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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“Currently, the CPFTA does not state any specific deadline or time limit for the traders to respond to the voluntary compliance agreement proposal put up by CASE or STB. We propose that a specific timeframe be mandated, eg, 10 days or two weeks. 1.45 pm On the issue of opt-out practices, there is a common tendency for retailers to adopt an opt-out practice for their transactions. This means that unless a consumer specifically signals his intention to opt-out, he is deemed to have agreed or to accept the contract. Consumers see this as another form of an unfair practice, and we propose that the concept of opt-out practices for business transactions, except for national healthcare schemes, for example, should be included as unfair practice under the Act. Consumers should be given a right to exercise a choice. On the issue of legislation of product liability, what I would like to suggest is that we would like MTI to consider how we could better safeguard the interest of consumers in this area. Currently, they are protected under the contract law, Sales of Goods Act and tort of negligence and duty of care. The loopholes of the above, in terms of legal ambiguities, are that under contract law, the consumer has to produce proof of the contract between the consumer and manufacturer. But most of the time, a consumer purchases a product from the retailer, and the retailer is only the middleman. So what I would like to propose is for the Government to consider other alternatives for consumers to seek redress by maybe looking into the examples of the English Consumer Protection Act 1987. Singapore Brand”
“Sir, the introduction of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) in March last year is a major step for consumerism in Singapore. It helps shape both consumer behaviour and business practices, and bring about a consumer-friendly business environment. However, to enhance its effectiveness, as the President of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), I would like to request that MTI review and consider extending the scope of the CPFTA. First of all, the Ministry should consider extending the list of the 20 unfair practices. The unfair practices proposed to be added are: (i) Forfeit of consumer's deposit if a purchase transaction does not go through. Take the motor car industry as an example. In many car dealers' transactions, the current practice by dealers is to forfeit the consumer's deposit when the purchase of the car or transaction does not go through. Such an action should be deemed as unfair practice, as it unreasonably penalises the consumers. (ii) Practice of asking consumers to sign blank or uncompleted forms. A common practice in the motor car industry when applying for financing on behalf of the consumers, for example, is to require them to sign a blank form. This, again, should be regarded as an unfair practice under the CPFTA. The consumers also hope the legislation could protect them from unfair practices, when companies, such as travel agents, spas and beauty centres, which collect deposits or fees with no intention of providing the service but closing down immediately after having a special offer and collecting a substantial amount from the consumers. Sir, besides extending the scope and the coverage of CPFTA, I would also like to ask MTI to consider setting a notice period of voluntary compliance agreement under the CPFTA.”
“I feel that the Government, in this way, has to consider providing more generous support to the unions and recognise the efforts done by the trade unions and union leaders. Sir, I support the Budget.”
“The Star gave a very good sum-up in its publication on 28th February. Let me quote from this article: "NTUC has undergone many recent changes. It now allows individual workers or certain categories of executives (as long as they have no fire-and-hire power) to become members. Today, this umbrella body is like a huge conglomerate itself, operating a whole range of businesses ranging from taxis, insurance to supermarkets, from resorts to healthcare. They offer good discounts or benefits to members, adding up as a nice package of incentives. But in a job-risky environment for hundreds of thousands of low- or non-skilled workers, NTUC serves two fundamental functions. It helps and provides advice to members and plays a crucial retraining or skill-upgrading role. Has membership a real benefit? Yes, in this uncertain age, workers need more protection. In this uncertainty, this is the true value of the trade unions. Unions here can't stop retrenchment, but they can ensure the workers get fair compensation." Sir, the article highlighted how the labour movement here gives benefits and protection to the workers. Under uncertainties, it gives a certain assurance to the workers. Its aim is to help workers who need to strengthen their job security. Many do not realise that without unions, the way the employers treat the employees would be very different. So I hope that the Government has not forgotten all the work done by the trade unions, especially in the last few years, during the restructuring of the economy. Looking ahead, in the next few years, a strong partnership between the Government, employers and the trade unions has to be further strengthened.”
“We have to look beyond the tax rebates and financial benefits for the needy. As a simple illustration, we may have heard of the Coca-Cola company having a new product. Coca-Cola carried out a series of tests. They blindfolded the participants and let them taste different types of Coca-Cola. They found that clients who liked Coca-Cola during the blind-tasting did not choose the Coca-Cola. Instead, they chose another type which was sweeter. In view of this, they decided that maybe their clients preferred to have a sweeter drink. Consequently, they introduced a new product and the new Coca-Cola was very close to the sweeter type which the clients chose during the test. But in the end, Coca-Cola failed. This is because they forgot that their clients in ordinary life do not just go for the sweetness of the drink. During the test, when they were blindfolded and focused on one mouthful, it may not mean that they have changed their expectation and preference of their regular drink. They forgot that people's acceptance of sweetness with one mouthful and when drinking a whole can is not the same. The customers, after drinking a whole can of sweeter Coca-Cola, found that it was too sweet and it is no longer the old Coca-Cola that they like. I use this example to illustrate that while we try to meet certain demands by some people on the Budget, we must continue to ensure that the fundamental objectives of the Budget is to bring about a better and stable economic and social environment. Sir, to enable sustainable growth we have to continue to strengthen the strong tripartite partnership. The role of the labour movement is crucial. Many people have not realised the important role that the trade unions played to help retain jobs.”
“Employers who raise the mandatory retirement age or introduce a continued employment system, or employers whose workforce has more than 15% in the 60-64 age group, would be given Government subsidy and tax incentives. Employers who have made a plan for raising the retirement age and job adaptation, and have engaged in some consultation with their older employees also get special grant to implement the plan. I hope the Prime Minister can consider implementing this in Singapore. Of course, like the baby bonus, all these tax incentives and Government support may not bring about the expected results, but it would at least send out a better signal to the employers to help them understand that the Government is serious about giving employability to the older workers. In this Budget debate, the Prime Minister also mentioned that in the next few years, the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board will invest more in the tourism industry. But this is merely upgrading of hardware. I think what we need most is a boost in the software. Looking at the performance of our services sector, Singapore has fallen to 21st place in the international ranking for customer orientation. We need to have more incentives to help our services sector, particularly the retail sector, to bring the standard of service up so that we can bring about more economic improvements. This is very important because our service sector's share in the overall employment is 75%. It is one of our major sources of employment opportunity. In this Budget, there are a number of ang pows reaching out to Singaporeans from all walks of life. However, I feel that there is a need for us to emphasise that a good Budget is not one that gives all types of goodies, but one that will really bring about sustainable growth of our economy.”
