Hansard, 1992-02-27

Under the provisions of clause 2(d) of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, the following Members have been granted permission to be or to remain absent from sittings of Parliament (or any Committee of Parliament to which they have been appointed) for the periods stated:- Mr Lim Hng Kiang -- from 20th to 26th January and from 28th February to 6th March, 1992. Mr Tan Soo Khoon -- from 21st to 25th January, from 1st to 3rd March and from 6th to 7th March, 1992. Dr Wong Kwei Cheong -- from 22nd to 25th January, from 20th to 22nd February and from 3rd to 4th March, 1992. Mr Lau Ping Sum -- from 22nd to 25th January and from 15th to 28th February, 1992. Mr Lim Chee Onn -- from 23rd to 25th January, 1992. Mr Chng Hee Kok -- from 23rd to 25th January, 1992. Dr Wang Kai Yuen -- from 27th to 30th January and from 28th February to 2nd March, 1992. Mr Heng Chiang Meng -- from 28th to 29th January, 1992. Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam -- from 30th January to 3rd February, from 2nd to 3rd March and from 10th to 16th March, 1992. Mr Chay Wai Chuen -- from 1st to 7th February and from 16th February to 6th March, 1992. Mr Low Thia Khiang -- from 5th to 12th February, 1992. Encik Yatiman Yusof -- from 5th to 29th February and from 4th to 5th March, 1992. Mr Peh Chin Hua -- from 6th to 9th February, 1992. Mr Charles Chong -- from 8th to 17th February and from 1st to 16th March, 1992. Mr Lim Boon Heng -- from 9th to 20th February, 1992. Encik Sidek bin Saniff -- from 9th to 12th February and from 26th to 28th February, 1992. Mr Lee Yock Suan -- from 9th to 12th February, 1992. Mr Peter Sung -- from 10th to 12th February and from 23rd to 29th February, 1992. Mr Lew Syn Pau -- from 14th to 21st February and from 24th to 27th February, 1992. Mr S. Chandra Das -- from 17th to 21st February, 1992. Mr Teo Chong Tee -- from 17th to 23rd February, 1992. Mr Ong Teng Cheong -- from 24th to 25th February and from 27th to 29th February, 1992. Mr S. Dhanabalan -- from 24th to 25th February, 1992. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon -- from 24th to 27th February, 1992. Mr Zulkifli bin Mohammed -- from 24th to 26th February, 1992. Encik Othman bin Haron Eusofe -- from 24th to 26th February, 1992. Dr John Chen Seow Phun -- from 24th to 26th February, 1992. Mr K. Shanmugam -- on 27th February, 1992. Mr Yeo Toon Chia -- from 27th February to 4th March, 1992. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo -- from 28th February to 7th March, 1992. Mr Lee Kuan Yew -- from 28th February to 6th March, 1992. Mr Bernard Chen -- from 22nd to 27th March, 1992. Mr Davinder Singh -- on 28th February, 1992. TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore

I wish to inform hon. Members that, under the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3) respectively of Standing Order No. 95, I have appointed Mr Bernard Chen to be Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Mr Chew Heng Ching to be Chairman of the Estimates Committee.

asked the Minister for National Development whether the Housing and Development Board will consider reducing the season parking charges in HDB estates for (i) the top level open car parks in multi-storey car parks and (ii) the surface car parks which are located further away from the main HDB estates.

Sir, before I ask my question, may I declare that I am a member of the Housing and Development Board. I am asking this question in the general interest of the public. Question No. 1, Sir.

Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry and the Housing and Development Board are currently reviewing the season parking rates for surface and multi-storey car parks. The review will take into consideration the location and other factors affecting demand for car park lots.

Sir, may I ask the Minister whether, in his review, he is also thinking about the possibility of increasing car park charges which most residents of HDB estates are very concerned about.

Mr Speaker, Sir, we have not come to a decision on that matter. I have stated in the past that car park charges must go up over time. But this particular review is to take into account the location of particular car parks, whether it is in the central area or outside the central area, local demand factors, for example, if the demand is very high in a particular area, the rates obviously should be different from the areas where the demand is low and also the type of facility, whether it is an open surface car park or a covered multi-storey car park. So this particular review is meant to take into account specific locational factors. The present approach is to have more or less an uniform rate regardless of where the car park is.

Sir, would the Minister consider inviting the respective town councils to participate in this review?

We will gather data from various sources, including the town councils. But I am not sure whether we can have a formal review involving all the town councils. I think that will take too long. But certainly the town councils will be consulted when we intend to make big changes.

asked the Minister for National Development whether there are plans to upgrade some facilities in older Housing and Development Board estates to cater to the needs of aging residents.

Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB will be taking the opportunity under its Upgrading and Redevelopment Programmes to improve facilities in the older HDB estates to cater to the needs of the aging residents. Examples of facilities that will be provided under the Upgrading Programme to meet the needs of the aging residents include: (i) provision of external ramps for easy accessibility to the blocks; (ii) creation of more landscaped areas to facilitate social interaction among the older residents. In addition, in some blocks, it would also be feasible to provide lift landings on each floor. As the Upgrading Programme will span a 10-15 year period, certain improvement works might need to be carried out ahead of the normal schedule for the Upgrading Programme. My Ministry is, therefore, considering expanding the scope of the Community Improvement Projects Committee (CIPC) to allow such improvements to be implemented in advance of the Upgrading Programme. In redeveloping older HDB estates, such as Toa Payoh, Bukit Merah and Queenstown, HDB has been adopting a set of comprehensive design guidelines, formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Community Development and other social agencies, and we will design more user-friendly housing blocks and incorporate facilities for older residents. For example, lift landings are provided on every floor in new HDB blocks. Ramps and walkways are also provided, wherever necessary, to facilitate the mobility of the aged and the handicapped.

Sir, will Tiong Bahru Housing Estate, which is the oldest estate, be considered as a priority under this Upgrading Programme?

Mr Speaker, Sir, everybody wants priority. I have said that since the Upgrading Programme will take a long time, we will do some of the other types of works under the CIPC programme. It is entirely up to the MPs to put forward suggestions. They know what is allocated for each constituency. They will have to decide what should come first.

asked the Minister for the Environment whether the policy to permanently ban hawkers, including their assistants and members of their immediate families, from preparing or selling cooked food at any public or private food centres only applies to Newton Food Centre hawkers whose licences have been revoked.

Mr Speaker, Sir, any stallholder who repeatedly harasses or overcharges customers will have his licence revoked. After the revocation, the stallholder will not be allowed to operate in any hawker centre owned by Government and statutory boards. His assistants will also be banned from working in these places. These rules apply only to Government and statutory board hawker centres. My Ministry has a duty to ensure that customers, both locals and tourists, are not harassed or overcharged by unscrupulous hawkers.

Sir, does this mean that they can operate in private food centres?

If there are private outlets willing to employ them, then I say good luck to them.

Why is it necessary for the Ministry to ban or blacklist those hawkers permanently? Is there no other way of getting those hawkers to improve their behaviour such as by counselling or re-education?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I did not say that these hawkers have been permanently banned. They are banned only insofar as Government and statutory board hawker centres are concerned. My answer to Dr Wong Kwei Cheong is sufficient to answer Mr Chin's concern. With regard to counselling, Sir, my Ministry did have several dialogue sessions with the Newton Hawkers' Association to discuss the problem of touting and overcharging by some hawkers in the Centre. The Association agreed with the Ministry's view that action by some errant hawkers may bring disrepute to the Centre concerned. Counselling sessions have also been held, either individually or collectively. During these sessions the hawkers were told to refrain from unscrupulous practices. They were also told in no uncertain terms that if these malpractices persisted, then their licences would be revoked.

Do the "assistants" also include cooks who are not involved in harassing customers?

Mr Speaker, Sir, it can be safely assumed that any employee of a hawker stall will know the tactics employed by the employer, in this case, the licensee. Therefore, if he continues to work for the stall and be party to the malpractices, then he should face the consequences.

Is it not true that these touting activities arise as a direct result of the high take-over rentals of these hawkers from another hawker? They have to get the business to cover their rentals. In the first place, hawkers should not be allowed to sublet or sell their licences for an exorbitant fee in which the hawker taking over must recover those heavy expenses.

I agree with Mr Chiam that it is illegal to sublet or sell the licence to another party. That is why we are very firm with them.

Then why allow them to sublet?

It is not allowed. It is illegal, as I said.

asked the Minister for Education what was the objectives behind his Ministry's pilot project of Preparatory Year courses in primary schools; what was the result of the project; and how much was spent in total.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the objectives of the pilot Preparatory Year project are, firstly, to set a benchmark on the standard of pre-school education for private kindergartens to emulate and, secondly, to develop a well-structured systematic curriculum using multi-media materials and an effective teaching approach which can be adopted by the private kindergartens to provide good pre-school education. The project was generally well received. The teachers found the curriculum to be well structured and systematic. The multi-media materials have helped to make lessons more enjoyable and interesting to the children. The parents were generally satisfied with their children's progress. A total of $1.3 million has been spent on the development of the Preparatory Year instructional packages in four languages, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. This covered manpower cost and the production cost of the trial editions of the PY instructional materials. Production cost for the published editions was met by the co-publisher. These packages as well as the curriculum and teaching methods will benefit many pre-school children when the lessons from the PY project are widely applied. About 5,400 pupils were enroled in the PY project in 1990 and 1991. The schools involved incurred a total operating cost of about $14 million over the two years. This works out to an average cost of about $220 per month per child.

Does the Minister mean that this pilot project is solely for study purposes?

That is the meaning of the words "pilot project". But it may be useful here if I give Members a bit of the background on the history of how this scheme came about. Some Members may recall that in the late 70s many traditional Chinese schools were faced with declining enrolment. The Government therefore introduced pre-primary classes to make work for surplus Chinese language teachers and to arrest the declining enrolment. Despite these measures, the enrolment continued to decline and many of these schools had to close down. A small number of very good Chinese primary schools wanted to teach Chinese at CL1 level. The Government allowed these schools to continue to run their pre-primary classes. They were renamed as Preparatory Year classes and were confined to 10 SAP schools in 1990. The Ministry subsequently decided to use the Preparatory Year programme to develop better materials, curriculum and methods for children of all language streams. The pilot programme was therefore extended on a pilot basis to five more SAP schools and 20 non-SAP schools. The project has provided useful lessons on how to upgrade the kindergartens. It has also generated overwhelming response from parents. Demand for places far exceeds the number available. It is untenable to continue the project on the present scale. To extend the programme to all primary schools is neither cost effective nor practical. The Government has therefore decided to wind up the pilot project and apply the lessons learnt to help upgrade the private kindergartens.

Does the Minister think that it is justifiable, after spending so much money on this pilot project, to again allocate another $4.2 million to the PAP Community Foundation to carry out another similar project?

Mr Speaker, Sir, as I explained, the amount of money spent on this programme is not that big. Actually, it amounts to $1.3 million for the purpose of writing up the new teaching materials, developing the new curriculum, providing new worksheets and teaching methods. This money is not wasted. It can be applied to all the private kindergartens and I expect it will be applied very widely in due course. As for the upgrading of the PAP kindergartens, it is part of the Government's effort to help upgrade private kindergartens. So we should not grudge it and deny our young children the opportunity to learn in a better environment using better methods. It is our intention to continue to upgrade the kindergartens for the benefit of our children.

asked the Minister for Health what is his appraisal of the service level at Alexandra Hospital and whether he is satisfied with the service provided to the public at the present staffing level in the hospital.

