Hansard, 1993-03-16

asked the Minister for the Environment whether the Potong Pasir Constituency has a littering problem.

Mr Speaker, Sir, when I last discussed the littering problem with the Member for Potong Pasir in this House on 26 February 93, he was adamant that his constituency did not have a littering problem. I would like to report, Sir, that either the Member does not want to believe that his constituency has a littering problem or he does not know that there is such a problem. When I asked my staff to inspect Potong Pasir, they reported that they found heavy littering in several places. Sir, if you recall, the Member for Potong Pasir, at the meeting of this House on 26 February 93, had asked me to name a block or any particular area in Potong Pasir which had been littered. I shall oblige him now, Sir, not with just one block but several blocks and with photographs too. The blocks are 101, 102, 108, 119 and 120 of Potong Pasir Avenue 1; Blocks 136 and 142 of Potong Pasir Avenue 3; and the children's playground adjacent to Block 120 of Potong Pasir Avenue 1. For some of these blocks, for example, Blocks 101, 119 and 120 of Potong Pasir Avenue 1, litter was found on repeat visits. I have got some photographs which I shall distribute to you, Sir.

Would you like to give a copy to Mr Chiam?

Yes, Sir. [Copy of photographs handed to Mr Chiam See Tong]. If you look at the photographs, the types of litter range from waste paper to cardboard box and lubricating oil container (Photo No. 4), to plastic bags and food wrappers (Photo No. 10), and even to discarded vinyl zip-up cupboards (Photo No. 12). Sir, the evidence I have shows beyond any reasonable doubt that there is a littering problem in Potong Pasir Constituency.

Sir, does the Minister know that the Member for Potong Pasir had, in fact, put up warning notices to all his residents on the notice boards of the blocks of flats in Potong Pasir. I shall just read the first two paragraphs of the notice, Sir: 'Warning: Enforcement action of littering by Ministry of the Environment. Please note that enforcement officers of the Ministry of the Environment shall be coming to Potong Pasir to catch shopkeepers and residents who litter the compound property. This letter is to warn you not to throw pieces of paper or cigarette butts or in the case of shopkeepers to leave your rubbish indiscriminately outside your shops.' This was signed by Mr Chiam See Tong, MP; Chairman, Potong Pasir Town Council and dated 1st March, 1993. Sir, in view of such warning, would the Minister say that it is fair to expect less littering than what was actually encountered? Conversely, does this not seem that Potong Pasir, in fact, has a littering problem worse than the normal standard in Singapore?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am aware of that circular. Unfortunately, my Public Health Officers have reported that despite the circular there has not been any improvement to the littering problem. Even till this morning, Sir, when we inspected Potong Pasir, littering was still evident. I have another set of photographs, Sir, fresh from the dark room of my Ministry, taken early this morning. For example, you can see discarded beer bottles at the open space near or beside Block 136 Potong Pasir Avenue 3; the grass verge next to Block 107, Potong Pasir Avenue 1, is also very badly littered; a discarded shopping trolley is found at the void deck of Block 102, Potong Pasir Avenue 1, and so on and so forth. I have only one set of the photographs which I shall circulate to Members.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I have been informed by my contractors that they start work to clean the estate at 6.00 am. I was also informed that, in fact, the Ministry of the Environment's officers came at 5.30 in the morning to take photographs before the ground was swept. If that was the case, it would be unfair to Potong Pasir, because the photographs were all taken with overnight litter. Normally, litters are thrown only after the residents have come back from work. I think we better get this point clear. What exactly do you ---

Mr Chiam, could you ask your supplementary question?

Yes. Firstly, I want to ask whether or not these photographs were in fact taken before 6.00 am. Although it is stated here "6.00 am to 7.00 am" I can see the darkness in the photographs. You can see, with a flash, you can only cover the relevant parts. The background is all dark. So the first question is whether or not these photographs were taken before 6.00 am. The photographs appear quite dark to me. Secondly, how do you define a littering problem?

Sir, the job specification given to me by none other than Mr Chiam himself is simple and straightforward. He claims that he does not have a littering problem and my job is to show that he has. The photographs clearly show there is a littering problem. True, the photographs were taken before the cleaners swept the litter.

Litter must be thrown somewhere. I think it is question of degree, Mr Speaker. I say that Potong Pasir does not have a littering problem because if you come in the day, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, you will see the place is spick and span. Our contractors will make it a point that all the litter is swept up.

