Yeo Guat Kwang
Singapore
“Madam, a supplementary question. Many are concerned that with the rising manpower cost and manpower shortage, whether the standard of cleanliness and the hygiene level in the hawker centres will also be affected.”
“The Government should consider implementing new disposal standards like Taiwan and the cities in China, as well as roll out assistance schemes similar to the Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV), to encourage the local F&B industry to bring in new technology and provide businesses with grants to purchase kitchen waste disposal machiner…”
“Madam, the Minister of State mentioned that instead of having a one-stop, he is suggesting to provide a better first-stop. So, I hope the Minister of State can elaborate further on how this first-stop can really help.”
“Mdm Speaker, I would like to seek a few clarifications from the Minister. The Minister mentioned that the Bill targets those dormitories that are housing 1,000 workers and above. But this Bill's name is "Foreign Employee Dormitories Bill". Why do we not call the Bill the "Purpose-Built Dormitory Bill"? That is, we call a spade a spade.”
“I would like to ask the Ministry: why does it not just group all these regulations together under this Bill and apply it to all? Madam, as the legislation is allowed time to take effect, I would also want to urge the Government to continue close consultation and engagement with the operators and migrant worker residents especially, as wel…”
“This is a Bill that touches everyone in one way or another: some of us are pet owners, others are potential pet buyers, business owners, and some of us may be neighbours to pet owners.”
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“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister what measure will MTI consider to ensure that consumers' interest will be safeguarded in sectors like this where there is little or no competition. Besides white pumps, how can we introduce more competition into the petrol retail sector? BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, we are open to suggestions. White pump was an idea suggested to us slightly over a year ago and we thought it was a good idea. White pumps are available in some countries, like Britain, where they have attained a certain market share and so we decided to introduce them. If CASE or anyone here has got ideas on how to introduce more competition to the business, MTI keeps an open mind. There is no reason for us to want to restrict competition. Our general policy towards the economy is that competition is good and competition should be encouraged. Should we regulate to ensure competition, like through a Competition Law, which is the question which has been raised a few times in this House? There is a draft being circulated among the Ministries and various economic agencies. There are a lot of problems because, sometimes, when you regulate to force competition, you may in fact end up creating anti-competitive practices and imposing a higher cost on the economy. The key is to regulate, but regulate lightly. Right now, the various regulatory agencies are responsible for competitive behaviour within the sectors they regulate, eg, in telecoms, power, health care or whatever. But whether there should be an overarching competition law, it is something that we are now considering seriously. We have not decided definitely to proceed.”
“We have embarked on programmes to upgrade our living environment for our residents. We must not stop there. As our population grows and ages, demands will change, and we must stay ahead and anticipate these changes. We have to lay the bricks and foundations today so that we can build a much better living environment for our people in the future. In conclusion, the seeds we plant today will bear fruit in future. While we remake and rejuvenate ourselves to meet future challenges, we cannot completely discard the sources of strength that have brought us successes thus far. We can recycle and reuse some of them and, most importantly, we must continue to clearly reassure Singaporeans that we will always have their best interests in mind. This will prepare them for the challenges ahead. ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE”
“In short, the most important "R" that we have talked about today is reassurance. If workers and Singaporeans are not reassured, it will be difficult for them to understand the policy changes, much less accept them. I thus urge the Government not to neglect the importance of reassuring Singaporeans, from the initial stages of discussions, right through the end of the policy formulation and implementation. We are at a critical juncture of our development. The steps that we take today will shape our future. We can do more to build and improve the infrastructure to fuel our growth ahead. Let me cite three examples. First, our public transport system. The public transport system links our homes to our workplaces, our relatives and families, and the recreational facilities as well. It gives us greater mobility in our lives. We already have a sound public transport system. However, we can do even more to improve it. For example, we know of workers who are reluctant to take up jobs in far away places because of the transportation time and cost. So I urge the Government to bring forward its plan to improve our public transport system by extending the MRT and LRT network to cover all housing estates as soon as possible. Second, our telecommunications system. We now have features of a world-class telecommunications system, as we have one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates in the world. However, I think another area we should also be able to do it fast is to quickly link up all homes with broadband as well. While I am sure that there must be sound reasons behind the current policy, I hope that the authorities can continue to study and review other options. Third, our living environment. We have almost universal home ownership today.”
“He said he was in a taxi in Malaysia and the taxi driver was so angry with Singapore. He could not understand why Malaysians are so angry with Singapore over what are essentially our domestic affairs. Sir, even the talks about restructuring of the economy and remaking of Singapore are so worrying from the point of view of the workers. The CPF will also be reviewed. MOM will be refining the components of the employment benefit system, including the payment of retrenchment benefits. How will these changes affect workers? The tax system is undergoing review as well. How will this affect workers and how will it impact Singaporeans? There is indeed uncertainty and when there is uncertainty, worry is unavoidable. Mr Speaker, Sir, in such an environment of uncertainty, it is important that we bring in another "R", that is, the Government must constantly and clearly reassure Singaporeans. Such reassurance will cushion the impact of uncertainty and prepare Singaporeans for the policy changes ahead. For workers, the reassurance can take many forms, such as affirming the commitment to help them move into new job areas in the new growth industries through training and skills upgrading and such as those schemes to ensure that their healthcare needs will be looked after. As a labour movement, the NTUC has repeatedly reassured workers that the unions will protect their interests even as the economy restructures. We will do our part. We will call on the Government and employers to do theirs too. For Singaporeans, it is important to reassure them that the Government has their best interest at heart. For major policy changes, the reassurance must be through concrete actions taken to minimise the policy impact.”