“I feel that many employers can actually continue to keep these older workers by working closely with unions and Government agencies to strengthen their employability and change the mindset of the directors and HR practitioners. We need to remind the companies that as corporate citizens they do have a social responsibility. I read an article in which the writer described enterprise as a human being and personified it. It says that enterprise basically is "psychopath" as: "He does not care about other people and just do good for themselves; He cannot have relationship with others and just simply fires any employee that it does not want; He does not care about the safety and it pollutes the environment; He does not bring out truth but creates some falsehoods, especially like some big MNCs in other countries that have caused small investors to lose their hard-earned savings; So whatever he does, he can simply get away by stating that "I am doing it for the sake of my shareholders." I mention this because I hope the enterprises in Singapore are not like that. I hope that the companies in Singapore will be corporate citizens. I hope all our companies can actually cooperate with the trade unions and the Government so that we can continue to bring about more benefits for our workers. A few MPs actually mentioned that we need to help our older workers to have more job opportunities. Some asked whether the Finance Minister could give some tax incentives through some special schemes to help employers retain their older workers. I am very supportive of this proposal. In Japan, there are schemes like this. First of all, they raise the retirement age of the workers.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am happy that during this debate, a lot of our MPs are pro-workers and they spoke a lot for the workers, especially for the older workers. But as a labour MP, I want to stress that in order to help the older workers to retain their jobs, it is not just redesigning jobs but, in addition, we need 3Rs. Redesigning the jobs is one. The second 'R' is to restructure the wages. The third 'R' is to reform medical benefits. We cannot do without any one of them. All three of them have to be held in the hand so that our older workers can continue to contribute and earn decent wages. We have also to help the older workers adapt to new work environment and equip them with employable skills to meet new job requirement. Cost of medical care is what the older workers are most worried about. With globalisation and an uncertain employment prospect, I urge the Government to facilitate reform in our so-called employment-based medical benefits and provide a portable framework for all workers so that they can actually take care of their medical needs as they move from one job to another. Of course, to all these older workers, they hope that they could work as long as possible, but we need to change the mindset of our employers to give them the job opportunity. It is not so simple as some MPs have commented that it was "the perception of some external board directors who feel that the older employees are more a liability than asset" as being external directors, they have not grown up with the employees and are less empathetic. I think it is a general perception of the management, and we need to change it. It is not true that older workers cannot adapt to the new environment and would become a burden to the company.”
“We could not continue to be the No 1 world-class workforce without sufficient improvement in the quality of our managers. In the Watson Wyatt study on Work Attitudes in Asia, which covered 11,000 workers from 11 countries, almost 67% of the respondents to survey said that they were satisfied with their jobs, but only 35% rated their supervisors favourably, compared with the regional norm of 41%. And only 31% believe their supervisors motivated them to do better, while 31% said their supervisors coached them to improve their performance. In the area of supervision, the perception by Singaporean employees is that it clearly needs improvement in terms of how supervisors are managing them. While supervisors are good in getting the job done, they are probably not as good in the areas of coaching and development mentoring. Hence, there is a need for the programme to strengthen the managerial capability as well. With that note, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the motion. ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE Resolved, That the debate be now adjourned. [Mr Wong Kan Seng].”
“The Government has to take into account factors such as our slower economic growth, rising structural unemployment, and the greater difficulty for older workers, including those with qualifications to secure jobs, before it makes a decision to allow companies to recruit more foreign manpower. The other concern that I have, and I wish to raise, is on the protection for workers' salaries. The existing law is limited in its scope as it does not cover all workers. For those not covered under the Act, particularly the executives, they will have to engage lawyers to pursue their salary claims through the civil courts. This is expensive, time consuming and frustrating to the individuals who are already suffering from the loss of income. In Singapore, where the majority of the people are wage earners, providing an effective and practical avenue for people to pursue their salary claims is a fundamental aspect of employee welfare. However, I am not advocating that all executives be covered under the Employment Act for the purpose of salary claims. What I am advocating is for the Ministry to consider allowing junior executives to have access to the Labour Court to pursue their salary claims. As we know, many companies inflate their employees' titles. So we have executives earning only $2,000 but when they have salary claims to make against the employers, they have to file a civil suit against the employers, which we know they can ill afford. So my question is whether the Government will consider amending the Employment Act only for the purpose of allowing junior executives to file their salary claims. I welcome the Ministry of Manpower's decision to develop programmes to strengthen the capabilities of the line managers and HR professionals.”
“Let me now turn to some of the issues that were raised in the Addendum of MOM. In its Addendum, the MOM has stated that it wants to give companies greater flexibility to recruit skilled foreign workers. It believes that giving companies greater flexibility to recruit foreign workers will help them to be more competitive and help create jobs for Singaporeans. One cannot dispute the fact that skilled foreign manpower is necessary for us in areas where there are not enough Singaporeans to do the job. The real issue, however, is how many and whether Singaporeans can actually fill up these jobs. During the period of strong economic growth in the mid-90s, where three jobs are chasing after one Singaporean worker, there will be less concern about this proposal. But today, when we are faced with a slower long-term growth rate and where at least 2-3 workers chase after one job, there are concerns that a greater liberalisation of the foreign workers policy will affect the job prospects of Singaporeans. As it is, the older Singaporeans are already finding it difficult to secure jobs or to find a new job, including the middle-aged executives who are retrenched. We would like to know how the authority would strike a balance and reassure us that any changes undertaken will not be at the expense of local workers. I strongly think that the levy ought to be raised as a counter check, if necessary. When the new "S" pass system was introduced last year, the Minister had assured this House that there would be enough safeguards, including restricting the number of "S" pass holders to not more than 5%. I would like to know whether this restriction will still apply.”
