[(proc text) \"to amend the Child Development Co-Savings Act (Chapter 38A of the 2002 Revised Edition) and to make related amendments to the Employment Act (Chapter 91 of the 2009 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) recommendation of President signified; presented by Mr Chan Chun Sing; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available Sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014","subTitle":"Committee of Supply – Paper Cmd 3 of 2013","sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [7th Allotted Day]. (proc text)]
[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head X (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Resumption of Debate on Question [14 March 2013], (proc text)]
[(proc text) \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head X of the Estimates be reduced by $100\". – [Mr Baey Yam Keng]. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Question again proposed. (proc text)]
The Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Madam, before I begin, I would like to inform Members that I would
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be taking clarifications immediately after my reply.
Madam, the story of the Singapore Malay/Muslim community is a mix of pain and joy. When we hear of a young Malay family struggling to make ends meet and find permanent housing, we despair at how things have gone awry for them. We tend to attribute these predicaments to many factors, which of late include the Government not doing enough. Then when we see successes in our community – be it in education, sports, music, career or business – we rejoice in these achievements. We also tend to forget that the Government has nurtured and continues to ensure the eco-system that allows those willing to work hard to succeed regardless of background. For example, outstanding madrasah students are able to enter our internationally-ranked universities because admission is based on merit and not where one comes from.
Some would choose to paint a picture of stubborn gaps and hopelessness for our community. Madam, I would rebut this firmly. Our narrative is a mosaic of hope, opportunities and challenges that we have fought wholeheartedly and together to overcome.
Through the hard work of our early pioneers and leaders in partnership with the Government, we have been able to tackle the different problems we face and steadily move our community forward within the Singapore system. It is because this Government is committed to developing the full potential of all Singaporeans that the Malay/Muslim community has been able to progress this far in many areas including education and employment.
The Singapore model of multiracialism and meritocracy has worked well. We take pride in working together and succeeding together while showing compassion for the less fortunate. To portray our community singularly as lagging and struggling is a dangerous attempt to lead us astray. The data we have speak volumes. Every year we see more Malay/Muslim students receiving awards such as those given out by MENDAKI for outstanding performance at national examinations. Household incomes have risen. There is an increase in Malay/Muslim PMETs from 7.2% in 1980 to 27.8% in 2010.
When I visited Lucasfilm Singapore in October, I asked them where they get the talent to keep the company at the leading edge globally. The management told me that it is indeed difficult as such talent is hard to come by even as they search across the world. But they did come across one local student who came through Polytechnic and took them by surprise. I asked for the student's background which I got later. He is Nor Azman bin Mohammad
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Rothman – completed his \"O\" levels at Ping Yi Secondary School before going to Singapore Polytechnic, found time to dabble in web design and videography, did many projects on his own accord, went through a rigorous Jedi Academy internship that was itself hard to get in and got in amidst very tough competition.
I checked with MENDAKI and they found out he was a MENDAKI award recipient in 2006. Today, he is with Lucasfilm armed with a Second Upper Honours degree from NTU in Fine Arts – Digital Animation. Nor Azman is one reason why I have asked MENDAKI to think of a talent management framework for our community.
The point I also want to make is that the system – from Ping Yi Secondary School, Singapore Polytechnic and NTU, and the employers who offered him internships and assignments, all spurred him on and helped create a talent that Lucasfilm is proud to mention.
Madam, last month I visited SingPost to launch a staff programme. I wanted to know about the company, how the company develops its staff and I learnt of Mr Abdul Rashid Mawi. Abdul Rashid joined SingPost as a courier in 2001 with \"O\" levels. He worked hard and rose through the ranks. Today, he is an assistant manager managing two Speedpost teams. He also has a diploma. He is an example of our people who work hard at upgrading themselves, even those who started humbly.
There are many more stories of students and workers doing well and of families who, despite financial constraints, are able to provide a home and an education for their children. They form a growing Malay/Muslim middle class which we should be proud of and look to for support for those further behind.
The Singaporean Malay/Muslim community does not shy away from challenges and has a strong desire to do better. We have progressed tremendously by working in partnership with our Government and seizing opportunities available to every Singaporean, without special treatment. This evolutionary process has made it possible for us to innovate and progress. We cannot – in good conscience – ignore our history of community efforts and Government assistance, just for the self-serving agenda of a few. And we will continue on this path with improvements in the working relationship between the Government and the community.
My colleagues and I, together with our community leaders, are committed to this path. There will always be an open invitation for each and every one –
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within the community and beyond – to work together on the next phase of our journey towards a Community of Excellence.
Madam, I can sense a growing appetite for a more all-encompassing definition of success. Many have found their niches in different areas. More are in the process of discovering their passions and interests. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim pointed out, that our community is young and there are many talents among us. Some have made it – a name for themselves locally and abroad in varied fields. I have cited Nor Azman in Lucasfilm. There is Ms Sarah Ismail, a member of a local multiracial indie band called Seyra, making her unique imprint on our local cultural landscape. We also have Ustaz Nazirudin Nasir, a bright young MUIS scholar who is doing his PhD at Oxford University, and Mr Alfian Yasrif Kuchit, who went to Columbia Law School and is currently Syariah Court's youngest President.
These are encouraging developments. Indeed, the nurturing of talent must be our community's next key phase of ethos to embrace. We should support those who are excelling to their fullest potential, and give the hidden gems an opportunity to shine.
There are existing talent development programmes for the community to tap on. For example, MENDAKI's Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award is designed for talents beyond the academic field, while the Ridzwan Dzafir Community Awards is for promising professionals in the public and social service sectors.
Besides these programmes, there is always room to broaden what we can offer to the widening talent spectrum. MENDAKI is now exploring relevant pilot schemes.
Project Protégé is one initiative worth highlighting, as it gives emerging talents the rare opportunity to learn from established icons in our community such as music composer Iskandar Mirza and dancer Som Said. Under Mr Iskandar's mentorship, Riduan Yusoff, 21 years old, has grown remarkably as a musician.
Going forward, MENDAKI will work even more closely with families, schools and the community to draw out the varied strengths of individuals. We welcome ideas on how we can do this well.
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On the socio-religious front, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) plans to step up its grooming of outstanding students, young asatizah, or religious teachers, and graduates into specialists who are able to provide progressive religious guidance. Already, we are seeing more of such individuals scaling peaks of academic excellence in their desire to serve the community better and these include Ustazah Raihanah Halid, who had completed her Masters in Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. She was recently sponsored by MUIS to do her Masters of Law at NUS. This would no doubt add greater value to her work at the Office of the Mufti from both Islamic and secular vantage points. It is commendable that these individuals have the thirst for knowledge not just for personal development, but also to be of greater service to our community.
MUIS' strategy of incubating these specialists will complement other efforts to shape a progressive Singaporean Muslim community. And these include the Joint Madrasah System (JMS) which aims to produce our religious leaders; and aLIVE (Living Islamic Values Everyday) programmes that offer modular, contextualised religious education for our community.
Madam, education should remain a priority for the community as it is a key leveller. The motivation to do well in school has borne fruit for many Malay/Muslim students, some of whom have persevered despite personal setbacks.
Everyone has a part to play to make sure that our young receive quality education, starting from pre-school. I therefore urge Malay/Muslim pre-school operators to embrace this year's Budget initiatives to develop good teachers and be located closer to our homes and workplaces.
MENDAKI has been tirelessly enhancing its Tuition Scheme (MTS) to facilitate optimal learning. To address Mr Zainudin's query, MENDAKI places great emphasis on ensuring sufficient resources for the Tuition Scheme. Tutors are selected through a rigorous selection process and they undergo regular training to keep abreast with the latest curriculum. New MTS initiatives focused on strengthening students' thinking and inquiry skills will also be implemented this year. In pilot classes at upper primary levels, facilitators will cater to students' different learning styles to help them make better sense of science concepts.
Since MTS enhancements were introduced in 2012, enrolment has increased by about 20%. MTS now has more than 9,000 students, thanks to
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support from 69 schools, five community centres and one mosque in hosting the tuition centres.
MENDAKI will also bring on board Malay/Muslim organisations (MMOs) and Malay Activity Executive Committees (MAECs), to reach a total of 12,000 students.
Beyond the MTS, MENDAKI will launch SENSE College in Tampines, a Skills Centre for learning and upgrading. Through its bridging programme, SENSE College offers students a second chance to obtain qualifications, such as the \"N\", \"O\" and \"A\" levels.
Mr Muhamad Faishal Abdul Manap asked about the extension of the Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy (TTFS) Scheme.
Students of mixed parentage are eligible to apply for the TTFS, if his or her race, or the first component of the double-barrelled race as stated in the NRIC, is Malay. This means that a Malay/Indian student qualifies for the TTFS, provided he or she also meets the other eligibility criteria such as the monthly gross household Per Capita Income (PCI) cap.
Madam, the TTFS is a Government scheme for students studying locally at the Polytechnics and as undergraduates in our Universities. There are other forms of financial assistance for eligible post-graduate students such as the MENDAKI Study Loan Full-Time Scheme.
Education outside of the classroom is equally important in shaping the character of our youth. As announced in the Budget, there will be greater Government support for school-based student care centres.
Existing providers such as AMP will certainly benefit from this support. MENDAKI SENSE is also playing its part by setting up its first centre at Blangah Rise Primary School this year. Programmes at the centre will include Social and Emotional Learning to help our students acquire fundamental life skills, and a dedicated officer to support children with learning disabilities. With more of such centres, I believe mothers will have the peace of mind to re-enter the workforce while entrusting their children to qualified practitioners.
Madam, mosques are a key institution of our community's socio-religious life. We should be proud of our community's successful mosque-building
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efforts.
Building on this legacy, our mosques are evolving to meet our changing needs. Apart from being a place of worship, our mosques are a well established provider of religious education. It is at the mosques that many of us learn about Islam and its application to our daily lives.
Madrasahs are the other key religious institution which we should continue to focus on. Our madrasahs are not an alternative to mainstream national schools. Their key priority is to produce qualified religious teachers who are able to meet the changing expectations and needs of our community. They will produce religious leadership that will help our community develop together as good Singapore Muslims by ensuring our socio-religious compass in the right direction.
I am proud that our madrasah students have done well. At the primary level, Madrasah Irsyad has been continuously surpassing the PSLE benchmark score. Many Madrasah Al-Arabiah graduates have furthered their studies in fields from engineering to Biomedical Sciences after attaining good \"O\" level results. About 70% of Madrasah Aljunied graduates go on to pursue religious studies at the world famous Al-Azhar University in Cairo and other tertiary institutions in the Middle East.
MUIS has spared no effort in reviewing the madrasah curriculum under the Joint Madrasah System (JMS). I would like to assure Dr Intan that the new multidisciplinary and integrated JMS curriculum reflects a major paradigm shift in our madrasah education. It is designed to develop future asatizah and ulama, or religious scholars, who are well-versed in both Islamic and academic sciences, so that they are able to make sound decisions when tackling multifaceted issues.
We must not let up in the drive for a top-quality madrasah education system. MUIS has made significant strides in this respect, with the new International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), teacher development and student enrichment programmes in the works. The IBDP in particular will be a breakthrough in integrating academic and religious learning, and MUIS is working through the implementation details of this major move.
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Achieving our vision, of course, will take resources. We have to be prepared to invest more in building up our madrasahs, and I seek parents' understanding in helping to bear this. MUIS will also step up its share by increasing funding to full-time madrasahs and financial assistance to needy students.
Pooling together our resources has always been a hallmark of our community, from zakat to the Mosque Building and MENDAKI Fund (MBMF) and Wakaf Ilmu, and I ask for the community's continued support in these efforts.
Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim asked about part-time religious education for working adults. Leveraging on the positive feedback on aLIVE, MUIS has piloted the Adult Islamic Education Programme (ADIL) in six mosques and attracted more than 300 sign-ups so far. Classes are offered in both English and Malay, which tailors to the needs of our young urban professionals.
MUIS will keep improving aLIVE and ADIL, and make religious education for the entire community more student-centric and relevant.
We will continue to ensure that our mosques serve the community well. To address Mr Hawazi's query, the accelerated Mosque Upgrading Programme (MUP) Phase 2 (2012 - 2016) is on track. A total of 16 projects have been identified – seven mosques for major upgrading and nine mosques for minor upgrading.
Works are expected to begin in the third quarter of this year for most mosques in the latter category. Jamiyah Rabitah mosque in Tiong Bahru will be the first mosque under MUP Phase 2 to greet congregants with a fresh look later this year
Our plans for three new mosques at Punggol, Jurong West and Woodlands are progressing well. I recently unveiled the design concept for Punggol mosque, which will be ready in 2015.
This is the first time that a Mosque Design Review Committee makes recommendations on mosque design. We are now studying public feedback, and will see the final design at the ground-breaking ceremony later this year.
The Jurong West and Woodlands mosques are in the pipeline. To be located near the junction of Jalan Bahar and Jurong West Ave 2, the Jurong West mosque is expected to be completed in 2016. The new mosque in Woodlands, to be located along the future extension of Woodlands Drive 17,
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will also be ready in 2016.
Madam, 2012 was a challenging year as we faced external uncertainties that affected how we usually conducted korban and fulfilled our Hajj requirements. These are stark reminders that there will always be forces beyond our control, and we cannot afford to take for granted our privilege of being able to lead our religious lives well.
The key is to work together as a community to find sustainable solutions to conduct our socio-religious lives while keeping pace with circumstances beyond our control. I am happy that we have taken these changes in our stride.
Mr Hawazi is concerned about how we can better allocate the Hajj visas. Our official Hajj quota is 680 per year. Noting how well-organised our pilgrims and our pilgrim management system are, the Saudi government had offered 1,500 additional places each year between 2008 and 2011. However, Madam, in view of the various development projects in Makkah and Madinah, the Saudi government has since decided to limit all countries to their official quotas for the safety of all pilgrims. Hence, it is not likely that we can get additional visas above our official quota. To manage local demand, MUIS will implement changes to our Hajj registration policy having looked at the issues very carefully.
As Hajj is obligatory only once in a lifetime for every Muslim who can afford to do so, we must therefore give priority to first-time applicants. Those who have performed Hajj before, or repeaters, may only do so again at least 10 years after their previous time.
Each year, there will also be a 10% cap on repeaters. Based on the revised policy, MUIS will inform all affected applicants of their new allocated Hajj year.
As Mr Hawazi noted, a Korban Review Committee comprising representatives from AVA, MCCY, MUIS and the Singapore Mosques Korban Committee (JKMS) has been formed to review the supply of livestock for korban in Singapore.
Madam, this is in response to the new Australian regulatory requirements, which our 16 mosques offering korban had professionally complied with last year. The committee will continue to work with the Australian authorities to secure the livestock.
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As a contingency plan, the committee is also exploring alternative sources. The main considerations are that they have to meet the required health criteria and, of courses, be of reasonable cost. So, I seek our community's patience, as the feasibility study is ongoing.
Mr Hawazi has raised an interesting suggestion to utilise wakaf funds to set up a sheep farm to meet our needs for korban. However, our wakaf funds are disbursed strictly according to the wakaf's will or indenture, for specific purposes such as education and mosque building. I believe the supply of livestock is best left to private sector providers who are able to meet the necessary requirements.
With other global uncertainties, the community should think of new ideas to address existing challenges and plan ahead. It is important that we continue to engage and participate in conversations on issues that are pertinent to us.
The Independent Committee on the Engagement of the Malay/Muslim Community, or Suara Musyawarah, is playing an important role in bringing together the community's suggestions and recommendations. To address Mr Zainal's query, the Committee has listened to more than 200 people from all walks of life, over some 20 focus group discussions. I understand one major theme so far is how we can foster an inclusive society with our strong gotong royong spirit.
I am glad that some participants have pointed out that opportunities are open to all Singaporeans, including Malay/Muslims. To them, what matters is seizing such opportunities to pursue their dreams and lend a hand to the less fortunate amongst us.
Going forward, we can expect more candid sharing. I believe this is a journey for our community to put our heads together to create a better home for all. I am looking forward to the Committee's final report as a roadmap to chart our future together.
Madam, Dr Muhammad Maliki asked if there is scope to provide services in other neighbourhoods similar to MENDAKI's pilot Enhanced Wrap Around Care (eWAC) project in MacPherson. I am pleased to announce that MENDAKI@Heartlands will be set up in Pasir Ris and Woodlands. These satellite centres will help needy families gain access to a broad range of social services near their homes. I encourage the centre's clients to be open and forthcoming about their circumstances and concerns, so that the right solutions
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can be found for them.
Madam, our community is now in the next phase of our journey towards excellence. Singapore is tuned for success and I urge our community to make the most of the diverse opportunities that our Government works tirelessly to create. Where needed, we will ensure that help is always given, like for education and training through MENDAKI's many initiatives. The doors of our socio-religious institutions will always be open. And where possible, we will provide springboards for our bright sparks to reach greater heights. We must set our sights far, and scale new peaks along the way.
Allowing a misplaced narrative of hopelessness perpetuates the very stereotype that we have worked hard over many decades to dispel. We must not be our own worst enemy, by getting trapped into a negative self-fulfilling prophecy.
I recall that at MENDAKI's recent dialogue on the Population White Paper, a young man stood up towards the end. Mr Muhd Ibnur Rashad, the co-founder of Sustainable Living Lab, the innovative arm of a community-oriented organisation called \"Ground Up Initiative\", told the older gentlemen at the dialogue that: \"we must find the courage to leave our baggage behind. It is a whole new world out there with many, many opportunities. If we continue to be preoccupied with what could have been, we miss out on what can be\".
Madam, I took his message to heart. This is the crux of where we are today.
Our story is a mosaic of courage and fortitude, where individuals take pride in what they do, and together to move our community forward. I am encouraged by the spirit of these men and women that I have met. Like fellow Singaporeans, they steadfastly overcome the odds through hard work, and it is on the back of their efforts that this country has grown to where we are today.
It is only by working together – Government, community leaders and families, and like-minded partners - that we will continue to lift up our community tier by tier.
Madam, allow me now to conclude my speech in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In my speech in English earlier, I have laid out several initiatives that will be or have been implemented by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) and MENDAKI. The main
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objective is to polish and develop the talents of our children and help the needy. It is important to help our community to achieve even greater success. I would like to emphasise that all the initiatives I mentioned earlier can only complement one's effort. It will not be beneficial unless we work hard to upgrade ourselves for the future of our families and our children.
Our community is now at a new phase in our journey towards a Community of Excellence. I would like to urge that we work together to fully make use of the many opportunities provided by the Government. We will ensure that all the assistance and support, for instance, MENDAKI's initiatives in education and upskilling, will continue to be given to those who need it.
Our socio-religious bodies will always open their doors to provide progressive guidance. As far as possible, we will provide springboards for our talented and able children so that they can achieve as much success as possible. We must set lofty objectives and climb new peaks. This is the path that we take to improve standards of living and achieve greater success for ourselves and our families in phases.
Our objectives or dreams must not be sidetracked by narratives or perceptions that our community is burdened with disappointments and despair. The fact is that our community's story is a story of a community that perseveres and is determined to overcome challenges. Our story is a story of how some families or individuals achieve success even though they face many setbacks. If we continue to be trapped by the perceptions I mentioned earlier, then we are disparaging the efforts of this group, and begin to believe the stereotypes about our community. We must avoid such traps.
Madam, I am heartened by the spirit of the individuals that I met. They persevered in the face of challenges and are able to overcome obstacles in life to work hand-in-hand with the community leaders and the Government. I am certain that with determined efforts by each individual, our community will find success, God willing.
The Chairman: We have some time for clarifications. Mr Zainal Sapari.
Mr Zainal Sapari: I thank the Minister for the sharing. I have two clarifications. After the change in the per capita income criterion for TTFS and allowing students with Malay as the first component race of a double-barrel race to be eligible, what was the total number of applications for TTFS that we
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received last year, and how many were approved?
My second clarification is: if there has been a higher number of successful applications, would it mean that less funds would be available for other programmes meant to help uplift the Malay community?
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for his clarifications. Let me just answer the first question quickly. Ever since we revised the income criterion for TTFS, we have received a total of 6,205 applicants, higher than the 2,736 applicants in 2011. Out of the 6,205 applicants, 5,973 applicants were approved, which is 96% compared to 2011 which is only 80% or 2,168 in absolute numbers. What it means is that the new criterion has really reached out to those Malay families that we want to help. As the Member will recall, when we moved the changes, our long-term target is to be able to assist up to two-thirds of Malay/Muslim families with children going on to IHLs and tertiary institutions.
On the Member's second question, that is certainly something we have to manage because whatever savings that we have in the TTFS goes back into MENDAKI for other educational programmes. We have not seen the final figures yet for last year, whether it is up or down, but we will certainly manage this very carefully. The numbers are being scrubbed together with MOF and MCCY, and once the numbers are in, I will be happy to report as to whether the numbers have gone up or come down.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Minister for Transport (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim): Madam, I am happy to hear from the Minister that there have been many developments at the various fronts and across a wide spectrum of the Malay community, among the young as well as the professionals. I have met many parents and also young people who feel that they have benefited from the growth of our nation as well as the efforts of the Government and Malay/Muslim organisations. They would like to see more and more young people as well as professionals coming forward to give back to the community so that we can ride on the wave of development. I would like to ask the Minister what more will MENDAKI, MUIS, and other Malay/Muslim organisations do to further engage this group of professionals and young people so that they can contribute back to our community to ride on the wave.
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Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Once again, thank you very much, Madam, for allowing me to clarify. It is a very good question. As I mentioned in my speech earlier, our next phase of development is really about building up many, many more peaks of excellence, but in return, we would expect or at least we hope that those who have succeeded will come back and serve the community.
I do not have the figures in front of me, but the data that I have seen a couple of months ago from both MENDAKI and MUIS is that the number of young Malay/Muslims who are volunteering within MENDAKI and MUIS is on the rise. That is a good sign. But I think the more important point is for us to continue to engage young Malay/Muslim students emerging from the IHLs to give them a sense of their role in society and the community, and we will continue to do so through various outreach efforts.
We will embark on a small pilot talent development programme within MENDAKI. We have to be very cautious. Ultimately, the desire to excel has to come from the individual. What we can do, such as MENDAKI and MUIS, and other Malay/Muslim organisations, is to build on the eco-system of excellence provided by the Government so that Malay/Muslim families whose children are doing better, see the desire to push them further, and work with them to assist in providing not only financial assistance, which I think is not that difficult, but really other forms of assistance in terms of overall planning for their career path and the choices that they have to make as they go forward.
We all know that there are many more opportunities created by the Government; but the world was not when I was growing up – we either go to Arts or Science. There are many more areas which sort of overlap. The example of Mr Nor Azman which I cited is a heartwarming example of an ordinary Malay boy from a good Secondary school in Singapore but going through the paths and being selected to join Lucasfilm, is indeed an achievement that we should be proud of.
These are signs to show that the community is able to reach many heights of excellence. But I agree with the Member that it has to be a concerted, collective effort, involving every key partner in our community.
Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Two points of clarification, Madam. I just wanted to ask further about the MTS. The MTS has gone through several changes and review, and upgrading. I would like to know what more can be done to the MTS to make it even better and more effective especially as
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MTS focuses on helping the kids to improve, what more can we do at the higher end? Is there any way for us to push the students further in line with the talent development programme that we have?
The other question is: does the Minister or MENDAKI or any of the Malay/Muslim organisations carry out regular longitudinal studies to ensure the kind of progress and development that we have gone through are properly monitored over the years to ensure that we understand what is happening?
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Madam, on the second question, we do get data from the Government for every performance every year at each of the terminal exams – PSLE, \"O\" level, \"A\" level. This, of course, is disclosed by MOE every year but we work together with the Ministry to understand better the trends of the performance of the Malay/Muslim students.
Internally, MENDAKI also tracks our programme participants. For example, we have students who are participating in our Maths specialised programmes, such as ROPE. It is a specialised programme done in school. It is a school-based programme to help the Malay kids overcome the Maths challenge. We have been tracking and on average most of the students who are within the ROPE programme will move up two grade points. In other words, if they were failing, they will pass; if they are scoring Bs, they will be scoring As. So, it shows that the programme is working. I take the Member's point that we need to continue to do this more religiously because we need to be able to understand the effectiveness of the programme which MENDAKI is now putting in place across the board for all our other programmes.
On the first question about how MTS can do better in terms of reaching the high end, the bulk of the students that attend our MTS classes are really from the middle and the lower end, which is really our target. We want to reach to those who are actually at the bottom 30% or 40% to try and lift them up. For the students who are doing well, there are various other programmes. For example, there is a programme conducted by MENDAKI club for our top 10% students who have done well in the PSLE.
Ultimately, Madam, my own personal belief is not about MENDAKI or MUIS. If our kids were doing well, I would urge their parents to look into the children's performance and development because there are many new opportunities in Singapore. For example, our schools offer many opportunities for personal development, not only in terms of CIP hours but also other involvement including camps and overseas attachments. A good example that I might cite is
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the University Scholars Programme in NUS, in which many Malay/Muslim students from bright and talented, have been able to seize this opportunity and gone to Silicon Valley – Ibnur, whom I mentioned, earlier is one such talent – on their own, understanding what it needs to be part of the USP and seizing those opportunities.
The Chairman: End of clarification time. Mr David Ong.
Mr David Ong (Jurong): The generation of our former Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew grew up singing \"God Save the Queen\" as British subjects, saluted the Japanese flag during the Japanese occupation, and when Singapore was part of the Federation of Malaya, they thought of themselves as Malayans.
When Singapore was suddenly separated from the Federation, our former Prime Minister and the rest of our people of that generation became Singaporeans.
