Hansard, 1989-03-22

The following question stood in the name of Mr Loh Meng See - 1. To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) when will a neighbourhood police post be set up in Kampong Glam Constituency; and (b) in view of the geographical structure of the Kampong Glam Constituency, whether the Constituency can have two neighbourhood police posts, one covering the Crawford/Beach Road area and the other the Waterloo Street/Queen Street area.

Question No. 1, Sir.

Mr Speaker, Sir, Kampong Glam Constituency is scheduled to have a Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP) in 1989. However, there is a problem in finding a permanent site because of the built-up nature of the area and the non-availability of HDB ground floor void decks. Until a permanent site is found, a temporary NPP will be set up at the vacant land next to Block 17, Beach Road, during the course of this year. As for the second part of the question, the Police have studied whether the Constituency requires more than one NPP and they have assessed that the area can be covered by one NPP.

asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether Civil Defence Shelters will be provided at Changi Airport.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in our long term plan for the building of civil defence shelters, priority will be given to residential areas. The extent to which there should be civil defence shelters beyond residential areas, including Changi Airport, is being studied.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the outcome of 'JIM II' and comment on the prospects for a peaceful settlement in Cambodia.

Mr Speaker, Sir, my assessment of JIM II was already published in the Straits Times on 24th February, and during the Committee of Supply debate on Foreign Affairs I have also given additional information. Nevertheless, I would like to summarize my conclusions. We are satisfied with the outcome, but we are realistic about the prospects. Despite the differences, JIM II had spelt out the basic elements of a political solution, including such key points as the withdrawal of the Vietnamese forces, International Control Mechanism and national reconciliation. After our extensive discussions, in Jakarta, the positions of the various parties have become clearer. But there are still more negotiations ahead on the details and the practical implementation of the broad principles set out in the Chairman's Consensus Statement. Sir, a political solution or settlement in Cambodia is only a matter of time. But further discussions and negotiations will be necessary. The inter-Khmer talks are likely to be difficult. Hun Sen has hardened his position on power-sharing among the four Cambodian parties and rejected an effective International Control Mechanism. It is my hope that all parties will show flexibility so that a political solution can be reached quickly and the suffering of the Cambodian people can end.

Sir, has the position of the Thai Prime Minister regarding the Hun Sen government put Asean in a difficult situation and some of the Cambodian factions in an even more delicate position?

Sir, from what I understand, especially during the last few days after the Thai Prime Minister met many Chinese leaders, there has been no change in the basic position of the Thais. That being the case, Asean's stand on Cambodia remains.

The following question stood in the name of Mr Goh Choon Kang - 4. To ask the Minister for the Environment (a) how how many licensed hawkers were summoned for "spill-over" of goods at their stalls on 4th February, 1989 (Chinese New Year's Eve) and where; and (b) how many illegal hawkers were summoned on the same day and where.

Question No. 4, Sir.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am answering on behalf of my Minister. Every Lunar New Year period, the Hawkers Department gives a concession to stallholders in hawker centres to display their goods beyond their stalls, so long as extensions do not cause obstruction to other stallholders or inconvenience the public. However, no stallholder is allowed to set up stalls outside of the hawker centre proper. If he sets up stalls on the road or public concourse, then he will be given a summons for illegal hawking. Sir, on the 4th February 1989, that is, Chinese New Year's Eve, no licensed hawkers were summoned for displaying goods beyond their stalls. This includes hawkers at the Lim Tua Tow Market. A total of 38 illegal hawkers were summoned for selling goods at various places on the 4th February 1989. 19 of them were found selling outside various markets.

If no hawker was fined on Lunar New Year's Eve for extension of stall, how does he account for the raid and exorbitant fine on hawkers at Lim Tua Tow Market, as mentioned in this House by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary some days ago?

Sir, the point raised by the Member for Braddell Heights in Parliament on 16th March 1989 was that for three consecutive days during the Lunar New Year our officers raided the Lim Tua Tow Market and issued summonses to stallholders who had extended their stalls. Sir, may I have your permission to clarify that the Ministry did not issue any summons against stallholders in the Lim Tua Tow Market for extension of stalls during the three days preceding the Lunar New Year. In fact, Members of this House may wish to know that no single summons was issued to stallholders at this market for extension of stalls for 11 clear days before the Lunar New Year. However, three illegal hawkers operating outside the Lim Tua Tow Market were summoned on the eve of Chinese New Year. These three illegal hawkers were not licensed stallholders in the Lim Tua Tow Market. They were there actually to take the business away from the licensed stallholders. Sir, the Member for Braddell Heights also informed the House on 16th March that one of the Lim Tua Tow stallholders was fined $800 for extension. Sir, our records show that the highest fine imposed by the court on a stallholder in the Lim Tua Tow Market is $500, and not $800. The stallholder was fined $500 for massive extension on the 24th January 1989 and not on Chinese New Year's Eve because he is recalcitrant - having been fined by the courts on two previous occasions for similar offence of grossly extending his stall and blocking almost the entire passageway, causing gross inconvenience to members of the public. We do not single out any market for special treatment, especially the Lim Tua Tow Market for enforcement action on extension of stalls. During the last six months, a total of 69 stallholders from 21 other markets/food centres were summoned for extending their stalls. But during the last six months, four stallholders at Lim Tua Tow Market, including the two recalcitrants, were summoned for extending their stalls.

asked the Minister for Communications and Information when the Mass Rapid Transit line to Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak and Chua Chu Kang stations will become operational.

Mr Speaker, Sir, construction of the Mass Rapid Transit line to Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak and Chua Chu Kang is progressing smoothly. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the line should be operational by the middle of next year.

asked the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the average rate of water and electricity consumption per month by residents of Housing and Development Board flats and those in private estates.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the 1988 average water and electricity consumption per month of domestic customers are given in the table which Members would have available to them. If I may refer to the table: HDB Private Houses Volume Charges Volume Charges ($) ($) Electricity 168 kWh 23.28 568 kWh 78.72 Water 18.7 cu m 9.91 28.0 cu m 16.60 33.19 95.32 Sir, these charges are based on the existing tariffs. And as PUB has announced recently, with effect from 1st April, the low tension electricity tariffs will be reduced as a result of the improvement in PUB's productivity and efficiency. Electricity charges will be reduced by an average of 4%. So it will be $22.44 for HDB accounts and $75.88 for private home accounts. The total savings per year for these low tension domestic as well as non-domestic users will be some $34 million a year.

asked the Acting Minister for Health (a) whether our population target will be revised with a view to reducing future burden of the aged dependency ratio in the population; and (b) what will be the feasible population target in the long run.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Health projects that the aged dependency ratio, which is the ratio of persons aged 60 and over to persons aged 15 to 59, will rise from 0.13 in 1990 to about 0.46 in the year 2030, ie, from about eight working-age persons supporting one elderly to about two working-age persons supporting one elderly. This computation is based on the assumption that the total fertility rate will remain at an average of 1.8 and that the population will grow to about 3.2 million by the year 2025 before it starts to decline. The objective of the New Population Policy is to raise the total fertility rate to replacement level by 1995, from its 1987 level of 1.

64. If we are able to achieve this target, and maintain it on a long-term basis, the population will grow and stabilize at about 3.5 million by the year 2030. The ageing of our population will then be slowed slightly, and the aged dependency ratio will increase to 0.43 by the year 2030 before declining thereafter to about 0.40.

asked the Acting Minister for Health if a polyclinic will be built in Bukit Batok Town; and, if so, where it will be located and when it will be completed.

Sir, my Ministry plans to build a new polyclinic in Bukit Batok New Town. It will be located at Bukit Batok West Avenue 3, and is scheduled to be completed in 1991.

"to amend the Companies Act (Chapter 50 of the 1988 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister of State for Finance (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted Day].

12.44 pm Head I (cont.) - Resumption of Debate on Question [21st March, 1989], That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IC 1500 of the Main Estimates." - [Dr Hong Hai.] Question again proposed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, before the House adjourned yesterday afternoon, I was talking about the hefty diesel tax increase and that the Public Transport Council had only approved a 20-cent taxi fare increase. Therefore, the total burden of this tax increase was borne by the taxi drivers. As such, their income has been drastically reduced and 20,000 taxi drivers and their families are adversely affected. I was also talking about the importance of taxis as a public mode of transport and that it was the second largest public transport to serve Singaporeans and tourists. Although taxis do provide the comfort and convenience not unlike that of private cars, but taxis are not private transport and therefore they should not be treated like private cars in terms of social cost. Therefore, the question of normalizing the differential treatment of the private cars and the taxis does not arise. I agree with what the Member for Fengshan said during the debate on the Presidential Address - that the diesel tax was introduced mainly for private diesel cars; and therefore it has nothing to do with the taxis which are serving the public as such. The Government has announced its intention to increase the diesel tax further in November this year and the total amount will be $6,600. After this increase, the operating cost of the taxi drivers will be increased by about $15 a day compared to the pre-November 1988 days. I would also like to point out that come end of this year, the eastern line of the MRT will be operational. With a full MRT system running, this is expected to impact considerably on the demand for taxis. Taxi drivers will therefore be dealt, a double blow. Are we fair to these cabbies who also contribute to our economy and form a valuable segment of our workforce? I would also like to highlight the hardship that would be suffered by the taxi driver and his family should he fall ill or his vehicle meets with an accident. The taxi driver would not be able to have earnings for a period of time, and yet somehow he must find additional money to pay for the hefty increase in diesel tax. For all these reasons, I therefore appeal to the Minister for Communications and Information for greater compassion and understanding on the diesel tax issue. I would urge the Minister to defer the decision to impose the second increase of tax in November and review the situation in consultation with the GPC for Communications and Information and the various taxi organizations. I would also like to ask the Minister to consider exempting the taxi operators from paying diesel tax during the period when the taxis are in the workshop for repairs and when they scrap their cars in the beginning of the month. The monthly diesel tax works out to be $500-$600 and it is a substantial amount which the taxi drivers have to pay although they may not be using the cars during that period. But if the Minister cannot agree to my requests, perhaps it is time that the Minister consider allowing the taxi organizations to determine their own taxi fares and let market forces determine the supply and demand of taxi transport.

Dr Yeo, guillotine time for this amendment is 1.00 pm.

Sir, I will try to go through the answers very quickly.

You have to.

The Chairman of the GPC, Dr Hong Hai, asked yesterday whether there are any predetermined targets for the number of passengers that we want to see on our MRT, the number of passengers that we want on buses, cars, taxis, the lot. The answer is no. This is not the way we plan our land transport system. We concentrate on the congestion created, and not on the absolute numbers using each of the different transport modes. But there are planning parameters which the bus companies and the MRTC use for their own internal planning. They are looking at approximately 2.8 million passenger trips per day on buses for the year up to 1995. And approximately 800,000 passenger trips per day on the MRT by the year 1995. The transport situation is not something that you can predetermine, come up with a number and say this is a number that we want to work to. Because the transport situation is a dynamic situation, dependent very much on the extent of usage which is in turn dependent on the state of the economy. All of us know that when the economy is doing well, more people travel, more people go for outings, for dinners, for visits to the Bird Park, beach and so on. So more trips result. The flow pattern of our traffic is also very important. You can have the same number of trips made but if the trips are made outside of the CBD, they do not contribute to the congestion within. The Public Works Department looks at the overall flow of traffic throughout the island, in particular at three areas. Firstly, CBD for obvious reasons. This is where the highest concentration of employment is. Secondly, it looks at the flow of traffic through the inner ring roads going through Scotts Road, Patterson Road, and Newton Road. And then the outer roads which is Adam Road/Farrer Road going on to Queensway. The objective is to try to ensure that the flow of traffic throughout these three key areas does not suffer severe congestion. And if we are able to achieve traffic flow of about 90% of the capacity of the road design, then that would be give us a smooth flow. What is 90% of road capacity in terms of something that we can understand as motorists? 90% means that at a traffic junction, you will have to wait for one or two changes of light. In other words, you will have to meet the red light at most twice. That is roughly 90%. If you get too close to 100% of design capacity, you may have to wait three, four or even more times, more changes of light. With a good system for the distribution of traffic flow throughout the island, we can get closer to the 90% objective. Sir, the Chairman of GPC also touched upon the issue of privacy if we should move to having an electronic road pricing system. This concern has been expressed on a number of occasions to us. No decision has been taken on the ERP system that would be selected eventually. PWD is at the moment talking with the different manufacturers. Some systems go closer to the idea proposed by Dr Hong Hai which is to use "smart card" technology. Then each time that particular vehicle goes past the checkpoint, a certain sum of money is deducted. The technology is fairly complex. It has not completely stabilized yet. We do not know whether it is applicable to our circumstances. Other systems use simpler "read only" technology, which means that each time you go past, the detector reads the passage of a particular vehicle. We will look into the details bearing in mind Dr Hong's comments. However, I want to mention that even if the read only technology is adopted rather than the "smart card" technology the question of privacy will still not be a serious one. Because the computer is not interested in who is in the car. The computer is only interested in whether a particular car has gone past and how much money has got to be deducted from the account holder. Sir, I move on very quickly to the comments made by the Member for Aljunied GRC, Encik Wan Hussin. I thank him for bringing to our attention the traffic situation in Kampong Ubi. I shall ask SBS to look into the details as to why the bus turned left instead of turning right when there is supposed to be more people on the right. Sir, Dr Low raised the question of whether we should be moving towards lead-free petrol. I believe this subject was raised earlier on with the Minister for the Environment. I have ascertained from the Ministry of the Environment that the present low level of lead in petrol is very satisfactory. It is the same as that used in many developed countries. As for noise pollution, the MCI is looking at the problem and ensuring that we keep up with the latest requirements worldwide, ensuring that our vehicles are as quiet as present technology. And this we will continue to do. Now I come to take up a number of questions raised by a large number of MPs on the question of taxi fares. The Member for Tanglin and the Member for Pasir Panjang GRC, Mr Lew and Dr Wan, have spoken very eloquently on the need to lower the diesel tax. They said that the diesel tax is too high. Dr Wan, together with Dr Beng, have gone further and said that the diesel tax is not relevant, that there is no anomaly. Sir, with your permission, I would like to circulate copies of a table (Cols. 739 - 740) to Members. [Copies of Table circulated to Members]. table - ANOMALIES IN TAXES FOR TAXIS AND CARS (Cols. 739 - 740) Sir, the table gives a list of the anomalies in taxes for taxis and cars. A taxi is a car with four wheels just like an ordinary car. It may be painted blue and carries the label "NTUC Comfort" or it may be painted white and red and carries the label "Singapore Commuters Ltd". But a taxi is a car. And because a taxi is a car, it it contributes the same degree of congestion. Members can look at the table that I have just circulated and they will see that the duty on petrol is 50 cents per litre. The duty on diesel is 8.8 cents. There is a factor of approximately six times. The duty on petrol is approximately six times that of diesel. And the $6,600 is just a simple attempt to correct that anomaly. Going down the table, Sir, you will notice that the road tax for taxis is only $1,100, relative to the equivalent road tax for a 2-litre car of $2,100. So there is another area of discrepancy. Further down, if you look at the PARF payable, if a taxi were to be scrapped for a new taxi and if the scrapped taxi is less than five years old, there is no payment of ARF at all for the purchase of the new taxi. If the old taxi is less than six years old, there is only a $2,000 PARF, and if the taxi is less than seven years, it is $5,000. Compare that for the cars and we see another very large discrepancy. Sir, these are the anomalies that are in our present system. So the diesel tax just goes a small way in correcting that anomaly. The Government has decided to liberalize the taxi industry to permit market forces to determine the number of taxis on the road. The number of taxis on the road is determined by the taxi operators: NTUC Comfort, SCL and the other taxi operators. Taxi demand? That we leave to the market to decide. Taxi fare should be determined by taxi operators and not by the Government. Indeed, we have moved in that direction already, except that when we have built in as a safeguard the Public Transport Council which, Members will remember, was proposed by the former Government Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information.

