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Column: 4097
\r\nPARLIAMENTARY DEBATES
\r\nSINGAPORE
\r\nOFFICIAL REPORT
\r\n\r\nELEVENTH PARLIAMENT\r\n
\r\n| PART\r\nII\r\nOF\r\n\r\n SECOND SESSION | \r\n\r\n VOLUME\r\n87 | \r\n
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The House met at\r\n12.00 noon
PRESENT:
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Mr Goh Chok Tong (Marine Parade), Senior Minister, Prime Minister's Office.Column: 4099
\r\nDr Lee Boon Yang (Jalan Besar).Column: 4100
Secretary to the Minister for National Development.Column: 4101
\r\nDr Vivian Balakrishnan (Holland-Bukit Timah), Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.Column: 4102
\r\nMr Yeo Cheow Tong (Hong Kah).Column: 4102
\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\tPERMISSION TO MEMBERS TO BE ABSENT\r\n
\r\n\r\n \r\n Column: 4102 [Mr Speaker in the Chair] ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR (Paper Cmd. 1 of 2011) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [5th Allotted Day]. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] Head I – Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (cont.) – Resumption of Debate on Question [7th March, 2011], Column: 4103 \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Estimates be reduced by $100.\" – [Mr Seah Kian Peng]. Question again proposed. ComCare Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang): Mr Chairman, Sir, each year, over 50,000 needy Singaporeans apply for ComCare Assistance Scheme through the five Community Development Councils (CDCs). About 90% of these applications were means-tested within four weeks. This is a drastic improvement as compared to the three months' processing time of social assistance cases in the past. Sir, the CDCs and MCYS have been working closely to redesign the work processes of the Social Assistance Services by CDCs so that timely assistance can be given to the needy. But it is important for the needy and general public to understand the workings of our social safety net.\r\n\r\n Sir, ComCare is not about giving out financial assistance to the needy quickly. ComCare is about identifying appropriate assistance schemes which will help the needy achieve self-reliance quickly. That is why the CDC Social Assistance officers need to conduct due diligence to understand the barriers faced by needy families and encourage them to take responsibility to work towards self-reliance. Sir, based on feedback from our officers, there are many barriers hindering the progress of needy families to be self-reliant. These include barriers to employment such as transport cost, childcare issues, low skills, illness or past criminal records. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: (i) Can the Ministry consider enhancing the ComCare scheme to help the chronically ill and unemployable? (ii) Can more resources be given to Column: 4104 the ComCare Local Network to assist chronic cases? (iii) Can ComCare and Workfare Schemes be better aligned to help the unemployed or vulnerably employed to upgrade their skills? Policy matter Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Mr Chairman, Sir, over the years, Singapore has implemented many well thought out policies to benefit Singaporeans. They are laudable assistance schemes which are the envy of other countries. Sir, I am referring to the safety nets like our healthcare 3Ms, especially the Medifund component, our Workfare Bonus and our Public Assistance schemes that target various groups of our society.\r\n\r\n These schemes ensure that the vulnerable groups in our society are not deprived of medical care or livelihood due to the lack of means. These schemes showcase us as a caring nation. The Minister for Finance in his rounding-up speech, said that \"social mobility is a crucial aspect of our inclusive growth model. And our merit-based system allows any Singaporean with drive, perseverance and different types of talents to succeed. We have to maximise opportunities for everyone to do well. But we have to do more. In particular, we have to do more to prevent an underclass from forming, an underclass that replicates its condition across generations.\" Today, I would like MCYS to consider another safety net to further enhance the picture of a caring society. A safety net aimed at helping the children in the bottom 5% of the lowest income group. In this group, the families are extremely hard pressed at nurturing their children. Sir, they need special attention. There must be a more deliberate and systematic programme for providing assistance to the children of these lowest income families, especially the dysfunctional Column: 4105 ones. The aim is to prevent dysfunctional homes from getting worse and to ensure an environment conducive for them to bring up their children, especially if the children are still young. The pre-emptive move is to intervene and assist the children from an early stage. I would like to echo what the Finance Minister said, we have to maximise our opportunities for everyone to do well and we need this safety net to do just that. I would like to emphasise that I am not suggesting handouts to them in this scheme. I am asking for provisions of intensive programmes to assist eligible families improve their dire circumstances. We need a deliberate and systematic programme for these families and especially for their children who should be followed-up with until after the secondary school level. At present, MCYS does not have any system in place to identify such children early on. These vulnerable children should ideally be identified at the registration of birth when some information about them can be collated. There is also no programme to follow up on vulnerable families and to help them in the holistic way that many of them require. Our Family Service Centres are helping vulnerable cases only on ad hoc basis with short-term remedies. It is much like doctors prescribing medicines to patients without diagnosing or curing the underlying disease and definitely without hope of implementing any preventive measures. MCYS has the following schemes for low-income families: KiFAS, CFAC, CCFA, ICCP, HSP, HOPE, SCFA, CCT, ComCare, PA and WIS. Quite a mouthful but not easily understood in application perhaps even by many of us here, let alone by the disadvantaged families. How do we then make sure that these schemes serve the purposes that are intended? Column: 4106 I suggest that we give hands-on guidance, with emphasis on the well-being of the children, through designated social workers to these families so that they can better take advantage of the various assistance schemes. The aim is to tailor each families' needs to their unique situations. This may entail cajoling non-working parents, especially the mothers, to go for employment so that they are eligible for CFAC, sending their children to pre-school in the first place to enjoy KiFAS or getting both parents to go for upgrading of skills and so on. In the earlier stages, the children may need nutritional attention and healthcare. Later, in schooling stage, assistance on educational, social and sometimes psychological needs may be required. We may also need special efforts to help the children feel welcome in school, perhaps by assigning extra counsellor or teacher attention to them. Whether providing for physical or psychological needs, may I suggest implementing a structured programme across the board in all schools so that needy children feel at home in the school environment? May I urge the Minister for MCYS to improve the plight of the children from the lowest income families through such a permanent and constructive safety net? May I also ask the Minister whether the present HOPE scheme is serving its intended purpose and can it be improved further to increase the take-up rate? Lastly, would the Minister tell us if there is a big shortage for social workers and whether this shortage is holding back the ideal targets of MCYS? Coordinated assistance to the needy The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower and Minister for Health (Mr Hawazi Daipi): Despite our best efforts to help low-income workers, the needy and the poor, we will always have families who struggle in life. Some may be Column: 4107 destitute, some may have problems getting a job due to poor health or old age. Yet some may be families with school-going children who may get into difficulties following a family break-up. I think while we must help them to manage their problems, financial or otherwise, the primary approach for most should be to help them regain independence through employment, ensuring that their children remain schooling and solving their other problems holistically.\r\n\r\n I am grateful that there are so many helping hands in the community to lift their lives. But I wonder if the Ministry has specific plans to improve the service level of these organisations through enhanced coordination among them. Specifically, the VWOs at the local level which can disburse such assistance directly are the Family Service Centres, and I think they have the potential to play a greater role in a coordinated way to help the needy in the community. What are the Ministry's plans to raise the service and delivery standards of the Family Service Centres as the main help points in the community? How can other local organisations like the CDC, schools, Citizens' Constultative Committee play a role to avoid duplication of help or gaps in the delivery of assistance? Who should coordinate such work in the view of the Minister? What is the Minister's assessment of the effectiveness of the ComCare Local Network so far? Kindergarten and childcare financial assistance schemes Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, we run a programme called Back to Work in NTUC and, under that programme, what we do is to try to assist home-makers to get back to work. We have so far helped 8,500 women. One of the recurrent issues faced by the women is that it is really not worth their while to go back to Column: 4108 work because the salary they earn will all be wiped out by the childcare fees that they have to pay. Therefore, it is futile for them to go to work. That is the disincentive. I truly welcome the Ministry's increase of the income ceiling for families in need from the current rate of $1,800 to $3,500. Indeed, this will be very useful. \r\n\r\n I have three points to raise with the Minister. First, I would like to ask the Minister to remove other barriers because some others have also given me the feedback that they have to pay a deposit before they can put their child in a preschool, although they may be under KiFAS or CFAC. And that, by itself, is a disincentive because they do not have that deposit in the first place to pay the childcare operator. Secondly, could I ask the Minister to continue to make sure that childcare fees are affordable because childcare fees have been increasing quite significantly, and that is another disincentive. Whilst we increase the ceiling under KiFAS and CFAC, we should also keep a lid on childcare fees to ensure affordability. Thirdly, could I ask the Minister what is the progress in terms of building more childcare centres because the feedback from a lot of families is that they find it difficult to find a childcare place for their children? Total fertility rate and singlehood Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Sir, much has been said about the need to give incentives to people to have babies. The debate about whether these incentives work or do not is a moot one. Detractors will say that the fact that our TFR remains low shows that the measures are not working, while proponents will say that the incentives are working because if these incentives were not present, then we would have fewer babies.\r\n\r\n Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Wong shared that a key contributing Column: 4109 cause to the low TFR is a lot simpler than we thought. From the year 2000 to 2010, the number of single citizens, both male and female, has been on the increase. The trends are quite clear and it is not a pretty sight and does not look like it will slow down, let alone reverse. Sir, people are not getting married, and those who are, are getting older. Needless to say, this combination is not conducive to increasing TFR. Even as I read that last sentence, I am conscious of how poorly it sits with the usual notions of marriage – of a matter of heart, not mind, of a matter of matches in heaven, not matchmaking on earth. The Social Development Network (SDN) coordinates the work of dating agencies, and promotes marriages. It has classifications of activities, dating, self-enrichment, wine and dine or travel. In particular, I like the \"heart\" section, where you can select 1, 2, or 3. I do not know the basis of selection, but I guess, to put it bluntly, it is how much you want to get married!
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\r\n (2011)
\r\n (2011) \r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n ABDULLAH TARMUGI \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n Speaker \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n Parliament of Singapore \r\n
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\r\n1ST APRIL, 2011 TO 31ST MARCH, 2012
Sir, I would like to encourage the SDN in its work. I would like to know what strategies SDN is deploying to combat the declining marriage rates. Should a strategic review be carried out? Finally, given that this is the key contributing factor to the low TFR, I propose that we ensure that sufficient and more resources are deployed to this front.
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12.15 pm
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Single parents
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Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to take part in this debate. Under Singapore law, single parents are treated as singles who are not eligible to purchase a Housing Board flat unless they are 35 years old and they are also given reduced children
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\r\nbenefits like lesser maternity leave and no Baby Bonus.\r\n\r\n
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We know that the Government is not encouraging single parents but like every developed country, Singapore has single parents and we should learn to acknowledge them. Rather have single parents who are responsible, than have problematic couples who end up in divorce and a traumatic child. Why should their children suffer the sin of their parents? Should single parents not be entitled to more benefits than normal couples when raising their children single-handedly? I am not proposing these benefits to say single parenthood is alright. I am proposing responsible parenting and proper investment in our young.
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Youth
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Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, Sir, all of us – parents, schools, local communities and the Government – have a stake and shared responsibility to guide our young. It is painful to read of 14-year-olds engaging in prostitution or some even younger ones engaging in pre-marital sex. Worse is, some are involved in more serious crimes like gangsterism, street fights, doing the bidding of loansharks or abusing drugs and alcohol. I hope the Minister would spare no effort to get his Ministry to work with the other Ministries and VWOs, especially with schools, to address the question of juvenile delinquency and youth crime.\r\n\r\n
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The recent youth gangsters on the street are warning signs that we must work harder on our youth. Their academic achievements imposed both by our education system and by us, as parents, are putting much pressures on our children. Only by working together can we identify gaps and come up with new approaches to deal with these new challenges.
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Column: 4111
\r\nThe Ministry of Education is one key Ministry that MCYS must engage as most of our youths are in the education institutes. I fully agree with the Minister for Education which said yesterday that the parents are ultimately responsible for their children. This role of responsibility cannot be surrogated. However, all our schools must play not only the main role of education but the supporting role of character building. The Minister for Education only hold the teachers and principals responsible for the education outcomes. I am afraid the Minister for MCYS would have a lot of persuasion to do.
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In this regard, could the Minister share with the House whether there is any study made to better understand the changing social landscape surrounding our families and its impact on young people? Where are the weak links that should be tightened? How does his Ministry intend to tackle the problem and whether it is engaging in any dialogue with different concerned groups in the community, for example, VWOs?
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I hope the Minister can share with the House what are some of the upcoming programmes, particularly those aimed at reducing youth crime. We are a small country. Every person counts. Everyone is important and special. And with joint commitment, I am confident that more than ever, Singapore will continue to nurture morally right and productive citizens.
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Helping the disabled, needy and elderly
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Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Sir, I want to thank the MCYS Minister, his team and especially National Council of Social Services for having put focus on and adding much value to the disability community.\r\n\r\n
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Column: 4112
\r\n Through the current Enabling Master Plan for the Disabled, which is due for renewal, many important initiatives were started. These include the non means-tested Fixed Subsidy of $300 per month for every Singaporean child undergoing early intervention; Special Needs Trust company; regular caregiver trainings; and many others. Sir, many people in the community, including the disabled and their families, are not aware of what the Enabling Master Plan is. Other than what is posted on the MCYS website when the Plan was first launched and direct updates by NCSS to the charities involved, there is little information to the disabled and the public on the good work done, the challenges and what is next in the pipeline. This has led to the perception that either nothing has been done or repeated appeals for solutions that may not be relevant. Sir, I urge MCYS to update a wider audience on a more regular basis in multiple channels so that all stakeholders are equally aware of the terrain, and they can contribute to scaling the next height together.
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\r\n Sir, setting up a National Office for Disability was a key recommendation I made in the plan. As I understand, this Office currently comprises mostly senior civil servants from the different Ministries and some agencies like the NCSS. What it stands for, what it does and how it engages the disabled, the families and the VWOs on the ground, are a well-kept secret. I seek more communication and engagement by this National Office through regular and outreach channels.
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Next, Sir, as the Master Plan is due for renewal, I would like to ask the Minister to consider addressing the following gaps in the next phase:
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\r\n (i) Expedite basic health insurance coverage for those born with congenital diseases; and influence top insurers in the private sector to offer optional enhanced plans for those who seek more coverage;
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Column: 4113
\r\n(ii) Extend Foreign Domestic Worker Levy (FDW) Concession for children with disabilities who are older than 12 years old. The levy concession currently applies to children under the age of 12 and the elderly above 65. The current policy assumes that the said disability miraculously disappears after age 12 and re-surfaces after age 65. I hope that the Minister will look into this;
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(iii) Study the daily challenges faced by major disability groups, especially those who are poor. Expand the scope of funds, such as the Special Assistance Fund, to include, for example, interpretation services for the deaf in their pursuit of work or education. I recently held a 3-hour meeting with a young adult who is deaf. Because I do not sign, he had to come with his sign language interpreter in tow, the services of whom were charged to us at an hourly rate. That evening, this young man shared with me how he had to personally fork out $6,000 worth of interpretation fees as he pursues his ACCA accounting studies;
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(iv) Increase the Norm Costs for Day Activity Centres which cater to moderately to severely disabled adults. Last year, my volunteers and I were approached to support a Day Activity Centre for such a group. The team tried all means to work out the financial model, using HDB void decks and a mixture of both local and foreign staff. We arrived at a cost of about $1,500 per client per month for a very prudent service model. However, the Government norm cost is only about $750 and subsidy is means-tested. Sir, while I agree that it will be impossible for Government to foot 100% of all social services, I think a regular review of the cost and support for more labour-intensive services should be conducted if these services are important and outsourced to other Helping Hands;
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(v) On sports and inclusion. I believe that MCYS can also orchestrate more
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\r\ninclusion in the area of sports. Recently, ex-NMP Jessie Phua graciously agreed with me to broker a collaboration pact between the Bowling Association for the Disabled and the mainstream Singapore Bowling Association. As a result of these inclusion efforts, the disabled bowlers can now leverage on expertise and activities in SBA. It was inspiring for both the disabled and the non-disabled, and made Sports for All a reality, in this case.
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Lastly, on productivity and innovation, the mantra in recent Budgets. Sir, I strongly feel that the People Sector must hop on the bus of our country's productivity movement. There are many useful toolkits, resources and funding programmes which are applicable even to charities, special schools, homes and centres. For example, how many leaders and staff in the People Sector have studied the very useful Productivity Calculators that SPRING has developed? There are some areas in the social services sector that calls for better mapping and study.
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One key area, for example, is the integration of the numerous help schemes for the chronic low-wage families to avoid cases of over- and under-serving. Sir, even Mayors and Family Service Centres who are the administrators of these schemes have voiced the need for a more efficient and effective safety net. Such a need makes this an ideal project to qualify for the Productivity and Innovation Grant funded by the National Budget.
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\r\n Finally, Sir, I want to thank the Minister and his team for the good work done in the last five years and I look forward to his consideration for the gaps that I have mentioned.
People with disabilities
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Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Mr Chairman, Sir, the world has
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\r\nmoved on from defining disability as a medical condition. Since 2002, WHO has stated that any decrement in health resulting in any form of disability is now a universal human experience and not just a medical experience. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes respect for the inherent dignity, autonomy, independence of persons, non-discrimination and full and active participation in society.\r\n\r\n
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Singapore has introduced the Enabling Masterplan 2007 to 2011 and it is due for review. It takes a slightly different stand, attributing limitations to an individual's ability to function in society as being due to medically-determined impairments rather than the way the built-up environment is designed and organised. This is the way it has come across to the public. It certainly needs review.
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Does MCYS have new initiatives and policies planned to help with the integration and mainstreaming of persons with disability and will we see Singapore become a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?
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People with special needs
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Mr Chiam See Tong: I am very grateful to my fellow colleagues for helping me out of my chair. I am sorry about delaying the proceedings. \r\n\r\n
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Sir, the Government has unveiled impressive plans to upgrade several constituencies, costing millions of dollars that will improve the lives of residents. Whilst this is a good move to improve physical surroundings and the neighbourhood, what is lacking is the compassion and support for our marginalised citizens and their caregivers who are finding it hard to cope.
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Our society should create an awareness that these people are shunned
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\r\nand isolated because of the stigma that is attached to the illness. Caregivers of the mentally ill do not get the recognition and vital support which they badly need and, in the end, they themselves may develop depression, leading to mental illness.
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Sir, I therefore urge the Government to educate the public to create awareness on the plight of these marginalised citizens and their caregivers. More financial aid should be allocated to the support groups and the mental health institutions, eg, Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH).
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12.30 pm
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The Chairman: Mr Laurence Wee. You have three cuts, take them together, please.
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Long waiting list for integrated childcare programme centres
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Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong (Nominated Member): At this point, I thank the Minister and his team for the good progress over the past five years, and for rolling out many initiatives for the poor, needy and the disabled.\r\n\r\n
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First, I declare my interest as my organisation, Presbyterian Community Services, is running the integrated childcare programme in six of our childcare centres with 10 places in each centre. The waiting list for integrated childcare programme centres may not be an issue now. However, it would be good to constantly monitor the trend, so that no eligible child will be denied a place in integrated pre-school education.
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Training of integrated childcare programme teachers
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Mr Chairman, Sir, teachers working with children with special needs need to equip themselves with proper knowledge, skills and competency to help each child reach
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\r\nhis/her fullest potential. Teachers in integrated childcare programme centres have to attend 152 hours of training in order to be awarded the certificate in teaching pre-schoolers with special needs in integrated childcare centre (CICP) conducted by the Rainbow Centre at Margaret Drive, which is appointed by MCYS as its training coordinator.
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Currently, only the NIE Diploma in Special Education and Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Advanced Diploma in Early Childhood Intervention (Special Education) are being recognised. Could more be done for the CICP's certificate course in terms of greater recognition? Perhaps, it can be considered as a form of foundation module, in view of its existing specialised training content. This could serve as a bridge or stepping stone for trainees without their pre-requisite to further their upgrading in NIE or Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
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May I urge the Minister to consider granting recognition of such courses? This will ensure that teachers who undergo such courses are motivated to give their commitment and dedication to serve the children with special needs in pre-school education through further training. If such accreditation is considered, it would be of immense help to those cohorts of teachers undergoing training. Thus, it will not only increase morale, but also help to ensure and maintain service quality in the long term. We can do more to promote early intervention for children with special needs and these trained pre-school teachers are in fact the frontline people who can make the difference.
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Child development credit
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Mr Chairman, Sir, families with children with special needs will invariably incur greater expenses. This is especially so in the area of providing therapy and other rehabilitative measures to increase their
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\r\nchildren's potential with their residual abilities for better functioning. Generally, all concerned parents will go, if they can afford it, for any therapy that will hold promise of greater recovery or healing. Most parents will do anything for their children's progress. However, therapy, rehabilitation and other speciality medical care are just a few of the extra costs that parents face when raising children with special needs. Thus, the families of the disabled require more special attention and relief.
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Recommendation one: may I suggest to the Minister to consider a higher quantum of Child Development Credit, as it will go a long way in helping the families to cope with the higher cost of taking care of a child with special needs? Recommendation two: may I also urge the Minister, perhaps to commission a study on the cost of raising a child with special needs in Singapore, if this has not been done before or done much earlier because the cost of living was lower? This study will be of immense value when formulating policies to help these parents financially.
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In conclusion, may I reiterate that families of children with special needs require more special attention and relief.
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Social workers
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The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman): Sir, there have been repeated calls by Members of this House on the need for more social workers to work with families facing difficulties. There are even calls for Family Service Centres to be set up in every constituency, and at least a social worker each in the constituency office. Members of this House must have come across too many of such families to make them raise their concerns in this Chamber. MCYS has responded. Remuneration packages have been improved and career progressions
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\r\nare more attractive. However, there are still fundamental issues which need to be addressed – the capabilities of social worker entrants, quality of social work training programmes, ensuring quality field supervision and putting in place the system that will sustain them within the profession.\r\n\r\n
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The social workers that we need most are those who have the skills and tenacity to work in the community – go out to visit families in their homes at odd hours, handle complex cases that include multiple marriages and divorces, juvenile delinquencies and domestic violence, collaborate with grassroot volunteers and engage community partners. They must have a good grasp of social science theories, excellent interpersonal and organisational skills. Above all, the fighting spirit and readiness to work against insurmountable odds.
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The challenge is that many of our budding social workers come from backgrounds that are totally distant from the families that they hope to serve. For example, they will be challenged to understand how a 23-year-old woman whose husband is in prison, and who has three young children aged between one and five years, could abandon her children leaving them with her own mother who herself is undergoing divorce. Beyond ability to work with such families directly, the social workers also need to assess the effectiveness of Government's policies in meeting the larger objective of helping these families to be self-reliant. This means that social workers are more than Mother Theresa, who will only help the poor.
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They are professionals who must take an active role in engaging policy makers. The image of social workers must change and go beyond merely helping the poor and the down and out. Social workers
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\r\nimpact not only the lives of the people whom they serve but also the larger systems within which these people exist. We need a system that will nurture and develop talents in the sector through an enhanced image that inspire the young to join the profession. More importantly is to ensure the quality of training programmes that produce social workers with the desired attributes and, subsequently, the quality of field supervision that will ensure longer term sustenance of these social workers in the profession.
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I urge MCYS to conduct a comprehensive review of the social work profession to ensure the desired pipeline of quality social workers with the gumption to take on challenging cases and the intellectual ability to engage policy-makers in addressing community issues, and remaining in the profession for the longer term.
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The Chairman: Mr Hawazi is not here. Mr Seah.
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Responsible gambling and compliance
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Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, much has been said in this House about the impact of the IRs on ordinary Singaporeans and the need to protect them from undue influences. I have heard the messages on radio in Mandarin, depicting a man’s downfall at the gambling tables: first, borrowing from the loansharks, and then losing the love of his wife, esteem from his teenage son, and the respect of his daughter.\r\n\r\n
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Sir, gamblers know all these. They know the odds, better than most of us. They know the outcomes. They would have seen their circle of friends go the same way. They know, and yet the flesh is weak. That is why we need a mixture of pre- and post-casino measures. We take measures to prevent those whose addiction is particularly great from going into the casinos and we help those who
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\r\nhave already fallen prey, to dig themselves up from the hole.
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Sir, the vice taxes are a great way to redistribute wealth, assuming it comes from the comfortable cushions of the very rich, and not the meagre earnings of the poor. But I think we do not yet know nor fully understand what the social impact is.
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Sir, I do not want nor do I think the IRs will fail. But we need a win-win approach to ensure that even as the IRs succeed, the social costs and issues are always on top of the mind of our Government, and that the various measures do kick in.
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As we have seen, with the need to reduce free buses or advertisements, there are always refined or new ideas that may be introduced to achieve this. MPs, grassroots leaders and yes, the IRs themselves, are partners in these. The IRs must do more to promote responsible gambling and it is in their interest to comply with guidelines and to work together with us.
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Sir, I want to ask the Minister’s assessment of the measures in place to promote responsible gambling and making sure IRs comply with the guidelines so far. What else should be done?
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Casino
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Dr Ong Seh Hong (Marine Parade): Sir, Singapore was ranked the second coolest nation in the world by the lifestyle and travel section of CNN. We are just behind the samba-loving country of Brazil. This is a big step forward for this friendly red dot.\r\n\r\n
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Not too long ago, Singapore was considered boring with very little to offer, in terms of night life. We have certainly transformed ourselves from a clean but boring city to a city with an endless run of activities to do and an exciting night life.
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\r\nThe two casinos and other facilities at the two IRs certainly have played an important role in sprucing up the tourist image of Singapore. There is no doubt as to the economic benefits of having a casino at the two resorts. What is uncertain would be the social ills associated with the casinos at our very door step.
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Studies have shown that having a casino within a 10-mile radius has a significant impact on problem gambling. I was told by an ex-gambling addict that the entrance levy of $100 is no deterrence to a gambler. There is a Chinese saying: \"小财不出 , 大财不入\". He is saying, \"put money, get money\". In other words, if you do not gamble, where is the opportunity to take in money?
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Sir, we are seeing more people seeking help with their gambling problems or problems arising from their family members' gambling addictions. There are reported cases of people who lost millions of dollars in the casino. We also hear of cases of people turning to loansharks or selling their flats as a result of losses in the casino. We also had cases of thefts and cheating by the casino workers, and reports of prostitution or sex workers plying their trade in the casinos. Therefore, I seek an update from MCYS on the nature and the extent of social problems relating to gambling at the casinos following the full-operations of these two casinos in Singapore. What are the control mechanisms in place and how effective have they been so far?
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Gambling
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Mr Chan Soo Sen (Joo Chiat): Mr Chairman, Sir, being the third person talking about gambling, I think quite a lot of points have been brought up. I will just share by way of anecdotes. Of late, I have been taking taxis. And I hear taxi drivers talking about picking up passengers who have lost everything.
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\r\nThere are passengers who plead with the taxi drivers to say they do not have the $30 needed to pay for the taxi fare. These persons have lost everything. We also hear of children who, in good faith, give money to parents and say: \"you go to the IR and enjoy yourself\". I do not know how the relationship would turn out in chapter two. I just want to say that all these little anecdotes show that we are already beginning to see some initial indications of gambling problems. These may be just the tip of the iceberg, and the more serious cases may soon come.\r\n\r\n
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Gambling, of course, is not new in Singapore. In the past, we had regulated gambling very carefully. Strictly speaking, only bettings are allowed – we are referring to Sweep, TOTO and 4D. Such bettings will not make people lose their fortune. But one night in the casino can cause people to lose their life savings.
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I personally am not sympathetic to the billionaires who lose millions. If I have a billion and lose a million, I lose only 1% of my asset. What is the big deal? I can afford to lose. But I am very concerned about the working class losing their entire life savings and CPF. All of us would get a minor fortune when we reach 55 years old. We are able to dip into our life savings and suddenly we would see a lot of money. Some said that it is when men become the most attractive – God knows what I mean [Laughter]. But if one is complacent, and through gambling, he can lose everything. The fact that children give parents some money to have a good time in casino shows how complacent we can be.
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Mr Chairman, I want to propose that we must be more aggressive in publicising the ills of gambling. Let us take the example of smoking. Real pictures of health hazards are shown on the boxes to deter people. I would like to propose to
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\r\nthe Minister to consider an annual gambling awareness month, where programmes and activities will be organised to remind people the social ills of gambling. It may be illustrated with real or anonymous cases. We can have it during the school holiday month because that is the time when people are most likely to try to have a good time. I think this should be an addition to whatever that the Minister may be replying to Dr Ong's point on mechanisms that will be put in place.
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12.45 pm
The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Chairman, Sir, Members of the House, I apologise for my voice, I have got a viral infection and it is not because I am campaigning prematurely.\r\n\r\n
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Last year has been an eventful one for MCYS. If I can just get the first slide up [hon. Members were shown a slide]. On the legislative front, we enacted the International Child Abduction Bill, we also made amendments to the Women's Charter and The Charities Act, The Children and Young Persons Act, The Hindu Endowments Act and, of course, if you all remember, Mr Seah Kian Peng amended the Maintenance of Parents Act. He amended it but we have to do the work.
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Beyond legislative work, we have also pushed ahead in enhancing our programmes for all Singaporeans. This next slide gives Members a flavour of some of the things we have been working on. For the needy, we refined the Public Assistance criteria as well as the means testing framework, in order to provide more subsidies for social services.
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We improved the accessibility and the quality of childcare by adding 107 new childcare centres in 2010. We also launched a Child Development Network
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\r\nand we upgraded the quality of our childcare teachers. We made the early intervention programme for infants and children more afforbable. Ms Denise Phua and Mr Laurence Wee spoke about this programme. We also opened up more employment pathways for the disabled in order for them, ultimately, to integrate into the mainstream.
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We raised the funding norms for social workers and we also launched the first of five new Family Service Centres. The Office of the Public Guardian began its operations last year, in order to bring the Mental Capacity Act into effect. We also continued to foster integration through the work of the National Integration Council which I chair and, of course, Singaporeans will remember, the Inaugural Youth Olympic Games in August which is now part of our national legacy.
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My Ministry will continue to do more to strengthen social cohesion and support. Perhaps, I can classify our chief beneficiaries into the following five clusters. First, families in need; second, young children; third, youth, especially those at risk; then, the other vulnerable groups which include those with disabilities and also groups who may be susceptible to problem gambling.
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In addition to that, we have also been looking at the social service sector as key infrastructure for our social services in order to upgrade and to uplift that sector. Let me now go into more details on families in need. Mr Seah Kian Peng asked about our efforts to help the most needy amongst us. I know I have said this many times but I will have to reiterate again our key principles, just to make sure that we do not lose sight of them. Finding work and staying in work is the key to self-reliance. And that is why the Government invests so heavily in order to help Singaporeans upgrade their skills and to get higher paying jobs. For those in lower paying jobs, we have Workfare, in order
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\r\nto boost their income from work and to make work worthwhile.
