Yu-Foo Yee Shoon
Singapore
“I thank the Member for her suggestions. PRICING GUIDELINES ON CANTEEN FOOD FOR STUDENTS 19. Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the Ministry's pricing guidelines on the sale of food to students in school canteens; (b) how does the Ministry balance the needs of the students and those of the canteen operators to mee…”
“[For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, I would like to say that Mr Calvin Cheng must have thought deeply about what I have said. I have mentioned that 80% of singles actually wanted to get married. The responsibility of providing a social network used to be borne by the Government.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Child Care (CFAC) and Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) provide fee subsidies to help low-income families send their preschool children to childcare centres and kindergartens respectively.”
“The childcare philosophy is to encourage the women to work. We have already relaxed the criteria because for those housewives who send their children for half-day care, we would still help them, so that they can get half subsidy.”
“I think we can consider that. INCOME CEILING FOR CHILDCARE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SCHEMES 16. Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports whether the Ministry will consider increasing the family income ceiling for eligibility to the Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Child Care (CFAC) and Kinde…”
“Very soon. IMPROVING ROAD SAFETY FOR ELDERLY PEDESTRIANS 17. Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong asked the Minister for Transport (a) what are the measures in place to (i) promote the safety of elderly pedestrians, especially at traffic crossings; (ii) encourage the able-bodied public to assist the vulnerable frail elderly crossing alone; and (b)…”
The complete record
Every one of 618 lines we hold for Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 12 of 13.
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, I rise to speak on four issues affecting women and employment. I wish to suggest some measures for the Minister to consider to encourage more women to join the workforce. Presently, only 50% of our economically active women are in the workforce. They are an important source of labour for many employers in labour-scarce Singapore. It is therefore in the employers' interest to consider ways of attracting more women into the workforce. We must also make it easier for those already working to continue working. Ultimately, Singapore as a whole will benefit if more of our women work. Singapore women are actually very talented and capable. Encouraging more women to work will lead to a greater injection of local talent and skills into the workforce. It will also reduce our reliance on foreign work- ers. Our women face many obstacles in going to work. Performing the dual role of a home-maker and office or factory worker is a heavy burden for even the most capable. Women need help to enable them to work and contribute. When we cannot provide help in one area, we should at least make it easy for employers to provide their help. Consider section 76(4) of the Employment Act, for example. Some employers are able and willing to provide maternity benefits when their female employees have a third child. Some employers have even agreed to include this in their collective agreements with trade unions. However, the Industrial Arbitration Court has refused to certify such agreements because our labour laws do not allow third child maternity benefits.”
“To ensure its effectiveness, a retreat in some of our islands could perhaps be more appropriate. Unlike a stay in a chalet in Singapore, this retreat enables a bigger family group to meet. The surroundings too should be as natural as possible, only with the basic supply. Sir, this will provide an excellent opportunity for family bonds to be strengthened.”
“This concept of teaching from feelings, from example, may enhance marriages. On incentives, Sir, another aspect of preserving marriage is the involvement of family as a whole. However, this must be viewed positively. Family ties may help to maintain a marriage. In this respect, I would suggest that the Government consider giving priority to those married couples who want to stay in the same neighbourhood with their parents and parents-in-law, besides the present three-tier family incentive. I am sure my Parliamentary colleagues would agree with me that there are many requests during the Meet-the-People sessions. Another area is perhaps giving a higher income tax relief to those who stay with their parents or parents-in-law. I would like to touch on another area, which is the problem of getting married. On the question of encouraging our singles to get married, we must ask how successful is SDU or SDS in its efforts. Unlike in the past where parents would introduce a partner for their son or daughter, today the singles are left to choose their own partners. Perhaps the Ministry of Education can think of a healthy programme for male and female students to interact from junior college level onwards. It would be too late to encourage them to know one another after they have left the university. Sir, in conclusion, I would like to suggest a new idea which perhaps may appear to be too idealistic, but if given careful thought it is worth considering. I suggest that we set up a family camp where the whole group of family members can meet for a week or a few days together to relax and enjoy. This would provide them with opportunities to interact with one another more closely without pressure of time.”
“Whilst we are more advanced in science and technology, we are actually backward in humanity if this happens. Sir, in Singapore more men and women are becoming less tolerant of unhappy marriages. This is shown in the latest statistics on marriages and divorces. In the year 1990, the total number of divorces and marital annulment was 3,634 cases, or an average of nearly 10 cases a day. This is a big increase as compared to the 1989 figure of 2,900. Sir, although this figure may be small compared to the rate in the west, we must address this problem. Our society must realise their perception towards marriage is important. Affluence does not necessarily bring about a happy marriage. We must decide what sort of marriage structure we want. 2.45 pm Sir, I would like to make some suggestions as to what the Government, community and individual can do as a whole to help people maintain a happy marriage. On education, we must continue to educate the people on what marriage means and how to maintain a happy marriage. We should also inculcate values of marriage in school children to let the younger generation know the importance of marriage. The use of mass media, that is, newspapers, television, forum, must continue. Pre-marriage counselling and the Social Development Unit must step up efforts. Sir, we can make learning about a happy marriage more interesting. I would suggest that since we have Woman of the Year, maybe we can also organise activities for men and model families where model couples can share their experiences. That means we can also give some incentives to the model man and the model family. We can even invite couples who have had turbulent marriages but finally reconciled to share how they value their marriages now.”
