Tan also suggested doing a longitudinal study on the impact of new citizens on Singapore. I am told that there is a periodic study on the perception of integration and rootedness of Singaporeans and PRs. A study is now ongoing too.”
“All they need to do is simply declare that they meet the residential criteria. EASING IN US ECONOMY (Impact on Singapore) 9. Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Senior Minister what will be the expected impact on the Singapore economy arising from the US Federal Reserve's announcement on 3rd November 2010 of a "quantitative easing" of the US economy…”
“Well, from the data I have here, 553 registered to vote before the 2006 GE and this is the data I have but Ms Lim may be right. There may be 1,000-odd that Ms Lim had mentioned. From what I am told now, we have 1,325 Singaporean overseas who are eligible to register to vote have registered.”
“But, as I said, there are so many other possibilities that they could come in and there could also be many possibilities that we could have missed and they have entered or left Singapore. LAND SWAP AGREEMENT FOR KTM STATION AND RAILWAY LANDS 2.”
“They are also recruiting people by offering them scholarships. So, we hope more of our companies can do that. Hopefully they come here to work for a while and, if they like our place, they may want to settle down. This is a place which they can think about. POPULATION AND TALENT DIVISION 5. Assoc. Prof.”
The complete record
Every one of 3,192 lines we hold for Wong Kan Seng, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 64.
“Ms Indranee Rajah and Mr Ravindran have also asked about how our community leaders and the members of the public should react to a terrorist incident. I am glad they asked because it gives me a chance to say a bit more. Mdm Ho is correct to point out that the key concern is, even if we have a community engagement, can it be sustained? That is the reason why I said that it is not just the Government that works at it. It must come from the people and they must sustain it and we will help them to sustain it. We will build on the current programmes such that they do not start afresh all of a sudden. There are already many structures, organisations, may efforts ongoing. And, in fact, we started this way back since the 1964 riots. But we need to constantly review, update and improve on them. New people take on leadership positions. New people need to know one another. And that is the kind of network that we need to build amongst our leaders in the various organisations. I am not just talking about grassroots organisations, because community organisations are more than just grassroots organisations that the PA runs. It involves all sectors of our people, whether they are unionists, employers, clan leaders, chambers of commerce or even in schools, for example, there is a big network of organisations and people that we must tap on. The question is how to link these various centres of leadership together such that they know one another so well that they can pick up a phone, see the person and talk to the person and say, "Let us do this and calm the ground, should a bomb happen." And many of our community organisations like the voluntary welfare organisations, the ethnic-based organisations, the religious organisations, they too play a very important role in this.”
“What we have done so far are the hard measures that the Government can take or has taken to prevent a terrorist attack. I have said before that the Government would do its very best to harden Singapore against terrorist attacks. I have also said before that our Government agencies will prepare themselves to the utmost in order to deal with a terrorist attack, particularly in the recovery situation, when a bomb blast happens. But what I have also said before is: are our people equally prepared? I think right now, we still have work to do. Our people themselves must deal with such a situation should they arise. The most significant issue that we have to deal with is the possible rising of communal tensions and the fray in our social cohesion. That is the part which our people should think very carefully about because in the event of a bomb blast, how will they respond to such a situation if they are not prepared? That is an effort which we will be embarking on in the next one year or so. It is the people that defeat terrorists and terrorism, not Government alone because they are the ones on the ground. They are the ones who know their neighbours, they are the ones who should know what goes on as well. They are the ones who must recover from an attack and not be cowed by it. They must rise above the situation and get back to life as normal and be psychologically resilient. For our multi-racial society, that is particularly important because any incident may fray communal tension and that is a key lesson we learn in other countries, when they have a bomb attack, for example, in London. Mdm Ho Geok Choo and Mr Ahmad Khalis have asked about the Community Engagement Programme.”
“In fact, the guard that just let go of a person who signs himself in as superman, or as superwoman, ought to be sacked, as it means that he was not doing his job. We are going to engage building owners. In fact, we have started working with the building owners through the Security Watch Group Scheme. Today, more than 500 buildings are already in the Security Watch Group Scheme. They are improving their standards and the training of the unarmed guard industry. So all guards require training before they can take on the job. In fact, since last year, any person setting up a security guard agency will need to have trained security guards who must have the NSRS qualifications. Mr Ahmad Khalis asked whether the businesses are prepared for a terrorist attack. Sir, this is the direction we are taking by developing the Security Watch Group Scheme to involve the businesses in security and emergency preparedness. Such businesses or the tenants of a building should also know how to deal with suspicious persons and packages and respond to an incident in the building. Through the Corporate First Responder Scheme, pre-identified tenants will be given access to the cordoned area to execute business continuity recovery plans in the event of a bomb blast incident. This is important because, apart from saving lives, we must also be ready to bring life back to normal. We are progressively rolling out the scheme to all members of the Security Watch Group. Ultimately, building owners and their tenants must take greater ownership of their own security because the cost to them is much higher if a terrorist attack takes place, as compared to the cost of implementing security measures and hiring better guards. Sir, now on community engagement.”
“For instance, ICA's Anti-Smuggling Teams have picked up about 120 smuggling cases in 2005. And just last week, we detected a pleasure craft with two crew members who failed to seek immigration departure clearance when it left for fishing activities the day before. Shortly past midnight this morning, the ICA Anti-Smuggling Team detected a vessel carrying about 8,000 cartons of cigarettes and 40 kilogrammes of shag tobacco. A person wanted by CNB and Police was also arrested on board the vessel. Cases like these bear testimony that our stepped-up security efforts have been effective and fruitful in the detection of contraband items and undesirable persons. On Mr Ong Kian Min's suggestion to introduce smart chips in our NRIC to tighten security for commercial premises, I think there is no need to have the smart chip capability in our NRIC. We have studied this issue before and we think that right now, the technology is such that it is expensive. And in terms of the investment, the money spent, it is not worth the benefit derived from it. We will continue to monitor the development of this technology before we decide whether to use smart chip for NRIC or not. There must also be some uses for the NRIC. The NRIC is not such a "dumb" device, as Mr Ong said. In the NRIC, you will find a magnetic strip. All the building owners need to do is to install the barcode reader and just swipe it through and the building owner or the guard will be able to easily record the particulars of the NRIC holder. All that is already in the NRIC. Building owners need to put in some money to ensure that the buildings are safer. The points raised by Mr Ong regarding the way the guards conduct their security checks are valid.”