“One key strength of the new restaurant remains from Compass Rose - the excellent view from the top of Raffles City. In fact, I have observed that the restaurant's renovation had further enhanced the view to attract customers to come back. It is an example where a key strength was "recycled", not necessarily "remaking". Recycling is based on the principle of finding new uses of things that are useful. The same principle can be applied in how we tackle our future challenges. What are some of the strengths that we can recycle as we remake ourselves? As a labour MP, I immediately think of the tripartite partnership between workers, employers and the Government. The partnership is based on trust and respect. It has helped us tackle all the past crises. I am glad that the Minister for Manpower has given the assurance in his Addendum to the President's Address that the Government will continue to strengthen the tripartite partnership. This partnership must be preserved and built upon. It is a pillar that binds us workers, employers and the Government to the future of Singapore. That pillar will provide strength as we collectively face the challenges ahead. Mr Speaker, the President talked about how the world has changed and how severe the challenges ahead. Indeed, we live in uncertain times. I would even say that we live in unsettling times. Unemployment remains high. Our workers face wage restraints, wage cuts and retrenchment as the economy restructures. The jobs that they lose today will not come back tomorrow. Our regional environment is worrying too. The terrorist threats have not been completely eliminated. There remain issues in our relations with our neighbour Malaysia. One union leader tells me that he is worried when he travels to Malaysia.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we have overcome many major political and economic crises in the past. These crises have taught us many lessons. A key lesson must be that situations are never static. Our achievements today do not guarantee our successes in future. We must stand ready at all times, not just to react to unexpected changes, but also to position ourselves for the future. In this context, I fully support the initiatives to remake Singapore. Mr Speaker, "restructuring" and "remaking" have been very much in the news lately. The letter "R" seems to have a lot of exposure. Sir, we understand that it is important that we have to find new energies and directions to bring us forward. However, as we seek to rejuvenate ourselves, perhaps we can seek some inspiration from how companies renew and reposition themselves to changing consumer trends and market situations. I was recently at the Equinox Restaurant, a new restaurant at Raffles City, for lunch last month. Equinox occupies the top level of Raffles City Complex, at what used to be Compass Rose. It is, however, almost completely different from what we know about Compass Rose. There are now five restaurants and bars. It is a completely new environment with different dining experiences. It is an example of renewal and rejuvenation. The economic, political and social challenges ahead of us require us to respond with new strategies and renewed energies. Remaking ourselves will give us the new strategies, while rejuvenation will give us the strength to carry the strategies through. Both are equally important. Mr Speaker, Sir, however in the example that I have just mentioned of the new restaurant in Raffles City, not everything was renewed and rejuvenated.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, I do not understand Mr Low Thia Khiang's remarks. I think we should not give the wrong impression to our people. The important point here is that during a recession, when any citizen cannot afford to pay for his or his children's education fees, we have all kinds of financial assistance schemes to help him. There are always various kinds of bursaries available to the students, to ensure that they are not deprived of the opportunity to be educated just because they could not afford the fees. I can say this with full conviction because in the 1980s during the economic recession, I was one of those who depended on a bursary to complete my studies. For others who require help to pay for their utilities bills, HDB rentals, loans, etc, we are also providing them with various kinds of assistance. We must make them feel assured that help is on the way or has been given to them. We should not exacerbate their worries and concerns or they will not be able to sleep properly. Mr Speaker, Sir, I welcome the DPM's $11.3 billion package. It is a comprehensive and wide-ranging help package. From the big businessmen to the small-time stallholders, from management staff to ordinary workers and so on, to students, undergraduates, graduates, they have all been considered in this package so that everybody can benefit from it. I believe that this package can allow all our people to pull through the crisis and preserve their energy so that when the economy turns over, they will emerge stronger.”
“Sir, it may be more difficult for us to shift the existing manufacturing workers to jobs in the healthcare sector like nursing and administrative support staff in MOE. But I think it is easier for us to consider helping the manufacturing workers to move to jobs in the hotel and transport sectors. Would the Ministry consider some concrete plans or conversion programme to help these workers and, more importantly, to assist the employers so that they will also change their mindset to accept these older workers from the manufacturing sector?”
“In view of such a high number of retrenchments, does the Ministry have any plans to help the retrenched workers?”
“If we were not a high-tech centre, and we can only be a high-tech centre if we have large numbers of scientists and researchers working here, many technical jobs would not be available to Singaporeans. It is for this reason that we have been relatively liberal on employment pass holders. When we encouraged Eli Lilly to come here to set up an R&D centre for the biomedical sciences, they were afraid that when they come here, Singapore is a small city-state, the range of skills that they need would not be available. Why not go to China or Europe where everything is available? I said, "Do not worry. You come here. If you need to bring in workers and expertise from other countries, we will help you." And because of this assurance, they come here. And because they come here, there will be good jobs for Singaporeans. Yes, at the local level, Singaporeans are hurt and we must help them. But the macro picture is extremely important. The key is to ensure that investments continue to flow into Singapore. If they continue to flow into Singapore, we are all right. If EDB reports to me that the pipeline is running out, then I will have to come back to this House quickly.”
“Let countries around us take the low-end risks but we move up. There is no point in our scolding employers or legislating to force them because this would only pile up their costs and some of them are already suffering. What we can do is, on the part of all parties, help to nudge employers and workers towards a different configuration. In this way, we build up our services sector and build up a greater capacity to absorb older workers in our economy. We need plenty of ideas and I would welcome anyone with any idea from any quarter in Singapore to raise them, either to MTI or our statutory boards, or to PSB, NTUC or any agencies, or to raise them up in this House. Mr Yeo also asked about employment pass holders. For work permit holders, we have a dependency ratio which ensures that the foreign workers, who are in Singapore, help Singaporeans find employment. In many factories now, the third shift is done by foreign workers. Let us think about this. Without foreign workers anchoring the third shift, there is no first shift and second shift for Singaporeans because no one is going to plonk a factory in Singapore and not operate it 24 hours a day. Without large numbers of foreign workers in Singapore, many Singaporeans would be without jobs. Of course, on the shop floor, in a particular office, there may be a certain friction in the sense that, "Look, why am I laid off? Why is he not laid off? Why is my job given to someone from another country who is working for less?" I can understand this anguish among many Singaporeans and many of them have written to me. But from the viewpoint of the economy, filling in the gaps in our economy allows us to operate a much more complex and sophisticated economy, giving us jobs which we could not otherwise have.”
“If the employers are prepared to make this investment in management, they will find that this investment will more than pay for itself. I will give you another example. Robinsons, which is well-known for their excellent service, they have got older staff, more stable staff. Many of our departmental stores get into a vicious circle where, to save costs, they hire part-timers. Part-timers are not committed because they see their jobs only as part-time jobs. So if you ask them about a product, they will say, "Can you please look at the label yourself?" When you go to Robinsons, they work a system where, because workers stay there longer, and they have incentivised on commissions as a whole floor, they have a vested interest. Every time they see a customer come in, they have to ensure he stays as long as possible on the floor and not to leave the floor empty-handed. Older workers are more mature, more committed and more responsible and are better for this. For many jobs in the service sector, we do not really require techno-geeks or those who have got very good physical reflexes. They can be put to better use in many sectors. The whole certification programme is, in fact, to help them to do a better job and to provide a better service. Singaporeans are increasingly prepared to pay more for better services. That is why they go to Starbucks. Because we have been investing in this area, we have made progress. All of us would have noticed how the quality of service of taxi-drivers and bus drivers in the last few years has improved dramatically. It did not come by accident. It came because between NTUC, the taxi companies, PSB and other agencies, they have been pushing it year by year and so we have upgraded ourselves.”