Mr Speaker, Sir, Alexandra Hospital (AH) is a medium sized 400-bedded acute general hospital. It has departments of general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics and paediatrics. It also has a 24-hour accident and emergency service. Alexandra Hospital has been able to improve its facilities and level of service in recent years. It is now comparable to the other Government hospitals. Let me list out some of the improvements. Alexandra Hospital now has 89 doctors, compared to only 66 doctors five years ago. This is an increase of over 35%. Patients, especially those with complex medical problems, can now obtain a much higher level of medical care. Alexandra Hospital has a total staff strength of 882, giving a staffing ratio of 2.2 per bed. This is comparable to the other general hospitals as well. The hospital has also been upgrading its equipment and operating systems. It recently installed new X-ray equipment costing $0.5 million. This has resulted in a shorter waiting time for patients. Alexandra Hospital has computerised its patient registration, billing and appointment scheduling. It has also improved its Accident & Emergency and Specialist Outpatient Departments. Sir, all these improvements have enabled Alexandra Hospital to provide a more efficient and faster service to patients. For example, at the A&E Department, 75% of all patients were seen within 53 minutes in 1989. In 1991, this was shortened to only 27 minutes. A&E patients have to generally wait longer in the other hospitals. Similarly, in the Specialist Outpatient Clinics, 75% of all patients are now seen within 40 minutes, compared to 50 minutes in 1989. In the other hospitals, the waiting time varies from 40 to 70 minutes. The median waiting period for patients requesting for an appointment to see a specialist has been reduced from 11 days in 1990 to 3-6 days in 1991. In the other hospitals, the median waiting period varies from 7 to 14 days, which is much longer. Patients are now happier with the medical and nursing care, meals and ward accommodation provided by Alexandra Hospital. Patient surveys show that 74-94% of patients rate these services as excellent or good, compared to only 60-88% in 1987. As a result, more patients are now using Alexandra Hospital. In 1991, the number of hospital admissions increased by 4% to 19,700, while the Specialist Outpatient Clinic attendances increased by 8% to 64,100. Sir, my Ministry is continuing to upgrade Alexandra Hospital. We are now undertaking major physical upgrading works in Alexandra Hospital costing $18.2 million. This will enable us to provide more B2 wards, and better ward facilities. We will upgrade the operating theatres, add a day surgery suite, and expand the Intensive Care Unit. There will also be facilities for geriatric patients. All these will help to improve the level of service to patients in Alexandra Hospital even further.

Sir, would not the Minister agree that if there are reported cases of patients who are prematurely discharged, even in Alexandra Hospital, with all these improvements, there is still room for improvement?

Sir, there is always room for improvement in any hospital. The question is to what extent. Normally, the doctors will vet all patients carefully and ensure that they are suitable for discharge. Of course, patients may prefer to stay longer in the hospital, especially in the Class C wards where the charges are very low, rather than be discharged home or into a nursing home where they may have to pay even more. They will then consider themselves to be prematurely discharged, but actually they are well enough and do not require to be kept in an acute hospital which is really meant to cater for people with acute illnesses.

The following question stood in the name of Mr Lew Syn Pau -- 6. To ask the Minister for Communications whether he will consider changing the basis of computation of road tax for cars and diesel tax for taxis from a monthly to a daily one.

Question No. 6, Sir.

Sir, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Finance have agreed to compute the road tax and diesel tax for all vehicles, including taxis, on a daily instead of monthly basis. This change will result in revenue loss estimated at $2.5 million per annum. The change in the basis of computation requires an amendment to be made to the Customs Act to enable the Minister for Finance to make rules to pro-rate the collection of diesel tax. The Minister for Finance will be introducing a Bill in Parliament soon to amend the Customs Act.

asked the Minister for Communications whether fewer vehicles are entering the Central Business District in the evenings, with the completion of the Central Expressway, and if his Ministry will consider removing the evening Area Licensing Scheme.

Sir, the traffic counts that were conducted by the Public Works Department, before and after the opening of the Central Expressway Tunnels, showed no change in the volume of traffic entering the Restricted Zone during the evening restricted hours between 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm. There is therefore no reason to remove the evening ALS.

Sir, although the Minister said that the study has shown that there is no change in the traffic counts, for people who come in and out of the CBD in the evening, their impression is that there is indeed a lessening of the traffic volume. On that basis, would the Minister consider shortening the hours of the ALS in the evening?

The PWD and the Registry of Vehicles will continue to monitor the traffic situation. So far, the counts which have been done on a random basis show that there is no change in the pattern, but I can assure the Member that we will continue with these investigations into the traffic patterns.

Sir, may I ask the Minister whether his Ministry will also consider taking off the ALS evening restriction for certain periods as a trial to see whether there are any changes actually in the traffic pattern, and whether the evening ALS will be lifted if the traffic is tolerable?

Under special circumstances, the Ministry has actually made certain changes to the evening ALS. In fact, there was a recent case when the eve of the Lunar New Year fell on a Monday which we predicted would have some effect on the pattern of traffic in the evening. And for that reason we did make a special case for removing the evening ALS during that time. But until such special circumstances occur, I see no reason why we need to change a system which has proven effective in controlling congestion, which was the original objective of the evening ALS.

asked the Minister for National Development whether the Housing and Development Board is planning to sell commercial and/or shop units in public housing estates for use as constituency offices of Members of Parliament and/or political parties' branch offices.

Sir, shops in the HDB estates provide goods and services needed by residents. At present, HDB sells new shops in housing estates which are under development. The Planning Authority generally allows these shops to be used for service and retail purposes. MPs can tender for HDB shops and commercial premises for use as MPs' offices if the change of use is approved by the Planning Authority.

Sir, I have two supplementary questions. (1) Can MPs apply to buy shops now before their offices are demolished in September? (2) Will change of use be granted when they purchase these commercial premises?

Sir, MPs can of course bid whenever shops are put out for sale. So they should keep a look out and look at the newspapers. When HDB puts out shops for sale they can make their bids. As to whether change of use would be allowed, this really depends on where the shops are. I would say that in the majority of cases it would be allowed. MPs can always check with the Planning Authority before they make their bid.

asked the Minister for National Development what is the proposed use of the converted space at the void deck of Block 316, Hougang Avenue 7 and when the conversion was completed.

Sir, the conversion of part of the void deck space at Block 316, Hougang Avenue 7 was completed in 1990, at the request of the former Advisor to the Punggol Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC) and the Residents' Committees (RCs). It was to be used as a Senior Citizens' Recreation Centre. It has since been taken up by the present Advisor to the Hougang CCC and RCs for use as a Senior Citizens' Club.

When was the allocation made?

Sir, the allocation was made in November 1991.

Why was the converted space at the void deck left vacant for such a long time? And the HDB suddenly discovers that there is a lack of void deck space after I wrote in on 10th September 1991 to request that the converted space be allocated to me for use as an MP's office.

Sir, as I said, it was converted at the request of the Advisor at that time for use as a recreation centre for the senior citizens. For various reasons, the Advisor then decided to have the centre somewhere else. But it was in fact converted for use by the community. And when the MP asked for the same space to be used as an MP's office, we did not allocate it because, as all MPs know, the provision of MPs' offices by the HDB will terminate in September this year. So there is no point in allocating this space and taking it back again in September if a more permanent use could be found; and we have found a more permanent use. As far as the MP is concerned, we have asked him to identify some void deck space which HDB can convert for temporary use, but it has to be only for temporary use.

Sir, when did the HDB discover that there was insufficient space to build MPs' offices? I understand the HDB made the announcement only after the last elections, and after I wrote in to request for a specific space to be used as an MP's office.

Sir, the decision by the HDB has nothing to do with the MP's request. The question of provision of MPs' offices by HDB has been under consideration for some time, as there is a heavy demand for use of void deck space. Many void decks have to be retained as void decks because, after all, they were built as such for use by the community in general. Some void deck space is converted for use by specific community organisations. Just because there are void decks it does not mean that they can be converted, closed up and residents denied the use of such void decks. The decision was taken that an MP's office is something that cannot be accommodated as it will deprive residents of the use of void deck space. To a very limited extent, we are prepared to convert void deck space for specific community uses, but not for MPs' use. So the policy was under review for quite some time and it was announced after the last elections.

The fact is that the converted space in my constituency has been left vacant for so long and yet the HDB says there is not enough space.

Sir, I do not know what the Member is requesting. HDB has already asked him to identify a void deck space which can be converted very quickly for temporary use. The Member has not responded. Sir, if he wants an office, the offer is there. And whether it is this or some other place, I think that is not material. But a space can be made available up to September 1992.

Sir, would the Minister answer why, even for a temporary space, no toilet could be provided?

I suggest the Member puts in a Question.

The Minister says that there is a heavy demand for void deck space. In the circumstances, are there any HDB guidelines for the use of void deck space? If not, will HDB make such guidelines for future guidance?

Sir, certainly we can make public the guidelines. Void deck space is created basically for residents to interact. They are left open, not enclosed, so that senior citizens, children, and so on can gather and use the space. And as I have explained, to a limited extent, we are prepared to enclose the void deck space for use by various community organisations. But there has to be a limit to such conversion. HDB has come to the conclusion that the use of void deck space as MP's office cannot really be justified, because this would mean a further encroachment into the void deck space that has to be left open for residents to use.

Mr Speaker, Sir, would the Minister tell us how big is an MP's office, vis-a-vis the available void deck space at the estate?

I do not have the details, Mr Speaker, Sir. But I am sure the Member knows. I think it is about 300 or 400 sq feet. It is equivalent to two 3-room units. That is the general average space of an MP's office. What was the second question?

What is the percentage vis-a-vis the available void deck area?

I cannot give you the answer off-hand.

If you are talking about constraints of space, what does it mean that there is not enough space?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I have already said that I am prepared to make available the guidelines. We must get the starting point very clear. Void deck space is meant for use by residents in general, without being enclosed. So the very fact that we are prepared to enclose void deck space means we are departing from the primary purpose of providing the void deck space. We would like to keep such conversion to the minimum and leave as much void deck space open for residents to use.

Is the Minister not saying that MP's office will also serve the residents?

The straight answer to the question, Mr Speaker, Sir, is that we do not think the conversion of void deck space into MP's office can be justified.

asked the Minister for Community Development whether a void deck community centre will be provided at Simei New Town.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am answering this question as Deputy Chairman of the People's Association. There are no plans at present to build a void deck community centre at Simei New Town.

asked the Minister for Information and the Arts what is the status of the project to build a branch Library at Yishun.

Mr Speaker, Sir, MITA is undertaking a major review of the long-term role of the National Library. The review will study the number, size and location of public libraries that will be needed for the next ten years. Mr Tan Chin Nam, the Chairman of the National Computer Board, has agreed to chair a Library 2000 Review Committee. In the past, our policy for the construction of libraries was based on simple population norms. With the increasing use of information technology in libraries, with changing lifestyles, higher expectations and more variegated needs of the community, it is necessary to review this basis. Building huge branch libraries, each catering to a population of 200,000 may no longer be the best way to meet the library and information needs of our society. Pending the recommendations of the Review Committee, all plans for the building of new branch libraries are suspended with the exception of Tampines Branch Library, work on which has already been tendered out.

asked the Minister for Communications whether the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation will consider constructing a sound-proof shelter to combat the unacceptable level of noise pollution created by its trains passing by the residential blocks of flats in Simei New Town.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the noise levels of passing trains throughout the MRT system are generally within the guideline recommended by the Ministry of the Environment. This guideline is comparable to the noise standards that are adopted by other countries which have MRT systems. At Simei, recent measurements by the Ministry of the Environment showed that the noise levels meet this guideline at the noisiest stretch which is also near the Pan-Island Expressway. Building sound-proof shelters will not eliminate the noise completely. With its high capital and maintenance cost, sound-proof shelters are also not the most cost-effective way of reducing the noise. SMRT will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the noise emission is kept as low as possible. Where necessary, they will take remedial steps to reduce this noise by grinding the rails and maintaining the wheel profiles of the trains frequently.

Sir, I just want to get the Minister to name the level of noise which is within the Ministry of the Environment's guideline?

Sir, the standard that is set by the Ministry of the Environment is 67 dBA over an hour.

"to provide for the confiscation of benefits derived from drug trafficking and for purposes connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Home Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to amend the Wills Act (Chapter 352 of 1985 Revised Edition) to provide for the formal validity of wills and to restrict the operation of section 9 of that Act", presented by the Minister for Law (Prof. S. Jayakumar); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to amend the Limitation Act (Chapter 163 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by Prof. Jayakumar; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to amend the Trustees Act (Chapter 337 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by Prof. Jayakumar; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by Prof. Jayakumar; read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to amend the Customs Act (Chapter 70 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for Finance (Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to establish the Nanyang Polytechnic and for matters connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Education (Mr Lee Yock Suan); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to establish the National Council of Social Service and for matters connected therewith, and to repeal the Singapore Council of Social Service Act (Chapter 299 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister for Community Development (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

"to reconstitute the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore and to provide for the transfer of its property, rights and liabilities to successor companies, to make financial arrangements for those companies and to provide for the sale of their shares, and to repeal the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act (Chapter 323 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister for Communications (Mr Mah Bow Tan); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.