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As low-income families upgrade themselves or look for jobs, there is a need, as Members have alluded to, to make sure that ComCare complements Workfare. Here, I think it may be worth reiterating and our priorities in ComCare are: first, to help people with urgent needs, immediate needs; second, to overcome the social barriers to work because ultimately we want them to get into jobs and if need be to take advantage of Workfare; and third, we must facilitate childcare arrangements because there is much concern in this House about social mobility. For social mobility, the key focus has to be on children.
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For those who are unable to work, with no means of income and either no or with very limited family support, we take care of that through the Public Assistance Scheme. We monitor the cost of living very closely and we pay particular attention to the price of basic food items. I would like at this point in time to remind Members that, in this term of Parliament, we have raised the Public Assistance rate. All the Members in this House came in here in 2006. In 2007, the Public Assistance rate for a single person was $260. Since then, I have raised it four times and today it will become $400. From $260 to $400 in one term of Parliament.
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In fact, for a household with two adults and two children, they will receive a total of $1,350, which will more than cover the cost of food. I think Mr Seah Kian Peng tried to calculate for us yesterday. Internally in my Ministry, we track what we call a basket of low-cost, uncooked food every month. We regularly shop at Fairprice. I am not trying to sell a commercial but making the point that we do track these very closely because we must ensure that nobody goes hungry in Singapore.
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\r\nIt is also important to understand that we must not be overly focused on the cash component. It is only one component of the total Public Assistance package. We should remind ourselves that PA recipients receive totally free medical care, they receive totally free education for their children, they receive rental subsidies, U-SAVE subsidies, as well as considerable additional support from the community.
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Even as we acknowledge that, I will continue to give the assurance that we will make sure no one will be left behind. No one will go hungry. No one will go without food on the table or without a roof over their head or healthcare for yourself or education, regardless of how the cost of living increases. We have the wherewithal to ensure that for this most vulnerable group in our society.
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It is also noteworthy that the Minister for Finance has made a $500 million top-up to the ComCare Endowment Fund. When I first thought of ComCare Endowment Fund, I wanted an Endowment in order to ensure that MCYS will continue to have funds available, even in a downturn. It has to be counter-cyclical because in a downturn, when all other Ministries' budgets are being cut, in fact, the Social Assistance budget may need to go up. When I first persuaded my colleagues to have a ComCare Endowment Fund, our target was only $1 billion. Now, very generously, the Minister for Finance has said, let us aim for a target of $1.5 billion and, in fact, today, it stands at $1.3 billion. I belabour this point because I want to emphasise that we have the wherewithal to look after our people even in tough times. And, therefore, I can give this assurance that our social safety net is robust and quite unique right now. Fully funded and sustainable for the long term. This is not the case in many other societies who
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\r\npretend that they have got great social safety nets because they are going to run into intense physical pressures in the years ahead.
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Let me now move on to young children. Dr Lily Neo has spoken about the need for holistic and early support to be available for children in need. I agree with her. As I said earlier, the key for social mobility is to work with the young children, in particular, their education. We had a long debate yesterday in the Ministry of Education's COS session.
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Today, I want to remind Members that my Ministry has been investing considerably in early childhood education, in particular, to make sure it is affordable, of high quality and accessible to all. That is why we raised the income caps for the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) and the Centre-Based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC) in order to benefit more children. In addition to having a larger group of children eligible, we have also made adjustments in quantum. It is worth highlighting again that in this term of Parliament, the quantum of subsidies for both schemes has increased significantly. For instance, for the lowest income tier, we raised the CFAC subsidies from $300 to $340. This is over and above the universal $300 subsidy. So, in other words, this lowest income family gets $340 every month available for childcare. For KiFAS, Members of the House will be familiar that we raised it in this term of Parliament from $65 a month to $108 a month.
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Mdm Halimah mentioned the need for deposits. There is a start-up grant available to ensure that even the deposit for uniforms and school text books will not be a hurdle. This allows me, again, to give that assurance that money will never be an impediment for children from low-income households accessing good quality early childhood education and, ultimately,
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\r\neducation in primary and secondary school and beyond.
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We need to remind people that this is available, and I agree with Members we will need to continue our outreach programmes to make sure that no parent ever keeps a child away from school simply because of worries about cash flow.
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There were some queries about childcare costs rising. Mdm Halimah brought this up. I have been watching this very closely and I agree with the Member. We have noticed that some, especially private childcare centres, have taken the opportunity of the fact that we have now given more subsidies to all parents to also raise prices. Some of those price rises may be justified if it has been accompanied truly by increased standards, increased and better infrastructure or better quality teachers. But beyond that, there is a free market operating and that is why I have been pushing for this accelerated rate of an increased number of childcare centres to be established in order to promote more competition and also while we are working closely with PCF and with the NTUC's the Little Skool-House, so that there will be anchor operators functioning in the same way like FairPrice does for supermarkets and food products, to ensure that there is healthy competition and fair pricing standards available. In the years to come, I will ensure that there is even greater transparency and more information available on every childcare centre, so that parents can make informed choices.
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We have also enhanced our outreach and programming for children in need. Members of the House will again be familiar that, every year, MOE gives us a list of children who have so far not been registered either in kindergarten or childcare. We and our grassroots' leaders go and knock door to door to identify who
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\r\nis missing, why are they missing, are they overseas or is there a social problem. We have also a whole range of other programmes like the Healthy Start Programme (HSP), the Intensive Case Management framework pilot and, of course, the Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) scheme to help families and their children break out of the poverty cycle.
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Since we passed the International Child Abduction Act, and acceded to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction last year, my Ministry has also set up the Singapore Central Authority in order to implement our obligations under this Convention. Basically, what this means is that we will help ensure the return of children who were wrongfully removed from their state of habitual residence and this works both ways. The message to parents is: please comply with Court orders. I know it is a very emotional and difficult thing but do not breach Court orders and kidnap your own children.
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Let me now move on to our plans for youths. Six years ago – actually, it is nearly seven years ago because I remember that was when I first came to MCYS – we conducted a nationwide youth consultation exercise which enabled many young Singaporeans to participate and give us ideas. The legacy of that exercise continues today with the Shine Youth Festival, the Young ChangeMakers grant, in fact, the new *Scape in Orchard Road, the Extreme Skate Park at the East Coast. These are legacies of that exercise. We believe that it is time to conduct a second youth consultation exercise. We will embark on this in the latter part of this year. I look forward to more fresh ideas from young Singaporeans.
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1.00 pm
Mdm Cynthia Phua has quite rightly expressed concern about youth at risks \r\n
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\r\nand the issue of youth crime. Well, first, let us put things in perspective. Our juvenile crime rate is stable and even our recidivism rate if we include all youth offenders who have gone through either our guidance programme or probation or have had a stay in our boys' home or girls' home, in fact, 80% of them do not re-offend within three years. That is not bad. \r\n\r\n
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Good progress has been made over the years to lower the school attrition and to reduce re-offending. But I agree with Members that we can do more to improve co-ordination between the different agencies and Ministries and, in particular, focus upstream, especially on the risk factors. For instance, we know that a significant number of youths, who drop out of school prematurely, will ultimately get into trouble and end up in the criminal justice system, in fact, within five years from leaving school. Once they end up in that system, there is a risk of recidivism. Although I have said our recidivism rates may not be that high but the point is, we can join the dots: school drop out, crime, entering a programme or home and then facing another possibility of re-offence.
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And that is why arising from the recommendations of the Committee on the Prevention of Re-offending which was shared by the Minister of State for Education and Home Affairs, Mr Masagos, we decided to establish Central Youth Guidance Office (CYGO).
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Although this office sits within MCYS, it actually is an inter-Ministry office which co-ordinates the work of MOE, MHA and MCYS. Focus-upstream, comprehensive integrated intervention and long-term follow-up. I think Members of the House will support this programme. This programme, of course, will complement what is already available – things like the
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\r\nEnhanced STEP-UP and the Streetwise programmes.
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The Central Youth Guidance Office will be piloting the Youth GO! programme. We will start off first with the North-East CDC. The Mayor just happens to be in my Ministry, pure coincidence. This programme will focus especially on outreach to youths who currently are not involved in any of our programmes. We hope to engage them in meaningful activities and to bring them back into the fold of the community and we have set aside a sum of $1.2 million for this pilot project in the next two years.
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We will also develop an inter-agency Youth Information System. That is to implement Members’ suggestion that we need a comprehensive and shared database so that the youths at risk and the factors for youths at risk will be shared between MOE, MHA and MCYS. This will allow us to draw, first, a composite picture of the problem as well as longitudinal data which will help inform future policy formulation.
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We will continue to provide a safe and supportive environment for our youths in residential care. I am not sure how many Members of this House have actually visited the Boys’ Home and Girls’ Home. We do want to introduce a wider and more engaging range of academic, vocational and therapeutic programmes in the Boys’ Complex and the Girls’ Home in order to cater to the different needs, risk profile and aspirations of these boys and girls. We want to ensure that they are not there just for punishment but that their time with us will result in them emerging with both vocational and emotional skills so that they can grow up to be contributing, well-functioning, well-balanced adults. We will be working with the MOE, WDA and the Prisons in order to enhance the educational and vocational framework in our homes. We will also introduce a more targeted and standardised assess
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\r\nment in order to better tailor our intervention to the needs of these youths.
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In line with these changes, MCYS will spend $60 million to expand the Boys’ Complex not because I am expecting a flood of new entrants but because I want to provide a better environment for them. We will also enhance post-care support that means after discharge to follow up with them up to the age of 21 in order to help guide them and keep them on the straight and narrow path.
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Yes, it is true that MCYS, MOE and MHA can do more and that we can work collaboratively, more effectively and more synergistically. I want to emphasise that we need the support of the community and, in fact, not just the VWOs but the employers as well. Today, I want to acknowledge employers and enlightened employers like Alo Car Pro, Secret Recipe, Adrenaline Events and Education and N.K. Hair Works who have helped our youths re-integrate into society and I hope we will have more enlightened employers who will come onboard and join us in this cause.
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Mr Chairman, let me now turn to the disability sector. Ms Denise Phua has, as usual, made an impassioned and important speech which I have listened to carefully. Let me just deal with the specific points that Ms Denise Phua raised and then go on to the substantive ones. One of the things which Ms Phua asked for was to extend basic healthcare insurance to those born with congenital diseases. I think she is aware that MOH is reviewing this but we are not in a position to make specific announcements yet. So, watch this space.
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The Member suggested that we extend the foreign domestic worker levy concession for children with disabilities who are older than 12. The Member will notice that when she was speaking I was having a side discussion with the Minister
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\r\nfor Manpower. The negotiations with MOM have begun but, again, I am not in the position to make promises yet.
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Sir, the Member also asked MCYS to study the daily challenges faced by major disability groups, especially those who are poor. She gave a very apt example of, for instance, a person who is deaf will depend on sign language interpretation in order to integrate or to access mainstream services and participate in mainstream life. If we think about that on a larger scale, it is what we are also trying to do with the assistive technology to ensure that whenever tools or specific services are needed, we will look at the means-tested way to help those especially who may not be able to afford the extra services or extra technology which they need. So, we will continue to work on that.
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The Member has also asked MCYS to review the norm cost of the day activities centres: we will do this. I believe the Member has made some very valid points on sports and disabilities and I will say more about that later as well but, again, I agree with her. So you see, every year, I agree with almost everything that she asks for.
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Let us now go on with my substantive points on disability. A few months ago, we made major announcements to ensure that every Singapore Citizen child who needs to attend the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children receives a $300 base subsidy. In addition to that, low-income families will receive an additional means-tested subsidy from the government and that amount can go up to another $600. So, it is $300 plus $600 for low-income families – $900.
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In addition to that, we know that those who are most needy will also receive help from VWOs, very often the service providers themselves as well as from the Community Chest. This allows me to say, hand over heart, that for the
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\r\nlow-income families with disabled children, money is not the limiting factor.
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Having said that, we should also recognise that MOE recently announced that we will be extending the financial assistance scheme to special schools. My Ministry and NCSS obviously will have to do some fund-raising to help them but, again, it sends the message: if you are a low-income family, or a lower-middle income family, and you have a disabled child who needs to access education, help is available, money is not the impediment. I believe that this was a point that Mr Laurence Wee wanted reassurance, so I hope I have given Members some cause for reassurance.
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Now, if we solve the money side of it, there are still other challenges. We have been pushing to increase the number of EPIC Centres. In 2007, we have 10; today, we have 13. We have increased the number of places from 1,004 to 2,000 but guess what? Once I have provided more subsidies, I increased the number of places, the demand also went up. That means we will have to work harder. Over the next four years, we intend to build another seven EPIC Centres and to further increase the capacity to 2,700 places. I am sure in due time, demand will also increase and we will have to respond accordingly. The point is, we have made a lot of progress just within this term of Parliament alone.
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For older children, MOE has raised the age limit for special education to 21 so that students will be able to continue acquiring vocational skills beyond the age of 18. From this year, SPED students will also begin their vocational education from the age of 13. Now, vocational education without jobs is also a dead end. We have also been working with some very enlightened employers who have constituted the Enabling Employers
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\r\nNetwork. This is an alliance of private sector champions who have provided work opportunities, attachments and internships in order to provide our students from SPED schools with some real exposure to real work.
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Enabling Employers Network has also launched two centres for training and integration in hospitality and call centres as part of the employment value chain framework. More than 450 disabled persons have benefited from the open-door fund which provides grants to employers for workplace redesign and apprenticeship opportunities for the disabled.
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In 2008, we set up the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL), a one-stop information referral centre for persons with disability and it also administers the caregiver training grant. Mr Chiam mentioned the need to support caregivers, so there is help available for caregivers. In fact, this grant has so far benefited more than 2,000 families with disabled members.
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CEL of course continues to provide public education and to advocate the inclusion of the disabled in society. We do not have a \"disabled month\" but we have a \"Live Enabled Week\" and a campaign. Although we have to make sure that we do not have an excessive proliferation of campaigns in Singapore, the point is there is attention, there is support and there are resources available.
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I still remember launching the first of 10 wheelchair-accessible buses. This was in the Pasir Ris Bus Terminal in 2006 and, today, I am glad to see that we are well on our way to making all public bus services wheelchair-accessible by 2020. We will have at least two barrier-free access routes in more than 70% of all our MRT stations by the end of this year. The Town Councils have all been working very hard to upgrade our precincts with barrier-free accessibility. In sports, we have
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\r\nmade sure that all Singapore Sports Council facilities meet barrier-free access requirements. The Singapore Disabilities Sports Council and our National Sports Association run various outings, activities and programmes as Ms Denise Phua has advocated for. And disabled athletes do win medals and International competitions such as the Paralympics. People like Yip Pin Xiu and Laurentia Tan are heroines and are recognised icons for Singapore. They are not disabled icons, they are national icons and we should recognise them as such.
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Ms Denise Phua will also remember that she chaired a parents work group on financial security for the disabled and she echoed very eloquently the concerns that parents have about the long-term security of their children when the parents pass on. Because of Ms Phua's work and the work of her work group, if she looks back on the last few years, we have set up a Special Needs Trust company and we will be amending the CPF Act in order to implement the Special Needs Savings Scheme, and we will continue to provide advice and counselling to parents to enable them to plan for future financial security.
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1.15 pm
Ms Denise Phua asked about a central office. We have a standing committee on disability which coordinates across all Ministries. It is chaired by my Permanent Secretary. I agree with Ms Phua that, perhaps, he should have taken a higher profile and communicated more with the public but I want to emphasis that there is no lack of high-level attention to this issue.
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Let me now move to what else we are going do. The Enabling Masterplan – the current one – will end soon and let me give the assurance that we will review it and we will have another masterplan from 2012 to 2016. Although we should not
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\r\nprejudge the outcome of that review, a couple of aspects I felt we should start focusing our minds on are: one, there is empirical evidence that there is an increasing number of pre-schoolers who are diagnosed with learning difficulties, with speech and language disorders. Our vision is that these children should stay in the mainstream and that they should be assisted by appropriate services in order to keep them in the mainstream. As suggested by Mr Laurence Wee, we will enhance the ability of pre-school teachers – this is in mainstream childcare centres and kindergartens – to diagnose potential disabilities and to either provide or recommend the additional intervention which they need.
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The second area of emphasis I was going to recommend to the Committee was to look at adult disability. This is something people like Ms Denise Phua and even my good friend, Dr Lee Wei Ling, have been campaigning for for a very long time. We recognise that with better healthcare and better community support, people with disability will also live longer. Increased life expectancy applies across the board. That also then means that there will be challenges and especially in a future where we envisage smaller family sizes and a rapidly ageing population. Consequently, we will be developing a new day activity centre for person with intellectual disabilities and I will take up Mr Laurence Wee's suggestion that we review norm cost as well. We will also build a new home for the disabled by 2013. We will commission a study to project the future demand for disability homes in the next 15 years. The next two decades are going to be critical because of the extremely fast pace of ageing and we will make sure that that plan does not exclude the disabled.
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The $1 billion Community Silver Trust is also another big boost for this sector because it enables us to now work and support VWOs who are planning to
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\r\nprovide innovative new services for elderly, disabled persons. I expect that we will see new ideas, new models of group homes, new concepts of community-based care facilities as well as the piloting of new technologies which, hopefully, can improve care and also, dare I say, lower costs. It will be a challenge.
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The Enabling Masterplan has allowed us to make much progress over the last five years. We are not perfect. I do not think we have arrived 100%. There were 31 recommendations and we have acted on every single one of them. At this point, I really want to thank the advocates. Ms Phua is in this House but there are many advocates outside this House who have passionately, diligently year after year pushed us to do more, given us new ideas, raised and mobilised support from the community. And, therefore, I would also be in a position to inform Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef that we will accede to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and we will do so by next year. While we are doing so not because that is the be-all-and-end-all, but because we actually have done a lot and there has never been so many opportunities for the disabled to participate in the mainstream of our society.
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Can I now move to the social services sector? The office of the Commissioner of Charities was set up within my Ministry in 2006 and we established the people sector-led Charity Council the year after. Together, these two institutions have strengthened the standards of governance in our charities through a balanced regulatory framework that facilitates both the good work of the charities as well as given the public the confidence to donate, and knowing that the money will be properly stewarded and properly spent. Hence, in order to help the charities be more effective, the Code of Governance
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\r\nwas introduced and this Code of Governance has been refined earlier this year. Beyond governance, we also continue to provide training grants for charity board members and key staff so that they can keep updated on proper ways to manage donors, to conduct fund raising and volunteer management.
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The next slide* [indicating a slide shown to hon. Members] will show what we are spending on social services and the trend over the last three years. A couple of things I want to point out. First, is that, in fact, the total sum is more than half a billion dollars. Second thing is to note that about half of that comes from Government and the other half from the community. This is a reasonable balance when we talk about the many-helping-hands model. In fact, even in the downturn, we noticed that donation amounts, especially from individuals, continued to hold steady. With the Minister for Finance's extension of the 250% tax deduction for another five years and the introduction of the Community Silver Trust of $1 billion, I am confident that Singaporeans would continue to be generous and I think the VWOs should continue to be confident that the next five years, in fact, the next decade, will be a decade of growth for them.
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I also want to share a short anecdote because I do not want people to think this is all about money. The Compassion Fund has a programme called \"Share a Meal\". This basically raises funds for students whose family has suddenly lost a main breadwinner. One day, when the VWO was opening the cans – most of it were coins because you are raising funds by the students – they found two pieces of folded green paper. It was not a $5 note. When they unfolded it, they found out that a seven-year-old boy had actually put in his own meal coupons into the tin. He put in his own meal coupons because he is from a disadvantaged family, he was
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\r\ngiven the coupons to spend for himself to buy food, he sacrificed his food in order to share with others. Of course, the boy did not know that the coupons are only valid in his own canteen but the point is the motivation, the heart behind that act of giving by this little seven-year-old boy from a disadvantaged family. I think this is a very heartwarming story, a true story, and it is a timely reminder to us that philanthropy is not just about opening wallets but, in the words of the social worker who shared this story with me, it is also about opening hearts. We need to make sure that even as we improve our processes and build infrastructure and provide more money, never, never lose sight of the heart and the need to open hearts.
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Dr Maliki and Dr Lily Neo have asked for plans to address the supply, development and retention of social workers. First, the SIM University and Nanyang Polytechnic are now running programmes at both degree and diploma levels in order to enhance the supply of trained social service professionals. We also give subsidies, scholarships and training awards to help in-service personnel attain social work qualifications. In addition, we provide training and upgrading opportunities for social workers through the Professional Leadership Development Scheme.
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Second, we enhanced the image and professionalism of social workers because we now have formal accreditation. As of January this year, 835 social workers and practitioners have been accredited. We also have the Outstanding Social Worker Award which is given every year by the President to recognise special social workers who are role models to others.
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Third, we have raised the funding norms for social workers regularly and, in the last five years, our funding for VWOs – the employers of this group of professionals – has increased by up to
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\r\n27%, including a 14% increase last year. A recent survey by NCSS suggests that almost all the VWOs surveyed have increased their salaries or intend to do so shortly.
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Our focus this year is to continue to strengthen the professional and leadership capabilities of social workers. We are also glad to receive the $20 million hongbao from the Minister for Finance and he has told me specifically to use this money to enhance the professionalism of social workers. It is not going to buy equipment or to buy hardware but to work on the software. We will use this to support social workers who want to develop and further their careers either to become specialists or, for the more senior ones, to become supervisors. Ultimately, I hope to see more leaders – leaders not chosen by me but peer-selected leaders – who are role models, who are repositories of wisdom and experience, who can lead the profession. One of the key legacies which I want to leave behind is to put the social work profession on a high and stable pedestal – you are professionals, you are key people who fix hearts and fix relationships and you deserve the remuneration, the resources and the recognition that, perhaps, for a long time we have under-delivered. I hope social workers will agree with me that we have made considerable progress, we will continue to push forward.
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Let me now move on to Family Service Centres (FSCs). We are going to build more Family Service Centres and we are going to elevate their standards. I announced last year that we will build five new FSCs by 2013, bringing the total number to 41, and the first three will be at Chai Chee, Telok Blangah and Tampines. The FSC at Chai Chee has already begun operations. The centre at Telok Blangah will be ready by end of the year. For the third new FSC at Tampines, we have invited agencies to submit proposals and I believe there is keen
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\r\ninterest to run this centre. The two remaining FSCs will be in Admiralty and Punggol, and they should be ready by 2012 and 2013 respectively.
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I feel a need to respond to Dr Lily Neo's point. I am not sure whether I misheard her, but I want to give the Member the assurance that FSCs are not like doctors dispensing pills without making a diagnosis. Let us give them the recognition and credit that they are due. They are professional social workers, they are properly trained, as highly motivated as doctors although not as well paid as doctors, doing their best to fix problems. When you are dealing with social work problems, it is not just a person, it is the family. Even when you are dealing with a family, often it is a community. There is a very, very heavy burden on the social workers. I would hesitate to criticise social workers. My response is to provide more resources for more support so that social workers can fulfil the already heavy and onerous tasks which are on their shoulders. I think the Member would agree with me on that point.
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In response to Mr Seah Kian Peng's question on welfare homes, my Ministry will build a new welfare home and we should target this to be ready by 2014. Our current welfare homes are not full yet, but I want to ensure that we always have some slack, so that gives the assurance that our social safety net has sufficient flexibility to deal with fluctuations and volatility in economic cycles.
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Let me end with some words on problem gambling. I totally agree with the three Members that we must not normalise gambling in Singapore. We must not make it fashionable. We must not make it a badge of honour. We should continue to assign it the vice that it is. It is a human weakness. It is not a
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\r\nmeans of getting a living. It is not a means of getting rich.
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Members have raised questions on the adequacy of our social safeguards. We actually do have a comprehensive system which is unmatched anywhere in the world. If I can reiterate: a ban on minors; a casino entry levy; the casino exclusion orders which currently exclude, I think about 33,000 people; disallowing gambling on credit; and, having strict advertising and promotion rules.
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The casino operators by now know me well and they know that we are quite prepared to act decisively and abruptly, if need be, in order to stop them from targeting the domestic market, whether it is trying to advertise or to increase accessibility by shuttle bus services or casino promotions during the Seventh Month or publicity of winners on their websites. I have a good functional relationship with the operators so when we speak or discuss things, things usually happen. I do not want to be complacent but I do not want Members to run away with the idea that this thing has gone out of control. We are watching very, very closely and, if need be, we will strengthen measures further.
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1.30 pm
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Let me just conclude by saying if we look at this term of Parliament, we have invested considerably in the social services sector. We have brought together resources. We have professionalised people. We have uplifted standards of governance in organisations in order to address the diverse needs in our society. But our journey does not stop here. We have committed to building an inclusive society in Singapore – one that is cohesive, actively engaged and takes responsibility for looking after our weakest and our most vulnerable.
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At the same time, we must not lose our core values – self-reliance, family responsibility, hard work, community support. These are key foundations of our
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\r\nsociety. These values have propelled us from third world to first. An article that was published in The Australian last week, and I believe it has been carried in today's Straits Times, \"Proof of welfare's multiple failings\" written by an aboriginal Australian, I believe, social worker. He reminded Australia, \"Don't look at the US or look at UK, within this region, look to Singapore as an example\". Let me just quote from his article, he says, \"The sacrifices, the thrift, the hard work, the determination were all part of a national undertaking.\" I believe and I am sure Members of this House will agree so long as we stay true to these values, the collective will of our people gives us strength, gives us the competitive edge to deal with the challenges ahead, to succeed and to succeed gloriously and, at the same time, to be inclusive and to uplift the weakest and the most vulnerable members of our society.
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The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon) (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] I would like to thank my parliamentary colleagues for their recognition of our work at MCYS in the past five years. The aim of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports is to develop Singapore as the best home for starting families and nurturing children. I would like to thank Mr Seah Kian Peng for giving me the opportunity to do some publicity for the Social Development Network (SDN). We had announced this last year that their website is www.lovebyte.org.sg. Mr Seah is correct to say that the main reason for Singapore’s falling birth rate is that people are not getting married. To identify the problem is not difficult. However, how can we influence the personal decision of Singaporeans? SDN has four main strategies.\r\n\r\n
\r\n According to a survey conducted in 2009, around 80% of young Singaporeans still want to get married, so we
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\r\nhave hope. First, we will start from young singles. SDN will target young Singaporeans by organising talks and courses in universities, polytechnics, junior colleges and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to improve the relationship skills of students and impart family values to them. Such talks and courses are already available in 83% of institutes of higher education.
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\r\n Secondly, SDN will collaborate with more partners, for example, Singapore Sports Council, Sentosa Development Corporation, SAFRA and others. According to feedback from Members of Parliament and officers from our Ministry, we should also strengthen collaboration with employers. We hope employers from private organisations and companies, public sector organisations and quasi-Government organisations will help our workers by taking on the role of \"matchmakers\", and encouraging singles to socialise.
\r\n SDN’s third strategy is to develop the private dating sector, through the Partner Connection Fund and the SDNTrust accreditation scheme, so that our dating services industry will become more professional. As of last month, there are 10 dating agencies and 15 practitioners accredited under the scheme.
\r\n Finally, SDN has also launched various public education initiatives and publicity campaigns, through platforms such as radio talk shows, the SDN publication \"Duet\" and SDN website in order to create more public awareness about singles’ issues.
\r\n Last year, SDN and partnering organisations organised around 1,000 activities for over 31,000 single individuals. Since 2008, we have provided an additional $4 million every year for five years to fund SDN activities and
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\r\noperations. I believe our colleague, Mr Seah, is also very pro-family. I hope his NTUC FairPrice will also collaborate with us more.
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\r\n However, the root cause of the decreasing marriage rate is that social norms and individual preferences have changed. According to a survey that we did last year, young Singaporeans cite a few reasons for delaying marriage. Firstly, they want to work hard to achieve financial stability. Secondly, they want to have a successful career. In addition, they said that they have no time and cannot find a suitable partner. Hence, the work of helping singles cannot be done by a few institutions alone. More importantly, we should work on addressing individuals’ perspectives. In the past, we believed that we must start a family and establish a career, that among the most unfilial behaviour, not bearing any offspring is the worst. Nowadays, the younger generation may not accept this way of thinking. Hence, through individuals, families, schools, public opinion, public awareness and mass media, we should show more concern towards our young people. In the past, if you did not get married, it was a concern for the entire family and community. They would help introduce potential partners. Today, we assume that young people have their own way of handling these things. But I think we should not give up this responsibility.
\r\n Let me also take this opportunity to show Members the new Registry of Marriages. The newly-upgraded Registry of Marriages is quite nicely done up. Our budget was $7 million, but we only used $4 million. Now, we also want to partner with the private sector to explore the possibility of allowing solemnisations in the evenings. This will allow couples to register their marriages after getting off from work, so that they can get married in a more romantic ambience.
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\r\n The Government’s policy is to encourage family formation. We believe that the family is the best environment for children to grow up in. Therefore, we encourage Singaporeans to have children within the context of marriage, by giving the Baby Bonus and other incentives. Nevertheless, I would like to assure Mr Chiam See Tong, Dr Lam Pin Min and Ms Indranee Rajah that besides these incentive schemes, children born to unwed parents also enjoy various subsidies just like other children, such as childcare, medical and education subsidies.\r\n\r\n
\r\n Let me elaborate on the resources we have invested in the development of young children. Just a while ago, our Minister mentioned three strategies in early childhood development, the first being to establish more childcare centres. As of January this year, we have established 171 new childcare centres since 2008. Currently, we have a total of 888 childcare centres, providing 79,000 places. Compared to 2008, this is an increase of 26%.
\r\n We will implement more measures to improve the standard of childcare services, especially the standards of teachers. In the past three years, we have trained an additional 1,700 childcare teachers, so that they have at least a professional diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education. In addition, the turnover rate of childcare teachers has also dropped from 23% to 15%. As more and more new childcare centres start operations, our Ministry will also invest $15 million in the next three years to attract more good quality teachers to join the childcare industry. To attract talent, we will provide 840 scholarships and awards for Early Childhood Education courses in the next three years.
\r\n To recognise the contributions of childcare teachers and to retain them, we will work with industry players to put in
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\r\nplace good employment practices, to recognise employers who have outstanding human resources and employee management practices, and to facilitate them to share their experiences with the industry.
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\r\n More importantly, we need professional development in the childcare sector. In order to promote the professional development of teachers, we will be launching a Continuing Professional Development Framework for childcare teachers. To promote this Framework, we will subsidise approved courses, conduct consultations with industry players and provide related support.