“Travellers on pleasure crafts leaving or arriving Singapore ports are required to proceed to either the gazetted immigration anchorages or the gazetted marinas for immigration clearance. I thank Ms Olsen for her feedback, which I take seriously. We are reviewing our maritime security measures and practices, including the subject of immigration clearance for such vessels. To enhance security, we presently have a system which tracks closely all vessels, including pleasure crafts, coming into our ports. For smaller vessels below 300 gross tonnage, such as pleasure crafts, we have started to install transponders to allow us to track them within our port limits. Every vessel, large or small, pleasure or not, coming into our territorial waters will be monitored. The ICA will also require agents or operators at the gazetted marinas to submit pleasure craft's arrival or departure advice, together with the passenger and crew lists for pre-screening of the persons on board. This added requirement by the ICA has ensured that all passengers on board the pleasure craft are thoroughly screened prior to landing and to facilitate detection of unauthorised persons on board on arrival at the marinas. In addition, the Police Coast Guard patrols keep a close watch at sea and conduct selective checks of vessels based on intelligence and profiling. These checks include face-to-face checks of passengers and physical checks of the vessels. Such checks are important as they prevent the off-loading of illegal immigrants or other undesirable elements within our territorial waters and before the crafts proceed to the gazetted immigration checkpoints. The surprise checks have yielded good results in tightening security.”
“For example, following the escape of Took Leng How through the Woodlands Checkpoint in 2004, Police and ICA jointly reviewed the security systems and put in place additional measures to prevent this from happening again. To ensure that the checks at the checkpoints remain robust, ICA and Police regularly carry out surprise intrusion tests to assess the security performance of our checkpoints. We also employ a variety of latest inspection technology at our checkpoints, such as gamma ray and radiographic scanners, to prevent smuggling of illicit and prohibited goods in a non-intrusive and expeditious manner. In addition, we are working closely with the industry to tighten regulatory controls over commercially available chemicals that could be used to manufacture improvised bombs, explosives and devices. As for the recent murder of Lim Hock Soon, the nightclub boss, Police is currently investigating the case. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects left Singapore before they could be identified and be linked to the murder. For now, we should let the Police carry out its investigations and not make any further speculation. Ultimately, Sir, intelligence and information provided by the public are key to preventing the smuggling of firearms and explosives into Singapore. In this regard, members of the public can play their part by being vigilant. They should alert Police or ICA officers if they see any person acting suspiciously or trying to slip in or out of our checkpoints. This will further enhance our security coverage. Let me now turn to the subject raised by Ms Eunice Olsen concerning the security measures taken at marinas, particularly with regard to pleasure crafts.”
“The traffic patterns at the land checkpoints are much less predictable compared to the airport and sea checkpoints where there are scheduled arrivals and departures. Nevertheless, let me assure the House that the ICA constantly monitors the flow of travellers and vehicles at the land checkpoints and will take the necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency as much as possible. However, we must also be realistic. Given the volume of traffic at the land checkpoints, we must accept that, even with all the counters manned, there will be some delays, especially when there is a bottleneck from the surge in traffic numbers occurring at the same time. 1.00 pm Secondly, whatever ICA does, it must not compromise the current level of security, a concern that takes priority over convenience. This concern was rightly expressed by Ms Indranee yesterday and Mr Chiam earlier on. Our borders remain the frontline of our defence against terrorism and although we know that there is no such thing as a 100% protection, we must do whatever we can to make it difficult for the would-be troublemakers and terrorists. Ms Rajah and Mr Chiam also expressed concern that the perpetrators of crime and terrorism could slip through our checkpoints undetected. Ms Rajah has also asked for the measures that we have in place to prevent the smuggling of arms and explosives. Sir, whatever we do, criminals will continue to test our security measures. While many will fail, a small number may succeed. We must learn from the situations where there may have been lapses, and take corrective action.”
“104 million people and 46 million vehicles passed through the two checkpoints last year. Very few countries have such a high volume of people and vehicular movements. ICA has taken various measures to facilitate and expedite clearance. This includes, for example, the use of pre-registered cards for bus travellers. So, if you are a frequent bus traveller, you can get a pre-registered card. You can then use the automated clearance stations. In the pipeline are efforts to provide the same do-it-yourself (DIY) clearance facilities for bus travellers who are Singaporeans. They can use, for example, their Singapore passports for self-clearance at an automatic immigration clearance station. We will be setting this up soon. During peak periods, ICA will get more personnel to perform extra shift duties. However, checkpoint officers are trained professionals. They need to be specially skilled in order to do their job well, and the pool of such people is limited. There is, therefore, a limit as to how many more officers we can add during peak times or to recall during peak periods like Christmas eve. Hence, some congestion will be inevitable during festive periods and peak hours. Nevertheless, ICA is exploring various options to enhance a pool of trained part-time staff who can be called upon to help to supplement the manpower resources during such peak periods. Mr Charles Chong suggested setting a key performance indicator to measure the clearance of travellers and vehicles at our land checkpoints. Sir, I do not think it is appropriate to compare the land checkpoints with the air and sea checkpoints, because the two are totally different systems and the traffic volumes and the patterns of travel are completely different.”