Order. It is guillotine time.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment (5), Encik Yatiman.

I am not moving, Sir.

Amendment (6), Dr Hong Hai. We have seven minutes.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IE 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, the problem of our information programmes in Singapore is not that there are not enough news programmes or programmes of information and educational value. The problem is how to make them interesting enough so that people actually watch them and do not switch off. Sir, I was going to talk in general about this subject except that yesterday when the hon. Minister of State for Communications and Information responded to my suggestion on morning television, I was a little disappointed with the answer. The response to my suggestion was that the Ministry did not consider this to be a priority area at this time and had other more important things to look at. I feel that this answer is not entirely satisfactory and therefore I would like to now focus on this question a little more. One of the problems with our information and educational programmes, as I said, is that it is sometimes presented in a way that does not excite the interest of the audience. It is a difficult process to make the educational and information process interesting. This is why when my GPC thought about morning television, we felt that this might be a good way in which to marry the two objectives of SBC, the objective of informing and educating on the one hand and of entertaining on the other. The experience of television in the United States and in Hong Kong, as I have pointed out, is that morning programmes that are able to combine news, current affairs, discussions, talk shows, in a punchy and effective way are commercially very successful and draw large audiences. Hong Kong, in particular, has found this to be very effective and very profitable and a great commercial success. In view of this, I was a little troubled that SBC does not consider this to be a priority area. I would like to ask the Minister of State to explain or give a compelling reason why in view of what can be achieved with such a programme, that is, marrying the two objectives of educating, informing and entertainment, why this is not given priority and whether SBC would like to re-think this subject.

Mr Chairman, Sir, I thank the GPC Chairman for his comments. Unfortunately, since yesterday nothing has changed. SBC has not had any new information that would cause me to change my reply. However, before the GPC Chairman becomes even more disappointed, may I reassure him that in my answer yesterday I did not say that SBC is not going to do it but that it is not a priority item. In other words, the door is not closed to morning television programme. I think we can look forward to a programme of this nature which combines both educational elements as well as entertainment elements in a very well packaged manner. But unfortunately, given the resources that SBC has at its disposal at the moment, there are really other much more pressing things to do. I repeat though that the idea of packaging programmes which fulfill its objective of entertaining as well as informing, that SBC is fully in agreement with the Member. The question is how to do it, what are the resources available - in that sense I do not think the Member should be that disappointed with my reply.

Sir, I do not mean to press the issue, but my question is, why is it not a priority item? My question is not why you do not do it today or right away? My question is, why do you regard it as not a priority item? In view of the substantial impact it could have in furthering the cause of making information interesting, why is it not a priority item? What are the other priorities that are so pressing that this has to be put aside for the moment?

If I may, Sir, I think the Member is correct in saying that SBC should look at these programmes. Why is it not a priority item? It is very simple. Because at the moment it is gearing up for further improving its new services in the evening where the viewership is much higher. In fact, it has had to consolidate its resources. I think Members may have realized that SBC actually had to discontinue its late news programme. In order to provide a higher level of service, SBC had, in fact, extended the news and went into a late news programme on a trial basis. That really shows that SBC has the intention of improving its news programme. But unfortunately, things did not work out. The resources that were committed to the late news programme were found to be not commensurate with the viewership. So as a result of that the late news items were discontinued. The question is whether morning television will be a success. The Member has cited the experience of Hong Kong and America and other countries. SBC is aware of these programmes and the peculiarities of the marketplace there. It is not unmindful of what it is capable of doing and what the audience in Singapore is interested in. It has looked at these issues. The situation is that at the moment the interest is not enough to sustain a morning television programme. But given the resources that it has at the moment and, in fact, with the redirection of some of the resources that were saved as a result of the discontinuation of the late TV news, steps are being taken to improve and upgrade the regular news programmes.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IF 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, as a medium of communication or artistic expression, the film is one of the most powerful. Whether for entertainment or education, vivid images and sounds create an impact which the printed word cannot match. With rising affluence, the TV set and video cassette recorder are found in almost all households. The way of life depicted, the attitudes and values shown on films and TV programmes reach out immediately to all segments of the population. It is, therefore, necessary to have some form of censorship or control of what is available for public viewing. This is true not only in Asian societies but also in the West where artistic expression is not without constraints. In a recent article in the "Economists" and I quote: ' ... If not quite unshockable, the West is thick-skinned, and is surprised when others are not. The truth is somewhat different, as followers of "The Last Temptation of Christ" will remember. The West shows regularly that it can take offence too, and that limits are set for artists even in the freest societies.' The writer then gave several examples where artistic expression was not without its constraints. One example, he gave, in a case in Britain, a Canadian artist and a gallery curator were fined in February for exhibiting a mannequin wearing earrings of freeze-dried human foetuses. In that case the Judge told the jury: 'In any civilized society, there has to be a constraint on freedom to act in a way which has an adverse effect on other members of the society.' In our context, against a back-drop of increasing Westernization, the need to curb the violence, permissiveness and foul language used in some films is undisputed by most. However, standards of acceptability are not static. For example, kissing scenes were taboo in most Asian films only a decade ago. But today even films produced in China have relaxed such a rule. The role of the film censor is certainly difficult. It requires consistent application of good judgment based on a set of criteria which ought to be reviewed from time to time taking into account changing circumstances. I would like to ask the Minister if, in recent years, the criteria for censorship have been reviewed and updated, for the enjoyment of films can be marred by disjointed scenes. In addition, I would like to ask the Minister what kind of training and development plans are in place for the film censors whose responsibility is to achieve a balance between national objectives on the one hand and artistic expression and entertainment value on the other.

Sir, when I submitted a cut, MCI had not come out with any comment following a request from the Muslim Religious Council to have the book banned. It seems that the cut has been overtaken by events that MCI had finally decided to detain the book. An hon. Member: What book is it?

The Satanic Verses, I am sorry. Sir, there is one point which I would like to make here. In making decisions, we ought to be seen as acting in a consistent manner. I think the book by Salman Rushdie is clearly blasphemous. It insults the Muslims. It causes great unhappiness and it hurts the feelings of the Muslims and we are quite aware of the misunderstanding and tension the book has created world-wide. However, Sir, I would like to confine to our position on the Satanic Verses in Singapore itself. Sometime ago, there was a controversy surrounding the book entitled "The Last Temptation". The Ministry was correct in detaining the book and withholding it from distribution. However, judging from comments raised in the newspapers, especially the English newspaper, we have seen prominent personalities taking a position - some publicly declaring that the book ought not to be banned. I would ask such personalities whether they feel the same on this book, whether they would be campaigning for the Satanic Verses from being detained by the Government. Sir, consistency is important so that we are not seen as being unfair, not being just. In ensuring that in a multi-racial society where religious sensitivity can be an explosive subject, a cautious, fair and judicious approach has got to be applied.

You have two minutes to make your reply.

If that is the case, Sir, I do not think a response is necessary to the Member for Tampines GRC on Satanic Verses. Suffice it though to say that the MCI did not finally decide to detain the book but actually had already made a decision and had communicated that decision to the book distributors about a month before. Sir, can I turn to the point made by the Member for Yio Chu Kang about the question of censorship standards. I agree that the standards of acceptability are not static. In fact, they move all the time and, because of this, it is incumbent that the censors are also aware of the current situation. But let me just inform the House that the Ministry's policy is to follow, not to lead, in standards of public morality. It strikes a balance between both the conservative and the liberal sections of the population because for every request or for every strident view that we are too strict there is an equally vociferous view that in certain cases we are being a bit too lenient. The broad censorship guidelines for films are, very briefly, to disallow films which are objectionable on either moral or political, communal or religious grounds, in other words, those that depict sexual permissiveness or those which attack any religion or race. However, when deciding whether to make a cut or not, the censors do take into consideration the overall theme of the film. For example, some violent scenes may be allowed if the theme is a war film. A film on a sexually transmitted disease would be allowed if the film is portraying sexually permissive behaviour. Besides consulting each other, the Ministry and the film censors also have recourse to the views of the Film Advisory Committee and the Films Appeal Committee.

Order, guillotine time. Mr Lau.

I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (8), Dr Hong Hai, 12 minutes.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IH 5200 of the Development Estimates. Sir, it is not fair to say that the MRT is a white elephant; it is only a light shade of grey. Why are there not more people taking the MRT to not more people taking the MRT to work? The problem lies with the feeder system. Motorists who congest our roads do not have a convenient system for getting from their houses to the nearest MRT station. The bus feeders from housing estates to MRT stations are inadequate; in the private estates, they are practically non-existent and it is not easy to get a taxi from your house to the station. Many taxi drivers do not want to respond to radio calls for only short trips from the house to the nearest station. Sir, I am aware that the Ministry is working with SMRT and the bus companies on "through-ticketing" and for buses to render better feeder services. I do not know why this was not settled even as the MRT was being built. But even if this had been done, it might only have been a half measure. Sir, I think there is a more fundamental problem here. The MRT is taking business away from the bus companies. Why should the bus companies cooperate in bringing more passengers to the MRT? When two organizations are fighting for the same pie, it is unrealistic to expect that good cooperative schemes can be worked out. Sir, I think the alternative is to merge SMRT and SBS as one company. Within the same company, cross-subsidies are not a problem as long as it enhances the overall efficiency and profitability of the combined organization. The benefits of the merger could be as follows: cheap and efficient feeder services from housing estates, both private and HDB, to MRT stations. Secondly, where buses and MRT have a common route, the bus service could be reduced or even taken off. We would have less road congestion and pollution as a result of fewer buses if they were replaced partly by MRT. Sir, it will not do for the Minister to say that both bus companies and SMRT are private corporations and we should leave it to market forces if they wish to merge. Public transportation has too many social costs and economic externalities, and it requires State intervention. May I have the Minister's views on this?

Sir, firstly, let me declare my interest because the subject I am going to talk about involves my workplace. Sir, on Monday, 20th March, Singaporeans came to know for the first time that there will be Changi sky-trains serving air travellers between the two passenger terminals at Changi Airport in 1990. It is also the first international airport outside the United States and Britain to have such an automated people mover system. This modern facility will indeed be another milestone for Changi Airport which is in my constituency. Sir, what about the Changi underground trains for Changi Airport? Most big international airports are linked by underground train services to the city central and, in some cases, to the outlying areas as well, whereas our Changi Airport could not even be reached by the MRT from different parts of Singapore. The MRT station nearest to the airport is at Pasir Ris station which, as reported, will be ready next year. The volume of air travellers using Changi Airport has increased so rapidly as evidently shown by the necessity to build a second passenger terminal. Many of these travellers, I believe, are familiar with the underground train services in other countries. I am sure they will welcome the opportunity of travelling in our modern MRT when they arrive in Singapore. Every day there are many well-wishers and greeters who call at the airport to either send off their friends, relatives and loved ones or to receive them on their arrivals. Changi Airport alone employs several thousand people. These airport workers need a more convenient mode of direct transportation to and from their workplace. They are either working on normal office hours or on shift duties. Many Singaporeans and Malaysian casual visitors visit the airport as one of their sightseeing stops. During the school vacation, groups of students accompanied by their teachers also visit the airport as part of their excursion tours. Sir, all in all, the volume of people in general using Changi Airport in one way or another is significantly high and it therefore justifies for an extension of the MRT to Changi Airport which is presently the best airport in the world. It would be cheaper to extend the MRT service to the airport now than, say, five to 10 years later when the cost of construction of the extended line will be more expensive. I urge the Hon. Minister to positively consider linking Changi Airport with other parts of Singapore.

Encik Wan Hussin is not speaking. Dr Yeo.