“Sir, in the early human civilisation, the relationship between men and women was a loose one. The female was left to fend for their children after a courtship whilst the man was free to roam without any sense of obligation. It took us thousands of years to develop into the present marriage structure. In modern civilisation today, the experience of western society seems to show a worrying trend. In Sweden, for example, formalisation of marriage seems to be of no significance. Couples stay together as long as they are happy with each other, without contractual obligation and sense of responsibility. Because of the loosening and breaking of family ties, what about the marriage perception? Countries in the west, such as the United States, are facing social problems. Poor performance of children in schools, malnutrition brought about by a lack of family care, and juvenile delinquency are emerging. This is in contrast with the Japanese experience where marriage and tradition have resulted in a more long-term relationship. Japan has a low crime rate, and their students are more morally disciplined. Sir, we have to ask ourselves these questions. Do we want to go back to the early civilisation where relationship was just an impulse? Do we want to develop into a situation where, because of sympathy, self-centredness and convenience, we abandon our eastern and oriental tradition about marriage? Society must decide, men and women must be aware that we should be responsible for our children and future generations. If human beings start to abandon their responsibility towards their children and future generations, this will be the start of the diminishing of human civilisation. If men and women abandon their marriage relationship, our human civilisation is taking a regressive step.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head N be reduced by $10 in respect of Code NI 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, I would like to speak on a subject that has been raised many times both by my parliamentary colleagues and myself. I would not bore the House with all the details or the arguments which had been sufficiently dealt with on previous occasions. The issue is the extension of medical benefits to the family of female civil servants. Surely the Minister will agree with me that our female civil servants work as hard as and as competently as their male counterparts. I am sure the Minister would also agree with me the principle that the civil servant or any employer for that matter should employ and reward staff based on their ability and performance, and not by their sex. The last time this issue was raised, the Finance Minister did give the indication that he may look into this matter at an appropriate time. I do urge the Minister to give some serious thought and consideration to the request. This time, I hope the Minister would not give me a "no" for an answer, and I look forward to a favourable reply.”
“We do not even have to go to the provinces. We all know that there is a "blind flow" of people pouring from the rural areas into the urban areas looking for jobs. There is hardly any problem choosing a few tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of workers from the lot to work here, if we want to. But then, if we do this, what kind of a nation will Singapore become? To whom will Singapore belong? We must not forget the lesson in Kuwait which depended too heavily on foreign workers.”
“So the only way is to encourage those who are economically inactive to join the workforce. As Dr Wong Kwei Cheong has pointed out, there are about 840,000 people in Singapore who are economically inactive. However, out of these economically inactive people, there are many who are students in the 15 to 19 age group. I hope that the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Labour would coordinate in making some special arrangement in respect of the employers' and the employees' CPF contribution rates, technical training, etc. to provide incentives for these people, particularly women and senior citizens, to take up part-time jobs. On the other hand, in order to reduce the demand for labour, we may perhaps intentionally slow down our economic growth, but this is not a good measure. A more practical approach would be to restructure our economy and to encourage our enterprises to go for automation, computerisation and upgrading of technology to reduce our over-dependence on labour. I support the policy to restrict the number of foreign workers here because the over-supply of cheap imported labour would adversely affect the wage level of our local workers. More importantly, the influx of foreign workers would defeat the Government's policy of encouraging local enterprises to go for automation, computerization and upgrading of technology to improve their efficiency and productivity. In the face of very intense international competition, we should not depend on labour-intensive industries. In fact, if we want to continue depending on labour-intensive industries and to have more labourers, we could easily turn to countries with large populations such as China or India to employ foreign workers. They can give us an unlimited supply of labour.”
“The increase in our unit labour cost was in fact higher than either Taiwan or Hong Kong last year. The long term solution is not to level down wages but to increase productivity. We want workers to be able to enjoy the standard and quality of life which is mentioned in the Next Lap. To do that, workers must receive fair wages. Levelling down is not a good solution. I do not believe in it. Instead, we should level up our workers' productivity. We can do this by upgrading their skills. We can teach them how to work, not only harder, but smarter. We must also invest in greater automation and machinery. For example, through skills upgrading and greater automation, the textile industry is a very good example. At one time, they were quite demoralised in this industry because they thought that they were a sunset industry. But today, the Finance Minister has mentioned that the textile industry is doing very well among the manufacturing industry. I feel that much more can and need to be done. We cannot change the past, but certainly we can do something about the future. If the challenge for the future is higher productivity, then let us all do what we can to help our workers to achieve it. If we lose out in the global competition because of low productivity, we lose our competitive edge, we lose our jobs and the quality of life we want to achieve in the Next Lap will forever be found only in the Next Lap. Dr Ow Chin Hock( In Mandarin): Sir, it is not possible for our population to grow by more than 2% annually unless it is a Dragon year every year and unless we relax our immigration rules, our supply of workers cannot be increased by a large margin. Our female labour force participation rate has also reached a peak of 50.5%.”