“Ms Indranee Rajah and Mr Ahmad Khalis have asked what we have learnt from the terrorist attacks in London, Madrid and Bali and from the recent exercise NorthStar V. Mr Ahmad Khalis also wanted to know the status of readiness of our forces to deal with an incident. Sir, we have learnt at least two key lessons from the terror attacks in London, Madrid and Bali. Firstly, it pays to be prepared, and emergency exercises are the best way to get ourselves prepared and operationally-ready to face terror attacks. Secondly, it was clear that a terrorist attack, especially one which involves homegrown elements, could potentially damage communal relations and social cohesion. I will elaborate later on the Community Engagement Programme which will seek to address this second point. We conducted Exercise NorthStar V on 8th January 2006 to test not only our own emergency response systems but also to sensitise our public and to involve them. Our review of the exercise results gives us confidence that our forces are well prepared. Mr Ian Johnston, the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, who was an observer at the exercise, commended the high state of readiness of our agencies. Sir, we will continue to hold regular exercises to keep our emergency responders on their toes. Not all of these exercises need to be on the same scale as Exercise NorthStar V. But we will be exploring ways to have exercises which will involve the public as well as other stakeholders and partners, as we did in NorthStar V. Sir, several Members have raised issues about our border security. Mr Steve Chia and Mr Charles Chong have expressed concerns on the checkpoint clearance, so has Mr Chiam. Sir, our land checkpoints are among the busiest in the world.”
“Other JI members had been targeting other critical infrastructure and soft targets. The consequences, if they had succeeded, would be very severe. Sir, although we have disrupted the JI cells in Singapore, we recognise that working with the Muslim community to rehabilitate the detainees and to counter the radical JI ideology are key to fighting this problem. We are not alone in this view. The Zaobao and Today articles on Nasir Abas yesterday is a case in point. Mr Abas was a JI member who confessed that he had trained some of the worst terrorists in our region, including the suicide bombers who mounted the Bali bombing in October 2002. Today, Abas is helping to spread the word in the region that terrorism is wrong and not part of the true teachings of Islam. We believe that we have broken the JI operations inside Singapore, and the active terrorist threat to Singapore is likely to come from outside our borders. However, we must be mindful that every society has its impressionable and misguided elements and they are therefore vulnerable. All it takes is a handful of such weaker, misguided elements within our society to be indoctrinated by terrorists or extremists with radical ideology to become sympathisers or terrorist elements. Such persons, whether acting on their own or, more likely, in collaboration with militants in the region, will pose a deadly threat to Singapore. This is the reason why several of our Muslim religious leaders have been active in reaching out through forums on subjects like jihad to counter the distortions of extremist teachings. They help to innoculate our people from the influence of terrorist ideology and to raise the level of community vigilance against extremist teachers.”
“This camp is believed to have provided training on bomb-making and weapons-handling. The level of cooperation between our Police and the intelligence services with their foreign counterparts, especially those in the region, has grown in strength since 2001. Shared intelligence led to the detection and arrests of several Singaporean JI fugitives, including Arifin Ali in Thailand and, more recently, Mas Selamat in Indonesia. Both of them are now in ISA detention in Singapore. Besides the sharing of intelligence, the Police and intelligence services also share training and learn from each other's best practices and experience. One of the benefits we have derived from such close relations has been the access that we were given to the different sites where a terrorist incident has happened. Our police officers, for example, were able to go to London immediately after the incident in July last year and learn directly from their London Metropolitan Police counterparts who were handling the investigations. Such timely and first-hand exposure was invaluable to our post-blast investigators. One of our officers was actually part of the team that went into the London Underground where the bomb blast happened. Ms Indranee Rajah asked if there is a potential danger from home-grown terrorists. The danger is in fact real and it already exists. Nearly all the JI members in detention with us today are Singaporeans. I think all, except one. Many had been involved in various activities to support or prepare for a terrorist attack inside Singapore. Had they succeeded in their plans, we would have had our homegrown terrorists long before the Londoners had. For example, Mas Selamat had planned to hijack and crash an aircraft into the Singapore Changi Airport.”
“Ms Indranee Rajah and Mr Ravindran asked about the latest assessment of the terrorist threat in the region and in Singapore. Mr Ravindran has also asked about the state of cooperation between our intelligence agencies and the Police and their foreign counterparts. Sir, terrorism remains a serious threat. It is very much alive and it is going to be around for a very long time. Although the efforts of the governments in the region have seen significant successes, extremist terrorism has shown itself to be highly resilient and adaptive. The Al Qaeda is weakened operationally, but its violent ideology continues to infect new groups in the world. In this region, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been weakened and the members are on the run. Its key operatives, such as Hambali, the JI's key point man in Asia of the Al Qaeda, have been arrested, and the JI bomb-maker, Azahari Husin, was killed by the Indonesians in an operation on 9th November 2005. Others, such as Nordin Mohd Top, Dulmatin, Umar Patek and Zulkarnaen, to name just a few, are still active. They are recruiting new suicide bomb-makers and are transferring their terrorist know-how, including bomb-making, to militant groups in Indonesia and Mindanao. So, even if all these leaders are captured or killed, new ones will take their place, not unlike the many-headed hydra snake of the marshes of Lerna in the Greek mythology. This is because the terrorist training camps, which continue to produce new leaders and operatives for the groups in the region, are still operating, for example, in Mindanao. In fact, in November 2005, the Indonesian authorities discovered an abandoned jungle training camp in Maluku. The instructors at this camp were apparently the graduates of the terrorist academies in Afghanistan and the Philippines.”