Order for Second Reading read. 1.12 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The responsibilities and activities of the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR) this year have expanded since the Institute was established in October 1973. To help industries meet the changing demands of the local and overseas markets, SISIR has stepped up its programme in technology transfer and industrial R&D, and internationalised its standardisation and quality assurance activities. Thus, the main purpose of this Bill is to amend the SISIR Act to reflect the extended role of the Institute and to empower it to meet industry's new demands for technological infrastructure. Section 15 of the Act which lists the powers and duties of the Institute is amended to specify more clearly that the two main functions of SISIR are, firstly, to promote the safety, quality and efficiency of products and processes in industry for local and international markets through standardisation, certification, quality management and the use of technology; and, secondly, to promote and undertake industrial research and development for the creation of new industries, the development of existing industries, and the improvement and introduction of technical skills and technology in industry. A new section 15A separately sets out the Institute's powers and duties in carrying out these two main functions. These powers and duties reflect SISIR's expanded role in industrial R&D and standardisation. Specific provisions are made to allow the introduction of schemes of standardisation and certification, such as the Singapore Quality Mark, the Good Manufacturing Practice Mark, the SISIR ISO 9000 Certification Scheme and the Singapore Laboratory Accreditation Scheme Mark, and other new schemes that SISIR may introduce in the future to support its mission. A provision is also included to enable SISIR to form companies and enter into joint ventures for the purpose of commercialising its R&D results and, where appropriate, to spin off certain services to the private sector in order to subject them to the discipline of the marketplace. The opportunity is also taken to update the Act to bring it in line with that of other statutory boards and to provide for greater administrative flexibility. Part of section 2 and all of sections 5 to 10 of the Act, which refer to the constitution and proceedings of the Institute, have been reorganised as the First Schedule to govern the constitution and proceedings of the Institute. Amendments are introduced to provide greater administrative flexibility to members of the Institute. This is in line with the flexibility given to other statutory boards. The present provision under section 24(3) restricts SISIR by allowing investment in accordance with the law regulating the investment of trust funds only. This is amended to enable money belonging to the Institute to be invested in such securities as trustees may be authorised to invest or, with the written approval of the Minister, in any other securities or investments. The amendment would give the Institute greater flexibility and scope in investment while, at the same time, ensuring adequate safeguards. Currently, there is no provision in the SISIR Act to give the Institute exclusive right to the use of its symbol and to impose a penalty on those who violate this principle. As the SISIR symbol increasingly represents to the public an assurance of good quality, we need to guard against anyone being misled by improper use of the symbol. A new section 33 is therefore introduced to provide for a maximum penalty of $2,000 for misuse of SISIR's symbol. For similar reasons, there is a need to update the maximum penalties imposed for improper use of any of the SISIR marks. Section 43 has been amended to increase the maximum penalty from $10,000, which was introduced in 1973, to $50,000. This penalty will now also apply to persons who forge or, without lawful authority, alter a test report or certificate issued by SISIR. The general penalty for contravening any provisions of this Act or any regulations made under it has also been revised from $2,000 to $5,000. Section 28 is amended to expand SISIR's power to raise loans, including temporary loans and overdrafts, to provide for greater flexibility in view of the Institute's extended role. The existing sections 25 and 29 to 32 governing the manner and procedures by which the Institute's audit of accounts and financial statements should be presented are amended to incorporate the standard requirements on audit matters as stipulated by the Auditor-General for all statutory boards. These are reorganised as a new Second Schedule. It is intended that the amendments come into operation with immediate effect. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to take this opportunity to seek a few points of clarification from the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry on this Amendment Bill. First, I must commend the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR) for having, since its formation in 1973, successfully fulfilled its mandate, which is to maintain and upgrade the standards of industrial products of Singapore. The Minister mentioned that one of the functions of SISIR is to promote quality of our products and processes through quality management. Here, I wish to declare my interest, Sir, as Chairman of the Singapore Quality Institute (SQI) which is a professional body established since 1973 as well -- same year as SISIR. The objective of the Institute is to promote and advance the interests of Quality Control (QC) professionals in Singapore. I wish to ask the Minister what are SISIR's plans with regard to quality promotion in Singapore. More specifically, what role would SISIR play in quality promotion vis-a-vis other organisations such as the National Productivity Board which is also very active in quality promotion. The second aspect I wish to ask the Minister is on the financial policy of SISIR. As mentioned in the Chairman's message in SISIR's 1990/91 Annual Report, it was stated that SISIR's revenue from services provided rose 14% to $26.5 million and I quote, "placing SISIR well in sight of its goal of making its cost-recoverable activities fully self-financing". Sir, in accordance with our most extolled "no subsidy" policy, that means no free lunches, this statement in fact is a laudable one. However, technology advances rapidly. The costs of some latest measuring and investigative equipment can be very exorbitant, but they are also very necessary for conduct of certain industrial research. Under such circumstances, the concept of full-cost recovery against the capital cost may be too high a cost-burden on the users, which are mostly the local industries. Perhaps, the Minister can throw some light on the policy of SISIR. The worry of local industries is that the charges set by SISIR on the use of SISIR's facilities, and compliance with SISIR's various standardisation and certification requirements may add too heavy a cost burden that their products become less price-competitive. In addition, these industries may be discouraged to undertake new product developments if the base cost of conducting industrial research becomes too high. Sir, may I voice my support for the Bill and request the Minister for his explanation?

Sir, may I also be allowed to seek some clarifications from the Minister. I think SISIR's policy of getting full cost recovery does hurt local businessmen and also Town Councils. Our Town Council happened to send some paint to SISIR for testing and we were given a hefty bill of, I think, over $10,000. Fortunately, it was not paid by us. It was paid by the contractors. But SISIR should review its policy in respect of testing. It should try to reduce its costs and not to get back quickly all its cost on capital equipment. As I look through the powers of SISIR, I note that under the new section 15A(n), SISIR is allowed to "form or participate in the formation of a company or companies and enter into any joint venture or partnership for the purposes of this Act". Would this power not be a conflict of interest with SISIR? SISIR is given a lot of articles, commodities, technical goods for testing, and probably they will know much of the specification and also of the possible technical secrets that are in the product. Would it not be tempted, if the product is a viable one, to use it for its own ends, form a company and market those products? There should be a clause which says that SISIR should be prevented from getting inside knowledge, so to say, for its own use. This would give confidence to the users of SISIR. Perhaps the Minister could look into this point.

Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first point raised by the Member for Thomson GRC which is on SISIR's efforts in promoting quality, this is an on-going effort. It is not something which SISIR will do as and when it feels the need. But right now, every month, SISIR meets different industry sectors. They are invited by SISIR and they are given an explanation of what SISIR does and especially on the importance of ISO 9000 Certification Scheme. In addition to this, SISIR also produces brochures and pamphlets and these are distributed to industries - some of them through the Singapore Manufacturers' Association (SMA), some through the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ASME). SISIR also conducts courses on quality and these are open to public application. Additionally, SISIR also undertakes consultancy work for any company that requires expert advice or work on quality improvement. As part of its work to promote quality consciousness among the industries in Singapore, SISIR will be organising a Global Quality Congress in June this year and I hope that Mr Leong, in his capacity as Chairman of SQI, would also encourage his members to take part in this Congress. On the second question, which is also Mr Chiam's first question, on the self-financing principle of SISIR, I must say that SISIR's work is still very much subsidised in respect of quality and quality-promotion. The $10 million annual grant which SISIR gets from the Government is spent in this area. But for industrial research, which is meant for commercial application, the fact that SISIR has all this equipment actually lowers the cost to the individual company. So this is, in fact, a great help to the small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore. If they have to purchase expensive equipment, then I think the cost for entering into new private development would be exorbitant, if not prohibitive. I think the fears expressed about the high costs of SISIR may be unfounded. But should companies find that they require additional financial assistance, apart from the lowering of cost by using SISIR's schemes, then they can apply for other forms of assistance. There are many schemes which are administered by the Economic Development Board. And in Mr Chiam's case, it is up to his contractors to see whether the particular project would have fallen under any of these schemes. With regard to the question of possible conflict of interest, it is not SISIR's primary goal to enter into business. It does so in order to assist industries, and, as I mentioned in my speech, SISIR enters into this in order to set up new industries and to spin them off into the private sector. In fact, SISIR has got what is called the "incubator scheme" whereby promising entrepreneurs can take advantage of this scheme, ie, do the R&D in SISIR and once the project gets underway, goes out on its own; and indeed one such case, which I may quote, is Eutech Cybernetics which is a team of lecturers from the NUS who saw a market niche for themselves, took advantage of SISIR's "incubator scheme", got SISIR to participate in the equity and after the product is successfully launched, the company is financially viable, the company bought back the equity from SISIR. So the Member can be assured that it is not the intention of SISIR to compete with industries but to assist industries. Mr Chiam See Tong rose ---

Mr Chiam, the debate is over. What is it that you want to raise?

Sir, I just want a clarification from the Minister. If that is the objective of SISIR - not to compete with local industries - is the Minister willing to recommend that the objective in new section 15A(n) be deleted? Then I think the business and commercial people in Singapore would feel very much safer to send their products to SISIR for testing.

Mr Speaker, Sir, new section 15A(n) specifically says that the formation of such companies is for the specific purpose of this Act, and the mission of SISIR has been redefined, which is very clear. The discussion today makes it very clear that it is not the intention of SISIR to compete with industries.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Lim Boon Heng]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read. 1.31 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Sir, with the enactment of the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act (Cap. 310) in 1970, public buses on scheduled routes and several public places were specified as places where smoking was prohibited. The prohibition protects non-smokers who are the majority population against the health hazards of environmental tobacco smoke and passive smoking. Under the Bill which seeks to repeal and reenact the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act, the Minister may prohibit smoking in all public service vehicles such as taxis and buses, hired or chartered to transport school children and office or factory workers. It will also be an offence if a manager of a specified building or an operator of a specified vehicle fails to ask a person found smoking within the specified premises or vehicle to stop smoking immediately, or to ask that person to leave if the person continues to smoke. The manager or operator is also duty bound to seek the assistance of a police officer or a public health officer if the smoker refuses to leave the premises or vehicle. The maximum penalty for an offence under the Act will be raised from $500 to $1,000. Sir, the Bill presented before Parliament seeks to enable the Government to provide further protection to non-smokers. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to express my support for the Bill governing the prohibition of smoking in certain places. The primary objective of this legislation is to protect the health of non-smokers. In this regard, would the Minister tell us how many people have been caught violating the existing smoking prohibition, say, for the past five years, where these offences were committed, how they were caught and whether the Ministry had to step up its level of enforcement over the same period? The answers to these questions would help us assess the effectiveness of the legislation and thereby help us to improve it. One of the important amendments in this Bill before us is to impose a duty on a manager of a specified place or an operator of a specified public service vehicle to help in enforcing the law. The provisions, I believe, will be effective in curbing smoking activities in these places. At the same time, these provisions are fair, because they never require the manager or the operator to immediately report to the authority once they discover that a person smokes in a specified place or vehicle. Instead, they require them to first inform the offender of the law and ask such person to cease smoking or to leave the place. Only when these actions fail that they are required to seek the assistance of the authority. Sir, the Bill also enables the Minister to prohibit smoking in specified public service vehicles. May I ask the Minister what vehicles he intends to gazette soon after the passing of this Bill and whether such vehicles also cover passenger aircraft, sea craft and tourist coaches? Sir, this legislation is part of our anti-smoking campaign. It therefore also serves to send a strong signal to smokers that smoking is no good because it harms both the smokers and those who are around. It would be interesting to know just what percentage of the population actually smokes, say, for the last five years and how much has the figure dropped since the Government stepped up its anti-smoking campaign. In fact, one of my friends who is a smoker told me that he was in favour of these prohibition measures because they had helped him to cut down on his smoking. I am pleased to note that we are amending the requirements on signs to inform the public of smoking prohibition so that the wording can be toned down and made to sound less harsh. I feel that many people nowadays would agree that it is far preferable to be exhortative and educational in the tone that we adopt, rather than threatening and severe. Sir, I support the Bill.