“At last weekend's Talking Point, Mr Heng Chee How, Mr Stephen Lee and one of the workers retrenched, Mr Anwar, gave a very moving account of their experiences. It requires attitudinal change on the part of all players in our economy. Firstly, among our workers, retrain, at the minimum, learn e-mail. Try, do not say, "Look, I am too old for it." If you cannot even send e-mail and work the computer keyboard, it would be very difficult to be re-employed, and it is not difficult to learn. The key here is a psychological barrier and we must help them to overcome it. We have a whole slew of programmes which we announced earlier to help those who are interested to upgrade themselves. On the side of employers, Mr Stephen Lee told us that there is already a shift but we should accelerate the shift. It is very important for us. If you study McDonalds, they have done a very good job and we should do a special case study on McDonalds. Many of us are used, when we go to McDonalds, to have aunties and uncles serve us, and that term has acquired a certain affectionate ring to it. When they come to wipe the tables or to collect our trays, people try to minimise their work. So when they can, they will also dispose of their disposables and stack the trays up. How did McDonalds achieve this? Not by paying these workers very high wages - in fact, if they had to pay them very high wages, they would never have been employed in the first place - but by altering work design. If you look at the keyboard at McDonalds, it is very simple: one fillet-o-fish, one big Mac, you press the button, it is done. You do not require very much training and the workers wear smart uniforms, they go for outings together, they get free meals, they become a little community.”
“1 investment destination. So from the viewpoint of the economic agencies, we are now conducting a review to increase our presence in China in a major way. Take tourism as an example. Throughout the last crisis, tourism growth from China increased double digits, and we can expect tourism growth from China to continue increasing in the coming years. As each province opens up, many millions of Chinese will want to travel and we must capture our share of it. There are many areas in which China will offer opportunities, including a reverse flow of investments into Southeast Asia. I have been monitoring the investment trends, and Chinese investment in Singapore has been rising steadily. Still small, but a significant trend, and we should build on it. In addition, there are other countries like India which we should look at. EDB will be increasing the number of overseas trade delegations and any opportunities that we are alerted to, we would disseminate to the business community as quickly as possible. Mr Yeo asked about what we can do to encourage employers to take a more generous and liberal attitude towards older workers. This is a major issue for us. It is a structural problem because many of our baby-boomers never had the opportunity and they still have 20 to 30 years of working life ahead of them and they are not well educated. Among them, there is widespread fear that if their number is called, then it is very difficult for them to find re-employment. It is widespread. I have, in my own constituency, grassroots leaders who are in this predicament. I have received letters from others who complain about competition from foreign workers and so on.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether the Government has any plans to help the private sector to explore new markets where possible and, should the situation deteriorate further, whether the Government would assure workers that employers will do their part to explore innovative ways to face the challenges and not keep calling for CPF cuts each time they face difficulties. Could the Government take a stronger stand in future towards such requests? Would the Government also consider reviewing the employment pass policy, eg, reducing the number of employment pass for job areas which can be well performed by Singaporeans? BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, during this period, we should look for all the bright spots that there are on our radar screen. There is one major bright spot which needs repeated emphasis, ie, China. China is expected to grow at 7% over the next five years despite this global economic downturn. Those of us who have been to China are able to sense the organic growth, the self-sustaining growth resulting from the development of its own domestic economy. China will become very big and the earlier we size up the threats and opportunities, the better we will be prepared for it. I would describe it as a kind of a juggernaut which we see coming down the road, still at first gear, lumbering along, but gradually picking up speed. We can either stand in front of the juggernaut and turn to cardboard or we study it carefully and say, "Look, let us find a good hand-hold, get our skateboard ready, put on our Walkman, and hitch a ride when the juggernaut gathers speed." And we can do this because we have an inside track into China. We have cultural relations, we have good political relations, and China is already our No.”
“Even though the present slowdown is largely cyclical, we must press on with the restructuring of the Singapore economy. Despite the dot.com crash, the New Economy is for real and we must make use of IT and e-commerce to raise productivity and add value. The entry of China into the WTO will put pressure on wages all over the world, especially at the lower end. Whether we like it or not, because of globalisation, we are competing with hundreds of millions of eager and hungry Chinese and Indian workers for the low-end jobs. We must therefore scramble up the value ladder quickly. And, to do this, we must liberalise and rationalise many sectors of the economy, for example, in banking, telecommu nications, and power generation and supply. As companies tighten their belts, they should try not to put off longer-term improvement plans. They should build up their capabilities and reposition themselves for the turnaround. Some companies will not be able to do this because of financial difficulties. For them, the cost-cutting measures will provide some help. Workers should take this opportunity to train and upgrade so that we can switch quickly to new and better jobs. The Government will do everything possible to attract investment, promote enterprise development and help our workers stay employable. We have weathered more serious economic crises before and, provided we respond cohesively and rationally, we have every reason to be confident of overcoming this downturn, and emerging more resilient and competitive than ever. Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to distribute a summary [Annex: Cols. 1953-4 - Summary of Cost Impact] of the cost-cutting measures to the House, please? ANNEX - SUMMARY OF COST IMPACT”
“Even as we navigate carefully through this difficult period, we can be confident of Singapore's future. Our medium and long-term prospects are good, provided we do not make major mistakes. The Singapore economy is fundamentally sound, and the confidence of MNCs and investors in our economy remains high. For example, even though foreign investments into the region have declined, Singapore continues to attract major investments from abroad. Major projects announced recently include a 12-inch wafer fab by Taiwan's UMC, a state-of-the-art TFT Liquid Crystal Display plant by Toshiba-Matsushita, a regional distribution centre by Daimler-Chrysler, and a pharmaceutical research centre by Eli Lilly. On the services side, leading B2B companies, eg, E2open and Converge, have set up their Asia-Pacific hubs in Singapore. Autodesk, an established US software company, has also set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters and its R&D operations here. Manufacturing investment commitments in the first half of this year totalled $5.9 billion, in terms of fixed assets, which is about two-thirds the $9 billion target for the whole of this year. So there is a reasonable chance that we will be able to achieve our target of $9 billion this year. When realised, these commitments are expected to generate $4.3 billion of value added and create about 8,700 jobs. Services commitments reached $800 million in terms of total business spending in the first half of the year, and are expected to generate $750 million in value added and 3,600 jobs when realised. In addition, our current negotiations on Free Trade Agreements with major economies will open new opportunities for our businesses and attract more FDIs into Singapore.”