\r\n Mdm Halimah was concerned about whether parents can afford the preschool fees for their children. I believe Mdm Halimah will be happy to see that while she suggested that we raise the salary ceiling for subsidy from $1,800 to $2,500, the Government and Finance Minister have been very generous, they have raised the salary ceiling to $3,500. As quality improves, childcare fees are also on the uptrend. Just a while ago, the Minister mentioned that we must find an equilibrium, and encourage NTUC and PCF childcare centres to play a more important role. Nevertheless, no child will be deprived of the opportunity of having a preschool education because of financial difficulties. These are issues that Dr Lily Neo and Mdm Cynthia Phua are concerned about.
\r\n Currently, regardless of their family background, we provide each child with a monthly childcare subsidy of $300. For CFAC, the maximum amount of subsidy is $340. In other words, the total amount of subsidy given by the Government to low-income families is up to $640 a month. Hence, based on childcare fees of $700, parents need only pay $60.
\r\n For kindergartens, we have similarly raised the income eligibility ceiling for
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\r\nKiFAS from $1,800 a month to $3,500 a month. From 1st April 2011, families with household income of less than $1,500 can receive KiFAS subsidy of up to $108. Let us look at this chart*. [Slide shown to hon. Members ]. For childcare centres charging $700, low-income families pay $60. For kindergartens charging $110, they pay $2.
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1.45 pm
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\r\n Looking back, we have done quite a good job, and this is because of the encouragement from Members. Families of the lowest income bracket of $1,500 only pay $2 for kindergarten. Hence, children from needy families should not be unable to enrol in childcare centres and kindergartens because they cannot afford the fees. More importantly, parents should take the responsibility to enquire from community centres, or during the Meet-the-People sessions, or call ComCare Call at 1800-222-0000 to enquire about details of the various ComCare schemes. Let us not have a situation where our children are unable to go to pre-school, just because as parents we are unaware of this information.
\r\n Mdm Halimah also voiced concerns that besides childcare fees, low-income families could not afford registration fees, school bags, textbooks, etc. In actual fact, for needy families on CFAC, we provide a one-off start-up grant of up to $1,000. Under KiFAS, needy families can also get a similar one-off start-up grant of up to $200. They can use the money to buy textbooks, uniforms and pay the registration fees.
\r\n These new measures will benefit 24,000 children, that is twice the current number of 12,280 beneficiaries. We will cover up to almost the 40th percentile of households. This additional investment will cost $10.3 million a year, and increase Government’s annual spending
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\r\non fee assistance for preschool education to $35.6 million.
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\r\n Besides children, I would like to talk about assistance for the genuinely needy families. Our Ministry takes a holistic approach in our assistance schemes. Firstly, ComCare addresses the immediate and urgent needs of families, such as problems with housing and physical illness, by providing immediate and timely assistance through the CCC ComCare Fund. Funding is adequate in this area. Secondly, as Dr Lily Neo mentioned, ComCare should provide more comprehensive assistance. We do this through a family-based intervention approach to address the social barriers that families face in getting employment. For example, families unable to work for the time being due to illness can receive assistance from the ComCare Transitions Scheme. Thirdly, for those people suffering from long-term illnesses, and where their children have limited income, we provide assistance through the Public Assistance Scheme. In recent years, we have made several changes after taking in feedback from Mayors and Members of Parliament. In the past, only the elderly without family support could qualify for the Public Assistance (PA) Scheme. Now, we have made changes: If their children’s income is less than $1,000, we will also provide assistance. Following feedback from the Mayors, we have also allowed those who are receiving CPF payouts of less than the PA amount and who meet other criteria for PA, to receive a cash grant on top of their CPF payouts.
\r\n In the past five years, we have implemented many policies and schemes for needy families and also enhanced existing programmes. Dr Teo Ho Pin and Mr Hawazi Daipi also talked about how we can improve the ComCare Local Network (CLN). We hope that CLN will continue to expand and deepen its reach.
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\r\nIn terms of expansion, we have established links with many organisations. I am glad to report that there are now about 1,100 such agencies working together, which represents a significant increase of 500 from a year ago. These include Family Service Centres, social service organisations, schools and town councils, etc.
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\r\n In terms of deepening our reach, besides expanding the network, we can also provide more in-depth assistance. Some of the Mayors and CDCs have already taken the CLN to another level. For example, North-East Community Development Council has gone down to establish links at the constituency level between CDC officers and other help agencies and community partners through its \"Proactive Ground Engagement Programme.\" Our approach is flexible. Currently, we provide $800,000 to CDCs for manpower resource support to drive the CLNs. In the past few years, ComCare has disbursed over $200 million to help low-income families, 160,000 individuals and families have benefited. I hope families with difficulties will not hesitate to call the ComCare Call for assistance. Just a while ago, the Minister also mentioned that many countries, including the United Kingdom and USA, are cutting their budgets. In Singapore, we are very fortunate not to have reduced but to have increased the budget. Initially, the Prime Minister had announced that the target amount in ComCare Fund was $1 billion. However, we have now raised the target to $1.5 billion. The current amount will also be increased from $800 million to $1.3 billion – a total increase of $500 million. However, having more resources does not equate to careless spending. The fundamental objective of this Budget, as all Members are aware, is to promote inclusive growth. To achieve this goal, boosting incomes through employment and increasing productivity are the long-term solutions. According to newspaper reports, we see that there are other
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\r\ncountries which hail Singapore as an example, and they are seeking to study our system. However, there will be some families that cannot keep pace – those with physical and psychological problems – and we will help them, especially children and old folks with disability. In the past, 2,929 families received help under the Public Assistance Scheme, and an additional 2,400 families also received help under the ComCare Transition Scheme. In total, 5,329 families have benefited.
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\r\n From 1st April this year, the amount of Public Assistance for singles will be increased to $400. For those with children, we will provide additional assistance of up to $150 per child, which is $20 more than the current amount of $130.
\r\n Let me illustrate. From April this year, a single person will receive $565 in direct benefits, and may receive an additional estimated $880 in housing subsidies and free medical treatment from the Government. With other forms of assistance received from the community, such as hongbaos, he can receive up to a total of $1,700 in direct and indirect assistance.
\r\n Lastly, in conclusion, I would like to mention something that my colleague, Mr Teo Ser Luck, had shared with me. He said, \"My family was poor, but we didn’t know it since no one told us and we never felt it.\" Recently, when I visited some old folks, an old lady told me that she just lost her job and her daughter was jobless as well. When I offered her financial assistance, she immediately replied, \"No, no, what I want is some help in finding a job, I still have a bit of savings.\" From this example, we can see that Singaporeans have the self-reliant spirit, determination and aspirations to carve a better life for themselves. However, for those who are really in need and who cannot find jobs, we will help them. Ultimately, our
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\r\nComCare Fund must adopt a more balanced approach to make Singapore a home that is filled with warmth and kindness, vibrant and productive.
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Sports facilities master plan
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Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, promoting sports for all is important for the Government as a healthy nation means a leaner health budget and sports is a great way to bond people. I would like to first ask what are the Ministry's plans to promote a sporting culture in Singapore.\r\n\r\n
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Availability and access to sports facilities can be improved – it will allow more residents to be more active on the sporting front. Some years ago, I brought my children and nephews to play football in a nearby stadium on Sunday mornings. All went well for a couple of weeks. After that, the supervisor of the stadium came to tell me we cannot play on the pitch. So I said, \"Okay. We will play by the side, off the pitch.\" That was also not allowed. He told me we could play, but I had to book the entire pitch to do so. It did not make any sense since there were no other competing users on the pitch at the time. In addition, we did not need the whole pitch. There were only seven of us!
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Sir, today, the sports activities and programmes organised by the Community Sports Clubs (CSCs) are often held at the CCs, common spaces and facilities in the neighbourhoods, tapping on the community infrastructures, to make sporting opportunities available closer to home. However, the free sports facilities in the community for organising large-scale community sports events and ongoing programmes are limited. Logically, we should tap on the schools and Sports Council facilities for organising such events but there are rental charges which many sports clubs cannot afford to pay.
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To expand outreach through community sports, availability of free sports facilities
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\r\nwould enable and encourage the CSCs to organise more such sports activities to engage the residents. It would be helpful for SSC and MOE to review their charges for rental of schools fields and sports facilities by the CSCs and GROs under the SSC-MOE Dual Scheme and SSC sports facilities.
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Finally, I would also like to ask the Minister to give an update on the facilities master plan under this year's Budget.
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The Chairman: Mr Wee Siew Kim is not here. Er Lee Bee Wah.
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Improve National Service
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Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Chairman, Sir, in recent years, our national athletes have done us proud in various arenas, both on an international and regional scale. This is an encouraging sign that the various projects designed to promote sporting excellence has slowly but surely paid off. If we continue to take an active stand on nurturing our athletes, a gold medal in the Olympics will not be a mere hope.\r\n
2.00 pm
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Recently, I have been studying statistics on the performances of our athletes in the last three Asian and Commonwealth Games. Out of a total of 74 gold medals won from 2002 to 2010, our men won 34 while our women athletes won 40 gold medals. Our male athletes are certainly not inferior to their female counterparts in Singapore or, for that matter, their male counterparts in other countries. Many of them have proven themselves to be excellent sportsmen from a young age, representing their schools on the national level and the nation on the international level in competitive sports, from secondary school right up to junior college. So what is the
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\r\nreason why they are not able to carry out such performance at senior level? Parents of male athletes have very often told me that National Service is a severe disruption to their progress. I do not know if any studies have been done in this respect. If this notion about National Service is true, then we should re-examine our policy.
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In competitive sports, for athletes to retain their fitness level and dexterity requires constant rigorous training, almost on a daily basis. When the athletes go for National Service, their training regime is interrupted. While National Service training is no doubt rigorous and helps in maintaining fitness levels, it is a different type of training regime that does not promote further progress in their respective sports. Two years without training or interrupted training can lead to a significant dip in fitness and skills. By the time the athlete is ready to resume his sporting career, much more effort is required. He has to get into shape and to re-adjust to a new training regime. His competitors would have established new records and applied new techniques. Thus, our athletes would have to work doubly hard. I guess, by then, a lot of them would have lost interest as well. As such, if we want to be a sporting nation, we would need to look at our current policy and see how to help sportsmen pursue \r\nsporting excellence. I propose that MCYS work with MINDEF to provide flexibility to national athletes in serving National Service.
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National athletes should be allowed to defer their National Service to a later age, let us say, 30 years old, if they choose to pursue sporting excellence. To give further encouragement, if they achieved a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games, or any medal in the Olympics, they be exempted from National Service. Athletes can thus make a choice to do National Service as usual or defer their National Service and pursue
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\r\nsporting excellence. If they are indeed passionate about sports, and I believe many of our athletes are, they would want to give their all to get that gold medal. Competing for the nation's honour requires plenty of sacrifices on the athlete's part. They have to undergo daily rigorous training, lead a stringent lifestyle and spend weeks away from their family and loved ones for competition seasons. All these sacrifices are already akin to serving National Service for our country.
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From 2002 to 2010, only 15 male gold medallists were below 30 years old – that is, less than two per year. The number is very small and I think it is worth exploring and implementing.
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Foreign sports talent
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Mr Calvin Cheng (Nominated Member): The foreign talent sports scheme has borne results in the last few years, especially in swimming and table tennis. The question is whether this scheme has achieved its aim. If the aim is to win medals for Singapore, then, without a doubt, this scheme has been successful. However, this cannot be the ultimate aim of sports. Sports is not like GDP growth, where a rational objective benchmark can be used to gauge success; sports is about tribalism, it is about fostering national pride, patriotism and a sense of national unity. This should thus be the ultimate benchmark by which success should be measured, and not merely the medal tally. Glory is not a number on a table, but a feeling of passion that burns in the heart.\r\n\r\n
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Sir, it is true that our foreign-born athletes are citizens. It is true that they have a strong desire to win and they have given up their homelands to come here. These are all perfectly good reasons why when they win medals Singaporeans should be proud. However, one cannot reason people into a feeling of pride. This is not the same as the rational justifications for having foreign talent
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\r\ncontribute to our economy. If one does not feel the sense of burning patriotism, even if we win multiple gold medals, then our sporting achievement would have failed regardless.
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\r\n Sir, allow me to play the devil's advocate. If our foreign sports talents fail to ignite the flames of national sporting pride regardless of the number of medals that they have won, should we re-examine the raison d'etre of the scheme itself? If our sporting officials, our MPs, even our Prime Minister, have to keep telling people why they should rally behind our foreign-born sports talents and be proud when they win medals, has the point not already been lost?
\r\n Regardless, we already have foreign-born sports people here. Reasoning to the people by pointing out our dearth of local sporting talent may not convince. Even the very act of winning a medal itself may not work. Rather, let us appeal to the feelings and emotions of citizens by telling the stories of our foreign-born sports people. Show the people how they are very much Singaporean like us, eating at kopitiams and hawker centres, speaking the occasional \"lah\" and \"lor\", living as our neighbours in our communities. After all, sports is about tribalism, and if we never accept them into our tribe, we will never feel that their victories are also ours.
\r\n Sporting pride and national pride in the end are not rational. Sometimes, it may be better to be a proud loser, rather than a glory-seeking winner that spends his way to victory. As a long-suffering Liverpool fan, I should know.
The Chairman: Ms Josceline Yeo, you have two cuts, take both of them, please.
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Ms Joscelin Yeo (Nominated Member): Sir, when a friend of mine joined the national team, many on the team were foreign sports talents (FSTs) who had
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\r\nbeen given Singapore citizenship to allow them to compete for this country. My friend, excited about the opportunity for her to up her game by having better sparring partners and people she could learn and glean from, was instead greeted with hostility and unkind words. She was ostracised by her teammates and was often told to pick up after them. Comments such as, \"You think you're so good, you're never going to make it\" were an everyday affair. Her desire to go for training began to dwindle, simply because she wanted to avoid the constant verbal abuse and the hostile environment. She began to doubt her abilities and often thought of quitting. She is still growing and needs someone to provide guidance and to simply encourage her on.\r\n\r\n
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I have been there before and I understand what she is facing. In sport, you will face many types of challenges that cause you to become more resilient and to grow. This is a journey that she cannot avoid if she wants to succeed. However, what disturbed me was how she was treated by the FSTs and the unpleasant environment that they created for her. I began to question the objective of having FSTs in Singapore.
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In their efforts to develop young local talent, some NSAs have put in criteria such as those who are selected for the youth team or development teams must be a Singapore citizen. Yet, there is not much translation of these young local talents into the national team. Are we dedicating enough resources to helping them develop?
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On 22nd February this year, the Singapore Sports Council announced that they were going to increase funding to youth development programmes and teams. But money is only one factor. What about resources such as high-level coaches, entry into international
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\r\ncompetitions and full sports science and medicine support?
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Sir, I would like to highlight a sport that committed to raising local talent as a long-term solution. The Singapore Sailing Federation believed that to produce champions and win medals was not about having a large population but, rather, a large critical mass of participants in the sport. They began to build a structure to systematically garner critical mass, and train and track the progress of sailors at every level. They were transparent about their selection criteria and invested in sending their sailors to competitions to expose and develop them to their fullest potential. They were patient, knowing that this system was not a quick fix to winning medals for Singapore, but that it was going to take about 10 years for them to get there. They brought in foreign talent into their coaching and adminstration staff with the priority of building and developing local talent into medal-winning champions. Slowly but surely, they have been successful in their plan.
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Sir, I am not against foreign sporting talents. However, I do not believe that we should be relying solely on them for immediate results. I believe that we can have a foreign talent pool but that we need to work even harder and dedicate more time, effort and resources to nurture local talent. I would like to ask the Minister:
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(1) What is the objective of bringing in Foreign Sporting Talents?
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\r\n (2) Of the resources that are allocated to grooming the elite level athletes in each sport, how much of those resources are going towards developing and supporting the FSTs and how much are going towards developing local talent?
\r\n (3) In each sport that brings in FSTs, can the Minister inform us on what is the
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\r\nratio of FSTs to local talents on their national teams and if the Minister will consider putting a cap on the ratio of FSTs to local talents on each national team to force NSAs to be more active in raising local talents?
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\r\n (4) In each sport that brings in FSTs, how many local talents have progressed to the national team in the last five years and 10 years?
\r\n (5) And, lastly, is there a difference between the amount of money a FST and a local national athlete receives? If so, what is the difference?
Sports administration
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Sir, my next cut is on sports administration.
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Recently, there was a report of 10 national team members who were told to either drop to second tier and become sparring partners or to leave the sport at the national level. There was seemingly no consideration for the lives of the persons involved. Only just one or two years ago, they were invited to give up school and go full time in the sport with an allowance and full support. Now, with just one week’s notice, they were given the option to become a sparring partner or to leave. Why put them up on a pedestal and offer them financial support if only to suddenly drop them down to tier two later and without much warning? What led to this decision? Was money the issue? Were they given fair and ample opportunities to prove and improve themselves?
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Sports administrators have always complained about how hard it is to get local athletes to consider becoming full-time athletes. Yet, this national sport association (NSA) dropped 10 dedicated youth. With such behaviour, how does one expect parents to want to allow their children to take sports further than just at
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\r\nCCA level when there is such uncertainty of their future path in sports?
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Sir, to bring up the level of sports in Singapore requires the effort of many: administrators, coaches, and, of course, the athletes themselves. Athletes must be dedicated, committed and show progress. Coaches have to have the adequate abilities and skills to bring their charges up to the next level of excellence. Administrators, even though are the least seen, play one of the biggest roles. Their role is a visionary one, which entails putting in the progressive structures and systems from the developmental stage to the national level, setting and casting the vision for the NSA and facilitating all details involved. Apart from setting the stage, they also need to ensure that coaches and athletes alike are doing their part to make the other pieces of the puzzle gel. They make decisions on the development of the athlete, the amount of exposure the athlete has to high-level competition and the amount of financial support the athlete is to receive. These are key areas that affect how far an athlete can go apart from their own potential.
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Given that sports administrators play such a huge role in the progress of Singapore sports and its athletes, I would like to ask the Minister what recourse action is there when we see NSAs making decisions that do not sync with the commitment to develop and nurture sporting talent. Secondly, will his Ministry get involved in the decision-making process when a NSA plans to drop national athletes? And, thirdly, will the Ministry help athletes mediate with their NSA should they feel that they have not been treated fairly or that the NSA has not kept up their end of the commitment?
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Singapore soccer
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Ms Sylvia Lim (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, Singapore's shock exit in
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\r\nthe group stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup in Hanoi in December led to much public outcry about what was ailing Singapore soccer. One sign that Singapore soccer is ailing is how we have plummeted in the FIFA world rankings over the years. From a 75th position in 1993, our national soccer team dropped to 101 in the year 2000 and now we are ranked 142nd. That is a drop of 67 places since 1993. \r\n\r\n
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While the Lions did not perform up to expectations in Hanoi, the focus quickly turned on the local S-League and dwindling interest from sponsors and Singaporeans. We all know that the health of the local league has a direct impact on the standard of the national team as the local league should uncover talents to feed into the national team. After more than 10 years of relative mediocrity in the S-League, some of our brightest national players have left to join the Indonesian soccer leagues on much better terms. Should the exodus continue, it will become more challenging to cobble together a national team of our best players to represent Singapore.
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Recent decision such as the sacking of the entire national team and overhauling the S-League suggests some management issues. What led to such a crisis point? Is the Government satisfied that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) had managed the team and the League competently?
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Singaporeans want local soccer to succeed. The recent announcement by the Singapore Sports Council to increase funding to the FAS for its Talent Development Programme by 50% offers hope for the future. In the meantime, the FAS has announced a strategic plan for 2010-2015, aimed at taking Singapore football \"to the next level\". As 2010 was not a good year, it would be important to
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\r\nget clarification on what the next level really means.
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2.15 pm
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mr Teo Ser Luck): Sir, sports is a unifying force. It builds strong social capital. It strengthens our sense of national pride. We have seen how all Singaporeans came together to cheer for our athletes in the Youth Olympic Games. So, I agree with the Member, Mr Calvin Cheng, that sports is tribalism at work. It can and should bring the national tribe together. We are what we are today, even in the area of sports, because we were open to talent and gave fair opportunities based on the principle of meritocracy.\r\n\r\n
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Ms Joscelin Yeo and Mr Calvin Cheng believe that foreign sports talents are given additional support at the expense of local-born athletes. But being a national athlete, Ms Joscelin Yeo should know that all talented and committed national athletes are given strong support to help them attain their full potential, whether they are local or foreign-born. An athlete's original place of birth has no bearing on the level of support he or she receives. In fact, there are only 33 foreign-born athletes out of the 994 athletes in the national squads. They are small in number, but these foreign-born athletes have helped to raise standards by providing valuable training, sparring and competition opportunities for our local-born talents.
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That said, my Ministry places considerable emphasis on grooming local talent through our youth sports development programme. A testament to this is the Singapore Sports School and its students such as Daren Choy who won us a gold medal in sailing at the Asian Youth Games 2009 and Isabelle Li who won us a silver medal in table tennis at the
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\r\nSingapore Youth Olympic Games. More recently, Isabelle's seventh career singles title at the Italian Junior and Cadet Open under-18 girls' final proves that we do have local young talent. We have invested almost $80 million over the last five years in the Sports School and will invest a further $20 million for financial year 2011. We place great emphasis on youth development in our annual funding support to National Sports Associations (NSAs) as well as many of the other additional funding that we give to the NSAs.
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Recently, Pele – probably everybody would know him, he is a soccer legend, one of the best soccer players in the world – came to Singapore and made a speech. There was a quote that I thought was memorable. He said, \"It's up to the athletes themselves.\" He could become the best because he went into any soccer field feeling that he was not the best, and he always had to prove himself – every single time, every single game. I think that is the attitude that we need from our athletes – to go into the pitch, into the field, into playing the game, knowing that they are not best and they have to continue to work hard. The foreign-born athletes come here as sparring partners and they are here to raise standards and help them to improve.
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We continue to place emphasis on our own local-born athletes because they bear the hopes of our nation when they don our colours and represent us and we should identify and support them, share their wins and losses. It is not about winning medals, it is about uniting to root for Team Singapore. I am glad that both Mr Calvin Cheng and Ms Joscelin Yeo share with me that passion is what it takes in sports. And I share the joy of Mr Calvin Cheng as a Liverpool fan over their 3-1 victory over Manchester United.
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Besides sporting excellence, we also recognise the social capital and nation building value of sports. To this end, we
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\r\nwill continue to build a strong sporting culture amongst our people. As part of this environment, we provide affordable and accessible facilities to cater to different sporting lifestyles and aspirations, so that all Singaporeans can participate.
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Mr Seah Kian Peng had asked about sports facilities to promote a sporting culture and wellness. I am pleased to inform the House that MCYS and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) are working on the Sports Facilities Master Plan to optimise the landscape of sports and recreation facilities for the next 20 years. This aim is to support Singapore's sporting objectives of sports excellence, high participation and a vibrant sports industry. Mr Seah should continue to play by the side of the field, which I do as well and bringing the kids together, please continue to do that. I am not sure why someone stopped him. I would have done the same because I have been doing it every week. So, we encourage more of such sporting activities, even along the side.
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There will be three tiers of sports facilities to meet various needs. At Tier 1, we need to create an ecosystem at the Kallang Sports City around major events, sports industry, elite athletes and community participation. There will be world-class facilities capable of hosting major and international events, with the Singapore Sports Hub as a premier venue for sports and lifestyle events. There will also be a vibrant sports business community with sports lifestyle and entertainment zones, flagship and concept stores, and research and development centres. Upcoming facilities will also include a tennis academy and a centre court that can host top-tier international professional tennis tour events.
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The second tier (Tier 2) consists of regional integrated town hubs that are one-stop sports and lifestyle destinations offering a spectrum of activities and
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\r\nservices for the convenience of the community. By 2015, the first regional town hub will be ready in Tampines. Spearheaded by the People's Association, the Tampines Town Hub will include a performing arts theatre, a Community Club, a library, food and beverage outlets and a variety of recreational facilities, such as astro-turf football pitches, badminton and tennis courts, gymnasium and dance hall. More of such hubs are expected to be located island-wide to reach out to a larger community.
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At Tier 3, there will be an integrated and comprehensive network of community and lifestyle sports facilities distributed across Singapore to bring sports and wellness to the doorsteps of Singaporeans. The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the People's Association (PA) continue to work to provide relevant and upgraded facilities within each neighbourhood. These sports facilities, especially those that are more than 20 years old, will be rejuvenated, upgraded and redeveloped to keep them relevant, safe and to meet the changing needs of the community. Where possible, sports and community facilities are co-located or integrated with food and beverage (F&B) outlets and other facilities to provide more choices and convenience for residents. Some examples of Tier 3 facilities include Senja-Cashew Community Club and Sports and Recreation Complex (SRC) in Bukit Panjang, Anchorvale CC and SRC in Sengkang and the upcoming Kampong Chai Chee CC and SRC in Bedok.
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In partnership with the Ministry of Education, SSC will expand the dual-use scheme to open more school fields and indoor sports halls for public use outside school hours. Currently, there are 135 school fields and 45 indoor sports halls available for public use on weekends. Moving forward, an additional 30 to 50 school sports facilities will be opened in
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\r\nthe next two to three years to cater to the sporting and recreational needs of residents. I hear the Member's view that the rates may have to be reviewed. We will continue to monitor and look at the rates to see whether they are affordable. We want to make sure that sports facilities continue to be accessible to the residents.
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Apart from these sports facilities, other spaces such as parks, fitness centres, basketball and futsal courts are available. Over the years, PA has also been actively promoting healthy lifestyle and community bonding through their activities.
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There are also several new efforts to grow our sporting culture, which can be traced back to the recommendations of the Sporting Culture Committee which I chaired in 2007. The Singapore National Games is one initiative that will be coming up soon. It will be held once in every two years and will be opened to Singaporeans representing their community and informal clubs. Members of Parliament can form their own clubs and we can all join the Singapore National Games as well. The first games will be held in 2012, with 10 sports to be played. We estimate 6,000 participants at the inaugural games. The People's Association recently revamped its Inter-Constituency Games and renamed it as Community Games to make it more community-centric. These community games will serve as the pre-qualifier to the Singapore National Games. So start training and start getting ready for Community Games to qualify for the Singapore National Games. Through the Community Games and the Singapore National Games, we hope to catalyse the formation of more sports interest groups in the community, help residents to build friendships and bond.
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Another idea from the Sporting Culture Committee was the Satellite Centres for Sports Development. MCYS, SSC, MOE,
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\r\nthe NSAs and all private organisations are collaborating to set up these centres to promote the growth of community sports and sports club. Young people, who want to learn about certain sports that the schools do not offer, can go to these centres to learn and continue to be trained in these sports. There will be seven centres for basketball, badminton, sailing, wrestling, archery, hockey and equestrian which have all been in operation since July/August 2010. Another 11 will be rolled out in Financial Year 2011.
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There are many stakeholders from the public, private and people sector involved in the development of sports. I share the Member, Ms Joscelin Yeo's desire for Singapore to become a more sporting nation. The NSAs are the governing bodies of the respective sports. Their leadership are elected into office. This ground-up process is an important feature of the sporting landscape where dedicated volunteers chart the direction of and contribute to the development of their chosen sports. The Government funds the NSAs through an annual grant, called the Annual NSA Grant Exercise (ANGE). Through ANGE, the Government's policy and priorities in sports are communicated through and achieved through the NSA programmes. The ANGE funding is targeted at nurturing sports development and sporting talents by supporting the NSAs in their programmes to assist their athletes to attain sporting success and to promote their sports.
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In recent years, MCYS has been increasing the emphasis on youth development to nurture our young sporting talents. I share the view that the Singapore Sailing Federation has done a great job. They have a system in the schools and within their NSA to build the pipeline up for young talents to be groomed and to inject young blood into the national team.
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Sir, we have also increased our funding for youth development in team sports
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\r\nbecause we believe team sports can bond the nation, build team spirit and ensure people-to-people interaction and character development. Team sports, such as football and water polo, also get an in increase in funding because these sports resonates strongly with and help bond the community.
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The Government does not interfere with the governance of the sports. We leave it to the fraternity to elect their own office bearers to govern. But we do take a careful view of what the association does because it will affect the annual funding. If the fraternity has cause for concern and mediation is needed, there is always the alternate dispute resolution for sports that is available to handle such cases. Mediation can be done through SSC under the department called Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for Sports. They can approach ADR officers to help them. Several cases have been resolved through that channel.
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In 2010, we introduced multi-year planning and funding model to provide NSAs with greater stability and continuity in core aspects of sports development. We did this because we were trying to encourage the NSAs to have a long-term view to training and developing sporting talents. It is to develop the system, not just to import talents, so that no matter where the talents come from, they have a chance for success. And this platform is built and it must be long term. As Ms Joscelin Yeo would know, to be a champion athlete, it takes years of development. Even if you have talent, you have to work hard. There must be a process and an environment to groom the talent to become champions. I am happy to note that this year, the multi-year planning has been adopted by most of the NSAs that recevied our funding, and most of them did a three-year planning. We are quite happy to fund them over the three years, like football, over five years.
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\r\nSir, increasingly, NSAs will be funded according to Olympic cycle, over four years instead of the current yearly funding. We are not going into yearly funding anymore. We encourage them to obtain charities status to qualify for charity funding and tax exemption. Also, it strengthens the governance system.
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Finally, NSAs can also tap on shared services provided by SSC to relieve themselves for generic administrative services so that they can focus more on sports development.
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2.30 pm
Next, let me address Er Lee Bee Wah's question on how National Service can be improved to accommodate male athletes. National Service is an universal obligation for all Singaporean males to ensure Singapore's national security. Having said that, MCYS and MINDEF have consolidated efforts to minimise the impact of NS on the sporting development of our top male athletes and their preparation for major competitions. Members know that there is a SAF sportsman scheme that allows athletes with medal potential time off and full-pay unrecorded leave during their full-time NS to train and participate in major competitions.
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One of my good friends is Andrew Phua, a rugby player in his youth. He was also in the national team. He told me that he played his best rugby in his life during his NS time because he was exempted and was allowed to train. He would come back for duties but was still allowed to train and he played his best rugby then. There are many other examples like Justin Yew, the national sailor, who was originally scheduled for enlistment in April 2010. He was granted deferment by MINDEF until December 2010 to train full-time for and compete in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. He had already proven
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\r\nhimself to be an exceptional sailor, by winning gold medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games and 2007 SEA Games. He again did Singapore proud at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games because he won a gold medal in the men's double-handed dinghy 420 sailing event. He has since enlisted in February 2011 and will no doubt continue to enjoy the support afforded by the scheme to do Singapore proud. MINDEF also considers on a case-by-case basis where athletes may delay enlistment or for deferment to prepare. I cannot speak for MINDEF on exemptions. The Member may want to raise it with MINDEF for them to consider.