“It is a timely wake-up call to urge all unionists to start thinking what should unions do to stay relevant and help our fellow workers." As a labour movement, we cannot afford to resist such trends. Because if the pace of change out there in the world is faster than the pace of change here in Singapore, our businesses will become less competitive and our economic growth will become less sustainable and our ability to create jobs will be weakened. Resisting is a no-win outcome for all Singaporeans and the Singapore-based companies. At the end of the day, it will be our workers that will suffer. So we have to choose to face the challenges squarely. Besides putting in place an education and training framework to strengthen our employability, we need to redesign existing low-paying jobs in various domestic bound sectors and turn them into more productive and better-paying jobs for Singaporeans. This will help create more job opportunities for our local workers, especially retrenched workers and those who are older and less skilled. Sir, the NTUC, with the leadership of some of the labour MPs, together with the union leaders in the various sectors, has already completed a number of pilot job redesign projects with the support of the more enlightened employers. There is no excuse for the other employers not to do the same. It is time for the employers to respond positively to the tripartite efforts to bring in better job opportunities to all Singaporeans, particularly those in the services sector. The services sector's share of the GDP and employment in Singapore is 63% and 76% respectively. That means, with three-quarters of our jobs in the sector, we need to strengthen the job value of the sector immediately so as to be able to provide better jobs for Singaporeans.”
“But almost six million of these new jobs (accounting for 17 out of the 20 largest growth occupations) require job-seekers with limited education and provide minimum training and are typically identified as low wage jobs. Sir, these lines sound familiar, as we in Singapore face the same challenges. The threat of structural unemployment will also be growing as we go through the transition from high-growth to a more moderate and more volatile growth. However, compared to the British, we are fortunate that, with a strong labour movement, and an established tripartite network and framework, we have responded much earlier to prepare Singaporeans for the challenges. We have made very good progress in helping our workers to upgrade and to enhance their employability and efficiency by all kinds of training and assistance schemes that we have put in place. However, we cannot simply put an equal sign between education training and employability. Our workers will not want to end up with a situation of having the skills but no jobs and unemployable. In Chinese, we call, "ying xiong wu yong wu zi di". To further the interest and protect the rights of the rank-and-file workers in this changed environment, the tripartite partners need to work out a much more effective action plan to help. One union leader, who joined the NTUC study trips to India recently, shared with me his observation. He said what he saw reminded him, and I quote: "Globalisation has brought to our doorstep 4 CORE trends, that means, fundamental shift in Singapore's employment and industrial relations, namely, "C" for consolidation, "O", outsourcing, "R", retrenchment and "E", early retirement.”
“In short, we must provide opportunities for all Singaporeans to be able to continue to learn and upgrade throughout their lifetime. As a union leader, I have personally seen how continual learning helps workers stay employable and to lead a better life. I read from a magazine recently that to "globalise or be damned" was the conclusion of the Treasury's report on Britain's economic future, which coolly predicted that Europe and US will lose at least five million jobs abroad within the next 10 years. Within 10 years, China and India will together account for a quarter of the world's economic output. The document warned that the rapid growth of the large emerging economies, in particular, China and India, is shifting the balance of the global economic activities. Offshoring will accelerate and the main challenge to Britain will be the loss of thousands more low-wage jobs to China and India where wages are only 5% of those of Britain. The middle-class employees, such as accountants, lawyers and computer programmers are also affected. Staying in employment in the year ahead will, and I quote, "depend upon an individual's ability to adapt, replacing the old notion of a job for life with "employability for life". Those who do lose their jobs can learn different skills and find a new and better job. Some jobs will be lost, no matter what Britain does, but others will be saved if Britain improves its economic efficiency or productivity." On the other side of the ocean, a review of the occupations with the largest expected growth in jobs from the US Department of Labour stated that between 2002 and 2012, there will be more than 7.5 million new jobs in the 20 occupations with the largest growth.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, what exactly do opportunities mean for Singaporeans? If we ask different Singaporeans how they view Singapore as a country with opportunities, we are likely to get different answers. But sometimes, the most difficult answers can be found in the most basic principles. We always say that the four basic needs for people are clothing, food, shelter and transportation. In Chinese, we call, "yi, shi, zhu, xin". Over the years, the Government has done a wonderful job in meeting these basic needs for Singaporeans. We now enjoy a standard of living that is among the highest in the world. But as an old Chinese saying goes, "bu huan gua er huan bu jun". One of the key success factors of any nation is not how rich or poor its citizens are, but rather it is how the society comes together to help the weaker members. Even as we celebrate our successes, we must make sure that the poor and the disadvantaged do not get left behind. My point is that we need to go beyond just providing financial aid and handouts to the needy. We have to provide all means and opportunities for the poor and the disadvantaged to also have a fighting chance in life, ie, a job opportunity for all. Secondly, beyond economic successes, we need to build a nation that can celebrate achievements in other areas. To do so, we need to recognise that there are many talented Singaporeans out there who have done well in many other fields, including arts, sports and culture. We should not stereotype its success. In other words, we need to provide opportunities for Singaporeans to explore their areas of interests and develop their talents. Thirdly, although education is not commonly regarded as a basic need, I would argue that learning is a fundamental pillar for our society to grow.”
“There is no Chinese version of this beautifully printed review report for each and every CL teacher to study the detailed contents therein. Do the Chinese Language teachers really and thoroughly understand all the recommendations in this report? I hope the MOE would publish a Chinese version of the report so that every Chinese Language teacher can have a copy. I also hope that Members of Parliament, particularly members of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education would, after debating this report in Parliament, can go out into the community and the school clusters to involve the teachers and parents in the discussion of this report. This is because successful implementation of these recommendations will hinge on the teachers themselves. We should make them feel that their views are important. They should understand the reason for the recommendations of this report and how they should be carried out to ensure that they are successful.”