For that generation, Singapore became a nation by accident; then becoming Singaporeans is a matter of choice. When our former Prime Minister Lee was asked, \"What makes a Singaporean?\" in the book Hard Truths, he replied, \"Someone who accepts others into the nation, regardless of race, language and religion.\"
Indeed, embracing our diversity is our hallmark as Singaporeans at that moment we became independent.
Singapore's social fabric is increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan. Our own citizens are well heeled, globally exposed, with very different aspirations, causes and interests. We have over time embraced new immigrants as PRs and new citizens, bringing with them their diverse cultures, outlook and values. Hence for us to build a society that is multiracial, multicultural, just and equal, is ever so relevant and important today.
As a nation and some say nationhood takes a very, very long time to build, it starts with each and every one of us.
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Hence, more has to be done to build social capital that strengthens ties between individuals and communities.
We can all work towards the same Singapore heartbeat, not just for those who are born here but also those who have come from other shores and make this place their home. Not too long ago, like our forefathers, they left their motherland, set sail and arrived at a pre-dominantly Malay fishing island Singapura. Over time, this place became home for them and their future generations.
Our Singapore Soul should be forged not just by our birthplace but by our collective experience, togetherness, our shared pride, values, our diversity, trust and respect for one another, our sense of belonging and our resilience as one community.
Thus, I would like to know how MCCY can effectively engage people, communities, and stakeholders to foster cohesion in our multicultural society and to build the social capital leading to the formation of a Singapore Soul.
How will MCCY facilitate and make use of community building efforts in areas of the culture, arts, and sports to grow this social capital that makes for a strong and resilient community?
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir): Mdm Chair, the National Heritage Board and Preservation of Monuments Board operate many museums and monuments that remind us of where we came from, how far we have come and that Singapore has to move forward.
Our history is a short yet rich one, born of the tapestry of peoples of many ancient cultures and religions that have come together to call Singapore home. It is not just found in museums and monuments but everywhere and anytime. I would like to encourage MCCY to not just present our heritage to Singaporeans in the form of exhibitions and monuments. This is important as a source of information and knowledge that every Singaporeans should know. But we can go further. MCCY can give Singaporeans a sense of ownership.
Madam, museums are great tourist traditions, but great museums in the great cities of the world often mean something more. New Yorkers, Parisians and Londoners take great pride in their museums because they have a great
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sense of pride in and ownership of the heritage that is embodied in their great museums.
I urge the National Heritage Board to work with Singaporeans in this direction, not just to increase the visitorship to our museums, but to develop and inculcate a sense of ownership of our heritage. Our heritage is really the Singapore Story narrative. This narrative is a living one, a continuing story of struggle against the odds, and a beautiful story of unity, progress and the pursuit of happiness.
But heritage cannot be just confined to museums and monuments.
Recently, I read in the newspapers that stall keepers at the Army Market in Beach Road are working to highlight the heritage of the place through the development of a virtual tour. This is part of our National Service heritage and many of our NSmen have visited the place. This initiative may not make it to the glamorous displays and exhibits that can be found in museums but their important efforts are also a part of our heritage.
In other words, heritage is not something that is detached and distant. Heritage is part of our everyday lives. It is not just history that we read or see, but it is in us and with us, evolving everyday and in the process, changing us as well.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): Mdm Chair, there is much discussion and interest in defining the Singapore identity and the Singapore spirit, and I wholeheartedly agree that this engagement is a critical part of community and nation building. MND has shared its vision on how it intends to celebrate our built heritage; but heritage is far more than just being about buildings, like what Mr Sitoh Yih Pin has just mentioned, and constitutes a living and evolving journey, with visual and aural history being equally important.
A shared past, either experienced or encountered, improves the fabric of society and makes our lives richer, and guides us towards the future. As such, I hope the Minister will share with us its plans on how it intends to preserve Singapore's heritage, in all its various hues and forms.
I am particularly interested in the Heritage Town initiative. My constituency of Queenstown will be 60 years old this year, and as Singapore's first housing
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estate it would be quite appropriate to call her the Queen of Estates. The rich historical tapestry of districts like Queenstown and others like Tanglin Halt and Tiong Bahru can be recognised though programmes like the Heritage Town initiative, and bring the community together by getting residents to focus their efforts on celebrating a shared past. I hope that the Minister can provide updates on this and other initiatives, and share with us his thoughts on how else our heritage can be safeguarded.
Mr Alex Yam (Chua Chu Kang): The philosopher Cicero opined that, \"To remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child.\"
What is heritage? Is it a building? Is it an object? Is it culture? Does displaying or restoring old things mean preserving our heritage?
Madam, heritage to me is about inherited traditions, it is both the tangible and the intangible; heritage is about how we act, about who we are and about what we will be. We need to have our physical reminders to recall how far we have come. The late photographer Richard Nickel once said, \"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and short-sighted men.\"
Many of the fond memories of our past have given way to economic progress. Yes, there may be new sights to behold, but will the Sands last? Will Universal Studios be our future historic landmark? Will we then be remembered by future generations as worshippers of the ship in the sky, and devotees of an ogre and his donkey sidekick?
Perhaps as important as our historic buildings and sites, our social history is also important. It is woven intimately into the fabric of our nation. There in our language, our songs, our recipes, our culture. Many are working quietly behind the scenes to preserve it, but they face uphill tasks.
Mr Jeffrey Eng is a tireless cultural ambassador. He runs a small cultural shop which is a landmark on 皇家山脚 which is River Valley Road. He has been regaling visitors with stories of our history and heritage for many years, at no fee.
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Mr Henry Ng is also the last Lion King of Singapore. He started as a lion dancer at 13 and in 1995, became the youngest of 10 professional lion makers. Today, he is the last remaining. Like Mr Eng, cheap and low quality products from overseas have made business difficult. Yet, they stay the course. Because they believe that there is culture and heritage worth preserving.
Therefore, I ask the Ministry what else beyond the physical that the National Heritage Board and its related agencies will be working to preserve. How will the Ministry look at involving all Singaporeans, especially with our 50th anniversary of Independence round the corner?
I make a plea on behalf of those struggling on the sidelines to do their part to preserve our heritage and what can the Ministry do to support them. As we enter into our 50th year, it is opportune for us to reinforce our heritage. Heritage is essential for us, it is not just history, it is your story, my story, your future, my future.
Ms Janice Koh (Nominated Member):Madam, over the past year, \"culture\" and \"community\" have become frequently used buzzwords. Up to $210 million was committed under the Community Engagement Masterplan, the new MCCY was set up and the \"Living Arts, Loving Culture\" programme was launched to bring arts and culture to everyone.
I welcome these developments. Culture is key to who we are, and community is the artist's bread and butter. I also believe that increasing and deepening Singaporeans' participation in the arts and in our cultural life is necessary to strengthening our cultural core. But now the hard work begins. There is no such thing as culture in general, or community in the abstract. Both involve the participation of many individuals in specific activities, often over long periods of time. There is no shortcut to a \"feel-good\" factor, and token participation just for the sake of it, has limited returns. So, what does this mean for the arts?
First, welcome as it is, we should not let the new enthusiasm for culture and community obscure the fact that many Singaporean artists have already been actively engaging audiences and communities for many years. Their talents should be tapped, and they should be encouraged to expand their audiences to an even larger pool.
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As such, rather than pushing all our arts groups to start community outreach initiatives, could the Ministry enhance financial support and resources in the area of audience development, publicity and marketing to these arts groups, and encourage them to not only increase the numbers of attendees, but also to broaden the range and diversity of their audiences?
Second, we should guard against a two-tier system that reserves high art for the elite and culture for the masses. Great art is not always easy, but it does not discriminate. It should be accessible and easily available to all.
We should find more ways to increase access to the wide range of work produced by our arts groups to all Singaporeans, especially those who are less able to participate. This may include those from lower income households, full-time caregivers or parents with young children who are unable to get away from family commitments. A night out at the theatre can be an expensive affair. Even with student discounts for children, accompanying adults often pay full price tickets to attend the shows with them. Could the Ministry consider strategies such as partnering with arts groups to offer free or special-priced tickets to families on public assistance and students on bursaries, or even providing free child-minding at the theatre venue on specific nights or weekends, so that busy parents have a window to enjoy the arts?
Could the Ministry also provide a sufficient level of funding to tour already existing productions or concerts by our local professional artists to performing spaces and galleries in community clubs and other venues around the island on a regular basis, so that Singaporeans have access to high quality productions and exhibitions in their neighbourhood?
Third, community participation should not be limited to just the consumption of arts events, but should go hand in hand with ownership and engagement. It is through direct involvement in art-making and creation, say, at a workshop or in a performance, that we receive the transformative benefits of the arts, including identity formation, empathy building and self-confidence.
For instance, community theatre and interactive performances, are designed to create safe environments for participants to re-enact real-life situations. Through role play, we are invited to clarify values and problem-solve creatively with other participants. This allows us to question our assumptions and promotes a sense of ownership in the change we want to see. Community arts should therefore not be limited to mass participation events. While such events can harness hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteer performers, and
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promote social bonding, they may not provide a sufficiently deep arts experience. Can we invest in more artist-led workshops and performances that interface with Singaporeans in a deeper way? An example of this would be the Forum Theatre presentations by Drama Box, where the \"call-and-response\" form is used to encourage audiences to reflect more deeply about social issues.
Finally, I would like to seek greater clarity on the roles and expectations of the different agencies involved in the community engagement initiative. While it may be a multi-agency effort, artists and arts groups feedback that the various agencies often have different agendas when it comes to funding and performing platforms. They also find it frustrating when cultural officers on the ground have little knowledge about how artists work. May I ask the Minister how the multiple stakeholders such as the PA, CDCs and CCs are working with statutory boards like NAC, NHB and NLB to support the artists in this engagement process?
Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast): Madam, I applaud the Government's effort in promoting arts and culture bringing it closer to Singaporeans and the Government had spent heavily on community engagement efforts under the Community Engagement Master Plan launched in April 2012.
In response to community engagement, an Arts and Culture Committee at the constituency level was formed to roll out arts and cultural activities for the community. These committees known as Community Arts and Culture Committee received grants from the Government to carry out and bring arts and cultural programmes to the people. As of the end of December 2012, a total of $19 million had been disbursed towards this programme.
Madam, there have been some inspiring results that had sprung forth as a result of the programme. For instance, I note a growing interest island-wide in people learning to play the ukulele. In my own constituency of Clementi, we have stirred an interest in folks coming together and forming live bands – a return to pop yay yay and perhaps a little bit of the American Bandstand in Clementi. I also note a growing interest and participation in ethnic cultural activities by different races. One such example is the growth of Malay and Indian boys learning and forming lion dance groups. I call this phenomenon a \"community cross cultural experience\".
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But the funding to the CACC suffer the same syndrome as many governmental departments' budgeting efforts, that is, use it or lose it the next year. When it comes the deadline for the closure of accounts, there is often a rush for programmes and activities. The Ministry may do well to be more even-handed in this respect.
Second, some sectors of the arts and culture groups are grumbling of limited support because of the CACCs. The inference is that the Ministry's focus is on the community. Can the Minister explain its focus on promoting arts and culture at the community level and if that has drawn resources and attention away from many other arts and culture groups?
Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): I recently went to the Saint Magnus International Festival on the island of Orkney in Scotland. It is a prestigious arts festival renowned for its unique blend of world-class performance and community participation. The entire island was alive with the arts. Music, drama and poetry filled a variety of spaces – from homely pubs to holy cathedrals and the highland hotels.
It was a sensual and sublime experience. It is hard to describe the unfettered sense of joy as you give in to the magic of the moment and to the glory of perfection. The experience, which lifted me from the dreary confines of my busy mind, reminded me yet again of the transformative power of art. It is such personal experiences that give me the conviction about the value of the arts, and about the contribution that they make to the quality of life of the country and of its people.
In this regard, I welcome the initiatives to nurture our artists with a new grants framework, and to inspire our people with the Community Engagement Plan. Will MCCY be raising its support for artists and arts groups, and to what extent? How will the new framework be linked up to deliver artistic excellence and that will culminate in national and world-class events.
Madam, Singapore has big ambitions to become a global arts city. Our cultural scene has become more vibrant, with more events, arts groups and cultural facilities. But how are we faring in terms of arts excellence and funding when benchmarked to other leading art cities such as London, New York, Edinburgh and Hong Kong?
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To achieve international standing, not only do our artists need to be exposed to world-class work but our audiences as well. To provide a high standard of community arts, we need to engage professional artists in the community. How does the Community Engagement Masterplan advance artistic excellence within the community and reach out to new audiences.
Madam, a key aim of the arts is to communicate perceptions about the human condition that cannot be communicated in any other way. In his column, Kishore Mahbubani mulled over how surveys suggest that Singapore is an unhappy society. He wondered what forces have generated this unhappiness with the status quo. He added, \"Normally it is the poets and novelists, the playwrights and artists who explain a society's soul to its people. Yet we all know that the great Singaporean novel has not been written.\"
Indeed, we are still waiting for the great Singapore novel. How have we been investing in our writers to ensure that they have the space, time and resources to produce this elusive tome?
Madam, the Renaissance City plan, launched in 2000, offered a vision not only of a global arts city but also of a Renaissance Singaporean – described as one who has \"an adventurous spirit, an inquiring and creative mind and a strong passion for life.\" I appeal to the Minister to set our sights high – only then will our quest to become a global arts city bring about a deeper transformation in our society and in our people.
Ms Janice Koh: Madam, before I begin, I would like to declare my interest as an actor working in the arts scene and a Board member of the theatre company, Wild Rice.
Madam, our local performing arts scene has burgeoned and matured over the last five years, nurturing many Singaporean artists and performers who now rank up there with the best in the world, and the Government has played a significant role in helping it grow to what it is today. This vibrancy however belies some of the pressures our arts groups are facing, especially the ones in theatre. I have met with many of them in the last few months, including those from the commercial sector. Let me share three challenges they face.
First, high venue rentals and the rising cost of making productions have impacted the financial sustainability of these companies. Last year I raised a
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Parliamentary Question on the issue of venue rentals, explaining that, on average, the rental costs paid out by an arts group to rent spaces at School of the Arts (SOTA), the Esplanade or the Drama Centre can vary between 20% and 35% of their production budget. In response, Acting Minister Wong assured that the National Arts Council (NAC)'s new grant schemes would try to support arts groups with higher funding. While this is a welcome move, I would like to appeal to MCCY to do more for local arts groups at these venues run by public-funded institutions, which are not out to make a profit.
For instance, the mid- and large-sized theatres at Drama Centre, Esplanade and SOTA currently charge a flat rental fee or a percentage of the box office, whichever is higher. This concept of \"whichever is higher\" makes the profit margin highly unpredictable for arts groups, and penalises them for working harder to fill bums-on-seats. In fact, I do not see why venues for hire should be sharing box office receipts with arts groups at all, since they do not take any financial risks in the marketing nor share in the publicity costs for the show. Such receiving venues should simply charge a flat fee, or negotiate with the arts groups to go with one option or the other.
In a typical year, an arts group that regularly presents work in a mid-sized venue pays an average of $150,000 to $250,000 in rent, if not more. Groups have fed back that the contributing costs include having to pay for manpower even when labour support is not required, and paying equivalent rental rates on Dark Nights, even though the theatre is not in use. Also, additional surcharges are levied for peak periods, including on small black-box studios, which tend to be used by smaller, amateur groups. Could the Ministry review these charges that go towards high rentals? Also, could the Ministry consider providing special rates for groups who are premiering new Singapore works?
Second, our flagship companies need stable funding and a sense of financial security in order to plan for the future. The Necessary Stage, Wild Rice, Theatreworks, Singapore Lyric Opera, The Theatre Practice and The Finger Players count themselves as some of Singapore's most active, non-profit arts companies today. They have been in the scene a long time – some for over 20 years – enlivening our arts and cultural life with a spread of original, Singapore-made, as well as international plays, comedies, musicals and opera. But unlike our national companies, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO), that together received about $13 million in Government grants alone in 2011, these groups receive substantially less Government funding as a proportion of their total operating budget.
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In fact, in 2011, 28 of our top funded arts groups received just over $5 million in total. Most of these groups are being funded at only 5% to 20% of their total operating costs. This puts a tremendous strain on them to rely on box office income and uncertain sponsorship revenue to cover the remaining 80% of their annual expenditure.
Not surprisingly, there was great concern when NAC announced last year that some groups would be \"graduated\" from major grant funding, and that they are being encouraged to move towards self-sustainability. With a limited funding pie, the argument is that major arts groups must make way for smaller, emerging ones.
Madam, this trade-off is a risky one. While I agree new groups need start-up assistance, it should not be at the expense of older, experienced companies who continue to pave the way in terms of artistic excellence, who play a leading role in providing mentorship and talent development, and who are here for the long term, providing employment for many Singaporean artists.
Madam, our major arts companies work extremely hard for every tax dollar they received. A snapshot of eight of these groups will show that in 2011, on average, for every dollar of Government grant received last year, they raised about $10 from alternative sources. Yet, few of them have any kind of financial reserves or endowment fund to tide them over a rainy day. For FY2011, at least five major groups recorded a deficit.
In light of this, I welcome NAC's New Grants Framework, which has raised the grant ceiling from 30% to up to 50% of total costs. However, even under the old grant framework, amounts were still way below the 30% ceiling. I therefore urge the Ministry to provide steady financial support to our flagship companies a lot more wholeheartedly, under this new 50% grant quantum.
Finally, Madam, artists and arts groups need the necessary space and the leeway to reflect society's concerns and issues on the ground through their art. Currently, arts groups feel straitjacketed by NAC's restrictive funding guidelines, which discourage them from exploring issues that might be vaguely challenging or provocative.
These curbs on expression – what one is allowed to say, think or express – limits the imagination and puts unnecessary constraints on creativity. It is the
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artist's role to look at contemporary issues that resonate and are relevant to their diverse audiences. To echo Ms Irene Ng, it needs to explain the Singapore saw to its people. Sometimes, their work raises questions about norms and values, but the arts provide us with a safe platform to reflect society's differences, and hold those up for reflection and debate. We need to trust that our arts groups will do so responsibly. I therefore echo Mr Baey Yam Keng's call yesterday for MCCY to be a champion for the freedom of artistic expression.
Madam, Singaporeans are clamouring for greater transparency, openness, and a plurality of views, and our arts policies should better reflect the aspirations and expectations of the people. I therefore urge the Ministry to abolish or update NAC's funding guidelines, and restore the Arts Council to its intended role, not as a regulator of arts content, which is already being done by the MDA, but as a champion of artists and a promoter of artistic excellence.
Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines) (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Most people are not familiar with or are interested in traditional arts. Awareness and the publicity on traditional arts is also limited. Traditional arts practitioners and supporters are generally people of the older generation. There is a risk that there is no succession. If so, we would be losing an important part of our cultural heritage. That would be a pity.
The Traditional Arts Plan launched two years ago is much welcomed. Would the Ministry share with us the progress of its various initiatives to promote our traditional arts? How have traditional arts groups and the practitioners benefited from the Plan? What else can the Government do?
Mr Arthur Fong: Madam, during the proposal to build the Esplanade costing some $600 million, I raised doubts as to whether we would be able to fill the theatres there with enough programmes, much less world-class acts.
I am elated to say, however, that my doubts had been put to rest because not only are we able to fill the performing theatres in our \"durian\" many times to sell-out capacity, but also often with world-class artistes. I would even say that world-class artistes would not have reached their peak if they had not performed their repertoire at the Esplanade. It gives me even more joy to say that the arts and culture scene in Singapore is dynamic, vibrant, and growing
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from strength to strength.
The Arts and Culture Strategic Review (ACSR) Committee chaired had focused on a bottom-up approach to boost arts in the community. The intent is to be more people-oriented and include hobbyists as well as private arts and culture enthusiasts. I understand that more work is in progress in this direction.
The Government has certainly spent much prudent dollars to boost the arts and culture scene in Singapore. But Governmental support in the area of arts and culture is not enough. There must be a corresponding, if not equal, support from the ground.
Last year, on his 80th birthday, the celebrated pioneer architect, Mr William Lim, donated a six-figure sum to benefit six arts organisations and two artists. Mr Lim's cash donations and ardent support is one of the most significant private donations to the arts scene.
We have had corporate donations to the arts and culture segment of society. The Singapore Press Holdings, the Hong Leong Foundations, LIPPO Group, OCBC Bank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank are just some of the generous corporate sponsors to the arts, and we need more.
We also need more private individuals, like Mr William Lim, to step forward and make selfless donations to the arts and culture sector. What can the Government do to encourage more private individuals giving to the arts and culture sector?
Mr Ang Hin Kee (Ang Mo Kio): Mdm Chair, this Budget made particular mention of a significant investment to nurture the arts, through the new Cultural Donation Matching Fund, to provide dollar-for-dollar matching for donations to arts and culture.
Will the Ministry consider extending the grant to the upstream institutions that offer training and developing youths in the arts? The aim, of course, is for capacity building and for capability development.
What I mean is, I am referring to training facilities such as LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, as well as some of the clan associations. These places nurture our youth, develop local arts and encourage
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the cultural landscape.
Will the Ministry consider matching the donation amount if the school or the clan association embarks on building or expansion projects? Consider also classes that they run that cover areas that have limited commercial value but very high in cultural content, such as calligraphy, Chinese traditional arts, Chinese opera and Chinese orchestra – just to name a few as examples.
I think we all recall seeing the article in the newspapers some time back where an institute had to run tents for their students because they went out of space.
Many are busy raising funds and I hope that the Ministry can consider matching their efforts so that more can be done for our next generation who are pursuing a career and their interest in the arts.
The Chairman: Mr Seah Kian Peng is not here. Mr Laurence Lien.
Mr Laurence Lien (Nominated Member): Madam, I declare my interest as Head of an agency partly funded by MCCY and doing community development. Madam, in Singapore, we talk about creating a society with a greater sense of togetherness. But try as we do, we at best see sparks of a kampung spirit, but never the bonfire that we desire.
I think there are three ingredients of community development that are critical success factors.
One, we must strongly believe in the strengths of people in the community to initiate positive action, without depending on state help or external resources. We must believe that an entirely bottom-up engagement approach can work and foster a sense of agency in individuals and ownership in the community.
Two, we must genuinely empower. Empowerment goes beyond consultation which retains power at the highest level. Empowerment means growing and sharing power. We have to strengthen people's confidence in their own capacities and inspire them to take action. They must be constantly encouraged, even if they make mistakes. This evocation must arise from a
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community vision that is positively shared, and driven by the community itself.
Three, we need good community leadership and facilitation. Leadership should emerge from within the community. External expertise can be brought in, but only as facilitators and not leaders. Outside facilitators can help build capacity in the residents to make good decisions for the common good.
What are the issues in Singapore?
Our agencies, whether from the public or people sector, do not know how to lead by stepping back. There is low tolerance for messiness and perceived inefficiencies. Concerns abound over the uncertainty of an unstructured, ground-up approach. These are accentuated by a lack of community facilitation skills.
I suggest that we allow bold experiments in community development to build social capital and engaged communities. Developing empowered communities may be inefficient in the short run, but are highly efficient in the long run. Imagine if neighbourhood improvements are continually made through collective community decisions and actions, and not through bureaucratic interventions.
We should experiment with how the work of the Residents' Committee (RC) can be done differently, or even outside the RC structure, especially in new estates. In these communities, we should mobilise residents with an authentic pro-community mindset, and allow the residents to design their own selection process to choose their own leaders, to set the agenda and decision-making processes, and to drive the organising of community events. The starting point should be the passions, strengths, and abilities of the residents.
MCCY should invest in community facilitators to catalyse the work of residents and connect them to others to work together. These new RCs can also work with other community stakeholders, like schools, non-profit organisations (NPOs) and informal community-based groups.
MCCY can also consider providing small seed grants for community projects. A good model is Seattle's \"Neighborhood Matching Fund\", which provides neighbourhood groups with resources for community-driven projects to enhance their neigbourhoods. All projects are initiated, planned and implemented by community members in partnership with the city. Eventually, I also see Community Foundations sprouting up in different parts of Singapore,
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mobilising grassroots philanthropy.
Ultimately, community development is about empowering citizens to take greater ownership within their communities. Political leaders must lead by stepping back. And it is when citizens share a common purpose and experience – enhanced through continuous actions and many successes, that an enduring common identity and a sense of togetherness are forged.
The Chairman: Mr Seah Kian Peng is not here. Mr Desmond Lee.
Mr Desmond Lee (Jurong): Madam, fault lines between new citizens and old citizens and between Singaporeans and foreigners are, today, the most visible fault lines in our society. These tensions are reflected by the intense debate and frequent discussions in this House about integration efforts. However, even as we must tackle new challenges, we should not take our eyes off latent fault lines such as race and religion. To do so would be a dangerous mistake.
Throughout history, race and religion have always evoked strong, sometimes irrational emotions that neither education nor affluence can truly subdue. On the contrary, the greater connectedness that technology and social media provide, amplifies the impact of bigoted viewpoints and increases potential flashpoints. In recent years, we have seen many cases here in Singapore where intemperate and derogatory online comments, some public but others meant as private comments, have inflamed passions and stirred anger both online and in the real world.
Genuinely multicultural societies such as Singapore are rare, and we should not take the status quo for granted. To take our foot off the pedal will breed complacency. Instead, it must be a never ending work-in-progress, especially as new generations of Singaporeans come onboard.
Can I therefore ask the Minister two questions? First, as a new Ministry, what does MCCY intend to do to help bridge these fault lines? Second, how will the Government encourage and support community efforts to foster better communal understanding? In particular, how do we move from a state of racial and religious tolerance, which is principally backed by the law and which can very easily be undone, to a state of racial and religious harmony, which is based on the deep and genuine understanding and respect, and which is far more
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resilient in our community?
Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Madam, I would like to declare I am currently chairing the organisation called OnePeople.sg. Madam, Singapore has always been held up as a successful model of social cohesion and racial harmony. But even for us, the pressures of globalisation and being interconnected with the world are starting to show underlying fissures. Our country has become more diverse. The influx of people from around the world, seeking to make Singapore their home, whether permanently or temporarily, has taken native-born Singaporeans out of our comfort zone. In some cases, particularly online, xenophobia is starting to rear its ugly head.
Of course, with more people of different backgrounds, come different norms and values. Never before in our young history have we experienced such rapid change, and what some have interpreted as a challenge to the core of what makes us Singaporean.
Madam, may I ask this question? Are we ready to face these new challenges? We have spent decades building an understanding, a spirit of gotong royong among Singaporeans of different backgrounds. What are we doing to enhance this spirit? How are we strengthening the bonds of friendship among Singaporeans, and between Singaporeans and foreigners who are in our country? If we do not quickly address these issues, and allocate the necessary resources, energy and talent, we face the danger of ripping apart the social fabric that we have carefully weaved over the years. And that would be a tragedy, Madam, because it would take away a unique selling point that makes Singapore a choice destination for many, and more importantly, it would change Singapore forever from being a place that is great for Singaporeans and our future generations.
The Chairman:\tActing Minister Lawrence Wong.
The Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information (Mr Lawrence Wong): Mdm Chair, I thank Members for their many comments and questions. This is the Ministry's first COS, and I am glad that there is so much interest in the work that we do.
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Beyond the discussion in this House, there have also been many Singaporeans talking about similar issues in our dialogue, in our feedback sessions, and in the Singapore Conversation. And it is because as a people, we are searching for a deeper meaning and fulfilment beyond material success. We want Singapore to be more than just a vibrant city; we want Singapore to be a home. As one of the participants in the Singapore Conversation puts it, and I quote, \"I have a dream that we will be a nation, as opposed to an economic outpost where our children feel they belong to this country and have faith and hope in their future.\"
This search for meaning is not unique to Singapore and Singaporeans. Around the world, people are asking similar questions. Because with globalisation, with the fast pace of modern living, questions on identity and belonging are becoming more complex for people everywhere.
This is the reason why MCCY was formed. Our aim is to build a shared culture and an engaged community. Unlike the five \"Cs\" that we are familiar with, these two \"Cs\" are not so easy to measure, I think a point which Mr Baey Yam Keng mentioned yesterday. Culture and community are important, they are essential elements of what makes Singapore home for all of us. We will do whatever we can to strengthen our cultural core and our community bonds.
Let me start with culture first. Over the years, our cultural scene has become more vibrant. I think many Members have mentioned that as well. We have more local movies. You would have seen, I hope, many of you would have seen Jack Neo's \"Ah Boys to Men\" – it is quintessentially Singaporean. There are many local music bands and we have a year-round selection of festivals, sports events, fairs and lifestyle activities to choose from.
More importantly, we have created a Singaporean culture and identity. It may be difficult to express in words what Singaporean culture is about. But it is in our shared attitudes, memories, experiences and values; it is in our food and our lifestyle; and, it is certainly in the way we work, the way we talk, the way we celebrate and the way we cheer for Team Singapore together. The test is whenever we are overseas, it is always easy to pick out a fellow Singaporean, even from afar.
But we are a young nation, and as several Members have highlighted, the fast pace of development and the rapid changes in our society make it difficult
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to develop strong cultural anchors for our national identity. It is easy to feel disoriented, especially with the increase in population and new immigrants in recent years. All this means that we must do more now to step up our cultural development. Many Members highlighted this in their speeches; Ms Janice Koh, in particular, spoke about this just now and also earlier in the Budget debate and I agree with all of your views.
Cultural vitality is very much a part of sustainable development. In the concept of sustainable development, the experts talk about the three pillars of development – there is economic, social and environment – but there is also a need for a fourth pillar, and that is in the area of culture. When I talk about culture, I am referring to it in the broadest sense of the word. The Singapore culture is shaped not just by the established canon of art forms like drama, painting, or literature. Please do not misunderstand – these are important and we will give these our fullest support – but culture is also about how we express and understand ourselves, whether it is singing or dancing or participating in sports, or spending time with family and friends. Ultimately, culture is about the expression of the human spirit. It is about bringing people together across divides, and it is about strengthening Singapore's appeal to us as a home.
Our first Culture Minister, Mr Rajaratnam, laid the foundations for this important work. When he started out in the Ministry – the first Cultural Ministry – he envisioned a shared culture for our people; one which is rich and diverse, rooted in many civilisations – as he puts it – and yet distinctively Singaporean. That is what we are trying to achieve in MCCY, through the arts, heritage, sports and through youth engagement. But we cannot do it alone because it requires a whole-of-Government effort, and that is because culture cuts across many other areas, whether it is education, manpower or national development.
At the same time, cultural development cannot be led by the Government alone. It is really a whole-of-society partnership. Because the culture of our nation is defined by how we relate to one another. In the past few months since MCCY was formed, I have initiated many dialogues on culture, including through the Singapore Conversation. This is very much work-in-progress and we will continue to have more sessions and to involve Singaporeans in shaping our cultural plans.
Even as we continue this public engagement, there are some areas which we have studied, and based on the feedback, we are ready to move forward. I will share some of these plans today, and I will touch on developing the arts
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and heritage in this speech, and about sports and youth later.
Mdm Chairperson, with your permission, I have some slides to show on the LED screen.
The Chairman: Yes, please.
Mr Lawrence Wong: On arts and heritage, what are our plans? First, we will engage Singaporeans in preserving and remembering our past. To nourish the Singapore soul, we must embrace the past and celebrate our heritage. One way to do so is through major national events – to remember the good times as well as the hard times that we have been through as a people. That is why we are doing something to commemorate the 10th anniversary of fighting and containing the SARS outbreak, as Minister Gan mentioned in the MOH COS.
But besides these national stories, we must also make the Singapore story one that is personally meaningful to every Singaporean. And for many of us, our memories of Singapore are more localised; they are linked to the familiar things that we grew up with – our HDB estates, our schools – something that Mr Baey spoke passionately about at the MOE COS, our community parks and gardens, our favourite food stall in the hawker centre, or the old mama stalls in the HDB void decks. As Mr Sitoh Yih Pin said very eloquently just now, heritage is not something that is detached; it is part of our everyday lives.
Singapore may be a small country, but there are special characteristics in the different parts of our little island that reflect our unique history and identity. Several Members like Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Mr Alex Yam, spoke about this and I fully agree with them. Let Members give some specific examples. I grew up in the East – in Marine Parade – and I tried long and hard to find an old photo that would show Marine Parade when I was growing up in the 1970s. I managed to find one in the archives – one of the point blocks where I used to stay. And I remember going to East Coast Park on weekends, it is not as green as it is now because the trees were newly planted and you could not see a lot of greenery at that time, but I remember going to East Coast Park, the beach, every weekend. I remember the schools that we went to in the neighbourhood – not in Marine Parade because it was a new town and there were no schools there, but we went to schools further out in Haig Road and Tanjong Katong – and the famous Katong laksa and chicken rice in East Coast Road. So, that is my memory growing up.
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In the central part of Singapore, you have Queenstown which Dr Chia Shi-Lu spoke about. It is our first satellite estate named in commemoration of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. This is where we had the Tah Chung Emporium, the three cinemas at the town centre – they were the hip places to hang out in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, you can still see some of the old buildings there, like Princess House which was where the HDB's first office was located, and the old wet market. Queenstown is well loved by the community so much so that there is a civic group, My Community, which came up with five heritage trails of the area on their own.
In the West, in Jurong, we have other historical markers. This was where we started Jurong Industrial Estate more than four decades ago. We had a Vespa company producing Vespa then. We had the first built-up hawker centres in Singapore; and we also had our first drive-in cinema where many Singaporeans had their first date.
And as Members can see from these pictures, there are many other exhibits about Jurong which we brought together at the Taman Jurong community museum. This is our first community museum, which was opened earlier this year, and it had very strong response from the citizens and residents in the community.
I have shared examples in the East, Central and Western regions. But, in fact, every part of Singapore is unique with its own flavour, and we want to foster a sense of pride in the community for the distinctive heritage that we have in these different parts of our nation. To achieve this, we have to strike a balance between preservation and development. Our old buildings, structures and sites are part of our built heritage. They help to preserve memories and contribute to the unique character of our living environment. NHB will work closely with HDB, URA and other agencies to consider heritage elements in our development planning process. We want to make Singapore a modern city with deep roots.
We will also expand our heritage-related activities and projects to strengthen our Singaporean identity and way of life. I agree with Mr Alex Yam that we should celebrate the masters of our vanishing trades. This is why NHB has been working hard to document and highlight the things we all cherish as part of our heritage – like our traditional bakeries, or this picture here which shows a street barber at Aliwal Street. And Members can see several students gathering around the barber. They are trying to record what he is doing to
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preserve the memories and keep them for future generations of Singaporeans.
To give Singaporeans a greater sense of ownership over our heritage, MCCY and NHB will develop more community-based museums, heritage galleries and trails in neighbourhoods all over Singapore. So far, we have 10 heritage trails: from heritage trails marking historical sites of national importance in the Civic District and along the Singapore River to sites that showcase our community memories in neighbourhoods like Balestier, Queenstown and Yishun-Sembawang. Members can see the map of the completed heritage trials.
This year, NHB will launch three more heritage trails in Toa Payoh, Tampines and Tiong Bahru. There will be more to come after that. Our longer-term plan is to develop an island-wide network of community museums, galleries and heritage trails. In developing all of these plans, our approach is to partner the community to celebrate our heritage together. We want to encourage more ground-up heritage initiatives, and we will engage students, volunteers and heritage interest groups, and facilitate self-initiated heritage efforts.
NHB will also widen and deepen its engagement with heritage enthusiasts, including bloggers, people in our educational institutions and non-profit organisations like the Singapore Heritage Society and the Organisation of Senior Volunteers (RSVP). It will also nurture heritage champions, equip them with the necessary training to become lifelong advocates, and provide them with assistance to develop self-initiated projects.
Through all of these channels, we want Singaporeans to have the opportunity to move beyond being passive audiences of heritage content to being active creators and participants. Together, we can celebrate the unique aspects of each community's heritage, and make the Singapore story come alive, as seen and told by Singaporeans.
That is our first strategy around heritage and the past.
Second, we will also enhance our National Museums and make them more accessible. Even as we develop our heritage at the community level, I agree with Mr Sitoh Yih Pin and other Members that we cannot neglect our National Museums because they are key repositories of our nation's memories and history. Through our museums, we celebrate the story of Singapore and Singaporeans, and provide a link to history for us and our children. Through
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our museums, we also see Singapore's development in relation to other civilisations and broader world events.
Take, for example, the picture of a collection of shipwrecked treasures from the Tang dynasty, salvaged off the Java Sea. It shows how Singapore has long been at the crossroads of maritime trade between China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This exquisite gold cup that Members see at the top of the picture was probably a diplomatic gift made in China on its way to the Persian courts. How do we know this? Well, first of all the octagonal shape of the cup is clearly not Chinese and, secondly, the figurines on the cup which are Middle Eastern. Singapore was at the centre of international trade even back in the first millennium.
But the significance of our central location would be most keenly felt only a thousand years later in the 19th century, when Malaya became a chessboard for the European powers vying for supremacy through their colonies. The British were then searching for a new port south of Penang, and they despatched their ships, Discovery and Investigator, to look for a suitable harbour. This old monochrome painting was done by a midshipman on one of the ships, Discovery, way back in 1819, the year of Singapore's founding. Members may not be able to make it out, but there is a small sort of a few words at the bottom of the painting that says it is a painting from Rocky Point. Rocky Point is around the current Fullerton Hotel area; so, the painter was there looking across the Singapore River, and Members can see some high points or high features in the background, that is probably Fort Canning where he was looking out to.
This painting is one of the earliest surviving depictions of Singapore and provides an eye-witness account of a pivotal moment in our history. There are many more wonderful items like this in our National Collection, in our museums, that tell the story of how Singapore has evolved as a nation.
We want to enhance this content in our national museums, so that they can better tell the Singapore Story in a way that resonates with Singaporeans. So, over the next five years, we will invest $62 million to help our museums build up their collections and conserve these collections with new techniques. We will increase access to our collection through our museums and also online, so that our artefacts and artworks can be enjoyed by both the present generation
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and kept safe for future generations.
Our museums are not just about objects and exhibitions; they are really about our people. And we want our museums to be central to the cultural and community life of all Singaporeans, enjoyed by young and old alike.
Here, I acknowledge that there is scope to improve. Our surveys show that although three in four Singaporeans agree that participating in heritage activities and visiting museums are important in developing a sense of belonging, only one in five Singaporeans actually visited our museums and heritage institutions. So, there is a bit of a disjoint – 75% say it is important, but only 20% actually visit.
Some have suggested having year-round free entry to our national museums. Mr Baey Yam Keng had raised this idea in 2011, and Ms Janice Koh also asked about this in a PQ last year.
I have discussed this with our museum team. Over the years, we have progressively expanded the scope of free admission. For example, we now have free entry in the month of August, but we have stopped short of doing it all year round. The key consideration was to ensure sustainability over the long term.
This remains a concern and so, from time to time, when we bring in special exhibitions with external partners, there will be entry charges to help cover the cost. In fact, this is done in museums all over the world.
Aside from these periodic special shows, I am convinced that there are significant merits to opening up our museums for all Singaporeans to enjoy. Take the example of Ms Tay Bee Luan – she has two children, and she wrote to NHB last year to tell us how much she appreciated the free museum entry month in August. She does not have a high household income, so costs are a concern, but she made full use of the free entry in August and brought her two children to the national museums every weekend. She could not complete all the museums last August, and I know they are looking forward to the next time they can go to the museum. There are many others like them who will benefit from greater access to our museums.
After careful consideration, I have decided to make entry to our national museums and heritage institutions free for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents all year round. We will start from 18 May, with the launch of this year's Children's Season in the museum. I think it is a fitting day to start free
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museum entry, because 18 May also happens to be International Museum Day.
I hope this move will encourage more Singaporeans to visit our museums and heritage institutions. There is a lot you can see, learn and enjoy, especially for people with families and children. More importantly, I hope that Singaporeans take pride in our museums. At the same time, we will make sure that our museums step up their outreach and programmes to the community, so that more Singaporeans can come to our museums to appreciate and enjoy our diverse culture and heritage.
The third strategy we have is to continue with efforts to engage our communities through the arts. Mr Arthur Fong and several Members mentioned about this, and Ms Janice Koh also made a point about how arts programmes should be kept affordable, especially for low-income families. And that is what we are trying to do with our community outreach, and there are many activities that we have started which are accessible to all. For example, we have provided learning opportunities to appreciate the arts, through the Arts and Culture 101 programmes in our libraries. We have also brought the arts closer to our people, through our community clubs, libraries and parks.
An important part of what we are trying to do is to promote ground-up initiatives, whether in singing, dancing, acting or playing a musical instrument. Since we rolled out the Community Engagement Masterplan last year, almost 250 new community interest groups across various art forms, such as pottery, theatre, singing and the ukulele, have been formed.
Recently, we had the PAssionArts Singing Festival, and as Members can see in the picture, very good turnout, lots of participation, more than 35,000 people took part. Around the island, we had 140 PAssionArts Hotspots like the one shown here, where residents have a chance to showcase their artistic talents every month.
The spirit of ground-up arts initiatives is captured by this group of young Singaporeans. They wanted to show the importance of valuing the contributions of our foreign workers. So, they made friends with a group of Bangladeshi workers, and even went to visit their families in Bangladesh. With support from the NAC and the Singapore International Foundation, these young people presented the personal stories of our foreign workers through a photography exhibition and a short film screening at the Arts House.
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Later, they even formed a music band with some of the Bangladeshi workers. They learnt about their music, and they put up a performance that combined their music with rock, pop and indie sounds. It is a wonderful example of what we can do to build bridges across communities through the arts.
Some Members – Ms Irene Ng, Ms Janice Koh – have suggested that the best way to engage the community is to draw on the expertise of artists and art organisations. I fully agree with them. Community arts is something that we want not just for the numbers, but for deep engagement and to help transform lives. I think our artists are in a very good position to do this.
Today, many of the NAC's grant recipients, like The Necessary Stage and DramaBox, actively engage the community through quality programmes. Going forward, NAC will do more to work with arts practitioners who are keen to engage the community and co-create arts projects with them.
Ms Tay Bee Aye is one such example. With support from NAC, she worked with the Asian Welfare Association's Seniors Activity Centre, to organise a craft project for seniors, where she taught them to incorporate creative elements into patchwork.
When she first started the workshop, the seniors were worried about making mistakes. The most common excuse was, \"I cannot draw\", and the second most common excuse was, \"Just tell me what to do and I will do it. But Bee Aye insisted that they come up with their own creative expressions. So, she asked them to start with something simple – to cut out simple pictures showing stories of their past and stitch them into craftwork – and the result was colourful, everyday scenes; the places they used to work at, the homes they used to live in, birds, flowers, even an image of the trams that used to run along downtown Singapore. As Members can see from this picture, the seniors were proud to showcase their handicraft, as they had achieved something which they never thought they could do in the past.
These are all examples of how the arts can develop self-confidence, promote creative expression and transform lives. There is still much more we can do. The key to do this well is good implementation on the ground. I recognise that we can do better, but we are committed to do this well, and we will take in feedback and suggestions from Members on how we can improve our engagement on the ground. If there are suggestions on things that we can do better, we will study them, and we will step up our community engagement
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efforts in the coming years.
Fourth, we will also reach out to our young people and our children and strengthen arts education in schools. Last year, we had the Arts and Culture Education Masterplan, where teachers were given more access to training in teaching the arts, and students were given more support to put up performances and pursue artistic projects.
Through these efforts, we want to make sure that every child in school can regularly take part in different cultural activities and learn to express themselves through storytelling, arts and crafts, singing, music-making and dance. We also want them to have the opportunity to appreciate artistic excellence and be inspired through visits to the museum, theatre, concert hall, or heritage sites.
One of the initiatives under the Masterplan is the new Arts and Culture Presentation Grant (ACPG) for schools, which MCCY and MOE launched late last year. The grant hopes to create more opportunities for youths to have a deeper engagement with arts and culture, and to share their artworks beyond the school community, especially in public places. We have awarded the grant to 37 schools, and we have made a special effort to support schools that may not have the resources to showcase their students' performances and artworks to the public.
The proposals that were submitted, and that we have seen, are all very promising. Like this picture of Serangoon Junior College student putting up a series of monologues, skits and a play, with the scripts mostly written by the students themselves. Or ITE College Central, the students are using the grant to do something interesting, using infra-red photography to create images. I asked them what infra-red photograph was about, and they gave me a technical explanation which I could not understand. But I think it is best to demonstrate it by showing Members a picture of what an infra-red photograph looks like, and that is what the students are trying to do. And I think there are many other examples of young people participating in the arts through these efforts that we are doing, and we will continue to do so and give maximum exposure in the arts to our students.
Fifth, the Government will continue to support our local artists and help them in their pursuit of artistic excellence. There were Members who spoke about this, like Ms Irene Ng, Ms Janice Koh and Mr Arthur Fong, and I share their views that we must continue to support our local artists in their pursuit of
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excellence.
We must recognise our local artists who have dedicated their lives to excelling in their craft, and there are many of them whom we can be proud of. Like Mr Kwek Swee Boon, the founder of his own dance company The Human Expression Dance Company – THE. He did this together with his wife and a small team of dancers. It was very difficult at first but in three years, THE is now touring cities like Paris, Dubai, and they have built up a reputation for themselves as a contemporary dance company combining western and eastern forms of dance. Without our artists, we would not have the quality of artwork and performances that ignite our imagination, stir our spirits, and inspire our creativity.
There are some perceptions that state funding for artistic excellence have been compromised somewhat, because of funding for community engagement in the arts. I would like to clarify that, in fact, the Government's support for artists and arts groups has actually increased significantly over the years. NAC's direct assistance to our artists and arts groups, such as through grants, arts housing rental subsidies, scholarships and training, has almost doubled over the past five years.
In this year's Budget, state funding for the arts will increase by a further significant amount, and I should say that we are fortunate to be in a position to do so. As the Culture Minister, I will be the first to stand up to beat the drum for more funding for culture. But I think we should be glad that we are having more state funding, because when I talk to my counterparts in other countries, they are quite envious of our position. Around the world, we see governments tightening their belts and funding for the arts is often the first to be cut. In Singapore, I am glad that we have an Exchequer that is supportive of the arts, and has agreed to increase our arts funding, as well as sports funding, but that is a separate topic which I will talk about later.
Over the past year, NAC has done extensive consultations with artists and arts groups on how the Government can provide better support for them. Based on their feedback, NAC has recently improved its grants schemes . I would not go into the details because it is already made public, but there are some directional shifts which I would like to explain.
First, we will offer more integrated support throughout the entire art-making process, from creation to production to market and audience development. Those were the points that some Members mentioned. So, we
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are not just looking at specific parts but the entire spectrum of art making and we will provide funding.
Second, we will have more funding provisions to help our artists achieve artistic excellence, to encourage new creative and innovative content, and build capabilities. Again, these are areas which Members have highlighted, and the new grants framework is indeed aligned in this direction. For example, we have enhanced the grants to support original and innovative content; and we have introduced new grants to support productions in both local and international markets, as well as to build audiences at home and abroad.
Third, we have a longer funding tenure to give grant recipients greater financial stability and the ability to plan for longer term projects. For example, under the revised organisation-based Major Grants Scheme, the funding tenure has now been extended to three years. Ms Janice Koh voiced concerns about the possibility of some arts groups graduating from the Major Grant Scheme after three years. I would like to assure her that NAC will continue to support companies that play a key role in our arts scene. It may or may not be through the Major Grant or other grant schemes, but there are other grant schemes which we can tap on, and which now include higher and more comprehensive levels of support.
Finally, we are also going to be more inclusive in supporting a more diverse range of art forms as well as applicants. In particular, commercial arts companies and intermediaries such as galleries, presenters, producers and publishers will be eligible for almost all project grants, in recognition of the role they play in a vibrant arts and culture ecosystem.
These revisions in NAC's grant schemes will raise funding to our artists and art groups to around $94 million between FY2012 and FY2016. And it is a significant increase of almost 140%, compared against the previous five-year period from 2007 to 2011. With this additional investment, our artists will have greater support to pursue their passion and to hone their craft.
I should perhaps say a few words about funding guidelines which Ms Janice Koh talked about earlier as well. Our guidelines are there because of the need for accountability in the use of public funds. NAC will apply this with a light touch and provide space as much as possible for our artists and art groups to express themselves creatively. I think the key does not lie in funding
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guidelines per se, but the key lies in building a discerning audience that is supportive of artistic expression even if it may be sometimes provocative or controversial. And that requires deep dialogue and engagement between our artists and the broader community, different diverse groups which MCCY and NAC will facilitate so that we can gradually open up the space for more artistic expressions.
Complementing our support through the grants framework are national platforms like the Singapore Arts Festival, the Singapore Biennale and the Singapore Writers Festival. These platforms also support our artists and arts groups by commissioning local works. And through these platforms, our artists will have the chance to profile their works both locally and abroad.
Besides the NAC grants, we also have arts housing subsidies. The number of artists and arts groups who benefited from subsidised studios has increased to more than 170 in 2013 over the past five years – this is an increase of almost 90%. In addition, artists and arts groups benefit from the project studios and the pay-per-use rehearsal and performance spaces in these arts housing facilities.
While it is not possible to house all our artists and arts groups in subsidised spaces, NAC will continue to develop alternative options by working with partners, such as commercial developers and community centres, to co-locate artists and arts groups in their facilities.
I will also now briefly highlight our plans to promote artistic excellence in three different sectors. The first is the performing arts sector, and that is something that Ms Janice Koh had mentioned. The pinnacle performing arts festival is the Singapore Arts Festival. And as Members are aware, a Review Committee was set up last year, and it submitted its recommendations for the Festival to have a sharper focus on artistic quality to inspire audiences. The Review Committee also called for the Festival to be run by an independent festival company.
My Ministry has reviewed the recommendations, and we agree with the broad directions set out by the Committee. So, NAC will set up a new company to take over the running of the Arts Festival which will return in 2014. This is one example where we are happy to step back and give the arts community greater latitude in creative expressions. The company will be given the autonomy to determine the Festival's artistic direction. This will allow the arts community to expand its programming capabilities and, over time, enable the
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Festival to develop a stronger identity of its own.
On theatre space which is something Ms Janice Koh talked about, I think it is an issue of both cost and space. On cost and charges, it is something we are prepared to review, and we do so from time to time. But I would say that we already charged local arts group subsidised rates despite running these theatre spaces at a loss.
On space provisions, we will do more so that we can have more options for our arts groups, and when the refurbishment of Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall is completed and re-open in mid-2014, these two venues will provide much-needed, professionally fitted-out and managed mid-sized venues in the city, in addition to the current Drama Centre.
We are also looking at ways to promote excellence in the visual arts sector. We already have a growing calendar of exciting visual arts events, like the Singapore Art Week which was held earlier this year. And we had many people who had come to see the art exhibitions. There is also growing interest in Singapore art, whether it is works by our pioneering artists like Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Georgette Chen, or by our current leading art practitioners like Iskandar Jalil, Ming Wong, Thomas Yeo, Tan Swie Hian.
To build up our visual arts sector further, we will do more to strengthen our art professionals' capabilities, in areas, such as critical research, writing and curatorship. The visual arts sector will also receive a further boost when the National Art Gallery opens in 2015.
Together with the Singapore Art Museum and the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, we will have three visual arts institutions under MCCY. I think there will be benefits to strengthening this visual arts cluster comprising these three institutions – to achieve better coordination, to deepen our capabilities, to boost scholarship and to maximise synergies. So, that is something that we are looking at to form and to develop this visual arts cluster.