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Let me go to football. Soccer holds a special place in the hearts of many Singaporeans. I have been invovled in soccer in school and social level as well. I know that it resonates with many MPs as we have an MP football team ready to play charity matches. Hence, I share Ms Sylvia Lim's interest and concern for Singapore's soccer. I share her worry and concern when she saw that our team exited from the AFF Suzuki Cup. But, let us do not forget that we have also advanced to a stage where we have never advanced into the World Cup qualifying match before. I agree that the national team may not have done as well as Members like them to in 2010. The Football Association is working on a strategic plan to develop the sport. Members know the central to the plan was to develop the youths over five years, provide more opportunities for the young and talented players. The national team is going to be rebuilt.
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Our youth team has the potential. Most Members probably know that the Youth Olympic football squad won a bronze medal. They beat some of the top youth teams which came from Europe. Our under-15 team won the Hong Kong Football Association International Youth Invitational Tournament this year. They won all the three matches, and the scores
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\r\nwere: 3-0, 6-0 and 10-0. This was a very good score for an under 15 and 16 team. We do have some talents.
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Let me urge Members to look at one of the best football teams in the world, like Barcelona Club. They have nominated three best players in the world: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. The top three best players come from the same club. What are their similarities? The three of them joined the club at the age of 11, and the other two below 10. What was available to them was not just the opportunity to join the club early but also the environment to train and play competitively and intensively at the highest level from youth. They are still playing together and they have become the best. They are still very young and in their mid-20s.
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If Singapore can bring our youth footballers, not just to be trained in Singapore and grow them through this youth pipeline, but also to make it viable for them to go overseas to play in these clubs or to train and study in these clubs, maybe in the future, we can produce another Fandi Ahmad, or a quarter of Lionel Messi, or half of Xavi or three-quarters of Andres Iniesta. Put them all together, and Singapore can have a world competitve football team. But that remains a dream. Singapore has to start from scratch to develop this youth system and development. That is why we provided FAS a 15% increase in funding for this year as compared to previous years. Two and a half million dollars just for youth development. This funding will go towards supporting development programmes for the under 16, 17 and 18 teams to help them prepare for the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games. With the right investments and system in placed, most of the players will benefit and these young talent will form the nucleus of our national team in future. We have to be patient and wait a few years before football comes back up.
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\r\nThe S-League is run by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Singapore Football Association (SFA). SFA has funded the S-League Club a total of $6.2 million in 2010. This year, they increase the fundings to $8.7 million, or about 40% more, through donations from the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board), and sponsorhips by private corporations, such as Yeo's and Great Eastern Life Insurance Company Limited. The Government does not provide funding to S-League directly nor do we get involved in its operation. The SFA and the S-League are looking at ways to improve the attendance rates for S-League matches. Members know that they have already engaged the services of a sports marketing agency on a pilot initiative – the Young Lions team. I can see that the spectatorship has gone up and, hopefully, it can be maintained and continues to grow. In order to have a good national football team, Singapore needs a good league and good club. We know that. That is exactly under the leadership of the Member, Mr Zainudin, who has come up with a five to six-year plan to develop youths as well as to revamp the systems for the league and club. Hopefully, this initiative will be successful and Singapore can look forward to a brighter future for football.
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In the past decade, MCYS has made consistent and careful investments to grow sports in Singapore. We have achieved some success. Our senior national athletes have excelled in Asian and international competitions and done us proud with their medal tallies. Our youth athletes have showed that they could compete with the very best in the world. They showed that in the Asian Youth Games and the Youth Olympic Games. We have also grown in events like the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and OCBC Cycling event. Many runners have told me that it is getting
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\r\nmore difficult to sign up for the Standard Chartered Marathon because the slots for the longest distance marathon, 42 km, are snapped up in two weeks. An event, like the Sundown Marathon, which is a 100 km event, 600 slots were snapped up in a week. People are running 100 km, more than a marathon. These events have provided Singaporeans many opportunities to get involved as spectators, volunteers, suppliers and sponsors. We do have a sports culture.
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Going forward, we will continue to identify and develop our youths sporting talents as well. Through the Singapore Sports School and the planned Singapore Sports Institute, we will provide holistic support to our top sporting talents to help them realise their sporting potential without sacrificing their education and career potential. The Sports Hub is being built now. We will continue to upgrade our sports facilities to enable competition and training at a highest level and participation for families young and old. We will continue to grow our sporting culture from strength to strength, so all of us, as Singaporeans, will breathe and live sports.
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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mr Chairman, Sir, we have another long session over two days with wide-ranging issues ranging from cohesion, looking after the poor and disabled, gambling, vulnerable members of society, dysfunctional families, strengthening social service sector and sports. This rightly reflects the diversed work of MCYS. I just wanted to focus the last five minutes on one key theme: Singapore needs to remain an open, fair and inclusive society.\r\n\r\n
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This theme pervades many of the arguments that we have had in the House over the last few days and, indeed, in MCYS. Whether the issue is about disability; differences on the basis of race,
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\r\nlanguage, religion; differences between a wealthy and not so wealthy; differences between foreign sports talents and local sports talents; foreign talent, local talent, and so on and so forth. It is useful for us to keep this perspective in mind: decide whether Singapore needs to remain an open, fair and inclusive society. If Members agree with me and our future survival depends on us maintaining this, then, I hope Members will also agree with me that the key thing is to maintain integration, not assimilation, not uniformity and not selfish pride but to integrate all the different threads and make up Singapore society. The key thing is that it is about people and about relationships. Some sociologists call this social capital. The quality, strength and resilience of relationships in a network add value.
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Two weeks ago, I had dinner with a Harvard professor, Robert Gertner. He has written extensively on social capital in America. He is now going to spend about a month or a month and half with us because he finds us of particular interest. In our dinner discussion, he said that there are two types of social capital – bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital is that which exists between people who are alike – same race, language, religion, school and political party. Bonding social capital is useful for the members of a group, sometimes we put to less useful uses when it is used to secure an unfair advantage over others. Bridging social capital refers to the networks and the relationships amongst people who are different – different languages, races, ideologists, needs and perspectives. In the case of Singapore, there is a special challenge for us to build bridging social capital. It has been so since Independence. Even our Independence was forced upon because of a pursuit of this ideal of a multi-racial, fair and justice society. Even now, 45 years later, this challenge still remains in place.
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\r\nIn the case of Singapore, we have adopted an approach based on multiple layers. We have constitutional and legislative provisions. Our Constitution provides for and recognises the special position of the Malays. It also provides that all of us are equal with common laws. We have provisions like the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. We have an Act on the Maintenance of Religious Harmony. We also have policies. For instance, the Ethnic Intervention Policy administered by HDB to ensure that every estate and block is a microcosm of Singapore. They are no ghettos in Singapore.
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But building a multi-racial, multi-religious, harmonious and inclusive society is not just about the constitution or laws we have passed in this House, and it is not just about policies that Ministries implement. It is also about mindsets, attitudes, norms of behaviour and relationships. It is not just relationships at the top but with relationships across the entire strata of society.
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Sometimes, in Singapore and even in this House, I think we take this for granted. We do not appreciate how extraordinary we are, how special and precious what we have is. For example, I know of no other country in the world where 89% of every single mosque, church and temple is represented at a local level in the community. Members of this House will, of course, realise that I am talking about the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs). In many other countries, not even very far from here, attempts at inter-faith dialogues are fraught with danger and politics always supervenes to interfere. Here, we take it for granted.
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We have apex leaders at the top of the religious organisations as well as religious leaders on the ground meeting not only us, but also meeting each other, organising joint activities and visits, expounding and explaining their different faiths to each
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\r\nother and, more important, behind the scenes, away from the glare of media, resolving problems on the ground. I say this because these are real-life examples of integration at its best, and an integration model that works.
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2.45 pm
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In Singapore, we have created common secular spaces whilst protecting more private religious and personal spaces. And we have to get this balance right, especially in a multi-racial country where there is a majority and there are minorities. We have to give the minorities the assurance that their identities, cultures and values, and religions are not under siege, they are free to practise and express themselves fully. This is a very crucial component. But we must, and now I am speaking from the point of view of a person from a minority group. It is just as important for minorities and especially their leaders to resist a segregationist approach. In other words, even as we assert our rights to be different, to be distinct, to pursue our own way of life, we must never do so at the expense of segregating our communities from the mainstream in life. Because if we do that, it is not the majority that will lose, it is the minority communities. I am flagging this out as an issue, but I want to end by stating that fortunately for us, we have been very blessed to have national leaders, founding fathers, who believe that a secular and fair system, in fact, provided protection of religious people and religious minorities, provided the platform for all of us to pursue our dreams and achieve our best.
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At the same time, we have religious leaders who have adopted a principled and pragmatic approach to life in a small, densely populated, highly heterogeneous society. And as Singapore goes forward in the next couple of decades, with an ageing population, with globalisation and the increased challenge that poses
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\r\nopportunities, the potentially widening income gaps, and with greater immigration, all these issues are still in play.
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I want to end by making this point that the foundational challenges and the foundational principles on which Singapore is constituted remain in play. In fact, we will face continued challenges in the future and it is worth our while, as Members of Parliament, as community leaders, bearing this in mind that even as we debate and argue and push for solutions, do not inadvertently shake the foundations for our survival and our continued prosperity and progress for everyone, regardless of race, language or religion.
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Dr Lily Neo: Mr Chairman, I would like to have two clarifications, please. Firstly, I would like to clarify that I never criticised the Family Service Centres (FSCs) or social workers, as mentioned by the Minister earlier. In fact, I would like to commend them for their good work and dedication. I work very closely on the ground with them. At this juncture, I would like to especially thank Beyond FSC and Tanjong Pagar FSC for sending social workers to my MPS every week without fail, and I am very grateful to them. The point I was trying to make was that MCYS needs to implement special policies to specially target the lowest 5% of income families because this group has multifaceted needs involving many Ministries and even the community to get them out of their poverty trap. To prevent dysfunctional homes, we cannot delegate this work to just FSCs. That was the point I want to make, and never to criticise FSCs, please.\r\n\r\n
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My second clarification: the Minister earlier said that no one will be left behind. Can we ask the Minister why is he not in agreement with me and others to give
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\r\nassistance to the lowest 5% income group, especially their children who may be left behind? Does the Minister see that the many assistance schemes he mentioned earlier are not addressing this vulnerable group's predicament? Does he not believe in the opportunity of levelling up and the chance of social mobility? If so, then I think he is contradicting the Finance Minister when he said, and I quote, \"Social mobility is a crucial aspect of our inclusive growth model. We have to maximise opportunities for everyone to do well but we have to do more and, in particular, we have to do more to prevent an underclass from forming.\"
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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I am glad that the Member is not criticising social workers and FSCs. I am glad that she recognises that some children in vulnerable families need additional assistance and, in fact, we have no disagreement on that. What I tried to explain in last three hours, and I think I have convinced the vast majority of Members in this House is that there is no question of lack of support for those who are poor, the poorest of the poor or dysfunctional families or those who are facing multifaceted problems. What I differ with her is in the solution. Perhaps, I am misreading her.\r\n\r\n
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Let us go back to basics – first principles. Whose responsibility is it to look after children? Parents. I almost feel like calling for a division on that. What is the role of the family? Is it to nurture, to educate, to transmit values, to provide for education, needless to say, to provide food and opportunities for the future? It must be so. Having said that, we recognise that sometimes, and it is not anybody's fault, some people and some families will need help. Now, the key thing, when you provide help, is not to inadvertently erode the values, the behavioural patterns and the organisation of families and community that have brought us here so far. That is why that
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\r\narticle from Australia, published in today's Straits Times, about an outsider looking at us, is worth reading because it reminds us not to forget that it is about thrift, sacrifice and values and getting yourself organised on the ground. And it is not just me. It is because this Government believes in it. We do not have a permanent, unconditional needs-based social safety net. The Workers' Party used to say that. They have stopped saying that. Because even they, I suspect, have refined their position on social safety net. The key thing then is when you want to provide help, there are several questions which come to your mind. First, what help is needed? What resources? Who delivers? How is it delivered? In our case, first, we want the individuals to be self-reliant if at all possible; second, families to step in to support one another; third, the community comes in; and, last, the Government as the ultimate safety net. And you will notice in my expenditure of the Ministry, I said more than half a billion dollars is going for social safety. But half of that comes from the community, and that is the way it should be.
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Now, when you bring this down one level of resolution, who actually delivers help? And here let me get down to brass tacks. When you are dealing with a dysfunctional family, a battered spouse or a wayward son, apart from their parents, who are the other candidates to give advice, to cajole, to persuade, to move, to change behaviour, or to transmit values? Let me ask you this: in all honesty, is it a politician who every five years is looking for votes? Is it a paid civil servant for whom this is just one more job? Or is it people with a heart, people like Denise, who may not talk very much but do very, very much to help on the ground? Our approach, specifically in the case of FSCs, is we want the FSCs to be the frontline. Those are professional social workers with moral authority, properly trained and, yes, they do need more resources and I will provide more resources. They do need
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\r\nto be properly recognised and equipped, and I will do that. Yes, there is a need for better coordination and a clear example of coordination at local level is the ComCare Local Networks. When we first started out on this journey – in fact, it was five years ago when the Minister of State Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon said, many people said, \"No, no, no, it won't work.\" The VWOs do not talk to the politicians because they do not want to get involved in politics. And the grassroots said, \"Well, I don't know what the VWOs do. All I know is if people come to me, every week in MPS, I send them off.\" And it is a black hole. Then we have to triangulate between the CDCs who administer Government schemes at the local level, the VWOs who actually are doing the frontline work and the MPs who are hearing requests and petitions.
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The ComCare Local Networks are now functional in all the districts. And I know in different divisions, there are different levels of detailed synergy going on. But the point is, there is information. I do know now that MPs have the phone number of the social worker in the area. They know who the social worker is. I know that social workers do meet MPs and families and there is now a greater appreciation of the fact that you need a coordinated consistent approach.
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But where I will disagree with her, and perhaps I am misreading her, is the assumption that the Government is the solution. Government cannot be the solution. Government has to be part of the solution, and I spent sometime explaining this because it is key to the way we organise ourselves, not just the welfare, the social safety net, it is the key to how we organise ourselves as Singapore and the key to our success.
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Sir, I am sorry for the rather robust and long explanation.
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Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, I am very happy with the good news that
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\r\nSingapore will be a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities next year. For two years, a group of law undergraduates from the Pro Bono Law Society have been working with me and studied with me the disability legislations of many countries – in Asia, US and different developed countries. We found that in some countries, particularly those in Asia, for example, the legislations are very comprehensive but they do not translate into a lot of programmes and services.\r\n
It is good that we are thinking of signing the UN Convention now and not earlier because, at least, now we have the substance. My point is to ask MCYS to continue to work on the substance. I think we should worry more about the substance than the form.
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3.00 pm
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My second point for clarification is this: while I am very happy with the increase in the number of early intervention centres that the Minister spoke about, I just want a confirmation from the Minister that MCYS will conduct its due diligence when it starts these centres to make sure that, besides compassion, there is also competence and commitment that there are outcomes so that the children are helped and not harmed in the process.
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The third point is on adult homes. I am also very happy that MCYS is looking into that. I differ a little from Dr Lee Wei Ling's view. She does not want to burden the family very much, including siblings, and would like the disabled adults to be put in homes. As such, it is her good intent to ask for more homes. However, for me, I think that if families still desire to keep on looking after their disabled adults at home, the Ministry should look at ways to support these measures, so that if families, siblings or relatives who want to keep the disabled adults at home, they
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\r\ncan be given some home-based help and support. This was also brought up by Dr Lam and other MPs before in this House.
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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mr Chairman, I am very grateful for those three points which I totally agree with. With respect to signing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Singapore takes all its treaty and convention obligations very seriously. We are not the sort of people who sign on to something, pretend that it is being done and then not do anything. Our approach is to do everything first, and when we are sure that we can fulfil both the spirit and the letter of the Convention, that is when we sign on. That is the reason why we have delayed, in a sense, our signing on to this Convention. But I dare say that even if anyone were to audit us now, we are actually doing fairly well as far as the additional support and opportunities for people with disabilities to be integrated into the mainstream are concerned. They are not there yet but we have made progress.\r\n\r\n
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The other point that I totally agree with the Member is that even as we expand the capacity, we must pay attention to quality. There will be due diligence. The Member is aware that we have a baseline study. As a doctor, what always breaks my heart is when people offer desperate parents untested, sometimes quack treatment, and prey on the parents' desperate sense of hope. We will make sure that we will continue to test everything and have an evidence-based approach through the sort of treatments which are available and certainly through the services which are subsidised by us. The Member has my assurance on that.
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On the homes for disabled adults, again, I totally agree with the Member. Our model, first line, should still be for an ageing person, disability or otherwise, to age at home. And I also agree, although I
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\r\ndid not refer to it in the earlier discussion, that there is a need for MOH and MCYS to sort out our mean-testing frameworks, so that we do not have adverse incentives or awkward situations where someone may actually receive higher subsidy for care in a wrong site, and there will be bureaucratic games later on. This is something which I hope in the next one year, MCYS and MOH will sort out. But I totally agree with the Member's principle which is, wherever possible, allow people to age in place. Our subsidies must not distort that principle. I will adopt the same approach for homes for adults with disabilities.
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Er Lee Bee Wah: Mr Chairman, I was told that taking time off during National Service for our national athletes is very much dependent on their immediate superior. It is always quite a hassle, especially if the person is transfered from one unit to another unit and he has to appeal all over again. I would like to ask the Minister if his Ministry will take up this issue of National Service with MINDEF to come up with something that is more transparent and more assuring for our national athletes, instead of kicking the ball back to me.\r\n
Mr Teo Ser Luck: I thank the Member, Er Lee Bee Wah, for her suggestion. We do not kick the ball back and forth. Since the Member is in the table tennis association, we will play ping pong!\r\n\r\n
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As Members who are advisors to national sports associations (NSAs) would know, for every single case of National Service, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) will review the case first, together the NSA, and then present and discuss it with MINDEF. But the final decision rests with MINDEF, because there are other needs and priorities within MINDEF itself which it has to consider. I think we have to respect and consider that there is the issue of national security. So, in every case, there will always be an explanation,
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\r\nwhether it is exempted, rejected or approved. As Members know, I have actually cited two examples of successful athletes who played the best games of their lives during National Service. They are good examples. And I encourage Er Lee Bee Wah, in her leadership of the Singapore Table Tennis Association, to continuously make an appeal to SSC if she feels that there is a need, and we can come together to discuss each and every case on a case-by-case basis.
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Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, I have two points of clarification. The first is for the Minister. This concerns my cut on responsible gambling and compliance. I agree that it is too early to understand the full impact and the social cost. I also note that the Ministry has a slew of measures and levers to work on. What I would like to propose to the Minister to consider is for the Ministry to set a definitive timeline to undertake a comprehensive review of these various measures to see whether they are working and achieving the objectives that it sets out to do; and, if not, to come up with new measures.\r\n\r\n
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My second clarification is for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck. This concerns foreign sports talent. I must say that I was quite perturbed when I heard Ms Joscelin Yeo's account of what her friend had to go through when her friend was taken into that particular team. I am not sure what sport or which NSA she referred to. But I think that that observation or account is important enough for SSC and the Ministry to look into that particular incident in greater detail, and to ensure that it is addressed head-on and that we do not allow this to occur again. I am sure it is an exception, but this needs to be addressed because we need all the talents that we have. I urge the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to take a look at it in greater detail.
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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I thank Mr Seah for that question. We are actually
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\r\nmonitoring the effects of the casinos on our society on a monthly basis. I am still receiving reports. I know exactly how many people have gone in. I have not got to the stage of knowing exactly who, but close to it. And we are also monitoring it downstream for the impact. So I do not need to give him a timeline to say I am going to review it in one year. I am monitoring this in real time.\r\n\r\n
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Let me just address the point on foreign sports talent. I totally agree with the Member. We will investigate that case and take appropriate action.
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Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, first, one clarification on what the Minister said about the Workers' Party's views on social safety net. If the Minister read that paragraph – and I am recalling it from memory – what was actually put there was that we believe that there should be unconditional needs-based social safety net. And there is a sentence that follows from there, which talks about the fact that more resources may be required to investigate each case, but people in need should be helped. So I do not think the Minister should have any issue with helping people in need.\r\n\r\n
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Next, I would like a clarification from Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck about Singapore soccer. I agree with him totally that we should invest long term and not expect instant results. But he did not really address the point of how we have come to this crisis point now. While we can wait for our youths to grow up and feed into our national soccer team, the question is what has been happening prior to that. Have we been somewhat neglectful in our soccer development policy that leaves us now to have a lacuna?
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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I thank Ms Lim for her clarification. As much as I
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\r\nlook forward to seeing the refined Workers' Party position on social safety net, I think we will give them a chance to refine their definition and we can debate upon it at the appropriate juncture. But let me reiterate that we do agree that there will be people with greater needs and those needs need to be met. We are saying that we will meet those needs through a combination of family responsibility, community support and targeted Government subsidies. What I have tried to show, and I think I have been able to convince all Members, is that there is no shortage of resources. Fortunately, because we have organised our society properly, we have been successful, and this Government has been able to generate surpluses which allow me to stand here and say that we can look after those who need help. But the way we do it will be done and calibrated in such a way that it does not take away the incentive to work, the responsibility to look after your family and the community's response to help your fellow men, fellow women or children in need. On that, I think we are all universally in agreement. \r\n
Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, about football. If Members had watched the World Cup, before the World Cup started in South Africa, I think we were pinning hopes on some of the tier one or top-tier teams like France and Italy. I think everybody knows what happened to them in the World Cup. They were knocked out in the first round. That is surprising to some, but that is also not surprising to others in Europe. Why is that so? Because the competition and the intensity had gone up. It is the same all over the world. Football has been viewed greatly and is of top priority for most of the sports administrators in the world. More money has been pumped into this sport. So is Singapore. But we want to make sure that the investment is put in the right areas and the right aspects. So we put into youth development. We have seen how our football squad in the Youth
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\r\nOlympic Games did. There is a lot of hope. So we must now put the investment in the right place. Mayor Zainudin, who heads the Football Association of Singapore, has the will and determination to revamp the whole system, and we want to be able to support that. Disbanding the national team is just the first step, but the national team will come back. With good training and system, the best players will be selected. \r\n\r\n
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Revamping the S-League is also in his plan. He will grow that League and grow all the clubs. Then we will have a better environment. SSC will support the youth development scheme, which is the entire youth development system over five years. That is why this year we give them a more than 50% increase compared to previous year, to invest in these young talents. It will take time. The other countries are coming up very well. Malaysia, as an example, has won the Suzuki Cup. But we must not give up, because there is still hope. For team sports, it always takes time. But let us not give up on the Singapore Team. I am sure we will make some headway and they will bring glory back to Singapore again.
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Mr Chan Soo Sen: Mr Chairman, I believe the Minister has not responded to my proposal to have a gambling awareness month every year. If one month is considered too long, how about starting with a gambling awareness week?\r\n
3.15 pm
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I will consider it. But I must say that at Cabinet we are under pressure because we have so many campaigns. We must not overdo it or there will be campaign fatigue.\r\n\r\n
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But on a more serious note, Members will realise that the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has actually
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\r\nembarked on a series of public education efforts. Some videos and advertisements have been introduced. I think they are of high quality and I am making traction on the ground. But we will continue to study the Member's proposal.
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The Chairman: Mdm Cynthia, please make your clarification short. We do not have much time.
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Mdm Cynthia Phua: Mr Chairman, the Minister mentioned about the cross-agency effort on youth. He mentioned three Ministries – MOE, MHA and MCYS. I would like to ask for one more, ie, MINDEF, because for male youths, if they are delinquents, they would have left school and be enlisted earlier, and they could get help from MINDEF.\r\n
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, the Minister of Defence is here. Maybe I should ask him to answer, but I will take the risk of answering on his behalf. I do not think MINDEF sees the rehabilitation of wayward youths as its mission. And another point is that, according to our Enlistment Act, it is only at the age of seventeen-and-a-half years that a person can be legally obliged to enlist. Before that, sixteen-and-a-half is a voluntary enlistment. But, in any case, among the three Ministries – MHA, MCYS and MOE – there is already much that we can do. Give us some time. Let us see what impact these comprehensive and integrated approaches have on dealing with youths who might otherwise go on the wrong path.\r\n
The Chairman: Dr Neo, a short one, please.
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Dr Lily Neo: Much obliged, Mr Chairman. I just want to clarify that earlier when the Minister mentioned about the self-reliance tenet, I did not stray away from the tenet in my suggestion on a safety net for the bottom 5% of the
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\r\nlowest-income families. As elaborated in my speech earlier, in fact, that was the tenet I followed, ie, giving special guidance to these families to help themselves so that they can get out of their poverty trap, and for the prevention of dysfunctional homes. And I would like to end by saying that I am very encouraged when the Minister said earlier that we are not in shortage of resources. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will reconsider giving these resources that we are not short of to these vulnerable groups that are really in need.\r\n
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I agree with her clarification, and I just want to reaffirm that we do allocate more resources for people who need more help.\r\n
Ms Joscelin Yeo: Sir, I agree with Minister Balakrishnan on being open and inclusive. I have indicated that I am for foreign sporting talents (FSTs). However, I have three clarifications for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo. He gave us a ratio of FSTs to the overall number of local national athletes. Can he actually give us a ratio of FSTs to local athletes in the sports that engage foreign sporting talents and not an overall number? Secondly, will the Ministry consider putting a cap on the ratio of FSTs to local athletes to force National Sports Associations to be more active and purposeful in raising local talent? Thirdly, can he also clarify the objective of having foreign sporting talents in Singapore?\r\n
Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, I have said that quite a few times in my speech about the objective of having FSTs. I did reiterate it. Let me reiterate again that we are not just importing foreign sporting talents today. What we want is for the National Sports Associations to focus on developing the system, and the annual funding for the NSAs is on the programmes, not on the athletes or import of foreign talents.\r\n\r\n
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\r\n So, the NSAs focus their efforts on developing the system. And if the system and the platform are established and progressive, any talents, whether foreign-born or local-born, can be successful
\r\n If a sports association feels that there are some sporting talents who will be able to lift the standard of our sports and can help the entire national team to bring glory to Singapore and they can lift them up to the next level, we will not discourage that. Most importantly, the sports itself must have the training and development from youth to senior team, and there is a process that is established. That is the most important thing.
\r\n As for the FSTs, 33 out of 994 are foreign-born athletes and they are now Singapore citizens. I cannot name all the sports as I do not have all the data but there are some sports, as Members know, have foreign sporting talents and they are also public knowledge, eg, badminton and table tennis. But more importantly is what these athletes have already done – they have brought glory to Singapore, they have won world championships, they have also helped to bring up the level of competing sports standard in Singapore and internationally, and they have put us on the world map.
\r\n I understand and share the same sentiments of the Member on the specific case of her friend. And as my Minister has mentioned, we will take note of this case and we want to ensure that it is a fair selection standard and a fair selection trial. It is not just a fair selection trial but a training system that will enable and give opportunities for our athletes to be trained
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\r\nand to become champions. Most importantly, it is the mental attitude of the athletes and the commitment, sacrifice and passion that the athletes must have in order to be champions.
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Mr Calvin Cheng: Sir, I have two clarifications – one for Mr Teo and one for Mrs Yu-Foo.\r\n\r\n
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First, I want to thank Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo for his response. I have no doubt that FSTs compete on merit and contribute to Singapore’s sporting landscape. However, the point of sports cannot be merely to create champions but champions we can be proud of. So I hope MCYS can, on top of focusing on the medal tally, look into helping Singaporeans connect emotionlly and identify with the FSTs and accept them as part of our tribe.
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Sir, I would like to respond, in Mandarin, to Mrs Yu-Foo’s Mandarin speech.
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(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, I would like to respond to Mrs Yu-Foo's reply regarding singles. Although it is a good thing that the Government encourages singles to get married, I am concerned that the policy may make singlehood look like a crime. Being single is not a sin. Although Mencius said that it is most unfilial to have no children, I hope the Government considers our feelings while encouraging the singles to get married. We do not want to feel pressured.
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Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (In Mandarin): [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. Now, we
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\r\nencourage private match-making agencies to do the job.\r\n\r\n
\r\n We are only providing a platform; we are not pressuring the young. Some singles told me that they really need help. They are too busy and have no time. Some do not have the opportunity to socialise. Families, parents, employers and the social groups should all join in to provide the young people opportunities to socialise and help them fulfil their wish. Indeed, 80% of the singles do want to get married.
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Mr Calvin Cheng: I agree.\r\n
Mr Seah Kian Peng: Mr Chairman, Sir, I would like to thank Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister Lim Boon Heng, Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of State Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck for their comprehensive and supportive replies to all the cuts filed by Members.\r\n\r\n
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I cannot help but notice that lately, there are a lot of students coming into the Chamber. Indeed, the \"A\" level results were just released last week. If MCYS had a report card for this financial year and, in fact, they do, which is all here [indicating ], I think they would have scored an \"A\" grade. Indeed, MCYS has its own \"Grow and Share\" package. \"Grow\" – they have done so in strengthening the community bonds. And \"Share\" – they have been ensuring that those who need help will be helped. But we know that MCYS' work and progress never end.
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Sir, on that note, I wish to seek leave to withdraw my amendment.
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Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
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The sum of $1,775,063,600 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.
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The sum of $57,123,400 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.
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Column: 4195
\r\nThe Chairman: I propose to take the break now.
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Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.
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Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.50 pm.\r\n\r\n
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Sitting accordingly suspended
\r\n\r\nat 3.25 pm until 3.50 pm.
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Sitting resumed at 3.50 pm
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\r\n[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
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Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.
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Column: 4195
\r\n[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
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Head W – Ministry of Transport
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Public transport system
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mr Chairman, Sir, I beg to move,\r\n\r\n
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That the total sum to be allocated for Head W of the Estimates be reduced by $100.
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Over the past one year, if there is any radio or TV talk shows regarding public transport, it will attract a large number of public tuning it. The common themes of these shows are regarding congestions, long waiting times and, basically, the aspirations of the public to see a cheaper, better and faster public transport.
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Since the release of the Land Transport Masterplan in 2008, there have been many new measures introduced to further improve our public transport system. How successful have these public transport improvement measures been? What more is the Ministry doing to address the crowding and congestions during the peak hours on our trains?
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Column: 4196
\r\nOne resident recently told me that he has to go to the MRT station earlier now compared to one or two years ago, as the congestion means that he will not be able to board the first train. He has to wait usually for the second or third train before he can board. What is the Ministry doing to address the crowding on trains? I understand that if all passengers take the train at the same time, there is no way we can avoid congestion as we cannot build a rail system to accommodate such a demand. What can the Ministry do to spread out this peak in demand on our current system so that we can comfortably handle the workload while waiting for the rail network to double in 10 years' time? The current high COE prices will also mean many will be sticking to public transport and some motorists will be switching to public transport. Will that not further increase the demand for public transport and increase our congestion?