Mr Chiam, are you making a speech or asking a question?

I want to know how you define a littering problem. I would say a littering problem is where litter is thrown on to the ground and it is not swept up and it is still there. That would be a problem. As long as it is cleaned up in the day, I do not think it is a littering problem.

Mr Chiam may be interested to know that we talked to some of the cleaners employed by the contractor engaged by the Potong Pasir Town Council and they told us that in some blocks the littering is so bad that they have got to be cleaned twice a day - once at 6.30 in the morning and the other time is around 2.00 in the afternoon.

That confirms what I said. We have got good management. We clean the place up. As soon as they are littered, we clean the place up. What I am saying is that we do not have a littering problem. All these photographs were taken before 6.00 am. I think this is absolutely hitting below the belt. It is unfair.

Mr Speaker, Sir, if Potong Pasir Constituency does not have a littering problem, as the Member claims, there should not be any litter at any time. Mr Chiam See Tong rose ---

Mr Chiam, we have to go into Committee of Supply. Are you asking any more questions? Please do not make speeches.

My question has not been answered yet, ie, whether these photographs were taken before 6.00 am. I was told that they were taken at 5.30 am. The workers come in at 6.00 am.

Sir, the question has been answered and the photographs have also been labelled with the time they were taken. My point is that if the Member claims that his constituency does not have a littering problem, then there should not be any litter at any time of the day, 5.30 am regardless.

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [5th Allotted Day].

Head P (cont.) - Amendment moved [15th March, 1993], "That the sum to be allocated for Head P of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code PA 1500." - [Dr Kanwaljit Soin].

Sir, yesterday, I made the suggestion that every citizen and permanent resident over the age of 12 should have an individual Medisave account. The reasons and advantages for each individual having his or her own Medisave account are as follows: 1. At the present time, only one or two working adults in each household have a Medisave account. These have to cater for the medical needs of the whole family, including the children, the aged parents and the non-working spouse. This arrangement is often inadequate for the medical needs of the whole family as the amount in one Medisave account may soon be depleted. Medisave withdrawals increased by 11.3% from 1990 to 1991. 2. With longer life spans and falling birth rates, the number of the aged dependants is increasing. If each aged person has an individual Medisave account, their health care costs will not fall completely on the state even though the Government is the provider of last resort through the Medifund. Sir, also according to a well-known psychiatrist, Dr Kok Lee Peng, making provision for Medisave for the elderly may help to reduce the number of suicides among the aged. At the present time, only about 13% of elderly males and 2% of elderly females have Medisave accounts. 3. We will inculcate into everybody the idea of personal responsibility for medical care and having to make provision for it without undue burden on the state. Now that every Singaporean over the age of 21 can start a CPF account for asset enhancement purposes, there is already a mechanism and precedent for asking everyone to start his or her own Medisave account. In my opinion, health is even more important than asset enhancement. Contributions to the Medisave accounts of all those over the age of 12 can be encouraged by the following methods: 1. Encourage voluntary contributions. Parents could contribute for their children, husbands for non-working wives, and working adults for aged parents. A public awareness programme would be necessary. 2. We could have an enhanced tax relief for dependants and this could be granted to those taxpayers who contributed to the Medisave accounts of their dependants. This would be over and above the present tax relief for dependants. This would be the enhanced tax relief. To discourage demand driven increased medical spending as a result of the many individual Medisave accounts, I suggest that claims from Medisave accounts should include a co-sharing component. This component should be tied to claims for ward charges. If a patient chooses ward A or B1 or a ward in a private hospital, there should be a 50% co-sharing component for ward charges. This would discourage the use of ward A or B1 or a private ward if the patient cannot afford the co-sharing component. This mechanism would also discourage patients from staying too long as inpatients and also encourage outpatient procedures and will help ultimately in cost containment of health care. I would urge the Minister to consider my proposals. 12.45 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I agree with Dr Soin that as many people as possible should have Medisave accounts and that is why Medisave has been extended to the self-employed. Regarding her suggestion that we should allow and encourage families to start Medisave accounts for those aged 12 and above, there is really no need to. The reason is very simple. Those aged between 12 and 21 are very unlikely to require hospitalisation. Many housewives, especially those who have only stopped work in recent years, are likely to have their own Medisave accounts as well. Of course, the elderly, especially those who stopped work about 10 years ago, are unlikely to have any Medisave accounts, but then there are safeguards there. The fact is that there is really no need for every member in each family to have a Medisave account. This is because family members can use their Medisave to help each other. Parents look after their children and when they get old, the children and their grandchildren help to look after them. If they have insufficient Medisave, their grandchildren and children should be able to use their Medisave to help bear part of the burden. Sir, in this way, Medisave actually reinforces the importance of the family unit, which is a key institution in any civic society. And we must continue to strengthen and preserve the family unit if we are to remain strong and stable. Dr Soin has also quoted a psychiatrist who said that perhaps if every elderly has a Medisave account, then the suicide rate amongst the elderly will reduce. If that contention is true, then the suicide rate amongst the elderly before we had Medisave must have been very high. I do not think there is much correlation between an elderly having Medisave and the suicide rate. In fact, with the availability of Medisave now, the elderly's health care needs are even better safeguarded, because now their family members would have more than enough funds in their Medisave to help look after them. Even if the family members do not have enough Medisave, our Government system of B2 and C Class wards together with the waiver system ensures that no one is ever deprived of health care. Regarding the need to have cost sharing, I agree with Dr Soin. Cost sharing is a very important feature in any programme to ensure that health care utilisation is kept under control. In fact, the experience in other countries has been that those people who pay for their own health care consume a lot less medical services. In fact, there was a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal just last Friday which showed that quite clearly. In Singapore, our experience has been the same too. At the present moment, the Class A patients in the Government hospitals already pay about 30% co-payment. That means Medisave would only pay about 70% of the bill. For the private hospitals, Medisave will cover less than 60% in most cases. So the co-sharing element is already there and we would ensure that this feature is retained.