“The centre could regularly invite overseas experts to share their teaching experience with us, so that successful teaching methods could be extended to more schools. They could help train local teachers on these successful teaching methods. I also hope the Ministry could, through school clusters, involve teachers in this review. The report suggests that a new PSLE assessment mode be used in 2010. I think it is too late. Not only class examinations but all internal assessments which assess the progress of the pupils should be adjusted to fall in tune with this Chinese Language teaching reform. We may perhaps peg our examination standard with the HSK and look into the feasibility of letting our students sit for the standardised Hanyu Shouping Kaoshi evaluation examination conducted by the authorised agency of the People's Republic of China. Why wait till 2010? I think the Government wants to use the incremental approach to phase in the reforms. But in an "examination-oriented" society, we need to first review the examination to facilitate implementation of pedagogy reform. I hope MOE will attach more weight to project work. The weightage on this kind of exercise should be increased, and not just rely on one written examination at the end of the academic year. This review report should be deemed to be an all stakeholders' report. It is different from the Goh Keng Swee Report and the Ong Teng Cheong Report. I feel that the Ministry should broaden the degree of involvement by all the CL teachers and parents in the implementation of this report. Up to now, the report has been discussed with only Chinese HODs and the experts over a total of 16 sessions.”
“I fail to understand why MOE has not reacted to this kind of erroneous teaching in pre-primary schools. At this stage of a child's physical and psychological developments, such young toddlers are not yet equipped with the motor skills to write. We should not measure the teaching outcome by how well the child writes or how many vocabulary items he has memorised. Therefore, people's dislike for the Chinese Language, I think, began when they were young. MOE should not neglect the pre-school stage. However, MOE is in charge of the pre-school administration only. There is no department to oversee the curriculum development of pre-school education. The Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union has sought the views of their members and they generally welcome the major revamp in Chinese Language teaching. But whether the whole reform could be smoothly implemented would hinge on the cooperation and judgment of the teachers. The teachers will have to adapt to a whole series of changes from lesson preparation to designing of teaching materials, classroom teaching, semester assessments, etc. The workload is bound to increase. More teachers should be recruited. They should be given more time to devise their teaching strategies so as to make the lessons interesting and lively. Time should be given for research to successfully implement the recommendations. To lessen the burden, teachers should be encouraged to share their resources. The Government, the Chinese community and the universities should support the initiative of the Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union to set up a resource centre for Chinese Language teaching, to gather all teaching resources from here and from abroad.”
“We hope that the teachers themselves would remove the mental block of the students which inhibits the love for the Chinese Language. One teacher said that in order to make them love the language, he became friends to the students and set up a sincere and cordial relationship with them. In this way, they will pay more attention in class. The teachers themselves must also adapt to and embrace the changes. A principal told me that when he was counselling a senior Chinese Language teacher, he got this retort from the teacher who said, "I have been teaching in this way for many decades! What is wrong with it?" But the problem lies here. Over the past few decades, we have seen great changes in the home background of students from mainly Chinese-speaking families to predominantly English-speaking families. To quote from Sun Tzu's "Art of War", to win the battle, we must first of all win the hearts and minds of the people. Therefore, teachers should adjust themselves and their teaching methodology to suit the needs of the students, from time to time. The theory of child development shows that the critical stage in a child's development is from the age of three to four, particularly with regard to language acquisition. Children at this stage acquire the language skills most effectively. However, the present set-up in our pre-school establishments is contrary to what the child psychology says. In these pre-schools, the emphasis on language learning is mistakenly placed on examination techniques, and not the laying down of foundation for the learning of languages later on in life. The learning outcome is measured by how many marks the child gets in ting xie (dictation) and how many assessment exercises he has done in a week, how much pinyin he has learnt.”
“There was an article entitled "Difficult to learn Chinese?" by one Wu Senwei describing the various problems of growing up in Singapore. No doubt there are difficulties, but we should not be afraid of difficulties. We are not going to make Chinese so simple and shallow here that anybody could learn it without effort. The most important thing is that we must face the Chinese Language squarely. We must lay down the foundation, firmly and strongly, for our children so that they can acquire some proficiency in the language, and later on if they so wish, they can go further and be effectively proficient in the language and culture. With this reform plan in hand, the most important thing is how we implement these recommendations. I hope MOE should move away from the age-old practice of making the teachers stick to the syllabuses and teachers' manual, treating the textbooks and the teaching manuals as a fixed recipe. When assessing the teachers' performance, the relevant authority should take into account the value-add on the students rather than whether the teachers had covered the prescribed syllabus for the examination. The school management should empathise with the Chinese Language teachers' plight and try its best to boost the morale of the teachers. School principals should understand that the teaching of Chinese is different from the teaching of other subjects. They should not use the same yardstick to assess the performance of the Chinese Language teachers. From the 1992 Ong Teng Cheong Report and the 1999 DPM Lee Hsien Loong's Review Committee on the teaching of the Chinese Language, we see the same problems surfacing again and again, that is, the extra heavy workloads of the Chinese Language teachers. The Ministry should address these concerns.”
“In Singapore today, we can no longer use the "stick wielding" strategy to coerce the students to learn Chinese to satisfy the university enrolment requirement, and to learn for the sake of passing examinations. In the famous Chinese classic, "Journey to the West", the Monkey God's cunning and mischievous character just could not be changed, but because of the "Incantation of the Golden Hoop" used on him to keep him under control, he was forced to accompany his master Tang Xuanzang to the western world to collect the sutras. This method is no longer relevant to our present day situation. The vast majority of parents and students have come to a realisation of the present situation and the need to learn Chinese. There is no longer a need to use threat and force any more. In the past, marriages were all arranged by the parents. A boy and a girl were paired together under the "command of the parents and recommendations of the match-makers". Now, young people find their own true love and marry the partners they choose out of their own love. If we can cultivate our young people's love for the Chinese Language, they simply do not need you to force them in embracing their true love. Otherwise, the moment they graduate, they will bid farewell to the Chinese Language. Let us focus our attention on how to make the younger generation understand the reasons for learning the mother tongue, and provide them with a favourable and effective environment to learn the language. This is what we should do today. Whatever their motive for learning the language, be it materialistic, idealistic, utilitarian or for their own personal cultivation, for doing business or for finding one's root, we will try our best to provide them with the avenues for learning.”