Sir, the Chairman of the GPC has raised a very good point, which is to encourage the availability of feeder services to bring passengers from the vicinity, public housing estates, maybe even private housing estates, to the MRT so that they can also take advantage of our MRT system. This is being looked into very closely by both bus companies, namely, SBS and TIBS together with SMRT. The problem at the moment is not that there are no bus routes available, to bring people to the MRT station. The problem is one of fares. Under the present structure, the buses operate two different fare structures - one known as feeder fare which is 15 cents and the other one known as trunk services which starts at 40>. The bus services cross-subsidize each other because normally a person would take a feeder bus to an interchange and then take a trunk route. They pay less than economic fare for the feeder and they pay slightly more than economic fare for the trunk service. Trunk services are presently available from many different parts of Singapore and they are available to bring residents to the MRT stations. What is needed is a fare structure that will permit some kind of cross-subsidy from the MRT system to the trunk service that brings residents from beyond walking distance of the MRT station to the MRT station. This is currently being actively looked into by the three operators, TIBS, SBS and SMRT. We want to have this out as soon as possible but, as I have explained in this House before, Sir, the problem is the lack of ticketing equipment. The companies are on the verge of going out for tender. They should be able to make a decision on the equipment required very soon. Then it will just be a matter of equipping all the buses and then this problem should be less severe. Fares should come down a little for those taking trunk route buses from their housing estate to the MRT station. Sir, while the problem obviously needs to be solved, I also want to remind the House that at the moment about 80% of the population are living in HDB housing estates. So, while it is a problem, it is not that acute a problem. Notwithstanding that, we are pressing ahead to resolve that. Sir, the Member for Changi, Mr Teo has pleaded again for the MRT to be extended to Changi, to Changi Airport in particular. Sir, I have noted his proposal. Indeed, this particular suggestion comes up again and again, very regularly, as are the suggestions from people living in other parts of Singapore wanting to have the MRT go to where they live or where they work. Sir, I have stated Government's policy, which is, we will build the MRT in places where there is a need for them, where there are enough passengers to make that particular route viable economically, not to pay for the capital cost but just to make it viable for operational purposes. I want to explain to the House why that is very important. If a particular route is not viable, then commuters in other parts of the island, whether they are living in Ang Mo Kio or Toa Payoh or Clementi, travelling along the busier parts of the MRT route, will have to subsidize the very few people who are travelling to and from Changi Airport. And that would be extremely costly and unfair to the former commuters. So there must be a certain minimum load, a minimum number of people served by a particular route before that route can be extended. The intention is to exploit fully every square metre of land that we have in Singapore. And the MRT provides us with the means of doing that. But it must be done sensibly. As soon as HDB has plans for the detailed development of the East Coast Area, including Changi Constituency, and as soon as demand is sufficient to pay for the operating cost of the route, we will take the MRT to Changi Airport.

I wonder whether the Minister would comment on the feasibility and the rationale for the merger of SBS and SMRT.

Sir, there is no necessity for a merger because with a revenue-sharing system, which means some measure of cross-subsidy between the buses and the SMRT there is no need for them to come under one company.

Sir, I hope the Ministry would further consider the point I made, which is that when you have two organizations competing for the same pie, and when SMRT is, in fact, taking business away from buses, it is difficult to expect bus companies to cooperate effectively with SMRT to make the other organization more profitable. I know it is a complex problem that requires more thought. I hope the Ministry will give it further consideration. And on that note, I withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (9), Encik Yatiman is not moving. Amendment No. 10, Dr Lee.

Mr Chairman, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IJ 5200 of the Development Estimates. Sir, since 1980, Cantonese serials have not been telecast over Singapore TV. The Government gave the excuse that it would clash with the Promote Mandarin Campaign. But, as everybody knows, there were widespread protests and the aged suffered in silence. As usual, the Government never bothered about protests from the people and the only thing that it did was to say that in time, the public would come to learn how to accept TV serials dubbed in Mandarin. The people have come to accept, but not like, what has been dubbed in Mandarin. Viewership, of course, fell drastically and the SBC's revenue fell very much at one time as many commercials pulled out. That helped the video-tape and video-cassette recorder business to boom. And, of course, Malaysia TV came onto the scene. Today, we can see that the RTM2 and TV3 telecast Cantonese serials on a regular basis and have naturally captured many of the TV commercials plus the viewership. The Government, Sir, has realised all this loss of revenue and has tried to win back some of the viewership by putting up better TV shows, and putting up even popular Cantonese serials dubbed in Mandarin. But somehow orother, Sir, it has not fully succeeded in winning back all the Singapore viewers who have already been lost to the RTM2 and TV3. People always complain, Sir, that Cantonese serials dubbed in Mandarin are not the genuine goods, and they do not get satisfaction and thrill out of those dubbed in Mandarin serials. The old folks, of course, have suffered and whether they be Hokkien or Teochew, or Hainanese, or Hakka, or Cantonese - speaking all of them fully understand and follow the dialogues in Cantonese serials, and therefore they like them very much. But they cannot possibly follow the serials in Mandarin. They are too old to learn anyway. And they have been forced to see these Mandarin serials simply because they have nothing better to do. Sir, as everybody knows, Singapore has an ageing population and their needs are not very many. The Government has already stated that it would like to attend to the needs of the people who are aged, and there is also big talk about a new style of Government. Now then is the opportunity for the Government to do something good for the aged. The occasional video-shows in community centres have not helped very much. If the Government really wants to help entertain the aged, it should telecast the Cantonese serials on SBC once a fortnight, or once a week, if possible. There are three tangible benefits. (1) It will not in any way stop anyone from learning Mandarin. It creates variety and it helps to satisfy the demand of many of the aged to see the Cantonese serials. (2) It will help increase revenue for SBC because many of the TV commercials will flock to such a programme. (3) It will also help to check the undesirable influence of certain TV commercials from RTM2 and TV3. If Government has any doubt on what I have just said, Sir, let it conduct a survey to find out how many people really want these Cantonese serials.

Mr Chairman, Sir, I believe I do not have much time left. So I will go straight to the point. SBC's practice of not telecasting Cantonese serials, I think, is well known. It actually stopped in 1982, not 1980 as the NCMP, Dr Lee, mentioned. SBC's practice was obviously in support of Government policy to promote the use of Mandarin rather than dialects. The Member indicated that there were widespread protests. SBC is not aware of these widespread protests and I think it is their business to know about this. Because, if it is so, the news people would have known about it. Viewership fell drastically and revenue fell - I think the figures that SBC have do not support this contention. It is true that the older members of the family were deprived of their favourite Cantonese serials when this was done, and it was a sacrifice. But to be fair to them ---

Order. It is 1.40 pm. Guillotine time for this Head.

I withdraw my amendment now, Sir. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $44,408,890 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $698, 271,750 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head J -

Amendment No. (1), Mr Tarmugi. 35 minutes.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head J of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, in February 1988, this House agreed and adopted the Agenda for Action as the basis for Government policy and nation building. Six Advisory Councils were then formed and they were to chart programmes in part implementation of the Agenda for Action for us to be able to achieve the kind of society that we want at the end of this decade. All this, Sir, showed Government and the people's ability and readiness to go beyond bread and butter issues which were our priority during the 1950s and 1970s and determined Government policy and the ethos in this country. That was long time ago, Sir. Now we have developed to a point where we can pay more attention to the finer things in life, to go for higher aspirations and to fulfill the higher expectations of the people. In other words, to raise the quality of life in Singapore. Sir, the work of the six Advisory Councils concerns matters under the Ministry of Community Development and also under the purview of my GPC. Sir, they will set the direction and guide the work of the Ministry up to the end of this decade. Many man-hours and thought have gone into the deliberations of the Advisory Councils and the recommendations. Expert opinion has been sought, research has been done, feedback from the public has been gathered. My GPC, Sir, is of the opinion that the implementation of the various recommendations of these Advisory Councils would perceptibly enhance the quality of life in Singapore and we would, certainly push for their implementation. Sir, the work of the Advisory Councils has been completed and I believe most of the Councils' reports have been submitted to the Government and I do not intend, to go into detail into each of their recommendations. Suffice it to say that my GPC has gone through most of these reports and we concurred with most of the recommendations. But I would like to ask the Minister some questions, that is, what is the Government's position vis-a-vis these reports, namely, has Government completed studying the various reports (at least those which have been submitted), if not, when? What are the recommendations which have been accepted and the time targets for their implementation? What are the recommendations that are not accepted and why are they not accepted? And who, or which Ministry, will be the coordinator to implement these recommendations since many of them will involve Ministries other than Ministry of Community Development?

Sir, I shall be speaking on community centres in Opposition constituencies.

Mr Chiam, you have two subjects. You have to take them together.

Yes, I will take them together. I am much obliged to you. Mr Chairman, just before I was elected in 1984 as Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir, there were three community centres there - two were modern and were new generation types and one was built as an extension of the void deck at Lorong 8, Toa Payoh. Soon after I was elected two of the said three community centres were taken away. There was no justification at all for such a move, especially the one at Jalan Wangi, Sennett Estate. That building was planned and built partly out of public funds, specifically to be used as a community centre. It was modern and equipped with all social, cultural, educational and sporting facilities. It was a popular community centre, especially with residents at Sennett Estate and its vicinity. When the Government took it over, the use of that community centre was changed, contrary to all Government planning regulations from that of social, cultural, education and recreational use to that of an office use. As for the other community centre at Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, it was left idle for over four years. Recently, I was told, it has been tendered out to the public. I shall welcome this move if it is tendered out to the private sector for use as a play school or as a creche. I have brought up this matter of community centres in my constituency in this House before. And I was not satisfied with the reasons given on why the said two community centres were taken away and the remaining one at Potong Pasir Avenue 2 not handed over to me. As far as I know, all the PAP MPs are made in charge of community centres in their respective constituencies. In the case of Potong Pasir, the situation is most perplexing. I have been elected into Parliament not once but twice with increased votes. Yet, I have been refused as an MP to take charge of the community centre at Potong Pasir. In my place, as I have been told, a PAP candidate rejected by the voters at the last general election, despite his promise to build an Olympic-sized swimming pool at Potong Pasir if he were elected, has been installed as the adviser to the community centre management committee (CCMC) of Potong Pasir CC. Anyone who followed the last general elections will also remember that that PAP candidate promised to pack up together with all his grassroots supporters and leave Potong Pasir if he lost the elections. The question is: what is he doing at Potong Pasir Community Centre now? Sir, the Prime Minister was reported in the Straits Times of 30th June 1985 to have said: 'The style of the community centres has changed with time. However, the objectives and role of the PA remain as embodied in the People's Association Act passed in 1960. From the outset, the government anticipated the necessity of insulating the PA and the management of its community centres from interference by political parties or opposition MPs. The PA and the community centres are instruments of the government to carry out its policies of nation building.' Sir, I do understand why that policy was adopted in 1960. Those were turbulent times. The threat of a Communist takeover was there. The Government had to use the community centres as political instruments to win over the hearts and minds of the people and also to be as listening posts for the Government. We are now in the 1980s, more than 20 years since the People's Association Act was made law. There are no more internal or external Communist threats. The Opposition is constitutionally elected. There is no chance whatsoever that the social, political, economic situation can be reverted back to that of the early 1960s when there was mass unemployment and the nation building process had just begun. The Government's early fears of the Communists cannot be translated into fear of the Opposition today. The Opposition today is not conspiratorial. We are open and above board in all our activities. We have worked within the parameters laid down by the Government. In fact, it is insulting to the Opposition to be treated with great suspicion by the Government. As far as I am concerned, as the only elected Member in Parliament, I am in fact angry.

Only Opposition Member!

Only Opposition MP. Correct, thank you. Long before the last general elections took place, I announced that if I were to be elected again, the Town Council at Potong Pasir shall be non-political. I have carried out that promise. Out of a Council of 9 members excluding myself, 7 have no political affiliations whatsoever with my Party. I can be outvoted on every issue by the majority of the Town Council if they so wish. But I know I have no fear at all. I have full confidence in my Council members because I know they are all responsible and good citizens and will only act for the interest of Potong Pasir Town. In similar vein, the Government should have no fear to appoint me the adviser to the CCMC of Potong Pasir CC. If I were to be appointed, the CC at Potong Pasir will really become apolitical. As I see it, the real issue is really not whether the Opposition will convert the CC to become a hive of political activities which the Government knows that it cannot be done in present-day Singapore social context. But the issue is the acceptability of the Opposition into the system. The Opposition up to now is still treated like a stepchild and has still not been accepted fully into our social and political system of the Government.

Mr Chiam, I just want to remind you that you have one minute left to speak on the other subject.

In this respect, the Government is not in tune with the people of Singapore. The people have given the Opposition nearly 40% of the votes at the last general election and in my case a 63.2% mandate. They all want the Opposition to be part of the nation building process. The Government cannot hold back the wishes of the people any longer. It must allow elected Opposition MPs to be appointed as advisers to the CCMC now. Sir, as regards the subject of accessibility of libraries, I note that at Potong Pasir two of the HDB estates and also at other housing estates, there are no libraries there. I have read reports of the Minister of Education in England and one of the points he brought out was that there must be sufficient branch libraries. As regards branch libraries, the distance stated therein is as follows: 'The distance between service points is important, particularly to the old and to the very young. We think that in urban areas, no person should normally have to travel more than one mile to the library. Indeed, we think that the distance should be less in heavily built-up areas where natural centres of population are closer together and the density of population justifies the provision of more branch libraries.' Sir, I also notice that we do not have statutory provisions for the Minister to set up libraries and to supervise libraries. Perhaps the Minister could look into this area.