“Employers can encourage and make it easier for older workers to upgrade themselves by giving them training leave, examination leave and time-off. Employers can also provide incentives in the form of monetary rewards or salary increments for workers who have acquired higher skills. The training programmes at vocational institutes and training centres should be expanded to meet any increase in demand for the existing workforce. Sir, we need to make a concerted effort to upgrade the skills of our workforce. Towards this end, I would like to suggest the formation of a National Committee on Skills Training. Such a national committee can provide the much needed coordination of the various programmes of skills upgrading at the national level. It will also be able to look into the special problems of continuing education and training for our workers. The committee can lead the drive for employers and trade unions to promote a training culture among our workers. In this respect, I would like to suggest that SDF should not just concentrate on funding the operational costs of training programmes. There is also a great need for publicity campaigns to change the attitude of workers and employers towards skills training. Yearly events such as an Annual Skills Week could be organised at the national level to bring home the importance of skills training. During the general elections, some Opposition Members of Parliament have claimed that our workers have not been receiving fair wage increases. Perhaps they should do some homework. Contrary to what they say, our workers have actually been receiving very high wage increases for the last few years. Average monthly earnings grew by more than 9% in 1989, 1990 and last year.”
“Sir, the announcement by the Finance Minister that productivity growth for 1991 has decreased from 3.5% to 1.5% is quite alarming. I understand that this substantial drop in productivity is very much due to the economic slowdown without a reduction of the workforce. This is particularly so in the financial, retail and manufacturing sectors. It is important for us to find out how much of the decline in productivity growth is due to the economic slowdown and how much is due to the relatively low education and skill levels of our workforce. For nine years, Singapore has been ranked 14th by BERI in terms of the skills level of our workers. With the exception of Taiwan, the countries ranked above us are all highly industrialised countries. These countries, such as Japan and Germany, have a long history and emphasis on workers' training and re-training. Over the last few years, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the National Productivity Board have come out with various training schemes and financial incentives to encourage skills training. But how successful have they been? We need to be more effective in upgrading the skills of our workers, otherwise we may lose out to other countries as the world's No. 1 workforce. Employers must increase their current investment in training from 2.3% of total payroll to 4%. The NPB should also find ways to help and encourage smaller companies to make better use of SDF funds for upgrading workers' skills. One problem that we should address is how to encourage existing workers, especially the older ones, to upgrade themselves. Many older workers depend on overtime pay or a second job to support their families. They cannot find the time to undergo training after work.”
“Sir, I support that there should be control of foreign maids. I would like to ask two supplementary questions. First, will the Minister consider other measures to reduce the demand for foreign maids, other than by increasing the foreign maid levy alone? The other question is: will the Minister consider a higher levy on the second maid of the same employer?”
“In conclusion, Sir, as we know, almost all developed countries and countries in Asia, like Japan and Taiwan, have extensive train ing for all levels of early childhood education. Being a modern country, we should accord our early childhood training the needed emphasis. I would like to suggest that the advanced Early Childhood Education be conducted at the National Institute of Education at two levels. Firstly, to prov ide a programme leading to an undergraduate and post-graduate degree and, secondly, to introduce some extramural courses for a more elementary training. Our polytechnics can also consider providing a diploma course in early childhood education. This has been done in Hong Kong. Having said all this, I would like to ask the Minister if there are any long-term plans on early childhood training in Singapore?”
“Therefore, I would like to know what arrangements would be made for the training of kindergarten, nursery, pre-school and child care staff in the new context. Sir, formal education in Singapore has always assumed great importance. Likewise, we should not treat early childhood education as any less important. From a national perspective, we need a long-term training strategy in order to have quality early childhood services for our children. I agree with the Ministry of Education that kindergarten, nursery, child care and pre-school education should be run by the private sector. In fact, most of them are run privately. However, owing to their lack of resources and expertise, they are unable to undertake the training of teachers on a sufficiently large scale. I would like to stress that the training provided in the private sector by Kinderland and NTUC Child Care Services can only supplement the efforts of the Government. Because of a lack of coordination and centralisation in these training programmes, uneven quality of early childhood services may result. It is time the Government played a pioneering role in providing proper training facilities for kindergarten and child care personnel. An environment for greater training opportunities and professionalism is needed because it would solve the problem of having to go overseas for a higher level of early childhood education, which can be unaffordable to most people. It would attract and encourage school leavers to choose a career in early childhood care. It would solve the problem of the training of existing staff. Finally, a well-trained teacher would be able to educate a child to his fullest, and early moulding is crucial to the development of a child.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, following the 1984 recommendations of the National Task Force on Female Participation in the Labour Force, the Government took various steps to increase the number of child care centres in Singapore. These resulted in a sharp increase of child care centres by over 400%, from 48 centres in 1984 to 221 centres in 1990. It is projected that 350 centres will be needed by 1995. Statistics show that nearly all our children attend kindergarten, child care pre-school, nursery classes before starting formal schooling. Consequently, about 4,500 trained kindergarten and child care personnel will be required to work in existing and new kindergartens and child care centres by 1995. Based on past experience, around 15% to 20% of the teaching force would either resign or retire each year. Hence, we need to train a few hundred persons each year to fill the vacancies. Sir, there is currently very little formal training on early childhood education available in Singapore. Only three organisations, the Institute of Education, NTUC Child Care Services and Kinderland Educare Services provide pre-service and in-service child care training. Due to a lack of trainers, a Master's Programme in early childhood education will be conducted by NTUC and a USA college, with the assistance of MCD in Singapore. However, such a programme is only ad hoc and to solve the urgent need for trainers. Presently, the Institute of Education conducts the bulk of the training at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels. When the National Institute of Education becomes part of the Nanyang Technological University, the Early Childhood Department will merge with another department.”