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There were some suggestions to improve the current passenger flow in our MRT trains so that the movement of passengers can be more streamlined and hastened, such as designated doors – one door in, one door out. There are also calls for additional carriages at the end of the train to increase the capacity. But the last carriage will not be able to alight or board passengers. Passengers got to walk to the next carriage in order to get off the train because the current MRT platforms are not designated to accommodate further increase in carriages.
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I have previously called for an introduction of off-peak discount in MRT fares so as to encourage those who may not need to travel during the peak hours to do so during the off-peak hours. This will spread out the demand. I hope this suggestion can be further explored.
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As the MRT network expands with the completion and opening of the Circle Line this year, we can expect more to have
\r\nColumn: 4197
\r\naccess to this MRT network and system. Our MRT passenger load will hit new highs. Many are concerned that our current load capacity along current lines are already hitting the maximum. How can the current lines take on more passengers from the new lines?
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We all know that MRT projects have a long gestation period. It takes many years to complete a line and ramp up the capacity. There is a gap between transport infrastructural development and public transport demand. This gap can only be filled up quickly by the buses. What are the improvements made to our public bus system since the release of the Land Transport Masterplan? Can the Ministry provide an upate on the LTA’s new role as the central bus planner? How many new lines have been added? How many bus routes were changed? How does the Ministry decide on the route changes? How are our commuters benefiting from these changes? How much bus capacity has increased since 2008 and how much more can we expect to see in the coming years? I know there are many questions.
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The introduction of the bus lanes has certainly increased the speed of our public buses. It is not uncommon for motorists to see congested roads and a relatively empty bus lane. Perhaps we should ramp up the number of buses on the road using the bus lanes fully. The buses can be a good alternative to congested MRT trains and it can relieve the congestion we see today in our public transport system. I urged the Ministry to ramp up the bus numbers and capacity immediately to address the current congestion.
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It is right that the Ministry has introduced initiatives to improve the integration of the public transport network. The distance-based fare system has provided a seamless fare system but it is confusing to commuters as different
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\r\nMRT lines impose different charges. I hope the fares can be harmonised and simplified in the future for easy understanding by the commuters. It would be good if the rail system and bus system complement one another. Have there been improvements in the planning and coordination between the bus and rail networks? What has been done to improve the dissemination of information to commuters for them to make better journey decisions?
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Many commuters gave feedback regarding the long waiting time for public transport. The waiting time is a function of what time a commuter arrives at the bus stop or the MRT station and the time taken for the bus or MRT to arrive. When I was in the United States for my fellowship, the public bus frequency was terrible in the area I stayed. The buses came once an hour but my waiting time was short. The reason is simple. They came on time. As long as I reach the designated bus stop a few minutes before the designated time, my waiting time is short. Currently, bus frequencies are at five-minute, 10-minute or 15-minute intervals. It is useless if the timing is not accurate. I hope the authorities can look into how to improve the scheduling system.
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The installation of electronic boards to announce the estimated arrival time of buses is a wonderful improvement that is welcomed by most commuters. The commuters need not stick out their necks every time a bus approaches to check. They can rest at the bus stop until their bus is nearing the stop. I hope this will be a standard feature of our public transport system as all buses are already tracked using GPS and their estimated arrival time at a certain bus stop can be reliably predicted based on the prevailing traffic conditions. I hope the Ministry can implement these electronic boards at more
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\r\nbus stops soon. I certainly welcome the Ministry to start at all bus stops – first at the bus stops and interchange at Nee Soon and Sembawang town.
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It has been more than six months since distance-based fare was introduced. Despite the initial misunderstandings and hiccups, we are getting used to the system. I know the data provided by the Ministry to this House earlier showed that more commuters benefited from the distance-based fares, and these include the elderly too. Can the Ministry show the House the latest data after eight months of implementation? Do we have a more robust system today? Have we rectified all the dataset errors and refunded the overcharges?
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I would like to propose three paradigm shifts to our approach to public transport. Instead of managing the supply of public transport, we should consider managing the demand. I have mentioned previously that if everyone wants to use the roads and public transport at the same time, we will never have enough capacity to accommodate everyone. Although it is important to ramp up our supply and increase our public transport capacity to handle the peak hours demand, perhaps the Government can also look at how to reduce the demand for peak-hour traffic. We can look at current demand for public transport, education and work purposes such as medical appointments. Can the schools and educational institutions stagger their opening and closing times so not all the schools start at the same time?
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The second paradigm shift is to consider taxis as public transport. I know the Ministry has maintained the position that taxis fall under private transport, hence they are treated as such. I propose that MOT do a review on taxis and see how taxis can be more effectively used to bridge the gap. I would like to make a plea
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\r\non behalf of taxi drivers for the Government to consider reducing the ERP charges payable by taxis and also allowing taxis to use the relatively under-utilised dedicated bus lanes. I hope we can streamline or do away with our confusing taxi surcharges that in my opinion have resulted in much undesired effects and confusion to our commuters and sometimes our overseas visitors.
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The third paradigm shift is that of cycling as a mode of public transport.
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The Government’s position on cycling is still not clear. Some towns, such as Tampines, are called \"cycling towns\" and cyclists are allowed to cycle on pedestrian's walkways, while others, like Sembawang, have dedicated cycling lanes. We all know that it is unlawful to cycle on the pedestrian's walkways but the law is seldom enforced against the violators.
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4.00 pm
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A long time ago, I remember that there was a bicycle licensing scheme. Cyclists need to register and get a licence plate for their bikes. Perhaps, we should now re-look and bring back the licensing scheme. Bicycles are unlike other vehicles on the road. Cyclists who are licensed can then cycle on public roads. They should pass a test on traffic rules and safe cycling, and there should be strict enforcement on them if they violate the law.
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In conclusion, being a small and compact urban city state, Singapore is, in many ways, a model nation for urban transportation in the world. We have 3,356 kilometres of roads, 150 kilometres of rail and a world-class air and sea transport hub serving five million people. Certainly, I hope that our public transport can be cheaper, better and faster.
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Central bus planner\r\n
Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Marine Parade): Sir, great
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\r\nexpectations have built up since it was announced that the LTA would take over the role of Central Bus Planner.
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In the past, my resident's perception on the ground was that the transport operators were only interested in commercial factors when planning bus routes. Many of our appeals for refinement in the bus routes were turned down due to them being commercially not viable. However, hopes appeared for better bus services after the announcement that LTA would take over the Central Bus Planner’s role.
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The LTA staff came a few times to my constituency and engaged my grassroots leaders and I. In the last Committee of Supply debate, I mentioned that we were touched and looked forward to improvements in the transport services in my area.
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I would like to ask the Minister to update the House on the status on the Central Bus Planner. While not many refinements have been made in my ward, what improvements have been introduced in other parts of Singapore? How are our commuters benefiting from this process?
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Intergration of public transport network\r\n
Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, we have all noticed over the past five years that the much respected Singapore way of dealing with traffic jams has been replicated in China and in the United Kingdom. This is a sign that others have observed what we have done, and they think it will work in their country.\r\n\r\n
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The truth, however, is that it may not be working as well as we have thought. Everyone that I have spoken to all say that the roads are getting more crowded these days. A poll on my Facebook, which I have just set up a few days ago, reiterated this view.
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Column: 4202
\r\nSir, Singapore has, over the years, thought of many ways to improve the use of land. Our masters measure every last inch to extract multiple uses out of our tiny space. Yet, roads are the ones which are immovable. So we have to get fewer cars on the road and more people onto trains and buses.
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Sir, to get fewer cars onto the roads, I suggest that one family be limited to one car. The second and subsequent cars must attract a higher COE. We have used the price mechanism in the past to successfully curb car ownership. There is no reason why this should not work. If a family is rich enough to afford two cars, when the majority of Singaporeans take public transport, then surely they are rich enough to pay a little more for it. The third car, needless to say, ought to attract an even higher COE. Sir, I suggest a 30% increase for the second car owned by one household, and a 50% increase for the third and subsequent cars.
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I move on to the integration of the public transport network, which is an integral part of a slew of solutions to our land transport issues. I hope the Minister can address the following: have there been improvements in the planning and coordination between the bus and rail networks? What has been done to improve the dissemination of information to commuters for them to make better journey decisions? Has the introduction of distance fares improved the overall integration of our public transport network? Are our commuters really benefiting from distance fares? Or have the profits accrued more to the private companies? Finally, do we have a robust system in place to ensure that there are no further errors in the system?
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The Chairman: Mr Ong Kian Min, take your two cuts together, please.
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Column: 4203
\r\nPublic transport\r\n
Mr Ong Kian Min (Tampines): Sir, as COE prices climb higher, new ERP gantries appear, and the cheapest petrol costs more than $2 a litre, more and more people are pushed towards taking public transport. How is our public transport system coping? Commuters can look forward to some exciting and life-style changing developments in the rail network. Step by step, we are building a Mass Rapid Transit System that will bring more speed and more convenience to our daily commutes. \r\n\r\n
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Meanwhile, though, in the present, complaints of overcrowding in MRT carriages abound. This is not surprising as, in the last 10 years, more residents have been travelling to work by train only, or by train plus another mode of transport, while the number taking only public buses to work has dropped. How overcrowding is defined is a contentious issue between train passengers and the authorities. Being told that the peak loading levels are within acceptable standards only aggravates passengers who at peak hours are either packed shoulder to shoulder with other passengers in the train or who have to wait for another less crowded train to arrive. As for the standards of 1,600 passengers per train or standing space of five persons per square metre, I can appreciate that the wearing of light tropical clothing perhaps necessitates more personal space for each passenger, as commuters here do not have the protection of thick coats to buffer them against another warm and maybe even sweaty human body.
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Until the MRT system expands and is able to absorb its commuters more efficiently, we have to depend more heavily in the near future on our bus services in order to alleviate the overcrowding situation in the MRT. Thus, we should ensure that buses are a viable
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\r\nalternative to trains. For this to happen, buses have to take passengers from point A to point B in as close a time as possible to the time taken if travelling by train.
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Speed is one issue. I would like to ask how the Mandatory Give Way to Buses Scheme has improved the speed and reliability of bus services. Another issue that affects bus services is predictability. The closer buses can keep to schedules and the easier it is for the commuters to check on the schedule, the more likely it is that commuters will take the bus.
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Sir, moving on to taxis. There have been recent complaints that it is difficult to, firstly, secure call bookings and, secondly, get a cab on Sunday evenings. In the case of call bookings, there are complaints of not getting through to the operator after repeated calls or being told after getting through at last that the taxi number would be sent by SMS, but instead of a taxi number, the frustrating message to the caller is that no taxi is available. Is this difficulty to get a cab due to higher demand because of the healthy economy, an increase in the number of tourists or a recent scheme that allows cabbies to reject call bookings at their discretion?
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Regarding the difficulty of getting cabs even on quiet Sunday nights, one cabby was reported to have said that this was due to taxi drivers preferring to be home with their families on Sunday nights. I would like to ask what steps the LTA would take to raise our taxi service standards.
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North-South Expressway – traffic management
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Sir, moving on, earlier last month, in response to Er Lee Bee Wah's question on why certain segments of the North-South Expressway (NSE) are not designed as a full tunnel, the Minister stated that large ventilation buildings requiring 15,000
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\r\nsquare metres of land would have to be built to ventilate full tunnels.
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I am not an engineer by training, so I went back to read up on tunnels. The proposed NSE will not be the longest tunnel in the world by a long shot. There are many existing tunnels in other countries which are much longer. The Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland is 16.9 kilometres long and the Arlberg Road Tunnel is 13.9 kilometres long, both running deep below the Alps. Yet, I do not think that one can find any sizeable ventilation buildings on the slopes of the Alps. As a layman, I am curious how these tunnels are ventilated. Has our Ministry explored other options for ventilation? What kind of ventilation standards and technology will we be adopting for the NSE? Also, if the semi-tunnels are covered to form full tunnels, would that not free up more land space above that can be used for other purposes? I hope the Minister can enlighten me.
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Sir, on traffic management, LTA has installed many CCTV cameras along our roads and junctions to monitor traffic flow and detect problem areas on the roads. However, on our radio, we still hear DJs reporting on the daily traffic situation from time to time based on calls received from listeners. I wonder if there is a more systematic way for LTA to inform and update our radio stations of road congestions. Also, if an incident were to happen, how quickly can LTA respond to clear the congestion on the road?
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ERP gantries\r\n
Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, the collection of revenue from ERP gantries is way above the total amount of revenue lost by the Government from the exemption of household TV and radio licences. I would urge the Government to review and reduce the charges at ERP gantries for vehicles entering the ERP zones. The
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\r\nreduction of these entry fees will greatly help to reduce commuters' costs for those who need to enter the ERP zones many times during the day, especially salesmen and housewives who have to ferry their children to and from schools. I would urge the Government to review and reduce the amount of ERP charges at the gantry points.\r\n
Taxi operator licence\r\n
Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang) (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, in 2003, LTA stipulated that a new taxi company must have 100 taxis in the first year of being issued a licence, and it must increase its fleet to 400 within four years. LTA's purpose is to ensure economy of scale and a good service standard. This measure was designed to lower the unit cost of new taxi companies as well as their long-term average cost by increasing output. This would be a win-win situation for both the commuters and the taxi companies. Taxi companies will be able to manage their business effectively and improve their service standard and reputation. The liberalisation of the taxi market will also enable commuters to get 'high end' service with a reasonable price.\r\n\r\n
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Hence, I was puzzled when I read a recent report that LTA intends to drastically raise the requirements for a taxi operating licence. Taxi operators will need to have 400 taxis in the first year of being issued a licence, and increase to 1,000 within four years. This will have a great impact on smaller taxi firms that might go out of business, resulting in a monopoly in the end.
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Will this reduce the choice of taxi drivers and the checks and balances in the taxi market? For commuters, will this lead to fare increase and extra transport cost?
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I would like to ask the Minister for Transport the following three questions:
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Column: 4207
\r\n(i) Why would LTA raise the requirements for a taxi operating licence?
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(ii) Will this policy have a negative impact on commuters? and
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(iii) Does LTA have any measures to make sure that the market will remain open and have sufficient checks and balances after the implementation of this new policy?
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Taxi services\r\n
Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, there are seven taxi companies and 29 types of taxis in Singapore. The basic fare structure is not hard to grasp. There is a flag-down rate, beginning just from $2.80 to $5.00, depending on the type of taxi, and increments per distance or waiting time. However, many extra charges and fees apply which make calculating the final fare confusing, eg, there may be a location surcharge, which is a flat rate if you board or alight at certain locations. There is also a night surcharge of 50% between 12.00 midnight and 6.00 am; a peak surcharge of 35% which is from 7.00 am to 9.30 am and 5.00 pm to 8.00 pm, but which is not applicable on Sundays and public holidays; and a public holiday surcharge of $1.00. Is there no way to keep the fare structure simple? This will benefit residents and tourists alike. Does the Ministry have any plans to better inform users of the fare structure?\r\n\r\n
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Second, should we not encourage the use of technology for taxi bookings? Today, almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It would be a better use of resources for taxi companies to encourage phone bookings, instead of driving around looking for passengers. Phone bookings will help match supply to demand. This will help taxi drivers save costs and time.
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\r\nIt will also be more convenient for passengers. However, the current booking fees are a deterrent. The booking fee for peak hours is $3.50; non-peak hours is $2.50 and advance booking fee is $5.20.
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Booking fees also make it more difficult to flag down taxis in certain locations, especially during peak hours. Since the demand for taxis in these locations is high, taxi drivers would rather wait for a call to benefit from the booking fee. Although this problem has been alleviated by the location surcharge, it is still counter-intuitive. Could the fare structure not be revised to encourage the use of mobile phones and other technology to make the system more efficient? And, finally, does the Minister also have any plans to further raise the standards of taxi services, including allowing the public better access to infomation on service performance of the different taxi companies?
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4.15 pm
The Chairman: Mr Seng Han Thong, please take all the three cuts together.
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Taxi service standards and fare structure
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Mr Seng Han Thong (Yio Chu Kang): Sir, some taxi commuters, both locals and visitors, may find the taxi fare structure in Singapore complicated and difficult to understand. Ideally, commuters can quickly decide where, when and how they will get a taxi based on how much they are expected to pay. Can the Ministry look into ways to enhance the public transport information for commuters on taxi-meter fare, especially at locations where demand for taxi services is high? \r\n\r\n
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We should help the commuters drive service improvements among taxi service providers by getting them to choose the better service providers. Can the Ministry look into ways to inform commuters on
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\r\nthe quality of the taxi services provided by the taxi companies based on a regular and independent mystery customer service experience audit?
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Taxi fleet
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Sir, there are more than 26,000 fleet of taxis in Singapore. We have one of the highest ratio of taxi to population in the world. For every 1,000, we are served by 4.8 taxis, compared to London, three; Shanghai, three; New York, 1.4; Sydney, 1.1; and Hong Kong, 2.6. Despite this high ratio, we still receive complaints from commuters that they cannot get a taxi when they need one most. Taxi companies should not only focus on putting more taxis on the road. They should focus more on matching the demand for taxi services. This will improve the income of the taxi drivers and the overall service experience of the taxi commuters in getting a taxi. Can the Ministry clarify how the LTA's proposed enhancements to the QoS for all taxi companies will improve the matching of supply and demand for taxi services?
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Taxi fare
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Sir, like many Singaporeans, taxi drivers face the problem of rising cost of living. Their business costs also increase significantly, due to the spike in fuel prices and higher taxi rental. Unlike the fares of public buses and MRT, taxi companies are free to set taxi fares and taxi drivers must charge accordingly. Can the Ministry clarify if there are any guidelines on the process of setting taxi fares such that the stakeholders will not be seen to be infringing the Competition Act? Will the Ministry consider reviewing the current process of allowing taxi companies to set their own taxi fares, so that the Public Transport Council can be more effective in protecting the interests of the public commuters whom they serve?
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Column: 4210
\r\nAgeing population
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, as a Singaporean, I am very pleased to note that our Government is preparing for an ageing population for the various aspects of our life. \r\n\r\n
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Transport is certainly an important need for us here in Singapore. Living within a small city-state, we need to ensure that our transport planning meets the needs of the various segments of the society. Among the many segments, the elderly society is continuing making its presence felt in Singapore day after day and year after year. For example, in my ward, more than 30% of the population in both the Chai Chee and Bedok North estates are 50 years and older. I am aware that the number of elderly is higher in other divisions.
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The usual feedback that I received from my residents is whether our current transport planning parameters cater to the needs of an ageing society. I understand that refinements have been made to the transport mode itself, such as the bus, as well as the ancillary facilities such as the installation of lifts at MRT stations and barrier-free access at bus stops to allow ease of access for the commuters, particularly, the elderly. However, I have received feedback that further refinements can be made in the way we plan bus routes for inter-estate or trunk travel to cater to the needs of the elderly.
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I observe that a segment of the elderly like to shop at the neighbourhood centres where they live, or neighbourhood centres in the next estate or town. For example, in my ward, the markets at Bedok 538 and 511 are popular among residents in the neighbouring estates and neighbourhoods, such as Chai Chee and other parts of Bedok. Many of these residents need to make a longer trip to the Bedok Interchange and make a transfer to
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\r\nanother bus service to these markets, making their trip longer and very inconvenient. Residents in Chai Chee could shorten the trip by making a long walk to another bus stop. However, this may be too straining for the elderly. Thus, I have received numerous feedback from residents that they are concerned that our current transport system is still unable to cater to the needs of the ageing society.
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I would like to ask the Minister how has our transport system been refined to meet the needs of the elderly and the less mobile. Is the current transport model relevant to the needs of an ageing population? How much have been done to reflect these needs?
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Elderly and transportation
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Mr Wee Siew Kim (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, for the elderly, mobility is key to active living. Convenient access to public transportation goes a long way to maintaining a good quality of life, going places and visiting friends. The sense of independence enriches the general well-being of a person. \r\n\r\n
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Over the years, as I interact with older residents, I notice that their mobility suffers curtailment and impairment one year worse than the year before. One recent situation that arose out of the re-routing of bus service 315 brought home starkly the considerations of the elderly that a younger able-bodied person may not instinctively appreciate. On this issue of bus service 315, a group of some 20-plus senior citizens were affected by the change. Having to walk some additional 300 metres to a bus stop poses a significant challenge for them. They have to walk across a precinct, negotiating steps and slopes along the way. Although the re-routing probably makes sense as the boarding numbers clearly indicated increased benefits to a larger
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\r\ngroup of commuters, however, we cannot ignore the plight of the elderly who has been inconvenienced. We can always make further refinements to the bus routes. Or is there a different approach to solving their problem? For example, for a specific group of elderly, is providing them with taxi vouchers a more cost-effective approach? Taxis would provide point-to-point transportation. We do not need to incur infrastructural and investment costs to have comprehensive and extensive wheelchair-accessibility for buses at bus stops. Neither do we need to go at breakneck speed to acquire low floorboard buses. I seek the Minister's consideration of the suggestion to look into the plight of the elderly who are facing difficulties getting to and boarding the various modes of public transportation.
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Lifts at passenger overhead bridge near MRT stations
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Er Lee Bee Wah (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] We all know that with each turn of the calendar, all of us are growing older. There is no turning back the clock. Even the best aesthetic surgeon cannot do it. What do we do then? We change our employment policy. We encourage older people to work. For those who have retired completely, we try to help them lead active lives. We organise activities. Doing all these require more than just a change in policy. There must be a coordinated effort so that our intentions can be implemented in an effective and realistic way. Hence, we have barrier-free access in our housing estates, in the city and in shopping malls. This is good but more can be done.\r\n\r\n
\r\n We see so many people, men and women, ambling, or being assisted by walking sticks and even umbrellas. Most are older but some are in their 50s only. It is well known that weak joints and arthritis are common among old people. Osteoporosis usually affects women who
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\r\nare over 50, but men are not spared. According to information from the Health Promotion Board, women are more prone to osteoporosis as they can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in the five to seven years after menopause. A Straits Times' report noted that in 1998, 1,300 people in Singapore fractured their hips. By 2050, the number of hip fractures is expected to hit 9,000 annually. The International Osteoporosis Foundation said the rate of osteoporosis in Singapore is approaching those of Western countries.
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\r\n I hope these numbers will persuade the Minister to reconsider installing lifts at overhead pedestrian bridges that are linked to the MRT stations. My heart aches whenever I see elderly residents limp up the long flight of stairs at Khatib pedestrian overhead bridge. This is the fourth time I raise this issue in Parliament. I urge the Minister to give priority to this matter. I hope that after a very long wait, the lifts will eventually come!
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Barrier-free access
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Mr Hri Kumar Nair: Sir, for the last 20 years, we have had a Code of Barrier-Free Accessibility for Buildings. The designs of our buildings have come a long way since then. Accessibility for wheelchair users has now become a standard feature in our new buildings. It has also become more common to see wheelchair users moving about freely on their own, with their friends and family. Such measures benefit both the disabled as well as the elderly. However, making new buildings barrier-friendly is of little use if the disabled and elderly cannot get to them in the first place. The challenge is to make the existing road and transport infrastructure, such as overhead bridges and pedestrian walkways, barrier-free as well. \r\n\r\n
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The issue of upgrading overhead bridges, in particular, has been raised a number of times in this House. The need
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\r\nis particularly acute for bridges where it is not possible to build ramps and where the nearest signalised crossing is some distance away. Such bridges are practically impossible for the elderly and the disabled to use. The result is that they take a chance and they jaywalk, sometimes with tragic results. I think one can make the reasonable argument that overhead bridges make for smoother traffic, and we cannot have signalised crossings at too regular an interval. But as with most issues, there are compromises to be struck, this time, between pedestrians and drivers. As our society ages, should that line not lean towards the pedestrians? Could the Minister share with us his plans to make our roads, walkways and crossings barrier-free? Will overhead bridges be gradually phased out in favour of more signalised crossings? And, in particular, what would the Ministry do about bridges where it is not possible to build ramps? Finally, if the Ministry needs to do a pilot project, may I suggest the overhead bridge outside Thomson Plaza, which I think will provide a perfect opportunity to test any new measures that it may have.
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Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, I am delighted to hear that the Ministry of Transport may be considering whether lifts can be retrofitted to some pedestrian overhead bridges. In view of our ageing population and our efforts to encourage families to have more children, providing lifts and escalators at pedestrian overhead bridges, wherever appropriate, would be of great help to our senior citizens, the handicapped and parents with young infants. I would, therefore, like to support the calls made by Er Lee Bee Wah and Mr Hri Kumar who spoke before me on the installation of lifts or escalators at overhead bridges.\r\n\r\n
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Sir, I would also like to take this opportunity to bring to the Minister's attention of an overhead bridge in my
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\r\nconstituency. This overhead bridge across Sengkang East Way connects Compass Point where Sengkang MRT station is located to Compassvale Gardens precinct near Blocks 257C and 260A. This overhead bridge has an escalator going up, which is of great help to users who have difficulty climbing steps. However, after bringing these people to the top of the overhead bridge and getting across the overhead bridge, they find that there is no escalator or lift to bring them down, except for a steep staircase. Could the Minister consider rectifying this situation as soon as possible?
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Encroachment of public walkways
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Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef: Mr Chairman, throughout Singapore there are many small and medium-sized commercial properties dealing with a variety of products and services. They add to the uniqueness and characteristics of our different areas. Many of these premises have made it a habit to have their products showcased and spilled over onto pedestrian walkways and pavements fronting their units. This causes obstruction in a variety of ways and especially to the human traffic. Having barrier-free access ramps and tactile sensors for the elderly and visually-handicapped now become redundant as they are overwhelmed and often covered by these products. \r\n
To make matters worse, often the positioning and arrangement of these products can be an eyesore. Enforcement is being carried out intermittently and has proven to be a cat-and-mouse game between the authorities and the premise owners.
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Can we work out some formal guidelines and systematic enforcement at the national level with the aim towards a cleaner, organised and more structured walkway?
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National Cycling Plan
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Mr Ong Kian Min: Sir, the National Cycling Plan cannot be more welcome in an era where we are ever more conscious of playing our part in keeping our environment clean and green, and when people live longer and need to stay fit to better enjoy their silver years.\r\n\r\n
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Construction works for cycling paths are being carried out in many parts of Singapore. As these dedicated off-road intra-town cycling paths will facilitate convenient cycling to and from homes, workplaces, local amenities and transport nodes, I am confident that the new cycling infrastructure will attract greater usage of the bicycle as a supplemental mode of transport.
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The first phase of cycling paths in Tampines Town was launched in 2010, and the Taman Jurong Cycling Path has just been opened earlier this year. May I know what is the detailed progress on the implementation of other sections under the National Cycling Plan? Have there been lessons learnt in the design and usage of the cycling paths and their integration with the end points of home, workplace, town facilities and transport nodes?
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Recently, I read in the Straits Times that Jakarta has designated two Sundays a month as Car-Free Days and the number of cyclists has swelled. The Straits Times' article also mentioned reckless drivers and pot-holed roads which make cycling dangerous. With our new dedicated cycling paths, I am heartened that these dangers are absent in our system and our cyclists may ride their bicycles free of such worries. May I know whether the Ministry has any plans to discourage cyclists from riding on our main roads
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\r\nwhere they may come into conflict with other vehicles?
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Besides the provision of dedicated cycling paths, we should ensure that there are sufficient bicycle parking facilities in convenient locations available to support cycling as a serious mode of transport. Without the proper facilities to support the National Cycling Plan, our efforts will not reap full dividends. In Paris, there is a fairly successful urban public bicycle hire system with automated rental terminals located throughout the city. Users hire the bike on a time basis. When the bike is released from its dock, the clock starts ticking. When it is slotted back into its docking bracket at the destination, the clock stops. I notice that one major weakness of the system is that there is always a physical limit on the number of parking slots. When the slots are full at popular destinations, one has to go through the time and hassle of looking around for another location with available slots to return the bicycle.
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In order for our system to work, we should foresee and look out for glitches that will compromise its efficiency. In this respect, may I know if the Ministry has plans to provide more bicycle parking facilities at the key end points of the cycling paths and whether these will be as conveniently located as possible to amenities and public transport nodes?
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Bicycle licensing
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Mr Ang Mong Seng (Hong Kah) (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] According to LTA's regulation, all motorised vehicles such as lorries, buses, cars and motorcycles must have insurance and a proper licence to ensure the safety of the driver and other road users. However, motorised bicycles are not required to have a licence and insurance. Who will be responsible then in the event of an accident?\r\n\r\n
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\r\nIn January this year, there were four accidents involving bicycles within two weeks, causing three deaths and one injury: on 4th January, a Major was hit while riding a bicycle and died; on 6th January, a motorised bicycle collided with a bicycle causing one dead and one injured; on 8th January, an ex-national cyclist was hit on the way to work and died; and on 13th January, a school bus hit a bicycle and the rider was injured.
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During the 2009 Budget debate, I suggested that the Government step up the regulation on using bicycles. I would like to ask the Minister: first, how many Singaporeans have lost their life in bicycle accidents in the past two years? Second, does LTA have any new plans to regulate the usage of bicycles, especially motorised bicycles?
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The Minister for Transport (Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat): Sir, I thank Members for their comments and suggestions, and will address the key ones on public transport.\r\n\r\n
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Our aim is to build a land transport system that puts the needs of the people at the centre. Improving our public transport system is a critical part of this as most Singaporeans rely on the bus or train as their principal means of transport. This is why we are doing everything possible to improve our rail system, our bus system, and to ensure that all the pieces of our public transport system fit together, with the commuter as our focus.
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\r\n Dr Lim Wee Kiak has asked if these public transport improvement measures have been successful. To ensure that we have an accurate sense of how our public transport system is serving commuters, LTA has commissioned a Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey every year since 2006. The results by SIM University (UniSIM) for 2010 showed that overall satisfaction with our public transport services has remained high, at above 90%, despite the increased ridership on the public transport system.
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\r\n Late last year, the Straits Times conducted its own independent straw poll to find out how commuters felt about our bus services. More than 80% gave it a thumbs-up. In addition, six in 10 commuters interviewed felt that bus services had improved in the last two years. More recently, the travel and lifestyle website CNNGo, labelled Singapore as one of the \"coolest\" countries in the world. The Straits Times subsequently asked some 200 Singaporeans to list some of the things that they thought made Singapore \"cool\". The outcome? \"Good transport system\" topped the list, ahead of \"Food\" at number three and \"Shopping\" at number five.\r\n\r\n
\r\n While we are very mindful that the implementation of the Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP) is very much a work-in-progress, such survey results affirm that we are heading in the right direction. We will do more to improve our public transport system. These surveys help us to identify what matters most to commuters so that we can focus our efforts on them.
\r\n Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Mr Ong Kian Min have pointed out that our trains and buses are crowded. We have been proactively working with the public transport operators on several measures that will bring relief to our commuters. First, by growing our rail capacity aggressively. Second, pushing hard to improve our bus services on multiple fronts, from faster travel time to better information. And, third, paying close attention to details to ensure that the transport system is seamlessly integrated, for the benefit of the commuter.