Mr Speaker, Sir, as Mr Tarmugi has rightly pointed out, we have provided for the basic needs of our people. During the closing address by the Minister for Finance on the Budget debate last week, he also said that since we have provided for the basic needs of the people, we should now devote more of our resources towards defence, towards improving the quality of education, quality of health and also generally the quality of life. Mr Tarmugi also talked about the Agenda for Action which we have adopted in this House. Those of us who were in this House will remember that. The Agenda for Action which we adopted last year outlined four broad areas: nation building, economic growth and progress, human resources and education, social and cultural development. I must report that we have made progress in these four areas. Of course, more can still be done. To take us further to implement these four areas, particularly on nation building and social and cultural development, the Government formed six advisory councils recently to work out a set of programmes in these areas and to bring about a better quality of life. However, I would like to add here that the Government alone cannot bring about a better quality of life. It can, however, play an enabling role and provide the conditions that are conducive towards creating a better quality of life so that family and community cohesion can be promoted, culture enriched, and community facilities and services improved. And to achieve these objectives, the individual person, the families, the community organizations and the corporate citizens must be involved. On the Government's part, this process has been carried out systematically over the years. For example, through increased funding and grants, through consultation and communications with the people, through Ministerial visits to constituencies, meetings with professionals and other groups, at forums, workshops, Feedback Unit inputs and, more recently, these six advisory councils. More than 400 people have been involved in the six advisory councils deliberations as well as the deliberations of the sub-committees and other committees formed by the advisory councils. More than 1,000 submissions have been received from the public. The councils have also held almost 120 dialogue and forum sessions. May I take this opportunity to thank them all for their input and contribution and the time and effort they have put in in coming up with very comprehensive reports that outlined the very important programmes that we should have in place to bring about a better quality of life. As Mr Tarmugi has asked, what is the Government's plan, decision, action, arising from these reports? Allow me to inform the House, Sir, that three of the advisory councils, namely, the Advisory Council on the Disabled, the Advisory Council on Sports and Recreation and the Advisory Council on the Aged, have sub- mitted their reports to the Government which have considered all the reports. The reports have been made public. The Advisory Council on Youth has also just completed its report and the Government is considering it. As for the other two advisory councils, one on Culture and the Arts, the other on Family and Community Life, they are in the last stages of finalizing the reports and when they are ready I am sure they will also be made public. On the Sports and Recreation Advisory Council's recommendations, they have made 43 recommendations in all. Of the 43 recommendations, I am pleased to say that the Government has accepted all the recommendations except three. These three recommendations are, firstly, designating SAF camps for selected high performance sports and to marshall all the available resources in support of such adopted sports. Secondly, reviving of supernumerary scheme for top national athletes in national service whereby top national athletes are posted to specific SAF units according to their various sports. Thirdly, establishing a department in the Military College to promote both recreational and sports excellence. Sir, the Government is not in favour of the first two recommendations as it is an established policy that military training, national service indeed, should take priority during the period of national service of a person. As regards the establishment of a department in the Military College to promote sports excellence, the SAF Sports Association, the physical training and sports branch of Mindef are set up specifically to do this job and therefore there is no need to have a separate arm in the Military College. On the Advisory Council on the Disabled, the Government shares the view of the Advisory Council that disabled people have the same rights as other people to take a proper place in society. And this should be the concern of everyone, the family, the community, and the Government to help them live as independently as possible. To a very great extent, Sir, the maturity of a society is measured by its attitude towards its less fortunate members. As we move towards the next century, we should ensure that the less fortunate should not be left behind. The Government agrees therefore that every opportunity should be created in the areas of education, vocational training and employment for the disabled so as to enable them to live as independently as possible. Public places should also be made accessible to the disabled to facilitate their integration into society. The Council, Sir, made 26 key recommendations covering a wide range of topics from special education, vocational training, employment and accessibility of public places and to measures of preventing disability. The Government has, in principle, accepted all the major recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Disabled, except, Sir, for three areas which it is still studying. One of these areas is the responsibility for the transportation of the disabled and the recommendation to help set up a transport fund. The other two are the appropriate authority to look after the mentally burnt-out patients and to coordinate vocational assessment, training and placement of disabled persons. On the Advisory Council on the Aged, Sir, Members will recall that the Agenda for Action adopted by this House also identified our ageing population as one of the major challenges in the coming decades. The Advisory Council has observed that the number of aged persons will rise from the present 221,000 or 8% of the population to about 835,000 or 26% of the population by the year 2030. To meet some of these problems envisaged, the Advisory Council has made 40 recommendations. The main thrust of the recommendations are aimed at creating an environment whereby the aged can continue to live a healthy and fulfilling life and encouraging the aged to remain with the family for as long as possible so that admission of the aged into residential homes will only be the last resort. The Government has accepted all the recommendations of the Advisory Council, except the recommendation to set up health screening and medical counselling centres in every Constituency and the recommendation to set up day-hospitals for the senile demented. The Government feels that the demand for health screening and medical counselling does not at present justify the need to set up centres in each and every constituency. It will be enough for health screening and medical counselling to be made available at senior citizens' health care centres of the Home Nursing Foundation and at community centres' health screening centres. On day-hospitals, the Ministry of Health's view is that the care of the aged suffering from senile dementia is best managed at home or in a community-based setting. For those whose behaviour is particularly difficult to manage, institutionalization in nursing homes is the only solution and not in day hospitals, as recommended by the Council. As to how we are going to implement these Council's recommendations, Sir, my Ministry will coordinate the implementation of all the recommendations that have been accepted by the Government. In fact, some of the recommendations have been implemented. For example, the Government has increased the per capita grant for special education from $1,500 to $3,000 per annum per child. The tax reliefs for disabled dependant or for an aged dependant will increase from $750 and $1,000 to $2,500. These new tax reliefs are more than what the Advisory Council's has recommended. This shows the Government's strong support to families to help themselves by keeping their disabled and the aged dependants. On the recommendations of the Sports and Recreation Advisory Council, the Singapore Sports Council will be monitoring the recommendations and help to implement them as and when they can be implemented. The Advisory Council on the Aged, Sir, has recommended a national council on ageing to coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in providing programmes and resources for the aged and to receive feedback from the aged and their families. But there is also another committee under the Family and Community Life Advisory Council which recommended the establishment of a national council on the family. My Ministry will be considering the merger of these two national councils so that we can have a better coordination of the work of the two councils. The Member for Potong Pasir, Mr Chiam, raised the question about his role in the community centre and whether he should be appointed as an adviser. My colleague, the Minister for Labour, will deal with this as the Deputy Chairman of PA. But let me add one point about his role as Town Council Chairman. He has been elected by the people precisely to run the Town Council. Whether he wants it to be a political organization or not it is entirely up to him. He can appoint his SDP members to serve in the Town Council or he can appoint one of them to serve or he can appoint none to serve. He is entirely free to run the Town Council as he pleases because what the Town Council envisages is that the MP must have the responsibility for the running of the Town Council. On his comments about libraries in Potong Pasir or no libraries at all in Potong Pasir and he has quoted what the UK Minister for Education had said. I would like to say that Singapore is not the UK. We are a very different society. In any case, there are two libraries which are quite close to Potong Pasir. I think they are within 1.6 km from Potong Pasir and one is in Toa Payoh and the other is in Geylang East. Of course, people will need to make some effort to go to the libraries and they cannot expect to have a library right next to their doorstep.

Mr Chairman, Sir, may I first clarify that although the PA comes under the MCD vote for budget purposes, I am fully in charge of the PA and that is why I am answering today. This topic brought up by Mr Chiam, the Member for Potong Pasir, is something which he has brought up almost without fail in every Budget session. If Members are interested in the full details, I would like to refer them to Hansard of 24 March 1987, Cols. 972 to 982. There is a full record of the debate which took place then. Today, in view of the time constraint, I will have to be very brief. I think Mr Chiam has been trying to squeeze the maximum political mileage out of this single issue every year because he refuses to be convinced by the rationale and the genuine answers that we have given. I do not know how else I can convince him. Perhaps I have another point that was not mentioned in the past. If he were to refer to the 1985/86 Budget Document which was prepared before the elections in December 1984, he will find that there is a statement in there which says that the Senette CC will be replaced by the modern CC which was built with the intention of replacing that CC. He must realize that the PAP did not go into the elections expecting to lose the election. So already in 1984 the Community leaders were told that there was a need to build a better CC because Sennette CC was not up to the full standard of a modern CC. So plans were afoot to raise funds and to move to this modern CC when it was built. So that is what has happened since. But the Member insists year in and year out that it was closed to do him in. That is not the reason, Sir. The reason is a very simple one, and that is we do have manpower and other resource constraints in the PA, like in other Government organizations. There is, for example, a freeze on the recruitment of staff. Therefore, although MPs would like to have, not only Mr Chiam but other MPs, more than one CC in each constituency, it is just not possible. So what we have to do is to try and upgrade and provide the best CCs possible to serve the residents. As a result of the delineation of the election boundaries, certain constituencies have more than one CC. In fact, we are wondering how to make use of some of these other CCs. Maybe PA should run one and the other one should be leased out to other organizations, I do not know. But the point is that we have to conserve manpower and provide CCs as centralized facilities for the use of the residents in the most convenient point where there are the most number of people who can be served. For example, in 1988 alone, 20 CCs were closed, including some fairly large ones. So let us not hear any more about this issue. I think Members must be quite tired of it. The other issue concerns why he has not been appointed adviser to the CC in Potong Pasir. The reason is very simple. The PA is a statutory board. Its objective is to carry out Government policies, according to what the Government thinks best. Of course, these policies are the policies of the PAP, which is the ruling party. There is no rule in the Constitution or anywhere else that says the MP who happens to be elected in a constituency should be appointed the adviser to the CC. So naturally the Government would appoint those people who are most suitable to carry out the Government's policies. If, for example, the Member for Potong Pasir would declare that from now on he will support all Government policies, maybe we will consider appointing him. But the mere fact of his having been elected in Potong Pasir does not mean that he has the right to go into the CCs, into the schools, into the other Government facilities in Potong Pasir. He is elected to represent the constituents in Parliament. Now with the introduction of Town Councils, he has a bigger role. He has to run the estate to look after conservancy and so on. But that is a different matter from running the other organizations, the other Government machineries such as the PA, which are meant to carry out the Government's objectives. PAP MPs have been appointed advisers to the grassroots organizations of constituencies where they have been elected. But this need not be so. If the PAP MPs do not perform, for example, they may not be reappointed. I may not reappoint some members if they do not perform their role in the MCs. One final word before I close, and this is that, with the system of democracy that we have here, which is based on the British system, the ruling party has full control over all the machineries of State, including the statutory boards like the PA. Having won the political mandate from the people, the ruling party has to make the best use of this machinery of State to carry out the Party's election platform and deliver on its promises. If it fails, it may be thrown out at the next general election and the new ruling party then has full access to and control over the facilities. It is not a system of power-sharing between or among various political parties. I would suggest the Member go back and reflect on this point and refer back to the whole series of debates we have had on this issue. If he likes, we can have a further debate, but I think we are wasting the time of Members in this Chamber.

Sir, can I be given just one minute to clarify one point? It has been stated many a time by the Government that the CCs are also a tool of nation building.

"By the Government".

Is there not a role for the Opposition in Singapore to be part of this nation building?

Sir, there is a definite role for the Opposition if they are a constructive Opposition. In the case of the CCs, the facilities are available to the public, whether they be PAP supporters or Opposition supporters. They can come in and use the facilities to play games, to learn how to arrange flowers, to cook Chinese dishes, and so on, but at the same time the Management Committee also has a programme of its own - forums, talks, cultural shows. It will invite whomsoever it thinks fit to these functions. It has the full right and responsibility to run the CCs and it is not the MP who has the automatic right to go into the CC and say, "Because I am elected, therefore, here I must be given the CC to do what I like." This is the clear distinction. The CC is meant for community development and I hope the Opposition Member would support us in our community development efforts. But it does not mean that therefore he must be Advisor to the CCMC. It does not follow.

Sir, I thank the Minister for his answer and I also would like to accept his suggestion that there should be a full debate on this matter. I would certainly take it up.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JA 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, we should take a fresh look in terms of promoting more community activities. Community groups such as RCs, CCCs and voluntary organizations should be given more support so that they will be able to undertake more localized activities and programmes to build a better neighbourhood. This is essentially important because by doing so we will be able to build a better network of support in the local neighbourhood of the housing estate. Through this network of support, we will be able to encourage the more able to help the less able living in the various localities. Sir, the various advisory councils have also suggested that community groups and organizations should take steps to organize more programmes for the aged, disabled, the families and youths. Whilst these recommendations are important, it is not possible for community groups and organizations to carry out such projects on a continuing basis without an initial capital support for their projects to be implemented. Most of these groups depend on voluntary manpower. However, besides their best will and intention, they do require some initial capital to start off the various projects that they wish to undertake. May I suggest that the Ministry look into the possibility of establishing a community development fund which could be made available to the various community groups seeking support for funding various projects that they wish to initiate in the neighbourhood. By having such a fund, we will be able to encourage various groups to undertake activities which will help solve some of the problems in the neighbourhood. These funds can be a working capital or it can be used as seed money for the organizations to initiate their programmes.