“Conclusion In putting together this package, we are grateful for the suggestions made by many organisations and individuals, including members of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Singapore Confederation of Industries, the Real Estate Developers' Association and the Feedback Unit. The total cost impact of the measures announced in this off-Budget package is estimated at $2.2 billion over one year. This is equivalent to 1.4% of GDP. Though not as large as the package announced at the end of 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, it is a significant package. While the US economy is currently at a virtual standstill, there are some signs of improvement. There has been a pickup in the leading index, and consumer confidence has held firm in recent months. Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan sounded a cautious note of optimism in his recent testimony to the US House of Representatives. Although he still saw greater risks on the downside, he also saw signs of a bottoming out of the downturn. This package will help businesses cope with the crisis. It will also help workers, especially older and less-educated workers, to prepare themselves to retain their jobs or find new jobs. And it will supplement the measures announced in the Budget in February, especially the corporate and personal tax reductions, and the rebates to help lower-income households. However, we must be realistic. No package of Government spending can neutralise the global downturn, the electronics slump, or the regional problems which are the root causes of the slowdown. MTI will monitor closely the economic situation in the coming months. If the global situation worsens, we have the resources to do more, and will be ready to do so.”
“With effect from October this year, the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund will provide funding support through community self-help groups for individuals without employer support. These training and training support efforts will cost about $40 million over the next year. However, we should not see budget here as a constraint. We hope that the demand will grow, and the Government is prepared to spend as much as is needed to help more Singaporean workers stay employable. The key is to help them stay employable. The goal is easy to define but hard to achieve. We welcome more ideas on how our workers can be better prepared for global competition. The economic slowdown is also causing the retrenchment of executives and professionals. As they have skills, many of them will be able to find alternative employment, albeit at lower salaries. Despite the slowdown, the Government is continuing to recruit, for example, teachers and school administrators in the Ministry of Education, and senior officers to serve in many Ministries. The Government cannot become the employer of last resort, but it is on the lookout for good people to strengthen the Ministries and statutory boards. Professionals will also benefit from EDB's Training and Attachment Programme. EDB is stepping up its efforts to build capabilities in research and development (R&D), product and market development through this programme will be extended to training in local companies. Companies which face constraints in providing training in-house can work with our research institutes and research centres to host such training, fully funded by Government. This programme will help companies to continue training and building capabilities at a time when they are under pressure to cut back on these long-term activities.”
“These measures will help to encourage the self-help groups and NTUC to reach out to even more individuals. Unemployed workers who go for SRP training will improve their short and long-term re-employment prospects, but may have financial difficulties during the training period. To help them, the Government provides a training allowance. From 1st August this year, we will raise this training allowance from $3 per hour capped at $500 per month to $3.80 per hour capped at $600 per month, which is the same amount given to workers under employment who have taken time off for training. Enabling Skills for Less-Educated Workers A significant number of workers still lack basic skills that are increasingly required at the workplace. Together with its partners, the Ministry of Manpower has introduced two programmes: the National IT Literacy Programme and the community-based CREST programme to help these workers. The National IT Literacy Programme, jointly developed with IDA, aims to improve the employment prospect of all Singaporeans by equipping them with basic computer and Internet skills. The Ministry of Manpower will invest $8 million for the first year and another $19 million over the next two years to ensure that the training courses are kept affordable for all Singaporeans. The CREST programme, or Critical Enabling Skills Training, introduced by PSB in November 1998, aims to provide seven cores skills, such as `Learning-to-Learn', `Literacy' and `Problem Solving and Creativity' to enhance the employability of an individual worker. Presently, only workers sponsored by employers are given funding support through SDF for attending such training.”
“According to NTUC, around 30,000 workers are already, or will be, on temporary layoff or shorter workweek. We should put this slack to good use. Companies that are facing low demand and have consequently implemented shorter workweeks and temporary layoffs should send their workers for SRP training. And during this period of training, workers will receive $3.80 per trainee hour or $600 per month as training allowance. Participating companies, which might otherwise have retrenched their workers, need not top up the training allowance. With these measures, we hope to persuade employers to use the business slowdown to upgrade the skills of their workers rather than quickly resorting to layoffs. By doing so, they will be more competitive and better prepared when the economy turns around. Help For Retrenched Workers Individuals on their own, including those who are unemployed, can also sign up for SRP through surrogate employers like the self-help groups and NTUC. The Government helps to pay for the course fees of these workers, while these surrogate employers provide additional support for low-income earners and those who are unemployed. Since 1999, 8,000 workers benefited from SRP training under the sponsorship of surrogate employers. To enable the surrogate employers to reach out to more workers, SDF will increase the course fee support given to them. From 1st August this year, SDF will increase its course fee support for trainees aged 40 and above under the surrogate employer scheme from 80% to 100%. In addition, for trainees below 40 years old, the Ministry of Manpower will provide a separate grant from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund to surrogate employers to offset part of their cost.”
“Expansion of Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP) In the area of skills training, MOM and NTUC operate the SRP to help lower educated workers acquire certifiable skills. Through the SRP, some 54,000 workers have equipped themselves with relevant skills to stay employable. In view of the economic downturn, MOM will further enhance the programme. The list of approved courses will also be significantly expanded to benefit more workers and employers. And we hope to double the number of SRP trainees this year from 20,000 to 40,000 workers. This will cost an additional $28 million. And should there be greater demand, MOM is ready to expand the programme further. Incentives for Employers For workers sponsored by employers, SDF funds up to 80% of the course fees incurred for workers less than 40 years old. For workers aged 40 and above, SDF funds up to 100% of the course fees. Currently, many employers sending workers for SRP training have to pay the full fees first and claim for reimbursement only after completion of the courses. With the business downturn, many employers may not be in a position to come up with the cash upfront. MOM is therefore working out an arrangement with PSB and the training providers so that the employers only need to pay the net amount. Details will be announced once they are finalized. In addition to course fee support, absentee payroll support is also provided to employers to encourage them to send less skilled workers for training. From 1st August this year, the absentee payroll support will be increased from $5.10 to $5.40 per trainee hour for workers less than 40 years old, and from $6.15 to $6.50 per trainee hour for workers older than 40 years. We hope that this will encourage more employers to send their workers for training.”