“The hare was very unhappy because he lost the race again. They went on a third race, but half way through, there was a bush fire and both the tortoise and the hare had to run for their lives. On the way, the tortoise tagged along the hare by biting its tail, and when they were crossing the water, the hare sat on the back of the tortoise. By helping each other, they both managed to escape and survived the ordeal. Like the tortoise and the hare, each of us has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and we would lose out in a competitive world if we are monolingual. To be bilingual is like having the strengths of both the tortoise and the hare - we enjoy the best of both worlds. In her article in the Straits Times, Chua Mui Hoong cited a survey which revealed that about 46% of our Secondary 4 students find Chinese difficult to learn, and 52% of students find it difficult to learn English. While it is difficult to learn Chinese, English is not easy to master as well. Therefore, we have to face the reality squarely. The most important is that we must have the aspiration and passion for the language to overcome all difficulties in learning it. I agree with Mr Wu Wei Chai who wrote in the Lianhe Zaobao, "Whether one can learn one's mother tongue, or for that matter any other language well will solely depend on one's aspiration and passion. Now I am also giving English tuition in Beijing. From my teaching experience, I could clearly see that in learning languages, apart from teaching materials and pedagogy, the more important factor for success is motivation and passion." Therefore, the intrinsic motivation and interest are very important factors.”
“The reform in Chinese Language teaching is no different from any other education reform in that both have to move with the times. The objective of Chinese teaching still remains the same - to enable the younger generation to have a foundation in the language so that they will be able to effectively communicate with others in the language and then when required by work or further study, to raise it to a higher level. As Minister Tharman said, "Our aim is not to make language learning plain and easy, but to enthuse all Chinese Language students and develop in them an abiding interest in the language and culture, and to provide more avenues for learning the language in tune with their home background and aptitude." We, all parents included, should not think that once their children enter school, their aim of learning the mother tongue is to pass the examination. Most people understand that a person who is bilingual and bi-cultured is a more flexible and rounded person. There is no longer any need to look for reason or excuse for learning one's mother tongue. On Tuesday, Minister Lim Swee Say told us an analogy about the cat and the "bilingual" mouse. There is another story to prove this. I am sure we are all familiar with the fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare. In the first race, because the hare was so proud and callous, he slipped half way and the tortoise overtook him. Later on, the hare was not happy and asked the tortoise for a re-run. He allowed the tortoise to choose the route, and the tortoise won again because he cleverly chose a route which included a stretch where they had to go into the water. He leveraged on his ability to swim and the hare's inability there to swing the race to his favour.”
“When we were learning Chinese during our primary school days, we were required to memorise selected nursery rhyme from the classics. I can still remember some of the rhyming phrases quite vividly. From these texts, we learn not just the words and phrases but, more importantly, the values and the moral behind the writing. Dr Wang Kai Yuen mentioned about one Prof. Zheng. I would like to mention a small book used by primary students in China: "One Word One Rhyme". This is a new Zheng. There are many examples to show that students can understand the beauty of the Chinese character, and then they can use simple words to express their feelings and ideas. In certain songs, there is a verse and this verse uses very simple words. Such teaching materials will be very useful to help our pupils to learn the Chinese Language well. This book can be used in primary schools. In fact, our students currently have to use a very thick book on vocabulary, which we should discontinue. This round of reform to the Chinese Language curriculum and pedagogy can be summed up in four Chinese idioms starting with the word yin (on the basis of; in the light of) namely: (1) yin shi li dao (make the best use of the situation and guide something along in the light of the general trend); (2) yin li cheng bian (rely on the facilities of the situation - take the tide at the flood; (3) yin shi zhi yi (suit measures to the changing circumstances; and (4) yin cai shi jiao (teach students in accordance with their aptitude). Now that we are sowing the shan yin (good cause) of Chinese Language curriculum and pedagogy reform, I am confident that, with the concerted efforts of all the people of various stations in Singapore, we shall reap the shan guo (good results).”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, mother tongue education has been a perennial item on the agenda in Parliamentary debates, especially during the Budget debates. The last time the topic was thoroughly discussed was in 1999 when PM Lee made a Ministerial Statement on the Teaching of Chinese Language. Today's review on this topic, in my view, is an extension of PM Lee's concern and his suggestions raised then. Therefore, we can see that the Government and Parliament, in fact, attach great importance to Chinese mother tongue education. It is not like what Mr Low Thia Khiang described as a review to correct a shortsighted policy. In fact, our policy has been farsighted in nature. Had it not been for PAP's farsightedness and consistent emphasis with regard to bilingual education, we would not have been able to benefit from Mr Deng Xiao Ping's "economic reform and opening up" policy that transformed China's economy. Mr Low has been a teacher and he knows what he is talking about. But, sometimes he would selectively attack the Government's policies using illogical reasoning. At the last General Election, there was this "da-you shi" (poetical rhyme) that was being chanted all over Hougang. It goes like this, "Tomorrow will be better, Don't let it be smashed by the Hammer; Eric is kind and his knowledge is strong, Vote for PAP, and you cannot go wrong!" We can see that language, when used cleverly, can be an effective means to convey messages across to the people, without having to use a lot of high-sounding or bombastic words. Simple rhyming words and straightforward phrases can similarly express our feelings. I agree with Dr Wang Kai Yuen that when teaching Chinese, the Ministry should put more emphasis on rhyming phrases and simple poetical works.”
“Companies should also recognise that flexi schemes aim to achieve greater flexibility and optimise manpower deployment to strengthen their competitiveness. It is not a reduction in the cost for overtime payment and rest day work. Management should not see this amendment for greater flexibility as a new avenue for cost cutting. For flexible work arrangements to gain wider acceptance, more needs to be done to promote the benefits for both workers and employers. The challenge for the tripartite partners now is to balance the need to provide flexibility for the companies and to safeguard the interest of the workers. On the other amendments for extended maternity benefits, I would like to urge all employers to grant extended maternity leave to their employees during the transitional period, ie, after 1st August 2004 and before 1st October 2004. I also hope employers could be more accommodating to employees' requests to take the additional 4-week maternity leave flexibly over the six months from the birth of the baby. In conclusion, Sir, the law will only set the minimum requirement on this issue. What we need to do now is to publicise and promote the best practices and get more workplaces to follow the early adopters.”