“Sir, I would like to touch on the subject of occupational health and safety at the workplace. Under the Factories (Safety Committee) Regulations introduced in 1975, any factory employing 50 and more workers is required to set up a safety committee. The Regulations also stipulate the functions and duties of the committees. As we are trying to promote self-regulation in occupational health and safety, I agree that it is a better approach. This self-regulation requires the company to develop and practise a safety system that can be self-regulated. It is also aimed at encouraging workers and management to work collectively towards the promotion of occupational health and safety at their workplace. However, I would like to know how the Labour Ministry monitors the performance of the safety committees. The other question that I am asking is related to safety in confined space work. Lately, there have been some accidents involving workers in confined space. It is thus commendable that the Ministry of Labour has decided to expand the coverage of the Factories Act to protect the safety of workers working in manholes and trenches. The provision will be a deterrent to employers who take the safety of their workers lightly. I would like to ask the Minister for Labour how soon will the Factories Act be amended, and how will this newly introduced provision be enforced. 1.45 pm”
“Sir, can I be allowed to seek clarification from the Senior Minister of State for Education on whether there is special training for older workers?”
“Sir, I beg to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“I must thank the Ministry of Community Development for their support in child care development in Singapore. However, two areas still need a lot of attention. One area is the need for trained personnel. With the Institute of Education and NTUC providing training to child care teachers, we are still in need of developing the teaching staff and trainers in the institutes of higher learning, eg, diploma, degree or post-degree training in early childhood education and child psychology. At the moment, no such courses are available in Singapore. I would like to suggest that the Ministry assist the training institutions by offering scholarships to the teaching staff to upgrade themselves through courses overseas. Lastly, the number of workplace child care centres is still very small. I would therefore like to ask the Minister whether there is any plan to encourage employers to set up more workplace child care centres.”
“Today, the number of divorces has increased by 22%, from 1,643 cases in 1985 to 2,004 in 1989. The dilemma between materialistic gains and responsibilities in setting up a family is related to the problem of balancing career development with marriage, parenthood and family piety. Hence I would like to urge the Minister to provide services to help women suffering from stress, abuse, physical violence and marital breakdowns, etc, to learn to cope with the family and social changes. The Ministry should also assist in the training of staff offering counselling at family service centres. I understand that although NUS trains several social work students every year, most of them do not end up working in social service organisations. At present, some of the voluntary and welfare organisations are facing problems in recruiting qualified social workers. Furthermore, I understand that welfare volunteers only comprise 2% of our population in Singapore. This is quite low when we compare to 12% in UK and 30% in the USA. Therefore, I would like to urge the Ministry to help the welfare and voluntary organisations offering training to train more volunteers and staff in the field of welfare services. The other family support service I would like to touch on is the before and after school care service for school-going children. At present, some of the schools and voluntary organisations are offering the after and before school care to school children. I think there is a need for the Ministry to give some guidance and assistance to these operators. We should encourage more community centres and schools to provide such services. The last area I am going to touch on is child care services.”
“I think besides theoretical teachings, parents, teachers, national leaders and prominent figures could set the social norm and be role models for the younger generation. In this respect, I would like to suggest the MCD or civic organisations consider giving national awards for model families, model couples, model children, etc. We already have the Mother of the Year Award. Why not also a Father of the Year Award? Our fathers need just as much encouragement to be good and responsible fathers. Now, I would like to touch on the supporting services promoted by MCD in strengthening the family. Setting up of family service centres The First Deputy Prime Minister has recently announced the setting up of family service centres to provide greater family support service at the community level. Here I would like to bring to the Minister's attention a few factors for consideration. The charges of the family service centres should be affordable. I am glad that the Minister has announced yesterday that the Government will give capital grant and operational subsidy to family service centres. I agree that we should not become a welfare state, but we should help the destitute to help themselves. The family service centre could implement more preventive and developmental activities for low-income families. The Ministry should also set up guidelines to monitor the quality of the service offered by family service centres and ensure that at the initial stage, the family service centres should be spread out into major housing estates, and there should not be more than one centre in one estate. In drawing up the guidelines, the Ministry should also take into consideration the problem of increasing divorce rate.”
“Sir, I would like to commend the Minister for setting up the Advisory Council on Family and the Aged to strengthen the family and develop a cohesive and caring community. We all know this objective is easily said than done. In this highly commercialised and materialised society, there is a concern as to how we can preserve basic core values within the family and to uphold the family as the basic building block of society. As a famous Confucian teaching goes: ( ). This is a teaching of how to strengthen the family and develop a caring community. The first step is to train ourselves to the fullest. The second step is to create a happy family before coming to the third step of running a state effectively and finally, the last step, of contributing to the good of mankind. We do not only need theoretical teachings but also practical examples. I am glad that various ministries are currently promoting family life education. For instance, the Ministry of Education through its moral education and good citizen programmes is teaching our school children the right values and behaviour. The Ministry of Health is organising talks on marriage and parent education programmes for young couples and parents. And the Ministry of Community Development is carrying out its public education programmes on family life. All these efforts are good. However, in order to avoid duplication and wastage of resources, I think we should have closer coordination among the various Ministries to pool resources together. I am supportive of offering fiscal incentives to encourage young couples to have more children and to have them early. This will help to solve some of our population problems. The point now is how to encourage young couples to have a right attitude towards marriage.”
“Hence, I would like to urge the Minister for Finance to review the need for manpower reduction in service-oriented Ministries and statutory boards so that they can maintain a good standard of service to the public. I also urge the Minister to allow Ministries and statutory boards to be flexible in adjusting the number of staff corresponding to the needs of the services.”