We are also looking at international platforms for the visual arts. One of the most important contemporary visual arts shows in the world is the Venice Biennale.
NAC had earlier announced a hiatus from the Venice Biennale this year. We have reviewed this, and decided that our participation in the Venice Biennale is important in profiling our artists internationally. I am happy to say that plans
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are currently underway, in consultation with the relevant agencies and stakeholders, to pave our return to the next Venice Biennale in 2015.
The third area is the traditional arts sector. The traditional arts, such as Chinese ink painting, bangsawan Malay opera and Indian dance, these are an important part of our culture and heritage. They provide a link to our past, and to our ancestral roots; and at the same time, because the traditional arts in Singapore have evolved with a certain local flavour and character, they also contribute to our distinctive Singapore culture. So, we will continue to support and promote the traditional arts in Singapore.
Mdm Chair, allow me to say a few words on this in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, the Government has all along been supporting the preservation and promotion of our traditional arts to enhance Singapore's multicultural flavour. By influencing one another, our traditional arts forms can evolve into a unique blend that is our distinctive cultural resource. In this manner, we will become a true nexus of cultural exchange between East and West.
Over the years, through our arts practitioners' painstaking efforts, and with the support of the Government, our traditional arts sector has achieved remarkable results. Today, it is a significant sector in our arts and culture scene. The Government is committed to supporting our traditional arts practitioners, to lift this sector to the next level.
Our Singapore society is entering a transition. Our social norms and values are changing. At this turning point, the strengthening of our local identity and cultural ballast becomes all the more crucial.
In 2010, the Government launched a $23 million National Traditional Arts Plan to support our traditional arts forms. Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Sam Tan, will elaborate further on the progress of this Plan, and what else we are doing to preserve and promote our traditional arts.
(In English): Finally, on arts and heritage, the final point I would like to make is that while the Government will do more and will do its part, we should not rely solely on State financing for the arts and heritage.
You can look at what countries do, and in Europe for example, funding for the arts tends to be state-controlled. But the experience there has not always
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been positive. Besides being subject to budget cuts whenever there is a fiscal tightening, too much bureaucracy can also stifle artistic development. Because the public officials will then have to decide what can or cannot be funded, and there will be tremendous frustration on the ground. Indeed, many in the arts community have shared with me that when it comes to the arts, they prefer that the Government do less, not more; and open up the space for creative and artistic expressions.
On the other hand, another model in the US, funding for the arts is overwhelmingly reliant on private patronage. It is not bad but it also has its downsides – because art is not just a private enterprise, it is an essential element of our collective culture and identity.
What we need is a kind of partnership between the Government, corporations and individuals. We must find the right balance between state support, private giving and commercial activity.
We have good examples of private giving to arts and heritage, like the donation by Mr William Lim which Arthur Fong highlighted earlier. But I agree with Mr Arthur Fong that there is more that we can do to promote private giving to the arts.
Over the last five years, while the number of arts organisations has increased, total private giving to the arts has remained more or less unchanged, at only about 3% of all charitable donations. Compared to other countries, we still have some way to go – because if you look on a per capita basis, giving to the cultural sector in Singapore stands at about $7 per person, compared to $13 in Australia, $14 in the UK and $35 in the US.
So, we must do more to encourage cultural philanthropy, and that is why the Deputy Prime Minister Tharman had announced in his Budget Speech that the Government will match private sector donations to arts and heritage groups, museums and institutions. We will set aside $200 million in a Cultural Donation Matching Fund to finance these matching grants. We can only have a thriving arts and heritage sector if our people have a personal stake in Singapore's culture, and feel the desire to contribute to its growth and development.
Some Members asked about the implementation details of the Matching Fund. Ms Janice Koh asked for more flexible administration, I believe, earlier in the Budget Debate. And Mr Ang Hin Kee suggested extending it to clan associations and arts schools like NAFA, LASALLE, and also to cover building
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projects.
We will look into all of these suggestions. We do not have details now, but, for now, what we have are some preliminary views on the principles in which the Matching Fund should work:
(a) we think it is better for the potential beneficiaries to be the ones doing the fundraising rather than a central agency because this will enable the agency that is doing the fundraising to nurture donor relations;
(b) we want the scheme to benefit a broad range of art institutions, and so there is a need to ensure that the matching grants are disbursed in a generally equitable manner, and not monopolised by a few large beneficiaries; and
(c) we also want to ensure that the matching grants are used in a way that is impactful and sustainable, and can support capability-building in the cultural sector over the long term.
Based on these broad principles, we will consult donors and potential beneficiaries to see how best to design the matching scheme. We will have a consultation paper that we will put up for views, and we will firm up the details when the consultation is completed later this year.
Mdm Chair, I have outlined some of the plans to build a strong cultural core through the arts and heritage. Let me now turn to the other C – community, and the need to build more connections between our people. I think this is a point which several Members have raised too, like Mr Baey Yam Keng, Mr David Ong and Mr Laurence Lien.
We have all seen surveys of how Singapore has done well economically, but lags behind in terms of happiness. There are, of course, different ways to raise our happiness index. Hopefully, free museums will do so by some margin. But many studies show that the most important factor in happiness is the level of social connectedness in the community. It is not just in Singapore. Many studies around the world show this. How connected you are determines your level of happiness. Because when we are socially connected, good deeds are reciprocated, and we help, trust, and rely on each other. These relationships help us feel emotionally supported, and they enrich our lives.
Social ties across different communities are all the more important in Singapore because of our multiracial and multi-religious society. Over many
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years of patient effort, Singaporeans of all races and religions have learnt to trust one another, to give and take, and to accommodate each other's different customs and ways of life. But as Mr David Ong and Mr Desmond Lee reminded us just now, we must never take this for granted.
I agree with them that more needs to be done to strengthen our community bond, especially with new citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) in the mix. We are already looking at ways to do so. I chair the National Integration Council (NIC), and through the Council and its partners, we are helping our new citizens and PRs embrace our cultural core and adapt to our local norms and values. This will help them to interact meaningfully with Singaporeans, forge stronger bonds with our community, and contribute to nation-building.
At the same time, we should do more to foster interaction between Singaporeans of different races and religions. We cannot force this, but we must do our best to encourage it. We have some ideas, which Senior Parliamentary Secretary Sam Tan would share later in his speech. Singaporeans need to know one another, socialise together, and make friends with people who belong to different races and religions. This is the way to widen the common ground and achieve unity in diversity.
More importantly, community-building, like culture, cannot be done by a single agency. It has to be embedded within the work of the entire government. It is about connecting people, nurturing relationships, and providing spaces and shared activities where people get to know one another. And as we do this well collectively, we can build up a larger community or nationwide community with a sense of belonging to Singapore.
The good news is that we do see more Singaporeans actively involved in doing community projects. During the ‘Singapore Conversation', many participants said that they would like to see a more compassionate and inclusive society, where the spirit of giving, volunteerism, and helping one another is a natural part of our lives.
To some extent, this is already happening. Every day, all over the island, acts of kindness are carried out by Singaporeans. They may not always be visible to the public eye, but they reflect the generous spirit of our people and our desire to make a difference in the lives of others.
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And over the past year, the survey done by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) shows that one in three Singaporeans is engaged in volunteer acts. This is the highest rate of volunteerism since we started our survey, and it shows that we are moving on the right track.
One example is 70-year-old Mdm Tay Chay Hiang who proves the point that the more you volunteer, the happier you are and the younger you can look. Despite recently undergoing several medical operations, Mdm Tay is still a faithful volunteer with the Lions Befrienders. Twice a week, she visits senior citizens who live alone to see if they need help, even going the extra mile by cooking meals for them.
Some volunteer in groups – and I have a group of over 70 mothers living in the Henderson area. I do not have a picture of them unfortunately, but they call themselves the \"Super Mummies\". These mothers come together to look after one another's children and support one another to overcome difficulties that parents face. Although it is difficult to coordinate the schedules of so many people, they have found a way to make it work.
I have highlighted what some of the elderly and parents do, but we also see positive trends in our younger generation – they are more active, more engaged and prepared to do their part for the community. At a recent Singapore Conversation meeting, I was struck when a Polytechnic student asked, \"Why must there always be a policy answer to all our problems?\" And she added, \"let's ‘unpolicy' some policies.\" I learnt a new word – \"unpolicy\". She was advocating that people solve problems by themselves and I think that was very refreshing. Earlier this year, I had a conversation with University students, and the theme of their forum was \"More than Ourselves, A Generation that Cares\". So, I think there is hope for us to move in this direction.
We should encourage more of such civic activism. We will be happy to experiment the different models – as Mr Laurence Lien suggested. Being bold in trying out different models, whether it is at the RCs or in community groups, or in providing seed funding for the community.
I would also say Mr Laurence Lien made a very important point that the Government should step back and create space for genuine empowerment. Mr Lien said that some public agencies are not so good at doing this. But I think it is not just about public agencies or public officers. Our public officers are committed and responsible and they will do their jobs well. That is their duty
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and that is their responsibility.
At the end of the day, it is about our social compact. It is about what the Government does and public expectations of the Government. If we want to open space for more ground up initiatives, all of us as leaders must be prepared to explain to our constituents and to our people that, sometimes, it is better for the Government to do less and for solutions to emerge from the ground, which are messier but more organic. It is not always easy to do this because if you listen to speeches made in this House over the past two weeks, I think I have only heard calls for the Government to do more, not less. But nevertheless, as I described earlier, there are positive trends and we should continue to move in this direction and identify areas where you can have less Government and more bottom-up initiatives.
This is how we can nurture the kampong spirit in our urban city, and strengthen the sense that this is our home. While it is heartening that more Singaporeans are volunteering their time for good causes, there are also some new patterns emerging. For example, we have noticed that those who volunteer are contributing less time compared to previous years. More people are also volunteering on an occasional, rather than a regular basis.
From time to time, we have heard feedback from volunteers who are disappointed with their volunteering experience, and they decide not to continue serving after that. There are several reasons why this happens. Maybe the charities that they volunteer in are overwhelmed in serving the needs of their beneficiaries and, therefore, do not have capabilities to engage their volunteers well.
But when non-profit organisations (NPOs) put in place best practices for volunteer management, we found that it really pays off. For example, in Dover Park Hospice, its investment in volunteers is a critical part of helping its patients live life to the fullest in their final days. As work in a hospice can be emotionally draining, its volunteers are given very thorough training in end-of-life care and provided with counselling support. And as a result, more than half of Dover Park Hospice's 260 active volunteers have stayed with the organisation for five years or more.
We hope to see more volunteers build long-term relationships with the charities that they are involved in, and be engaged in ways that they find fulfilling and meaningful. Volunteers are more likely to stay on when they find
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joy and fulfilment in their volunteering experience.
To help our charities sustain volunteer involvement, MCCY will work with the NVPC to develop a Volunteer Management Consultants initiative. So, NPOs will be able to tap on the services of a team of Volunteer Management Consultants to build their volunteer management capabilities, such as designing programmes for volunteers, and helping volunteers contribute more effectively.
Mdm Chair, building a distinctive shared culture and an engaged community take time. It is not something the Government can mandate. It must be driven by the conviction of Singaporeans who care enough to do something to shape the character and tone of our society. I am optimistic that with the heartfelt calls for a stronger cultural core and a more engaged community, we can work together to build a home we are proud of.
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong): Mdm Chair, Acting Minister spoke about the importance of building connections between people, as a way to create greater social bonds and cohesion. He also spoke passionately about the challenges that we will continue to face in establishing a strong national identity.
In a diverse society like Singapore, social bonds and national identity emerge both out of experiences we have in common, and experiences that are unique to each of us.
Strong social bonds and a sense of identity will help create social capital and Acting Minister painted a picture of this as Singaporeans being able to help, trust and rely on one another. Let me also add by saying that it is also a sense of community, and a natural affinity for our fellow Singaporeans. Having tightly-knitted communities not only gives each one of us the emotional support that we need, but also gives us the confidence to bring new Singaporeans into our midst.
Mr Baey Yam Keng and Mr David Ong have asked about how MCCY will strengthen national identity and build social capital through our efforts across various sectors. Mdm Chair, MCCY's programmes aim to encourage bonding within the communities and also a richer appreciation of the diversity across all the communities.
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With your permission, Mdm Chair, may I display some images on the LED screens?
The Chairman: Yes, please.
Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong: Madam, allow me to first elaborate on our efforts in the arts sector. Our community engagement efforts will continue to provide opportunities for people to come together and share a common passion. Mr Arthur Fong spoke about the arts and the culture interest groups and Community Arts and Cultural Clubs (CACC) which have been set up across the island. These groups are made up of community enthusiasts and the volunteers, with support from the Community Engagement Masterplan. They have helped their fellow Singaporeans to see the arts as a part of a community life, and also as something that they can really enjoy everywhere and every day. I thank the Member for his suggestion regarding our funding of such groups, and we will continue to refine our support to the community.
Mr Arthur Fong also mentioned the ukulele interest group network during his speech. And other Members may have also seen this group in action, during last month's Chingay procession or parade. These groups' achievements deserve special mention.
Since last September, over 1,800 Singaporeans between the ages of four and 92 years have picked up ukulele from Mr Low Cher Yong and other community champions. For Members who are unfamiliar, the ukulele is similar to a guitar, but is smaller in size and also, it is friendlier to beginners. Cher Yong, a community volunteer and musician, thought that it is an instrument that could bring music into the lives of people with no musical background.
Being part of this growing ukulele community motivated participants to master six songs within just a few lessons, going from novices to Chingay performers in a few short months. So, Members of this House, if you are keen to learn ukelele, I would be most happy to introduce you to Cher Yong. Perhaps at next year's Chingay Parade, some of you will be able to perform.
More importantly, their newfound passion for the ukulele brought the neighbours together closer. And regular practice sessions have also become a common place to meet with the new friends. We will continue to support such opportunities for Singaporeans to bond over a love for the arts.
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Mdm Chair, now let me proceed to highlight how MCCY's efforts in the heritage sector can help to promote greater understanding across communities, and bring Singaporeans closer over their shared values and stories.
In MCCY, we all agree when Mr Sitoh Yih Pin said that heritage is not distant or detached. Heritage actually lives within us. Our memories make up a big part of our heritage and identity. Therefore, our memories are created from diverse experiences, and these experiences can be shared through stories. Mr Alex Yam asked about what MCCY would be doing to preserve the parts of our heritage that extend beyond the physical. Helping Singaporeans to tell and share stories will play a big part in the MCCY's role to help preserve our heritage and also to build our national identity, something that has been so passionately talked about by Members of this House.
NHB will be launching a new travelling exhibition to honour and also to remind us of the brave healthcare workers who stood on the frontlines during the SARS outbreak, and how Singapore stood behind them as they worked to overcome this crisis. NHB is working with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and MOH and the exhibition will be launched next week.
The new exhibition is part of NHB's \"Resilience Through Heritage\" series of exhibitions. These exhibitions tell the stories of moments which have brought us together as a people, and also to remind us of the strength of the Singaporean spirit. Our programmes will continue to promote awareness of these defining moments of Singapore's history which have played a very strong role in shaping our identity.
Besides these stories that have touched us all, we have also amassed some deeply personal stories that are worth sharing. We therefore agree with Members' suggestions to go beyond national-level efforts. Our efforts to foster pride in the distinct heritage of different communities will also help to maintain bonds held together by unique experiences.
Take Mdm Moslimah as an example. She is a former resident of Kampong Kaji near the Sultan Mosque, which is Kampong Glam today. They may not live together along Bussorah Street anymore, but Mdm Moslimah and her neighbours still shared fond memories of the gotong royong and close community bonds of their Kampong Kaji days.
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When NHB was creating the Kampong Glam heritage trail last year, these old neighbours came together to share their stories − a place close to her heart which also has a place in our shared history, and the trail is a reminder of the community bonds that she shared with her neighbours. And the memories of Mdm Moslimah and her former neighbours, as well as those of the former and current residents of Kampong Glam area are all captured in a very nice handy guide book called the Kampong Glam Heritage Trail.
By encouraging Singaporeans to come forward with their own stories, our approach to heritage celebrates not only those things that are common to us, but also those things which make us and each community very unique.
This openness to diversity should also underpin our approach to the traditional arts. I fully agree with Mr David Ong that embracing diversity should be our hallmark as Singaporeans. Singapore is, indeed, fortunate to be a cosmopolitan port city, sitting between the East and the West. Our forefathers had brought their rich cultural traditions with them in the past, and we can continue to benefit from the vibrancy that new immigrants and visitors bring to our shores today.
I fully agree with Mr Baey Yam Keng that we should do more to attract new audiences and supporters for the traditional arts. Traditional arts will remain vital to MCCY efforts to promote mutual understanding and appreciation across different communities, and we will continue to support the efforts to help traditional art forms to take root and also to flourish.
Madam, NAC had launched the $23 million National Traditional Arts Plan in 2010. This has strengthened our efforts to create a more vibrant traditional arts scene that reflects the diversity of the Singapore society, and also to encourage greater interest among local audiences. NAC supported a total of 60 traditional arts groups last year. And going forward, we will continue to invest significantly towards key strategies to support the traditional arts and the arts schools.
Let me elaborate. First, the National Traditional Arts Plan will continue to support organisational development for traditional arts groups. A new initiative in this area is the Traditional Arts Organisation Consultancy Programme. It was held for the first time between August 2012 and January this year. A number of Traditional Arts Seed Grant recipients have participated in this programme, and the feedback given by them has been very positive. Through this programme, the groups have improved their administration, strategic planning and
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organisational development capabilities, which will help them to become more professional and self-sustaining. We will continue to support traditional arts groups to establish themselves and also to create a strong and sustainable impact on the cultural landscape.
Second, we will also continue to support the passing on of traditional art forms from one generation to the next, so that Singapore can continue to draw on the traditional art forms in maintaining our links with the past. Two of our valuable platforms are the National Indian Music Competition and the National Chinese Music Competition. Aspiring towards success in these competitions has helped to motivate young talents like 17-year-old guzheng player Nicholas Quek to strive for greater excellence in their craft.
Nicholas won second place in the Youth Category of the competition in 2010. He continued to develop his talent and strengthen his interest in the instrument. Finally, he was able to achieve the first place last year. And along the way, he also took part in the Tong Yan Cup International Zheng Art Week in Harbin, China, where he also managed a first-place finish in his category. Young practitioners like Nicholas will help the traditional arts engage and also inspire new generations of Singaporeans and continue to flourish in the future.
Finally, we also continue to support the creation of a traditional arts programme and activities to engage a wider Singaporean audience. For example, last July, NAC supported \"Muara – Pesta Tari Melayu\" by the Malay Dance Committee. The event brought together local and regional Malay dance groups to present demonstrations, performances and seminars in both traditional and contemporary Malay dance. Held over three days at various venues in the Esplanade, the event attracted over 10,000 people, gaining more fans for the Malay dance.
Madam, our support for traditional arts and heritage recognises these links to our past as living things, which evolve and strengthen as the different cultures within our shores share their practices. They add colour to the Singapore story, and can form part of the cultural ballast which Ms Janice Koh spoke so passionately about during last week's Budget debate. Equally important, our shared appreciation for traditional arts can form bridges across our diverse communities. Madam, talking about diversity, now I would like to switch from Channel 5 to Channel 8 and carry on my speech in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Government's effort to support the traditional arts will only have an impact through the good work
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of artists, enthusiasts and supporters. For example, Resonance, a Sheng Ensemble founded under Thomson CC‘s Youth Club is one such group. Formed in 2011, the ensemble is made up of mostly young musicians below 30 years old, many of whom are continuing their practice from schooling days.
NAC supported the ensemble's first concert last December. Besides showcasing their talent, the group also used the concert as a platform to deepen audience awareness of the sheng. Such efforts to develop new audiences are invaluable to the continued viability of traditional art forms.
I hope more traditional arts practitioners can tap on the traditional arts fund provided by the Government and further promote traditional arts.
The Government will also continue to support traditional arts practitioners with a passion for educating the next generation. Take, for example, Ms Lim Mei Lian, who received an NAC Arts Scholarship to pursue an undergraduate degree in Peking Opera at China's National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts. Before, I did not know there is such a Bachelor's degree.
Unlike most scholarship recipients, Mei Lian is a traditional arts veteran. She co-founded the Tian Yuan Peking Opera Society more than 20 years ago and she has been teaching Peking Opera at Dunman High School since 1996. Her passion for cultivating a new generation of performers has motivated her to improve her teaching methods and, with her training, she hopes to make Peking Opera more relevant to today's audience. In other words, she hopes, through learning Peking Opera, she can localise and present Peking Opera in a modernised style to the young generation, who can then learn to appreciate this ancient traditional Chinese art in a new perspective. We look forward to her further contributions when she returns from Beijing.
Finally, the contributions of private sector champions should not go unnoticed. Since 1987, the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA), Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) and the People's Association (PA) have organised the River Hongbao to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and the event has integrated many elements of Chinese traditional arts.
This year, the event included a Harmony Night which brought together not just the Chinese traditional arts groups, but also Malay and Indian traditional arts groups to highlight the diversity of Singapore culture.
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I believe the motivation for these individuals and groups extends beyond the passion for their respective art forms; it also comes from an adherence to the cultural traditions which are embodied within their practice. We will continue to support the development of traditional arts, not only as a source of a greater vibrancy and inspiration for the arts scene, but also as conduits for our rich cultural heritage to be passed from one generation to the next, and shared from one community to another.
(In English): Now, I would like to switch back to Channel 5. Madam, while an appreciation for our diversity can bring us together, insensitivity towards our differences can also drive us apart. Mr Zainudin Nordin cautioned us against a further erosion of the sense of community which we have built painstakingly since independence, and I share his concern wholeheartedly. Our sense of community has changed, with the Internet and the mobile phones replacing face-to-face interaction.
Mr Desmond Lee also reminded that it is all too easy for a single impulsive post on Facebook, or a single insensitive blog entry to undo what we have achieved in building a harmonious society. Mr Desmond Lee also reminded this House that while we work hard to integrate new members into our society, we must not neglect to bridge potential racial and religious fault lines.
Madam, I fully agree with Members that Singapore cannot remain as a society that shows tolerance only on the surface, and should instead work towards building genuine understanding and respect across our racial and religious communities. MCCY will continue to make this our priority on this journey.
Members would also be familiar with our work in the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs). IRCCs are set up to promote dialogue and also to foster friendships across faiths and ethnicities. Since December 2010, IRCCs have held a series of four IRCC@Heartlands events to increase understanding of our religious, ethnic and community groups in an interactive way.
The most recent event was held in December last year and it involved seven religious organisations, and featured scaled-down replicas of their places of worship. Participants were also able to learn about the history and practices of the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Taoist faiths at once, all under one roof. This will greatly enrich their understanding of multicultural Singapore. More of such creative methods of outreach are, indeed, needed and
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we intend to do more.
A genuine attempt to understand our fellow Singaporeans from other races and religions must also come from each one of us, and not just from Government policies and programmes alone. MCCY will, therefore, focus on encouraging more ground-up initiatives where Singaporeans of different backgrounds can come together and co-create more opportunities for us to celebrate our diversity.
Since 2009, a group of passionate youngsters of different races has been organising an annual event called Rafusicul. It is an acronym for Racial, Fusion and Culture. So, they call themselves Rafusicul – it sounds quite cool.
To promote racial harmony amongst their peers, these youth brought young Singaporeans together through music and dance. These are the common languages shared by people of all races, particularly amongst the young people. Rafusicul has grown in popularity. The most recent event was held in December 2012 which featured a flash mob along Orchard Road, bringing the spirit of the event to even more Singaporeans.
MCCY will establish a $5 million Harmony Fund to support such ground-up initiatives. We want to encourage the blossoming of such activities across the island, so that all Singaporeans will have an opportunity to gain a greater understanding as well as an appreciation of our racial and religious diversity.
Non-profit organisations will be able to apply for co-funding from the Harmony Fund to undertake worthy projects. These could be projects that raise awareness of the importance of racial and religious tolerance; promote knowledge and appreciation of different cultural practices; encourage interaction between different racial or religious groups; or reduce negative stereotypes or misconceptions about other communities.
With this new fund, we hope that more groups will come forward and share new and creative ideas to make Singapore a strong, vibrant and, if I may say, a more colourful society.
To conclude, MCCY recognises that we are a nation made up of different people, and all with our own passions and our stories. Our efforts to create a sense of community will respect and celebrate the diversity of our experiences.
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MCCY will continue to support Singaporeans in sharing their passions, stories, traditions and perspectives, to create strong communities that enrich one another and, at the same time, a nation united not only by our common bonds, but also through an appreciation of our differences.
The Chairman: Mr Hawazi Daipi is not here. Mr Nicholas Fang.
Mr Nicholas Fang (Nominated Member): Madam, I would like to declare my interest as the President of two National Sports Associations and I am a member of the Singapore National Olympic Council.
The news announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman in his Budget Speech regarding a scheduled increase in funding for sporting activities in Singapore was very welcomed. The 30% increase in funding for sports programmes over the next five years, along with the doubling of the investment into regional and community sports facilities, will enable the sports fraternity to consolidate the progress it has made over the past few years. But more importantly, it will also enable the full impact and benefits of sports to be felt throughout our society at a time when such benefits are sorely needed.
Singapore sportsmen and women have enjoyed mixed fortunes over the years. Highlights, like recent Olympic triumphs in a limited number of sports, have been juxtaposed against near misses in other regional events and the lack of similar success among more sports.
Local athletes often bemoan the relative lack of financial support compared to major sporting nations in the west and other challenges specific to Singapore, such as the intense focus on academic excellence and success in careers, National Service as well as a society that does not seem to value and reward sporting achievements. In fact, much of our limited sporting success seems to have been achieved in spite of a lack of a true sporting culture and not because of the presence of one.