“It is in the union's interest to help workers keep their jobs and have greater certainty in their income. There need not be conflicting objectives if union and management are able to work together for a smooth workplace transformation and thus enable workers to remain employable. As a labour MP, I have the opportunity to actually work with some of the companies who have their pilot projects implemented. ST Aerospace is one unionised company that has successfully implemented a flexi-time scheme. Feedback from the management, union and employees has been positive as the scheme is seen to be beneficial to both the company as well as employees. One important principle which ST Aerospace adopted is to grant paid time-off to employees on days when there is no work scheduled for them. The paid time-off will be deducted from the overtime work accumulated when the employees have to work overtime, based on the rate of 1.5 times for work beyond the contractual daily and weekly working hours, as stipulated in the Employment Act. The same principle also applies to the rate of payment for work on their rest day, ie, two times. Through this arrangement, ST Aerospace has been able to better utilise its manpower resources and also share the productivity gain with employees, ie, all the employees in ST Aerospace can look forward to additional incentive bonus payments. There are savings also on travelling time and cost for the workers. Sir, therefore, flexi-work arrangements can lead to a win-win situation for all stakeholders, as businesses and workers stand to benefit. For this to happen, my stress is again on communication and trust between the company and employees, and regular reviews of performance measurement, work targets and objectives are also critical.”
“It allows flexibility in managing manpower resources in accordance with market conditions without having to resort to other cost-cutting measures, such as retrenchments, shorter work-week or temporary layoffs. It also provides and promotes a balanced lifestyle by allowing workers to take time off during non-peak periods. At the same time, employers do not have to sacrifice any productive time. However, for implementation of such a scheme, support from unions and workers is key. And unions and workers must be consulted before implementing such a scheme by the company. The initial stage of implementation is also crucial. The scheme should be implemented as a pilot project to first gauge its effectiveness. So a timeframe of six to 12 months for these pilot projects could be set. There should also be regular reviews and communication between management and workers. The Ministry must ensure that such a flexible work scheme would not undermine the employees' interests and that there are proper safeguards against abuses. Flexibility should not affect the workers' income stability and should not be carried out at the expense of the safety and health of the workers. In terms of workplace safety, some union leaders had proposed that, under the flexible work scheme or flexi-time scheme, the maximum working hours in a day should remain at 12 hours, and employees should still be entitled to the same number of rest days per week, current leave benefits, and so on. Additional incentives should also be considered in the granting of approval of such schemes by the Ministry of Manpower. Unions in Singapore are prepared to work with companies on their proposed flexible work projects so as to help workers understand and appreciate better the objectives of such changes and their benefits.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the Bill. First of all, I am very happy that the amendments will raise the minimum permissible age from 12 to 13 years for employment for light work and raise the permissible age from 14 to 15 years for non-hazardous industrial work. This is a positive move to make our requirements in line with ILO Core Convention 138, and I hope of course this will lead to early ratification of the Convention by our Government. As recommended by the Economic Review Committee, the amendment empowers the Commissioner for Labour to lawfully approve applications for flexible work schedules without being bound by the existing overtime and rest day provisions which require the companies to pay the rate of payment for overtime and the rate of payment for work on rest day only in cash. With the amendment, companies can now use the accumulated overtime work to compensate employees in the form of paid time-off, also called compensatory time-off, during the lull period. Sir, optimal use of manpower holds the key to success in the new economy. With the changing business environment and the need for an improving quality of life for all the workers, there is motivation in the search and implementation of more flexible working arrangements. The benefits of flexi-work practices have been well-documented in many management and human resource literature. Studies have shown that the introduction of flexi-work in developed countries has resulted in lower absenteeism, increased productivity, higher employee retention and savings in overhead costs, not to mention a higher employee morale. In general, the unions in Singapore support flexible work arrangements.”
“In the US, car loans are transparent, because details of the hire-purchase agreements are readily available on financial institutions' websites. Sir, over the last few years, credit sales have been on the increase. It is another area of concern for consumers. This is an area that is not regulated, and CASE has seen increasing complaints against retailers who took advantage of this regulatory gap to impose unfair terms on the consumers. I think it is just about right for MTI to look into the possibility and feasibility of extending the Hire-Purchase Act to cover all consumer credit or introducing a new law to close the gap. Consumer credits deal primarily with what lawyers call "chose-in-action" rather than with physical goods. Most of the rights and liabilities are created by business and financial institutions, by tweaking the terms and conditions of credit and selling as a glossy bundled product to unsuspecting consumers. The tweaks are glossed over in the marketing pitch. Businesses are hardwired to keep on changing their terms and conditions and selling their products to unsuspecting consumers without pointing out the changes. The consumers are left to pore over the fine print to detect the changes in the basis of presentation. Present laws do not protect consumers sufficiently against such market practices. A recent example is the sale of investment-linked products as "deposit" products. If this state of affairs continues, I fear that consumers will lose faith in the consumer credit industry and consumer finance industry. The industry will suffer as a result in the long term. I hope MTI will consider these proposals and find a workable solution to solve these problems. Sir, I support the Bill.”
“Sir, I rise to support the Bill. This amendment will enhance disclosure and transparency requirements, so that consumers have access to all relevant information to make an informed choice when deciding to enter into a hire-purchase agreement. I understand that the Consumers Association of Singapore, which has been advocating for such changes to be made to the Hire-Purchase Act for the past two years, is appreciative of the efforts put in by the MTI and the various parties involved in the review. CASE was a member of the MTI task force to review the Hire Purchase Act. By including CASE and other industry representatives in the task force, MTI has demonstrated its consultative approach to industry regulations. I am glad, in particular, to note that Rule 78, a mandatory formula for calculating interest payments on car loans has been amended, so that financial institutions are now not required under the law to apply this rule on all hire-purchase loans governed by the Act. It is a positive move in improving the hire- purchase provisions. Unfortunately, this change has not gone far enough to ensure that consumers need not be disadvantaged by this rule. As the financial industry is now left with the discretion to apply Rule 78 on an optional basis under the amended law, I would like to urge the industry players to discontinue the use of Rule 78. I hope that the Ministry of Trade and Industry will closely monitor the development and, if need be, consider banning the use of Rule 78 totally in future. The banning of this rule is not new, and it has been done in some developed countries. In addition, I suggest that the US practice for car loans be studied for implementation here.”
“May I ask the Minister: when the review is completed and we have a revamped and more effective MediShield scheme, would we accept those who have already opted out to opt into the scheme again, because I understand that there are more than 270,000 Singaporeans who have already opted out of the scheme?”