“Sir, in 1986, the Minister for Finance announced that the Government had decided that the permanent staff complement of Ministries and statutory boards would be reduced by 10% over a five-year period. Since then, the Minister has been successful in reducing the total number of civil servants from about 72,000 to about 64,000. This reduction could have been the result of automation and streamlining of work procedures. However, I feel that manpower reduction should not be carried out indiscriminately. In Government departments and statutory boards which are service-oriented, we should not allow manpower reduction to affect the services of Ministries and statutory boards. Examples of such departments are the Ministry of Community Development and the People's Association. I understand that this matter comes under the Ministry of Community Development's administration. However, as the Ministry of Finance is involved, I have considered it appropriate to raise it at this point. As advisers to community centres, I am sure that we all know that the community centre staff work hard and long hours. Hence, if we wish to upgrade our community centres to community clubs, we should upgrade our activities and organise more quality services for residents and in turn we should thus have more and better personnel. I also note that the staff strength in the Welfare Department of the MCD has been reduced from 35 to 11. One of the reasons for this is that much of the work has already been deployed to voluntary welfare organisations. However, this drastic manpower cut in this department could particularly affect follow-up action on marginal welfare cases with other welfare organisations.”
“Sir, after upgrading, will HDB allow the neighbourhood to give a new name to their own neighbourhood?”
“I did not use the word "enough". Probably he does not understand Mandarin. When we speak in Mandarin, he is always confused. What I am trying to say is that at least the Government is showing some care and is trying to improve the tax relief for children, handicapped brothers and sisters and also aged parents. I do not mean that it is enough. But at least it is a first step that the Government is taking to improve the tax reliefs.”
“I believe the Finance Minister and the Government have carefully considered the ways of balancing the direct and indirect taxes. In order to maintain our competitiveness, we should be careful and prudent in fixing the rates on corporate tax and personal income tax. When implementing consumption tax, the Government should pay attention to the plight of the lower income group. For example, the restoration of Government tax on domestic PUB bills which are in excess of $40, I think is not too good a sign because this will cause the lower income group to start worrying that the indirect tax is aimed at them. Therefore, I urge the Government to review this move of restoring the tax on PUB bills. We should look into the basic consumption per household based on the number of people in the household before we make the adjustment. As we are encouraging people to have big families, to be filial to their parents and to stay with their parents, the present move may well have a counter-effect. Consumption tax, before it is implemented, should be given careful thought. In other words, basic necessities, like rice, oil, milk powder, salt, sugar, etc. should be exempted from such tax. If this tax is to be implemented, the tax rate should not be high in the beginning. We should try our best to start with the lowest rates, and not to impose heavy taxes drastically. I support the Budget put forward by the Minister for Finance.”
“If possible, all third and fourth children born after the new population policy was announced by the First Deputy Prime Minister in 1987 should be entitled to such tax rebates, particularly those who took the initiative to have their fourth child should be rewarded for their effort. Thirdly, I would like to talk on the tax deduction for CPF in respect of bonuses. Several colleagues have touched on this matter. I understand that the Government is afraid that certain people with high income and certain trading companies would make use of this loophole to avoid paying tax. They are therefore awarded generous bonuses so that they can be exempted from paying income tax on their bonuses. I think this will run counter to our flexi-wage system. Under this system, the rate of annual wage increase for employees will be lower, currently at an average of 2-3%. Normally, a certain amount of bonus will be given at the end of the year, depending on the performance of the company, and share in the better profits of the company. Under such circumstances, if we limit the income tax relief for CPF contribution on bonuses to not more than 40% of their salaries, I think this is not fair. As a labour representative, I suggest that we fix a certain amount, that is, for those workers whose salary is not more than $1,500, their bonuses should be exempted from this restriction. In other words, their CPF contribution on the bonus should be tax-exempt, because their salary is only $1,500 and the bonus they get will not be very big. Fourthly, the question of consumption tax should be given further study. In order to balance its budget, the Government can get tax revenue from two sources - one, corporate and personal income tax and another way is through indirect tax.”
“First, on the income tax personal reliefs. The tax reliefs for aged parents and for the handicapped siblings have both been increased. However, tax relief for the wife is increased from $1,000 to $1,500 only. I think this is not fair to the full-time housewife. We have increased the levy for foreign maids and many working mothers were compelled to stop working in order to become full-time mothers in order to look after their children, to cultivate talents for our nation, to help the husband and to teach the children. This is indeed a very heavy responsibility. In keeping with our new population policy, we would like our mothers to have more babies. Therefore, the tax reliefs for housewives and for children should also be increased to $2,500. Another point is that for those mothers who gave birth to the fourth child in 1988, a tax rebate is given. The date of 1st January 1988 was chosen as the cut-off point, perhaps for administrative convenience. For every measure, a date has to be chosen as the commencement date. However, such date has aroused the discontent of some people. Those who took the initiative and gave birth to their 4th child before 1st January 1988 are deprived of the benefit of such a tax rebate. Therefore, I would urge the Government to be more generous in this respect, because when we allowed working mothers to enjoy such tax rebates, we did not specify the dates of birth of the babies. I hope the Government would also extend such benefits to mothers who give birth to their third and the fourth child irrespective of their birth date.”