I would like to ask the Minister whether any of the new funding being allocated in this year's Budget would be directed at encouraging the creation of a nation of sports fans who, while not necessarily all sportsmen themselves, will follow sporting news in the various media and get behind sporting heroes, both foreign and local, as they compete all around the world. If the experiences
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of countries like the US and Australia are anything to go by, a key part of a true sporting culture is an appreciation for sports as a form of entertainment and inspiration, as a valid alternative to, say, going for a movie or spending two hours in a shopping mall, for example. This passion and appreciation can include, but is not necessarily restricted to, our support for one's own home team or national players but extends to a joy and celebration of sporting endeavours, all the drama they encompass, and the exemplification of our humanness, values and different characters and personalities that are laid there on the sporting field.
We should encourage the showcasing of such aspects through sporting events, both those that cater to mass participation and also those that are exhibition events that allow young and old Singaporeans to enjoy the thrills and spills of top-notch world-class competitions among the best athletes in the world. This can serve to inspire our next generation of champions but also, hopefully, inspire more sponsors to enter the sports sector to seek out viable champions for their brand, thus reducing the burden on the Government, through the Singapore Sports Council, to continue funding sports at all levels. Or having tens of thousands of people take part in a marathon once or twice a year is laudable, having five million passionate fans of sports of all kinds is a far more powerful proposition that can lead to an increase in non-Government funding and sponsorship as well as moral support for our local athletes who can sometimes feel a bit alone when flying our flag.
Madam, the focus of the Vision 2030 Joint Project by the Singapore Sports Council and MCCY to map out Singapore's sporting plan for the next two decades is on how sports can best be leveraged to achieve certain aims, such as maintaining Singapore's social integrity and economic strength. It states that sports can help us overcome the challenges being presented by an ageing population, rising regional and international economic competition and the increased diversity within our multicultural and multiracial society. It also states that sports can be employed as a national strategy to stimulate positive, deeply embedded values for Singaporeans and our nation.
I think this is even more relevant when we place it in the context of this year's Budget which acknowledges that Singapore's economy and society are undergoing transition and restructuring. Our population trends, a shifting global economy and evolving social trends and values have meant a need to re-evaluate and restructure.
At the same time, there has been a growing debate over what we and future generations should nurture and hold dear in terms of our value systems and
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philosophies for living as a society and a nation. Over the next few years, the challenges we will face as Singaporeans will test us in ways that not many of us are familiar with. We will be required to adapt and grow as a people and to be prepared for some situations which may be difficult and uncomfortable.
A sporting culture, where sports and competition are ingrained in all of us from an early age, can imbue important traits and characteristics like social resilience, determination and focus and can be invaluable in creating a robust people. The challenges and pressures in a sporting environment, while different from those in other high stress situations, such as military conflict, for example, creates similar reactions in individuals and can teach us how to deal with such adversity.
At the same time, sports offer opportunities for great empowerment for those who are disabled, disadvantaged and for both genders to achieve parity. On the sporting field, one's social status, income level, physical characteristics or gender, are often outweighed by work ethic, determination, teamwork and strategy. We have heard recently about the perils of meritocracy taken to extremes. Sports can encourage greater empathy for others through teamwork. It can also create a deeper appreciation for humanity and remove sentiments of entitlement as all sportsmen know that a resounding victory one day can be followed swiftly by a crushing defeat if one does not continue to work hard or slips into complacency.
I would, though, caution against moving too far away from what lies at the core goal of all sporting endeavours, which is performance in competition. If we allow these auxiliary benefits of sports to overshadow the focus of performing at one's best on the sporting field, then we are moving away from sports and entering the realm of games. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it should not dilute the focus on sports for sports' sake. The expectations of most sportsmen are still for the team to perform when it counts. And as we gear up for the opening of the Sports Hub in the hosting of major international events, such as the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, we should remember that we all hope for Team Singapore to continue delivering top sporting results for the country.
Madam, as a final point, I would like to reiterate an issue I raised in this House earlier, which is the need for qualified sports administrators to ensure that our sports sector continue to grow and improve. We are seeing more and more young athletes committing to the rigours of full-time training and competition programmes. And many sports in Singapore are beginning to see some good results at different levels. Much of the work done in the National Sports Associations is carried out by volunteer management committees which
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comprise dedicated and passionate individuals. However, the fact that they are not full-time means that their ability to contribute is limited by their other work schedules. I hope the Minister will consider diverting more resources to the training of sports administrators, be it through education programmes at our learning institutions or through career development options, so that our pool of sports administrators can continue to grow and improve their capabilities. It would be a shame if our sporting development is hindered by a lack of administrative support, especially given the encouraging signs we are already seeing in the local sports sector.
Dr Lam Pin Min (Sengkang West): Madam, I would like to declare my interest as the President of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association.
In our fast-paced society, Singaporeans are caught up with the rat race and devote much of our time to both work and the family. This trend has worsened with the advent of social media and smartphones. Singaporeans are getting more and more connected to each other, albeit online. This has left them with little time to pursue sports. Many graduates also cut down their participation in sports after leaving school due to work and other commitments.
Sports is a very powerful tool to bind and connect people and the community. As the report by then MCYS noted, sports has the power to inspire, to bond people, to galvanise them and to develop and build character in them. This is especially true for team sports like dragon boating, soccer, rugby, just to name a few. The People's Association has also done an excellent job in partnering NSAs in organising many sports activities to engage the community. These include the annual PA Paddles Championship and the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival.
According to the National Sports Participation Survey of Singapore 2015, we have managed to increase the sports participation rate from about 38% in 2002 to 50% in 2005. However, more needs to be done to encourage Singaporeans to lead healthy and active lives. In this context, I would like to ask the Minister to elaborate on his plans to encourage a sporting lifestyle amongst Singaporeans. At the same time, many sports require substantial build-up in infrastructure to allow Singaporeans to enjoy games. Sports like tennis, squash, netball, handball, basketball and so on require specialised courts to allow players to participate. Are there adequate sports facilities in the suburban areas in Singapore to cater to such needs? Are these facilities priced affordably to ensure that all Singaporeans will be able to enjoy these facilities regardless of
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income level? Can we look into building more such sports nodes in the community?
Mr David Ong: Madam, I would like to declare my interest as President of the Basketball Association of Singapore.
Under Vision 2030, the concept of a \"Super Sports Club\" was surfaced to extend the reach of quality sporting programmes and events to all Singaporeans. Leveraging on the enhanced sports facilities, the Super Sports Club provides an island-wide integrated network of sports programming, events, competitions and places for people to enjoy sports.
The Super Sports Club allows for the community to embrace \"fitness for life\" and a sporting culture, which will reap social dividends, in particular, in areas of health, wellness, active ageing and community bonding.
For the more serious sportsmen or women, they can now take to competitive sports. Others can have access to players and places to practise and play their sports beyond school or competitive days.
Our seniors can also benefit tremendously by being physically and socially active through sports. They can connect with other communities and forge new friendships.
Whilst it is good to tap on the island-wide network, many residents have asked for quite some time, access to their local community sports facilities, such as their nearby school's running tracks, football fields and badminton courts. How deeply has the Ministry engaged our community partners in this regard?
For the inaugural pilot, popular sports voted by the public will be chosen, and I hope MCCY can consider offering a broader spectrum of sports and games that covers a wider age group. Other factors that should be considered would be to adopt a multi-sport framework where the activities are varied in allowing people to get active and to maintain their interest.
Whilst the concept of a Super Sports Club is a good one, can MCCY provide an update on the plans to roll out the concept?
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Hence, will the implementation of Super Sports Club affect the promotion of less popular sports? How will the Super Sports Club affect other sports clubs, such as the Community Sports Clubs, interest groups and providers of sports programmes? It is good to also know what are some of the benefits and events that the sports community can look forward to.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Madam, looks like I have to declare my interest as the President of Singapore Table Tennis Association.
Vision 2030 has unveiled a full range of initiatives that cater to Singaporeans of all ages in the promotion of sports and provision of opportunities and facilities for sports lovers. It all looks great in theory but we need to take concrete steps ahead to ensure these initiatives blossom.
I would like to ask the Minister: with the finalisation of the Vision 2030 initiatives, what would be the next steps? What are the key changes that we can expect to see in our sports landscape over the next few years? What would MCCY do to provide more opportunities for Singaporeans to do sports? Are there plans to improve our public sports facilities to meet the sporting and fitness needs of Singaporeans? I personally believe that sporting culture should start from school. I recall fondly my school days, especially the Secondary school days. Lessons ended at about 1.00 pm and we did not go home straightaway and we had the opportunity to join the various sports clubs. So, I joined the Table Tennis Club, Badminton Club, Basketball Club, Netball Club and Softball Club. That is why, eventually, I represented NTU in five games.
Here, schools today are not only competitive academically, but it is also very competitive in terms of sports. Very often, I heard parents complaining that their children were crying at home because they were not selected to be included in the school team. And then there goes the opportunity to play the game because the schools do not provide the opportunity for the students to continue to play sports just for leisure. Many schools take in students through the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise. And what is the purpose? It is to win medals for the schools. I even heard feedback that when some of the players were not doing well academically, or their results were not up to expectations, they were asked to sit as private candidates. So, how can sporting
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culture blossom under such a situation?
Vision 2030 has a strong community focus and, given MCCY's role in community building, there is clear indication that future efforts to promote sports would be more for the community. This is good, as I strongly believe that sports can bond the community and also help to build a more inclusive society. But how about efforts to support the aspirations of those who have the sporting talent to be professionals?
The strong community focus is good but the aspirations of sporting talents who wish to be professionals must also be addressed. I have spoken many times about deferment of National Service, as it is truly a major stumbling block for male athletes. Surely, all of us would like to see Joseph Schooling winning Olympic medals. We would like to see Adam Swandi or even the children of Fandi Ahmad to become professional footballers or our young Clarence Chew or Pang Xuejie to be world-class table tennis players.
Change of mindset is required to have a breakthrough. We had Project 0812 and then OPP and then SSI. I hope that every change is a change for the better. Last but not least, I would like to ask for more sporting facilities in Yishun town to serve the growing population there. We have a very old swimming pool; we have an old stadium. I would like to ask the Minister when we can have a sports and recreation centre in Yishun for our residents.
The Chairman: I thought you were coming to that, Er Lee, and you did. Ms Jessica Tan.
Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Mdm Chair, may I I declare my interest as President of Netball Singapore and also a member of the Singapore Sports Council.
Madam, sports can be a unifying platform and creates an environment for people to come together, especially when we rally around our athletes at competitive games. With the growing importance of sports in Singapore, we must support our athletes to develop their talent as well as the training programmes required for major international competitions. Will the existing schemes and programmes, for example, high performance sports programmes, be enhanced to support our athletes better?
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I am actually very glad that MCCY will be taking a more targeted approach of offering scholarships to athletes with good potential to study and train overseas and to compete in international competitions in order to groom world-class athletes. I do understand, however, that sports like netball, which is not yet an Olympic sport, will not be included in this programme, and I hope that MCCY would reconsider that.
I just want to stress the importance to our athletes that these programmes are provided to them and I would like to use the example of Mr C Kunalan. As many of us know, he is known as Mr K. He is a very great athlete, competing in two Olympics for Singapore and in many international games. He shared with me a letter that he wrote to his wife in 1968 when he was competing in the Olympics, and I would like to just quote and share this with you: \"The Government is wise. We must send only the best. Another thing we must get very serious about is training. There are about six short men, all doing 10 or 10.1. Why? Arms and legs are big, very big. Mine only half. You know, darling, if I can only get their strength, I would be doing 10 seconds, too. I just know I can do it.\"
The Chairman: Ms Tan, you have to wind up your speech. Mr Zainudin.
Mr Zainudin Nordin: I declare that I am a football player and also an ardent football fan, and I am also the President of the Football Association of Singapore.
Mdm Chair, as we grow and mature as a country, we need to further develop and enhance the sports culture, sports industry and sports excellence. The journey towards sports excellence is not easy, especially in Singapore, where parents may not see the long-term future of sports as a career for their children.
There are those who choose to excel in sports and we are very fortunate for this. I think that they do this because of passion and we should recognise that it is not easy to take the path of sports excellence. Sportsmen and sportswomen and their families make huge sacrifices, take risks and incur opportunity costs as they pursue their dream of becoming professionals in their field. The higher one achieves, the tougher it gets. The competition becomes even tougher and more challenging. In the modern sports era now, where the sports industry is a global phenomenon, to be the best in a field is even more difficult, and competition becomes larger and even tougher. To add on to this,
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the athletes are also facing other challenges, like cost of living, in Singapore.
Madam, currently, we also know that everyone who is associated in one way or another in sports in Singapore, we are looking forward to the completion of the Sports Hub. I believe that, just like what the Esplanade − Theatres by The Bay did to the arts scene in Singapore, the Sports Hub will be become the game changer. It will be a tremendous boost to our local sporting scene.
Nevertheless, more needs to be done to support our already small pool of sporting talent, and I mean a lot more. Are there plans to provide more financial support so that our athletes of all ages can train full-time, in good facilities and with good coaching support? Can more be done in terms of technical, physiological, medical and psychological support, so that our athletes can compete with the best in the world? Can more be done in training and development so that they can extend their professional sporting careers, and also look forward to contributing within the sports fraternity when they end their playing careers?
Madam, I spoke about what happened at the end of last year when the Singapore National Team won the AFF Suzuki Cup. It is that kind of support, that kind of atmosphere that we are looking forward to when sports excellence is achieved. I think nothing can bring forward to that kind of connection, bonding and passion that we brought to the community whenever result is attained. So, I believe sports excellence, like what Mr Nicholas Fang had mentioned earlier, will always be something which we need to achieve to rally the people together.
The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Teo Ser Luck): Madam, I also declare my interest as a member of our Parliament Football Team, an Ironman triathlete and also sometimes a netball player whenever the Member Jessica Tan forces me to play. I think sports inspire people. When I was listening to the speeches of our Members who are arts advocates, I was very inspired as well. As a sports person, I feel inspired by the arts scene as well and, hopefully, the arts advocates will also be inspired by us, the sports people.
There were many great sporting moments, whether it is Mr K, or several other athletes in Singapore. They produced some breakthrough performances that inspired the whole nation. I had the chance to witness several of them, either live or on TV. One of the most recent memories was Laurentia Tan
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winning the Beijing Paralympics, Bronze Medal, and after that, she won the 2012 London Silver Medal. At the Beijing Games, I was asked to go to the equestrian event, which I thought I was not really into that. I was really going for the fast-action type of events. But I went there and I saw how she overcame some of the odds to win that Paralympics medal − the first time that Singapore has ever won, and that really inspired us. It was an occasion that I could never forget because I thought that we may never achieve that again. But she achieved it again in 2012.
The other momentous moment was the YOG Football Team. I was quite close to the whole team because when we were organising the YOG event, we wanted to win a medal quite badly and we did not know whether we were going to win a medal in the individual event or the team event. But I thought we should just put our investments into both team and individual events. But which team? I mentioned this to some of my closest friends that football would be where we would invest in. At that point in time, football was not doing that great. So, everybody started to think that \"you must be crazy\". But I saw these boys when they were 12-13 years old, and I thought they had this X-factor that could actually break through, even though the team that they sent would not be an Olympic or World Cup kind of football youth team. But they were good enough − Montenegro and some of the other teams. I thought that we should still put in a formidable performance. So, they were sent overseas and they trained and come together. It was also a close working relation with the Football Association under the Member Zainudin Noordin. Finally, everybody knows that they won the Bronze Medal. And they worked really hard. I thought that the performance was so great that most of our Ministers and Members of Parliament were also there live at the matches.
I am especially glad that after the Olympic Pathway Programme (OPP) Committee that was set up and dissolved, Minister Lawrence Wong actually set up the High Performance Sports Steering Committee. And not only he did that, he actually included the disabled sports, something that I could not have done. I could not do it. It was not that I did not want to but, at that point in time, it was probably not the right moment. But he managed to do it, and that is a breakthrough and a new milestone. And I applaud the Ministry and the Minister's effort in doing that. I very glad that he included me in the Committee and, hopefully, I can do more for sports.
I have a few suggestions. Firstly, the Committee, when devising any plan, any future vision, has to work very closely with the NSA because the NSA is an integral part of the sports fraternity, even though they are run by volunteers.
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We have to work very closely.
Secondly, we must make sure that both abled and disabled athletes are given equal treatment, in terms of training and development; somehow the same type of investment where it is needed. Disabled athletes have to overcome double the odds. For example, things that we take for granted, like transport and all that, we must take care of them.
Thirdly, we have to set proper targets, and these targets may not necessarily be just winning gold medals. The athletes must go down to the community and inspire the people as well, especially the high performance athletes. So, that fighting spirit needs to be inculcated in the sports culture and within the community as well.
Fourthly, the post-sports career of any athlete is extremely important. What they had gone through, their time and family time that they had to sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears to get to where they are, and bring glory to Singapore, we should take care of their post-sports career, whether it is studies or work.
Lastly, I would like to make sure that we recognise the ex-Olympians and ex-World Champions of Singapore over the years − maybe simple things like giving them free access to stadiums, facilities and matches. I think that would do, instead of just giving them one big bang – Sports Award − and then we forget about them.
Mr David Ong: Madam, sports has many utilitarian functions. Besides promoting healthy lifestyle for those of us indulging in sports, a game of sports oftentimes can have the effect of galvanising a country, cultivating a spirit of winning and sportsmanship; and the love of country.
Individuals who have benefited from sports and companies which have flourished in Singapore can and should give back to sports. For those who have achieved success, they should now send down the elevator to the young aspiring sportsman and the sporting community. They must help to bring them up to a higher level. Every successful generation must, indeed, send their elevators down. We must provide everyone, regardless of race, religion or status, with every possible opportunity to benefit from a life in sports.
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Corporate Singapore should go beyond just looking at the number of eyeballs, bottom line or return on investment each time they reach out for their wallets. We must inculcate a culture of volunteerism and giving to sports, supporting social values, social integration and a shared Singapore spirit. By extending a helping hand to all, we can give everyone every possible opportunity to benefit from a life in sports.
In the United Kingdom, many of the popular English Football Clubs are engaged in social projects. For instance, Liverpool Football Club runs projects focusing on the elderly whilst Manchester United runs socially-based healthy walks as well as anti-smoking projects to wean youth off the bad habit of smoking.
Last year, the Ministry established the SportCares Movement and Foundation to provide a platform for Corporate Singapore and Sporting Singapore to collaborate and work hand-in-hand to drive social initiatives through sports. I would like to ask the Ministry what platforms and initiatives are in place to reach out to the sporting community and corporations. Since its inception of SportCares, how much has been raised to date? How has the community benefited from SportCares?
Mr Alex Yam: Madam, Confucius, in the Analects, said in Mandarin: \"后生可畏, 焉知来者之不如今也? 四十, 五十而无闻焉, 斯亦不足畏也已\". Youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reaches the age of 40 or 50, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.\"
Madam, the profile of our youths and the youth scene today has changed significantly over the last decade. Youths today are more entrepreneurial, connected through technology, and keen to give back to their community. Singapore has witnessed a rise in youth activism and volunteerism, in tandem with an increase in the number of youth sector organisations and social enterprises. Consequently, our youth scene is more vibrant, dynamic, and constantly energised by the diverse new ideas generated by youths. The opportunities have given them room to grow and to be respected.
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The National Youth Council has many initiatives and platforms. Notably, its flagship programmes, such as the Youth Expedition Project (YEP) and the Young ChangeMakers (YCM) have built leadership skills in our youths and encouraged them to be more actively involved in the community. I made a similar call for this last year to better develop our youth leaders.
With the shift in the landscape, I ask the Ministry how better support for youth development, especially with encouraging youth ground-up initiatives, can be best given. Youths are our future, they are not just building blocks. Give them the respect so that they can have room to prove themselves worthy.
Ms Tin Pei Ling (Marine Parade): Madam, as the youngest Member of the House, as an Organising Chairman of National Youth Forum 2006 and actively being involved in youth programmes in the past, I thought I would like to speak on youth engagement and development today.
Madam, today's youths are passionate and outspoken about issues that concern us. As we live in an interconnected world, we find youths advancing important local and international causes which we feel strongly about, from animal rights to global warming. We need to harness youth passions, help effect positive change and create new realities in the society. Acting MCCY Minister, Mr Lawrence Wong, mentioned that getting more youths to contribute to the community and society will be one of MCCY's priorities. He also wanted to help youths realise their aspirations by supporting them in the best possible way. I agree with him.
We need to listen and understand youths so that we can align our policies to be in tune with their aspirations and concerns. However, I wonder if we are doing enough to pass on to our youths our shared values and wisdom from the generations before us. Hence, I would like to ask how the Government sees its role in youth matters. I would also like to ask the Acting Minister the extent of the youth programmes reached outside the school. Take the Young ChangeMakers Grant, for example. What is the take-up rate amongst young working adults, those in their mid-20s to 30s, who have applied for the Grant since 2006? Also, how does the MCCY define success for youth programmes and engagement? What are the benchmarks and key indicators used to evaluate and monitor programmes rolled out?
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I would also like to enquire about the trend of youth volunteerism and how youth from 25 to 35 years old have been engaged. Based on the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NPVC)'s bi-annual survey on volunteerism, the volunteerism rate for young adults is one of the lowest amongst all age groups, at about 28%. It fluctuated within the low range of 11%-15% between 2002 and 2006. I would like to ask how the Ministry could tailor the volunteering opportunities of these young adults and take into account their priorities of starting a family and building their careers.
Looking at the same NPVC survey, I notice the high youth volunteerism rate for youths aged between 15 and 24 years old at about 43%. As youths volunteer during their formative years in schools and tertiary institutions, I would like to ask the Minister whether MCCY continues to track the development of alumni, being defined as young persons who have gone through youth programmes, such as Youth Expedition Project, National Youth Forum, SHINE Youth Festival Programme and Young ChangeMakers Grant.
Furthermore, can the Acting Minister advise us on the quantitative and qualitative indicators on how we measure the engagement of youth programmes' alumni?
Miss Penny Low (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Madam, I, too, have to declare my role as a volunteer for social enterprises.
As the saying goes, age considers, youth ventures. So, Madam, can young people change the world? Certainly! In fact, the future belongs to them, and they will shape it according to their value system and their actions taken today. So the question is: what are their aspirations and what keeps them busy today? While there will be some rebels without a cause, the good news is, many youths set their sight on bigger and noble goals of helping others. Even at work, they demand higher ethical standards and social responsibility of their company. Others venture into social enterprises, meeting the blended return of social and financial bottom-lines. We should encourage it.
With increasing social demands and changing economic environment, we should tap on the unprecedented connectedness, passion and energy of the current generation of students and young professionals to help tackle social concerns. These cyber natives, with their mastery of the digital age, can generate ideas, collaboration and peer-to-peer resources that will impact their
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immediate and wider communities. However, what they lack is the in-depth knowledge and experience of starting, managing and systematic scaling of enterprises and access to market demand.
As such, can the Minister, first, commission a series of Singapore Conversation on social entrepreneurship, especially amongst the youths, so as to better grasp their aspirations and issues faced in helping Singapore tackle our rising social concerns? Two, establish a support network and mentors for youth social enterprises (SEs). In this aspect, both my non-profit organisations – the Social Innovation Park and the Social Enterprise Association – would be more than happy to help. Three, fund capacity development programmes. Four, fund platforms for peer-to-peer learning and cross-sector collaboration. And, five, help youths access demand and financial capital.
I am glad that DBS, for example, has committed itself to support SEs by funding them directly as well as procure goods and services from SEs. Can MCCY lead by example, and encourage more of such amongst the 3Ps?
Today's problems cannot be solved with the same methods that created them in the first place. Further, many of these solutions would require time to show results that will impact the youth. Therefore, we should invest in our youths and encourage them to solve problems for themselves.
Dr Lam Pin Min: Madam, volunteering, as an act, allows people to connect with others who lead different lives. It connects people with the causes they care about and help develop empathy for fellow human beings from a less-privileged background.
In Singapore, we do have wide support for youths to pursue and champion the various causes that they believe in. This ranges from monetary support, like the CDC Mayor Imagine Fund and the National Youth Council Grant, to organisational support like NVPC and other VWOs.
The availability of such support pales in comparison with the statistics on volunteerism amongst youths today. In particular, volunteerism amongst youths aged between 15 and 24 years rose to 43% 2012, a rise from 24% in 2004. Yet, for many other youths today, volunteering remains something that is done mostly in schools. After fulfilling their CIP hours, many do not continue with the volunteer work. It is also no surprise that in terms of giving aid to strangers and
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volunteering our time, we rank near the bottom in the 2011 World Giving Index Survey by the Charities Aid Foundation.
Madam, youths are our future. Getting them to contribute to society through volunteerism will help them develop empathy and humility. It is an important ingredient to building a more gracious and tight-knit society. In view of this, I would like to ask the Minister to elaborate on his plans to cultivate volunteerism among youths. How can we increase the participation rate of volunteerism among youths, both within and outside the PA network and the schools? How can we encourage youths to continue volunteering even after they have completed their education? Can we create youth volunteers alumni networks where they can continue to share their volunteering experiences with their peers?
Mr Desmond Lee: Madam, our youths are most active in the arts, sports and the community when they are in school. This is because our schools offer a very wide range of activities. CCAs and CIP are part and parcel of the school curriculum and, when students join a CCA, they are surrounded by familiar faces – friends and teachers.
But participation tapers off sharply once they finish school, enter institutions of higher learning, start work, or get married. This is largely due to time pressures and work and family priorities. But there are many other possible factors, for instance, accessibility to activities, and the inevitable apprehension about joining a group of strangers, amongst others.