“So, all they need to do is to look up the website, check the IMEI number and they will know whether the phone has been reported as lost. The Police will step up its public education efforts through a poster advertisement campaign to remind the public to be alert against handphones and other crimes. Sir, while the crime rate has gone up in 2005, I would say that the overall law and order situation remains well under control. Singapore remains one of the safest cities in the world. The Home Team will continue to work closely with the community to ensure that Singapore remains a safe and secure best home for all. This is because keeping Singapore safe and secure is not just the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs alone. Indeed, public-assisted arrests accounted for 42% of the arrests of criminals involving outraging of modesty, housebreaking, robbery, motor vehicle theft, snatch theft, murder and rape in 2005. I think very few countries in the world could achieve this rate of public-assisted arrests. Every Singaporean has a part to play, whether it is in making sure that his handphone is not carelessly left around or his home is improperly secured. Every Singaporean can help beat crime by being vigilant and then alerting the Police of any suspicious activity in the neighbourhood. To summarise, Sir, crime remains a key aspect of the Ministry's focus. This, however, should not and must not detract us from our fight to keep the terrorists out of Singapore and to put in place measures to deal with a terrorist incident, if one ever happens. Sir, low crime does not mean no crime. Let me now turn to what I consider to be a more important subject, which is homeland security and our measures to deal with the aftermath of a bomb blast, should it happen.”
“The recent partnership with the community went back a long way, and I want to thank the people for their contributions in this community policing. Police will work with grassroots organisations to promote a greater sense of vigilance in our neighbourhood. In particular, grassroots volunteers, such as those on the Citizens-on-Patrol (COP) scheme, would be encouraged to pay particular attention to HDB void decks and other common areas during their patrols. Police will also leverage on the Neighbourhood Watch Zone (NWZ) scheme to rope in more residents to help look out for one another and to inform Police of suspicious persons loitering in their neighbourhood. 12.45 pm The SMS Crime Alert Services is another new initiative by the Police. Under the scheme, Police will send SMS messages to alert community leaders, Neighbourhood Watch Zone volunteers and business associations on salient crime trends. This has been tried out on a pilot basis since August last year, and the Police will consider extending the SMS alert service to the wider community later this year. The Police is also working with the town councils to install CCTVs in common areas in HDB estates, such as the ground lift landings in void decks, as a crime prevention measure as well as to deter littering and other kinds of localised problems. In view of the high incidence of crimes involving handphones, the Police is also implementing measures to disrupt the disposal of stolen handphones. Since June 2005, where there are reasons to do so, the Police has checked the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the handphones of persons who were stopped by the Police. In April 2006, a website will be set up to enable the public to check if a used handphone they intend to buy has been reported stolen.”
“Sir, the process of taking down an unlicensed moneylending syndicate, or any criminal syndicate for that matter, for example, drug trafficking, requires detailed and lengthy investigations and intelligence gathering. So it will take some time before we can see the full effect of the enhanced efforts to tackle this problem. I say we are making good progress and the overall assessment is that the enhanced penalties under the Moneylenders Act, the use of the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, our policy of cancelling passports of convicted or detained higher-tier loan sharks as well as the more intensive enforcement actions by the Police are beginning to have an impact on the ground. Police is also working with the relevant agencies, such as the Law Ministry, the Housing and Development Board and the MAS, to deal with the problem comprehensively. We will continue to put pressure on the loan sharks to make it more difficult for them to operate in Singapore. Dr Tan also asked about the case of a woman who suffered a miscarriage after confronting a loan shark. At this stage, we are not able to reveal any details on this case because investigations are still going on. But I wish to assure the House that the Police takes a stern view of unlicensed moneylending activities and will not let up on its efforts to bring to justice the culprit of this case and for other cases. Sir, my Ministry will continue to monitor the crime trends, adjust our crime-fighting strategies and make legislative amendments, if necessary, to enhance deterrence. One of the strategies that the Police will continue to pursue is a strong partnership with the community in preventing crime.”
“While we need not be overly concerned about the violent crimes involving firearms becoming a serious problem in Singapore, we will continue nevertheless to be vigilant and maintain our tough and zero-tolerance stance towards firearm offences. This is backed by the Arms Offences Act, which prescribes heavy punishment, including the death penalty, for offenders convicted of trafficking in arms and committing or attempting to commit scheduled offences with arms. On the question of loan sharks, which both Dr Tan Boon Wan and Mr Charles Chong mentioned, this is another crime which has an impact on the overall law and order situation in Singapore. Unlicensed moneylending or loan-sharking is a problem perceived by people to be serious. But let me put this in perspective again. Dr Tan Boon Wan asked what is the situation now after the amendments in the Moneylenders Act, which came into force this year. So far, seven people have been charged under the new Moneylenders Act for unlicensed moneylending with two of them also facing additional charges of harassment. Since last year, Police has conducted many operations and, since January this year, Police has conducted three successful operations which led to the arrest of 36 people. Cash amounting to almost $170,000 was seized together with notebooks, desktop computers and mobile phones. These operations have been made possible because the Police has centralised and beefed up its intelligence and enforcement resources under the Anti-Unlicensed Moneylending Taskforce at the Criminal Investigation Department to tackle this scourge.”
“If we include the National Service and the non-uniformed component because we also have civilian posts in the Police, the Police's strength has actually increased from 35,500 in 2001 to 37,200 in 2005. Ultimately, what matters is not just having a ubiquitous and pervasive Police presence but the effectiveness of the policing strategy. This is translated into the sense of security that people feel when they walk around Singapore. Safety and security are very valued dimensions in the quality of life in Singapore. In the first nationwide Safety and Security Survey conducted in October 2004, 83% of the respondents felt safe in the neighbourhood they lived in and 70% did not see crime as a problem. Foreigners have consistently provided feedback. They are amazed at how safe they feel when walking on the streets of Singapore in the wee hours of the morning. And they find this all the more impressive because they do not see an overwhelming Police presence. I have met people coming from America who asked me, "How is it we don't see the Police even though Singapore is called a police state by their newspapers?" I have friends coming from Hong Kong who asked me, "How is it that Singapore's crime rate is so low and yet we don't see the Police officers?" That is something quite remarkable because our people play their role and people feel safe, and the Police is effective. Let me now turn to the gun-related incidents that Ms Indranee Rajah referred to, and Mr Chiam also touched on it. From the data that we have had for the past five years on firearm offences, it appears that the recent gun-related incidents are isolated incidents. Between 2001 and 2005, there were only two cases of firearm offences, one in 2002 and the other in 2003.”