“(In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, when the budget was announced many people described the budget as a painless one, a budget that is well liked by most people. I feel that this is a compassionate, a caring budget and it is just like the usual image of the Finance Minister himself who is compassionate and caring. Why do I say that this is a budget of compassion and caring? Just as even the Opposition Member has said that everyone has benefited something from this budget. However, I do not agree with his description that this is a ploy to gain political capital to win over the voters. If we wanted to do so we would have presented this "well-liked" budget in 1988 or 5 years later. When the Government has shown compassion and care for the people, we should also praise and support the Government. At this moment, we are talking about strengthening the family unit as a nucleus for inculcating Asian value concept. The Government is giving more reliefs to families with handicapped dependants and families which have aged parents, and this is to be appreciated and lauded. In the book of Great Learning of Confucius there is a section on how to govern the country. If one wants to govern the country well and wants the country to be peaceful, the ruling class must be imbued with a love for the elderly and respect for the aged and compassion for the weak. Only then will the ordinary run of the people be imbued with the same sense of filial piety towards their parents and compassion for the less fortunate. This is of crucial importance if we want to build up a society of gentleness and humanity. With the Government promoting such moral concepts, I believe the people will respond to such calls. Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to make a few suggestions to the Finance Minister.”
“Sir, will the Ministry of Community Development legislate workplace child care centres? Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, I heard the Member the other day when she recommended that the Government should force employers through legislation to operate child care centres in their workplaces. I think this idea, while laudable, is not entirely practicable. I have been on the other side before working in an organization and I know the difficulties of setting up child care centres. Just to take an example. Supposing an employer has 1,000 female workers and, say, only 50% or even 30% of them need such facilities for their children, which means that the employer would have to provide something like 500 places or 300 places for the children of these employees. Where would the employer find the resources and the expertise to operate such child care centres? Moreover, I do not think it is the right thing to legislate on this matter. We should leave it to the free play of market forces to determine where child care centres should appropriately be sited. From experience, we know that mothers do not like to place their children in workplace child care centres. They prefer to have their children in centres which are nearer their homes so that before they go to work, they can drop the children in the child care centre and when they come back they can pick up the children, rather than to bring the children on the bus or other means of public transport to the workplace and deposit the children there. Right now, there are 15 employer-operated child care centres and I think the enrolment rate is just about 75-80%.”
“There have been cases where union organizers have been dismissed when the union has lost the secret ballot or even before a secret ballot is conducted. Where the union has not obtained recogniton, then the affected employee will have to appeal against the dismissal in his personal capacity under the Employment Act. Unions thus feel that there is inadequate protection for union organizers, which may thus discourage some workers who are keen to play an active part. The unions also find that registering the names of union organizers with the Ministry of Labour is not sufficient protection against the unfair dismissals of organizers. The other area is pregnant female workers. There are many female workers who prefer night work because it enables them to be with their family at home during the day. Because of this, some of them deliberately hide their pregnancy from employers so that they can continue to do the night shift. Some have turned to the union for help to continue with night work. Employers too face the problem of keeping to the law, because of the tight labour market and because of the requests to do night work. The other problem for them is what to do with those female workers who are employed on permanent third shift in the first place. I would like to urge the Minister to look into this regulation under the Employment Act.”
“Sir, I would like to speak on some problems faced by the workers. If a unionized employee is dismissed without just cause or excuse, he could appeal through his union to the Minister for Labour under section 35(2) of the Industrial Relations Act for reinstatement. This reinstatement is provided under the law but for the past 10 years or so no such directive against an employer has been issued by the Minister for Labour, although there have been cases which merit reinstatement. The Minister has instead ordered payment of compensa- tion, a power provided under the law. This causes frustration to unions and affected the workers because they feel that employers will not be sufficiently deterred by just an order of compensation. In some cases, compensation may not be adequate to offset the losses, particularly if a worker has a long service, earns a fairly high salary and thus finds it difficult to get alternative employment. The Ministry's point of view, however, is that where there has been a wrongful dismissal, an order of reinstatement does not help because relationship between the employee and his employer would have broken down. The present practice of paying compensation to the victim is acceptable if the victim is not prepared to be reinstated. However, if the victim is prepared to be reinstated, then the Ministry should consider the case carefully and section 35(2) pertaining to reinstatement should be applied. Another problem concerns the unfair dismissals of union organizers. Under the Industrial Relations Act, although there are provisions against the discrimination of union officials and members, these only apply if the union has won recognition.”
“We should also be concerned that the use of contract workers will have an adverse effect on skills. There will be little incentive for employers to provide training for such workers. I am also surprised that even statutory boards and Government departments are increasingly using contract workers. Some of them may be doing so to circumvent the directive of the Ministry of Finance to trim the public sector staffing strength. The NTUC received a complaint that one statutory board actually pressurized long-serving employees to transfer to another subsidiary on contract terms. This is unfair treatment. I would strongly urge the Ministry of Labour to look into the matter urgently.”
“Sir, I would like to speak on the use of contract workers. In the past year, feedback from our unions indicate that there is an increase in the use of contract workers. This practice is not limited to one or two areas but appears to be more widespread. At present, contract workers are employed in the shipbuilding and shiprepairing industry, the construction industry, the electrical and electronics industry and even in statutory boards and Government departments. We can understand that in some cases, the use of contract workers is beneficial to both employers as well as full-time permanent employees. This is because when there is a downturn, retrenchment of full-time permanent employees can be made a measure of last resort. However, there appears to be other reasons for the use of contract workers. Some companies which have been unable to recruit sufficient workers have resorted to labour supply contractors to meet their shortage. Other companies appear to use contract workers because of lower costs. Some of them do not pay CPF or provide medical and other fringe benefits. Because of this, they attract workers by offering higher take-home pay. I am concerned with the abuses that go with the use of contract workers. Contract workers are not required to conform to the basic rules of the companies. They are not required to record their attendance with the punch-card system which apply to other employees. In cases of misbehaviour, they are not subjected to the company's disciplinary regulations. These differences must and have affected the morale of the direct employees. If the practice becomes more widespread, workers in general will also be adversely affected. It is therefore necessary for the Ministry of Labour to monitor the situation and check abuse.”