There are significant benefits if our youths remain actively engaged in the arts, sports and the community well beyond their school years and into their adult life: character building and all-rounded personal development; richer and more fulfilling lives; personal health and well-being; creating a way of life where work-life balance becomes the accepted norm; and a more inclusive and active community.
I, therefore, urge MCCY and MOE to consider leveraging up on the CCA framework in schools to make paradigm shifts to encourage and support youth participation beyond the school gates and into the community.
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Here are three preliminary ideas, two incremental, and one a bit more radical.
The first idea is that schools should encourage their CCA groups to work more actively with community and professional groups to build up linkages and networks. For example, service learning clubs can do more with more ad hoc projects with VWOs in the neighbourhood.
The second idea is to establish firmer and more permanent links between school CCA groups and groups outside school. For instance, the school drama club could affiliate itself formally with an amateur or professional theatre group. This is a win-win situation: the school drama club benefits from working with professionals, while the professional group gets a \"youth wing\". After they graduate, if drama remains their passion, the students can join the theatre group where there are already familiar faces.
The third possibility is to gradually move the centre of gravity of CCAs out of schools altogether and into the wider community. For instance, students who want to play sports can join the Singapore Sports Council's many sports clubs and associations. This will be very much like the Singapore Sports Council's Super Sports Club concept which was announced sometime ago. And those who wish to serve the community can join VWOs in the neighbourhood.
To do this would, of course, require investing significantly in our community sports groups, which is actually a good thing. The advantage of such a framework is that students grow up with the group and never really \"graduate\" from it. So, it becomes a continuum, part and parcel of life, and they also meet with people from outside school and from other backgrounds and it fosters a more inclusive society. I hope MCCY could consider these.
The Chairman: Mr Hawazi Daipi is not here. Acting Minister Lawrence Wong.
Mr Lawrence Wong: Madam, before I start on this part of the speech, I thought I should just clarify because I was alerted that when I talked about the Cultural Donation Matching Fund earlier, I mis-spoke and I said \"$20 million\", which is, obviously, not correct. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman had announced the Fund as $200 million – it is 10 times more. So, please do not be worried that we have reduced it.
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Madam, I thank all the Members who have spoken so passionately about sports and youth issues. These are important facets of our Singapore culture and community which I talked about earlier.
In particular, few things rally the emotions and fire up the Singapore spirit like the sports. Late last year, when the Lions played in the Suzuki Cup finals, cheers rang out across our island, from downtown pubs to heartland coffee shops.
Sports is a language that all can understand. Sports is important for healthy living, personal development and social bonding. It is a leisure activity that all can enjoy. And at its best, sports can bring people together, no matter what our race, background or economic status.
I agree fully with Members Mr Nicholas Fang and Er Dr Lee Bee Wah about the importance of having a strong sports culture. And this is why we want to give every Singaporean the opportunity to experience sports, to live better through sports, whether as a sportsperson, an amateur player, a spectator or a volunteer. This is also why we are increasing our investments in both software and hardware to implement initiatives under the sports Vision 2030 masterplan. As mentioned by Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, we must work hard to translate our plans from paper to reality to promote sports for all and also to promote sports excellence.
Over the next five years, state funding in sports programming will increase by more than $250 million. We will also double our infrastructure investments. The additional investment will largely be committed to operating a wider network of sports facilities, enhanced programming and various engagement platforms to build a strong sports culture. However, we recognise that the Government and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) cannot do this alone. It really requires the combined efforts and synergies with many partners.
One of the most important partners, of course, is our National Sport Associations (NSA) because they play a critical role in promoting a sports culture and sports excellence. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked about funding for the NSAs. Mr Nicholas Fang also alluded to this. SSC currently provides direct funding to the NSAs through annual NSA grants exercise framework. SSC also provides indirect support through sports science and medicine, shared services and usage of sports facilities. However, I know that resources continue to be a
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concern for the NSAs and I have asked SSC to look at the funding framework, and to work with the NSAs to see how we can better manage and optimise our resources.
Part of this also includes looking at manpower needs, a point that Mr Nicholas Fang mentioned and he also asked about this in a PQ earlier on sports administration. And so we will look at it holistically – funding as well as manpower requirements in the broader context of the sports sector – and see how we can better support our NSAs.
Several Members, including Dr Lam Pin Min, have highlighted the constraints that Singaporeans face when it comes to sports. Because of our many commitments at work and with our families, it is easy to place sports lower down on our list of priorities. And even when Singaporeans do take part in a sport, we see more of them doing so individually. So, they go for jogging – which has become very popular – swimming or going to the gym, rather than doing sports together with family and friends. And so the question is: what can we do to encourage a sporting lifestyle in Singapore not just for individuals but also for our communities?
We have two broad strategies. The first strategy is to enhance our public sports facilities. Several Members talked about this and I think it is crucial meeting the sporting and fitness needs of Singaporeans. The second strategy is to complement facilities with attractive programmes to meet the diverse interests and needs of Singaporeans. We must sustain interest in sports through positive and engaging experiences. As Mr Nicholas Fang mentioned, we also want to encourage a culture of sports spectatorship – watching sports – so that families and friends can meet, cheer for their favourite players and bond over a game of sports.
One key catalyst for all this is the development of the Singapore Sports Hub. As Mr Zainudin Nordin said earlier, it will be a tremendous boost to the local sporting scene. The Sports Hub will serve as the training centre for many of our national athletes and will attract top sporting events to Singapore, and will give Singaporeans a greater choice of quality sporting programmes and many exciting activities.
More importantly, we want the Sports Hub and our new National Stadium to be icons that Singaporeans will be proud of, and I think it is very important. All of us have fond memories of the former National Stadium, and so we look forward to bringing back the Kallang Roar in full force when the Lions play its
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first match at the new National Stadium next year, and I encourage Singaporeans to go to the Sports Hub, not just to watch sporting events, but to make full use of the facilities there and enjoy the diverse range of shopping, F&B and entertainment options that the Sports Hub will offer.
While the Sports Hub will be a major sports facility catering to all Singaporeans, we recognise that many also take part in sports in their neighbourhood, and there is a need for adequate facilities there as well, a point which Dr Lam Pin Min mentioned. So, we will put in place a new Sports Facilities Masterplan (SFMP) to build new sports facilities in towns and neighbourhoods, and to rejuvenate and redevelop existing ones. This is a long-term plan and we will embark on it in phases over the next 20 years.
What do we hope to achieve? Well, by 2030 we plan to have up to five Regional Sports Centres (RSCs) across the island. It will be bigger and better than our existing sports and recreation centres, and we hope that they will serve as focal points for sports competitions, leagues and events. So, they will be designed with a wider array of facilities that will serve to bring the community together, including higher seating capacity in the stadium, LED screens, for example, to cater for better spectator experience.
Besides the facility itself, the Regional Sports Centre will also have other complementary lifestyle and recreational amenities. Wherever possible, they will be co-located with other community facilities and conveniently located near transport nodes and town hubs to offer seamless access and a new experience, not just for the individual but for the whole family.
This is at the regional level. If you take it one step lower, at the neighbourhood level, we will also do several things to improve access to sports facilities for Singaporeans. First, at the HDB town level, we will have Town Sports and Recreation Facilities. It is going to be largely redeveloped from our existing sports and recreation centres – so we are not building new ones but we are going to redevelop our existing ones – but these redeveloped Town Sports Centres will have a broader range of sport and recreational amenities than the existing facilities, and we will try to integrate them better with park connectors and other leisure offerings. So, the intent is to cater to a wider audience, include multi-generational families with diverse needs, and bring sports, games and leisure activities conveniently to one place.
At the community level, we will also design and build sporting facilities within the constituency itself. This includes tapping on programmes like the
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existing Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) or the Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) programme, to upgrade the sports and recreation facilities within the precinct, and we will work with community and interest groups to bring in programmes and activities for residents.
Third, we will also continue to work with the Ministry of Education to open up more school sport facilities for the public. We have already been doing so and we will continue in this direction. For example, Members can see the new Crest Secondary School facilities which will have a football field with floodlights that can be used by the public at night, in addition to an indoor sports hall, outdoor basketball court and sheltered outdoor street soccer court. All these will provide residents with a wider range of facilities for longer hours.
And, finally, we will redesign our standalone SSC facilities into more innovative play areas for residents to enjoy. For example, we have old swimming complexes which are somewhat under-utilised, and they can be re-designed into play fields with gym, outdoor courts, as well as interactive water features to serve residents of all ages.
So, collectively, when you look at the plan, at the regional, town and community levels, our aim is to bring quality sports facilities within easy reach of residents in every neighbourhood and ensure adequate facilities to cater to Singaporeans' needs, and they will be accessible and affordable to members of the public
As I mentioned earlier, this is a long-term masterplan. I have only outlined the broad concept and there is still much work to be done. In implementing this masterplan, SSC will work closely with the community and we will incorporate suggestions and ideas from residents in the design of the facilities. We see this masterplan very much as a co-created outcome involving close consultations with our partners and stakeholders. Over time, we will enhance the sports and recreational spaces in our neighbourhoods and build a quality environment where all Singaporeans can live better through sports.
But our efforts cannot just only focus on the physical infrastructure. I think besides that, it is important we must also do more to have quality sports programmes. We do not want our sport facilities to be just functional areas – places where people go, play sports and then leave – I think that is not going to be well-utilised. Instead, we want our centres to be vibrant community nodes, where people can pick up a new skill, participate in competitions and games and connect with one another through sports. To achieve this, we will need to
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beef up the sports programming offered in the centres and link up with existing programme providers and organisations, like our schools and our Community Sports Clubs.
Today, many of them already offer sporting programmes, but our sense is that their efforts tend to be somewhat standalone and not well integrated, so there are gaps. For example, we have high participation rates in sports among school children, but once they graduate and leave school, their sports participation tends to drop after that. And we aim to address these gaps through the concept of what we call the \"Super Sports Club\". Mr David Ong mentioned that. It is something that we are looking to develop to offer Singaporeans more opportunities to sustain their interest and participation in sports.
How will this work? The idea is to have a platform where we can pool together existing providers and existing interest groups and sports clubs. So, for example, if there are people interested in playing basketball, the Super Sports Club in the region will bring them together, offer basketball clinics and lessons conducted by professional instructors for different levels of play, and organise competitions and leagues so that everyone can find teams to play with, and events to hone their sporting skills. SSC will develop this Super Sports Club concept but it cannot be done by SSC alone and, as I have said, SSC will have to work in partnership with all the different providers, sports groups, as well as schools. And the schools will be a very important partner because, as Er Dr Lee Bee Wah said, we do know of children who are very keen to play sports in a school but perhaps they did not get into the CCA of their choice and that is something we hope to address because by linking up with the schools, the Super Sports Club can provide additional avenues for students to play games like basketball or other sports that they are interested in. And, hopefully, if we do this well, there will be many others, like Er Dr Lee Bee Wah who will then take up multiple sports, represent their Universities in multiple sports and go on to lead our National Sports Associations.
Over the past year, SSC has been working on the possible operating model and the programme to be implemented by the Super Sports Club. And this year, we are ready to pilot the Super Sports Club, and we will start in the western region. Discussions with partners, such as schools in the region, programme providers and sports clubs, such as Gombak United, have been very positive, and we will bring all of them on board when we are ready. We will also consider Mr David Ong's suggestion to provide a wider spectrum of sports activities, including recreational sports that may not have mass appeal.
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With this pilot, I think we will gain experience and then we will use that experience, to fine-tune and strengthen the concept of the Super Sports Club before progressively expanding the programmes to other regions. So, for the pilot itself, existing facilities will be used for the programmes within the western region; and once we have the new Regional Sports Centres, which are developed – which I talked about earlier – then these new Regional Centres will serve as anchors for the Super Sports Clubs eventually.
By enhancing and integrating our sporting hardware and software, we hope all Singaporeans will enjoy fulfilling experiences at venues where families, friends and communities can come together and participate in sports together.
While we focus on making sports accessible for everyone in the community, we will also support the aspirations of those who have the talent to excel in their chosen sports. Many Members, including Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, Mr Zainudin Nordin, Ms Jessica Tan, Mr Teo Ser Luck, raised this issue of sports excellence. And I would like to assure Members that we will continue to invest and we will, in fact, invest more in our sporting talents to help them realise their full potential.
We already have the Singapore Sports School (SSP) which is nurturing our young sports talent. And so far the school has produced nearly 250 national athletes who have competed on the international stage. They include four Olympians – athlete Calvin Kang who competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and Tao Li, Mylene Ong and Dipna Lim-Prasad who represented us in swimming and athletics at the London 2012 Olympics. Besides them, the honour list of SSP – Sports School – graduates includes seven world champions, 30 Asian Games athletes and 89 SEA Games athletes. I think they are doing very well and we will continue to support them.
We will continue to invest in the Sports School to lay strong foundations for our young athletes to pursue their sporting careers. And we will also develop more academic pathways so that students can combine learning with their sports development. Many student-athletes have already benefited from the Sports School's tie-up with Republic Polytechnic. Next year, the Sports School will begin its International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).
To further support our young athletes, we have the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI). The SSI provides a high performance sport ecosystem of sports medicine, sports science application, planning and management for our athletes. This year, we will go beyond that to set up a new national High Performance System (HPS), which will provide our national athletes with more
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comprehensive support.
I agree with the comments of Mr Teo Ser Luck about the broad principles in which the HPS will work. Firstly, we will have to do it in close engagement with the NSAs because they are an important partner. Secondly, we have to think hard about setting appropriate targets, not just about medals but about making our athletes sporting heroes so that they can inspire other people as well. Thirdly, providing assistance for their post-sporting careers so that our athletes will get assistance for education, career and personal development which will equip them with the life skills to make a transition to a second career after their playing days.
A key feature of the High Performance System (HPS) is the Sports Excellence (SpEx) Scholarship, which will provide an enhanced level of support, including living allowances for high potential athletes at various levels of competitions. We have set aside $40 million for the SpEx Scholarship over five years and, with this, we expect to be able to support about 50 to 60 top athletes in various sports.
The way we have designed this is that it will be an inclusive system. All athletes – able-bodied or disabled – will be eligible for nomination by their NSAs, and it does not matter if it is a non-Olympian sport. All can be nominated but selection will have to be based on merit and potential. We only have a limited number of scholarships to give out. But all can nominate and then we will have a panel to select the best.
Having said that, those who are not under the scholarship will still get support through the HPS. The scholarship is just one part of it but there is a broader range of support that the HPS will offer and that includes coaching, sports medicine, sports science and training allowance. As Er Dr Lee Bee Wah suggested, we will also look at collaborations with overseas teams and sports organisations to enable our athletes to gain experiences through competitions and exchanges. Overall, we expect the HPS to benefit more than 1,000 national athletes annually.
The HPS will be of tremendous help to Team Singapore athletes like canoeist Geraldine Lee. To prepare for the 2011 SEA Games, she took no-pay leave from work for half a year to train full-time. It was difficult because it is a sacrifice that she made, but her efforts paid off when she won a Gold medal and
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three Silver medals at the SEA Games, and then qualified for the Olympics in 2012.
Geraldine sacrificed much in forgoing a regular income to commit to her training. But with the enhanced support available through the HPS, athletes like her can train full-time with less financial worries, and we can also help extend the lifespan of their sporting careers. I believe this will help our athletes fly the Singapore flag and realise their full potential in the international sporting arena.
Even as we do more for our Team Singapore athletes, we also want to make sure that our former athletes are recognised, something that Mr Teo Ser Luck mentioned. And, indeed, we have set up a Singapore Sports Hall of Fame to honour and commemorate our top athletes. They enjoy various benefits like free entry to SSC's gymnasiums, swimming complexes, and we invite them regularly to our sports events. We also have a Sports Alumni network to keep our former athletes connected to the sports fraternity and to serve as role models for the community. We will continue to review this to see what more we can do to enhance the recognition we provide for our former athletes.
At the same time, we would like our athletes – current and the ones before – to give back to the community. This is a slide of some of our Olympians doing so. And SSC will be working with the NSAs to create more opportunities for our athletes to do more outreach and to do more engagement with the community. For example, they can volunteer in good causes they feel strongly about, or conduct clinics in schools to inspire young Singaporeans. Through these efforts, we hope more Singaporeans will identify with our sporting heroes and rally behind them when they represent Singapore at international competitions.
More generally, sports offer many opportunities for us to develop volunteerism and philanthropy. That is a point that Mr David Ong mentioned and we agree with him. This is why SSC launched the SportsCares Movement last year, to use sports as a force for social good. For example, in December last year, SportCares organised a three-day basketball workshop at Tanah Merah Prison School. We had 10 players from the Singapore Slingers and two Strength and Conditioning Coaches from the SSI who took part in this event. They provided basketball training for the student-prisoners, and also help to instil character and values. The feedback from the session was very positive, not just from the students, but also from the volunteers who took part. One of our national players said, and I quote him, \"When I chose basketball as a professional career, it never occurred to me that we could have this kind of
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impact on people's lives. I am ready to do this again\".
This initiative shows what we hope to achieve through SportCares. Building on this experience, we will be organising even more workshops later this year, involving more schools and community partners to reach out to the community, to reach out to disadvantaged groups through sports.
Mr David Ong also asked about the amounts raised through SportCares. So far, we have raised almost $300,000 from the various corporate and community partners for 2,600 beneficiaries. SSC is matching all donations dollar-to-dollar, up to the first $1 million raised.
Next, let me touch on youth engagement and how we can inspire the best from our youths. I have been involved in youth work for many years, actually even before entering politics, and I would say that our youths possess boundless energy and big hearts. But they need to be engaged and empowered. As Mr Alex Yam said, our youths must feel respected, they must feel that they have a stake in the society they live in and that there is space for them to initiate change and many Members also echoed this view.
We must find ways to inspire our young people and provide them with platforms and opportunities where they can pursue their dreams and fulfil their aspirations. Ultimately, we want to nurture an inspired and engaged generation of young Singaporeans who will give of their best, both for themselves and for the benefit of others in society.
Some Members, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Dr Lam Pin Min and Mr Desmond Lee, asked how we can sustain our engagement efforts with young people after they leave school. I think it is a real challenge and it is something that we have identified. Because as we know, a good number of our young people, when they are in school, the volunteer rates are high. It is not just because of CIP – I think we have to clarify this. The volunteer rates that we measure are over and above CIP, somehow in school, there is high volunteerism but when they reach the ages of 25 to 34, our volunteer rates come down, in what we call a \"bathtub effect\". To some extent, it is not unexpected because the transition from school to working life is not easy, and many have to juggle new demands and priorities. But it is something that we are looking into and I certainly welcome the ideas from Members on how we can address this better and we will study all of the ideas.
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One initiative we started last year was to engage young working adults directly. So, we go to the workplaces, we engage them directly through a community platform called INSPIRIT. Through INSPIRIT, young leaders get the opportunity to discuss community and national issues, and volunteer in meaningful projects. We also engage them through learning journeys, where we went on a discussion on our public transport system at SMRT Bishan Depot, and then, subsequently, we visited PSA port. In May this year, we will be going for a learning journey to the Iskandar zone. We do not just go to places in Singapore, we go overseas as well. And these are different ways in which we can engage people at their working age, involve them in dialogues and also in understanding our policies.
Another way we can encourage youth volunteerism outside school is to start building links between students and youth organisations, so that the students get involved in the community at an early age. That is something that Mr Desmond Lee suggested – how we can do more to link up the CCAs in schools with arts, sports and community activities that are happening outside, and I fully agree with him.
We can do this now, I think more so than before, because we have a more vibrant youth sector today. We have over 200 Youth Sector Organisations (YSOs), compared with just 70 a decade ago. So, because there are more organisations outside, many of the structured programmes in schools can be done in partnership with the Youth Sector Organisations (YSOs) and with other partners in the community, so that relationships are forged, and the students will hopefully continue their involvement in the community even after they leave school. This is something that MCCY is working on with MOE.
Because of the importance of partnerships in the youth sector, the role of the National Youth Council (NYC) has also evolved. NYC no longer focuses on running youth programmes by itself. Instead, it is strengthening its role as a connector and an integrator. In other words, NYC will connect schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) with the Youth Sector Organisations (YSOs) to engage youths outside the classroom and beyond the school years. It will also bring together YSOs and there are many like, to name a few, Halogen Foundation, Heartware Network, YMCA, we will link them together with other non-profit organisations in the youth community like the Social Innovation Park which Miss Penny Low talked about. In this way, NYC can enhance the capacities of YSOs, facilitate innovation and resource-sharing, and build a more vibrant ecosystem to support youth development.
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Ms Tin Pei Ling asked for an update on our youth outreach platforms. Last year, *SCAPE, our Youth Park, reached out to over 45,000 youths through their programmes. NYC's projects, like the Young ChangeMakers, the Youth Expedition Project (YEP) which sends youths on service learning projects both within and beyond Singapore, and the SHINE Youth Festival have provided many young people with opportunities to be involved in the community, reaching out every year to about 300,000 youths outside the school context.
We are also providing many more opportunities for young people to participate in dialogue sessions with policy makers and corporate leaders. Through these sessions, we will not only discuss issues that are important to youths, but also deeper issues like our shared values, or like trade-offs and choices that we have to make in policy. The key to all these is to have authentic engagement with our young people and to involve them in addressing the challenges we face as a nation.
When you look at the overall landscape, there is really no shortage of activities and platforms to engage our young people, whether they are in school, or outside of school. NYC stays in touch with the participants in our programmes and actively encourages them to come back and share their experiences with the youth community. Many, indeed, return to serve with NYC as leaders, as panel members, as mentors and committee members; and some have even become our Council Members.
Ms Tin asked about indicators to track our engagement with young people. We do have some indicators that measure our general outreach, that measure youth leadership, volunteerism and engagement.
Overall, the picture is that it is encouraging because we see the indicators improving year after year. But beyond the numbers, what we are really trying to do is to build relationships and quality engagement. There is no perfect way to measure this. Perhaps what is best is to show you examples of what our young people are doing.
Some Members may have heard of the Community Service Marathon (CSM). It started out as a one-day volunteer marathon in 2010. Since then, it has become a year-long volunteer movement spearheaded by a group of young people who were so passionate about this that they started their own organisation called Voluntarius, to champion this movement.
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Last year, the Community Service Marathon organised the \"Walk for Causes\" in partnership with NYC. The idea was to give young people the chance to adopt a charity or a cause of their choice, and then use the walk to raise awareness about the social needs, and share their love for volunteerism. And the young people came up with many creative ways to support causes close to their hearts – like this group of young people who championed the needs of the elderly, and Members can see them there with a few elderly residents, or another one here – a group of young people who highlighted the importance of child vaccinations, and you can see them carrying cards that say \"Bug Off\".
These are all good examples of youthful energies directed to social causes, directed to ways to improve our community. Another good example of a youth-led initiative is Project Dreamcatchers. It was conceived by a group of young people who wanted to help the chronically-ill express their aspirations through art and bring them hope and affirmation in the process. Some of the patients who participated in this programme had the opportunity to present their artworks at the SHINE Youth Festival last year.
One of them is 22-year-old Vanessa Leong. She relies on crutches to move around. To remind herself to live positively despite her physical challenges, she created art out of a pair of crutches that she refers to as \"Happy Crutches\". She said, \"Art is a way for me to express myself whenever I feel hopeless. Whenever I'm going through a hard time, this reminds me to keep going\". Vanessa hopes to inspire others like her to look on the bright side of life.
These projects exemplify the potential of youths and what they can do for our society. NYC will continue to intensify its support for young people who are looking to initiate projects for a good cause. It will do so in close collaboration with partners from the people and private sectors.
Besides providing seed funding for projects like the Young ChangeMaker grants, NYC also supports the development of young start-ups and social enterprises, something that Miss Penny Low spoke about and I know it is something that is very close to her heart. I agree fully with her that our youths are more innovative and entrepreneurial, so we see more and more of them setting up social enterprises, combining business with social good.
These are positive trends which we encourage. NYC already has regular dialogues with youths on social entrepreneurship, and we will be happy to
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organise more sessions on this through the Singapore Conversation. We will work with partners to build capabilities to encourage more cross-sector collaborations, and develop stronger support networks to further promote social entrepreneurship among our youths.
For example, one of the projects which NYC supported through the National Youth Endowment Fund (NYEF) is the HUB Singapore. It is meant as a co-working space, a community where like-minded youths can gather and bounce ideas off one another. In fact, the HUB Singapore is also part of a larger global network with over 35 HUBS and 7,000 members in five continents. This is a place where social entrepreneurs – or \"Hubbers\" as they call themselves – can find mentorship, support and can build social networks.
One of these \"Hubbers\" is PlayMoolah. It is a social enterprise founded by two NUS graduates, Audrey Tan and Lee Min Xuan. PlayMoolah is meant as a game to teach children financial literacy in a fun way. Incidentally, it is a fun game. The company is also very fun because the co-founders have very interesting job-titles. Audrey is called the \"Adventurer & Explorer\" and Min, the other co-founder, is called the \"Princess of Possibilities\". These are young people and that is their creative energy and that is the kind company they have set up. It is a game that allows children to learn about financial literacy. Through the game, the children get to run restaurants and build houses for aliens on a fantasy planet. But by doing this online game, they learn to earn, they learn to save money, they learn to manage their savings and they learn how to reach their financial goals. The game has been very popular. It has over 200,000 accounts set up so far.
There are many other youths like them who have been setting up social enterprises and projects that have benefited from the NYEF. I agree with Mr Alex Yam that the youth scene today has become so much more vibrant and dynamic because of these new ideas from our young people. We want to do more to support ground-up initiatives by our youths in making a difference to the community. The NYEF currently stands at $28 million. We draw on the income every year, and the grant amount awarded from NYEF has been increasing rapidly over the years, reflecting the increased dynamism of our youth sector landscape. At the current pace, the existing funding from the NYEF's investment income will be fully committed by 2015.