“6% point difference, it still exceeded the target set at 90%. So, if you read the data carefully, we are comparing the actual performance in FY03/04 and the target performance in FY05. The target performance actually was just at 90%. We have far exceeded that target and reached 99% and 97.5%. For FY05, it is 90%, and it may hit more than 90%. We will wait for the final figure. I think MPs have therefore misunderstood in their reading of the MHA's KPIs. Notwithstanding this, we will continue to do our best to improve the performance vis-a-vis the targets we have set. Mr Low also asked if there has been a compromise on our neighbourhood security due to the focus on counter-terrorism and the hosting of high profile international events, like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Let me assure Members that we will continue to pay close attention to neighbourhood community policing and security. The Home Team has been able to manage its limited resources effectively so that we can balance the different competing demands while maintaining a high level of operational readiness and effectiveness. While the headcount policy does impose some constraints on the Police - the Government has a headcount policy which we are also affected - we have been able to manage it quite well. In fact, we are able to manage the increase in demand because of the corporatisation of CISCO. The CISCO was corporatised with effect from last year which means that the spare headcount there could be added on to the MHA headcount. As such, we have kept the manpower resources in the Police relatively stable, at about 8,000 regular Police officers.”
“Another key reason for this increase is more intensive Police enforcement against drink driving, which reflects the Home Team's commitment to keep our roads safe. Now, I will address Mr Low Thia Khiang's and Mr Charles Chong's query about the Ministry's KPI indicators specifically. May I say that, except for an increase in the crime trend, the Home Team has met, if not exceeded, most of its key performance targets for FY 2004, and is expected to do as well for 2005 despite heightened security demands and limited resources. As regards the targets set for the indicators, I should point out that, among the targets for key performance indicators mentioned by Mr Low, two of them were actually revised upwards, not downwards, in 2004. For the "percentage of urgent cases responded to within 15 minutes", the target was revised from 85% to 87%, while the target of "percentage of non-urgent cases responded to within 30 minutes" was raised from 85% to 90%. The upward adjustment was due in part to the sustained period of good performance. While the actual performances on these two indicators from FY03 to FY05 had declined as reflected in the Budget book, they had actually exceeded the performance targets that we set. The targets then set were much lower than 90%. It was adjusted to 90% in 2004 and 2005. Despite heightened security demands, we have kept these two targets constant since FY04, and we have thus projected at 87% and 90% respectively for FY06. In addition, the target for "percentage of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds" has remained constant and was not adjusted downwards. It remains at a stringent 90% between FY03 and FY05. Although the actual performance for this target actually declined slightly from 99% in FY03 to 97.4% in FY05, which was just a 1.”
“While Prison does not have special rehabilitation programmes for serial house-breakers, it will customise the rehabilitation programmes based on the individual and his level of needs and the risk of offending. The programmes address the offenders' criminal thinking that causes offending behaviours and also help to impart pro-social life skills to them. As for snatch theft, where a person's belonging is forcibly snatched away from him, cases involving handphones have increased from 160 in 2004 to 280 in 2005. These 280 cases accounted for 45% of the snatch theft cases in 2005. Of particular concern are cases that target the handphones of young victims, which have increased from 50 cases to 93 cases in 2005. Robbery and theft cases involving handphones remain a key area of concern for the Police. The number of such cases increased significantly by 42% to 4,830 cases in 2005. This is due to the higher mobile phone penetration rate in Singapore, thereby giving to a larger pool of potential victims. Do you know how many handphone subscribers there are in Singapore? 4.3 million. So we must look at roughly 5,000 cases in the perspective of almost 4.3 million handphone subscribers in Singapore. Similarly, just looking back at the years of the 1950s, I am sure we will find bicycle thefts were high because those were the days we travelled on a bicycle. But today, possibly bicycle thefts are not of the same significance compared to handphones. In the 1950s, it would be zero handphone theft because no handphone was available. Sir, on KPIs, the increase in theft and related offences, especially in relation to handphones, is one of the reasons for the increase in the number of seizable offences, as reflected in the KPIs of MHA in the Budget book.”
“The bulk of the increase in crime rate can be attributed to minor theft and related offences, such as theft in dwelling and other theft. Handphone crime featured prominently in the increases for several offences, most notably robbery, snatch theft and other theft. Mr Ahmad Khalis has rightly pointed out that there has been a significant increase in cheating and related offences, housebreaking and snatch theft. The increase in cheating and related offences is due in part to a rise in cases of criminal breach of trust. Many of these involved handphones. A typical example is that of a culprit who fails to return the victim's handphone after borrowing it. They will say, “May I borrow your phone?�?, and they will walk away, or run. 12.30 pm On housebreaking, there was an increase of some 230 cases, from 1,240 in 2004 to 1,470 cases in 2005. There was also an increase of 48 house-breaking involving culprits who gained entry through unsecured windows or doors. There was no sign of tampering of the premises. This suggests that the residents themselves had failed to secure their premises before they left their homes or before they went to sleep. Such crimes can be avoided if they take care to ensure their homes are well secured. Home-owners can prevent such crimes by installing alarm system to deter housebreakers and when it sounds, even if they are not at home, the neighbours can be alerted and I am sure would-be house-breakers would take precaution and run away. In 2005, there were 23 serial house-breakers arrested for a total of 257 cases, compared to 28 serial house-breakers arrested for 208 cases in 2004. Mr Khalis asked if there are special efforts to rehabilitate such serial offenders.”