“And it is targeting to organise an average of one job fair per month for the rest of the year. `People For Jobs' Traineeship Programme Many retrenched workers will find that the jobs which they are used to will no longer be available in Singapore even after the economy recovers. This is especially so for older and less educated workers previously engaged in the manufacturing sector. To stay employed, some of them will have to switch to other industries, particularly those in the services sector. Making this change requires openness and flexibility on the part of both workers and employers. Workers will have to make some adjustments and accept different job requirements and work environments. Employers on their part should be more prepared to hire such mid-career workers who are good workers but newcomers to the industry and to help ease them into their new jobs. To help older workers with low education make this adjustment, MOM is piloting a new programme called the "People for Jobs" Traineeship Programme. The programme is akin to an apprentice programme for mid-career workers. Under the programme, MOM will provide financial support of up to $3.80 per hour or $600 per month for three months for companies which employ these retrenched workers, and who agree to put in place a mentorship or traineeship arrangement to help settle in these workers. MOM has found several employers who are prepared to take part in the pilot programme. Together, they are able to provide immediately 400 places in the services sector. And these include jobs such as sales and retail assistants, room stewards, telephone operators and housekeepers. MOM hopes to expand this programme rapidly and to increase the number of traineeship places.”
“Additional grants will also be set aside under the Enhanced Local Enterprise Technical Assistance Scheme (LETAS) to enhance specific programmes which help local companies strengthen their capital structure, trim cost, improve cashflow and streamline operation. All these measures are for a period of one year. Besides the additional loan line of $120 million, these measures are expected to cost the Government an additional $10 million. Measures to Help the Unemployed and Promote Worker Retraining Retrenchments are expected to reach 20,000 this year. Older workers and less educated workers are more vulnerable to retrenchment in a downturn, and Members raised their concern in this House earlier on at Question Time. Many of them face difficulty getting re-employed. To help the retrenched workers, and particularly those in the vulnerable groups, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is expanding its employment assistance and training programmes in a major way. Increased Efforts in Job Matching In the area of job matching, MOM currently operates a career centre. The centre provides information on labour market trends, advice on job and training opportunities, and employment assistance. Because of the economic downturn, the centre has served twice the number of users in recent months. To reach out to even more workers, MOM will further expand the centre's services and increase the number of access points to these services. It will work with NTUC, self-help groups and other community organisations to make available similar services and information at their locations. MOM has also put in more services on the Internet and expanded its Employment Town website. From next month, MOM will also be starting a series of community based job fairs to bring together job seekers and employers.”
“Transport Cost To soften the impact on regional trade and travel, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will give 20% port dues concession for container ships and commercial harbour craft. This will save businesses $7 million for the period 1st July this year to 30th June next year. Access to Finance Some companies face greater difficulties gaining access to capital for their businesses during this downturn as banks become more cautious. To help local companies, the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) will raise the Government's risk sharing of the Local Enterprise Finance Scheme (LEFS) from 50% to 70% for one year from 1st August 2001. In anticipation of the increased demand, we will increase the loan availability under LEFS by $60 million. PSB is also working on a new programme to make it more flexible for banks to lend to SMEs with varying credit risks by covering part of the risk through a loan insurance scheme. To help medium-sized companies, the coverage of LEFS will also be expanded to cover enterprises with at least 30% local equity, with fixed asset investment of up to $50 million and employment size of not more than 300 workers for service companies. This is significantly higher than the current limit of $15 million in terms of fixed asset investment and 200 workers for service companies. A loan line of $60 million will be set aside for this purpose. Together with the additional $60 million mentioned earlier, the total loan availability under LEFS will be raised by $120 million from $600 million now to $720 million.”
“The Ministry of Finance has now decided to extend the 25% property tax rebate for commercial and industrial properties for a year from 1st July this year to 30th June next year. As the property tax has been reduced from 12% to 10% on 1st July this year, the effective rate during this period would thus be 7.5% as compared to 9% before this. This will cost the Government $257 million. Rental Rebate In January this year, JTC and HDB withdrew part of the rebates given in the 1998 package of measures. In view of the current downturn, we have decided to extend the rental rebates for another year till end June next year and to increase the quantum of rebates. JTC will grant an additional 10% rental rebate, giving an effective rebate of up to 20%. HDB will give an additional 5% rebate on top of the existing 5% (and another rebate of up to 20% for those paying above market rates) and this will extend for a year. Similarly, CAAS will offer a 15% basic rental rebate for warehouse, office and concession space in the Airport for a year till the end of June next year. It will also not increase the airport service charge. HDB, JTC and CAAS will also pass on the savings from the reduction in the property tax rate to their tenants. Other landlords are encouraged to similarly pass on the reduction in property taxes to their tenants. For market and hawker stallholders, the Ministry of the Environment, HDB and JTC will be giving a 10% rental rebate to their stallholders who are paying market rent. An additional rental rebate of up to 20% will be given if the rebated rent is still higher than the prevailing market rent. All these rental rebates will take effect from 1st July 2001 for a year and they will cost the Government $272 million.”
“Keeping the CPF contribution rates below the 20% level for too long will mean less savings for our old age. Under normal circumstances, we would have restored a further increment of employer CPF contributions at the end of this year. However, in the present difficult conditions, the first priority is to save jobs by helping companies to lower costs. The Government has therefore decided not to increase the employer CPF contribution rate at the end of this year. We will review the situation again in the middle of next year. This gives certainty to the first half of next year and translates to a saving of $920 million for employers for the first six months of next year. Some businessmen have suggested to MTI that the CPF should be cut again. We do not believe that such a major move is justified at this stage. However, if the global economy continues to deteriorate, we may have to consider all possibilities. Foreign Worker Levy To hold down business costs further, the Ministry of Manpower will extend the current reduced foreign worker levy rates for another year till June 2002. This will cost the Government revenue of $324 million. Existing controls on the intake of Work Permit holders remain unchanged to ensure that employers do not become over-reliant on foreign workers, especially the lower skilled foreigners. Property Tax Rebate In the last Budget Statement, the Minister for Finance announced a cut in the property tax rate from 12% to 10% for all commercial, industrial and residential properties. That reduction was to take effect from 1st July this year, when the 25% property tax rebate for commercial and industrial properties ended.”