“I urge the SDF to look into these programmes. The next area I would like the SDF to look into is the training of housewives. The SDF can consider funding training and orientation programme to encourage the housewives to join the working population. Presently, the SDF does not sponsor persons who are not working. With fundings, the various organizations such as NPB, PA, NTUC and women's organizations can work together to come up with some sort of grooming course and career guidance course for women who are thinking of re-joining the labour force. I urge the Minister to consider the above proposals.”
“On a broader basis, 80% of the workers who have benefited from these revised guidelines come from those earning $1,500 or less. This has prompted me to suggest that the SDF levy be extended to workers earning below $1,500 rather than just $750. Now I would like to touch on the use of SDF. The Government's role is more in the areas of upgrading the general educational level and general skills of our population. For the specific and specialized skills, it will be more practical to train at the company level. The private sector and the entrepreneurs ought to supplement the Government's efforts in training. In Japan, most big companies such as NEC and Matsushita have their own training institutes to tailor to the specific needs of the industries. Some of these courses provided by the companies are even accredited by the Japanese Government and they are equivalent to the diploma or degree level. In Japan, only the small and medium size companies depend on the government to provide training for its employees. Presently, quite a number of industrial training institutes and company-based training centres are in Singapore. This effort is commendable. I think this is the most effective way to train our wokrers. Therefore, I urge SDF to consider the possibility of increasing the funding to support the private enterprises on such training. With an aging population, it is necessary to encourage Singaporeans to remain in the workforce. In Japan, special training programmes are designed to cater to older workers. These programmes are meant to equip older workers with suitable skills and proper work attitudes to prepare them for a new lease of working life. In Japan, incentives are also provided for employers to send older workers for training.”
“Sir, for the past few sessions, some of my colleagues have supported and some have gone against the proposal to increase the SDF contribution. I would strongly support an increase of the SDF levy from 1% to 2%. I do agree that any increase in operating cost we must be cautious, such as the charges of PUB, Telecoms, PSA, etc. However, upgrading the educational and skills level of our population will take time. We must continue our efforts in this area. The Business Environment Risk Information (BERI) report for 1988 ranked Singapore No. 1 overall. However, in terms of skilled and technically-trained personnel, Singapore was ranked No. 14, behind Taiwan, which was ranked No. 12. As a nation, we are training far less than what is really healthy for our economy. For every employee, we spend only $100 annually. The Americans spend eight times more and the Japanese 20 times more. Statistics show that our employers spend 20 times more on annual fixed assets investment than in training the people to use them. This gives us all the more reason to urgently address the issue of an inadequately trained workforce. For the year April 1986 to March 1987, the SDF statement of receipts and payments showed a operating loss of about $11 million. This was mainly due to less revenue collected as a result of the reduction of SDF contribution from 4% to 2% and then to 1%. Therefore, I suggest that SDF contribution be increased from 1% to 2%. I am pleased to note that the SDF has revised the training grant guidelines in May 1987 to focus on the training of rank and file workers. This has resulted in an increase of training grants for workers earning below $750 per month.”
“Sir, may I be allowed to ask a question. Considering that the Government has received a substantial revenue from the textile and garment industry, will the Government set aside part of the fund to help the industry in trade promotion, automation and training of their workers?”
“I withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Sir, I am not very happy with the reply. However, I thank the Minister for his reply.”
“All right. Infant care, as you know, Sir, is an expensive service. Of the 127 centres, only one or two organizations provide care for infants. The staff-child ratio for infant care is 1 staff to 5 infants compared to 1 staff to 25 for children between 4 and 6 years old. This is according to the standard set by the Ministry of Community Development. And yet the subsidy given to infant care and care for the older children are the same. I would like to urge the committee and the Minister to review the subsidy for child care based on the different ages of children. Once again, I would urge the Minister to consider seriously.”
“Perhaps the committee could look into various ways and means to encourage more workplace child care centres to be set up by employers. Another area of concern is on care for primary schoolers. Currently, the needs of most primary school children who have no adults to supervize them at home are not adequately provided for. A handful of child care centres take in a very small number of these children. The majority are left at home to thier own devices. During the debate on the Ministry of Education, the Minister of State for Education told us that most of the drug addicts and problem children lack family care. Therefore, the care for primary school children is important. Community centres under the People's Association which tend to be under utilized during the day can be used to provide care for this group of children. Child minders and other family day care providers who lack of good facilities and play materials in their own homes can also bring the children in their care to these facilities. These facilities can also serve as an emergency centre for parents who have to leave the young child at home for a while to attend to urgent matters. Another aspect which we should pay attention to is the family care. Family care is a favourite alternative for parents. However, family day care providers are untrained workers caring for a small group of children in their own homes. I feel that these child care providers should also undergo formal training to take care of infants and young children in their care. Parents today have higher expectations and look for not only good routine care but also activities that could enhance the child's development. Now, I would like to touch on infant care. One of the problems faced by the child care operator is infant care.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JD 1000 of the Main Estimates. Sir, I would like to deal with the need for child care services. I fully support the First Deputy Prime Minister on the setting up of the six Public Committees to enhance the quality of life for Singaporeans, especially the Public Committee on Family and Community Life. Such a committee is most timely in looking at ways and means of enhancing the life and productivity of families and the community in Singapore. This Committee can coordinate national policies that have an impact on families and to promote ways and means whereby families can be strengthened and be productive. In this regard, I would like the Committee and the Minister to consider several factors regarding child care: (a) The cost of child care to the Government, parents and providers; (b) The quality of service, including staff training and the development of culturally relevant programmes; (c) The accessibility and affordability of child care; and (d) The availability of child care choices. Today, I would like to emphasize on the availability of child care choices. There is a need to have more variety of child care arrangements. A wider variety of child care arrangements need to be stimulated and supported by the Government as well as employers to meet the needs of different groups of parents. Of the 127 child care centres in Singapore currently, only 15 are workplace child care centres. Of these, a number of them are set up by statutory boards. Only a few of them are run by private companies. I feel that other employers should look into the setting up of work place child care centres for their employees.”