“Sir, yesterday, most of the MPs had spoken. And among those who were not here yesterday, an opportunity for them to speak was given this morning. From the English press reports, I notice that the emphasis seems to be on crime, KPIs and related issues concerning the Police. I want to deal with this first, although it is not the most important subject today that we have to deal with, particularly looking at the security situation that we face. But I want to get this subject over with so that I can explain to Members how to look at this issue of crime, KPIs and related issues from the proper perspective. I will then spend a bit of time talking about the more important subject, which is security, terrorism, counter-terrorism and how to prepare ourselves in the event of such a bomb explosion happening in Singapore. My Senior Minister of State and Senior Parliamentary Secretary will then answer specifically some of the other issues raised by Members. Sir, a number of MPs have asked about the crime situation. While crime remains an area of the Ministry's work, let us not lose focus on the seriousness of the terrorism situation that we continue to face. That said, let me now get into the details of this overall crime situation. Yes, there has been an increase in crime rate by 19.9%, almost 20%, from 30,620 cases in 2004 to 36,700 cases in 2005. And I do feel that this increase is alarming. But if we were to examine the types of crime which have seen an increase, we will note that many of these crimes need not have happened, had the victims been more careful and vigilant. Many crimes were opportunistic in nature and could have been prevented if the victims were more responsible in taking care of their belongings.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2006/2007, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, may I seek your consent and the general assent of hon. Members to move that progress be reported now and leave be asked to sit again tomorrow.”
“Sir, the law specifies a minimum of nine days and we will get nine days. I do not see a need for change because, even with five years, if you have not done enough campaigning, then nine days is nothing.”
“Sir, I am very certain that what was experienced in 2001, when there were only two days between the publication of the report and the dissolution of Parliament, will not happen this time. Therefore, it means that Mr Chia will have more than two days after the report is out before the dissolution of Parliament. He may have two months or he may have more than that, I do not know. But if the Prime Minister decides, and when he decides we will have the election and dissolve Parliament, I think all of us will know of it.”
“Sir, on Mr Chia's question, the Boundaries Review Committee has already worked hard. They have completed their report and the report is now before the Prime Minister who will be informing the President of it, and I am very certain that, before the end of the week, the Members will receive a copy of the report. On the question of reducing the size of the GRC to three, it really does not matter whether we have bigger or smaller GRCs, more singles or fewer. It is a question of whether the parties themselves are able to get enough people to contest in the election. And it is not the PAP's fault that the Opposition parties have not been able to get enough candidates. I think those who say that the PAP has denied the people a choice should ask themselves: should they themselves not take part in them? I have heard of the panel discussion reported in the papers just a few days ago that the PAP had denied the people a choice. I think those panel members should go and form a political party. If they want to form a political party, I will make sure that the registration will be expedited. Or they can join another party. Then, we will have more people contesting the election. I welcome that.”
“Yes, Sir. On the question of rally sites, I think Potong Pasir has one rally site, and that one rally site is enough because, in the last election, Mr Chiam managed to hold only two rallies throughout the whole campaign. He could not get the last night because he was late, he lost out to the PAP candidate, so he went to Lavender Street. As a result, he attracted 13,000 people who went to attend this rally. Imagine that if the police did not have a system to ensure the security of the candidate, I am sure Mr Chiam would have found great difficulty in getting out of that situation where almost 200 of them went quite unruly and, as a result, quite a number got arrested for their unruliness. On Mr Chia's question about having enough time and whether the ---”
“I will try to make it fast. We have up to 3.50 pm. Sir, Mr Chiam asked for the usual things, such as more rally sites and for election deposits to be reduced, which he had also done in the past, and I am sure he also knows the answers I am going to give. Sir, let me deal with the question of deposits first. The law specifies that the election deposit shall be 8% of the total allowances payable to an elected MP in the year before the election. This formula is not a new formula. The formula has been in place since 1954 when the MP allowance was about $500 and the deposit was also $500. So when the MP allowance was subsequently raised, the election deposit was also raised by the same absolute dollar value. Then, later on, we decided that instead of changing it every time the MP allowance was raised, we just have a formula. The formula is 8% of the total MP allowances payable in the preceding year. Therefore, it works out to be about $13,500 for the next election. Should we reduce this to just $5,000 as Mr Chiam suggested? At one time, he even asked for much less than that. I would say that election is a very serious business. People who want to contest in the election must really have the ability or the confidence to be able to even get 12.5% of the valid votes. That is all he needs. If he can get 12.5% of the valid votes, he gets back his money. Very few candidates who took part in elections actually lost the election deposits. I have explained in this House before why, in the previous election, two candidates lost their deposits. One was because he just did not show up at all in Ayer Rajah. The other was because he went to contest in a single constituency where there were three candidates and he did not appeal enough to win even 12.5% and, therefore, he lost the deposit.”
“Sir, I must make a note of his questions, because he spoke so fast.”
“I do not think Mr Low knows the meaning of clarification. After the PM has made his round-up speech, he is to seek clarification from the Prime Minister and not to say something in clarification of what he had wanted to say or had said but said wrongly or was misunderstood. That is the meaning of clarification. I think he better understand this carefully. If he wants to have a debate on the Workers' Party manifesto, that is a different matter. It is not a clarification.”
“That is not a point of clarification. It looks like Mr Low is making another speech.”