We will inject an additional $72 million into the fund, on top of the existing $28 million, bringing the total amount to $100 million. And instead of keeping it as an endowment fund, which means that only a small investment income can be utilised annually, we will convert the $100 million fund into a National
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Youth Fund (NYF), which will be drawn down every year to support youth activities. We expect the Fund to provide an annual budget of about $5 million. That is more than eight times the current annual funding. So, it is a significant increase.
The additional funding from the NYF will give a boost to our youths as they go out to champion community and social causes. Whether it is setting up a social enterprise or kick-starting a new social initiative, the NYF will provide our youths with the resources and support they need. Over time, through the NYF and through the efforts of the NYC and its partners, I am confident we can imbue in our youths a strong culture of volunteerism and social participation.
Madam, I have talked about developing a shared culture, through the arts, heritage, and sports; and building an engaged community, through philanthropy, volunteerism and youth engagement.
These form part of the Government's broader agenda of change for a better future. Prime Minister Lee had first outlined the agenda in his National Day Rally last year. Many things that we have heard in this House in the last two weeks – the changes in housing and transport, the investments in pre-school and education, the support for the elderly and low-income, the review of healthcare financing – all these are items that we have been working on over the past year, in close consultation with Singaporeans.
There will be more changes to come, especially as we embark on the next phase of the Singapore Conversation, and dive deeper into issues that we want to improve. We want to work with Singaporeans to create a better Singapore, and to make Singapore our home.
At the end of the day, a home is about its people, and that is what our policies are meant to benefit. Recently, I came across a series of videos called \"Singaporean of the Day.\" The videos highlight particular Singaporeans and provide a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Singaporeans doing extraordinary things.
Let me share some of the stories with Members.
There is Mary Ee. At 75 and despite being recently fitted with a pacemaker, she still volunteers because she feels that people need people. She says, \"It's better to give than to receive. If you can help, help. Don't think of any reward.
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You must have the love and passion, do it sincerely\".
There is 26-year-old singer-songwriter Sarah Cheng De-Winne. She sees singing in the music industry as not just as a career, but as a way to move others and to do her part to give back and make a difference.
There is 74-year-old Mr Lee Yoon Tong. He is one of the six remaining street alley barbers left in Singapore. He has been at this trade for over 50 years. He says that Singapore has progressed well, and life is peaceful and good for its people.
Mr Cheang Qing Xin, a 29-year-old rock-climbing enthusiast who believes that you should live life to the fullest. His next project is called \"Climbers against Cancer\" and it will raise funds for cancer patients all over the world. He says, \"Every time when you take a flight back from somewhere, and you fly through the coast and see the HDBs and you think, I'm home, finally.\"
There are many other Singaporeans like them, contributing to our shared culture, and to our engaged community. This is what binds us together and makes Singapore special. This is why we can look to the future with confidence, to a better Singapore, and to a home where we belong.
The Chairman: We have a little bit of clarification time. Mr Baey Yam Keng.
Mr Baey Yam Keng: Madam, I have two clarifications. First, on behalf of fellow Singaporeans and PRs, I would like to thank the Minister for considering and accepting the proposal made two years ago for free entry to museums. But now, I have to declare my interest as a Board Member of the Asian Civilisations Museum. I would like to ask the Minister: how would the museums cope with the forgone revenue from ticket sales and how would this affect their resources for acquisition, special exhibitions and other operations?
My second clarification on traditional arts is meant for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. In Mandarin, please.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] A report in Zaobao's arts section yesterday quoted Cai Shiji, Creative Director of Dance Ensemble Singapore. She said that as a successor of Chinese dance performance in Singapore, her dances were Chinese dance infused with new elements. She hopes that policymakers will not drag their feet and lock themselves in the old
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mindset where \"modern dance movements should not be seen in Chinese dances\" and, hence, restricting the new forms of Chinese dances. Otherwise, sooner or later, Chinese dances will have no young audiences.
May I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary what is the definition of traditional arts? Would the new forms of Chinese dance or other traditional arts infused with new elements be eligible for grants under the Traditional Arts Plan?
Mr Lawrence Wong: On the Member's first question, the revenue forgone will be made good by MCCY. The museums will not have to worry about that part of the revenue forgone because we will provide them additional funding, all the more important why Members should support more funding for the Ministry.
Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, I would like to thank Mr Baey Yam Keng for his views and suggestions. On Dance Ensemble Singapore's concern, I can understand why they felt that way. I agree that traditional arts should not remain stagnant as we know all things, be it arts and culture, have to keep up with the changing times. But I think one important principle is how to preserve the tradition when we are keeping up with changing times. Otherwise, with the erosion of time, the traditional arts will lose their original heritage, spirit and essence, and we would lose an important part of the culture.
As such, when the National Arts Council evaluated the applications put up by various arts groups, they had adopted a flexible and holistic view in their evaluation of the grant applications of arts groups. We will continue to encourage NAC to adopt this flexible and holistic approach in their evaluation.
As for the performance and passing on of traditional arts, MCCY will continue to provide the same amount of support. If Dance Ensemble Singapore would invite me to their performance, as long as my schedule allows, I would show my support by attending the performance. This would help me understand how they have incorporated new forms of presentation in traditional Chinese dance, and how a performance art infused with our local flavour is presented.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Madam, three points of clarification. First, is on alumni. I would like to ask the Minister how will his Ministry directly or indirectly continue to engage the alumni. Development is a continuum and not in a discrete manner such that after they have graduated from the programmes,
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they continue to be active in the volunteering scene or in the community.
Second, will the Minister assure that there will continue to be a careful mix of programmes such that there will not just be programmes catering to a certain demographic of youths, but there will be platforms whereby youths of different interests and background can come together and get to know one another more?
The third and last point, I would like to ask the Minister what is the definition of success for youth programmes and engagement?
Mr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for the follow-up questions. On the first point of engaging the alumni, I presume she meant the alumni of the NYC programmes. As I said earlier, that is something that NYC is already doing. It continues to keep in touch with the people who have participated in their programmes or who have benefited from funding. It will try to bring them together and come for dialogue sessions. There is a mailing list and NYC continues to stay in touch with them, build their relationship with them and help them get connected with other young people, especially those with similar interests. Certainly, this can always be improved. NYC is already doing this. There is certainly scope to continue and to deepen the engagement and we will get NYC to do so.
The mix of programmes is important. We must make sure that it is diverse and caters to the broad spread of people that we interact with, and that is something we are very mindful of.
On the definition of success, I hesitate to offer something that says \"ABC\" and then that is – and we will have achieved this, because it is really not something that you can quantify. We have talked about many things and I have described them in the speech about outreach, about engagement, about leadership development, about having youths who understand our national challenges. We can describe all of these as what are the outcomes you would like to achieve and it is about working hard to engage and to make sure that we achieve these outcomes. Not all of the outcomes can be measured in quantitative terms. We can also use surveys as a way of keeping a check on whether we are on the right track. We will have a range of indicators and we will continue to work hard at making sure we have authentic engagement with young people.
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Mr David Ong: Most Singaporeans do not see professional athletes as a choice career, notwithstanding the achievements of our many Singaporean sons and daughters. This can be attributed to talent, education or the life of professional sports. How can MCCY do more to encourage our athletes to achieve their full potential and a career in sports?
I also want to echo Er Dr Lee Bee Wah's point about whether MCCY can work with MINDEF to alleviate one of the major stumbling blocks, and that is, National Service. At 19, when they are at their prime, they have to be disrupted from their high performance training and high level competition. I think that is a pity. Given that they, too, are sacrificing for the country through sports, can more be done for them?
Mr Lawrence Wong: Through all the efforts that I described earlier – the Sports School, SSI, the High Performance System (HPS) – we hope that we can make it more attractive for young people to say, \"Look, I will be interested to pursue sports professionally. I know that as an athlete, my lifespan may not be for very long, because there is a limit to how long you can play, but there will also be support to transition to a second career after that\".
So, all of the measures I have described are really meant to make it more attractive and to support our young Singaporeans in doing sports professionally. We will continue to review and enhance the schemes, and if there are suggestions on what more we can do, we will be happy to review and do so.
On MINDEF, interestingly, I had to answer this question last year as the Minister of State for Defence. We know that it is an issue and we will continue to work with MINDEF to find ways to provide flexibility for our national athletes to train. MINDEF already does this to a large extent, wherever possible, while maintaining its principle of equity across NSmen. We are continuously in touch with MINDEF to find ways in which we can provide more support for our athletes in this area.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: Mdm Chair, I got very excited when I saw the beautiful perspective of the upcoming sporting facilities. I do not hope that the residents of Yishun would have to wait for 20 years for their regional sports centre. I would like to clarify. Will the Minister consider dollar-for-dollar matching for those donations that are made to NSAs? This is to encourage the NSAs to work hard to get more donors. Out of the $250 million that Minister mentioned just now, how much of it is for infrastructure and how much is for programmes?
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And how much funding is set aside for retired athletes, especially for those who would like to further their studies?
Mr Lawrence Wong: On dollar-for-dollar matching for NSAs, I believe SSC has already done that, but up to a certain limit. I think the question is – can we do more? It is something that we will have to study, given the resources and how we can best allocate them. I would say, for sports, it is somewhat different from the arts. Because when you look at sports funding internationally, there is a lot of corporate support and funding for the sports. And the trigger for corporate sponsorship in sports internationally is usually not government matching grants, but it is what they call activation, meaning advertising, corporate hospitality, different ways in which corporates find value in sponsoring sports.
That is something that we need to think about, how we can make it more attractive for companies to get involved in sports, how we can bring value to their corporate sponsorship and their corporate dollar, and then get more corporate funding for the sports. I agree we need to do so. We will find out, whether it is through matching grants or other means. We will have to see, collectively, within the sports community, how to get more corporate support for sports.
On the details of the sports budget and where it is allocated and in different areas, I do not have the details with me. We can address that separately if the Member would file a PQ later, or we can take this offline. I would say that we have a good spread of funding across, not just for infrastructure, but we are looking at programmes, we are looking at infrastructure and we are looking at support for our athletes. We are very mindful to make sure that we have a balanced funding framework that supports all of these areas.
I should also mention that on the sports facilities and the centres and the timing of it, it is something we will have to work through. As I said, it is a long-term plan. It will be phased out over 20 years. We are still working out the phasing. For the regional centres, we already have plans to do the first one in Tampines. We are looking at something possibly in Punggol. We will see which are the other areas for the regional sports centres. The town sports centres, as I mentioned, are largely going to be redeveloped, not new. We will have to work through in phases progressively and, hopefully, we will be able to do something in Yishun before too long.
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Ms Janice Koh: Madam, I would just like to congratulate the Acting Minister on his inaugural COS debate and applaud the Ministry for all the goodies that it has given to the arts and heritage. I have just two points. First, I appreciate that theatre rentals are already subsidised. I thank the Minister for agreeing to at least look into how we can further alleviate the financial pressure on our arts groups who are renting these venues.
Second point is on free entry to museums which I think is a great piece of news. Could the Minister clarify whether we are looking at year-round free entry to all exhibitions? Or do special charges still apply on special exhibitions? Will it apply to the new National Art Gallery when it opens in 2015?
Mr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for the clarification. It is an important one. Free entry will apply to all our national museums and heritage institutions, including the National Art Gallery. It will apply to all exhibitions in the museums but, as I said earlier, from time to time, when there are special exhibitions that these museums bring in, especially when they involve external partners and they are quite costly, some charges may apply in the specific context. We have studied in other countries, in the UK for example, and found it is very much a similar model; meaning, free entry across-the-board but, periodically, when there is a special exhibition which is quite costly, then the charges will apply specifically to that exhibition.
Mr Nicholas Fang: Madam, I have two clarifications for the Acting Minister. With regard to the sports facilities, a question that I have for the Ministry is: have we done an analysis of whether there is a shortage in supply or over demand from Singaporeans for more sports facilities? If not, how are we going to create this demand to take advantage of all the wonderful facilities that were described? Is it a question of putting the cart before the horse, in that sense?
My second point is in relation to the clarification that the Acting Minister gave to Er Dr Lee with regard to changing the model of how sponsorship and financial support for corporates to come in. In Singapore, our NSAs are encouraged or mandated to become, if not a full-fledged institution of public character (IPC), then, at least, a charity. Companies that give donations, not sponsorships, then receive certain tax benefits in that sense. That has created an impression of sports as not necessarily being the vehicle for brand promotion, as the Acting Minister described, but more as a charitable cause that has to be supported and then getting tax benefits. Is there a consideration to try to change that perception by removing this requirement to become a charity or
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IPC?
Mr Lawrence Wong: The first question on the matching of demand and supply; demand for sports facilities and the supply of sports facilities. We do see some instances where the demand exceeds supply. So, we would have badminton courts where people want to book, but not enough. At the same time, we would also see some instances where it is the other way round, like I mentioned, some of our old sports facilities, standalone facilities, where we notice that they are not well utilised.
We have to, as the Member has said, go in-depth and find ways in which we can marry the two. That is why when we do the sports facilities masterplan, it cannot be top-down. We will have to work with the community as we go into each facility and understand better what are the local demands, what are their needs, and then redesign the facilities to better meet the demands.
On the shift in model of corporate sponsorships and support for the sports, we do not have to link that with the charity issue of NSAs. We need to do more in order to think about how we can activate corporate value for sports promotion. We can do that through various means. The governance framework for the NSAs is a separate matter which we should maintain, and there are good reasons why we have the governance framework in place today. But, I think, even within that context, we can still do more through various means to think about different ways to get companies involved in sports.
Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: Madam, I would like to applaud the Minister for the initiatives announced to further our quest to become a global arts city. But like many, I was disappointed and dismayed over the decision to call off the Singapore Arts Festival this year. I take heart in the Minister's assurance that future editions would come back even stronger.
Can I ask the Minister, given that much depends on the vision of the Festival Director, whether the Minister can give an update of the hunt for the autonomous Festival Director in tandem with the decision to convert the Festival into an independent company? Secondly, can I ask the Minister whether at this pivotal point, he would consider renaming the Singapore Arts Festival into the \"Singapore International Arts Festival\", to clearly signal the intent to be a showcase for world-class performances of high merit?
Mr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for her questions. She has been a big champion of the arts and the Singapore Arts Festival. She would be
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pleased to know that we have been working very hard at doing our interviews for the Festival Director and the CEO of the Festival Company. We have quite a number of good candidates and the interviews have largely been completed. NAC would be ready to announce the candidates and the names of the Festival Director and the CEO of the company soon.
I would also want to manage expectations because it is not easy to gear up again to do an Arts Festival well. It takes at least two to three years to secure international acts. As we start this, the company will be formed, we will have the Arts Director, we will have the CEO. I think we should also give them our full support when the company is eventually formed, recognise that it takes time to build up. So, 2014, they would do their best, but, hopefully, they would be able to gear up in time in 2015 when we celebrate our 50th Anniversary.
On the name of the Arts Festival, I do not have strong views. When we talk about giving autonomy to the arts community to take ownership of the Arts Festival, I think that is something that we should put up for the arts community to think through whether, indeed, they would like to call it the \"Singapore Arts Festival\" or the \"Singapore International Arts Festival\". That is something we are open to discussing with the arts community.
Mr Zainudin Nordin: Madam, just one clarification. Earlier, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned the new Harmony Fund. There are already a lot of initiatives out there to promote racial and religious harmony. Why is there a need for such a fund? Secondly, how can we see this fund complementing the existing initiatives and what more can we gain from this?
Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong: Madam, I thank the Member for raising two very important questions. The Member has correctly pointed out that there are already existing initiatives out there in the community to promote racial and religious harmony. In fact, if I recall it correctly, the Member himself chairs this organisation called OneSingapore.sg which is an active champion in promoting racial and religious harmony. There are also other organisations, such as the 87 IRCCs which are organising a lot of activities on the ground. So, the question we ask ourselves is, \"Is this enough? Are we happy with the current level of activities on the ground to promote racial and religious harmony?\" On our part, we thought that the promotion of racial and religious harmony is something that has to be ongoing, something has to be taken part in, not just by some institutions, but also by individuals.
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While MCCY will continue to support the One People SG, IRCCs and other religious racial organisations to meet their objectives, we also want to open up more opportunities to individuals, particularly the young people who may not want to associate themselves with all these existing institutions and initiatives, but on their own, within their own community, within their own social circles, would want to do something to promote racial and religious harmony.
That kind of ideas, that kind of initiatives have to be supported. Therefore, we set up this harmony fund to encourage more ground-up initiatives by individuals, particularly the young people, and we encourage them to make full use of this fund to do more activities in their own way to promote racial and religious harmony, so that this racial and religious harmony will not be something that is top-down or done through the organisations but is done at the individual level.
For the applications of the fund, they can either collaborate with existing organisations, to open up new chapters, to apply for the funds and then to organise the activities; or they can apply directly to MCCY. The Ministry's officials will assess all the individual applications based on their merits.
The Chairman: The last clarification. Mr Alex Yam.
Mr Alex Yam: Madam, I stand in the way of the close of the Committee of Supply. I wish to have three quick clarifications and one commitment. I thank the Minister and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the commitment to preserving heritage and, yet, I hope we can do more simply than to record it because reading or viewing photos cannot take the place of experiencing it. Therefore, I ask for a clarification if more can be done and more funds can be committed to help local masters and preservers of our heritage to keep their trade going as a living heritage rather than a dead one.
Secondly, Minister of State Mrs Josephine Teo spoke about this during the MOF COS. I, therefore, ask if the Ministry has any advance plans to mark the 50th anniversary of Singapore's Independence and I hope my suggestions during the MOF cut for the Singapore 50 Fund will be given due consideration.
Talking about money and moving on to youths, I am happy to hear of the formation of the National Youth Fund. I ask for a quick clarification when we
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can expect details of the fund to be released.
Finally, on plans for heritage trails and community museums, I offer the historic town of Yew Tee, which, incidentally, got its name from oil tanks set up by the Japanese during World War II, for the kind consideration of the Ministry.
Mr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for the follow-up questions. I will take, not in sequence, but start with Yew Tee. Certainly, we are happy to consider. In fact, Mr Alex Yam told me this story of the origins of the name of Yew Tee which I had not known earlier, so we will be happy to consider. As I have said, we are looking at expanding our heritage trails across all of Singapore and every part of Singapore has something distinctive about it. We would like to celebrate that distinct heritage in all our different communities. So, we will be happy to take that up.
On what we can do more for living heritage, people who are doing trades which are under threat or rapidly vanishing, beyond just recording or documenting them, it depends on the particular trade, and so it is not realistic to say I want to keep all of them alive somehow. I think we will have to go case by case and, if there is merit in keeping something alive, we will certainly take a look at it, but I cannot give a general response. We have to look at it individually and try our best to preserve the heritage, not just through documents and films or movies, but also as a living trade, as the Member mentioned.
The National Youth Fund is something that we are working on. The details will be out soon, so we will be able to put out more information on how young people can apply for the fund.
Finally, I would end on an important point – our 50th anniversary. I think it is really an occasion for us to celebrate as a nation. We will come 50 years in 2015 – it is an important occasion and it ought to be a national celebration. There will be some high points during the year and there will be some natural high points because we will be organising the SEA Games as well in 2015. We will also have, of course, our National Day Parade. So, there will be some major marquee events, if you will, to anchor the celebration for the year. We will start with a countdown in 2014 which will be quite special and we will have a year-long series of celebrations.
MCCY will coordinate this with a programme office and we are also waiting for MOF's response on the Singapore-50 Fund. It is important that the
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celebration should not be something just led by the Government. This ought to be a celebration for all Singaporeans and we are looking at how we can make that happen. How Singaporeans can take pride in how far we have come as a nation and how, through various initiatives from the ground up, with support from the Government, we can lend voice to many of these efforts, whether by our artists, by our sports people, by people who want to celebrate heritage, so that, together as a nation, we can celebrate our 50 years of Independence.
The Chairman: Mr Baey Yam Keng, do you wish to withdraw your amendment?
Mr Baey Yam Keng: Madam, in anticipation of Singapore's 50th National Day, I would like to thank the Acting Minister and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for their comprehensive replies on the wide range of topics and issues and to congratulate them on their first COS.
Like the free museum entry which took two years to materialise, we all learn and take heed from the Minister that we have to be patient for matters like social capital, Singapore identity and heartware. These are things that we cannot see with our eyes but can feel with our hearts. These are things we cannot touch but we can all be touched.
On behalf of my GPC members and all Members, I would like to thank also the staff of MCCY and the statutory boards for their hard work and support.
So, Madam, it is my pleasure to ask for leave to withdraw my amendment and the last amendment for this year's COS debate.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $1,000,252,300 for Head X ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $300,196,100 for Head X ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]
The Chairman: I shall now deal with the remaining Heads of Expenditure in respect of which no amendment stands on the Order Paper Supplement. In respect of the Main Estimates, they are Heads B, C, D, E, F, G and Z. I propose to take those Heads of Expenditure en bloc.
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[(proc text) Question, \"That the sums stated for Heads B, C, D, E, F, G and Z which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Main Estimates on page 6 of Paper Cmd 3 of 2013 stand part of the Main Estimates,\" put and agreed to. (proc text)]
The Chairman: In respect of the Development Estimates, they are Heads B, C, D, E and F.
[(proc text) Question is, \"That the sums stated for Heads B, C, D, E and F which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Development Estimates on page 7 of Paper Cmd 3 of 2013 stand part of the Development Estimates,\" put and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Question, \"That the sum of $56,339,374,800 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the Public Services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, contained in Paper Cmd 3 of 2013,\" put and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Question, \"That the sum of $20,271,605,300 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the Public Services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2013, contained in Paper Cmd 3 of 2013,\" put and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resolutions to be reported. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Thereupon Mdm Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mdm Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has come to certain resolutions.
First Resolution reported –
[(proc text) \"That the sum of $56,339,374,800 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the Public Services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, contained in Paper Cmd 3 of 2013.\" (proc text)]
Second Resolution reported –
[(proc text) \"That the sum of $20,271,605,300 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the Public Services shown in the Development Estimates for
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the financial year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, contained in Paper Cmd 3 of 2013.\" (proc text)]
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That Parliament doth agree with the Committee on the said resolutions.\"
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resolutions accordingly agreed to. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Supply Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second and Third Readings read. (proc text)]
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
In accordance with Article 148(1) of the Constitution, the Heads of Expenditure to be met from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund, other than statutory expenditure, have to be included in a Bill to be known as the Supply Bill. The purpose of the Supply Bill before Members is therefore to give legislative approval for the appropriations from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund to meet the expenditures in the Financial Year, 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014. The Heads of Expenditure and the sums that may be incurred in respect of each Head are shown in the Schedule to the Bill. These have been approved by the House in the Main and Development Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year, 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, as contained in Command Paper No 3 of 2013.
The Supply Bill, when approved, will empower me to issue warrants authorising expenditure up to the amount for each Head as shown in the Bill to be paid out from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund.
Madam, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time. (proc text)]
\tPage: 111
Third Reading
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Third time.\"
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Supplementary Supply (FY 2012) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second and Third Readings read. (proc text)]
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
The purpose of this Bill is to make provision in accordance with Articles 148(2) and 148C(2) of the Constitution for additional expenditure in excess of the provisions authorised by the Supply Act 2012. The additional sums have been presented as Supplementary Estimates, which have been considered and approved by the House as Command Paper No 4 of 2013.
Madam, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time. (proc text)]
Third Reading
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Third time.\"
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
\tPage: 112
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Acknowledgement to the Chair","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mdm Speaker, over the last nine days, from 11 am or noon, and ending past 7.30 pm for many days, Members in this House have debated extensively and finally approved the Government's fiscal plans for this year.
Four hundred and eighty three amendments were filed, an increase of 7% from last year. Even \"cuts\", it seems, are not immune to inflation. Through our debates, we have scrutinised the intricacies of our nation and the daily lives of our people. We have pushed hard for more help to those in need or in trouble, the less privileged, unfortunate and marginalised in our society.
This was a first Budget for the newly created Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth but the second in this term of Government. With experience, new Members and office-bearers were more assured and forceful in their speeches this year. Overall, the quality of debate, the civility and demeanour displayed speak well of our legislature. Let us maintain this high standard.
But the art of the succinct can be honed – compress our speeches for greater impact – both for the front and backbenchers.
Beyond the nitty-gritty, it is worthwhile to ask at the end of our debates, what does this Budget really mean for Singapore and Singaporeans? How did it impact their lives for a better Singapore? Where is Singapore headed? Quo vadis?
Prominent headlines and themes provide snapshot answers to these questions.
On ideas and vision – \"a Robin Hood budget, wealth re-distribution, closing the income gap, hikes on social spending, economic transformation, quality growth, Singaporean Core, Singaporean identity.\"
On concrete provisions – \"more hospitals, polyclinics, childcare and kindergartens, cycling paths and better bus services, MND's vision of cheaper, faster and better housing options for singles and married couples, less expensive healthcare and childcare, hawker rentals, the power of ‘free' – free museums and maybe even free MRT rides for some, higher levies and
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restrictions on foreign workers, higher taxes on cars and housing investments.\"
On fears – \"SMEs squeezed, economic restructuring doubts, our ageing population, fiscal health in the future.\"
These preoccupations reflect a nation paying more attention inwardly, appropriately making sharp adjustments to catch up with infrastructure needs and rising cost of living, but also preparing ahead for a slowing economy and an ageing population. If in the past, our country was like that of a young man springing along with boundless energy, Singapore is now moving at a much more measured pace, a mature adult conscious of his or her limitations. Singapore has moved into a new and unchartered phase.