Sir, I support the amendments, but I have some points to clarify with the Minister. (1) Why are cinemas and theatres within private clubs no longer to be exempted from the prohibition on smoking? (2) What is the present law on the prohibition of smoking in taxis and buses, and what changes will the Bill make to the present law? (3) What are the problems encountered by managers of specified buildings in implementing the no-smoking rule?

Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to thank Dr John Chen and Mr Chin Harn Tong for speaking in support of the Bill. Before I answer Dr Chen's question on how many offenders under the present Act have been prosecuted, I would like to take this opportunity to explain to Dr Chen and this House how effective the present legislation has been in bringing about a smoke-free environment in specified places. Sir, overall, smokers are observing the no-smoking rule rather well, especially in such places as airconditioned restaurants, airconditioned departmental stores and supermarkets, lifts, medical clinics, hospitals and cinemas. We owe this success to the peer pressure from the non-smokers as well as the cooperation of the management of these premises. However, in places such as billiard saloons and bowling alleys, the situation is not as good. 75% of all offences on smoking are committed in billiard saloons and bowling alleys. The managements of billiard saloons and bowling alleys must therefore exercise greater responsibilities towards their non-smoking customers. Dr John Chen also wants to know about the profile of smokers in Singapore. Unfortunately, the statistics of the profile of smokers in Singapore are kept by the Ministry of Health. I must say that the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act may have inconvenienced some smokers, but I do not think it has reached a point to cause them to cut down their smoking or even to give up smoking entirely, except perhaps for Dr John Chen's friend who, I am happy to know, has found that this particular Act has prompted him to give up smoking. On the subject of reducing the number of smokers in Singapore, I believe the Government has an on-going programme to warn the smokers on the harmful effects of cigarettes and also to advise them on how to give up smoking. This is the national smoking control programme organised and administered by the Ministry of Health. Dr Chen also wants to know the list of vehicles my Ministry intends to gazette for which smoking is prohibited with the enactment of the new Bill. Sir, he may be pleased to know that the following public service vehicles as defined under the Road Traffic Act will be gazetted as specified vehicles where smoking is prohibited: (i) Private buses hired for the transportation of workers, including company buses, used for the transportation of its employees; (ii) School buses, taxis, regardless of whether they are airconditioned or not; (iii) Omnibuses or public buses on scheduled services. This last category of vehicles is already being gazetted under the existing law. If I may now turn to the queries raised by Mr Chin Harn Tong. Firstly, he wants to know why the current exemption on the prohibition of smoking for cinemas and theatres in private clubs is removed from the Bill. Sir, the existing exemption for cinemas and theatres in private clubs was included in the Act when it was first introduced in 1970. With this exemption in place, the smoking prohibition rule would not apply even if a cinema or a theatre in a private club is in fact accessible to the public. So this is an anomaly, Sir, and one of the objectives of the Bill before the House is to address this anomaly. With the removal of the exemption, the smoking prohibition law will apply to cinemas and theatres in private clubs for as long as they are accessible to the public. But if these facilities are used only by members of the club and their guests, the law will not apply. Next, Mr Chin wants to know the current legislation on the prohibition of smoking in taxis and buses and the changes that will be made with the enactment of this Bill. Let me deal with taxis first. Under the existing legislation, a taxi driver is not allowed to smoke in his taxi regardless of whether the taxi is airconditioned or not. On the other hand, passengers in a non-airconditioned taxi are allowed to smoke while those in airconditioned taxis are not allowed to smoke. These rules are clearly spelt out under the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Rules of 1976 which are currently being administered by the Registrar of Vehicles. As far as buses are concerned, the driver, the conductor and passengers in a public bus on a scheduled route are not allowed to smoke regardless of whether the bus is airconditioned or not. This prohibition is made under the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act administered by the Ministry of the Environment. So with the enactment of this Bill, smoking will be prohibited in taxis, airconditioned or otherwise, and all public buses which will include those that are hired or chartered to transport school children, office or factory workers. Lastly, Mr Chin wants to know the problems encountered by managers of specified buildings in which smoking prohibition law applies. If the managers of specified premises in which the smoking prohibition law applies want to act, I do not think they will face real difficulty in explaining the law and requesting their customers to extinguish the cigarettes. If in the event that they do come across a very difficult customer, they can always contact the police or the Environment Ministry for assistance. It is usually the reluctance on the part of the managers to act that becomes a problem. And managers are reluctant to act not so much out of fear of intimidation or reprisals, but because they are just not willing to offend the customers for reasons of future patronage. So I would like to stress that managers of such premises, and indeed operators of vehicles, where the law applies, have a responsibility to the comfort and well-being of their non-smoking customers. With the enactment of this Bill, managers will be duty bound to act against those who smoke within their premises or inside the vehicles, as the case may be. Dr Tan Cheng Bock rose ---