“Sir, I just want to make one clarification. During the Parliamentary sitting on 14th February, when Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked for my response to her proposal to exclude foreign workers who are working as maids in our households, I said that, "if these foreign maids think that they want to spend $100 going there and lose another $300, let them decide." I would like to correct the first part of my reply regarding the foreign maids having to "spend $100 going there". I have issued a clarification to the media about this on 14th February evening. Sir, under the Casino Control Act, the entry levy requirement applies only to Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents. In fact, I have made this point a couple of times in my speech during the Second Reading of the Casino Control Bill. DEBATE ON BUDGET STATEMENT (Business Motion) Resolved, That, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, the debate on the Budget Statement shall resume on Monday, 27th February 2006. - [Mr Wong Kan Seng]. FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL 2005 TO 31ST MARCH 2006 (Paper Cmd. 2 of 2006) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair]”
“The answer is in the law. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Wong Kan Seng]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 3.31 pm”
“I thought he was talking about maids. So the maids he talked about are foreign domestic workers, whether we should stop them from going in.”
“We will leave it to the good conscience of the operators to decide what to do. Those who believe that they want to be good corporate citizens and it is their normal duty or even to do it as a social mission, we should give them the flexibility. But I am not going to put it in the law to say that we must have that social programme.”
“It sounds like Mr Chia is equating our domestic home-makers to domestic maids. Is he saying that? It means that he thinks that all our wives at homes who are not working are maids. I would object strongly to that. As I have said, if the maids want to do that, let us not be their nanny.”
“I think many people wish to have a free open house. I think such a decision should not be made now. Maybe, for good business reasons, they may want to open the casino and say, "Please come and see, but no gambling". But who knows? I do not want to decide that for them. I am not the operator.”
“Sir, if these foreign maids think that they want to spend $100 going there and lose another $300, let them decide. Why are we going to do that job for them? They are adults.”
“Sir, if a member wants to go and use the place for more than 20 times a year, let him be. Whereas when we say $100 per entry, every time when he walks in, it is $100. But for convenience, for people who want to visit more often, we fix a fee at $2,000 a year. There is no need to equalise number of visits of a member's fee of $2,000 with $100 per entry. That is the point I want to make that there is no need to go and put in all these barriers just to stop people from gambling. If people find that $100 is too much, they will not go. If those who find that $2,000 a year is too much a commitment, they may not put up that $2,000. Such decisions should be left to the individual. We put in this mechanism of per entry or annual membership to provide the convenience to those who want to go there more often. Whether the 15% or 5% tax will be unchanged, it is quite clear that we commit to 5% and 15% for the next 10 years. Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: Sir, I would like to seek a clarification. During my speech, I mentioned about proposing to exclude foreign workers who are working as maids in our households because many of our households in Singapore do have maids. The Deputy Prime Minister has not replied to my proposal on this.”
“Because it is not in the Act, therefore, there is no need to come to Parliament. But it is a public issue and certainly, the Government cannot make such a decision in a quiet manner without it being known. The operators will know, the public will know, somebody will know.”
“Sir, as I have said earlier, this is not a decision to be taken by the CRA. If any decision like that is to be taken, it will be taken by the Government. Sir, I will give Members an idea of what is 15,000 square metres out of the total size of gross floor area that we have. I mentioned that it is less than 3%. I have been to casinos in Las Vegas. I have been to four of them - Sands, Caesars Palace, Wynn Resorts and Bellagio. The biggest I have seen is probably in Caesars Palace. It is about 170,000 square feet. Anyone who has been to Caesars Palace would know that it is very large, compared to the total gross area that they have in that place. And for the others, the casinos are about 110,000 and 120,000 square feet. If we are going to put it in terms of metres, 110,000 square feet is about 10,000 square metres. Bellagio is also quite big. For those who have been to Bellagio, can you imagine what is 15,000 square metres? So there is no need for us to go beyond 15,000 square metres as far as we can see.”
“Sir, there is no need to do so because it is already in the RFP document and it is a point already clearly made to the potential bidders.”
“We are confident that the Casino Control Bill will help to provide an environment where the Integrated Resorts can succeed and thrive while, at the same time, enabling us to keep social and law and order problems under control.”
“To Dr Geh Min's suggestion to have different tax rates for locals and foreigners, I think the casino operators would find it onerous to keep track of their revenues based on nationality. Dr Geh Min will know that there are, at most, four million "sitting ducks" in Singapore, even if we include every child or baby. But if you were to include all the "moving ducks" around the region, there are tens, if not, hundreds of millions of them. If you just depend on Singaporeans, that will not be enough to sustain the business. In fact, we want our casino operators to go out and get foreigners so that they can boost our tourism traffic and, at the same time, to spend money in Singapore and also to provide the variety of entertainment that Singaporeans may also be able to benefit from when the foreigners come here to watch the shows. The additional tax revenue from the casinos will go into the Government's Consolidated Fund. As they will more than cover the funding of initiatives undertaken by the National Council on Problem Gambling, there is no need to earmark a portion of it for the social programmes, as suggested by Dr Geh Min. This should be up to the discretion of the Ministries and agencies. Besides, it is not the Government's policy to earmark revenue for specific purposes. Sir, in conclusion, we have studied and adapted the best practices in other jurisdictions to our unique circumstances to deal with the potential social and law and order impact of the casinos on Singapore. As we move ahead, we will continue to review and fine tune our policies to ensure they remain relevant and effective.”