Sir, in Singapore where resources are limited, a welfare state is undesirable. Our approach to welfare service is through a joint effort between the Government and the people. While the Ministry of Community Development provides the infrastructure and sets the direction the voluntary welfare organizations, backed by the community, are responsible for providing the service. This approach has worked well in the past and should continue to be the framework for us to address the needs of the underprivileged. However, Sir, to be effective, the voluntary welfare organizations require the continued support of the Government. In particular, they are facing problems in two areas. The first was mentioned by the speaker before me. The funding for these organizations is grossly inadequate and very often they have to rely heavily on their own fund raising projects in order to finance their efforts. This is undesirable because it detracts them from their primary goal of meeting the needs of the underprivileged. I would also like to call on the Ministry to set up a fund for these organizations, and to fund these organizations especially if they assume responsibility for a function previously provided by the Ministry. A specific example is the case of the Disabled Services Section of the Ministry. When this section was closed down and the responsibility transferred to the Singapore Council for Social Services, I understand limited funds were passed on to the Council to discharge their responsibility. Perhaps one good way in which the Ministry can fund and support these voluntary organizations is to match dollar for dollar public donations to the Community Chest. This will enable the Government to participate with the public in providing the care needed and in enabling the Chest to support more organizations that require help. Secondly, the voluntary welfare organizations need the help of the Ministry to provide training for the volunteers. If training is undertaken by the voluntary welfare organizations it will again severely tax their limited resources and further reduce their effectiveness. By providing proper training programmes the Government, is in fact making an investment for the future to ensure that these organiza- tions continue to be able to fulfil their roles well. Finally, Sir, welfare volunteers whom I have spoken to would like to see more consultation between the Ministry and volunteer welfare organizations. They feel that this is necessary to ensure that the Ministry's policies are effective and take into account the problems faced by these organizations. I would like the Minister's comments on this.

( In Mandarin): Sir, in the past few days, my colleagues in Parliament have been talking about the issue of core values which generally centres around school education. Today, I want to talk about the responsibility of grassroot organisations in the promotion of core values. In fact, before we touch on the topic, the Ministry of Community Development in its total defence scheme under Civil Defence has laid down 6 core values. These 6 cores values are in line with the 4 values outlined by the President in his Parliamentary Opening Address. And the 6 values are racial harmony, religion tolegrance, mutual concern, spirit of sacrifice and being proud of our history and cultural heritage and establishment of a common goal. I am happy to note that in the past year the Ministry of Community Development and grassroots organizations have organized altogether about 15,000 activities and these efforts are indeed worth commending. But on these efforts, I also want to raise a few questions for the Minister. First, in the promotion of these six core values under Civil Defence, what has been the progress so far? And also, has the Authority concerned provided training for these grassroots leaders so that they will be able to play more important role? In the promotion of these values through the six core values, these are very profound issues. Are the offices of the Residents' Committee and CCCs, equiped with sufficient manpower to carry out such mission and satisfy developments and needs in these areas? Another point is how the Ministry of Community Development, intends to attract people from the various ethnic, social levels and religious groups to get involved in community activities? I would also like to ask the Minister at the moment, whether we are faced with the problem of discrepancy in the religious and racial backgrounds. Also, how we can bring the concept of core values above that of religion and race differences. In a recent report by the three NUS lecturers, we can see that there has emerged a situation of religious imbalance in Singapore. It warned that competition among the various religions would lead to social class struggle. In the past few days, we have focused on religions instructions in schools. Today I wish to focus on the training at the grassroots level. I am just wondering whether the authority has noticed that some people are over involved with religious activities so much so that they do not have the time or are reluctant to get involved with community activities. They also encourage their children to get involved with religious activities only. The impact of this on our society can be both significant and long lasting. If such trend indeed exists, does the Ministry of Community Development have any measures to correct the situation and encourage these people to get more involved in community adtivities? Another point is that what does the Ministry propose to do to promote core values over racial and religious differences? Next is the creating of a caring and loving society and families. To me, this is very important. Outside the schools, the family unit and the society are important organisations through which traditional values and superior moral values are transmitted. In the past, our Government and people in the promotion of economic prosperity and in the pursuit of better materialism have already achieved considerable success. But I hope we do not overlook building a loving and caring society. According to a report we submitted recently, we now have about 23,000 families which are living on the poverty line. These families need our help and encouragement to lead a more independent life. Under such circumstances I would also like to ask the Minister on the suggestions made by the Committee on the Poor and Destitute, whether the Government has accepted the recommendations made by the committee. Another point I would like to talk about is voluntary welfare workers. At the moment there are 75,000 volunteers working in Singapore and this represents 4% of our adult population. This compares to US and UK which is 15%. So it appears our percentage of volunteers is somewhat low. I want to know if the Ministry has come out with any strategies to encourage more people to get involved with voluntary social services. The last point brought up in one of the core values is being proud of our cultural heritage and history. It is important that we promote core value education through history and cultural heritage. But as we talk about these abstract concepts, such as how to place the nation before self, such abstract concepts sometimes are difficult for children and ordinary people to understand. Therefore, I think the best way is to use history, especially biographies of heroes who died for their countries and together with their spirit of sacrifice to teach them. So, under a situation where parents are very busy earning a living the most effective broadcast media is the TV and I hope the Ministry of Community Development can negotiate with the Ministry of Communications and Information to use TV to inject into our young these values and to teach our people through such history and biographies.

Mr Chairman, Sir, Dr Vasoo asked what sort of support we give to the grassroots organizations and the voluntary welfare organizations to help them carry out their activities which we want them to do. May I say that the grassroots organizations have all along been doing very good work with their advisors' assistance and with the dedication of the community leaders. They have always carried out their activities with their own funding either by organizing trade fairs, collecting newspapers or other f und-raising activities. In that regard they have done excellent work. Over the years they have been able to give out many scholarships, bursaries and financial assistance to the needy as well as subsidizing many of the activities for the residents. We also want more of our grassroots organizations to carry out more activities. But in order to help them do this more effectively, the Government feels that one way would be to give them some form of financial assistance. As to what form this financial assistance will take and how the moneywould be disbursed, the details are still being worked out. The Government has decided, in principle, to allocate $1 million a year to help these organizations to carry out some of the activities which the advisors want them to do. This $1 million will be used at the discretion of the advisors of the grassroots organizations. Once we have worked out the details, we shall keep the advisors informed and they can apply for the money. On the voluntary welfare organizations, they receive financial assistance from the Government if they have a case. For example, last year the Government disbursed $3.2 million to assist such welfare organizations. Of course, there is no fund being set aside to carry out activities. But MCD does have, from time to time, philanthropists who are willing to contribute to charity and to social purposes, and we will help them to disburse such funds to deserving projects and community organizations. But in addition to this kind of one-time help from philanthropists and charity organizations, the Government on its part has also provided many forms of assistance, for example, nominal rental, capital grants, per capita grants, block grants, and so on. Moreover, Government also gives them very cheap rental on government properties which are not being used by the Government, and also a waiver of developmental charges on properties that they need to develop. The clients of these voluntary welfare organizations, if they qualify, also receive free medical benefits from the hospitals when they visit the hospitals. For the voluntary organzations which find difficulty in raising money to fund their activities, I would suggest that they join the Community Chest. Because the Community Chest is an umbrella or a large fund-raising organization to help fund the activities of these organizations, I have sometime ago appealed to Members of this House to also take part in the SHARE Programme of the Community Chest. I hope more Members will respond to this so that its Community Chest is able to raise more money to fund their activities. Dr Koh's suggestion about providing funds to charity or welfare organizations that help to run some of Government's activities - this idea actually has been explored and the example quoted by Dr Koh is already implemented. We are going to work with three other organizations to help run homes for the children, for youths and for the intellectually disabled. For example, the Salvation Army will take over the new complex that is being built by MCD in Yio Chu Kang to set up a home for children and young persons. The Muhammadiyah Society also plans to set up a home for Muslim children and the Tai Phua Kuan Moral Society also plans to operate a home for the intellectually disabled. As for training of volunteers, the Council of Social Service actually does conduct such training for volunteers and, if necessary, my Ministry will be pleased to help train such volunteers. My Ministry, whenever possible, also consults the voluntary welfare organizations as regards the kind of plans that we have, and we consult them also with regard to the kind of problems that they have, and we try to find ways to help them with their problems. We try to do as much as we can in the process of consultation. As for Mrs Yu-Foo's comments about the six core values that I mentioned in the last debate, she is pleased to note that many activities have been carried out by the grassroots organizations. I must report that the Ministry has been very active in promoting these six core values. Perhaps I should speak in Mandarin to respond to the Member. (In Mandarin) Our Ministry has been actively promoting the six core values. We do so by a two-pronged approach. One is the development of specific plans of activities to promote the six core values so that they can be better inculcated into the society. In fact, we will continually carry out these activities until such a time when all Singaporeans are able to better understand the various customs and cultures of the others. For example, we hold a community week every year. At the same time we also hold seminars, forums for people to explain and understand the cultures of our major races - Chinese, Malay and Indian - their religious customs and tradition, etc. The second strategy is to identify those values which are regarded as obstacles in the way of community cohesion. Such work is being carried out through three organizations. They are the Social and Psychological Advisory Council, Total Defence Working Committee and the Social Defence Committee under the Ministry of Community Development. The Family Life Committee set up by the Family and Community Advisory Council has suggested five core values which parents should also inculcate in their children. In order to inculcate these core values among Singaporeans, we must have a set of comprehensive and detailed action plans. We have to start from our younger generation, from pre-school, kindergarten and school, and through teachers and parents who must set a good examples to the younger generation, from the home to the community. Grassroots organizations like the RCs, CCCs, CCMC, Civil Defence Coordinating Committees and other civic organizations should also promote these activities and cultivate a community spirit among the people and strengthen communication between the people and the Government. They have played a significant role in the promotion of racial harmony and social cohesion. The Community Life Committee has also made some suggestions for implementation by the grassroots organizations so as to further enhance racial harmony and social cohesion. The Advisory Council may consider accepting these suggestions. Mrs Yu-Foo has also brought up a point in the report of the Committee on the Destitute which states that there are about 23,000 families faced with problems of destitution. But among these 23,000 families, between 900 and 13,000 families are actually considered as facing problems of destitution. My Council will earnestly look into their suggestions. As to how to attract more Singaporeans to get involved in community service, we have on many occassions and through activities, launched recruitment drives to attract more people to get involved and to spare some of their valuable time in serving the people. What we can do is only to talk them into giving some of their time to serve in community organizations. As for those people who spend much of their time in promoting religious activities, we can only encourage them not to devote all their time on religious organizations but to re-direct some of their time to other community organizations so that they may have a better understanding of the workings of other organizations and the life and problems of other people in Singapore.

Sir, I beg to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Order. Time for suspension. Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.00 pm. Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.42 pm until 3.00 pm. Sitting resumed at 3.00 pm

Order. On behalf of hon. Members, I welcome the Hon. Mr Sjiful Sulun, Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat of the Republic of Indonesia, who is present in the Gallery. [Applause].

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

Head J - (cont.)

Sir, may I be allowed to take the two subjects together?

Yes.

Sir, may I be allowed to That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JD 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, the need for child care services is likely to be more acute in the next few years. This is because of the increasing number of women entering the labour force. The labour force participation rate for women over the last five years has increased from 38% to 48%, which means that at least half of the labour force are women. The issue is: how do we help working mothers meet some of their child care needs, particularly those who are unable to depend on support from their kin groups or other forms of child care services which are available in the community. Sir, with the reduction of manpower in Singapore, the problem is likely to worsen because more women may be encouraged to get into the labour force to meet the manpower shortage. If you ask the mothers living in the new housing estates about their problems, you will find that it is quite bad in the sense that there are very few child care facilities in the new towns. The reason is that most of these facilities are not planned when these new towns are set up. I think there is a need to see how we can encourage the development of more child care centres in the newer housing estates. The voluntary organizations are unable to cope with the demands in providing additional child care services. The alternative will be for the Ministry to see if they can encourage private operators to provide child care services in the new housing estates. I note that this area has not been fully explored. I hope the Ministry will be able to provide support for private child care operators who may be able to fill the need in new housing estates where child care services are in demand. Sir, in the area of family service and counselling programmes, a number of significant social factors will have an impact and influence on the dynamics of the family and family life in Singapore. Some of these social factors have already been identified and they centre around a number of core areas such as the declining birth rate due to declining fertility, the increasing participation of women in the workforce, continuing breakdown in the extended family pattern, delays in marriages and increasing number of persons in singlehood. All these factors have important bearing on the current and future programmes for work with families. Consequently, it will have implications in the way in which services provided both by the Governmental and voluntary social service sectors will have to be organized. I envisage that in future the neighbourhoods of the housing estates in future will have to play a greater role to complement and support some of the services that are needed to be organized for the families. In this respect, Sir, I want to know whether the Ministry is planning to establish programmes to strengthen work with families. There is a need to look at this more critically because the family is a fundamental unit and, in fact, there is a need to provide more support in this direction. More programmes can be planned to deal with families that may be in need of support.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the hon. Member for Tiong Bahru GRC for his comments and I assure him that more child care centres will be built in the financial year 1989/1990. 50 child care centres were built in the 1988/89 financial year at the rate of about 1 a week. As at 14th January 1989, there are 170 child care centres or 10,105 places, and there will be 6 more by the end of this month, and 40 more by the end of the year. As to his request for private operators, I am glad to inform him that there is a scheme to enable private operators to set up child care centres. This is a pilot scheme and the centres will be set up in HDB void decks and this will be implemented in 12 blocks. Conversion cost estimated at about $1.6 million will be met by the Government and these centres will be tendered out to private child care operators. However, as it is not appropriate to charge nominal rent as Government should not be subsidizing profit-making enterprises, the tendered out price, we expect, will fetch market rents. These 12 void deck child care centres which will have capacities ranging from 70 to 90 children will be designed and fitted with features similar to non-profit child care centres. I am also encouraged by the concern of the Member for Tiong Bahru GRC in the areas of marriage counselling and parenting. The Report of the Advisory Council on Community and Family Life has not been published yet. But the Member is right in that it did not recommend the setting up of a special family relations unit to assist our law makers. As the Ministry of Community Development has a Family Service Unit and has family counsellors, it will be more effective for us to strengthen this Unit. And we will also tap on the expertise of professionals in the private sector who have counselling and conciliatory skills to promote family relationships. The Parent Education Programme which was started in 1984 has the objective of helping parents in the challenging task of parenting. And I note that in many areas and in many Housing Board estates, there are programmes in CCs and in RCs where lectures, talks and videos are shown to the community about parenting. While most people are responsible parents and want the best for their children, many are not fully aware of the demands of parenthood or are misguided in their approaches to child upbringing. Parents today need to be equipped with the basic skills of caring, disciplining, relating to their children and acquiring understanding of their children's physical and also social needs. The Parent Education Programme (PEP) is coordinated by MCD functions under an advisory council. It consists of members from related Government departments, voluntary welfare organizations, private specialists in the field. In this way, MCD benefits from advice from all different sectors. I am sure you all know about the annual family week in June which focuses attention on family living and the PEP. This continues with a year-long programme of workshops, talks, forums and discussions, as earlier mentioned at CCs, RCs or wherever we are invited to participate. Posters, pamphlets, exhibitions, Radio and TV filmlets and jingles constitute our public education publicity. TV commercials like "Give Your Child Some Time", "Make Time To Be Together" and "Have You Spent Time With Your Child Today", all prepared under the auspices of the PEP, have been well received by our target groups. The MCD is currently looking into the integration of the PEP with the Family Life Education Programme of the Ministry of Health to ensure that there will be no duplication or overlap and to ensure that there will be no conflicting messages projected to the public. And we will continue to encourage various organizations, eg:- VWOs, unions, cultural clubs, CCs, schools and religious organizations to incorporate parent education activities into their programmes. The parent education programme reinforces our belief in the family as the basic unit of our society and its continuing programme will maintain, focus on, and give support to the importance of the family. We will take up your other suggestions.