Sorry, the debate is over.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Ahmad Mattar]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read. 1.45 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Sir, this Bill was originally introduced last year in July, but it lapsed due to the dissolution of Parliament, and I have re-introduced it. Sir, the Bill is to amend the Legal Profession Act to clarify the position of foreign lawyers appearing in arbitration proceedings. Why is this clarification necessary? In the local case of Turner (East Asia) Pte Ltd v Builders Federal (Hong Kong) Ltd & Anor, which I will refer to it as the Turner's case, the Singapore High Court ruled in 1988 that foreign lawyers are prohibited from appearing in arbitration proceedings in Singapore where a dispute in Singapore involved questions of law and legal rights and obligations by virtue of sections 29 and 30 (which are now renumbered sections 32 and 33) of the Legal Profession Act. The Court's decision was based on the ground that these provisions of the Legal Profession Act provided that only practising Singapore advocates and solicitors can practise law or act as agent to a party in proceedings, which the Court interpreted to include arbitration proceedings. The Turner's case has attracted considerable local and international publicity and attention. It has given rise to both speculation and uncertainty as to the participation of foreign lawyers in international arbitrations held in Singapore. For example, one international journal (International Financial Review) reported after this decision, and I quote: "Singapore is no longer a place for international arbitration since its High Court removed the right of foreign counsel to appear in arbitral proceedings ...". Sir, in some other jurisdictions, arbitration proceedings are considered to be outside the scope of legal proceedings. In Malaysia, subsequent to the Turner's case, the Malaysian High Court in 1990 ruled in the opposite direction by deciding that American lawyers are entitled to appear in arbitration proceedings. I do not want to go into the legal merits of the Turner's case. But it is not in our interest that this uncertainty be allowed to remain. Whether the case was rightly decided or not, it has the unintended adverse effects on the commercial reputation of Singapore as a centre for international arbitrations. The Singapore International Arbitration Centre was set up in July 1991 to boost Singapore's status as an international trading and business centre. It is the third Asian country to set up such a body. The other two centres in Asia are Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Both these countries allow foreign lawyers to appear in arbitration proceedings. Furthermore, in the Asia-Pacific region alone, there are several other international arbitration centres such as Australia, Los Angeles and Vancouver, all competing for such international arbitral business. Hence, it is necessary to amend the Legal Profession Act to overcome the effects of Turner's case and to enable the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to be as competitive as the other centres. I might add, Sir, that in the Commonwealth Common Law jurisdiction we are the other country which does not allow foreign lawyers to appear in arbitration proceedings. The Bill before the House will amend the Legal Profession Act to insert a new section 34A to provide that the exclusive right of practising Singapore advocates and solicitors to practise law and act as an agent in legal proceedings will not apply to arbitration where the law applicable to the dispute is foreign law. If the applicable law is Singapore law, foreign lawyers can still appear in arbitration proceedings if they appear jointly with a local practising advocate and solicitor. This requirement of appearing jointly gives flexibility to enable the client and the lawyers to decide whether the foreign lawyer is assisted by, or is to assist, the local lawyer. If Singapore law is the applicable law, then Singapore lawyers must be involved because logic and reason require this of us. This requirement of jointly appearing also acts as a safeguard as the local lawyer can advise the foreign lawyer on aspects of the local law which the foreign lawyer may not have expertise or sufficient expertise. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Sir, I support the Bill. Sir, it is a good thing that Turner's case came to court because it helped us focus attention on the provisions of the Legal Profession Act. Before Turner's case, there was some uncertainty as to whether foreign lawyers could come into Singapore and conduct arbitration proceedings on behalf of clients in Singapore. Turner's case said that the Act, as drafted, prohibited this and therefore this amendment to the Act. Why this amendment is logical and makes sense is that if we want to improve or project ourselves as a first rate financial centre in the world, or at least in this region, we must provide a one-stop service to the multi-national corporations, to the banks and financial institutions. At the moment, before this Bill is passed, companies can come into Singapore, enter into agreements, provide for arbitration, but the moment there is a dispute and they want to arbitrate, they have to get out of the country and fight the case if they want foreign lawyers to represent them as opposed to lawyers who are admitted to the roll in Singapore. What this does is to make it easier and to provide an overall package, as it were, to these foreign companies. While they can provide for arbitra-tion in their agreements, they can also conduct these arbitrations in Singapore in our new Singapore International Arbitration Centre. They can also bring in foreign lawyers to run these arbitrations provided that the law governing the dispute is not Singapore law. I also welcome in this regard the safeguard where, if the law governing the dispute is Singapore law, there must be someone competent or knowledgeable in Singapore law sitting with the foreign lawyer to run the arbitration. Having said that, Sir, I would like to know from the Minister whether he has sought the views of the Law Society for the reason that this amendment would certainly impact on lawyers generally in Singapore, and I wonder what the Law Society's views on these amendments are.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mr Davinder Singh for his support of the Bill. With respect to his specific question, last year I did have more than one round of informal consultations with the President of the Law Society and some of his Council members and other lawyers. I would sum up these informal consultations as follows: They have no problems with foreign lawyers appearing in arbitration where the applicable law is not Singapore law, but they would have some reservations for the appearance of foreign lawyers when it comes to arbitrations where the applicable law is Singapore law. One could perhaps say, from the viewpoint of the practising lawyers in Singapore, that their reservations are understandable. But from the viewpoint of Government, and indeed of Parliament, we should look at arbitrations not as the exclusive turf of any particular profession, but in the context of developing Singapore as an international financial and business centre. And as I pointed out just now, this international arbitration business is highly competitive. There are many other centres which are trying to get the same business. We in Singapore are the only country in the Commonwealth Common Law jurisdiction where we do not allow foreign lawyers to appear in arbitrations. The approach in the Bill has been crafted quite carefully and we have not overlooked the interest of Singapore lawyers. In fact, we could have taken a completely different approach. For example, the approach in England where anyone, including a non-lawyer, can appear in arbitration proceedings, whether the law applicable is English law or French law or whatever. We have taken an approach where the law applicable is Singapore law, there must be a Singapore lawyer involved, but we leave some area of flexibility for the client to decide which should be the precise role of the foreign lawyer vis-a-vis the Singapore lawyer. But what I wish to stress is that we must view international arbitration in Singapore in the context of developing our country as a financial international centre. As Mr Davinder Singh quite correctly pointed out, why should an international multi-national corporation or bank or financial institution which has an arbitration want to choose Singapore as a location? Or why would anyone agree to a clause in a contract providing that Singapore be the location or that the applicable law of the arbitration in the arbitral clause be Singapore law when they know in advance that they cannot bring their desired lawyer, whether he is a European, American or whatever, to appear before them in such arbitration proceedings? That is the nub of the question, Sir.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Prof. Jayakumar]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Bill seeks to create a Government Securities Fund which would be used to account for all future loan proceeds raised through the issue of Government securities, other than those for financing development projects. Under the present system, Government's domestic borrowings are all carried out under the Development Loan Act through the issue of Government securities. These borrowings, mainly from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, are credited to the Development Fund and used to finance Government's development expenditure. The moneys standing to the credit of the Development Fund are invested, with the income credited back to the Fund. The investment income attributable to the Fund is sufficient to meet debt servicing charges. However, under current legal and accounting arrangements, the debt servicing on these borrowings must be charged to the Consolidated Fund. This arrangement has created unnecessary demands on the Consolidated Fund. The volume of domestic borrowings has been maintained over the years. But not all the proceeds were needed to finance Government development expenditure. This is because a substantial portion of such expenditure has been funded through annual operating surpluses. This has led to a build-up in the Development Fund, as the moneys in the Fund can only be used for development expenditure and cannot be used for any other purpose. In addition, when the Government Securities Market was launched, the proceeds from the issue of Government securities were similarly channelled to the Development Fund while the debt servicing costs were charged to the Consolidated Fund. To resolve these problems, it is necessary to rationalise the accounting treatment of future Government borrowings from the CPF Board and the Government Securities Market. In this regard, it is proposed that a Government Securities Fund be created to account for all future borrowings, other than those for financing development projects, raised through the issue of Government securities. Following the current practice, the Monetary Authority of Singapore will be authorised to act as the agent of the Minister for Finance in raising loans through the issue of Government securities. The proceeds from the issue of Government securities will be credited to the Government Securities Fund. The moneys standing to the credit of the Fund will be invested and the resultant income used to meet the debt servicing cost and other related expenditure of the Fund. There will be a safeguard whereby any deficiency in the Government Securities Fund will be met from the Consolidated Fund. This will ensure that loans raised under the Government Securities Fund will be as secure as those raised under the Development Loan Act. In the event that it is necessary in the future for Government to borrow in order to finance new development projects, the borrowing will continue to be carried out under future authorisation in the Development Loan Act and not under the Government Securities Fund. Among other things, the Bill also provides for the following: (a) The requirement of a parliamentary resolution for the maximum amount which the Government could borrow through the issue of Government securities. (b) The accounting requirements for the loan proceeds, investment income, debt servicing charges and other related expen-ses. (c) The procedures relating to the payment of interest, redemption of Government securities and the creation of a sinking fund. (d) The prescription of regulations setting out the terms of issue of Government securities. Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 1992 gives legislative effect to the income tax changes announced in the 1991 Budget Statement and nine other tax changes not announced in that Statement. One of the tax incentives announced was to allow tax exemption on dividends paid out of foreign income. Under our current tax laws, Singapore tax paid by a company will be imputed to its shareholders upon payment of dividends. However, the tax to be imputed to its shareholders must have already been paid by the company. If the income of the company has not been subject to full Singapore tax, the company will not be able to distribute the entire income as dividends without incurring additional tax. This would happen in the case of foreign income remitted to Singapore where a foreign tax credit has been given against Singapore tax payable. To resolve the problem, I have announced that dividends paid out of foreign income, for which there is insufficient franking credit due to the foreign tax credit given, will be exempt from further Singapore tax with effect from Year of Assessment 1992. Clause 5 inserts a new section 13E to provide for tax exemption on dividends paid out of foreign income. Another incentive introduced was to develop Singapore into an international maritime centre and to encourage major international shipowners to locate in Singapore. The income of an approved international shipping enterprise derived from the operations of non-Singapore flag ships outside Singapore will be exempt from tax with effect from 1st April 1991. Dividends declared out of such income will be exempt from tax. Clauses 3 and 5 insert new section 13(1)(o) and 13F and clause 2 amends section 10(4) to provide for this incentive. Currently, tax deduction is only allowed for specific provisions for bad and doubtful debt. To further encourage banks to maintain adequate provisions to cushion themselves against unforeseen losses in their loan and investment portfolios and thus promote the overall soundness and stability of our financial system, I have announced that with effect from Year of Assessment 1992, general provisions made by banks and merchant banks will be tax deductible. Clause 7 inserts a new section 14I to provide for this change. At present, approved securities companies and banks are taxed at a concessionary rate of 10% on their income from financial trustee activities. To develop Singapore further as a centre for international trustee activities for investments in the regional financial markets, I have announced that the 10% concessionary rate will be extended to cover income derived by Approved Trust Companies from providing specified trustee services to non-residents. This will take effect from the Year of Assessment 1992. Clause 11 inserts a new section 43J to provide for this extension of the incentive. To reward effort and enterprise, I have announced a 5% one-off and across-the-board rebate on personal income tax payable for Year of Assessment 1991. Clause 20 provides for this rebate. To encourage families to care for their aged and handicapped dependants, a relief of $3,500 is currently available to a taxpayer who maintains his aged dependants, handicapped children and siblings. This relief is now extended to include support of a handicapped spouse with effect from the Year of Assessment 1992. For purpose of claiming handicapped spouse relief, the handicapped spouse is not required to stay in the same household as the taxpayer as a person has the legal obligation to provide for the maintenance of his spouse, regardless of where the spouse stays. Such residential requirement is currently imposed for claiming the relief for the aged dependants, handicapped children and siblings. However, in recognition that such dependants may require institutional medical care, it is proposed that the residential requirement be liberalised also for claiming the relief for aged dependants, handicapped children and siblings. Hence, with effect from the Year of Assessment 1992, the taxpayer may claim tax relief for supporting his aged or handicapped dependants who are confined to hospitals or nursing homes on medical grounds, provided that their doctors certify that they are in need of such institutional care. Clause 10 amends section 39 to give effect to these changes. To encourage a self-employed person to save more to provide for his own needs when he retires, Government has allowed tax deduction for his voluntary contributions to the Central Provident Fund, subject to a limit. I have announced that the limit for the tax deduction for Year of Assessment 1992 will be raised to 16 1/2% of assessable income from self-employment, subject to a maximum of $11,880. The previous limit was 15% of assessable income, subject to a maximum of $10,800. Clause 10 amends section 39 to increase the limit for such tax deduction. I shall now deal with the other nine tax changes not announced in the 1991 Budget Statement. Six of the amendments are necessary to fine tune the existing provisions in our tax legislation. The remaining three are consequential amendments needed as a result of our tax incentive for services provided by Trust Companies; tax deduction for general provisions made by banks; and deductions allowed in respect of an employer's contributions to an approved fund. The first tax change relates to the waiver of small assessments. Currently, section 73A of the Income Tax Act empowers the Comptroller to waive assessments where the amount of tax does not exceed $5. This waiver limit is now revised upwards to $15. Clause 15 amends section 73A such that the Minister will be given the discretion to vary the limit periodically via subsidiary legislation in response to changes in the cost of assessment. The second amendment relates to the recovery of penalties. It is expressly provided in section 33 of the Limitation Act that recovery of tax and interest on the tax will not be subject to the limitation of time in the Act. However, the sum imposed on non-payment of tax is currently defined as "penalty" under the Income Tax Act. As a result, recovery of such interest penalty is subject to the limitation period of one year. To remove the anomaly, clause 19 amends section 98A of the Income Tax Act to treat the penalty interest as if it is interest on tax for the purpose of the Limitation Act. This will enable the sums imposed on outstanding tax on or after 1st January 1992 to be recoverable in the same manner as the tax due. The next amendment relates to the submission of Income Tax Returns by a specified date. At present, Income Tax Returns are sent by ordinary post to all taxpayers at the beginning of each year and taxpayers are required to submit their returns within 21 days from the postmark date. For taxpayers who have not submitted their returns by the due date, a second return has to be issued as a reminder by AR Registered post. Over the last three years, the number of AR Registered returns sent has increased from 242,000 to 330,000. This represents about 30% of total individual taxpayers. Paying taxes is a social obligation of every citizen. Taxpayers in developed countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, are required to submit their Income Tax Returns by a fixed date. To promote greater social responsibility among taxpayers in filing their returns, it is proposed that all individual taxpayers be required to submit their Income Tax Returns by a date to be specified in the Gazette. This will be 15th April of each year. Subsequent to this, IRD will no longer issue AR Registered returns to taxpayers. The amendment will in fact provide greater convenience to taxpayers who are not at home to receive the registered mail. Also many taxpayers would not have received their statements of remuneration from their employers by the first two months of the year. The new gazetted deadline of 15th April will now allow taxpayers sufficient time to prepare their returns. Clauses 13, 14 and 18 amend section 63(1), section 71(1), section 94(2) of the Income Tax Act to provide for the submission of Income Tax Returns by a specified date. As this will take effect from 1st January 1993, the Department will inform the public of the new procedure towards the end of this year to prepare them for the change. The fourth amendment concerns notices of assessment. Currently, a Notice of Assessment is raised and served by registered post after a Return is received from a taxpayer, specifying the amount of tax the taxpayer has to pay for a certain year. For the benefit of taxpayers who are usually not at home to receive the registered mail, clause 16 amends section 76(1) of the Income Tax Act to allow the Inland Revenue Department to send Notices of Assessment by ordinary mail. However, the Department will continue to send such Notices by registered mail to taxpayers who specifically request for such service. This will take effect from 1st January 1993. Clause 6 amends section 14(1)(e) of the Income Tax Act to raise the limit imposed on the deduction allowed in respect of an employer's contributions to an approved pension or provident fund from 16 1/2% to 17 1/2%. This would enable the limit to be in line with the increase in the employer's CPF contribution rate. The change will take effect from 1st July 1991. Clauses 4 and 12 are consequential amendments relating to the tax incentive for services provided by Trust Companies. Clause 8 is a consequential amendment pertaining to tax deduction for general provisions made by banks. Clause 9 allows the Minister to delegate his authority to approve certain industrial buildings or structures for the purpose of qualifying for capital allowances under sections 16 and 17 of the Income Tax Act. Finally, clause 17 is a technical amendment in respect of section 90(3) of the Income Tax Act which deals with the recovery of tax and penalty imposed under the Act. Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read. 2.20 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Bill provides for the establishment of the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore, or ITE in short, which will take over the functions of the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB). Sir, vocational and technical training started in Singapore in the 1960s, first under the Technical Education Department of the Ministry of Education (MOE), and then under the Industrial Training Board (ITB) in the 70s and from 1979 till now under the VITB. The total number of skilled workers that have been trained and certified is 150,000. Most of these persons are still in our workforce. Today, they constitute some 12% of the total workforce of 1.3 million. In the last 10 years alone, VITB trained and certified 120,000 skilled workers for our economy. Sir, one of the key factors enabling our economy to compete against others in the international arena is the quality and number of trained skilled workers we have. BERI, the Business Environment Risk Intelligence company, has rated our workforce as being No. 1 continuously for the past 12 years. Their rating takes into account our relative productivity, our legal and industrial relations framework and the availability of trained manpower compared with other countries. Although we have been ranked first overall, BERI has also pointed out that we rank only 14th in respect of the availability of trained manpower, including skilled workers. This weakness is due to the sizeable pool of low educated, low skilled workers in our workforce from the past. But this position is steadily improving, first from the output of new skilled workers from our training institutes, and secondly, from the upgrading of workers through the wide range of worker education and training programmes such as BEST, WISE, MOST, TIME and Fast Forward. The present and the projected intake for the new ITE, for full-time and apprenticeship training courses, is 10,000 per year. In addition, the number of skilled workers trained and certified through our continuing education and training programmes is 5,000 each year. Based on these outputs and allowing for attrition and retirements, our total pool of skilled workers by the year 2000 will reach 280,000, constituting 18% of the 1.5 million workforce at that time. In absolute terms, this would represent an increase of 130,000 or 87% more than the pool of 150,000 skilled workers trained and certified by VITB today. Sir, I believe that we will steadily improve our labour force and maintain our No. 1 position in the BERI report. More importantly, we will improve our comparative advantage which is the quality of our workforce and thus maintain our competitiveness in the international market. Recent changes to improve our education system, and the proposal to upgrade VITB to the Institute of Technical Education, will help us achieve this goal. Sir, in July 1990, the Minister for Education set up an MOE Committee to review Primary School Education. The MOE Review Committee proposed two changes which have direct implications for VITB. First, all students will receive at least 10 years of general education, including secondary education, before they proceed for further education and training. Secondly, a new Normal (Technical) course will be introduced in secondary schools. The course will better orientate and prepare the less academically inclined pupils for vocational training. In parallel with the MOE Review, the VITB also set up a Review Committee to examine the proposed changes, and to formulate plans to upgrade vocational training. The current training system has been developed to meet the training needs of both primary and secondary school leavers under the New Education System (NES) introduced in 1980. It consists of different levels of training: (i) National Trade Certificate Grade 3 (NTC-3) level courses, mainly for primary school leavers, and (ii) National Trade Certificate Grade 2 (NTC-2) level courses, Industrial Technician Certificate (ITC), Certificate in Office Skills (COS) and Certificate in Business Studies (CBS) for secondary school leavers. This system that we have evolved has been successful in attracting more school leavers to join vocational training. The enrolment of full-time VITB trainees has grown steadily from 10,000 in 1980 to 16,000 in 1990, an increase of 60%. The VITB now admits about 10,000 school leavers annually, equivalent to one quarter of our average school cohort. Sir, VITB's experience shows that secondary school leavers in its technical, commercial and skills courses are able to complete their courses successfully. VITB's Graduate Employment Surveys show that most of them are working in jobs for which they are trained. They are well received by industry, have good starting salaries and good career prospects. However, the performance of primary school leavers is not as good. Many of them do not complete their training. They leave for the job market half way through their course or fail to pass the NTC-3 certificate when they reach the end. The net number of primary school leavers successfully obtaining the full NTC-3 certificate is a mere 40%. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the problem. VITB's Graduate Employment Surveys show that 75% of NTC-3 graduates with only primary education are not getting jobs for which they are trained. They are going into some other area of employment. That is a waste. The reason is that the salaries offered to them are not attractive and are often similar to those who are unskilled. Employers seem to place a low value on NTC-3 graduates with a primary education. Thus, it has become clear that trainees with only primary school education have not been successful as vocational trainees. It appears that employers prefer vocational graduates to have at least a secondary education. The VITB reviewed its current training system, and, in March 1991, announced four major plans to upgrade vocational training. The first plan is to upgrade VITB to a post-secondary institution providing training for secondary school leavers who, in future, will have at least 10 years of schooling. The Basic Vocational Training Programmes for primary school leavers will be phased out by 1995 when there will be very few primary school leavers under the improved primary school system. Courses for secondary school leavers will be further expanded. For example, more NTC-2 places will be made available. Secondary school leavers are expected to make it to NTC-2. But for those who are unable to do so, they will be awarded NTC-3 certificates commensurate with their training. I do not foresee the phasing out altogether of NTC-3 courses as some employers will continue to recruit such graduates. However, in future, NTC-3 courses will be provided through the apprenticeship route by employers who need such skills. The second plan is to expand the scope of apprenticeship training in Singapore. Formal apprenticeship in Singapore started as far back as 1968. But in the rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s, industries were not ready to train workers for their own needs. Today, our industries are ready to play a more active role in the training of the skilled workers they need. They recognise the importance of having skilled workers who can operate their increasingly sophisticated and specialised facilities. A new national framework for apprenticeship schemes was thus introduced in 1990. VITB's plan to upgrade and expand the scope of apprenticeship in Singapore will help companies to train skilled workers in many new areas which are not available through the full-time institutional system, thus widening skill options for school leavers. These new areas include aerospace skills, retail sales, health care, travel and tourism, and computer operations. With the Skills Development Fund support, the apprenticeship scheme will enable firms to recruit workers and to turn them into skilled workers. For the trainees, they can earn and learn at the same time. Small and medium sized enterprises are beginning to take advantage of the scheme. Firms wanting to take part in the apprenticeship scheme must satisfy VITB that they have qualified industrial trainers and a proper apprenticeship programme. Sir, apprenticeship training, which we are emphasising and promoting, is not just another method of skills training. Skills and knowledge can certainly be provided through full-time institutional training. But apprenticeship training has the potential to do more. Let me explain. In the 2-3 years that an apprentice spends with his company, a strong bond of loyalty can be established between the apprentice and his trainers and supervisors and ultimately with his firm. This can happen especially if the firm treats the apprentice with care. Sir, this is precisely the reason why firms in Japan, Germany and Switzerland strongly advocate the apprenticeship method of training. In Germany and Switzerland, nearly 70% of their school cohort go into apprenticeship training before going on to work or to higher education. In Japan, all new employees, even degree graduates, have to go through a 3-year in-company training course starting from the shop floor. The purpose of all this is not just to develop in them company skills and knowledge, but also good work attitudes and loyalty. No wonder, the workers from these three countries are among the best in the world. Sir, VITB or ITE as a training institution can certainly train skills and give knowledge, but it cannot develop loyalty on behalf of the companies. Properly run apprenticeship training can, and can thus lead to a reduction in job hopping, as is the case in Japan, Germany and Switzerland despite their tight labour market. We would do well to follow the example of these three countries. VITB has had extensive dialogue with Singapore Manufacturers Association (SMA) and many firms. I am glad to say that the consensus and support for apprenticeship training in Singapore is growing. At the moment, nearly 320 firms are committed and are involved in providing apprenticeship training in collaboration with VITB. VITB's third plan is to create new opportunities for its graduates to progress to higher levels of training, both within its own training system and to the polytechnics. In July 1991, the polytechnics enrolled some 140 and 740 VITB graduates into their full-time and part-time courses respectively. Compared with the previous year, the increases were four times for full-time courses and double for the part-time courses. Subject to the experience with these VITB graduates in diploma courses, the polytechnics are prepared to take in more VITB graduates in future. In the fourth plan, ITE will spend some $250 million to build seven new training institutes and redevelop three existing ones over the next six to seven years. The aim is to provide an enriching, total learning environment for its trainees besides improving the quality of training courses. With the upgrading of the vocational training system in Singapore, the VITB must take on a new role. This means a change in its corporate name and a restatement of its mission and objectives. The new Institute of Technical Education, Singapore, will be a post-secondary education and training institution, providing technical training for school leavers who have completed 10 years of general education. Sir, I now turn to the Institute of Technical Education Bill. It proposes to establish the Institute of Technical Education as a body corporate comprising a Board of Governors, the Chief Executive Officer and other officers. The Bill defines the main functions of the ITE and the powers and duties of the Board of Governors. The Bill has made provisions for all VITB staff to be transferred to the ITE upon its formation. It also provides for the transfer of all existing training institutes under VITB to the new ITE. The Institute of Technical Education will be a statutory board replacing the existing Vocational and Industrial Training Board. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Sir, I note the Minister had technical problems with the lectern. It is perhaps timely that the Institute of Technical Education is established. Sir, may I have some clarifications? This Bill says that it repeals the Vocational and Industrial Training Board Act. Does it mean that when this Bill comes into being, the Vocational and Industrial Training Board will cease to exist? If that is so, then this Bill is not really establishing a new technical institute of education, but rather just taking one label down and putting up a new one. The Opposition, in fact, hopes that a new technical institute will be established, because Singapore needs a lot more skilled people and much more training of vocational, industrial and technical personnel. Even as shown by the statistics given by the Minister, over the last 10 years, the VITB only trained 120,000 of our school leavers. This is definitely not enough with a workforce of over a million people. And I believe not long ago, we read that 60% of our workers were illiterate in literacy and numeracy. Even up to today, there are only 150,000 trained and certified skilled workers. This is about 10% of the workforce. No wonder, we are ranked 14th by Beri's standard, as far as trained manpower is concerned. The Minister has talked much of the apprenticeship training schemes of Japan, Germany and Switzerland. They have a long history of apprenticeship. Singapore does not, especially when we are an Asian country, and people are very selfish in departing their skills. I had mentioned this once and I met with very hostile reception. I hope attitudes have changed. Sir, it is a good thing to have apprenticeship schemes in Singapore. I think all professions, all business people, should be encouraged to have this kind of culture. Sir, if Singapore is to increase its industrial and technical activities, then it must have a good infrastructure. A good infrastructure must include of course trained and skilled workers. Therefore, we must go all out to get more of our school leavers to be properly trained. There is another aspect of skills training. Not only will skills training equip them to earn a living, but in fact it will also inculcate discipline, dignity and self-respect in our workers. This is an important aspect. One of the problems of primary school leavers is that perhaps they lack this self-respect and they have no confidence in themselves. The solution perhaps is not to phase out NTC-3, but rather to make our schooling compulsory for eight years. If we could afford, it would be 10 years. Then they will have secondary school training. Sir, despite what I have said about replacing a label, I do support the Bill and I hope the Bill, when it is implemented, will also have some aspects in which our apprentices could benefit from them.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mr Chiam for supporting the Bill. I notice, as I was making the speech, that he was furiously writing down many things that I have mentioned and he has brought them up for discussion. I welcome that. It is not a change of label when VITB becomes ITE, because there is restructuring that will take place to make the new Institute different from the old VITB. I have already mentioned in my speech that the focus of the ITE will be for those who have finished 10 years of schooling. That means upgrading courses, expanding courses, higher level courses for people who have completed the very extensive schooling before going on for training. That is quite different from taking primary school leavers and giving them training. I do not want to comment on some of his other points because actually they are straight from my speech and I think there is no need for further comment. However, he made one point regarding the continuation of NTC-3 courses. I made it very clear in my speech that NTC-3 courses have a problem, especially for those who have just finished primary education and gone on to that kind of course. First, many do not complete it. Secondly, for those who successfully complete NTC-3 courses, they are not getting salaries more than unskilled workers, indicating to us that employers do not place high value on NTC-3 courses for primary school leavers. So the position that ITE will take will be to encourage employers who need NTC-3 graduates to get involved in apprenticeship programmes and to be involved in running NTC-3 courses. Whatever we train in VITB or ITE must be in response to employers' needs and not for any other reason, because it must meet the job market and then the trainees will be profitably employed after their training.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Tay Eng Soon]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.10 pm. Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.46 pm until 3.10 pm. Sitting resumed at 3.10 pm