“Some of these projects include the development of Jurong Island, drainage and sewerage works, road and commuter facilities, and upgrading of IT projects at polytechnics and universities. In total, bringing forward these projects will inject $204 million into the economy in this financial year and $512 million in the next financial year. Cost-Cutting Measures Labour Cost Labour cost is a key component of total business cost. In difficult times, adjusting wages is an important way to save jobs and prevent companies from going under. The Government and the unions have therefore been pushing for flexible wages. We have made good progress in building up the variable wage component over the years, although there is still some way to go. So far, about 30% of unionised companies but only 2.4% of non-unionised companies have implemented a monthly variable component. In this current economic downturn, the variable component that we have built up provides our first buffer. It is far better to cut back on bonuses and perks than to retrench workers. Companies which are not doing well should use this mechanism to pay smaller variable bonuses this year, in line with the NWC recommendations. Adjusting the CPF contribution rates is a measure of last resort and should never be done lightly. In the 1998 package, the Government cut the employers' CPF contribution by 10 percentage points to help companies reduce costs and to save jobs. It was progressively restored by six percentage points as the economy recovered in the last two years. The Government would like to restore the remaining four percentage points as soon as possible because the CPF is essentially our retirement savings plan.”
“Many have also moved to a shorter workweek. In view of the sharp deterioration in economic conditions, we have revised the 2001 growth forecast down to 0.5-1.5 % this year. Measures to Cushion Impact of the Downturn Despite almost 10% growth last year, many businesses, especially the smaller ones, have not recovered from the effects of the regional crisis in 1998. We therefore left in place some of the measures introduced in the last package. In this year's Budget, we have reduced corporate and property tax rates to help companies, especially SMEs. To help households and workers, the income tax rates have been lowered. In addition to CPF top-ups, the Government has also granted rebates on personal taxes, service and conservancy charges and rentals. A new "Utilities Save" scheme was introduced to help households pay higher electricity and water bills. To cushion the effects of the current downturn, the Government has put together a package of additional measures which I will now announce. They are classified into three categories: namely, measures to accelerate the building of economic and social infrastructure; cost-cutting measures to help companies; and measures to help those retrenched and to promote worker retraining. Further details will be given by the respective agencies over the next few days. Economic and Social Infrastructure Given the open nature of our economy, it is difficult to stimulate the economy by generating domestic demand through Government pump-priming. However, there are some projects which the Government can bring forward. Accelerating the building of our economic and social infrastructure will let us take advantage of low tender prices, and will enhance our capabilities over the long-term.”
“The global electronics downturn has worsened even more dramatically in the last few months. Worldwide semiconductor sales declined by 24% in May 2001. Global semiconductor sales are expected to fall by 25-30% this year, down sharply from +37% growth last year. The global DRAM industry is expected to plunge by an unprecedented 55% this year, down from +37% last year. The electronics industry is expected to remain weak at least till the end of 2001. Malaysia is also slowing down, compounding the problems that we face. In Indonesia, political uncertainty has made economic recovery even more difficult but we hope that under President Megawati's leadership, the situation there will improve. Singapore's Economic Performance We cannot have a worse alignment of the planets. As a result of the weaker external environment, the Singapore economy deteriorated further in the second quarter. Annualised quarter-on-quarter growth was -10.1% compared with -10.9% in the first quarter. On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's economy slowed sharply to -0.8% in the second quarter from +4.6% and +11.0% growth in the previous two quarters. The slowdown was across all the major sectors, particularly manufacturing where output fell by 11% in May, due largely to the 20% plunge in the electronics industry. Our export performance has also worsened, in line with weaker export markets. Non-oil domestic exports fell by 16.9% in June and 9.4% in the second quarter of this year. The labour market is also showing weakness. Retrenchments rose in the first quarter, reflecting the downturn in the global electronics cycle and weaker US growth. We expect it to increase as companies start shedding workers. Several MNCs like Maxtor and Aiwa have already announced job cuts.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary whether the Ministry will consider to further widen certain portions of the CTE so as to increase the traffic flow and, at the same time, do a study on the exit points along the whole CTE to reduce the bottleneck situation? Assoc. Prof. Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, we do have a road expansion programme, but we have to study the CTE carefully because the CTE is going through a very built-up area. So the opportunities for us to expand will be very limited. But certainly that is an option that will be studied and, in fact, has been studied in some instances. With regard to the exits, LTA has studied them because this is part of the whole process of trying to provide the alternative routes. Hence, they studied traffic exiting at Braddell and the impact of Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway. LTA would study the exits very carefully in order to take into account what sort of traffic volumes we are experiencing and how the alternatives will help to relieve the traffic volume along the CTE. 1.53 pm CUSHIONING THE IMPACT OF THE DOWNTURN (Statement by the Minister for Trade and Industry) BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, as I said in Parliament on 11th July, the global economy has deteriorated much faster than anticipated. Growth in the US, Japan and EU has slowed sharply. Strong growth during the boom years, especially in the US, led many companies to ramp up production capacity, expecting demand to continue growing. When demand slowed, partly because of the NASDAQ crash, they were caught off-guard, forcing them to cut production and reduce cost. The simultaneous downturns in the US, the EU and Japan now feed negatively into each other.”
“Sir, does the Ministry have any plans to further enhance job consultancy or employment assistance schemes for the older workers?”
“Besides MOM's employment service, can the Minister tell us whether there are any other organisations where all these unemployed people can turn to for assistance for new jobs? Can the Minister also confirm that the Skills Redevelopment Programme is in fact only applicable to Singaporeans?”
“Sir, we agree that the school holidays are very important to our teachers. During the holidays, they can do some reading up to enrich themselves and, most importantly, they can drop everything from their heavy school commitments, and relax. I do not want to see more and more of our teachers going to Woodbridge Hospital. But nowadays I discover that many of the teachers have to participate in many of the school activities, and this is becoming an increasing trend, particularly HODs who have to go to school every day during the school holidays. I hope MOE will review this matter and make sure that our teachers will have enough time to rest or to recharge themselves. 4.45 pm”
“Sir, with our public transport system still in need of further improvement, the school bus is still a very important service to our school children. But now, in our housing estates, multi-storey car parks are replacing the parking lots on the surface. Many school bus drivers have complained to me that they were finding it increasingly difficult to find places for their school buses at night. Even the schools do not allow them to park the school buses overnight in the school compound. Can the Minister please help?”