\r\n First, improving our rail capacity. For this year, commuters can look forward to the following: Shorter waiting times. Starting this Sunday (13th March 2011), SMRT will increase train services by
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\r\nadding another 420 train trips per week. About a week later, SBS Transit (SBST) will start adding another 170 train trips per week during the morning and evening peaks, as well as off-peak hours. In May, we will open the new platform at Jurong East Station and remove the bottleneck there. This will allow SMRT to run more trains during the peak hours on the North-South-East-West Lines (NSEWL). Together, these improvements mean that trains will come at higher frequencies. Commuters therefore will have shorter waits to board the trains, and enjoy more comfortable journeys overall.
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[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Matthias Yao Chih) in the Chair]
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We are also monitoring the passenger loads at Sengkang LRT. SBST will add one more train to Sengkang East in May, to alleviate crowding during the morning peak. As a result, the morning peak capacity on the Sengkang East LRT will increase by 14%. SBST will also run the Punggol LRT East Loop in both directions throughout the day from June 2011. This will result in improved travel times, as commuters will have a choice of either direction of travel on the Punggol East LRT.
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There is more good news for commuters. In the past, SMRT and SBST ran extended last train services to 2.00 am on the eves of three holidays – Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. Both public transport operators will henceforth extend the last train to 12.30 am at city stations on the eves of all other public holidays as well.
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\r\n Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef has, on several occasions, asked about the plans to open Woodleigh Station on the NEL. Woodleigh Station has remained closed since the NEL began operations in 2003 because of low commuter traffic in the vicinity. The pace of new developments around Woodleigh has since picked up,
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\r\nand Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef will be happy to hear that SBST has decided to open the station in June this year. Many commuters, especially those living near Woodleigh Station and also in the Braddell Road and Joo Seng area, will benefit from this.
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\r\n Like Woodleigh Station, Damai Station on the Punggol LRT was constructed in anticipation of future developments in the area. As there are new developments in the area, SBST has decided to open Damai Station in June this year as well. With the opening of the Damai Station, Punggol East Loop will be fully operational in June.
\r\n We are continuing to monitor the loading on both the Bukit Panjang LRT (BPLRT) and Sengkang and Punggol LRT systems, and are in the midst of various engineering studies with the operators. To cater for ridership growth on the BPLRT, LTA is working with the operator on the additional trains needed to enhance the capacity of the BPLRT system. We expect to finalise the details by the second half of this year.
\r\n This year will also see the opening of a new section of our rail network. We expect Stages 4 and 5 of the Circle Line (CCL) to be operational by October this year. This will enhance accessibility for an estimated 200,000 residents and 120,000 workers who live or work along the section of the line from Marymount to Harbourfront Stations. When fully open, we expect the CCL to help relieve crowding levels on critical stretches of existing MRT lines by about 10%-15%. In addition, some 16 new trains will be delivered for the CCL by 2015, to cater for future ridership growth.
\r\n Our longer term plans to expand our current network and increase the rail capacity on the existing lines are also proceeding apace. We would like to assure Dr Lim that we will open the new
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\r\nlines in phases, rather than open them when they are fully completed. This approach ensures that commuters will be able to take advantage of the speed and reliability of rail travel earlier.
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We will be opening a section of rail every year for the next six years. The Circle Line extension to Marina Bay in 2012, Downtown Line Stage 1 from Bugis to Chinatown in 2013, North South Line extension to Marina Pier in 2014, Downtown Line Stage 2 from Bugis to Bukit Panjang in 2015, the Tuas extension in 2016, and Downtown Line Stage 3 from Chinatown to Singapore Expo in 2017 – a section every year for the next six years.
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\r\n We will also start major upgrading works for the signalling system for the NSEWL this year. The new signalling system will allow trains to run at intervals of 100 seconds at peak periods, compared to existing intervals of 120 seconds. Commuters will benefit through shorter waiting times. Additional trains will also be bought to reap the full benefits of the upgraded signalling capability. The resignalling works will be completed in phases between 2016 and 2018 and increase capacity by up to 20%.
\r\n There are also plans for the NEL to receive around 12 additional new trains in about four to five years' time. The additional trains will cater to the future ridership growth along the north-east corridor from Harbourfront to Punggol. They are expected to increase the capacity for the NEL by up to 50%.
\r\n Let me move to our bus services. We are closely monitoring the loading levels and reliability of our bus services. Last year, LTA started a quarterly review process with the public transport operators, to identify heavily-utilised bus services and improve their capacity along
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\r\ncrowded sectors of the route during the peak periods.
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\r\n Later today, LTA and the public transport operators will announce the latest round of service improvements. A total of 21 heavily utilised bus services will see improvements, through measures such as deploying higher capacity buses and adjusting scheduled headways. For example, more double deck buses have been deployed for Services 79 and 95 and additional trips will be injected for Service 169 during the evening peak.
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This brings the total number of bus services that have improved since this process started in June 2010 to 51, or one in five bus services. These enhancements allow service levels to be kept above and beyond the standards set by the Public Transport Council. Both operators will continue to identify more bus services that can be improved in the ensuing quarters.
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Starting next Monday, SMRT Buses will also introduce a new Express Bus Service 971E. This will offer Bukit Panjang residents an additional travel option to the CBD. Express Bus Service 971E will run from Bukit Panjang to the city during the morning peak hours, with a travel time generally comparable to taking the LRT and MRT.
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This is in addition to the Express Service 868 that SMRT Buses implemented recently. Service 868 was introduced under the Parallel Bus Service Scheme and runs from Bukit Batok West Avenue 5 to Temasek Avenue. It has been useful in providing an alternative mode of transport for residents staying along sections of existing MRT lines where there are persistent heavy passenger loads during the morning peak hours.
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\r\nDr Lim Wee Kiak and Mr Ong Kian Min have asked about the speed and reliability of bus services and how bus schedules can be improved. To improve bus journeys, we have given buses greater priority on the roads. Today, we have 155 kilometres and 23 kilometres of normal and full-day bus lanes respectively, and bus journey speeds along these lanes have increased by an average of 7%. For example, bus speeds along Upper Thomson Road have improved by about 20% as a result of the bus lanes, resulting in significant reductions in travel time from Ang Mo Kio to Newton.
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We have also expanded the Mandatory-Give-Way-to-Buses Scheme, which imposes mandatory right-of-way for buses leaving bus bays, and has reduced the time buses take to exit bus bays by up to 73%. LTA has implemented this scheme at 202 bus bays islandwide, up from 44 a year ago. LTA will continue to implement this scheme at bus bays that are found to be suitable. This year, the LTA will be commencing a small scale trial to explore different ways of making the signal priority for buses at traffic junctions more effective.
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Dr Lim and Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal asked for an update on the central bus planning. Since assuming the role of the Central Bus Planner, LTA has engaged various stakeholders in its bus planning consultation. The reaction to the consultation exercise has generally been positive. Our public consultation with the grassroots and various stakeholders will not stop there but is an ongoing process. LTA will continue to engage the community at various levels through its network of Community Partnership Managers, and progressively implement bus route changes that benefit as many commuters as possible.
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal asked how commuters have benefited from the central bus planning. The
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\r\nbenefits range from providing better connectivity to MRT stations such as Service 410 that was diverted at Shunfu Road to provide greater access to Marymount MRT Station and Shunfu market, to that of making it more convenient for the elderly to access bus services in Marine Terrace by amending Service 76. When interviewed by the Straits Times last year, for instance, 66-year-old retiree Jimmy Yap said that the changes to Service 76 gave him a direct link from Parkway Parade mall to his flat. Mdm Koh Geok Lin also wrote to us to say that the new route \"makes it so much easier for elderly people, especially with heavy purchases\". LTA will continue to make such improvements to bus services where possible.
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To recognise the important role that public buses play in our public transport system, the Government will exempt public omnibuses from Additional Registration Fees (ARF) payable, starting from 10th March 2011. Public omnibuses are already exempted from the Vehicle Quota System but were subjected to a relatively low ARF rate of 5% of the Open Market Value (OMV) of the vehicle. The Government has decided to completely exempt public omnibuses operated by SBST and SMRT Buses from the ARF payable. This will help our public bus operators, as they renew or expand their bus fleets.
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\r\n In the coming year, SBST and SMRT will bring in about 400 new buses, including high capacity ones like double-deckers. These buses will replace some of their existing bus fleet, and also be injected to improve existing service levels. Commuters can look forward to more comfortable rides on the new buses and improved bus frequencies when they are put into operation.
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Improvements to bus services are not the only things that bus commuters can look forward to. LTA will also improve
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\r\nexisting infrastructure for a better bus commuting experience. In our bus network, some major bus stops act as a transit hub where multiple bus services call and connections to onward journeys can be made. LTA has looked at this and will expand the facilities at some of these to accommodate more buses, reduce bus dwell times and minimise localised congestion. This will mean faster journeys and shorter waiting times for commuters.
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This programme was piloted at the bus stop in front of Block 270 at Bukit Panjang. Bus dwell times have been reduced after the bus stop was expanded to allow more buses to pull into the bus bay for passengers to board and alight. The LTA has identified more than 30 existing bus stops that can be upgraded to \"bus hubs\", including some at Woodlands Centre Road and Commonwealth Avenue West and will be doing so progressively, starting at the end of this year.
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Dr Lim and Mr Seah Kian Peng asked about our efforts to improve the integration of our rail network and bus services to achieve seamless, convenient and efficient travel for commuters.
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By assuming the role as the central bus planner, LTA is now able to plan the rail, bus and road networks in a more holistic manner. This includes planning for supporting infrastructure such as bus depots, as well as Integrated Transport Hubs, where air-conditioned bus interchanges and MRT stations are co-located with retail and commercial activities to provide added convenience for commuters.
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Ten Integrated Transport Hubs were announced in the LTMP. Two new ones, in Serangoon and Clementi, will begin operations in the second half of this year. LTA has planned for more integrated transport hubs to be built in the medium term, in Bukit Panjang, Hougang Central and Yishun.
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\r\n Apart from ensuring that the requisite infrastructure is in place, we also want to provide commuters with more information to facilitate their journey decisions. For example, real-time bus arrival information systems have been installed at selected bus stops and will be extended to more bus hubs in the future. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A suite of information portals has been introduced progressively to help commuters to plan their trips better. The PublicTransport@SG portal, which provides public transport information, bus arrival time and bus routes, attracts over 3.5 million page-views a month. The One.Motoring portal, which reported over 12 million page-views a month, provides useful traffic information to motorists.
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\r\n Last year, LTA went mobile with the portal MyTransport.sg. MyTransport.sg is an aggregation of mobile services under one portal. Commuters can now access transport information like bus routes, or traffic news on their mobile phones, and plan their journeys using different modes of travel to reach their destinations faster. This portal was rated highly by My Paper, and attracts an average of about 500,000 page-views a month.
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Dr Lim and Mr Seah have also asked about distance fares. Distance fares is a key component of the integration of our hub-and-spoke public transport network, and allows commuters more choices and greater flexibility in selecting their routes.
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Mr Seah asked if distance fares has really benefited commuters. If Members look at what has been happening since the system started to stabilise, I think people see the benefits. Mr Wang Min Sheng, for example, wrote in to Lianhe Zaobao and gave a few examples of his public transport journeys where he enjoyed savings. He also said, \"I welcome the move to such a fare system. I am
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\r\nconfident to say that there are Singaporeans who, like me, have enjoyed savings.\"
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Our latest data for January 2011 supports his view. It also shows that the number of commuters who benefited from distance fares has continued to increase. Overall, 71% of commuters saw weekly fare savings compared to the 63% that was originally projected. And the figure for senior citizens is higher, at 76% in January 2011, compared to the 70% originally projected.
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In fact, as the public transport operators (PTOs) pointed out in their recent results announcements, average fare revenues of the public transport operators have fallen since distance fares was introduced. More commuters are making use of the flexibility afforded by distance fares, and optimising their journeys by choosing the best routes to reach their destination.
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I would like to assure Members that the fare system is robust. LTA and the public transport operators identified a number of errors in the bus stop distances last year, and these have been rectified.
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To ensure the accuracy of the bus stop distance data going forward, the Public Transport Council has put in place a framework requiring bus operators to ensure that bus stop distances are updated regularly. We take these issues seriously, and everything possible has been done to preserve the integrity of the fare system.
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\r\n Dr Lim has also suggested that we manage demand rather than supply to alleviate crowding on our public transport network. At the planning level, we are already working with land use agencies like URA, to plan for well-distributed employment nodes closer to homes to mitigate the pressure on the public transport network. Minister Mah mentioned
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\r\nthis last week. More housing units will be injected in the west and in the city to improve the job-worker distribution. Apart from reducing the demand on the transport network, transport capacity in the less crowded direction, such as outwards from the city during the morning peak, can also be better utilised.
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On the staggering of operating hours, this is already something that some schools, in close proximity to each other, have implemented in localised areas. A growing number of workplaces, including the Civil Service, have also adopted more flexible office hours for their employees. This allows people to determine what best suits their individual situations and preferences.
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However, large-scale adoption is not straightforward as there are several issues to consider, including the potential economic cost of staggered business hours.
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Sir, I will now turn to the issues raised by Members on managing road use. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck will address the questions on meeting the diverse transport needs of Singaporeans.
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Mr Ong Kian Min asked whether other ventilation options were considered in the design of the North South Expressway (NSE). He cited Gotthard and Arlberg Road Tunnels in the Alps in Europe as examples of long road tunnels that do not seem to require large ventilation buildings.
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Sir, like the NSE, both the road tunnels that Mr Ong mentioned do need ventilation centres. In fact, the Arlberg Road Tunnel that Mr Ong mentioned is said to have a ventilation shaft that is over 700 metres in height and the deepest in Europe. The difference is that in Singapore, we are a land-constrained and built-up city, whereas those road tunnels are built in the rural regions in the
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\r\nAlps. Their ventilation structures may therefore appear less obvious against their backdrop.
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For the NSE project, LTA considered various ventilation schemes, including those adopted in Europe. LTA also consulted international tunnel experts with extensive experience building and operating long road tunnels for our earlier projects like the KPE.
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The local context and climate were important factors. For example, the NSE will need to carry substantially higher traffic. Our tropical climate also means we need to adopt much more stringent ventilation provisions than tunnels in temperate countries to comply with temperature requirements within the tunnel. So the design that was chosen for the NSE was the one best suited for our local context and climate.
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Mr Ong Kian Min also suggested that covering up the semi-tunnels will free up more land space above. However, most of the semi-tunnel will already be constructed underground. Hence, contrary to what he expected, if we covered up the semi-tunnels, we will need to find more land for additional ventilation buildings.
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Mr Ong Kian Min asked if there is a systematic way for LTA to disseminate traffic information to our radio stations. LTA has been providing such traffic information on real-time basis to MediaCorp since 1998. Since 2008, LTA has also purchased dedicated air-time on four MediaCorp radio stations to broadcast LTA's traffic information in four languages. As for response time for incidents on the expressways, LTA's traffic marshals would respond on scene within eight to 15 minutes.
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Mr Seah Kian Peng suggested that each family be limited to one car. The
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\r\nCOEs for a family's second and third cars should be priced much higher. The objective is to have fewer cars on our roads. However, such measures do not go to the heart of the issue. The way to have fewer cars on our roads is to limit the overall growth of the vehicle population through the use of quotas, as our COE system does. Furthermore, our system is already progressive. There are separate COE categories for small cars and big cars, so that buyers of small cars and big cars do not bid against each other. The Additional Registration Fee (ARF) and road tax for cars are also set based on the Open Market Value (OMV) and engine capacity respectively. Hence, purchasers of bigger or more expensive cars pay more in ARF and road tax than other buyers.
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Our COE system should not be further burdened with having to prejudge which families deserve how many cars. Different families come in different sizes and have different needs. The market mechanism is best left to decide this. We will focus on doing all we can to improve our public transport system and make it a choice mode. This will better meet our transport objectives.
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5.00 pm
Mr Chiam See Tong, in his cut, suggested that we waive the ERP charges as has been done in the case of TV and Radio Licences. The ERP charges, Sir, is a not a revenue measure. The ERP charge is a congestion measure: it is to deal with congestion on the roads. It is to help us ensure smooth flowing traffic. By waiving ERP charges, it does not mean that the congestion goes away, it remains there. In fact, when you drive, you get stuck, there is a hidden cost to it. The cost of the fuel spent and the time wasted.
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked whether taxis can be accorded lower ERP charges and
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\r\nbe allowed to travel in bus lanes to ease traffic congestion. ERP charges are meant to help ensure smooth flowing traffic on our roads by managing the demand for driving. Any vehicle that contributes to the congestion is charged the appropriate ERP rate according to how much it contributes to the congestion. Taxis occupy the same road space as cars and are therefore subject to the same ERP rates as cars. This is what ensures that our roads are not gummed up with traffic. Bus lanes should remain limited to buses as it carries far more people than taxis. Bus lanes allow our buses and roads to transport more people more quickly and smoothly, allowing over 26,000 taxis to join in will set this back.
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Mr Seng Han Thong asked if there are any guidelines for setting taxi fares that taxi companies can take reference from to avoid infringing on the anti-competition Act. His suggestion is that the Government considers regulating taxi fares by setting formulae and guidelines like how the Public Transport Council (PTC) regulates public transport fares. Sir, the taxi industry is deregulated. This is because taxis are not like buses and trains. Taxis are not an essential service that most Singaporeans rely upon as their principal means of transport. Taxis are, indeed, closer to private transport. In some ways, it is better than owning your own car as you have a driver who takes care of the driving. The market structure is also different. There are only two basic bus and train operators. This can give them considerable pricing power, which can be abused if left unchecked. In contrast, there are seven taxi companies. Competition helps to keep fares competitive. Like other competitive industries, the taxi industry is subject to regulatory oversight under the Competition Act. Taxi companies are allowed to make individual decisions on fare setting, and the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) will investigate if there is any anti-
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\r\ncompetitive behaviour by taxi companies such as collusion.
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Mr Low Thia Khiang asked why new taxi operator licence (TOL) holders will need a fleet of 400 taxis in the first year and 1,000 taxis in the fourth year for licence renewal. LTA has not made any such decision. It had discussions with industry stakeholders on various ways to raise service quality, including the possibility of adjusting the minimum fleet-size requirement. But no decision has been made and the consultations are ongoing.
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Mr Hri Kumar and Mr Seng Han Thong have asked if we have any plans to raise the standard of taxi services and how this can improve the matching of supply and demand for taxi services. Mr Ong Kian Min mentioned recent complaints on the difficulty in securing call-bookings. As Mr Hri Kumar pointed out call-bookings are an effective way in which demand and supply of taxi services can be better matched in terms of when and where the commuters want it. To improve on call-bookings, LTA will raise the Quality of Service (QoS) standards. LTA monitors these standards on a monthly basis and levies penalties on companies that fail to meet the required standards. Currently, LTA monitors the call-booking performance of taxi companies over three-hour blocks that span the evening peak from 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm on weekdays. LTA will now monitor this performance on an hourly basis to better reflect commuters' experience on the ground. This will motivate taxi companies to improve their operations and be more responsive to the changing demand for taxi services.
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Call-booking demand during the morning peak hours has also increased over the years. Therefore, LTA will also extend the call-booking standards to cover the morning peak period from 6.00 am to 11.00 am during weekdays. These QoS standards will deliver a better call-booking
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\r\nexperience to commuters and will take effect starting October 2011.
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Mr Hri Kumar and Mr Seng Han Thong asked if we have any plans to provide commuters with more information on the service performance of taxi companies and to make fare structure information clearer. LTA believes that such information will enhance competition and benefit commuters. LTA will therefore publish the taxi companies' monthly performance in QoS standards. It will also publish the results of its quarterly Mystery Customer Audit (MCA). This audit surveys the service provided by taxi drivers, such as whether drivers are polite, help with luggage and are familiar with destinations and routes. Commuters will then be able to distinguish taxi companies that provide better service from those that do not. To provide more information on taxi fares for commuters and tourists, LTA will enhance the displays at taxi stands and the Public Transport Information Guide.
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LTA will also continue to conduct regular surveys to monitor passengers' waiting times at selected taxi stands with high demand. These results are published on LTA's website and on the information panels at these taxi stands. This will enable commuters to find out about the average waiting times at these taxi stands when they arrive at the queue so that they can make a more informed decision. These results are also shared with the taxi companies, so that taxi drivers are better aware of the demand conditions.
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LTA will continue to work with the taxi companies and National Taxi Association to review how service in the taxi industry can be further improved to better meet the needs of commuters.
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Mr Chairman, Sir, we launched a slew of measures over the past three years to effect a major transformation to our land transport system. These cover not just big projects like our $60 billion investment to
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\r\ndouble our rail network but also smaller and equally important things like bus route information at every bus stop and parking guidance system in the CBD. We have gone at a hectic pace and have left no stone unturned in our quest to improve our land transport system to ensure a liveable city. In a recent study on Green Cities in Asia by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Singapore's comprehensive, integrated strategy for land transport was highlighted as an exemplar project for transport for others to follow. The study made special mention of measures like increasing public transport mode share, expanding the rail network, integrating rail and bus services, centralising bus planning and controlling vehicle population growth. Sir, these are precisely the measures we have introduced under our Land Transport Master Plan and we will not rest in our pursuit of them.
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The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport (Mr Teo Ser Luck): Sir, our vision for the Land Transport Masterplan (LTMP) is a people-centred land transport system. We realise that with Singapore's changing demographics, our land transport system needs to cater to the accessibility needs of all our people and keep pace with diverse and changing expectations.\r\n\r\n
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal, Mr Hri Kumar and Mr Wee Siew Kim have asked whether our transport system is ready for an ageing population that will become increasingly less mobile. The short answer is that we have made good progress but we will continue to do more. To use a football analogy, the goal posts are always moving and not static, and this is why we will have to refine our strategies to continue to stay in the game and make sure we do not score our own goal.
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We embarked on our effort to improve the barrier-free accessibility of our
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\r\ntransport facilities island-wide in 2005. We did so precisely because we wanted to increase the accessibility of our transport system for the ageing population with more elderly and mobility-impaired persons. We have made good progress over these past five years. All road facilities such as pedestrian walkways and public roads within a 400-metre radius of all MRT and LRT stations have been made barrier-free since 2007. Barrier-free enhancements have also been made to all pedestrian facilities on our major public roads. Ninety-five percent of bus shelters are now barrier-free. The rest will be upgraded later together with future re-development works or when they are due for replacement because of current severe site constraints.
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All new bus interchanges, such as Ang Mo Kio and Boon Lay, have been built with barrier-free facilities. We have also begun upgrading the existing bus interchanges, and the remaining 16 will be barrier-free by 2012. About 40% of our buses are now wheelchair accessible. Seventy-nine Wheelchair Accessible Bus Services are now running. This is a 75% increase from the 45 services a year ago. We are on track for the entire bus fleet to be wheelchair accessible by 2020.
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All our MRT stations are already wheelchair accessible with at least one barrier-free route and wheelchair accessible toilets. By the end of this year, LTA will complete the installation of ramps and additional lifts at 16 MRT stations. The result is that seven in 10 MRT stations will have at least two barrier-free routes.
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Commuters are already seeing the benefits. To give an example, 85-year-old Mdm Wong Lay See was happy to see Khatib Station outfitted with extra ramps. She walks through the station everyday to get to the market. Her son told us that the ramps made a lot of difference to her as she finds her journey safer and more convenient. Her fellow resident, Mdm
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\r\nWoon Eng Say, was also pleased with the change and she is now able to push her nephew's stroller up the ramp on her own. And we are pushing ahead with additional accessibility measures.
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Now, I go on to lifts for pedestrian overhead bridges (POBs) near MRT stations. Er Lee Bee Wah and Mr Charles Chong have requested for lifts at pedestrian overhead bridges, especially those near MRT stations. I hear Mr Charles Chong. We will not leave his residents in the air, and will make sure we have a way to bring them down. And, of course, Er Lee Bee Wah, in particular, has raised this issue for four years as she has stated.
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(In Mandarin): Our MP, Er Lee Bee Wah, over the last four years has been advocating for her residents. Here, I would like to say to her that: do not lose heart. One day, eventually, you will get it.
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(In English): Sir, LTA has completed the feasibility studies and will install lifts on not just one, but six POBs near existing MRT stations. These stations are Aljunied, Bishan, Kranji, Yew Tee, Sengkang and Khatib. The installation of lifts at these POBs are to enhance our public transport network by helping the elderly and less ambulant gain even more convenient access to our MRT stations. These POBs were selected because they are located next to the MRT stations and there are no barrier-free alternatives nearby. We recognise that the elderly and the less mobile prefer at-grade crossings. Hence, lifts are only considered at such POBs next to MRT stations when alternatives such as at-grade crossings or ramps are not feasible. We also take into account the technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the installation of these lifts, including checking the usage levels of the overhead bridges. Members would agree that it is prudent, and that we have to be prudent, that public funds be used wisely and to the best possible effect.
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\r\nLTA will call the tender for the retrofitting works by this year and target to complete the works by 2013.
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We will also be making further improvements to help senior citizens cross our roads more comfortably. LTA conducted a pilot to allow senior citizens to extend the pedestrian \"green time\" at selected signalised pedestrian crossings using their senior citizen CEPAS concession cards. Mdm Khaw Geok Choo is one of the beneficiaries of the pilot. She told us that she was glad to have the lengthened crossing time at one of the pedestrian crossings chosen for the pilot. Elderly persons who make use of the pedestrian crossing at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, near the Ang Mo Kio bus interchange, to access amenities, can do so at a pace more suited for them. With the success of the pilot, I am pleased to announce that we will be rolling out the \"Green Man Plus\" scheme to 500 more pedestrian crossings island-wide starting 2012. On the screens, Members can see how this looks like [indicating slide shown to hon. Members]. The elderly can look forward to a more conducive walking experience at these locations soon and timing can be adjusted to be extended depending on the length of the pedestrian crossing.
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Mr Hri Kumar has asked if there are plans to introduce more at-grade signalised crossings in place of pedestrian overhead bridges. LTA puts in at-grade crossings where possible. However, it also has to factor in the impact on traffic. Where the demand and traffic conditions allow, LTA will explore the provision of traffic light crossings at the road-level.
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5.15 pm
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal and Mr Wee Siew Kim have also asked if our bus services are designed with the elderly in mind. As Minister Raymond Lim mentioned earlier, LTA has now taken
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\r\nover as our Central Bus Planner and this has improved the integration of our public transport network. LTA works closely with the community to understand the specific needs of each neighbourhood, and with the public transport operators to implement route improvements where majority of the commuters will benefit.
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Let me assure Members that the needs of the elderly are important considerations as LTA works towards a public transport network that would become more convenient and have seamless connections for commuters as a whole. For example, LTA will work with the community to find the right balance on issues such as the siting of bus stops and the routing of bus services to best meet the overall needs of the community.
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To Mr Hri Kumar's question on Upper Thomson: our focus is on enhancing our public transport network by allowing the less mobile segments of our society even more convenient access to MRT stations. We selected the pedestrian overhead bridges that are just beside or next to the MRT stations. I understand that LTA has met the grassroots leaders and the MP himself to implement some of the other measures to make sure that the roads are safe for the elderly. Examples of improvements are colour-contrasting continuous pedestrian footways, installing and extending railings in the centre median to discourage jaywalking, making sure that there are additional \"Speed Check\" and \"Slow Traffic\" signs and markings along the road. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the measures and also the situation.
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Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef has raised the concern that encroachments on our public walkways could undermine some of our efforts to improve barrier-free accessibility for pedestrians. Under the Street Works Act and Fire Safety Act,
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\r\npublic walkways have to be kept free of obstructions to enable the smooth passage of pedestrians and to ensure fire safety. LTA and SCDF have a minimum clearance width requirement for such walkways to ensure that articles such as tables, chairs or merchandise placed on our public walkways do not impede accessibility. Over the past three years, LTA has issued an average of 490 notices of offence per year. In addition, LTA also works with other agencies like URA, NEA, SCDF and SPF to carry out joint inspections or enforcement operations in locations where walkway obstructions could also lead to fire safety or public nuisance problems.
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I will now turn to cycling. Mr Ong Kian Min asked for an update on the progress of our National Cycling Plan. He also asked if there were sufficient cycling paths and bicycle parking facilities.
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Sir, cycling is now clearly a transport option and for this reason, we have formulated the National Cycling Plan to cater to our society's growing cycling population. In July last year, I launched the first dedicated cycling path in Tampines Town. Since then, we have launched another cycling path in Taman Jurong. There will be many more to come.
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Response to these cycling paths has been enthusiastic. For example, Mdm Wu Qiaojiao, a 50-year-old Taman Jurong resident interviewed by Zaobao, said, \"It is now more convenient to cycle to the MRT station, which makes cycling feasible as part of the journey to Jurong East Central.\"
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In the coming months, we will launch more new cycling paths in Yishun, Sembawang and Pasir Ris. Our consultations with local communities on their cycling needs have been productive. Their suggestions have helped us refine our plans to better meet residents' needs,
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\r\nresulting in an addition of 15 km of cycling paths to our originally planned cycling path network of 30 km.
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LTA is also working closely with the two new cycling towns of Changi-Simei and Bedok on the provision of cycling paths. By 2014, we expect to have rolled out at least 50 km of cycling paths in the various cycling towns, and a comprehensive network of 16 km of cycling paths in the Marina Bay area. We will also incorporate cycling infrastructure requirements into the development of new towns as well as existing towns that are being re-developed.
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We are also looking into bicycle parking facilities. LTA is working closely with the public transport operators to provide bicycle parking racks within or near transport nodes. LTA recently concluded an on-site usage survey that has helped to identify stations that require additional racks. With this, we will roll out additional bicycle parking racks at 10 MRT stations. These 10 stations are Admiralty, Aljunied, Boon Lay, Chinese Garden, Khatib, Lakeside, Sembawang, Sengkang, Simei and Yishun.
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LTA is also teaming up with other agencies to enhance bicycle parking facilities at other key amenities in our towns. We will pilot these first in a few towns where cycling paths are being built, such as Taman Jurong, Yishun, Pasir Ris and Tampines, to take a more comprehensive approach towards providing bicycle parking facilities.
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Mr Ang Mong Seng have suggested that we reconsider requiring registration and licensing for bicycles, especially motorised bicycles, to allow cyclists and other road users to be protected. Motorised bicycles provide assistance with pedalling. I had spent some time to describe and distinguish between motorised bicycle and pedalling bicycle. I will not go into the details. I
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\r\nwould just say that they are useful to our elderly and those with physical disabilities such as slight knee injuries. For the safety of motorised bicycle riders and other road users, LTA requires motorised bicycles to meet certain technical requirements. These requirements limit motorised bicycles to low-powered models that do not exceed 200 watts. They also need to have similar construction and performance characteristics as conventional pedal bicycles. For example, the electric motor of the approved motorised bicycles can only provide assistance when the rider is pedalling. The motor power must cut off when the bicycle reaches a speed of 25 km per hour or when the rider stops pedalling. So, it stops immediately.