With speeches read, the Budget passed and directions set, what now? To work, of course, and our raison d'être. As Government and Members of Parliament, we must commit to the task of doing things well, to ensure that policies get implemented correctly to improve the lives of Singaporeans and to speak up if they are not. At the same time, we need to remain watchful that external forces do not overtake us. We must not mistake ourselves to be the centre around which the world revolves, lest we quickly and ruefully realise that we are not.
Mdm Speaker, this Budget session was also a first for you in that Chair, although no one would have guessed. You presided over this House with adroitness, attentiveness, patience and firmness delicately applied. The result was smooth proceedings and business completed on time. Madam, this House thanks you and I am sure that I speak on behalf of all Members in expressing our admiration at how quickly and assuredly you have assumed your role as Speaker.
Mdm Speaker, our thanks also go to the staff of the Secretariat for their support and assistance. We appreciate the forbearance shown by you and your Deputies in listening to hundreds of speeches these last two weeks. We trust that the withdrawal symptoms from not having to listen to any of us, at least for a while, will not be too difficult to bear.
Mdm Speaker: Let me, first, thank the Leader of the House for his kind words of support and encouragement. I would also like to thank all the hon Members for your cooperation, which has enabled us to bring this Budget debate to a fruitful conclusion.
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This House agrees that the conclusion of the debate is but only a starting point. Much work has to be done to carry through the many policies and programmes that you have so robustly debated over the span of two weeks.
The focus of this Budget is on the elderly, the low-income and the young. The need to remain globally competitive is clear. Yet, this House also reaffirms the need for crafting of policies and their implementation to be done in a manner that benefits, involves and engages Singaporeans.
So, there were palpable policy shifts announced this year in many areas. The debate this year also marks quite a shift in one other respect. I have yet to sit through a debate where the word \"consultation\" had popped up so frequently – 33 times to be exact. This shows the strong desire on the part of policymakers to involve Singaporeans more in shaping their own destiny.
On the whole, I find your speeches to be of high quality and thoughtful, passionate and colourful even, with many real life examples. This is a serious debate and you have taken great pains to address the people's concerns. The exchange with the front bench was robust and engaging, and you made good use of the clarification time, although some succumbed to the lure of using this space to make more speeches.
Most Members kept to their allotted times, although some really stretched the limit. Some have also refined their speed reading techniques. My advice for next year is to plan your speech better. Brevity is not a sin. After all, the two most powerful words in the human vocabulary are very short – yes and no. I would also like to remind Members to use audio visual aids only as illustrations of some points in your speech, not to replace it, as the public wants to hear you and not to watch a video.
Some have also commiserated with me because I could not speak. Yes, indeed it was rather strange to be listening to you rather than to be with you to argue my points or to explain policies, but I have enjoyed presiding over this debate.
Let me conclude by thanking the Leader of the House and the Whip for their guidance and support in ensuring a smooth debate. I also thank my helpful and reliable Deputy Speakers, Mr Charles Chong and Mr Seah Kian Peng, for their assistance. I am also grateful to the staff of this House who worked tirelessly, but quietly, behind the scene to make everything run so smoothly that not many know the amount of work that they do. Once again, I thank hon Members for
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your active participation and for your cooperation in this debate. It is a pleasure to preside over a parliament where hon Members take their work seriously and with great pride for the people that they represent. The people expect no less from us.
Order. I propose to take the break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 4.00 pm.
Sitting accordingly suspended
at 3.40 pm until 4.00 pm.
Sitting resumed at 4.00 pm
[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Monetary Authority of Singapore (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second Reading read. (proc text)]
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
The principal impetus for this Bill comes from international developments in financial regulation following the recent global financial crisis. An important dimension of this, as advanced by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), involves enhancing the powers of regulators and widening their options in dealing with domestic and international financial institutions in distress. Singapore is a member of the FSB and has contributed actively to its deliberations.
The FSB has issued a set of principles in this regard, which are called \"Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions\". In keeping with these principles, member countries are expected to equip their national authorities with the capacity to respond effectively and swiftly when a financial institution is in distress.
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had itself embarked on a review of its regulatory framework for financial institutions, with a view to strengthening our framework for financial stability and ensuring robust protection of depositors, insurance policy holders and consumers of financial services. As part of the review, MAS took into account the FSB's Key Attributes where they are relevant to Singapore. In addition, MAS has relooked its own objects and functions, to ensure they are up-to-date and well aligned with global standards. Further, MAS has reviewed the framework for the issuance of securities by MAS.
This Bill, therefore, proposes changes to the MAS Act in four key areas: (a) to extend the principal objects of MAS and to amplify its functions; (b) to expand the range of tools available to MAS for the resolution of distressed or insolvent financial institutions; (c) to update the regulatory framework for the issuance of securities by MAS, including the regulation of primary dealers of these securities; and (d) housekeeping changes to enable better administration of the MAS Act.
MAS has consulted the industry and the public on these changes. The feedback received has been carefully considered and incorporated into the Bill where practicable and appropriate. MAS has published on its website its responses to feedback on the Bill which were of wider interest.
Mdm Speaker, I will now go through the key amendments in the Bill.
First, the objectives and functions of MAS. As a central bank and integrated financial supervisor, MAS safeguards and seeks to maintain a high level of public confidence in the stability of Singapore's financial system. Therefore, to strengthen and clarify MAS' powers to act in relation to maintaining financial stability, clause 4 of the Bill amends section 4 of the MAS Act to provide expressly that MAS has the objective of promoting financial stability.
The second set of changes concerns MAS' powers of resolution with regard to institutions in distress. While MAS seeks to promote financial stability through high standards of licensing, regulation and supervision, it does not aim to prevent the failure of financial institutions in all circumstances. A \"zero-failure\" regime is neither feasible nor desirable. It will lead to considerable moral hazard and financial institutions taking excessive risks. To minimise the chance of such behaviour, a regulator would have to impose a heavy regulatory burden on financial institutions, which will inevitably increase costs for
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consumers or borrowers.
The alternative and better approach is to accept that failure cannot be avoided even in a well-regulated financial system, and ensure that the regulator is able to deal effectively with a financial institution in distress in order to minimise losses to depositors and other creditors, and to maintain stability in the financial system.
The Banking Act and the Insurance Act were amended in 2007 and 2011, respectively, to empower MAS, with the approval of the Minister-in-charge of MAS, to (a) direct the sale of the business of a bank or insurance company, and (b) where such an institution is incorporated in Singapore, to require the issuance of new shares, to restructure the share capital or to sell existing shares to other investors. I shall refer to these collectively as \"resolution powers\".
The Bill extends these resolution powers – which already exist for banks and insurance companies – over a wider range of financial institutions, and also enhances MAS' resolution options. These financial institutions include finance companies, merchant banks, operators and settlement institutions of designated payment systems, approved exchanges, approved clearing houses, licensed trade repositories, as well as designated financial holding companies. As far as designated financial holding companies are concerned, these will be regulated under a new Financial Holding Companies Act. I shall refer to this group as \"other financial institutions\".
One area of feedback during the public consultation was that the resolution powers to be exercised under the Bill may affect the contractual rights of parties under set-off and collateral arrangements in industry master agreements, such as the ISDA Master Agreement. The Bill addresses this concern. It introduces the power to prescribe safeguards from the exercise of resolution power, in the form of carve-outs that preserve such contractual rights.
Like the Banking Act and the Insurance Act which empower MAS to take over the management of a bank or an insurance company in distress, or to appoint a statutory manager to do so, similar powers are proposed in respect of the other financial institutions. This will be effected through the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, which will be read for a Second time after this Bill.
The Bill also seeks to enhance the MAS' resolution tool-kit by adopting those recommendations set out in the FSB's Key Attributes which are relevant
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to Singapore. The enhancements to MAS' powers are as follows:
(a) MAS will be vested with the power to issue directions to a non-regulated entity that is incorporated or established in Singapore. This power will apply where the entity belongs to a group of companies of which a financial institution regulated by MAS is part of and where the entity is significant to the business of such a group;
(b) MAS may apply to the Court to claw back the salary, remuneration or benefits given to a director or executive officer under certain circumstances, for example, when the director or executive officer has failed to discharge his or her duties;
(c) MAS may share information with a foreign resolution authority if the information is necessary in the resolution of a financial institution.
MAS will continue to monitor the global implementation of the FSB's Key Attributes, before making any further changes to the resolution regime for financial institutions in Singapore.
Let me move on now to the issuance of securities by MAS. Primary dealers play a critical role in underwriting primary auctions, serving as counterparty to monetary policy transactions and providing liquidity to Singapore dollar markets. MAS currently issues MAS book-entry securities pursuant to section 23(1)(k) of the MAS Act. However, the Act does not provide for a primary dealer framework for MAS book-entry securities. This is unlike the Government Securities Act which explicitly empowers the Government to regulate primary dealers and the Government securities market.
To address this gap, clause 11 introduces new Parts VA and VB to the MAS Act to give MAS similar powers over primary dealers and the MAS book-entry securities market. The proposed amendment will provide greater clarity to the legal and regulatory frameworks for MAS book-entry securities and the conduct of monetary policy operations by MAS.
Let me, finally, turn to two operational aspects of the Bill.
(a) Clause 5 of the Bill amends section 7 of the MAS Act by expanding the maximum number of directors on the MAS Board from 10 to 14. This will enable MAS to benefit from the experience and perspectives of a wider group of individuals, and further strengthen the Board in dealing with future challenges
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in the financial and economic landscape, both globally and in Singapore.
(b) Clause 8 of the Bill amends section 23 of the MAS Act to provide that an MAS officer who is designated under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (Cap 65A) as a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer (STRO) and has received information pursuant to his role of a STRO, is able to disclose such information to other MAS officers for the purpose of discharging MAS' supervisory and regulatory functions. This will enable MAS to have a holistic assessment of money laundering risks posed by persons or institutions who wish to conduct financial activities under MAS' purview.
Mdm Speaker, a stable and sound financial sector is an integral part of ensuring the success and resilience of the Singapore economy. These amendments to the MAS Act are part of the on-going process to enhance the robustness of our regulatory framework and ensure that it keeps up with global developments, including powers to enable swift and effective resolution of a financial institution in distress. Mdm Speaker, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
Ms Tan Su Shan (Nominated Member): Mdm Speaker, allow me to declare my pecuniary interest as a banker, and also to beg the pardon of the House for putting you through yet another speech after the COS. But I figured since I know a little bit about the financial industry, I should do my part.
The MAS Amendment Bill has come about to strengthen the regulatory framework for the resolution of financial institutions in the light of global developments. It enables the MAS to exercise a wider range of options in dealing with a failed financial institution.
I believe I speak for the industry in saying that we welcome the partial adoption of the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) \"Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions\" and we also acknowledge the importance of cooperation between regulatory authorities to ensure that resolution plans can be agreed and enacted globally. We welcome the enhanced powers to the MAS to safeguard and strengthen Singapore's regulatory and legal framework.
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Many in the House will remember how widely felt the reverberations were from the Lehman crisis. Consumers, bankers, depositors, regulators, policymakers – all of us have learnt our lessons from what happened in 2008. I, for one, remembered it clearly because it happened on 16 September 2008. It happened to be my birthday and I was with an American institution then. We were all staying overnight in the bank, all of us in our pyjamas and slippers, and trying to figure out what was happening. I remember seeing large queues of worried investors outside some financial institutions. The contagion that came from that single failure is still being unwound till this day.
On my part, I learnt the importance of knowing what we \"do not know\". At the time, industry players had massive amounts of OTC derivatives exposures that amounted to trillions of dollars. Nobody really knew how much exposure each had to whom. This was a major source of the contagion. Even the most sophisticated global regulators were not clear as to what was the right thing to do. One important consideration then was that financial institutions (FIs) at the time were reporting their exposures on a net basis, not a gross basis. Hence, the issues of counterparty risk exposures were not really accounted for. For many banks, if one had to use the gross exposures of these derivatives, just a small level of default would have triggered a wipe-out of many of these banks' net tangible equity. And that was precisely what happened when Lehman defaulted. The domino effect and the chaos that ensued caused many jobs and households' savings to disappear overnight. Hence, the benefit of a central clearing house and Trade repositories for all of these OTC contracts have been discussed globally and some have already been implementing this.
Hence, this Bill is timely, welcomed and I hope that MAS would not have the need to use it anytime soon!
However, there are a few issues that I wish to bring to the House and the Deputy Prime Minister's attention and I have summarised them below.
First, enforceability of bilateral netting arrangements. I appreciate and thank the Deputy Prime Minister for bringing this up in a speech earlier and, as I had earlier mentioned about net and gross exposures, it is useful to point out – as he had rightly pointed out – that most industry players here use the ISDA Master Agreement to enforce bilateral netting arrangements.
Many industry players are also concerned that the proposed resolution powers may affect the enforceability of such arrangements, as the proposed powers are broad and it appears that they may, in some instances, defeat
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existing contractual rights. If this leads, for example, to \"cherry picking\" of which transactions to close out, then this could lead to counterparty losses. Section 30A(am) may also give the MAS powers to override the institution's existing contractual obligations. If this is the case, FIs around the world will have to re-assess their exposure to Singapore FIs. And this would affect our status as a good \"netting\" jurisdiction and increase the cost of doing business here.
We welcome subsidiary legislation to ensure bilateral netting arrangements will be carved out and ask that this be extended to cover the Banking Act and Insurance Act, too.
Second, different resolution for clearing houses. With the general trend now towards encouraging trades to be centrally cleared by a central clearing house, it is the industry view that the failure of such clearing houses would pose a major systemic risk. Hence, the resolution regime may need to be enhanced to ensure that such risks are mitigated, for example, through clear segmentation of clients' monies. The suggestion is that the resolution powers should be consistent with the loss allocation mechanisms that apply now under the clearing's rules in the event of a member company's default, and they should not be exercised in a manner that increases the loss suffered by non-defaulting members.
Thirdly, challenges faced by nascent Asian markets. The Asian markets are still developing. Whether it is in offshore RMB products, OTC derivatives or interest rate swaps, we are still in the early stages of growth. Mr Lee Chuan Teck, assistant MD at the MAS, has rightly pointed out in a speech that regulatory changes in Asia are important \"but they must not overwhelm the market so that it ceases to function effectively.\"
Another challenge is that Asian market infrastructure remains relatively under-developed. Trading repositories, central counterparties are still not present in many markets in the region. So, we need to \"build before we legislate\".
Four – and this is my last point – cross border challenges. FIs here trade in multiple products with multiple counterparties operating in multiple jurisdictions. There will be cross-border differences and these issues need to be resolved or the effectiveness of any reform can be weakened and this could lead to the risk of regulatory arbitrage. It can also increase the already high cost of compliance burden for the industry and for the regulators.
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Madam, whilst I have briefly detailed some of the issues faced by the industry players, I fully support the Bill.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mdm Speaker, I thank Ms Tan Su Shan for speaking in support of the Bill, and for her constructive views. First, let me say that I certainly share her hope that MAS will not need to use these enhanced resolution powers anytime soon.
Let me now respond to a few of the specific points which Ms Tan has raised. First, Ms Tan has expressed a valid concern over the impact of the proposed resolution powers of the Bill on bilateral netting arrangements. This is an important point.
I can assure Members that the carve-outs through subsidiary legislation that we will make, as provided for in the Bill, will include specific provisions for bilateral netting arrangements. I can also confirm that the carve-outs for bilateral netting arrangements will apply across all financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies.
The approach we are taking is essentially similar to that being taken in the United Kingdom where they have adopted a Special Resolution Regime, and the carve-outs that the European Union has now directed its members to put in place when designing their resolution frameworks. It is a system where you put in place the basic provisions and the powers that a regulator needs, but you have carve-outs to ensure that contractual obligations and, specifically, bilateral netting arrangements, are not defeated.
The second point that Ms Tan raised concerned the central clearing houses. This is an important point because, clearly, a failure of a clearing house can be of major systemic consequence. So, she has quite rightly highlighted the systemic risks that are inherent in central clearing houses. She suggested an enhanced resolution regime for central clearing houses but one that takes into account the loss mechanisms that apply under the clearing house's rules in the event of a member company defaulting.
As part of prudent risk management, clearing houses are expected by the MAS to put in place loss allocation mechanisms to manage a member's default. How do they fund it? First, they have margins that are collected from members. And, second, they should have a default fund, which is comprised of funds that
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are contributed by members. There are other measures under the Securities and Futures Act that will require clearing houses to safeguard client monies, including their segregation from the monies of both the clearing house and clearing house members, and placing such client monies in trust.
MAS will certainly take into account these loss allocation mechanisms and their impact on members and their clients in determining an appropriate resolution strategy for a failing clearing house. We will be guided by the need to minimise costs to taxpayers and to consumers of financial services, as well as the need to avoid major disruption to financial markets. We will also, in any resolution exercise to do with a financial institution or clearing house, bear in mind the need to avoid opening up future moral hazards.
A third point which Ms Tan raised concerned the challenges faced by still nascent Asian markets. I note her comment about the need to \"build before we legislate\". MAS is keenly aware of the need for balance – the balance between allowing the development of a financial market and regulating it. There need not, however, be a significant trade-off between the two – between allowing for development and regulating. MAS' whole approach is, in fact, to minimise such trade-offs. How do we do it? By ensuring that financial regulation is risk-based, rather than applied automatically across-the-board to all activities or to all institutions. Financial regulation has to be risk-based. We also regularly review our rules to make sure that they are not more burdensome than necessary to meet the ultimate objectives of financial regulation.
Finally, let me just say that cross-border issues remain a challenge for regulators around the globe. We engage and cooperate actively with other foreign regulatory authorities on this challenge, both through bilateral and multilateral fora, such as the Financial Stability Board. MAS is, in fact, playing an active role in the ongoing global work on cross-border resolution.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam]. (proc text)]
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[(proc text) Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Order for Second Reading read. (proc text)]
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
Arising from the amendments to the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act (MAS Act) to extend the resolution regime for banks and insurance companies to certain other financial institutions, consequential amendments have to be made to other Acts under MAS' purview as well as the Companies Act. MAS has also taken the opportunity to make amendments to enable better administration of certain Acts under its purview.
The Bill proposes amendments to the following Acts under MAS' purview:
(a) Banking Act;
(b) Business Trusts Act;
(c) Finance Companies Act;
(d) Government Securities Act;
(e) Money-changing and Remittance Businesses Act;
(f) Payment Systems (Oversight) Act;
(g) Securities and Futures Act; and
(h) Trust Companies Act.
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MAS has consulted the industry and the public on these changes. The feedback received was carefully considered and incorporated into the Bill where practicable and appropriate.
Mdm Speaker, I will now go through the key amendments in the Bill.
Provisions are being introduced in the Finance Companies Act, Payments Systems (Oversight) Act, Securities and Futures Act and Trust Companies Act to allow for the voluntary transfer of the business of certain financial institutions and to empower MAS to take over the management of such institutions in distress or to appoint a statutory manager to do so.
Provisions in the Banking Act relating to the resolution regime for banks will be repealed when broader provisions which deal with the resolution of financial institutions in the new Part VB of the MAS Act come into effect. However, due to the unique nature of the insurance industry, the provisions in the Insurance Act on the resolution regime for insurance companies continue to apply to insurance companies. This will enable all resolution powers relating to insurance companies to be in the Insurance Act, such as the power to resolve insurance companies, including those organised as co-operative societies registered under the Co-operatives Societies Act, and the power to run-off insurance companies.
The Bill also amends the various Acts mentioned earlier for better administration. These include:
First, clarifying that it will not be necessary for any notice in writing or direction issued by MAS, under the various Acts, to be published in the Gazette to have legal effect.
Second, providing that any composition fine or financial penalty collected by the Authority is paid to the Consolidated Fund.
Third, updating the provisions for the composition of offences in the various Acts, in particular, to enable MAS to compound offences under provisions which have been repealed.
Fourth, prohibiting certain financial institutions from permitting a person to act as its director or its executive officer without the prior consent of MAS in
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certain circumstances.
Mdm Speaker, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam]. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Insurance (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second Reading read. (proc text)]
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
This Bill amends the Insurance Act (Cap 142) to enhance MAS' powers to better achieve its supervisory objectives, improve the clarity of its policy intent, align the provisions with other Acts administered by MAS, and update some provisions that are outdated.
MAS has conducted several public consultations on the policy positions implied by the amendments, as well as on the draft Bill. As with the other two Bills that Parliament has just considered, MAS has studied all the feedback received and taken them into account in the Bill where appropriate.
Mdm Speaker, I will now go through the main amendments in the Bill.
First, the Bill will enhance MAS' supervisory powers in a number of areas. For example, the Insurance Act currently empowers MAS to issue directions to an insurer to maintain assets in Singapore only when there are grounds for
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MAS to cancel the licence of the insurer, such as when the insurer is insolvent or has ceased to carry on business. There may, however, be situations where MAS will need to take pre-emptive action to direct an insurer to maintain assets in Singapore to safeguard the interests of policy owners. The Bill, therefore, empowers MAS to impose asset maintenance requirements on an insurer without requiring grounds for MAS to cancel its licence.
The Bill will also provide MAS with the power to impose conditions on an insurer before cancelling the insurer's licence. For example, an insurer may be required to submit proof that its insurance liabilities have been fully discharged, to ensure that the rights of policy owners are not adversely affected.
In addition, the Bill will provide for MAS to direct an insurer to remove key persons, including the Chairman and Chief Executive, from office or from employment in certain circumstances, for example, where the management or governance of an insurer is being carried out in a way that is detrimental to policy owners.
The global financial crisis highlighted the importance of effective supervision of insurers with cross-border operations, and for supervisory cooperation amongst insurance regulators. The Bill will equip MAS with powers to inspect the overseas branches and subsidiaries of Singapore-incorporated insurers. The Bill will also permit MAS to furnish supervisory information, such as inspection reports, to foreign regulators and insurers' head offices, subject to confidentiality requirements, and allow foreign regulators to inspect their insurers operating in Singapore with the MAS' approval.
Second, the Bill will clarify MAS' policy intent on various issues. For example, with changes in insurance business models, the existing definition of \"carrying on insurance business\" in the Insurance Act potentially captures administrative operations outsourced by insurers to third parties which MAS does not need to regulate. These third parties include service providers which collect insurance premiums on behalf of an insurer. The revised definition will provide clarity on the entities and activities that are meant to be regulated.
The Bill also proposes to introduce a definition for \"solicitation\" of insurance business to give clarity on what is prohibited. It makes clear that solicitation of insurance business by unlicensed insurers, including the overseas head office or branches of an insurer that is licensed in Singapore, is prohibited. In addition, a licensed insurer is not allowed to co-brand its insurance products and services in Singapore with an insurer that is not
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licensed by MAS.
Third, the Bill will align some provisions in the Insurance Act with other Acts administered by the MAS to ensure consistency, where appropriate, in its regulation of the financial sector in Singapore. For example, the Bill will introduce an appeal process for applicants whose application for licensing, registration or authorisation has been rejected by MAS.
The Bill will also align a number of penalty provisions for offences in the Insurance Act with those of equivalent offences in the Banking Act. This will increase the penalties for many of the offences in the Insurance Act.
Another alignment to the Banking Act relates to the ownership and control of Singapore-incorporated insurers. The Bill will allow MAS to apply its \"fit and proper\" criteria in approving substantial shareholders and controllers of a Singapore-incorporated insurer. It will also allow MAS to attach conditions to such approvals and to remove existing substantial shareholders and controllers when they are no longer deemed fit and proper.
Last, the Bill will remove or refine certain provisions of the Insurance Act. For instance, the Bill reflects that it is not the policy intent to require all life insurance policies that have been in force for three years or more to have a cash surrender value. This is because insurers can offer low-cost insurance products which provide only protection coverage, with no savings element. Such products, like term life insurance products, do not have cash surrender values.
Mdm Speaker, let me conclude. The amendments in this Bill will enhance our current insurance regulatory regime, allowing us to keep pace with regulatory developments internationally and market developments in the insurance industry. MAS will continue to review its regulations and policies to ensure adequate protection of insurance policy owners and to ensure broader financial stability. Madam, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. − [Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam]. (proc text)]
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[(proc text) Bill considered in Committee. (proc text)]
[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]
[(proc text) Clauses 1 to 69 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The Schedule – (proc text)]
The Chairman: There are two amendments standing in the Order Paper Supplement. As inadequate notice has been given of these amendments, they are subject to my consent and the general assent of Members present. I give my consent for the amendments to be moved. Is it the pleasure of hon Members that the amendments be moved?
[(proc text) Hon Members indicated assent. (proc text)]
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam:\tMadam, as both amendments are related, may I seek your leave to move both amendments together?
The Chairman: Please do so.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Madam, I beg to move,
[(proc text) (1) In page 106, lines 4 and 5, to leave out the words \"or co-operative society\"; and (proc text)]
[(proc text) (2) In page 106, lines 8 and 9, to leave out the words \"or co-operative society\". (proc text)]
Madam, the Insurance Amendment Bill makes consequential amendments to other Acts which refer to certain sections in the Insurance Act. The majority of these amendments relate to the change in terminology of \"registered insurer\" to \"licensed insurer\". With the change in terminology in the Insurance Act, it is necessary to also change the terminology in those other Acts. The consequential amendment to the Income Tax Act had replaced the words \"company registered\" under the Insurance Act with \"company or co-operative society licensed under the Insurance Act\". I am moving the amendments to these sections of the Income Tax Act as they apply only to companies. Co-operative societies are dealt with in a different section of the Income Tax Act.
[(proc text) Amendments agreed to. (proc text)]
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[(proc text) The Schedule, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill reported with amendments; read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Adjournment","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Resolved, \"That Parliament do now adjourn to a date to be fixed.\" – [Dr Ng Eng Hen]. (proc text)]
Adjourned accordingly at 4.39 pm
to a date to be fixed.
\tPage: 131
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