“Another problem cited, Sir, is that when we recruit more teachers, the standard of the teachers will drop. This problem can be solved by good teacher training programmes, together with good pay and incentives to recruit good people to the teaching profession. Of course, the quality of the teachers recruited must be good. But I think also that the love for teaching is equally important. I hope this year the Minister shall be more amenable to my suggestion. Perhaps he may even do an experiment and try two schools first to see whether it is successful with a smaller class size.”
“I had been a school teacher myself, Sir, and I can tell you that it is difficult to teach a class of 40 pupils. I have suggested, and I would suggest again, that we reduce our class size to a compromise number of 30 pupils. I say "compromise" because 30 to a class is still too large. The ideal, of course, is a class size as small as possible. The ideal, of course, is 1:1, but that is too idealistic. I would suggest, if it is possible, to bring down our class size to about 30 at the moment, as a compromise. But, the class size, as I was saying, we should get it down to as small as possible, say, 10-15 per class. However, from the point of view of our country's resources, it may be difficult to get a class down to 10 or 15 pupils. I think it is a luxury at the moment, if we did that. I would say that we can make a great improvement from a class of 40 to a class of 30, and it would be a great leap forward for our education system if we achieve that. I have heard that when we reduce the class size, there is a problem of shortage of teachers. I would say that we need not all at once convert our school system suddenly from 40 to 30 in a class. The 1/4 reduction shall, of course, need 25% more teachers. I have been informed that, currently, our teaching strength is about 23,000, which would mean that if we reduce our class size by 1/4, we would require about 5,700 more teachers, which is really a very big number. To solve the teacher shortage, I would say that we slowly reduce the class size and build more schools at the same time, say, over a period of 10 years building programme. Sir, I am not advocating that we make a sudden or overnight change. As long as there is a commitment for change, I am very happy.”
“At the same time, we should also encourage them to be released from their heavy teaching commitments at an appropriate time to go for further studies on a full-time basis to "charge up their batteries". At present, the Singapore Chinese Teachers Union (SCTU) is the only trade union representing all the Chinese teachers. I hope that the Ministry of Education will enhance its links with the SCTU and to improve the welfare of the teachers through a tripartite effort to nurture more high quality professionals in the teaching of Chinese. Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, the issue of class size is one of efficient or quality teaching. Can a teacher give more efficient teaching if the class size is large, say, 50 pupils, or when a class size is small, say, 20 pupils? I think most people would agree that when a class is smaller in size, more efficient or effective teaching can be carried out. The reason is simple. For a smaller class size, the teacher can give more personal attention to the slower learners, and it is also easier to control the class to get the pupils to pay attention to the teacher when he is teaching. There is also less stress on the teachers. Feedback, from readers in the Forum page of the Straits Times recently, favours smaller classes. Mr Peh Chin Hua cited problems of the inability of pupils, after passing out from secondary schools, to write even a proper essay or an application letter and, in the case of Dr Lily Neo, she says that there is too much tuition. These problems, I believe, arise because our teachers cannot give effective teaching. Our class size is too large. The issue of a smaller class size is not a new one. I have brought this topic up in almost every Budget, in the Committee of Supply. Most of our schools now have a class size of about 40 pupils.”
“I remember that five years ago, the median age of our Chinese teachers in the primary schools was 47 years old. In other words, many Chinese teachers in the primary schools were older than 47 years old. I would like to know what is the median age of the primary school Chinese teachers now. I would also like to know whether there is any plan on the part of MOE to make sure that we have enough Chinese teachers in the various stages of our education system to take on the important responsibility of teaching the mother tongue language. I know that apart from actively cultivating some Singaporeans to become Chinese teachers, MOE is also importing Chinese teachers from other countries to help alleviate the problem of shortages in the supply of local Chinese teachers. As mentioned by Mr Goh Choon Kang just now, we have imported a lot of Chinese teachers from China. I would like to know how many foreign Chinese teachers are there now in Singapore. 2.30 pm Sir, there is a necessity for us to attract more Singaporeans to become Chinese teachers, to retain all the existing teachers and to help them to upgrade their professional level. We should take some measures to reduce the administrative burden of the teachers so that they can concentrate on teaching. I am very glad that the Ministry of Education had introduced the Mother Tongue Language Teachers' Award last year. I would like to ask the Minister how many teachers have benefited from this Mother Tongue Language Teachers' Award and whether there are any incentives by the Ministry of Education to encourage our mother tongue teachers to further their studies and upgrade their professional level.”
“Sir, I do not agree with Mr Low Thia Khiang's objection to the use of IT in teaching. No doubt, the high-tech method cannot replace the conventional method in the teaching of our students, but it does help to raise the standard of teaching. Our Chinese teachers in Singapore have, over the past few years, developed some fantastic softwares for the teaching of Chinese, based on our Singapore context, and the results are very remarkable indeed. Maybe Mr Low is not aware of these softwares, some of which are multimedia software. These softwares have raised the interest of the pupils in the learning of the language. I recommend that Mr Low pay a visit to some of the schools, eg, Raffles Girls' School, to observe how these softwares are being used in the teaching of Chinese. In the field of education, the Ministry of Education has made great efforts in the past few years and has achieved remarkable results. This is particularly in the provision of school buildings and the various educational facilities. The achievement is clearly there for all to see. While the Government has invested a lot in infrastructure, ie, the hardware part of it, we must also strengthen our software aspect, ie, the upgrading of our teachers and do our best to ensure that we have enough teachers in Singapore, especially language teachers. It is only with enough language teachers that we will be able to effectively implement our bilingual policy. Sir, the median age of our teachers in the various stages of education is an important data that we should take notice. This data will help us to plan our need for teachers, so that they may not be a phenomenon of "the new crop still in the blade and the old ones all consumed".”
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his reply, and beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister, besides the Family Friendly Firm Award, what measures would the Ministry consider to effectively encourage more companies in the private sector to implement work options and pro-family practices.”