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LTA takes a serious view of offences involving the use of unapproved motorised bicycles on public roads. They have worked with the Traffic Police Department (TP) to ramp up enforcement against offenders. Since the start of this year, LTA has also imposed heavier penalties on cyclists and retailers of unapproved motorised bicycles that do not meet LTA's technical requirements. Most of the fines were doubled. As part of these enforcement efforts, our officers will check that the motorised bicycles have been affixed with an approved LTA seal. Any suspected non-compliance with the stipulated technical requirements of motorised bicycles, such as riders throttling the power source and riding the bicycle without pedalling, will also be checked. A total of 44 offenders were caught for using unapproved motorised bicycles since the penalty regime was enhanced. This is lower than the average monthly figure of 84 in 2010.
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Bicycles, including motorised ones, are not allowed on expressways. Cyclists must not cycle against the flow of traffic or in a manner that would compromise the safety of other road users. Cyclists who cycle in a rash or in a negligent way that endangers the life of pedestrians or other
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\r\nroad users are also liable for prosecution under the Penal Code.
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To introduce a system to mandate bicycle owners to register their bicycles would not be practical. Cyclists would not only have to register their bicycles when they buy them, but also when they sell or give up their bicycles. This would be a rather burdensome process. Personally, I now have four bicycles, and we exchange bicycles all the time between friends and team mates. It is a rather burdensome process. Bicycles were exempted from registration requirements in Singapore in 1982. To re-introduce this would not only be regressive but will also unnecessarily subject bicycle owners to onerous requirements. The Cycling Facilitation Committee (CFC), which I chair, re-examined this issue recently and came to the same conclusion. Within this Committee, we have representatives from different agencies: grassroots leaders, community leaders, bicycle-interest groups and civic groups. And we have come to a conclusion that registration may not be the right way to go about it but we can continuously improve upon infrastructure, increase our efforts on education and also enforcement.
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Sir, developed countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, similarly do not impose registration requirements on conventional pedal bicycles and low-powered motorised bicycles because it is better to focus on improving cycling behaviour, which is more critical from the road safety point of view.
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Mr Ang Mong Seng requested for statistics on the number of accidents involving cyclists in the last two years. There were a total of 569 fatal and injury accidents involving cyclists in 2010. This is down from 592 in 2009. The number of cyclists who died in accidents also
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\r\ndecreased from 17 fatalities in 2009 to 16 in 2010.
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Safety concerns also prompted Dr Lim Wee Kiak to propose that cyclists have to pass a test on traffic rules, and Mr Ong Kian Min to ask if there are plans to discourage cyclists from riding on our main roads.
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To protect the interests of cyclists and other road users, LTA has been working with other stakeholders such as the Traffic Police (TP), Safe Cycling Task Force (SCTF) and local community leaders to shape and promote good cycling behaviour through our public education and enforcement efforts. They have chosen this approach, which I related earlier, as we do want to inadvertently deter them as a formal test might.
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Safe Cycling Clinics will be conducted and some have been conducted in Tampines, and there are plans to replicate them in all the other cycling towns. A Volunteer Cycle Warden Scheme is in place to police any unsafe cycling behaviour at \"hotspots\" such as junctions and bus shelters in Tampines. Similar efforts to educate cyclists have been carried out successfully in Aljunied, Eunos, and Paya Lebar with the support of the local communities and LTA.
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Apart from these efforts, TP has been giving customised talks in schools and at community-level events to provide tips on safe cycling. At these talks, TP shares case studies of traffic accidents involving cyclists and the benefits of using a pre-riding checklist for cyclists. In addition, road safety exhibitions, which provide safety tips for cyclists, have been held at HDB neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces. These teach them about what equipment they need before they cycle: helmet, may be even knee guards, lights, and bicycle rings. Some Members have brought some equipment here to show.
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\r\nSir, LTA will continue to work with the various agencies to promote social graciousness and mutual accommodation among road users through public education and enforcement.
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Sea transport
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Mr Chairman, Sir, as the world increasingly looks towards Asia for trade, Singapore has been quick to capitalise on our strategic position to further develop the maritime industry that supports the world trade.\r\n\r\n
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The Singapore maritime industry is an important part of our Singapore economy contributing approximately 7.5% of our GDP as well as employing over 170,000 people. The cluster comprises more than 5,000 maritime establishments in different sectors such as shipping and port-related, offshore, shipbuilding as well as repair and maritime services.
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What is the Singapore Government doing to promote the growth of the maritime industry here? Singapore was the busiest container port for many years until last year when Shanghai overtook us. Should we be concerned that Shanghai had overtaken Singapore as the world’s busiest container port in 2010?
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I also understand that, with our fast economic recovery, cargo volumes are picking up. Asia’s share of the global shipping market is expected to rise and our maritime sector is poised for growth and diversifications as well. What steps have been taken to meet the manpower needs as well as the space requirement for the maritime industry?
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Marine industry
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Mr Teo Siong Seng (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, Members of Parliament, good afternoon. Speaking as a board member of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, President of the
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\r\nSingapore Shipping Association and Managing Director of a local shipping line, I am glad to note that during the Budget 2011 speech, the Singapore maritime industry contributing 7.5% of our GDP was recognised by our Government as one of the key sectors supporting Singapore's vision to become a Global-Asia Hub. The industry was given some incentives in this year's Budget to realise this vision.\r\n\r\n
\r\n We are happy to note that there will now be certainty of withholding tax exemption for interest payments on loans to build or buy ships without having to apply for it on a case-by-case basis. This is important as ship finance is harder to come by after the last financial crisis. Such a move would also help to grow ship financing activities in Singapore.
5.30 pm
The maritime industry welcomes the new measures aimed at simplifying GST compliance. In particular, we applaud the introduction of a GST scheme to zero-rate supplies of goods to \"approved marine customers\". We also welcome the expansion of the scope of zero-rating of repair and maintenance services of ship parts and components, without having to maintain the requisite documentary proof for GST relief. This is in line with the treatment enjoyed by the aerospace industry.
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Not only will this allow the industry to optimise its human resources and reduce GST compliance cost, it will also raise productivity and facilitate the development of the marine supply and repair businesses.
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\r\n Initiated to attract new ship operators to Singapore, the Maritime Sector Incentive (MSI) is only valid for five years and cannot be renewed, unlike the 10 years of tax benefits offered by the existing Approved International Shipping
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\r\nEnterprise (AIS) scheme. We understand that this is based on the assumption that, before the end of the fifth year, these companies will have grown in size so as to qualify for the main AIS tax incentive.
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However, the past two years have shown that shipping is heavily dependent on the health of the global economy. If the companies are marginally unable to meet the AIS criteria, could some form of grace period be given?
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I would also like to raise the following issues which were not included in the 2011 Budget Statement, but are of great concern to our maritime industry.
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\r\n First, is the funding for green initiatives. In terms of CO2 emissions per tonne of cargo transported per mile, shipping is the most efficient form of commercial transport. However, this efficiency does not come cheap.
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From the industry perspective, we strongly encourage that, instead of simply relying on punitive measures, regulators should also provide additional incentives for responsible shipowners who are willing to invest in new measures aimed to further reduce pollution from ships. As such, for those shipowners who are willing to be early adopters of new technologies, may I suggest some form of port dues concession like operators of \"green ships\" get to enjoy in Hong Kong.
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Next an EXIM Bank for shipping. In my speech during my cut on the Ministry of Finance yesterday, I advocated setting up an EXIM Bank in Singapore to develop Singapore as an International Maritime Centre. I hope this would be given due consideration in view of the importance of the maritime sector.
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\r\n Overall, I am pleased to note that the Government has taken a positive note of
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\r\nthe maritime industry's wish list and proposals have been incorporated in the Budget Statement. This is also a testament of the close cooperation between the public and private sectors to propel our economy forward. I hope that these initiatives can be implemented quickly, smoothly and with clarity, especially when there is inter-Ministry work involved, so that the business climate in Singapore remains conducive for shipping companies to compete internationally and strengthen our position as an international maritime centre.
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Air services liberalisation
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I strongly believe that open and free trade is beneficial for our businesses, consumers and economy as a whole.\r\n\r\n
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I am pleased to note that we have adopted a liberal air services policy, as demonstrated in our active role in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and our membership in the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalisation of International Air Transportation.
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I understand that under Singapore's chairmanship of the APEC Small Group, we have advocated for more competitive air services with fair and equitable opportunity for all member countries. We have played our part to facilitate many APEC economies liberalise their air services at their own pace. We also urge economies worldwide to consider maximising the opportunities for air services liberalisation.
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It widely known that the Asia-Pacific is now the world's largest air travel market with immense potential for further growth and development. I would like to ask the Minister what the Government is doing to ensure that Changi Airport and our carriers are able to tap on the growing air transport market in our region. In
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\r\naddition, what are the Ministry's future plans in air services liberalisation, especially among countries in ASEAN?
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Aviation industry development
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Mr Charles Chong: Sir, Singapore aspires to be an aviation industry hub. Could the Minister tell us how is the Government supporting the growth of the aviation industry in Singapore? What is the Government doing to ensure that the aviation industry in Singapore continues to have a steady pool of talent and manpower so as to remain competitive globally?\r\n\r\n
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Sir, last year the Government announced the establishment of an Aviation Development Fund. A budget of $100 million was allocated to this fund over a five-year period from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2015. Could the Minister tell us how much of this $100 million has already been dispersed to the industry since 1st April last year? And what are some of the projects that have received funding from the Aviation Development Fund?
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Seletar Airport
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I understand that the international visitor arrival to Singapore hit the highest ever recorded figure for the month of January. Based on a recovering and improving economy as well as the continuing success of our Integrated Resorts and Singapore's attractiveness for the Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) sector, I believe that this trend will continue spurring greater growth in the tourist and services sector. Within this growing trend, an equal number of the rich and high rollers follow. I understand that a segment of these international visitors use the Seletar Airport in their trip to Singapore. \r\n\r\n
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Sir, I would like to know how has the air traffic at Seletar Airport grown over
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\r\nthe years. Which segments of the society or industry are currently patronising its services? Is the current state of the facilities and amenities at Seletar Airport able to meet the needs of the clients? What are the future plans of the Ministry for Seletar Airport and the area close to it?
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Budget Terminal
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Mr Charles Chong: Sir, the number of passengers carried by full-service carriers to Changi Airport has shown a very marginal decline, from 33.1 million passengers in 2008 to 32.6 million last year. However, the number of passengers flown by low cost carriers has more than doubled over the same period, from 4.6 million in 2008 to 9.4 million last year. Despite the increase in the number of budget carriers operating from the Budget Terminal, some major budget carriers continue to operate from Terminal 1. Could the Minister tell us the possible reasons for this situation and what is being done to improve the facilities and the services at the Budget Terminal, especially for passengers transferring to flights to and from the main terminals?\r\n
The Chairman: Dr Ahmad Magad is not here. Mr Charles Chong.
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Civil aviation safety
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Mr Charles Chong: Sir, could the Minister provide us with an update on Singapore's compliance to Annex 6 of the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) standard and recommended practices? Annex 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation requires states to mandate implementation of safety management systems by air operators and maintenance organisations by January 2009. While CAAS can and has mandated their air operators in aviation, maintenance organisations under its jurisdiction to implement adequate safety management
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\r\nsystems, could the Minister tell us what measures are being put in place to ensure that foreign air operators operating aircraft into Singapore air space comply with safety measures and airworthiness standards that would not endanger the travelling public and the larger population?
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The Second Minister for Transport (Mrs Lim Hwee Hua): Mr Chairman, Sir, I will now address the cuts raised by Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Mr Teo Siong Seng, and I thank them for their interest in the maritime sector.\r\n\r\n
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked about the competitiveness of the Singapore port. I am pleased to inform Members that our port performed well in 2010. We retained our positions as the world's busiest port by vessel arrival tonnage and the world's top bunkering port, setting records in both vessel arrival tonnage and bunker sales.
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The growth was felt Asia-wide. Many other Asian ports similarly experienced a robust recovery in container volumes last year. Dr Lim asked about Shanghai overtaking Singapore as the world's busiest container port, a position that we had held since 2005. Sir, this is not surprising given China's strong domestic growth. As China's import and export volumes increase, we can expect Shanghai and the other gateway ports in China to continue to expand in tandem. Shanghai's pole position was not achieved at Singapore's expense. In fact, China's prosperity will continue to be a plus for us as a significant portion of our container volumes comes from or goes to destinations in China. As a major transhipment hub, Singapore is well placed to capture the growing trade volumes of not just China, but the rest of Asia as well. This is borne out by the 10% rise in our container volumes last year.
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Column: 4252
\r\nThe port constitutes a major part of our maritime services sector. Hence, we will continue to direct efforts at fostering a vibrant maritime services cluster. Today, there are about 110 major shipping groups and over 5,000 maritime-related companies operating in Singapore, employing more than 170,000 people and contributing about 7.5% of GDP. Industry-led initiatives like the Singapore Ship Sale Form have placed Singapore firmly on the international maritime law map. Indeed, Singapore has become a natural point of confluence for the international maritime community to exchange ideas, gather intelligence and do deals. This congregation has added considerable buzz to Singapore as an International Maritime Centre.
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\r\n Looking ahead, our maritime industry will continue to benefit from Asia's growth but we remain watchful for uncertainties that may threaten the maritime industry. Meanwhile, it is essential that we continue to invest in our port and maritime services sectors.
\r\n Sir, to sustain our hub port leadership and to accommodate future growth, we are pressing ahead with the expansion of the Pasir Panjang Terminals. Beyond Pasir Panjang, we will explore if longer-term needs could be met at Tuas. To enhance navigational safety in and around Singapore's waters, we will also launch a new Port Operations Control Centre at Changi.
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To further promote Singapore as the location of choice for ship owners and maritime service providers, we are continually developing new initiatives to meet their needs. I thank Mr Teo for his positive feedback on the recently announced Maritime Sector Incentive and the enhanced GST zero-rating scheme for marine supplies. We will certainly look into his suggestions on how to enhance our schemes further to make sure that they are relevant to the industry.
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\r\n Sir, when we discussed the MOF budget yesterday, I responded to Mr Teo's suggestion of an EXIM bank to support the maritime sector. In the meantime, I am assured that both the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore will continue to promote the growth of our shipping finance companies through the Maritime Finance Incentive, certainty in withholding tax treatment in the recently-launched Maritime Sector Incentive and other finance-related schemes. Today, there are more than 20 banks in Singapore with a shipping finance portfolio. We will continue to attract more of such banks to Singapore to serve the needs of the maritime industry.\r\n\r\n
\r\n I agree too with Mr Teo that as a responsible port and member of the international community, Singapore must do its part to protect the marine environment. The Government has supported research and development (R&D) projects on clean energy and fuel cell technology through our S$100 million Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund. We will continue to explore more ways to promote green shipping, including the possibility of providing incentives to early adopters of green shipping technology.
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As the maritime sector grows and diversifies, I agree with Dr Lim that demand for maritime professionals will increase. Besides going to sea, there are actually many exciting shore-based careers in ship-broking, maritime law and banking. We are therefore working closely with companies and tertiary institutions to enhance maritime education and raise awareness of these maritime career opportunities. Last September, we launched the Singapore Maritime Institute to groom maritime talent and to drive maritime R&D. MPA also has a suite of manpower development schemes to encourage investment in human capital.
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\r\nSir, the Government remains committed to the growth of the maritime sector. We will continue to nurture our close partnership with the industry and the unions to entrench Singapore as a leading International Maritime Centre.
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Let me now go on to the cuts in aviation.
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5.45 pm
Sir, let me once again thank Members for their interest in the aviation sector. I will begin by providing an update on the state of our air hub. Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim enquired about plans to tap on the growing air transport market and air services liberalisation and Mr Charles Chong has asked about low cost carriers and the Budget Terminal.
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Changi Airport recovered strongly from the global economic downturn that adversely affected the international aviation industry in 2008 and much of 2009. In 2010, Changi Airport handled a record 42 million passengers, or a robust 13% year-on-year growth. This is buoyed by a combination of the economic recovery, air services liberalisation, as well as increased tourism to Singapore. The airport handled over 1.8 million tonnes of cargo, representing a rise of 11%. Looking ahead, we expect traffic growth to moderate, in line with the International Air Transport Association’s projection of global long-term annual growth of about 5% to 6%.
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Sir, our air hub continues to benefit from our pursuit of Open Skies. We now have Air Services Agreements with more than 100 countries, of which more than a third are Open Skies Agreements. Such liberalisation has facilitated the commencement of new services at Changi Airport such as Singapore Airlines’ upcoming passenger service to Sao Paulo
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\r\nwhich represents Singapore’s first scheduled air link to South America. The nine new foreign carriers which commenced operations at Changi Airport in 2010 will continue to add vibrancy to our air hub.
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The expansion of our bilateral air services arrangements with countries like Malaysia and the Philippines has led to a surge in the number of short-haul services to Changi. Low cost carriers (LCCs) have flourished with the opening of such regional sectors. This has benefited the travelling public in terms of wider travel options and more competitive air fares.
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At the multilateral level, Singapore plays an active role at various fora to facilitate greater people and trade flows through air services liberalisation. As noted by Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal, we are party to the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberation of International Air Transportation (MALIAT) which was initiated by APEC member economies as a path-finder agreement for international open skies arrangements. We have also worked closely with ASEAN member states to bring about air services liberisation within the region and with ASEAN's key dialogue partners. A new Multilateral Agreement, signed by ASEAN Transport Ministers last November, extends unlimited passenger access beyond the ASEAN capitals to all ASEAN cities. This brings ASEAN-wide open skies closer to reality. The ASEAN-China Air Transport Agreement was also concluded last year, paving the way for a liberal air services regime between ASEAN and China. The agreement is the first of its kind and sets the stage for similar agreements to be concluded with other ASEAN dialogue partners, such as India and South Korea.
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Sir, we will press on with our liberalisation efforts. Only then can we
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\r\ncontinue to enhance our air hub status and fully tap the potential of the fast-growing Asia-Pacific air travel market.
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Let me now touch on the Budget Terminal (BT). Given the growth opportunities ahead, we will continue to enhance Changi’s passenger facilities. In addition to the ongoing $500 million upgrading of Terminal 1 that will be completed by 2012, there are plans to expand the BT in the next two years.
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\r\n We are thus well-positioned to welcome more LCCs to Changi. As Mr Charles Chong has pointed out, not all LCCs operate out of the BT. While cost is a key consideration, there are other factors that shape the airlines’ choice of terminals to operate from. For example, some LCCs may prefer operating at the main terminals to facilitate flight connections for their passengers.
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For passengers transferring from a flight at the BT to another at the main terminals, there is a free 24-hour shuttle bus service that plies at regular intervals between the BT and Terminal 2. While such transfers between the BT and the main terminals are a relatively new trend and the numbers are still small, we expect them to increase in tandem over time with the growth of LCCs. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is thus working with the airport operator, Changi Airport Group, and other stakeholders to study ways of enhancing connectivity between the BT and the main terminals, for the convenience of passengers.
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Sir, in addition to ensuring that we cater to the evolving needs of our air hub at Changi, we will need to sustain developmental efforts for the wider aviation industry. Let me highlight some of the initiatives that we have introduced to support the growth of Singapore as an aviation hub, a question which was raised by Mr Charles Chong.
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\r\nFirst, the Aviation Development Fund (ADF). In April 2010, CAAS launched the $100 million ADF. To date, more than half of the ADF funds have already been allocated to three incentive programmes, namely the Aviation Partnership Programme, the Aviation Innovation Programme and the Aviation Manpower Programme. These programmes support initiatives by local companies to raise productivity, promote innovation, grow talent, and enhance the competitiveness of the industry.
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Projects that have received ADF grants so far include the development of new capabilities for the repair of aircraft engines and the setting up of Southeast Asia’s first flammability test lab. Funding has also been provided to encourage the adoption of quality management systems by local aerospace companies. Such projects are estimated to generate more than $20 million of direct value-add over five years.
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Earlier this month, CAAS also launched the Process Innovation Challenge to encourage productivity improvements in work processes. Local aviation companies with qualifying projects could receive grants of up to $50,000. By supporting the innovative spirit of the industry, we hope to boost the quality and productivity of our aviation companies.
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Sir, the past year also saw several noteworthy enhancements to Changi Airport’s airfreight-handling capabilities. For example, the SATS Coolport is Asia’s first on-airport perishables handling facility, while the Singapore Freeport is Asia’s first and the world’s largest dedicated facility for art collectibles. These specialised facilities will enable our airlines and airfreight partners to better tap the evolving and increasingly sophisticated needs of the Asia-Pacific market. Looking ahead, the opening of the Air Cargo Express (ACE) hub in 2012
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\r\nwill enable air express companies to use Singapore even more effectively as a gateway to serve the Asia-Pacific market.
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Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faisal asked about the Seletar Airport. Like Changi, Seletar Airport's traffic was also affected by the global economy downturn in 2009. We are now seeing a gradual return to pre-crisis levels with the 16% growth in passenger traffic last year. Seletar Airport also serves the wider aviation industry. Our ongoing efforts to develop Seletar will therefore help to spur further traffic growth.
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Seletar Airport and its surrounding areas are being transformed as part of a multi-agency effort to develop Singapore into a leading hub for aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Singapore is currently already among Asia’s largest and most comprehensive MRO hubs. The phased development of Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP) from 2007 to 2018 will strategically put in place infrastructure to secure a good share of the huge growth potential for aerospace MRO in Asia. The SAP will also help to attract aviation-related design and manufacturing centres. I am happy to report that industry response to the SAP has been good. Seventy-five percent of the land in Phase 1 and 2 have already been spoken for, with infrastructure works for Phase 3 slated to begin next year.
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Sir, I also want to inform Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal that we would want to develop Seletar into a regional business aviation hub. The prospects for business aviation are promising, given Asia’s strong growth momentum. Business aviation will complement our strength in commercial aviation and provide further depth to Singapore’s value proposition as a major air hub.
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\r\nThe upgrading of Seletar Airport is therefore critical to our plans. We are in the midst of major upgrading works at the airport, which will be fully completed in 2014. These include extending the existing runway to accommodate larger aircraft, constructing additional taxiways and aircraft parking areas, as well as implementing a new landing system for flight operations, even in low visibility conditions. Next-generation air traffic control facilities, including a new control tower, will also be put in place. To date, about a third of these works have been completed. When fully developed, Seletar will inject new vibrancy to the aviation sector in Singapore.
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Manpower is an important issue. Having the right infrastructure is important, but ensuring a ready pool of competent human capital is even more important. We will intensify efforts to attract talent and develop our workforce to support the aviation industry. In addition to student outreach efforts, CAAS will be launching an industry scholarship programme later this year to attract top polytechnic graduates to the sector.
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To groom the next generation of industry leaders, we will also provide more opportunities for professional development. For example, CAAS collaborated with the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to launch a Masters in Business Administration in Aviation programme in February this year.
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Sir, let me now move on to an important area – which is that of civil aviation safety, for which Mr Charles Chong has raised some queries. Singapore’s strength as an air hub is predicated on the safety record of our air transport system. We remain firmly committed to ensuring the safety of the travelling public and aircraft operations in
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\r\nSingapore. This is even more critical as traffic volume expands at Changi.
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To this end, CAAS ensures that Singapore’s safety regulations and procedures comply with and, where practicable, exceed the standards and recommended practices set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), including Annex 6 of ICAO’s standards and recommended practices referred to by Mr Charles Chong. The regulations and procedures govern almost every aspect of civil aviation carried out in Singapore, including aircraft airworthiness and flight operations, airport operations, the provision of air navigation services, aircraft maintenance, and the training and licensing of aviation personnel. CAAS also takes proactive steps to ensure the safety of foreign carriers that operate to Singapore. For example, there is an existing system of inspections to check on the airworthiness of these aircraft and the qualifications of their flight crew.
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Our safety regime is regularly reviewed and updated to incorporate international best practices and to address new safety issues. In August 2010, Singapore was audited under the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme and was found by ICAO to be effective in all aspects of our safety oversight functions. This is testament to the strong commitment of CAAS and the various stakeholders in ensuring the safety of the travelling public.
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However, a strict safety regulatory regime cannot guarantee that there will never be any aviation incident. What CAAS has done is to put in place procedures to handle aircraft in distress, so as to minimise risk to life and property in the air and on the ground, such as assisting aircraft in distress to keep clear of populated areas, and guiding them to an eventual safe landing. The rigour and effectiveness of these procedures were clearly demonstrated during the A380
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\r\naircraft engine failure incident last year. All the stakeholders, including the flight crew, air traffic control and emergency services responded effectively and the aircraft landed safely in Changi. By acting in accordance with established contingency plans, the risk to people on the ground at any time was well managed and not significant.
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Singapore’s aviation safety record has thus far been exemplary. Members should be assured that CAAS will continue to work closely with all stakeholders to continually enhance the safety of civil aviation in Singapore.
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Sir, Singapore celebrates 100 years of aviation history this year. We have come a long way since Singapore witnessed her first flight at the Old Race Course at Farrer Park in 1911. Even as we commemorate the centennial milestone, we remain committed to securing Singapore’s position as a leading aviation hub in the long term. We will continue to work in close partnership with key industry stakeholders to build on our strengths as an aviation hub.
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The Chairman: There is some time for clarifications. Dr Lim.
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6.00 pm
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Sir, I would like to assure Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo that many Members of this House know what a pedestrian crossing look like and we do walk around our estates and we are walking every day.\r\n\r\n
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I have four clarifications for the Minister. First of all is on the electronic information display board at the bus stops. Currently, it is available at some bus stops and this is very useful. You know there are many requests to roll this out islandwide. Will there be a day where we will see all our bus stops fitted with electronic display units to tell us what time, in real-time, the next bus is arriving?
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\r\nIf the Ministry cannot do it for all bus stops now, then maybe for the more popular bus stops, including those in Sembawang and Yishun.
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Second: taxi surcharges. It is very confusing for all of us. I know that if I need to perform a surgery, the Ministry of Health would like me to counsel my patient and present all the charges before treatment and my patient has to agree. Likewise, is it possible for taxi drivers, if I tell them my desired destination, to tell me from the very beginning when I board the taxi, what the estimated charges will be because there are ERP charges, there are other surcharges and so on? So, regardless of whether I am a local or a tourist, when I board the taxi, I have a mental picture of how much I am paying, and I would not be ripped off. I hope that will be instituted.
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Next, I would like to ask Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo regarding lifts that will be installed at the overhead bridges. Will this be maintained by the LTA, or will this be maintained by the Town Councils?
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Last of all, the cycling issue. Hon. Member Mr Ang Mong Seng has shown that there were four cases of fatality in the month of January but Senior Parliamentary Secretary quoted over 500 cases per month. I was quite shocked by the numbers. It means there are at least one to two cases of serious injury, or even death, per day. Is that not serious enough for MOT to do something about cycling safety? Will MOT consider licensing or mandatory education for all cyclists? I would like the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to do a random survey on all cyclists now to see how much they know about traffic rules in the first place.
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Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: I think the first question the Member raised was the real-time bus arrival information, and
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\r\nwhether we could proliferate it to all the bus stops in Singapore. I am speaking from memory, so I may be off here. We have about 3,600 bus stops. What LTA has done is to look at usage, that is how many people use the bus stops and the flow in deciding where to put this bus arrival information. I am not sure whether Sembawang and Yishun qualify but we will have a look at this. What is important is that we should have multiple platforms to deliver this information. My children get it on the mobile phone – there is a service which you can use. You can also go on to the Internet, find the website and you can find the bus arrival information. Intelligent Route Information System (IRIS) is one such example, the Member is right. Individuals can also go to the Journey Planners websites. We will try to proliferate this. I think the Member has made an important point. The more information people have, the better they can manage their time, thus lower the frustration level in waiting for buses.\r\n\r\n
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On taxi surcharges: this has been de-regulated but the LTA will work closely with the operators to see how best to get this done. I accept the Member's point. The Member is saying that it is better if the person knows exactly what the different charges are before the person boards the taxi. If we could get the information panels up, a commuter would know exactly what the different charges are. It would help, so, we will look into that.
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Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, the Member asked about lifts on pedestrian overhead bridges. LTA is working with operators on the costs of maintenance, so it is not the Town Councils that will pay. I am also glad to know that the Member walks across pedestrian crossings.\r\n\r\n
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Cycling safety. I share Dr Lim Wee Kiak's sentiments and concerns because I
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\r\ncycle very often on the road. I have lost quite a few friends and that is why I set up a Safe Cycling Taskforce a few years ago that now plays an active role in conducting cycling clinics. There is not going to be a \"finish line\". It is a continuous effort, taking a multiple-pronged appoach, improving infrastructure, enforcement and a lot of education.
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Registration is an administrative process, we all know that. We can do the registration but as Members know, it is not practical to put number plates on some bicycles. It is the responsibility of both the cyclists and motorists on the road. We must learn to accommodate one another, have that kind of cycling culture in place. It is a continuous effort. There are some improvements today. We are continuously conducting clinics and education sessions on having a checklist of equipment, what to do, and what kind of behaviour to observe on the road. We want to make sure that cyclists are not reckless on the road; they must obey traffic rules, not go against traffic flow, and motorists must accommodate them. It is a road safety campaign that focuses especially on cycling safety on the road. I urge Members to consider implementing these clinics within their towns and we will fully support them.