“Maybe Mr Low would like to volunteer, because he has no connection with any of the IRs, to serve on the National Council on Problem Gambling, and I shall ask the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports to invite him. With regard to inspectors, Mr Low may wish to know that these are the CRA employees, not the casino operators' employees, and they will be given the necessary training, including attachments to foreign casino operators or regulators, to ensure that they are up to the task and to learn from other people's experience. They will also be given the necessary powers to carry out their duties. Sir, I will now turn to the queries raised by Mr Ahmad Khalis and Dr Geh Min about the casino taxes and funding for the Casino Regulatory Authority and the National Council on Problem Gambling. As I mentioned earlier, the casino operator will have to pay the casino tax and the corporate taxes. This is a standard practice in most casino jurisdictions. We will levy a 15% casino tax on the gross gaming revenue. Gross gaming revenue generated from the premium players will be levied a 5% casino tax. The premium player market is highly selective and the casino operators need to find ways to attract them. Hence, the lower tax rate for premium players is to incentivise the casino operator to bring in more high rollers. This is also the practice elsewhere in many other jurisdictions. Commonsense tells us that 5% of a large sum of money from a select pool of high rollers is more in absolute terms compared to the 15% of the money put in by small-time player mass market. One operator in Las Vegas told me, when I visited them last November, that premium players can possibly account for 75% of the gaming revenue.”
“We shall require the casino operator to provide comprehensive video surveillance for the gaming area and key locations, such as the count room, where they count the money. The police and the CRA will also work out procedures to guide the casino operator in handling and detaining suspected offenders to ensure that there are no excesses. The casinos will not be allowed to offer sports betting, as it is known in the United States. This is already reflected in the Marina Bayfront Request For Proposal document which was launched on 15th November 2005. The casino operator will also not be allowed to offer remote gambling services that extend beyond the casino boundary. However, the casino operator will have the flexibility to decide on the number of jackpot machines, subject to a maximum of 2,500. This is because, if you look at the size of the casino, ie, 15,000 square metres at the most, 2,500 jackpot machines should be adequate. We will also allow them the flexibility to decide on the number of blackjack or baccarat tables and so on, as these are business decisions best made by the operator and not the regulator. Sir, Mr Low Thia Khiang has suggested that we should not appoint Board members to the CRA or the National Council on Problem Gambling who have a direct or indirect interest in our casinos. This is not practical. What matters is that we put in place good corporate governance standards and we make sure that only persons of integrity and with the necessary expertise are appointed to serve. This is also the practice in many other jurisdictions. Mr Low knows full well that no system can prevent a person from taking advantage of his position, if he does not have integrity.”
“As I mentioned earlier, clause 129 of the Bill will require the casino operators to take all appropriate steps to ensure that undesirable activities, such as prostitution and illegal money-lending, do not take place within their premises. We need not define "appropriate" steps upfront, because we cannot envisage all situations. If necessary, these will be made known in subsidiary legislation and the CRA directives. The police and the CRA will work closely with the casino operators to keep the casinos free from such undesirable activities. Police has since last year begun to implement a series of enforcement measures against loan sharks. In addition, Members should not see clause 129 of the Bill in isolation. It should be viewed holistically with our other existing laws, such as the Penal Code, the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, the Misuse of Drugs Act, etc, that deal with solicitation, loan sharks and other criminal activities. Police is also studying the various strategies to help ensure that the overall law and order situation in the vicinity of the Integrated Resorts remains under control. Police is setting up a Casino Investigation Branch to deal with the potential law and order challenges from the casinos. Let me assure Members that the police will take the necessary enforcement actions to ensure that the Integrated Resorts, including the immediate vicinity of the Resorts, remain wholesome places to visit. Sir, Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked about video surveillance in the casinos, the casino operators' powers to detain suspected offenders, and the types of games which we will allow in the casinos.”
“This will include thorough checks on gaming equipment before they are allowed on the casino floor. In addition, the Casino Control Bill will impose heavy fines and imprisonment terms on those who are caught cheating at our casinos. The details, such as the frequency of the equipment checks, will be worked out later. We shall also conduct comprehensive checks to ensure that the key casino employees are suitable to work in the casinos. To Prof Ong Soh Khim's suggestion to include supporting staff, such as cleaners and waiters, as special employees to be licensed, we have decided that, in the initial stages, only key management staff and those directly related to the gaming operations will be licensed. It would not be practical nor is it necessary to check and license every single employee who is not directly or indirectly involved in the gaming component of the casino. We will monitor this and review whether other types of employees should be included later. Ms Indranee has asked about our measures to combat money-laundering. As mentioned earlier, we shall put in place a comprehensive set of measures based on the recommendations by the Financial Action Taskforce and the best practices in other gaming jurisdictions. We take this seriously, because Singapore is an international financial centre and we do not want to be classified as a centre for money-laundering. Ms Indranee Rajah, Mdm Ho Geok Choo, Mr Sin Boon Ann and Mr Ong Kian Min have noted that undesirable activities, such as solicitation for prostitution and loan sharking, are often associated with overseas casinos and asked what we will do to ensure that our Integrated Resorts are wholesome places to visit.”
“For example, they lay out exactly where the gaming machines are to be placed, how many baccarat and blackjack tables, and so on, and that any movement of any of these tables or any addition of the tables and the subtraction of another needs the approval of the regulator. We included some of these restrictions in the draft Bill earlier because we adapted them from the Victoria Casino Control Act and put into our draft consultation Bill. However, after I had visited the jurisdictions elsewhere and learning from the experience of others, we found that these are not universal practices and, therefore, may not be necessary. This is the background to the context of my statement yesterday when I said we decided to relax a number of operational controls on the casino operator. But, in effect, there is actually no change, in the sense that, in this final draft which is now before the House, we did not include them. We took into account the experience that we gathered from overseas, and decided to remove the provisions which we took from the Victoria example. We believe that our supervision and regulation of the casinos will not be compromised by these changes. To deal with problem gamblers within the casino, the casino operators will be required to train their staff to detect and deal with patrons whose behaviour clearly suggests that they are at risk of problem gambling. Sir, I agree with Dr Lily Neo that the honesty of the casino staff and patrons would be critical in protecting the integrity of gaming in our casinos. As such, the casino operators shall be required to submit a set of internal controls for CRA's approval to ensure that our casinos have the necessary controls and measures to guard against scams and frauds.”