Sir, may I seek clarification from the Minister? I am interested in the 12 child care centres that have been proposed to be built in void deck blocks. May I know from the Minister whether her Ministry has already decided where these child care centres will be built? And whether or not Potong Pasir is included in the programme?

The answer to the first question is yes, Mr Speaker, Sir. And the answer to the second question is no.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (4), 13 minutes. Mr Chay.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JE 1500 of the Main Estimates. First, I must thank the Minister earlier for mentioning that the Government has basically accepted the Report of the Advisory Council on the Aged. I would seek his indulgence, however, for some clarifications in certain specific areas. In spite of his earlier announcement, I would still go on with my questions. In the Report of the Advisory Council on the Aged, it was recommended that the Government should provide the following types of assistance and support to the voluntary welfare organizations in the running of the homes for the aged. First, in converting short-term leases of buildings currently occupied by voluntary homes to long-term leases of 30 years, as many of these present homes are housed in buildings which have very short leases. This would enable the private organizations to plan better in the services for the aged. Secondly, in providing purpose-built homes if conversions of such leases are not possible. Thirdly, it was recommended that the Goverment bear the capital and the recurrent cost of voluntary homes on a cost sharing basis with the voluntary welfare organization or the Community Chest of Singapore. I would like to find out,firstly, whether the Minister plansto adopt this proposal of helping the private volunteer welfare organizations obtain the extended leases for their buildings, bearing in mind that this will greatly relieve the load on the Government. Secondly, I would like to find out whether the Ministry would help defray the capital cost and the recurrent cost as well, as recommended. I note that the provision for the capital grant under the Development Expenditure for the Financial Year 1989 is zero under this head.

Sir, I am glad to note that the Minister has announced the acceptance of the Report produced by the Advisory Council on the Disabled. I would like to focus my attention on one or two aspects of the Report put up by the Committee on Employment, Accessibility and Transportation for the Disabled. Sir, as pointed out by the Committee, Singapore missed an opportunity to create a totally barrier-free environment when the public housing and urban renewal programme was launched. It further pointed out that the self-regulatory accessibility code would not work, as shown in Hong Kong which in 1985 eventually introduced a statutory code. As an independent country, we have lagged behind Hong Kong, a colony, in catering for the special needs of the disabled. The recently announced tax rebate for renovation to buildings to improve their accessibility to the disabled is commendable. However, it is uncertain how many buildings would be renovated in the near future as a result of the tax concession. I would therefore urge the Ministry to accelerate the work towards its noble objective. Serious consideration should be given to introducing a legislated accessibility code for all new buildings. Vision 1999 would be less than inspiring if the disabled among us cannot even move freely around Singapore and play their useful roles as citizens. The second point is connected with the question of the income tax relief for the disabled dependants which the Minister also mentioned just now. As announced by the Minister for Finance, the income tax relief for those with disabled dependants has been raised from $750 to $2,500 and appears at first sight it is a most generous provision. However, the income tax relief for those with normal children the tax relief is $1,500. So the real difference is $1,000 and the rebate is in the region of perhaps $100-$150, assuming an effective income tax rate of 10-15%. Sir, in many of these cases, for example, children with low vision, medical costs are not exactly inexpensive as we know specialists' costs can be pretty high. Special transportation has to be arranged, perhaps even a special diet has to be provided for these children. I have urged the Minister for Finance to have some flexibility in the implementation of this income tax relief for in certain cases where higher amounts are neces- sary to look after these disabled children. I would like the Minister to add his support to the appeal of Backbenchers to ask for greater flexibility in the implementation of this relief.

( In Mandarin): Mr Chairman, I would like to touch upon public assistance. I am happy to note that the trend is towards the decline in the number of Public Assistance recipients from 3,874 in 1986 to 3,420 projected in the new financial year. Despite this, the cost of operating the department handling the Public Assistance cases is projected to go up with no additional benefits going to the PA recipients. Would the Minister give sympathetic consideration to the plight of these PA recipients? I am aware that the present rate of $130 pm was revised not too long ago but other rates and costs are all going up. The Government has itself acknowledged the need to adjust the CPF minimum sum scheme. I, therefore, urge the MCD to spare a thought to these PA recipients. I am sure that the state can afford to provide more financial help to these PA recipients who have after all met the stringent criteria for social welfare.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am in full support of the previous speaker about giving assistance to the poor and the needy. The Government has already said that one of its priorities is to look after the lower income group and the poor. But as far as we know, Sir, so far as public assistance is concerned, Government has done nothing very much. It uses the means test and the means test is most humiliating. Most people would fight shy of it, and with this means test Government has effectively cut off a large number of people who should be on public assistance. The PAP philosophy has always been that if you should give public assistance to the poor and the needy, then it would make them improvident and indolent, and the virtues of enterprise, self-confidence in work ethics, might be eroded. They have given no concrete examples of such allegations, and I do not think the Ministers who have said this really believe in it themselves. Sir, public assistance decreased year by year. In 1966 there were 22,000 recipients and the amount of P.A. was $12.4 million. The latest figures I have got are from 1983 Year Book. 3,200 recipients and the amount of P.A. was $3.2 million. After 1983, all such figures have been covered up. I do not find any of them in the Year Books after that. Maybe in future the Minister will let us know more of such facts. Recently the PA seems to have been increased only during election years. In 1984 PA was increased for one person to $90, for two persons to $140, for three persons to $180 and for four persons to $220. In 1988, last year, because it was election year, PA was again increased for one person to $120, for two persons to $185, for three persons to $240, and for four persons to $295. The Committee on Destitute Families has released a report, and it complains that its Chief Statistician on December 1987 has listed that the current minimum sum that a household of four can live on is $389. The Committee says that the figure should be at least $500. That would be the poverty line for a family of four in Singapore. I am really surprised that this figure should have been given. Because early in 1980 the Singapore Council of Social Services had already carried out a study, and it should at that time, 1980, Sir, the basic monthly household requirements for food, clothing, rent, PUB charges, transport, household upkeep, etc. for a destitute person came to $120, for a widow plus three children $337, for a man plus three children $436. In other words, the poverty line in 1980 was already $436. 10 years have elapsed, inflation has pushed prices of everything up. Hospital charges especially have gone up many, many times. Yet we have PA having been revised only twice, hardly not even twice, only once. By right, if we should go according to the purchasing power of money, then PA for one person should be at least $240, for a widow and three children it should be $674, and for a man and three children it should be $872. That would be the poverty line for Singapore today.

Dr Lee, we are running out of time.

I will finish very quickly.

All right.

I support the recommendation to give vouchers for the poor to pay for flat rentals and utility bills, but I think the PA should be substantially increased to fit in with the circumstances of today. If the Government could give $169 million to top civil servants and Ministers, (and do not forget, Singapore is supposed to be one of the 20 richest countries in the world) I see no reason why we should not be able to really help the poor and the needy. The Government should not pass the buck to other people. The Government should be responsible and its responsibility is not to utter platitudes but to give real concrete help to the people.

Sir, I go straight to the clarifications that Mr Chay Wai Chuen asked. He asked for three clarifications. One is on converting short term leases to long term leases and building purpose-built homes if conversion is not possible. I would say, yes, we have taken up the cases of these organizations which are currently on short term leases to help them to convert into long term leases and the appropriate authorities are definitely giving serious consideration to all of them. If conversion is not possible we will also try to help them to build purpose-built homes. As regards the capital grants and recurrent cost for such homes to operate, I would say that my Ministry and the Ministry of Finance are working out a scheme to provide a subvention to these organizations through the Community Chest, but of course we have to examine each case on its own merit. We just cannot say, "Here is $X for you to carry on with your operation". We would have to examine each case on its own merits and I can assure the Member that we will be as compassionate as possible. As for Mr Lau Ping Sum's question on the disabled's accessibility and employment, the Council of Social Service actually has started a production sheltered workshop as well as a job placement and vocational assessment centre in Joo Chiat to help these disabled people. The Ministry of National Development has decided to expeditiously introduce an accessibility code to provide for a barrier-free environment. This code is targetted to be introduced some time in the middle of this year. The Ministry of National Development has also formed a Committee to coordinate the efforts of the URA, the HDB, the PWD, Parks and Recreation Department in providing a comprehensive barrier-free environment for the disabled. PWD by itself has also set up a walk-way unit to oversee the implementation of the long term walk-way redevelopment programme. They will take into account the needs of the disabled. As regards Mr Loh Meng See's question and also Dr Lee Siew-Choh's question that the PA grants in the budget have not increased, let me assure them that the PA grants have actually increased. For example, 1982, we spent about $3.7 million on 3,259 PA recipients and in the year 1987 there were 2,960 recipients and the Government gave out $3.4 million and for the year 1988 there were only 2,880 recipients and the Government gave out $4.15 million. The question may naturally arise as to how come PA recipients declined in number. The reason is really very simple - it is because 90% of the PA recipients are 60 years old and above. 90% of them are in single-person households and 6% of them are in two-person households and the rest of them are with family with children. The amount of money given out in 1988 has increased as a result of the study that we made. We said that every two years we will do a review of the PA rates and we have carried this out in 1986 and in 1988. In 1986, after the review in 1984, we found that there was no substantial increase in the cost of living because inflation was low. In 1988 we decided to make an adjustment. We will do a review again in 1990. Means test is necessary, Sir, to ensure that only those who are deserving receive public assistance. If not, we will definitely create a dependency mentality. I can assure Dr Lee Siew-Choh that if we have no means test and we do give, as he suggests, $872 for a man with three children, and $674 for a widow with three children, then I can assure him that there will be many people who would not want to work. There have been many studies done by private organizations, by the Council of Social Services and lately by the Advisory Council's Committee on Destitute Families about what is the minimum amount of expenditure that is needed. The Government can only depend on one source and that is the source of the Chief Statistician. If there is any query on the basis of the calculation, we will ask the Chief Statistician to look at the basis of the calculation and to do a review when the time comes. But the Government can only depend on one source.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (5) - Encik Wan Hussin - five minutes.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JF 1500 of the Main Estimates. On 16th November 1987, the composer of our National Anthem, Encik Zubir Said or better known as Pak Zubir passed away. He has bequeathed to Singaporeans something which we all can be proud of, ie, the National Anthem. He was reported to have said that what made him compose the National Anthem was the people and the life in Singapore. He was bestowed the national honour of Darjah Utama Temasek.In this respect, Sir, may I ask the Minister what efforts have been made by the Ministry towards recognizing the contributions of the late composer. Perhaps he would consider some of these suggestions I have. Firstly, would a scholarship in music be named after him to be awarded to talented local musicians to further their musical career? Secondly, would the Ministry undertake to compile and document the works done by the composer during his lifetime? Thirdly, would the Oral History Department of the Ministry be commissioned to record his life history and his contributions? Lastly, two local writers have published a book on his biography. Would the Ministry undertake to translate this book into other languages for the benefit of all Singaporeans?

( In Mandarin): Sir, I have another amendment. Can I have added time to move the two together? Sir, our economic achievement is a recognized fact. In order to achieve quick returns Singaporeans sometimes unduly stress on short-term result. Therefore, they are eager to achieve instant success and quick profits. In a comercial environment there is very intense competition. This situation not only appears in Singapore but also obtains in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. Because of limited domestic markets in their own countries and protected foreign markets, there is very keen competition. Therefore, those who can adapt to the situation will survive, those who cannot will be eliminated. The commercial world is just like the battle field, appearances can be deceptive. So human compassion and consideration are on the decline. In order to get a greater share of the market and higher profits the entrepreneurs will try all the tricks of the trade to get what they want. After-office entertainment and enjoyment of life have become routine. This is most apparent in Taiwan. Recently the Minister of State for Education and Community Development has been to Taiwan to study moral education. Has she noticed that sex trade is most active in Taiwan? When we want to study moral education, have we chosen the right place? Other than the tangible material life there is the spiritual life. That includes cultural life, family life and a compas- sionate society. If one were to pursue only material enjoyment, then life is meaningless. Cultural pursuits will enrich one's life, mould a common sense of belonging and help promote social cohesion as we progress towards a more meaningful and gracious society. We have several thousand years of cultural tradition. We should promote and adapt certain aspecsts of our heritage which are suitable for the present. In the past, our country has devoted its attention to economic development. Therefore, cultural development has not been given the same emphasis. During the initial stages of our nation building when our economic foundation had not been well laid, such a policy could not be faulted. From now on, we must redouble our efforts to promote our cultural activities in order to enrich our people's cultural life and create a new image. Our civic cultural groups, whether in the fields of music, arts or performing arts, have in the past been quite active, but there were relatively few active participants. Therefore, I hope the Ministry of Community Development will provide the most appropriate facilities to help in terms of human resources, financial support and physical facilities. For instance, for members of these groups, the activities are carried out after office hours. Therefore, we hope that when the Ministry convenes a meeting, it should be held after office hours in order not to cause them inconvenience. This year, the allocation for cultural activity is about $4,019,000. Last year, the allocation was $3,500,000. The increase has been 14.7%, but it is only 2.7% of the total allocation of $149 million for the Ministry of Community Development.