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Infectious Diseases Act was enacted in 1976 to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases into Singapore. In the late seventies, doctors in the USA encountered a new and deadly infectious disease amongst their patients. In 1981, the disease was identified, and given the name "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome", or AIDS. Scientists also discovered that AIDS was caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. AIDS has spread very rapidly since then. In the short period of 10 years, it has become a pandemic, affecting millions of men, women and children on all continents. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 12 million adults and children are today infected with HIV. What is frightening is that WHO projects that this number will increase further to 30 to 40 million by the year 2000. What about the AIDS situation in Singapore? In Singapore, we found our first HIV-infected person in 1985. Following this discovery, my Ministry gazetted HIV infection and AIDS as notifiable diseases. Up to the end of January this year, 111 Singaporeans were found to be infected with HIV. What is worrying is that the rate of infection is increasing. We had 10 new HIV-positive cases in 1989, increasing to 17 in 1990. Last year, the number of new cases shot up to 42. We expect the number of infected persons this year to be even higher. The pattern of infection has also changed. Initially, homosexuals and intravenous drug addicts were the main groups at risk. Now heterosexuals form the majority of those newly infected. This change has significant importance and implications for all Singaporeans. Measures for the control of AIDS must now be targeted at all sectors of the population. Sir, my Ministry firmly believes that education is the key to preventing the spread of AIDS. This is because anyone can easily avoid being infected by the HIV. All he has to do is to be sensible, and avoid high-risk activities. The HIV is normally transmitted through two main ways: either sexual intercourse with an infected person or through the blood, for example, sharing injection needles with an infected person. We will therefore step up our educational efforts to remind Singaporeans about the danger of AIDS, and how the disease is transmitted. Our health education programme is conducted through talks, exhibitions, pamphlets, posters and the mass media. An AIDS telephone Helpline has been in operation since 1988 to provide anonymous counselling for members2 of the public. Personal counselling is also provided to persons with high-risk behaviour. We will continue to follow up on HIV-infected persons. Specially trained doctors and staff will continue to counsel and encourage them to take the necessary precautions so that they will not infect others. Contact tracing is also carried out so as to prevent the further spread of the disease. We will also continue to protect our national blood supply. In 1989, we incorporated a declaration in the questionnaire which all potential blood donors have to answer before they are allowed to donate their blood. It requires potential blood donors to declare the truth about their HIV status and risk behaviour. Donors who made a false declaration are liable for prosecution under the Penal Code. This helps to ensure that persons engaging in high-risk activities are excluded from donating blood. All blood donations are also screened for HIV to ensure that only uninfected blood is used. With greater awareness of AIDS, I hope Singaporeans will avoid high-risk activities that put not just themselves, but also their family and loved ones, in grave danger. But the Government alone cannot contain the further spread of AIDS amongst Singaporeans. We can only succeed if everybody joins in this fight against AIDS. Singaporeans can greatly help by advising and persuading their friends not to indulge in high-risk activities, in Singapore as well as when they travel abroad. My Ministry will closely monitor the disease and we will undertake all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of AIDS. However, there is the risk that some of those who are already HIV-infected will continue to be irresponsible in their behaviour. We need to strengthen the existing legislation to deter such irresponsible and dangerous behaviour. We need to give the legal backing to our AIDS counselling and educational efforts. We need to protect the safety of our blood supply. The proposed amendments will help us to achieve these important objectives. Sir, I will now deal with the six major provisions of the Bill. Clause 3 empowers the Ministry to undertake epidemiological investigations of other infectious diseases which have not been made notifiable under the law. Examples of these are Legionellosis and Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. The proposed new section 20A empowers the Director of Medical Services to require any person who has been diagnosed as having AIDS or as having been infected with the HIV to undergo counselling and to comply with all the safety measures which may be specified by the Director. The proposed new section 20B makes it an offence for any person who knows that he has been infected with the HIV, to have sexual intercourse with another person unless before the sexual intercourse takes place, the partner has been informed of the risk of contracting the HIV infection from him, and has voluntarily agreed to accept the risk. The proposed new section 20C makes it an offence for any person who knows that he is infected with the HIV to donate blood at any blood bank in Singapore, and to commit any act which is likely to transmit AIDS to another person. Any person who commits an offence under these three new sections will be liable to a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. The Bill also protects the identity of any person who has been diagnosed to be infected with the HIV except in certain circumstances specified by the Bill. The Bill provides for an increase in the penalties for certain offences under the Act from $2,000 and $5,000 for the first and subsequent convictions, to $5,000 and $10,000 respectively. Sir, the proposed amendments to the Infectious Diseases Act will enable my Ministry to have a better control over AIDS and other infectious diseases in Singapore. It will help to deter HIV-infected persons from activities that are likely to spread the disease. It will further enhance the safety of Singapore's blood supply. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Amendment Bill. Sir, in the case of AIDS, prevention is the only way as there is no cure. In Singapore we cannot afford to be complacent because the numbers have been increasing by geometric proportions. And at the rate that it is going, the numbers can only continue to increase. I read with concern, when the Ministry of Health launched the public education campaign and through the press reports, that among Singaporeans who take short trips to neighbouring countries some believe that they are not likely to be struck down with AIDS because they think that they are not so unlucky, in the sense that they are not lucky enough to strike lotteries and it is not likely that they will be caught with AIDS. I think we have to understand what the Thai Minister Meechai said recently on the dangers of AIDS, how he himself described the very extensive numbers among the Thai people being caught with this disease, and how he claimed that his own daughter is not likely to be able to marry a Thai man free from AIDS. I am very pleased that the Ministry of Health is taking very early action in this regard. Sir, I would like to just ask the Minister a few questions for clarification. First, Sir, we know that Magic Johnson has been treated with a drug called AZT, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and it is purported that this particular drug can slow down the affliction to full-blown AIDS. I wonder if the Ministry is able to help make it easier for the HIV-positive infected patients to be able to use their Medisave to buy such drugs. If not for anything, we can help them to provide the relief through the use of this drug. Second, Sir, the Minister mentioned about the questionnaire that potential blood donors have to fill in. It is in fact a very lengthy questionnaire of 15 questions that they have to answer each time. And of course some prospective blood donors think that it is an intrusion of their privacy. We also know that it is important for the blood bank to keep the integrity of the blood supply to protect innocent lives, the very people who needed the blood donation. I am wondering whether the Ministry of Health can differentiate between the first-time donors and the regular donors. Is there a possibility of making it easier for regular donors to have a different set of forms so that we can facilitate the regular blood donors to continue to provide the generous donation of blood to save lives? The other question, Sir, is whether the Ministry of Health can actually work with travel agents to provide information leaflets to Singaporeans travelling abroad to heighten their awareness with regard to this very serious disease. Because if they could be alerted prior to their departure, most probably we can help save some from getting into their high-risk behaviour. Finally, Sir, we do have cases of Sin-gaporeans seeking surgery abroad, and we have learned of cases whereby through such surgery some of the Singaporeans have been infected with HIV. I wonder whether some procedures could be worked out so that such patients could seek counselling and consultation with the Singaporean doctors before they proceed overseas.

( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of this Amendment Bill. The Bill will ensure that there will be some form of control over the spread of AIDS so that innocent people will not contract AIDS unknowingly through sexual intercourse with those who are aware that they have been diagnosed to be HIV-positive, and thus getting themselves into grave trouble and misery. At the same time, the Bill will also ensure that those who are diagnosed to be HIV-positive will not be allowed to donate blood or do anything which is capable of transmitting AIDS to others. According to figures provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly 10 million people in the world are suffering from AIDS or are HIV-positive. 10 million is an astonishing figure. If we do not have effective control over this disease today, the consequences will be disastrous. According to available information, among the 111 AIDS cases discovered in Singapore, 83% are homosexuals and heterosexuals and some 88.2% of the patients are below the age of 40 years. Two-thirds of them are professionals, executives and people in the service industry. This situation is very alarming indeed. The Bill, I believe, will have a positive effect. Therefore, I urge all fellow Singaporeans who go overseas for vacation or business to avoid frequenting the "redlight area" to indulge themselves in women and song, so that they will not beget sorrow through extreme joy and ended up contracting AIDS, and even bring AIDS back to their spouses and children. That will be a great tragedy! Especially today, Sir, when we are developing the new Growth Triangle of Singapore, Johor and Batam, our businessmen should not use their investment as a pretext to deceive their family members by telling them that they are going on business trips or having seafood there, while in fact they are fooling around in the neighbouring countries. By so doing, they will not only do harm to themselves but to their family members as well. We must not forget that in Singapore, among the foreigners who suffer from AIDS, about 60.8% come from ASEAN countries. This percentage is very high indeed. In Thailand alone, there are 400,000 people who are known to be suffering from AIDS, accounting for 57% of the total number of cases in the whole of Asia. As such, when Singaporeans go overseas for vacation or business, they must make sure that they do not frequent the "redlight area" and run the risk of bringing AIDS back to their loved ones at home. I would also urge the Ministry of Health to take more stringent measures to prevent people who have AIDS or are HIV-positive from committing the offence of rape, because they will harm their victims even more severely. As such, the Government should consider imposing more severe punishment, such as death penalty, etc, on this type of rapists, to serve as a deterrent. I hope the Minister for Health will consider this view.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like thank my two colleagues who have spoken out in support of the amendments. They have very correctly warned Singaporeans to be extremely careful so that they do not get infected with AIDS, especially when they travel abroad and indulge in sexual activities. Sir, Mr Loh Meng See has asked whether we would be prepared to let patients with HIV infection to use Medisave for AZT treatment. The Ministry has been considering that and I am happy to inform him that we will allow HIV-positive persons to use their own Medisave to the extent of $12 per month to help pay for AZT treatment. He has also asked whether we would be prepared to have two different questionnaires, one for new donors, and one for repeat blood donors. Sir, much as we would like to help repeat blood donors, unfortunately, the safety of our blood should be the main consideration. For repeat blood donors, the frequency of donation is normally about twice a year, and certain things can still happen in the six months between the donations. I am happy to say that since we introduced the questionnaire, we have had no drop in the number of repeat blood donors. They have been quite happy to answer the questionnaire because they already know what the questionnaire is all about. I also think they fully understand what is the purpose of this questionnaire, so most of them have been happy to answer all the questions. As to his suggestion that we discuss with travel agents and get them to distribute AIDS pamphlets, I will get my officials to look into this. It is a good suggestion and we will explore it. As to whether we can provide counselling for Singaporeans who are going abroad for surgery, if we are aware of these cases, we would definitely counsel them. Those who are going abroad can also come and seek assistance from the Ministry in terms of getting information about the places they are going to, and what sort of safeguards they should look into. Mr Peh Chin Hua has also warned Singaporeans who are travelling abroad to be very careful. I agree with him. He has also asked that we must be very stringent on HIV-infected persons who are rapists. Sir, I would pass his suggestion on to my colleague, the Minister for Home Affairs, for consideration.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Yeo Cheow Tong]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Sir, the objects of the Bill are, firstly, to lower the minimum age for membership of a trade union and, secondly, to allow trade unions to invest their surplus funds in projects undertaken for the benefit of workers by the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) or its related companies. Sir, under section 28 of the Trade Unions Act, the minimum age for joining a trade union is 18 years. This restriction was necessary in the earlier years when trade unions were often manipulated by undesirable elements to further their own objectives and young workers were, particularly, susceptible to such manipulation. Sir, the situation has improved significantly. Besides safeguarding the interests of workers through collective bargaining, trade unions are providing a wide range of facilities and activities to meet the social, recreational and welfare needs of their members. With trade unions now playing a more constructive role in achieving higher productivity and economic growth, it is timely to allow younger workers to join the trade unions so that they can also enjoy similar benefits and protection of older workers. Sir, in the Employment Act, a person who has attained the age of 16 years can be employed in any commercial or industrial undertaking without any restriction. Clause 2 of the Bill amends section 28 of the Trade Unions Act to lower the minimum age for union membership from 18 years to 16 years. Sir, under section 49 of the Trade Unions Act, the funds of a trade union can only be invested in investments authorised by law for the investment of trust money, in interest-earning deposits, in banks or finance companies, or in the shares of co-operative societies established by any registered trade union. With the increase in membership and prudent management of the trade union funds, many unions are now financially strong. Most of them have invested their surplus funds in interest-earning deposits, in banks and in union co-operatives. Some have invested in trustee shares. With rapid economic and social development, our workers now expect more varied and better social and recreational facilities for themselves and their families. In response to this, the Singapore Labour Foundation has launched a number of projects to meet the social and recreational needs of workers. One of these is the Pasir Ris Resort which has been a resounding success since it opened its doors several years ago. Other projects in the pipeline are the holiday chalets at Sentosa, the Orchid Country Club and further improvements and extensions to the Pasir Ris Resort. Sir, to support the efforts of the SLF and to encourage unions to invest their surplus funds in worthwhile projects, section 49 of the Trade Unions Act has to be amended. Clause 3 of the Bill is to widen the scope of investment of union funds by allowing trade unions to invest in projects developed by the SLF or its related companies, subject to the approval of the Minister. A cautious approach is taken to confine such additional investments to approved SLF projects which will benefit workers and their families. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to speak in support of the proposed amendments to the Trade Unions Act. The Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Trade Unions Act for the purpose of: (i) lowering the minimum age of union membership from 18 years to 16 years; and (ii) allowing trade unions to invest their surplus funds in the Singapore Labour Foundation's projects. NTUC has long voiced the concern that while a person is allowed to work in any establishment without any restriction at the age of 16 years, he is not permitted to join a trade union until he reaches the age of 18 years. During the Budget debate last year, I proposed that this anomaly be corrected. I am glad that the Ministry of Labour has accommodated the view of NTUC and had agreed to make the necessary amendment. With this amendment, more young workers will be able to join the trade unions and benefit from union membership. Sir, I also support the legislative amendment to allow the trade unions to invest their surplus funds in SLF projects. The Singapore Labour Foundation was set up with the expressed aim of improving the welfare of workers in Singapore. Projects that have been undertaken by the SLF and its subsidiaries, such as the workers' resort in Pasir Ris, have directly benefitted the workers and their families. More of such projects would be undertaken to provide our workers with an even wider range of good quality, but affordable, recreational facilities. These facilities help to complement the unions' efforts to raise the quality of life of their members. It is, therefore, only proper that trade unions be allowed to support and to invest in such projects. Sir, I support the Bill.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I have to thank the Chairman of the GPC on Labour for his support of the Bill and since he did not raise any further query, I do not think I need to respond.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Lee Boon Yang]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read. 3.43 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Sir, the Action Committee on Indian Education has recently proposed establishing a fund to assist needy Indian Singaporeans to upgrade the educational attainment of their children and to improve their economic and social conditions. Contributions by the Indian community to the fund will be through an opting-out scheme, similar to that for MENDAKI. The fund will be administered by the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). To assist SINDA in collecting these contributions, my Ministry has agreed to the proposal for the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board to act as the collecting agent. This will allow employers of Indian Singaporeans to deduct contributions from the wages of their Indian employees and pay them to SINDA through the CPF Board. In the case of contributions to MENDAKI from Muslim Singaporeans, the opting-out scheme was effected through amendments to the Administration of the Muslim Law Act. However, there is no parallel legislation for the Indian community. Hence, the scheme for SINDA has to be effected through amendments to the CPF Act. Sir, the amendments are to be made to section 76 of the Act. A new subsection (2) will empower an employer to deduct the specified amount from the monthly wages of an employee who belongs to a particular community and contribute it to an approved fund set up for the educational, social and economic advancement of that community. An employee who does not wish to contribute can opt out by notifying his employer in writing. Subsection (3) will empower the CPF Board to make the necessary rules for the collection of the contributions. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.