“Sir, I think one of the factors that we are not able to detect such instances earlier is that the workers may not even know their rights and the channels where they can seek assistance. Would the Ministry think of doing more in this area? Would there be a possibility for us to get the embassies of the sending countries, for example, involved in such a collaboration?”
“I would like to ask the Acting Minister whether the Ministry would consider the suggestion that some union leaders have raised in today's New Paper that a separate unit be set up to handle the salary claims of foreign workers, particularly those who are not unionised because, as mentioned by the hon. Member, Mdm Halimah, the process today is a bit too long and expensive for the workers. It would be much easier for all if there is a Government agency to look into it. The second question is: would the Ministry consider reviewing the law so as to make at least partial payment of the salary arrears to be higher in priority in the creditors' claim when the companies go bankrupt?”
“Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Maid Levy”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head S of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code SI 1500. Sir, company policies and programmes to improve the physical, social and emotional well-being of employees now play an increasingly important role. In office workplaces, however, hazards are hidden. It may arise due to bad sitting posture, how an office workplace is structured, or the quality of the indoor air. However, workers are generally not well-informed about such hazards and how to prevent them. These hazards have also not been treated with the same seriousness by the employers as they would for the other kinds of occupational safety and health hazards. Studies performed in Denmark and Sweden have shown that productivity increases significantly with increased ventilation and high air quality. I would like to urge MOM to take active steps to promote good indoor air quality at the office workplace and ergonomics awareness, particularly awareness of the potential risk factors of office occupational injuries, like back and neck problems. MOM should consider setting OHS regulations for office workplaces, such as the condition of the air, lighting, radiation and ventilation system.”
“Sir, I am glad that the Minister has assured Singaporeans that he is listening and aware of the concerns related to the employment situation and the progress of the Government in its efforts at strengthening employability of workers is encouraging. I am satisfied with most of the answers given by the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary but, of course, not all. On that note, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, may I know what does it mean by "in due course", as stated by the Parliamentary Secretary? Can he be more specific in terms of the timeframe set for the extension of the safety registration to protect more workers?”
“I would like to ask the Ministry of Manpower how many companies have adopted PMBS to-date, and what more can be done to push for a nation-wide implementation of portable medical benefits.”
“Sir, the Portable Medical Benefits Scheme (PMBS) has been in discussion for some time, and the labour movement has, in fact, been calling for making the medical benefits portable since 1997. The system can provide workers with portable and continuous coverage during their working years, extending into their retirement. It helps workers save for future medical needs. More importantly, under the scheme, the worker does not lose out when he changes jobs, even if he develops medical conditions. At the same time, there will not be unnecessary cost burdens to his employers as he ages. With the economic downturn and restructuring, many older workers realise the hard reality of the existing employer-based medical benefit. It is more like a cheque - when there is a need to cash, the supporting account could have been closed or terminated. I would like to remind employers to treat workers as stakeholders. Companies have an obligation to stakeholders and should not reduce their corporate social responsibility to enhance the welfare of employees. Employers should seriously consider the ERC's recommendations to implement PMBS. Many union leaders I met suggested that the PMBS should be part of the national agenda rather than leaving it to the employers. They strongly urged that a timeframe be set for the adoption of the PMBS, and that the Government should view the implementation of portable medical benefits as a top priority. Besides tax incentives, the Government should set up the basic infrastructure for the implementation of the PMBS, ie, a national basic insurance scheme for all Singaporeans that the labour movement has been advocating for years.”
“In addition, the Government has decided to lower the CPF contribution to the long-term target range of 30% to 36%, lower the salary ceiling to $4,500 and further reduce CPF rate for older workers over the next two years. Some union leaders expressed concerns that all these adjustments may cause insufficiency of retirement funds for our workers. What would the Ministry do to ensure retirement adequacy? Another concern raised by union leaders is on the returns on CPF savings. A number of CPF members have made losses from their CPF investments. Likewise, investments in housing are also not insulated nowadays from losses. It seems that it is better to keep the money in the Special Account to enjoy the 4% fixed interest. Does MOM have any plan to ensure and enhance the rate of return for CPF savings which are the hard-earned money of the workers? Sir, I support the recommendation made in the Budget Statement to request the self-employed to also have sufficient savings in their Medisave account to meet their hospitalisation expenses. May I know how would the Ministry enforce contributions, in a practical way, for the self-employed?”
“Does the Ministry have plans to step up efforts in these areas? More efforts must be put in by the tripartite partners, so as to put in place proper systems and develop a safer working environment for the workers. On behalf of union leaders from the non-industrial sectors, I would also like to, once again, urge the Ministry to amend the law, particularly the Factories Act, to provide protection to more workers in workplaces, including non-industrial workplaces, such as office workplaces, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and laboratories. The current Factories Act only covers 700,000 workers, ie, one-third of the total workforce. Moving ahead, it is the responsibility of all mangement staff and employees to work together to build a strong safety culture at the workplace. It is wrong to just delegate the responsibility to the safety manager or the safety officer. The Ministry should also review the statutory requirement for companies to include such a head count, and give people the wrong impression that the responsibility lies with the safety manager. Singapore has done well in maintaining safety standards. We should continue to improve on these standards and make our workplace a safe place for all. CPF Sir, I will move on to my next cut on CPF. The primary role of CPF is to ensure sufficient savings for retirement. Sufficiency of funds depends on the level of needs catered for in retirement. There was consensus that CPF has been used for too many purposes. There is a need for CPF to return to its fundamental role and cater only to the basic needs in housing, medical care and cash for daily expenses in the retirement years. Sir, the remaining 4% CPF not yet restored would not be restored, and the employer's CPF contribution was cut by 3% from 1st October 2003.”