Mr Lau, you want to allow some time for a reply?

( In Mandarin): I am finishing. This is a very insignificant figure. I hope in future the allocation will increase every year so that Singapore will not only be well-known in South East Asia for our economic development but also famous throughout the world for our rich cultural life.

Sir, the late Zubir Said who composed our National Anthem was conferred the Sijil Kemuliaan,(the Certificate of Honour) in June 1962, for his musical contributions. Sijil Kemuliaan is the third highest National Day award, ranking only after the Star of Temasek and the Order of Temasek. In memory of the great composer, especially Pak Zubir's contributions, the Singapore Cultural Foundation, which operates under my Ministry's aegis, has embarked on the Zubir Said Song Collection project to produce a publication documenting his life and music. Materials for the publication, which is sponsored by Berita Harian, have been gathered through a community effort involving the Central Council of Malay Cultural Organizations, friends and associates of Pak Zubir and his family. Materials in the collections of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, National Archives and Oral History Department will also be used to strengthen the contents of the publication. As to the suggestion for a scholarship in music and oral history documentation of his life and history and also translation of the book by the two local authors, may I offer to Encik Wan Hussin that we will be looking into this and seeing how we can get sponsorships for this situation. Sir, I thank the Member for Yio Chu Kang for his interest in culture and his helpful observations and comments. Yes, I did go to Taiwan recently but as I am of the wrong sex I did not manage to see the sex trade he was mentioning. My Minister has answered part of his comments about a better life in his answer to the GPC Chairman. While the Ministry can provide and encourage the growth of a conducive environment for culture to grow and flourish in Singapore, the successful cultural development in Singapore must depend to a large extent on the efforts of the public, the corporate citizens and interested cultural organizations working in concert. To harness their views on future cultural promotion, the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts was set up in April last year. The Council was tasked to review current problems and propose solutions in an action plan to lead us to the cultural vision of 1999. While the Council has yet to submit its report, its three committees have identified five main problems in Singapore. Firstly, lack of funds which constrains their level of activity. Secondly, a small audience support and shortage of trained manpower. Thirdly, a limited talent pool. Fourthly, facilities which are sub-standard, and fifthly, complex licensing procedures. The Member must recognize that while procedures to facilitate licensing and funding can be addressed almost immediately, the problems of our limited talent pool and poor audience support are long term ones. Arising from these findings, the Committees have made recommendations for the improvement of the system of art education, etc, and these are now being considered by the Council which is expected to submit its report to the Government shortly. I am confident that there will be improvement in our cultural scene in the years ahead following from this report. I also note that the Member has expressed concern about premises given to cultural organizations. Since 1985, my Ministry has housed 23 organizations in four vacant buildings and this has enabled them to increase their artistic output. However, because these buildings are old and they have been vandalised in some instances, much money has to be put into renovating the buildings and, in one case, because the group did not have enough funds to upgrade the power mains to the building. Because of this, the use of air-conditioners necessary to reduce noise interference had to be strictly controlled, otherwise power trips occurred due to heavy power demand. My Ministry will look into other ways of improving the scheme to house arts organizations. In the area of culture, the MCD relies heavily on volunteers who are experts in their fields. We are grateful for the many hours they have given and are giving and will continue to give in what can only be termed as a "labour of love". I am as concerned as the Member that our volunteers are made to take hours off work. My Ministry has now made it a point to schedule meetings beginning between 4.30 and 5.00 pm but there have been circumstances where this has not been possible. This is especially so last year in the case of the volunteers serving on the four Committees set up under the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts. As the Council had to finalize its deliberations within a time schedule, these Committees found it necessary to hold regular meetings even during normal office hours in order to complete their reports. For this reason, the volunteer members had to take time off to attend these meetings. I would like at this point to express my appreciation, firstly, to the volunteers and, secondly, to their supportive employers, in their service to the cultural development of the nation.

Sir, I thank the Minister of State for her encouraging reply but I hope the current compilation work by the Ministry could be expedited as it has taken slightly more than a year to complete. On that note, I withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (7), 5 minutes. Dr Vasoo.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JG 2100 of the Main Estimates. Sir, the first phase libraries which were built in the 1960s and 1970s are too small and inadequate in terms of facilities. To name a few libraries, such as in Queenstown, Bukit Merah and Toa Payoh, they are to some extent out of date. The readers who are using these libraries feel a greenhouse effect, in the sense that it creates a lot of discomfort to many of the users of these libraries. Moreover, these libraries do not cater for students who want to do their homework and other related reference work. I think the facilities of the libraries, particularly those in the older housing estates, need to be upgraded in order to allow more students to use them. We must encourage our younger students to use the libraries for their learning. Sir, the upgrading of the libraries is more urgent in old housing estates, and I hope that some steps will be taken.

Mr Chairman, Sir, in line with Dr Vasoo's call for the Government to upgrade libraries in old housing estates, I would like to ask the Minister to consider upgrading the Central library, which is the National Library. I think the present environment in this library is very crammed and congested. Facilities are grossly inadequate and the place at peak hours looks pathetic. Sir, as our population becomes more literate and better educated, the demand for library services would increase. And with the availability of MRT, many Singaporeans do not mind travelling to the National Library to read and to borrow books. I think Singaporeans deserve a better national library. A good national library, well equipped and centrally located, is in line with our overall objective to improve the quality of life and it is also symbolic of a middle class society. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister if the Ministry has any plan to upgrade the existing National Library or perhaps, even better still, build a new one.

Dr Seet, you have two minutes to reply.

I start by answering to the question addressed by the Member for Eunos GRC. I agree with him that the facilities over the years for the National Library have become inadequate to meet the increasing demand for library services. I have good news for the Member for Eunos GRC. My Ministry plans to build a modern national library with bigger space and incorporating up-to-date facilities. This has the in-principle approval of the Government. My Ministry has made a study of library designs in Australia and is in the process of engaging a consultant for the project. Now, to reply to the Member for Tiong Bahru GRC. Over the years, the older branch libraries have been upgraded to provide the same facilities as the newer ones. In answer to the greenhouse effects, Queenstown Branch installed air-conditioning in 1978 and upgraded its lecture rooms into an auditorium in 1983. Toa Payoh Branch installed air-conditioning in 1982 and constructed an entrance ramp and installed a passenger lift for the disabled readers in 1983 and 1985 respectively. Today, actually, the older branch libraries provide the same facilities and offer the same services to their readers as the newer branches. Older branch libraries have the advantage of having a larger book collection built over a longer period of time. To his question about seating in the library, Mr Chairman, Sir, a library's main objective is to serve members of the public who wish to borrow books or consult reference materials. They are not meant for students to study in. Students should study in their homes, schools or reading rooms provided by community centres or in education centres in the constituency when these are not in use. Seats are provided in the National Library and its branches for people, including students, who browse through the books before deciding whether to borrow them, and, they are also meant for those who do research in the libraries.

I beg to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (8), six minutes. Dr Ong.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JI 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, the National Museum, National Archives and Oral History Department play a vital role in the preservation of our heritage and the development of our very own national identity. My question is: are they receiving adequate funding and support from the Government? I doubt so. A very small sum, for example, is allocated to the National Museum for its acquisition programme. It could hardly acquire anything of significance, yet it is supposed to be a repository of our national treasures. I also believe that to upgrade and develop these departments fully, we need to appoint consultants or experts. Yet hardly any funds are allocated for this purpose. The programme of these departments would be enhanced if there is better coordination of their work. There is at present no senior professional person to coordinate and direct their activities, though they all report to the administrative Deputy Secretary or Permanent Secretary. For other professional services, there is the Director of Medical Services or Director of Education. Indeed, coordination is perhaps difficult as the three departments have their separate advisory or development committees. Sir, the public is hardly aware of the activities of these departments. Perhaps there should be more funding and better ideas for its publicity and education programmes, and a bigger exhibition hall at their Hill Street premises. Besides the departments in MCD, other departments and agencies are also involved in the preservation of our heritage, for example, STPB, URA, PMB, Sentosa Development Corporation, SAF museum and PSA museum. I think there should be an inter-ministry committee, chaired by MCD, to coordinate and integrate the various programmes, so that funds are well spent and there is no overlap of functions.

Mr Chairman, Sir, regarding the National Museum, National Archives and Oral History Department, each has specific areas of interest which requires specialized knowledge and each is headed by a Director and assisted by various subordinate specialists. While the three Departments work under the central policy direction of MCD, I agree with the MP that more coordination in the areas common to the three Departments would provide greater benefit. As a start towards greater coordination, my Ministry has set up, early this year, a Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry, which is looking into common areas of work by the three Departments and determining how common solutions can be identified for the benefit of all. This includes areas like conservation, exhibitions and preservation. In the long run, we intend to work towards a closer integration of the work of the three departments. With reference to his suggestion that an inter ministerial committee be set up for better coordination of Singapore-wide programmes, I will take this up at our next ministerial meeting. With regard to his suggestion that we should have senior professional specialists to advise our Heritage Department, it is a good one. But, in practice, such a person does not exist. A person who is an expert in all 3 heritage areas would be a verydifficult person to find, and, at present we do not know of such a person in Singapore. We are also unaware of any other country which has the arrangement of someone who has expertise in oral history, in archival history as well as in the national museum. I would be very obliged if the Member for Bukit Batok could let us know how this is done in other countries and, if he has any suggestions, I would be very glad to have them.

Just a point of clarification. This person need not be a specialist but a historian of general standing or of certain stature. But in view of the Minister's explanation, I withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (9), 10 minutes. Mr Chay is not moving. Dr Tan Cheng Bock.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JJ 1500 of the Main Estimates. Sir, I move this amendment wo that I have the opportunity to tell this House how grateful I am to the civil servants who manned the Feedback Unit, my panel members, the numerous resource members and the many Singaporeans, including shopowners, hawkers, taxi-drivers, and the professionals. Running an outfit like the Feedback Unit is not an easy one. Although one of its original aims was just to listen and pass the feedback to the Government, the Unit went beyond its role by adopting a pro- active stand and went out to seek the views of many Singaporeans on many matters, sensitive and otherwise. In so doing, we have stepped on the toes of many people, including a few Frontbenchers. It was all in the line of duty. But I must admit that they responded positively most of the time, that is, after many exchanges of correspondence and personal contact. To carry out this duty, my colleagues and I spent many nights, especially in its early formative years, moving from community centre to community centre, holding dialogue sessions with associations, societies, and different groups of Singaporeans, so as to get a feel of the ground. Not only gathering feedback was our objective, but we also exchanged ideas, clarified government policies, gave them information, and explained government policies in an environment in which everyone was at ease to talk with. There was this free exchange of views. I must admit that in the beginning it was confrontational - the people against the Government, them against us. But as the Unit grew and we learned from some of our earlier mistakes, tempers cooled and sanity prevailed, and we realize that Singaporeans are not just the complaining kind. They have good ideas and they want to share. Our initial worry that the dialogue sessions would be just grousing sessions turned out not to be so. Technique, style of approach to issue, sharing and understanding their concerns, putting across points not in the manner, "we know best" attitude, helped a great deal. Above all, it is the behind-the-scene approach of my Unit that is most time-consuming but many a time rewarding. I remember having to chase five departments, including the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Education, URA, MRT, National Preservation Board, to try to resolve the resettlement of the Malabar Street Temple. In that exercise I made sure that no bulldozers got too close to the temple while negotiations were under way. It was not easy getting a very old temple, claimed to be more than 100 years old, to be demolished for progress. Tempers were high. And worse still, this happened in the midst of the recession when businessmen needed help from whatever source, including praying to their Gods. But I must point out that the various Government departments did give the Unit their support and I do appreciate their contributions. The Feedback Unit is beginning to gain acceptance. I wish the new Chairman and new panel members all the best and would encourage Singaporeans from all walks of life to continue to support the Unit.

Sir, on the CCCs and RCs, I think there should be better coordination between these two sets of grassroots organizations. The younger RCs could then tap the experience and contacts of the more established CCCs, while the CCCs could utilize the manpower and mobilizing zeal of the RCs. To enhance coordination, I suggest that the staff of the CCCs and the RC secretariats be integrated. This will also cut down duplication, maximize their effectiveness and perhaps save us some costs in terms of manpower. A combined secretariat could then be set up for each constituency or GRC.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I know that Dr Tan Cheng Bock did not expect me to reply. Perhaps I would like to say that in his valedictory speech, not swan song, he has made known the work of the Feedback Unit. Indeed, as a result of his dedication, his commitment and his efforts and those of the panel members, the Feedback Unit has gained a lot of support from the public. They have worked very hard in building the Feedback Unit. The Feedback Unit has benefited a lot from his advice and they have helped to improve the rapport between the Government and the people. Despite the passing of the baton to a new Chairman and perhaps to a different personality, I have no doubt that the Feedback Unit will receive guidance and support from the new Chairman in the execution of the duties and they will continue to actively seek the views of the people in carrying out their role.