( In Tamil): Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak in support of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill. Last year, the Action Committee on Indian Education, headed by Mr J.Y. Pillay, reviewed the statistics relating to the educational performance of Indian students who were under-performing at all levels. It released a 20-year programme to correct the educational under-performance of the Indian students. Funds are essential for the successful implementation of the educational programme. The Action Committee has estimated that for the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) to fully implement its educational programme, it will require $3.75 million annually. From this sum, the expenses for various projects such as tuition classes, parent counselling sessions, bursaries for students from lower income background, administrative costs of SINDA and the costs of publicity shall be met. Although a sizable sum may be obtained from tuition fees, the remaining $2 1/2 million can only be sourced through fund raising activities. It will take many years for SINDA to achieve its long-term goals in education. It would be difficult to embark and implement new and innovative fund raising activities each year. If fund raising methods are too erratic or inadequate, then there may be a situation, in some years, of not being able to implement the planned programmes. Therefore, in order to achieve the long-term objective of SINDA, a stable form of fund raising mechanism is necessary. For these reasons, the Action Committee on Indian Education had recommended that the Government gives approval for all Indian Singaporeans who are members of CPF to contribute monthly to the SINDA fund under an "opting out" scheme. The Indian organisations wholeheartedly suppported this suggestion. Acceding to the request of the Action Committee, the Government has come forward to extend this scheme, which is currently implemented only for the Malays, for the educational, social and economic advancement of any community in Singapore. This gesture by the Government is indeed very laudable. The Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill provides for employers to deduct from their employee's monthly take-home pay, a prescribed amount, according to their level of income, to a fund, approved by the Government, for the advancement of any community living in Singapore. In a multi-racial Singapore, the under-performance of any one community would inevitably affect the progress of Singapore as a whole. The Indian community has made an important contribution to the development of Singapore from the early years. For it to continue to exist as an important community, all Indian Singaporeans must contribute their share towards this end. There are 68,000 Indians who are CPF contributors. I am confident that Indian Singaporeans would come forward to contribute, according to their means, for the advancement of the Indian Community. I wish to urge the professionals to contribute more than the prescribed amount to the fund. Sir, I support the amendment Bill.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I just want to raise one question with the Minister. This relates to the opting out scheme contributions. There is a prescribed penalty for employers if they do not make the necessary deductions or contributions from employees, but it is incumbent upon the employer to decide whether a particular employee belongs to a particular community. If an employee does not opt out, then the employers can be left with the problem of trying to decide whether certain employees are members or not members of a particular community. I just want to know what is the experience of MENDAKI and whether the Minister has considered how employers can be protected in the event that there may not be a very clear-cut case of whether certain employees belong or do not belong to a particular community.

Education (Dr Ker Sin Tze)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am aware that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the clan associations are in the process of forming a council to help the Chinese community. I would like to ask the Minister for Labour whether this amendment Bill will be applicable to the fund raising campaign of this proposed council.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for moving the Bill to amend the CPF Act. The amendment will provide a new lease of movement for the Indian community, particularly the Singaporean Indian community, to organise various activities and programmes to enhance the educational aspects of the children of the Indian community. I do not have any queries but to thank the Minister for the support. I hope that the Indian community will be able to get itself organised because, as you all know, there are various Indian groups in the community. And with this amendment, I hope that the various dialect speaking groups and the various Indian organisations, be they social, cultural or educational, will be able to get together to do the best they can to promote education for the children of Singaporean Indians. Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for moving the amendment Bill.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Mr Sinnakaruppan, Member for Kampong Glam GRC, for supporting the Bill. I certainly agree with Mr Sinnakaruppan that in a multi-racial Singapore, the under-performance of any one community is most undesirable. And we should always try to help any community which is not performing up to the national standard. With this amendment, I believe that SINDA would be able to reach out to the whole of the Indian community to get its support. SINDA has estimated that it would be able to raise $2 1/2 million per annum with this CPF check-off system, and I would urge all Indian Singaporeans to support this scheme. I also want to take this opportunity to point out that SINDA is not just depending on the CPF check-off scheme to raise funds in support of its activities. SINDA has also set up, as a long-term target, an effort to raise an endowment fund of $30 million from among the more well-to-do Indians in Singapore. And I would again urge that the more successful Indian Singaporeans to also support SINDA's effort to build up an endowment fund. Sir, on the question raised by Mr Chng Hee Kok, in the implementation of the CPF check-off system for MENDAKI, both the CPF Board and the employers have not encountered any difficulties in deciding whether a person belongs to a particular community. I do not envisage that such a problem will arise following this amendment to the CPF Act to enable the Indian community to make their contribution through a check-off system. But I would like to remind Mr Chng that should there be any doubt, the employee is always entitled to notify his employer that he does not want to make the contribution. So there is a full protection for the employee in this instance. Mr Speaker, Sir, on Dr Ker's question of whether the amendment before us will apply in the case of the Chinese Development Assistance Council's desire to set up a similar fund to develop programmes in support of the lower-income Chinese, since the objective of the CDAC is very similar to what has been discussed here, I would support CDAC's application to avail itself of the CPF check-off system to raise funds from among the Chinese community. I want to thank Dr Vasoo for his support and I also agree with him that at this juncture it is imperative that the Indian community, particularly all the community organisations, get together to give their full support to SINDA.

Sir, I am afraid the Minister misunderstood my question. I wish to seek a clarification from the Minister.

Order, Mr Chng. The debate is over. I am sorry I cannot allow you to seek a clarification.

Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Com-mittee on the Bill. - [Dr Lee Boon Yang]. Bill considered in Committee.

Clause 1 -

Mr Chng, you may seek your clarification now.

Sir, my question to the Minister earlier in the Second Reading was that the Bill makes it incumbent upon the employer to determine that a certain member belongs to the Indian community. And in the event of a doubt, the employer does not make a deduction from that person who happens to be a person from the Indian community, then he is guilty of an offence. My question is: what is the protection for the employer in the case when he is not sure whether an employee is an Indian or not an Indian?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the problem can be very easily resolved. If the employer is not sure whether or not his particular employee belongs to the Indian community, he can just ask the employee, "Are you a member of the Indian community and do you wish to contribute?"

Sir, I do not think it is as simple as that. Unless the employee signs a statutory declaration to say that he is not, the employer is still not protected, because at the end of the day, the employer can still be charged as he has relied upon the statement of the employee. I think it is an important point for employers to resolve. In the Malay community, I do not know how it is done. Maybe there is less of a problem. But in the Indian community, there are many denominations and so on. I wonder whether the Minister has really considered this in full.

Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have mentioned earlier on, in the implementation of the MENDAKI check-off system, both MENDAKI and the CPF Board have not encountered any such difficulties. As I said, although the responsibility is placed on the employer to make the deduction, if there is any doubt he can always check with his employees. And if his employee should feel that he is not a member of the Indian community and does not want to contribute, there are forms that will be made readily available for such employees to just fill up, and the forms can be returned both to the employer and SINDA.

Sir, at this juncture, maybe it is worth mentioning that there is a group in the Indian community who also belongs to the Muslim community and who has, for the past 10 years or so, been making monthly contributions to the MENDAKI Foundation. Sir, if I am not mistaken, there are roughly about 50,000 of them in Singapore. With this new Bill, which deserves all our support, this group of Indian Muslims may be faced with the question whether they should contribute to SINDA or MENDAKI, or both. I do not know how the Ministry of Labour or the CPF Board will look into this question. Of course, we hope that those who can afford it will do whatever they can to support both the movements. I think this question is in the minds of many Indians who believe in self-help projects but who may be having some difficulty, especially those who are not so well-off, to contribute to the two groups. But at the same time, the MENDAKI Foundation is also in need of monthly contributions. So I hope the group of Indian Muslims in Singapore will try to balance their support between these two groups. I think many of them are asking how best they could help and what is their position after the passing of this new Bill.

Sir, in response to Mr Maidin's comments, let me assure Members of this House that although the scheme is structured as a CPF check-off scheme, it is not a mandatory scheme. It is up to the Indian Muslim worker to decide for himself who and how much he wants to contribute. An Indian Muslim is fully welcomed to contribute both to Mendaki and to SINDA at the same time. But if he is earning such a small salary and is unable to make contributions to both organisations at the same time, he is also entirely free to just submit a form to his employer saying, "I am not making a contribution to SINDA or, for that matter, to MENDAKI". That is his choice. So Indian members of the community are free to decide which organisation they should donate to. So there is no compulsion. The opting-out scheme is structured purely for the convenience of the donors and the employers and SINDA. Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Bill reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That this Parliament resolves that the amendments set out in Appendix I to the Report of the Standing Orders Committee contained in Paper Parl. 2 of 1992 be and are hereby made to the Standing Orders of Parliament." Sir, under your Chairmanship, the Standing Orders Committee has proposed amendments to the Standing Orders. These amendments can roughly be divided into three categories. One, amendments consequent upon the changes to the Constitution which provided for an Elected President. Amendments 1 to 8 of the Report refer to these. There is no need for me to go into the details as the "Remarks" paragraphs in each of the amendments gave the reasons for the amendments. The second set of amendments (9 to 14) relates to the times stated in the Standing Orders. The amendments are to regularise the present situation. Again, there is no need for me to elaborate on them. The third category of amendments (15 to 25) are to streamline certain Standing Orders and facilitate the conduct of business. Again, explanations are given for each of the proposed amendments and there is no need for me to explain further except for two of them, namely, Amendment No. 17 (Oath of Allegiance) and Amendment No. 19 (Procedure on Divisions). Both these amendments are to facilitate the conduct of business and improve the efficiency of the House. As Members know, at the beginning of every Parliament, each of us has to take the Oath of Allegiance individually. The whole process took up some time. We therefore made a study of how other Members of Parliament and American Congressional Members are sworn-in. We found that in the case of Australia, the MPs are sworn-in in groups of 10 to 12 while in New Zealand the MPs take their oaths in groups of up to four each time. In the case of America, Members of the House of Representatives take their oath en masse, that means, all together at the same time. For example, the Speaker of the House of Representatives would administer the Oath in the form of a question as follows, and I quote: 'Do you solemnly swear (or affirm) that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter. So help you God?' Then the members would just respond en masse, in the first person, singular, by saying, "I do", without even stating their names. In the Senate, the Senators are also sworn-in in groups of 3 to 6 each time. We should therefore improve on our present method of taking our Oath of Allegiance, hence the proposed amendment. I believe Mr Speaker would work out something for our next Parliament's swearing-in ceremony. As regards the procedure on divisions, the present procedure is to call out individually the names of Members in alphabetical order. Again, this takes up some time of the House whenever a division is necessary. Amendment 19 therefore enables us to take the votes upon a division in a more efficient manner, either by voting slips or other means, or by electronic voting when we build our new Parliament chamber. I therefore commend Members here to adopt the Report of the Standing Orders Committee.

Question put, and agreed to. Resolved, That this Parliament resolves that the amendments set out in Appendix I to the Report of the Standing Orders Committee contained in Paper Parl. 2 of 1992 be and are hereby made to the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn to tomorrow at 3.00 o'clock pm." - [Mr Wong Kang Seng]. Adjourned accordingly at Ten Minutes past Four o'clock pm.