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Mr Ang Mong Seng: Mr Chairman, in my maiden speech on the Budget debate, I did appeal to the Government to consider reducing the road tax by 20%, seeing that more and more ERP gantries are being installed on the roads. I would like the Minister to respond to this.\r\n
Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: I think the better approach to help Singaporeans cope with the cost-of-living pressures is that which has been outlined by the Finance Minister. That is, instead of trying to bring specific costs down, it is better to give help on the income front. And so, the Member should look at the package that the Finance Minister has
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\r\nannounced, for example, the Growth Dividends, the Workfare Income Supplement and so on. This is a bettter approach because if we make increases on the income side, then we leave it to the individual to decide how best to spend the money, rather than to target specific items such as road tax or other expenditure items.\r\n
Mr Charles Chong: Sir, I would like to thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for his assurance that my residents will not be left in the air when they use the overhead bridge across Sengkang East Way. I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to give me an indication when they can be expected to be brought down to earth in these lifts or escalators.\r\n
Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, we will have the lifts on pedestrian overhead bridges for the six different locations by 2013. We will ensure that we do not leave them in the air.\r\n
Assoc. Prof. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, with regard to the Central Bus Planning, I like to ask the Minister, what is the time-frame that grassroots leaders and residents can expect to wait. I understand that LTA staff has gone down to meet the grassroots leaders and residents, but yet, not much has been done. They are waiting and waiting. Can the Minister give us a time-frame? The elderly, in particular, would like to see more inter-connectivity at different estates so they can move about and still able to enjoy their lives.\r\n
Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: Sir, we have already started implementation in January. It is an ongoing process. I would just like to stress that it is not as though we have done this one-off exercise and that was it. This has to be on a continual basis because needs change, travel patterns might change. We did the first
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\r\nfour in January. I am not sure whether any bus services were affected in the Member's ward but we would have sent him an advisory, explaining whether any changes would be taking place in this particular exercise.\r\n\r\n
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We can understand that most people would like direct connectivity. When we do planning, LTA and the public transport operators really have to decide at the margins because the resources are scarce. Do we put in the extra resources to create a new direct service, or do we put the extra resources in enhancing an existing service where we might have a transfer element in it? These are the things we have to balance. Sometimes, the reason why we cannot give a direct service is because those resources might be better used in one where there is a transfer service. So, residents might still have the bus service to connect from point A to point B, but they might need to make a transfer. We are working on making transfers as seamless as possible so they will be convenient.
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The Chairman: No further clarifications? Dr Lim.
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Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Mr Chairman, Sir, over the last three hours, we have covered land to sea to air and back to land again. Certainly, we are very happy to hear the good news that for the MRT system, the capacity and the number of train trips will be ramped up. I hope that the Ministry will monitor closely the response on the ground and, hopefully, my residents will get their trains earlier.\r\n\r\n
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The vision that is spelt out in the Land Transport Master Plan is one that all Singaporeans look forward to. We do have an excellent public transport system and infrastructure but I know that the Ministry will not rest on their laurels and they will continue to work hard towards achieving it.
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\r\nOn behalf of the GPC as well as the Members of the House, let me just thank Minister Raymond Lim, Minister Lim Hwee Hua as well as Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck for the comprehensive answers they have given to all the issues. We would also like to express our thanks to the men and women in MOT as well as LTA, as well as the sea and air transport sections for keeping our traffic flowing and, thereby, keeping us flowing.
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With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
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Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
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The sum of $475,476,300 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.
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The sum of $3,981,835,900 for Head W ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.
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\t\t\t\t\r\n\r\n
Head P – Ministry of Home Affairs
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National security and organised crime
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Mr Alvin Yeo (Hong Kah): Sir, I beg to move,\r\n\r\n
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That the total sum to be allocated for Head P of the Estimates be reduced by $100.
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2010 was a milestone year in many respects for the Ministry. The terrorist threat continued to rear its ugly head as terrorists went on trial in the United States and India
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while deadly bombings occurred in different parts of Asia and the Middle East. Closer to home, we have the recapture of Mas Selamat and his subsequent repatriation to Singapore. With further information garnered from his interrogation, three of his relatives were convicted for harbouring him during his escape.
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Last year also saw the opening of the two Integrated Resorts, amidst much fanfare and publicity. While the Integrated Resorts were rightfully credited with giving our tourism numbers a significant boost, the spectre of organised crime always looms over any gaming industry, lured by the potential profits from legal moneylending, prostitution, drugs and other attendant vices. These pose challenges on the security and crime prevention fronts.
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Taking up the issue of national security first, one of the questions raised by the conviction of Mas Selamat's relatives for harbouring him was whether the message of vigilance against the terrorist threat was being taken seriously by the public or whether we have become complacent in assuming, because a terrorist incident has not occurred in Singapore for decades, that it never would. While the actions of the three relatives were rightfully attributed to misguided family loyalties, the same could not be said for the simulated Time Square incident. Hundreds of passersby walked past the car that was packed with suspicious-looking items and belching smoke. But only a tiny fraction of them took the trouble to alert the authorities. All in all, it was a sad indictment of the culture of complacency or, perhaps, apathy of our own people.
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How does our Ministry cope with this disturbing state of affairs? This is critical because no matter how well-prepared and well-equipped our security forces, there is no way they can absolutely prevent a terrorist incident without the full support and cooperation of the public. If such an incident does occur, it is only through the strength and unity of our people that we will overcome the setback.
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I hope the Minister can outline how we can better inculcate a sense of
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\r\nalertness in our people and the public spiritedness to come forward, or building the resilience of our societal bonds to withstand a racially-charged incident. I know that it is not an easy task to achieve and that the authorities have been trying to do this for sometime now. But it is too important for us to let up on it now.
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Turning now to the threat of organised crime. This is commonly thought to be pervasive in gaming centres around the world. Once organised crime is entrenched, the syndicates are notoriously difficult to dislodge as they spread their tentacles into different strata of society and even go to the extent of using legitimate businesses and fronts to launder their ill-gotten gains.
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Our crime agencies have had a distinguished record in stamping out the secret societies of old and other forms of organised crime in the past. But this poses a new threat as the international criminal syndicates are far more sophisticated and far better funded than the local gangs of the past. I hope the Ministry will make this priority for our crime investigation agencies going forward, and that the Minister will update us on the steps being taken to guard against the menace of organised crime.
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Community dispute resolution
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Mr Hri Kumar Nair: Sir, the Police Force has reported a growing number of people who treat the emergency hotline \"999\" as their first port of call, even for trivial matters or community or family disputes. The Police has said that it would be more selective in how it responds, giving priority to serious law and order cases. It is difficult to argue against this. Resources are limited. But this creates frustrations on the ground as calls are not attended to, or attended to quickly.\r\n\r\n
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The problem is many people do not know who else to turn to if they need
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\r\nassistance especially if they considered it urgent. It has been suggested that neighbour or family disputes, for example, be directed to the Community Mediation Centres (CMCs) instead. However, this option is not viable. It is not immediate, it lacks enforcement powers, it requires both parties to agree to mediate and further legal proceedings are required in order to enforce any settlement arrived at. Could the Minister look into the possibilities of establishing a body to step into this bridge or empowering existing agencies to do so? Such a body must have powers of enforcement. For example, in the United Kingdom, local authorities are given extensive powers to deal with noise nuisances and impose sanctions. Unless a more convenient and effective option is available, \"999\" will continue to be the first port of call for many.
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Public security
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Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast): Sir, ask any tourist or foreigner who has visited or stayed in Singapore for sometime and they would tell you that safety and security in Singapore is one of the chief reasons that they stayed or enjoyed their visits here. \r\n\r\n
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More importantly, Sir, amongst the criteria of well-developed infrastructures, a stable economy and a political environment, an efficient Civil Service and business-friendly facilities, global MNCs also cite safety and security as reason for them to inject billions of dollars of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) here.
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Our citizens would be the first to tell their friends that the safety and security that many of us take for granted is often contrasted to the places they have travelled to. Our Home Team has been doing a good job in tackling crimes and inter-agency co-operations have kept up our branding as a safe and secured place.
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\r\nWith a highly porous border, it is indeed a challenge in the control and patrol of these points. Twelve billion tourists visited us last year. More than 20,000 travelled to work daily from two of our land border checkpoints. We have been reminded many times that, in today's security climate, Singapore is a prized target for terrorists. Being a small and densely-populated island of six million, health pandemics can cripple our economy, lapses in food security can cause the population untold misery, and border security breaches would certainly unsettle our people.
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Sir, is our resident population aware of these concerns and, if so, to what degree? What is the top security concern of our citizens in terms of public safety and security? Is there a survey done on how our citizens would react to threats or acts of terrorism or health pandemics? What are MHA's measures to understand the public security concerns? Would there be a survey of public security concerns being planned for?
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Anti-terrorism measures
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Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mr Chairman, Sir, the Home Team has been successful in preventing a terrorist attack in Singapore so far. However, this has led Singaporeans and Singapore residents to take our country's safety for granted. We need to innovate to ensure that Singaporeans and Singapore residents are constantly on their guard against a catastrophic attack on Singapore soil. We need to organise more \"dummy exercises\" in town, in our heartlands and on our public transport. Instead of an ad hoc schedule, periodic exercises should be organised to ensure that everyone is familiar with the process of identifying potential danger, alerting the relevant agencies and personnel, evacuation
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\r\nand also that everybody has the ability to react on the scene to save lives.\r\n\r\n
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Second, I would like to ask the Minister if our security and law enforcement professionals are periodically updated on the latest development in counter-terrorism strategies and technology. How often do they go for courses and theoretical, practical and physical training?
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Thirdly, going forward, we need to see how our infrastructure and public facilities can be improved in their design and structure to deal with catastrophic attacks and minimise injuries and fatalities, for example, having designated evacuation sites near the buildings.
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Terrorism
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Mr Hri Kumar Nair: Sir, we live in an age where news of terrorist attacks around the world no longer surprise or shock us. Singapore has escaped thus far, but we know that we are on the terrorists' radar, and it would be naive to believe that we will always be safe.\r\n\r\n
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We all agree that we have to remain vigilant. We have to accept some sacrifices and inconveniences in favour of security. Perhaps, the best example of this inconvenience is the increased security checks we face whenever we cross the border or get onboard an airplane. But there are some lines people will find difficult to cross. The best example of this was the fierce debate in the United States when their Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stepped up their airport screening measures using invasive see-through scanners and extensive pat-down procedures which some have called legalised molestation. The result is not only a public that is angry and unhappy, but higher costs and longer waiting times.
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\r\nBut without more invasive procedures, how would our officers detect new types of devices which terrorists may bring onboard our aircraft or new methods of doing so? One cannot but feel the security services are always a step behind. We had to remove shoes after the shoe bomber. Then, new checks were implemented after the underwear bomber. And further, it does not appear that Singapore has taken the checks to the same degree as, for example, the Americans, while I had been through other airports where checks were perfunctory. What is a reasonable level of security checks?
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I would like to ask the Minister where Singapore stands on this issue. How do we balance between protecting our people and borders and yet allow the flow of people and goods which are the lifeblood of our economy? What assurance do we have that our checks are rigorous enough to ensure the safety of travellers?
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The Chairman: Ms Sylvia Lim, please take your three cuts together.
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Brain drain from Police Force
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Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, I will be speaking on two cuts. First, brain drain from the Police Force. There are currently good career prospects for security professionals in Singapore. More business activity has meant more corporate security positions to be filled. In particular, the Integrated Resorts (IRs), with the casinos, require highly skilled and experienced security staff and have been aggressive in their recruitment.\r\n\r\n
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I understand that quite a number of Police officers have resigned to take up jobs in the IRs, lured by significantly higher monthly pay. Has Police management been tracking this phenomenon? Can the Ministry give an indication of the numbers and experience of those who left? Is there a concern that we are losing valuable experience in our state Police? Has there
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\r\nbeen any response from Police management or the Ministry to confront this issue?
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Gangs in prisons
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Next, gangs in prisons. It is now known that people with gang affiliations will end up in prisons. It is also likely that gang members are recruited within prison walls.
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Ten years ago, our Prisons Department implemented its zero-tolerance policy towards gangs in prisons where those found to be engaging in gang activities would be charged, segregated and punished. In 2009, the Gang Renunciation Programme (GRP) was added. Under GRP, gang leaders and members, who are assessed to be serious about leaving gangs, will be prepared and facilitated to renounce their gang membership in front of the prison population. According to Prisons Department's released data, as at 30th December 2009, 80 inmates have gone through GRP and renounced their affiliations publicly.
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I have come across academic papers where ground research has shown that certain gangs like Omega are still active in prisons and active in recruiting members from within the prisons, often along racial lines. I would like to ask the Ministry the following:
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(a) Does Prisons Department keep track of gang activities within institutions?
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(b) Are our prisons fertile recruitment grounds for gangs?
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(c) For those who have renounced their affiliations under GRP, what steps are taken to protect them from being hurt or victimised by other inmates or upon their release?
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(d) To what extent has gang affiliation caused recidivism amongst inmates upon release?
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The Chairman: Mr de Souza, please take your two cuts together.
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Organised crime
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Mr Christopher de Souza: Mr Chairman, Sir, our Home Team needs to maintain vigilance against organised crime arising from the casinos, for example, the possibility of illegal moneylending, money laundering, vice and drug syndicates. We need more resources to fight this battle. We also need to update and strengthen our legislation to deal with the cross-border nature of such syndicates operations. The Interpol HQ in Singapore should be roped in to assist in this battle. Would MHA consider passing legislation which is tailored to deter organised crime syndicates from sinking roots or operating here in Singapore? At the end of the day, we must couple enforcement with strong and powerful legislation to deter organised crime from setting foot in Singapore.\r\n
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Another area of concern is at-risk youth being drawn into these organised crime syndicates. Our schools, law enforcement agencies, the social services sector, parents and youths themselves must all play a role in reducing youth crime.
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Would the Minister share with us how MHA will work with the community to implement new measures, public education and community engagement programmes to deter youth from joining the lure of organised crime?
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Loansharks
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My next cut, Sir. Enhanced punishment for unlicensed moneylending activities was recently introduced. Would the Minister share with us how these measures have deterred loanshark activities?
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\r\nApart from enhancing punishments, more can be done to work with communities and neighbourhood groups to educate at-risk borrowers of the negative consequences of borrowing on their families, neighbours and themselves. This would assist the would-be borrower to think twice, or thrice, before borrowing from loansharks. Would the Minister share with us the future plans for this type of community-MHA teamwork?
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In addition, Sir, we need to do more to prevent loansharks from harassing innocent bystanders, in particular, the neighbours and subsequent homeowners, or even the owners of cars parked next to car of the borrower. Loansharks have become unreasonable in resorting to dangerous measures to recover their money and sky-high interest, blatantly harassing people whom they well know to be unrelated to the borrowers and innocent. They can also be very persistent and threaten the lives of innocent households, including the children in innocent households. What else can MHA do together with the community to deter loanshark harassment?
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The Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office (Mr Heng Chee How): Sir, as today is 8th March, I wish all women a happy International Women's Day. \r\n\r\n
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Now, on to the cut. Sir, with the enhancements to the penalties against loansharks and their runners, and the stepped up Police enforcement against these criminal elements, I believe more of such criminals have been arrested over the past six months. I would like the Ministry to update on the arrest figures of 2010 compared to 2009.
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Sir, when we passed the changes to the law on illegal moneylending, we noted that there was a trend of loansharks using their borrowers as runners. I would like to know from the Ministry, based on ground intelligence and arrest profiles, whether
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\r\nthis trend is persisting. While the use of hooligans and gangsters to harass borrowers is criminal and must be dealt with harshly, I am even more concerned with the use of \"normal people\" as runners, that is, non-gangsters. Some people may think that if harassers are not really gangsters, for example, if they are borrowers who could not pay, then the matter might be less serious.
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My view is the opposite. I fear that if the trend towards the use of \"normal people\" as runners and harassers is not stopped, the threat to public perception of security would be even more serious. This is because the cancer can then be said to have spread to any part of the body and no longer limited to a particular organ. The public will then feel more and more insecure because regardless of whether they are borrowers or innocent neighbours, their homes can be vandalised by people fitting a broad profile.
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For this reason, I continue to urge the Ministry to make borrowing from loansharks a crime. I know that with enhanced legislation, borrowing with a false address is already a crime. But that is not good enough, especially in the light of the behaviour of loansharks to target neighbours and innocent buyers of flats previously owned by borrowers. We have to deter the source.
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Next, I hope that the convicted loanshark runners can also be made to serve Community Works Orders (CWOs) over and above any fines, jail terms or caning that they may be sentenced to. Their actions brought fear to the community and harmed the innocent. They should not be allowed to remain anonymous to society at large. The CWO should require them to clean blocks of graffiti, much of which is the work of people like them.
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I would also like to find out from the Ministry whether persons convicted of
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\r\nvandalising common properties, such as scrawling on walls and splashing paint on doors of flats, can be ordered by the Courts to compensate the Town Councils and the innocent victims for the damage and clean-up costs. There is no reason why Town Councils or innocent parties such as neighbours should foot the bill to clean up after such vandals. We must increase the tangible cost to these vandals, so that they would not resort to these forms of harassment without thinking about the cost to themselves.
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Sir, even as we do more to make borrowing from loansharks a crime and increase further the financial and social penalties against them, we must also do more to harden the physical targets against easy attacks. Today, loanshark runners can go right up to any front door in any HDB estate and splash paint, padlock the gate or even set it on fire. For places that have been subjected to intense, repeated attacks, and for which CCTV, police ambushes and patrols have not been able to deter the attackers, can additional modes of \"target hardening\" be considered?
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The Chairman: Order. Mr Heng, please finish your cut. Mr Ang Mong Seng.
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Mr Ang Mong Seng (In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Mr Chairman, many residents complained to me that they are being harassed by loansharks even though they did not borrow from them. The loansharks spray paint their door or even place a padlock on it! This has caused great inconvenience and stress to the residents who have to live under fear everyday and worry for their family's safety.\r\n\r\n
\r\n The root cause of this problem is that someone has \"stolen\" the address. This person has never lived in a certain HDB flat; but he went to the police station and changed his address to this \"fake\"
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\r\naddress. He then daringly borrowed from many loansharks. Since his identity card address does not belong to him, he does not bother to pay back. The loansharks rely only on the address to get the money back. The poor resident whose address was stolen was therefore harassed unnecessarily.
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\r\n To reduce this kind of incidents, I suggest that the Police, with the help of HDB, use the Internet to affirm that people who come to change their address indeed live there. If the answer is \"yes\", then the Police will go ahead to change the address; if not, the Police may detain them on the spot and investigate why they are requesting a change.
\r\n I believe if we tightened the address-changing procedure, we can reduce the incidents of innocent residents being harassed by loansharks
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Neighbourhood policing
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Mr Arthur Fong: Sir, Members in this House had related incidents of loanshark harassment, break-ins, robberies targeting of senior citizens, vandalism and mischief, just to name a few. Our Home Team has been doing a good job in solving and preventing crimes, especially in our estates. Yet, our Home Team cannot be everywhere. This is where our residents can play a greater role in the safety and security of their community. Neighbourhood policing is not new – in Palm Springs, in UK, people form collaborations with the police to look after the community. \r\n\r\n
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At my ward in Clementi, we have the Delta Citizenry. It is made up residents and RC members, guided and supervised by trained Home Team officers. Clementi NPC has been working with our grassroots to organise and form this
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\r\ncitizens policing unit. Our initial efforts recruited some 325 members and we had another 200 signing up to be citizen cops during our recently concluded community day two weeks ago at Clementi Town Centre. It is not only the RC members who form the Citizens-On-Patrol (COP), our residents are now taking ownership. There is an obvious genuine interest from the citizenry to take charge of and play a role in their own safety.
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The residents are pleased, especially so when we had a block that was targeted by loanshark runners, and the high visibility of Delta Citizenry prevented the mischief that the loanshark runners were targeting on this block. And also, a trained member of the Delta Citizenry also witnessed a robbery in place and was able to provide a very good description to the Police and the culprit was caught a few streets away with the loot in hand.
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Although this programme is not a substitute for the Police, it is indeed an effective collaboration between the community and the Home Team. The activities that these folks in Clementi are involved in provide our residents opportunities to integrate, to increase mutual trust and inter-dependence within the community. I hope that the Ministry can consider rolling out such a programme in other divisions and to support this initiative further.
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Crimes against elderly
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Dr Ong Seh Hong: The elderly is a growing segment of our population. Apart from babies and toddlers, they are the age group most vulnerable to violent crimes. \r\n\r\n
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Sir, Singapore is supposed to be a safe place to live, therefore, it is very disheartening to read in the papers whenever there is a violent crime against or elderly folks. Just last month, we read of a case of two teenagers punching an
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\r\nold lady on her face and all over her body in an attempt to snatch her handbag from her.
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Notwithstanding the cases reported in the press, I am, however, happy to note that crime against elderly people had actually dropped by 22% last year. This is the good work of our Home Team and, in particular, our police officers are working very hard with the stakeholders and partners in the communities.
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Although the statistics are encouraging, Sir, let me reiterate that our elderly folks are very vulnerable to violence and burglary, susceptible to scams and becoming easy victims and preys to crimes of all kinds. So, while the Police have increased their attention on other areas of crime, I hope that the elderly folks will not be left out and they should remain a key area for the Police.
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Firstly, I would like to see continuous efforts to raise public awareness of the crimes against the elderly and to let the community know what they can do to help the elderly. Secondly, even the Police cannot be everywhere, it might be a good idea to work with the younger members of the families and those in the neighbourhoods to help the elderly folks. This has the benefit of keeping an extra eye to look after the senior citizens and, additionally, they can also help the Police to pass the message of crime prevention to the elderly. Sir, may I know what additional initiatives the Home Team has to protect our senior citizens so that they can continue to live and enjoy their golden years in a safe and secure community?
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Emergency ambulance services
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Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef: Mr Chairman, Singapore is a city state with land area of 707 square kilometres and a population of five million. There is increasing utilisation of the emergency
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\r\nambulance services (EAS), with increasing equity of the type of cases transported as well. \r\n\r\n
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The average rise in the numbers of ambulance calls is at 6.5% to 8% per year. And the percentage of emergency calls has also increased from 60% to over 90%. Singapore is also highly urbanised, and with skyscrapers, this poses further challenge in waiting times for ambulances. Narrow landings, long corridors of various styles, lifts that do not stop on every floor yet, and delays in getting the elevators are some of the factors which affect response times.
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Currently, there are approximately 45 ambulances stationed at 15 fire and satellite stations nationwide. Our waiting times are not improving as much as we want to. It has not gone up from the 2.5% in the last two decades for out-of-hospital survival rates for cardiac arrest. The number of paramedics needs a boost to increase the recruitment and also to meet future manpower needs. We need to continue to upgrade and enhance their skills, knowledge and also increase their job satisfaction rate and reduce job turnover rates. What are the Ministry’s future directions for the EAS in Singapore? Are there plans to increase recruitment, enhance infrastructure and hardware? And also, as we work very closely with the Medical Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Health (MOH), will there be any consideration or future plans to work together with MOH as well?
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Traffic accidents
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Mr Ong Kian Min: Sir, I wish to express my concern about the high incidence of accidents involving motorcyclists. The Traffic Police reported that motorcyclists and pillion riders remain the most vulnerable road users accounting for close to half of all road fatalities in 2010.\r\n\r\n
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\r\nI commend the new initiatives set up by the Traffic Police to reduce the number of accidents involving motorcyclists. The Expressway Familiarisation Ride allows new Class 2B riders a hands-on experience of the expressway under the supervision of a riding instructor without charge. The course will, indeed, provide newly qualified motorcyclists a smoother transition from the simulated environment and training routes around the driving centres to the faster and more challenging expressways.
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Based on newspaper reports, the take-up rate for the expressway training has not been encouraging. Is this the matter of having to create more awareness, introduce more flexible timetabling or redesign the course for greater effectiveness? I would also like to ask what other steps are being taken or planned to improve rider safety.
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Sir, I understand from feedback from motorcyclist friends that when a motorcyclist is injured in a traffic accident and he is sent to hospital, the hospital staff is obliged to inform the Police. Apparently , it is a practice for the Traffic Police to use the accident report to conclude that the rider has committed an offence of careless riding. The logic is simple. If the motorcyclist had not been careless, how else would the accident have occured? So, since the accident had happened, he must have been careless.
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However, such action leads to an undesirable unintended reaction. Unless the motorcyclist is so seriously injured that he has no alternative but to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, he would steer clear of the hospital so as to avoid the fate of being reported against and penalised. Instead, in the interest of self-preservation, he would rather go home
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\r\nand attend to his wounds through self-medication and seek medical treatment on his own the next day, if needed. This way, the chain linking injury to accident would be broken, and no report is filed by the hospital. I hope the Minister can look into this.
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Youth-at-risk
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Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Sir, the public has high confidence that our Home Team agencies are able to deal with the major crimes, maintain law and order and protect the safety of citizens. However, residents in the neighbourhood hope that the Police could do more to deal with the situation of wayward youth behaviour and gathering at neighbourhood locations, especially where they are causing noise nuisance or disturbances to residents. I would like to ask the Minister for an update on MHA study to give additional powers to Police to intervene upstream, for example, curfews for recalcitrant youth who have been a noise nuisance or requiring the youth to attend intervention programmes. This could prevent the early formation of loose gang groups. Also, what are the efforts to enhance outreach to at-risk youth and the other preventive measures? Do the neighbourhood police centres have the sufficient resources to work with each of the neighbourhood schools which we know are the recruitment sources of youth gangs?\r\n\r\n
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I am glad that there is the cross-Ministry National Committee on Youth Guidance and Rehabilitation (NYGR) to drive and support a range of developmental, preventive and rehabilitative programme to reach out and help at-risk youth. This is a national-level committee and I believe the different agencies are well integrated. However, on the ground and at the neigbourhood level, the recurring feedback I have been hearing is that the various stakeholders within the community, like schools,
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\r\nPolice, VWOs and the community organisation are still not well synergised and they do not talk to each other. Various gaps still exist. For example, I do receive feedback from the schools and parents at my constituency that there are often youth, not from the schools, hanging out outside the schools waiting to recruit students from the schools into their gangs. When the schools inform the Neighbourhood Police, the typical response is that these youth are not breaking any law and, hence, nothing much can be done. But we all know this is very often how the kids would join gangs and, later on, be on the wrong path
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The community would do our part in whatever we can. But we would hope and need greater support from the Police as well. There is definitely more scope for improvements here.
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Youth offenders
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Mr Hri Kumar Nair: Sir, there has recently been public concern about the increase in youth crime. Statistics may show that youth crime is down but it is not just about numbers. As our society develops and education levels rise, we have come to expect better from our youth. It is therefore disconcerting to see them involved in illegal activities, particularly violent crimes. Our measures to rehabilitate youth offenders have therefore been put in sharper focus. They are at the age where the importance of support and opportunities is especially acute.\r\n\r\n
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Our Courts have, since 2007, similarly urge the legislation to explore more creative sentencing options that might further assist youth rehabilitation. Currently, Courts can either make a provision order under the Provision Offenders Act, where the offenders go through a structured probation regime, where he or she will be placed under the supervision of a probation officer, and
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\r\ntheir progress reviewed by the adult or juvenile probation case committee respectively. The Courts are also empowered by Section 305 of the CTC to impose reformative training in lieu of any other sentence. This offender will be detained in the RGC for a period between 18 months and three years. While there, the offender undergoes a comprehensive rehabilitation programme in a close and structured environment.
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Sir, researches have identified various factors that point to increased risk of offending. Troubled home life has seen absentee parents, trauncy, deprivation such as poor housing and homelessness, and peer group pressure. At the core, offenders lack a responsible adult figure in their lives to give guidance, moral, spiritual or otherwise. We must question if our current rehabilitation measures are sufficient to address these problems.
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Other jurisdictions invest in a large armoury of options to deal with youth crimes. The United States, for example, has the Juvenile Mentoring Programme (JUMP). Grants are provided on the competitive basis to community-based non-profit organisations to implement and expand collaborative mentoring projects. Screened volunteers serve as mentors to youth, who need adult figures in their lives. These mentors will show troubled youth ways to use their leisure time more positively, with the aim of diverting them away from further offending. The programme has apparently seen positive results. Could the Minister share with this House what programmes the Ministry has and will be implementing to address the issue of youth crime?
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Rehabilitated offenders’ work and shelter
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Mr Christopher de Souza: Mr Chairman, Sir, the Prison has done a remarkable job to prepare some inmates for employment beyond the prison walls. However, some
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\r\ninmates find it difficult to get jobs and shelter after release.\r\n
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\r\nI would like to suggest involving more\r\nof our neighbourhood communities,\r\ngrassroots organisations and even the\r\nCDCs to help with their job placements.\r\nCould MHA consider initiating this\r\nGovernment community framework? We\r\nalso need to conduct public education\r\nprogrammes and reach out to potential\r\nemployers and companies to help them\r\nsee the potential in and offer jobs to our\r\nex-offenders.
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\r\nLastly, could MHA identify, provide\r\nfinancial and administrative support to and\r\nwork with half-way houses to help ensure\r\nthat recently released inmates, who are\r\nunable to turn to their families for help,\r\nwill be provided with much needed\r\nshelter?
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Committee on the prevention of reoffending\r\n
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, one\r\nof the key characteristics of dsyfunctional\r\nfamilies is the incarceration of heads of\r\nhouseholds and, at times, both parents.\r\nWithin such families, it is not uncommon\r\nto find the trend of these heads of\r\nhouseholds re-offending during behind the\r\nfamilies to fend for themselves.
\r\n\r\n I recently met a woman whose husband was being incarcerated for the fourth time. She is now left to care for nine children, with the youngest being a one-year-old infant. She is not working as she is cannot afford to pay for the childcare fees for the young children. When probed further, one realised that she gave birth to a child each time her husband is released from prison. Each time, he re-offends and returns to prison, she is left to pick up the pieces again. This is certainly not the first time that I have met such a case.\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\nSir, the above example raises the question as to why such a man would repeatedly re-offend and disregard the impact of his behaviour on his family. What happened each time he entered prison and he is released? Were there no rehabilitation during his period of imprisonment? Was the re-offending a result of failure to adjust to the mainstream society? Or is it society's failure to accept him? What is the level of community support and intervention for such a person and his family?
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Sir, the key question is what do we do to ensure that these individuals do not re-offend? Have we understood the pathway in which these individuals travel? What can we learn from this pathway to ensure that we provide the neccessary support and intervention at the right junctions to redirect them to the mainstream crime-free path. In many of these cases, the life of crime dates back to the early years and often made complex by the kinds of family backgrounds that they come from.
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Sir, preventing re-offending is beyond the work of one Ministry, like MHA. While MHA and the Prison service can take in these individuals as their custodians, the rehabilitation goes beyond what happens within the four walls of the Prisons. It involves the community, schools, social services, employers, mental health services, and so on. While we must ensure that each crime committed should be met with its commensurate punishment, we would need to find the right balance to ensure the desired outcome for rehabilitation to prevent re-offending. The social cost of re-offending goes beyond its subsequent acts of crime but more on its systemic effect on the significant others, like the women and children that they leave behind. I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the implementation or recommendations put forth by the Committee on Prevention of Re-offending presented last year,
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\r\nparticularly, in strengthening community prevention to prevent re-offending. What are the challenges faced in implementing these recommendations?
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The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr K Shanmugam): Mr Chairman, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2011/2012, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.\r\n
Mr Chairman: I give my consent.
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Resolved,
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Thereupon Mr Deputy Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.
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Mr Shanmugam: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2011/2012, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.\r\n
Mr Deputy Speaker: So be it.\r\n
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Resolved,
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\"That Parliament do now adjourn.\" – [Mr Mah Bow Tan].
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Adjourned accordingly at
\r\n\r\nFive Minutes to Seven o'clock pm.
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