You should thank him.

Yes, I thank him, of course. I would just leave my Minister of State, Mr Chng, to reply to the other points.

Sir, the CCCs and RCs, together with other grassroots organizations, play a vital role in community development and nation building. They help forge a sense of community, improve communication between the people and the Government and foster in our people a social conscience and a spirit of voluntarism. They are doing good work and deserve all the support and encouragement we can give them to enable them to better serve the community. I therefore share the hon. Member's concern about the efficiency of the secretariat services provided for the CCCs and RCs. Sir, the Community Life Committee set up under the Advisory Council on Family and Community Life noted the greater role grassroots organizations will play in fostering a participatory community. The Committee therefore recommended that the CCC District Secretariats and the RC Group Secretariats be merged into a common network of Secretariats to provide better support to the CCCs and RCs. This move will streamline procedures and minimize duplication of efforts. We are now working out the details of this recommendation for implementation by the end of the year. This move, together with the guidance of the CCC/RC advisers, will enhance the coordination of grassroots activities and improve the service of the CCCs and RCs in each constituency.

I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (10), Encik Wan Hussin.

I am not speaking, Sir.

Amendment No. (11), Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, 13 minutes.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Code JL 3100 of the Main Estimates. Sir, those in my age group or older will remember how we used to reign supreme in the Thomas Cup competitions. There was a time when the whole nation, irrespective of race, religion or culture, used to identify themselves with people like of Wong Peng Soon, Ong Poh Lin, Eddy Choong and the rest. An hon. Member: And Ismail Marjan.

Ismail Marjan too. And every boy or girl who held a racket saw Wong Peng Soon in the Thomas Cup as a symbol which motivated them to train, to play the game, to strive and to excel. But ever since then, that enthusiasm, that mood, has somehow subsided and, I think, to a point where it has disappeared at all. We launched into a Sports for All policy. In essence, this was sound, given our priorities and given the kind of constraints we face. But sports was given a somewhat reluctant, and some would even say perfunctory, attention by Government, employers and even parents. The nation turned into a nation of weekend sports persons and sports feature in their daily lives only when they have time and only when they felt like it. Sir, I am therefore heartened by the recommendations of the Advisory Council for Sports and Recreation and I am glad to note, as mentioned by the Minister earlier, that 40 of the 43 recommendations by the Council have been accepted by the Government. I am especially concerned with those recommendations under section 4.3 of the Report under Nation Building Through International Champions. Can the Minister elaborate on this in this House Government's commitment on these recommendations and Government's plans to support the Singapore Sports Council, employers and schools in building a conducive sports environment in this country?

Sir, the Government launched its Sports for All policy in 1973. Since then, thousands of Singaporeans have participated in various mass events organized by the SSC. We have also participated in the various international and regional competitions such as the Olympics and SEA Games. Sir, recently the Advisory Council on Sports and Recreation published its Report and made some recommendations to the Government. Among the recommendations, I wish to cite two: (1) Giving special support to sports in which Singaporeans can excel. (2) Creating and sustain an environment that is conducive to the further growth of sports. Sir, national sports associations in Singapore are responsible for the successful running of the various sports programmes. They are manned by volunteers and sometimes face difficulties such as lack of funds and lack of proper training facilities. Many associations have to organize fund raising activities and much precious time is taken in organizing them at the expense of training for the athletes. I wish to ask the Minister what kind of support can the Government give to our national sports associations. Secondly, whether the Government could consider giving annual financial grants to the national sports associations to lessen their financial burden. Sir, let me end by saying that when we produce outstanding sports persons, they become role models and provide inspiration to the nation. They can instil strong feelings of patriotism in our community and thereby contribute to nation building.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Advisory Council's Report on Sports and Recreation is a detailed study on attitudes, standards, trends in sports and recreation in the Republic. The Advisory Council must be commended for its in-depth study and report and its recommendations must be taken seriously. Sir, the Report made recommendations which could undoubtedly help to improve the standing of sports and recreation in our Republic. The recommendations affect and involve mainly the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence, Singapore Sports Council and its various agencies. In view of this, I strongly urge the Ministry to liaise with the respective Ministries and bodies concerned to as much as possible fulfil all the recommendations as soon as possible. I know the Minister mentioned earlier that the Government has considered and rejected the recommendation of the supernumerary scheme. However, I beg to appeal to the Government to review this decision if we want to excel in sports. Sir, I would like to make the following observations. I was involved when I was in the SAF as the Secretary of the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association when this scheme was implemented. The supernumerary scheme was practised in the Singapore Armed Forces from about 1968 till 1979 when it was discontinued. Under the scheme, at any one time, there were only 75 national athletes who were national champions or combined schools champions from all the various sports. And they had the privilege to continue their training while they were in the Army. The supernumerary status did not exclude athletes from all military training. In fact, they had to undergo the vigorous basic military training (BMT) and the vocational training. And they were later on distributedor posted to the various non-combat units. During their national service, they also had to perform military duties in between their athletic training. As they form only a small number, they did not disrupt or adversely affect the SAF and its military training. We all know that those with potential as officer cadets, commanders and section leaders and many other combat units, were exempted from this scheme because we wanted them to contribute positively in the military training. Because of this scheme, we produced quite a number of good sportsmen and, in many cases, the Armed Forces excelled in all the national competitions. For example, many of the players in the national hockey team came from the SAF. They were performing very well and on par with the Malaysians, who were then and still are, one of the best in Asia. But the standard of our hockey team today is totally a different picture. Another example is that our Malaysia Cup team of the '70s could attri- bute much of its success to the good supernumerary scheme.

Encik Abbas, we are running out of time.

Yes, Sir. We produced stars like Kim Song, Seak Poh Leong and many others. What I would like the Minister to consider is to seriously review the whole scheme to concentrate only on the games recommended by the Committee.

Sir, the Government has announced that it would promote sports. But when I look at the budget allocations I only find that most of the money were given for capital development. $12.37 million to the Singapore Sports Council to take over canteens, cafeterias of sports complexes from the HDB. Then there was an increase of $2.37 million or 4.8% in grant mainly due to a large grant given to the Singapore Sports Council to meet additional recurrent expenditure on maintenance of new sports facilities. Then a sum of $2.05 million was provided as a loan to the SSC to carry out major repairs to the National Stadium. There was no mention of allocation of funds to sportsmen and their coaches. Sir, I think the Minister should look more into this area because our sportsmen are really not given enough financial support. If we want to shine in the international level, our sportsmen must be given real support. Sir, sad to say, our sports level as far as the international standard is concerned, is at the kampong level. I think we have to do something to build up one or two champions and that will give inspiration to other sportsmen. Sir, the Member for Yio Chu Kang has talked about culture. I think sports is, in fact, part of culture. I think it should not be downgraded. The public schools in England stressed on sports. It was said that the Battle of Waterloo was won at the playing fields of Eton. That has much to say for sports. Sir, sports has many benefits. It is not just for the materialist aspect of getting good health. Sports builds up courage, character of a person, disciplines him, teaches him fair play, his ability to take defeat and get him into the right spirit of cooperation with others. And as regards the social level, sports is a very good means of getting social cohesion because if people are really interested in sports, whether he is a company director or he is a labourer, they will get together for a common pursuit. Sir, above all, our schools should encourage our children to enjoy sports. I think that is the key, not to tell them, "If you take up sports you will be healthy." I do not think we should approach in that aspect. Teach him to enjoy, teach him to acquire a skill for life and the health aspect of it will come with it.

Mr Chiam, can you wind up? There are still a number of persons who want to speak.

Of course, in the communist countries and the eastern countries they excel in sports for a specific purpose. Sir, that is to prove to other countries their social system is better. They might be true in certain aspects. But in Singapore today, I think our emphasis just on academic excellence is really lop-sided. There should be a balance up with some sporting activities so that our children can really grow up to be developed all round.

Mr Chairman, Sir, how many minutes do I have?

Two minutes.

In that event, I shall just answer the questions ad hoc as they were raised. What is our stand on grants for national sports association? The Singapore Sports Council will give grants on a case-by-case basis and many national sports associations have benefitted from these grants. Our Singapore National Olympics Council have also received funds for this purpose. In answer to the Member for Potong Pasir, there is a sports fund for sportsmen, managed by the Singapore Sports Council and this grant is also granted on a case-by-case basis.

How much?

$5 million.

Is that enough, $5 million? Mr Chairman, Sir, I also find the comments from the Member for Potong Pasir very strange. He is commenting that money is being spent on capital. Other people are asking for money to be spent on capital and here he seems to be criticizing us for money being spent on capital. In the Report of the Advisory Council on Sports and Recreation, comment was made that the Singapore Sports Council will have to construct special facilities to cater for all new activities to be introduced. So every year money will be set aside for capital funding for the Singapore Sports Council. I think he should be glad rather than critical because one cannot be a good sportsman if there are no sports facilities available. As for the comments by Maj. Abbas about the standing of sports, we will have to take a long time to re-establish the slow standing of sports and, as he well knows, he sat on many committees where this was discussed. He has been instrumental in many of the recommendations and these are still being evaluated. The recommendations have been forwarded to the Ministries of Defence and Education and the Singapore Sports Council and these will be taking up the recommendations. The implementation and the monitoring will be done at the Ministry of Community Development.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

(In Malay): Mr Chairman, I beg to move. That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of JM 3100 of the Main Estimates. Under Sections 87 and 88 of the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA), the Muslim Religious Council (MUIS) is responsible for the administra- tion and management of Islamic religious education in Singapore. MUIS has carried out this task effectively. It has strengthened its Education Unit, and recently mooted the idea of setting up an Advisory Council on Islamic Religious Education to provide guidelines and set the direction for education in Singapore. I wish to congratulate MUIS for making these moves aimed at streamlining the religious education system in Madrasahs (Islamic schools), mosques and schools, etc. Mr Chairman, most parents send their children to religious classes on a part time basis, particularly those run by the mosques. This is because their children attend secular schools in the morning or the afternoon. Students of secular schools attend these part-time religious classes two or three times a week. They sometimes face problems when they have a lot of homework to do or study after school, especially when the examinations are near. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Muslim Affairs three questions: (1) What are the steps MUIS could take to upgrade the part-time religious education for the benefit of students of our secular schools; (2) What can MUIS do to co-ordinate Islamic religious education in the mosques and madrasahs and other Islamic institutions? (3) What would be the role of Advisory Council on Islamic Religious Education when it is set up?

( In Malay): Sir, I would like to join the Member for Bedok GRC in welcoming the moves made by the Muslim Religious Council (MUIS) to implement some of the provisions of the Administration of Muslim Law Act. The question I would like to ask is considering that these measures will involve the training of religious teachers, what steps are being taken to improve the capabilities, skills and professional standards of the teaching staff of religious schools. (2) What steps are being taken to improve the curriculum of local religious schools? (3) Since only 10% of graduates of these religious schools would have the opportunity to go to university and then to return to serve in positions befitting their skills and qualifications, what steps are being taken to ensure that the resourcs of the rest of the religious school graduates will not be wasted in the labour market? I have been informed that proficiency in English is now emphasized even for undergraduates of the Al-Azhar University. This is a good move. And I would like to suggest that, even at local religious the school level, proficiency in English ought to be enhanced so that religious school graduates could together contribute to greater Islamic knowledge and higher morality among the general student population through a better command of English.

( In Malay): Mr Chairman, I am answering in my capacity as Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs. Mr Chairman, I would first deal with questions on the Islamic Education Unit formed recently by MUIS. At the moment there are 4 full-time madrasahs at primary and secondary levels and 1 full-time madrasah at primary level. In addition, there are part-time madrasahs run by mosques and local Muslim organizations. With regard to part-time madrasahs in the mosques, the syllabi have been standardised since 1984. The common syllabi were formulated by a Coordinating Committee set up by MUIS in 1982, whose membership comprised representative from mosques. As for training, Mr Chairman, I would like to state here that since last year MUIS had embarked on a training programme for religious teachers. For example, 7 religious teachers from Madrasah Aljunied, Madrasah Al-Maarif, Madrasah Alsagoff and Madrasah Wak Tanjong were sent to the Yayasan Islam Kelantan, Nilam Puri, etc, for short training courses. MUIS also conducted three short courses for 110 full-time and part-time religious teachers and administrators. In June last year MUIS organized a course on Upgrading of Teaching Methodology for 36 full-time and part-time religious teachers. Another course on Computer Workshop for Madrasahs, held on 9 December 1988, was attended by 30 full-time and part-time religious teachers and administrators. In March this year, a Seminar on Islamic Education was held and as a follow up to the Seminar, a workshop will be held to discuss the issue further and formulate guidelines and programmes to further improve Islamic Education here. MUIS is also considering a comprehensive training programme for religious teachers which includes courses on principles of education, teaching methodology, child psychology and so on. To assist the Religious Education Unit, MUIS, as mentioned earlier, is also planning to form a special Advisory Committee comprising eminent religious teachers and educationist. Among other things, this Committee will formulate guidelines on the Syllabi for Islamic religious education in Singapore.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $125,710,060 for Head J ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $25,633,680 for Head J ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

Order. It is 4.30 pm. Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Main and Development Estimates for the financial year 1989/90, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.

So be it.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn." - [Mr Wong Kan Seng]. Adjourned accordingly at half-past Four o'clock pm.

asked the Minister for Home Affairs how many foreigners were granted permanent residence and how many permanent residents were granted citizenship in 1987 and 1988.

6,988 and 8,823 foreigners were granted permanent residence in Singapore in 1987 and 1988 respectively. For the corresponding years, 4,607 and 6,298 persons were granted Singapore citizenship. table - ANOMALIES IN TAXES FOR TAXIS AND CARS (Cols. 739 - 740)