“Sir, I feel that if we were to give a wedding ang pow, it should not be just $888 but $999. In Chinese, the figure "9" depicts eternity. New technology and the widespread use of IT has changed the way we work, and has tremendously increased the pace of work. At the same time, intense competition has compelled companies to reduce cost, by maintaining a leaner workforce and thus increasing the workload of the existing employees. The worst is that, with all these changes taking place at work and because of our ageing population, all these people who work very hard in their office will have to take on the additional responsibility of taking care of their elderly folks and raising young children as well. In other words, all our working people will have to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with all these changes. More importantly, there must be more willingness on the part of the employers to explore initiatives such as flexible work arrangements and adopt pro-family work practices. For example, there is a necessity for our employers to extend childcare sick leave to the male employees to look after their children who are sick. The Government, on its part, should consider innovative ways to provide incentives and motivate companies to adopt such pro-family practices. While we should not try to legislate for pro-family practices at the workplace, we should examine the existing laws to see whether there is any provision therein that would encourage our companies to provide such pro-family practices. I hope that MCDS would encourage the media to support and give more publicity on pro-family practices, to create better awareness of such practices.”
“Sir, according to statistics, we have more than 900,000 families in Singapore employing a total of more than 140,000 foreign maids. There is a necessity for us to seriously look into this matter. Since there are so many foreign maids in Singapore, what kind of social influence would they assert on our society? Just like our highway system, I do not think we should fully depend on the ERP to control our traffic flow. I think MOM should also have some effective measures to check this dependency on foreign workers and not depend entirely on the mechanism of the foreign workers levy to check our people's dependency on foreign workers. I think we should also review the foreign workers levy. This is very important because the foreign workers levy serves the purpose of balancing our workforce in Singapore, so that the cost of employing foreign workers is not too far below from the cost of employing local workers. Otherwise, we would not be able to prevent the employers from employing these cheaper foreign workers, and at the same time exert pressure on the wages of our local workers. When we relax the levy on foreign workers, the employers do not share the savings with their workers. I understand that most workers are given just $30 to $40 extra by their employers. As a result, there is a big difference of a few hundred dollars between the wages of the local skilled workers and those of the foreign skilled workers. I hope that something could be done about this matter so that, on one hand, the welfare of the foreign workers could be looked into, and on the other hand, the difference in wages between the local workers and foreign workers will not be widened.”
“Sir, since many Members before me have mentioned about the issue, I would not want to repeat, but would like to ask the Ministry whether it will consider raising the retirement age beyond 62 years in the near future.”
“Sir, in order to effectively deal with the competition and challenges of the globalised economy, our workers today must undergo many cycles of training and retraining throughout their lifetime in order to remain employable. The Government should try its best to help these workers deal with the challenges. 6.00 pm I am very happy with the contributions made by the Skills Development Fund (SDF) all these years. In 1999, among those who were trained under the sponsorship of the SDF, the ratio of workers aged 40 years and above has been increased to 1:5. I would like to know whether the SDF levy would be pegged to the median wage. In this way, the SDF will be able to grow and adjust automatically, so as to be more responsive to the training needs of the workers. Sir, we are lucky to be able to create an average of 45,000 jobs a year for our people. However, we are still unable to avoid the problem of structural unemployment, because the skill levels of some of our workers are unable to match the requirements of the new jobs created. I would like to know whether the Ministry has any measures to deal with this problem, so as to prevent the gap from becoming wider. More importantly, the Government should strive to project more accurately the manpower needs of the various sectors, so that workers will not choose the wrong skills to be trained and face being eliminated at the race. Only accurate projection of market skills requirement can effectively help our workers to take on the relevant skills training and to successfully migrate to the job areas where their potentials could be fully developed. In this way, our workers, particularly the older workers, will remain employable.”
“Sir, in Singapore, we have established a good healthcare financing system based on the philosophy of individual responsibility, coupled with the Government's subsidies to keep basic healthcare affordable for all people. Through the years, we have developed Medisave, MediShield and Medifund that will ensure that every Singaporean will have access to basic medical care. However, these systems still need to be fine-tuned and reviewed from time to time. I would like to inquire whether the Ministry of Health will be reviewing its policy on MediShield. I have seen cases where people find it difficult to claim for MediShield due to the stringent criteria set for the claim. Sir, we should also review the deductibles. The present policy states that MediShield will start paying when the total claimable medical expenses exceed the deductibles. Deductibles are currently set at $500 and $1,000 for patients in C and B wards respectively. With economic restructuring and the recent development in medical science, it is timely for the Ministry to consider reviewing the policy to make MediShield more responsive to the needs of our people.”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QC 1500. Sir, there have been cases recently where some individuals who have borrowed money from loan sharks sold their flats to new owners. However, they did not bother to change the addresses in their identity cards and continued to borrow money from the loan sharks. So when they are unable to pay up the money, the new owners unwittingly have to bear the brunt of the harassment caused by the loan sharks. I would like to urge the Ministry of Home Affairs to double their enforcement and come out with a more effective way to arrest these loan sharks. I also would like to ask the Ministry to consider revising the law to punish this group of irresponsible people who intentionally did not report the change of the addresses in their identity cards so that they will be spared from the harassment caused by the loan sharks. In doing so, this would render justice to the innocent and the victimised new owners of the flats.”
“Mr Yeo, however, is concerned that some companies and restaurants registered with religious names may have caused discomfort among religious groups. Before registering the name of a company, business or society, the respective Registrar will consult the relevant authority, such as Police and MCDS. For example, if the name contains Islamic words, the Registrar will consult MUIS. If a complaint concerning the registered name is received, the Registrar will evaluate, in consultation with the relevant authorities, and if the complaint is a valid one, the Registrar would ask the organisation to change its name. In fact, just recently the Straits Times carried a report on the Singapore Buddhist Federation's concerns that some organisations are using names associated with Buddhism. It was also reported that the Singapore Buddhist Federation planned to write to the Registrar of Societies on the matter. While indeed if a society is using a name that is objectionable or misleading, the Registrar of Societies will, after consulting with the relevant authorities, if necessary, direct the society to change its name. The last suggestion of Mr Yeo was to refer all such applications to the Presidential Council for Religious Harmony. I think the Act designates different purposes for this Council and as I have assured Mr Yeo already, there are enough mechanisms and checks in place. So I do not think we should load the Council with more work. The Chairman: We have run out of time on this amendment. Prof. Chin. Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung: Sir, I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for their answers and beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”