“Sir, before I move my cut, I also want to clarify, on behalf of the male colleagues in this House, that we all support the call for work-life balance and pro-family policies. Many of us spoke quite passionately during the debate on the Budget Statement and also in the COS on MCDS. Perhaps we were barking up the wrong tree. I think, next year, we will follow our female colleagues to target at the right spot. Sir, we have a world-class workforce. Our workforce has been constantly ranked as No. 1. They work night and day, rain or shine, to maintain a high level of efficiency and productivity. Do the authorities and management of all the workplaces also maintain a high level of occupational health and safety standard? I would like to urge the management to tighten the implementation of safety measures, as workers' lives are at stake. They have a moral and legal responsibility to provide a hazard-free environment for all our workers. Despite our repeated calls, particularly from the labour movement, for more stringent safety measures, we still see unnecessary deaths at construction sites and some of the factories. In the past two years, 120 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents, of which half happened in the construction industry. In our view, every single work-related death is not tolerable, whether at the construction sites or any other workplaces. Employers must show concern and have the interests of the workers at heart. Besides fatal accidents, in the last five years, on the average, we also had about 100 accidents which led to permanent disability per year, of which one-third happened in the metal working industry. These figures are also not acceptable as all these will actually lead to hardship for the worker's family and loved ones.”
“Point of clarification, Sir. I think the Minister did not address the question on how we should extend the protection to non-unionised workers, raised by Mr Low Thia Khiang. Would he agree that actually it is quite simple? What we need to do is to advise them to join the unions.”
“Sir, the Minister mentioned that the 5% is on top of the original allocation of 30% or 50% of the respective sectors. But look at the response from the employers. Straightaway, before this has been implemented, they have already asked for more. So, how are we going to ensure that the management will really seriously look into how to employ local workers instead of just saying that they need more and more foreign workers? Would the Minister assure us that he will not give in?”
“I am very pleased that the Ministry has accepted the NTUC Foreign Workers Forum's suggestion to put in place a mandatory safety course for foreign domestic workers. But more will have to be done, as every fatal accident is one case too many. Another useful tool to safeguard and protect the interest of foreign domestic workers is a model employment contract. In the event of a dispute, a foreign domestic worker, with a fair employment contract, would be able to seek redress at the MOM Foreign Workers Unit. Would the Ministry make it mandatory for all employers who employ foreign domestic workers through employment agencies to adopt a model employment contract with specific core terms and conditions, including rest days? Moving ahead, we also need to monitor and moderate the demand for foreign domestic maids and put in effort to raise the work quality. The Ministry should consider doing a study on how other countries are able to achieve high female worker participation rate than us without a heavy reliance on foreign domestic maids. We should also not become too dependent on a particular country for the supply of foreign domestic workers. Instead of letting some surrounding countries to threaten us to cut off supply, I think it is time for us to also consider imposing a cap on the total number of foreign domestic workers from each country. Work Pass System”
“Sir, in Singapore, we recognise and affirm the contributions of the foreign workers towards our economic development. Take the local factories and restaurants, for example. They would not have survived without the number of foreign workers who make up for the shortfall in our local workforce. In turn, these workplaces continue to provide our local workers with the employment opportunities. However, with globalisation and the local unemployment situation, MOM should help industries that are heavily dependent on foreign workers to reduce their dependency by raising productivity and encourage these industries to adopt innovative methods to redesign and re-engineer their work processes to try to consider the local job seekers for all these jobs. Today, the number of foreign workers in Singapore is very large. We have about 500,000 foreign workers, including 140,000 foreign domestic maids in our 920,000 households. We should substantively reduce our dependence on foreign labour. Many Singaporeans would like to know whether the Ministry would consider further tightening the man-year entitlement. Would MOM also review the present work permit allocation system, such as changing the existing sectoral approach and reclassifying foreign workers' needs and entitlement of the various industries by job requirements? Sir, this House had debated previously on the plight of foreign workers in Singapore. I have asked the Ministry questions on housing for foreign workers and the actions taken against errant employers who do not pay foreign workers. The Minister has assured the House that the Ministry monitors this situation closely and it will not hesitate to take errant employers to task. I hope the Minister could give us some update on this.”
“We are people of one nation. We should help our locals first before we bring in the foreigners. At this moment, we should help our local workers, particularly those who are elderly. As the popular Hokkien song goes, "You have to fight, then you can win", and that "If you are feeling down now, it is all right because it is only for a short while. To be successful, 30% depends on luck and 70% depends on yourself." Work hard and do not be downhearted. Never lose the fighting spirit. With the Government behind them, our people should try their best, work hard, keep their jobs, so that their families could be looked after. Recently, many of our labour MPs decided to divide the various industries among themselves and we would be on a look out for job vacancies for the unemployed. I am looking after the textile industry. With the counselling that we give, we can more effectively match the unemployed to new places of work. I think we should double up our efforts in job guidance and counselling. I do not know whether WDA has any plan to help and prepare the workers to move to the new industries, which have vacancies at the moment. DPM Lee mentioned that some 250,000 jobs had been created in the service industry over the past five years. I think we should look into how we could prepare and equip our workers to move into the service industry which is now offering the job opportunities. Older Workers”
“At present, with globalisation, competition is very intense and has become borderless. Those who fail to keep up are beginning to face difficulties and they are falling very hard. In the past, during a downturn, a company would halt production, retrench some workers and run down its inventory. But now it is different. Now, the whole company may be uprooted and relocated to sites where the operation cost is cheaper. Overnight, thousands of jobs could be lost. More importantly, now with all this international outsourcing and off-shore trend, it is estimated that two million jobs would be created in cheaper locations. Over the next five years, more than two million jobs would be moving to India and China. So, we need to look at how we could seek some new growth areas and also help our workers in advance, so that they can upgrade themselves and take on such new jobs. This trend of globalisation, with further consolidation, liberalisation and technological advancement, there will be displacement of unskilled workers, while need for workers in the higher skilled and higher value-added industries will increase. Many jobs which we have been relying on for many years will disappear, and will never come back again. So, for the displaced and unemployed, in addition to the provision of short-term financial assistance to tide over their difficult time, I think, most importantly, we have to look into how we could help them to upgrade their skills or to re-skill them so that they can find new jobs. We can use the excuse that our workers are choosy. We should do our best to enhance their employability. I would like to remind all the employers that whenever there is any job vacancy, they should first of all consider the local workers who are looking for jobs.”
“Finally, with the trend of outsourcing and employment restructure, I would also like to urge the Ministry to review the legislation in our employment benefits to safeguard the interest of contract and part-time workers. Employment Situation”