“Since about 100% of the children go to kindergarten, pre-primary and child are classes before going to primary school, we therefore should provide them with proper training and development. I feel that strong emphasis should be placed on the early development of a child on qualities such as character building, moral education, healthy body, etc, can be cultivated at an early stage. This is crucial in terms of an early build-up and moulding of a healthy and stable foundation to prepare the child for the future. Physical training and military training are important enough to have the institute. I do not understand why early childhood education is not accorded the same status. I urge the Minister for Education to look into the proposal seriously and also for the Minister for Finance to reconsider his decision to reduce the budget for education.”
“The Institute can be established to support children and family services through pre-service and in-service training to train kindergarten teachers, child care administrators, supervisors, teachers, assistant teachers and teacher aides; set up an Idea and Research Unit in this Early Childhood Education Institute for the sharing and disseminating of new ideas and non-formal learning. The Institute can also include a well-developed library and act as a resource centre. Developed countries such as USA, France, West Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Israel, etc, have very comprehensive formal early childhood education programmes. Even in Asian countries, such as Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, comprehensive training for all levels of early childhood education is available. Please refer to the information that I have distributed as a basis for comparison. Let me quote an example. In Japan, with a population of 47 times that of Singapore, there are 300 Nursery Teachers Training Colleges and two years to four years full-time and part-time courses available in universities and colleges. Comparing ourselves with Japan, I think we deserve to have at least one early childhood education institute.”
“Sir, the Minister for Finance has announced that it will reduce the budget for education by 4.4% this year. Sir, I do not support this budget cut. Other than the building of schools, there are also many other areas of education that require attention. I propose that the Ministry of Education set up an Early Childhood Education Institute in Singapore. Statistics show that 98% of our children attend kindergarten, pre-primary or child care classes before going to primary school. Further, the Ministry of Community Development has projected that there will be a need for 21,644 child care places in Singapore by the 1990s. Hence, it is expected that a total number of 4,000 trained personnel will be required. To be prepared for the future, we will need to train 650 child care personnel a year. This umber does not include the required personnel in the kindergartens. There is very little formal training on early childhood education available in Singapore. Only the Institute of Education and one or two child care organizations conduct some training. The Institute of Education conducts a 120-hour basic child care course as well as a 150-hour intermediate course. This is most commendable. It is, however, insufficient. In Singapore today, anyone who needs a higher level of early childhood education has to go overseas for training. Because of the limited training available, we are short of trained personnel. This leads to job frustration and contribute to high staff turnover. Therefore, I feel strongly that we need to have an Early Childhood Education Institute to provide more extensive training, curriculum development and research for early childhood education in Singapore.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether there is any plan for the Ministry to provide pre-primary education for handicapped children.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I rise to speak on the Employment Act, section 47. Section 47 imposes a ceiling on the amount of annual wage supplement, commonly referred to as a frozen quantum, that a union can negotiate for. For companies that have not paid annual bonus or had paid a bonus less than one month's wages before 1st July 1972, the frozen quantum is a maximum of one month's wages. For companies that have paid annual bonuses of more than one month's wages before 15th July 1972, the frozen quantum is the average of the bonuses paid in the last three years before 1st July 1972 or the last bonus paid, whichever is higher. The National Wages Council Wage Reform Sub-committee has recommended that wage increases be linked to productivity or profitability of a company. The labour movement supported this; so did the employers. Quite a number of companies and unions have also worked out some schemes together. In view of this move towards greater flexibility in our wage payment system, I think it is time the Government considered amending section 47 to remove the limit on the AWS. Flexibility should cover all aspects of our wage payment system and not only the annual wage increases. The limit on the AWS is, in my view, a rigidity which ought to be removed.”
“This is slightly more than half the number of working hours of full-time workers which is 44 hours. This proposal will give greater flexibility to the employers. What the Ministry could do is to improve on the present Act to define what is part-time work and to indicate clearly the number of working hours for the part-timers. Another area which we need to be clear about is the provision of benefits under Part IV of the Employment Act. Part-time workers should be given pro-rated benefits based on the number of hours worked. However, the Act should allow for flexibility in the granting of pro-rated benefits. This means that such benefits can be given either in kind or in monetary terms. For example, the Public Service Division incorporates all the pro-rated benefits into the salary of its part-time employees. The proposed provisions are in my view fair and reasonable and should be given some thought by the Ministry.”