Sir, may I ask the Minister a query? If he thinks that one Medisave account is enough for the needs of the whole family, then by that argument, if two spouses are working, the second spouse should not have his or her own Medisave account. Secondly, I am not convinced that one account can look after the needs of the family. The amount is $15,000. Children do get sick from the age of 12 to 21. One account of $15,000 cannot cater to the needs of four or five people. The $15,000 was calculated at that time for C Class ward hospitalisation of only once or twice in 10 years. What happens if there is hospitalisation of the whole family? I am afraid I am not convinced by the argument.

Sir, in the first place, it is not true that most families have only one Medisave account. In fact, we have altogether in the region of 1.5 million Medisave accounts. In most families where there are working adults, every working adult is likely to have a Medisave account. Because as long as they are employed, the employers must pay CPF, in which case they will each have a Medisave account. Secondly, in computing the Medisave contribution rate, the assumption has been that there is only one breadwinner in each family. When we have more than one person working in each family, actually we have a much bigger safety margin and I think we should preserve that. But the minimum base has been on the assumption that there is only one person working.

Dr Soin, do you like to withdraw your amendment?

Sir, I am not convinced and I will try again next year. But I will withdraw my amendment this year. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (3), Dr Wan is not here. Amendment No. (4), Mr Loh.

Sir, I hope the Minister can give short replies so that we can finish off before the "guillotine" time.

Can you move your amendment, please?

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head P of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code PD 2400. Sir, I think the campaign against AIDS is an important campaign and that we should not lose its momentum. The statistics of the neighbouring countries suggest that they are reaching crisis proportions. The World Health Organisation has said that AIDS is spreading in Asia. More Singaporeans are travelling abroad for business and leisure. I would like to know from the Minister how his Ministry is proposing to control the AIDS problem. In Singapore, especially among the young adults, how do we give assurance to Singaporeans that the national blood supply is safe and we are well protected from it? And what is the Ministry doing to educate Singaporeans about AIDS to dispel the myths and misconceptions associated with AIDS?

Sir, I think Mr Loh has got his statement wrong. It will help if Members keep their speeches short and ask the questions directly. Sir, he has asked three questions in his very short speech. First, how do we protect Singaporeans; secondly, how do we protect the blood supply; and, thirdly, how do we educate Singaporeans. I think his last question is the most appropriate one: how do we educate Singaporeans? This is because AIDS is not a disease that we catch like flu or other infectious diseases, which you can catch by just walking around and mixing with other people. AIDS is a disease which you catch only if you commit a deliberate act. There are a few alternatives. First, through the sharing of needles with infected people; second, through sexual contact; and, third, through blood transfusions where the supply of blood is not safeguarded. Since AIDS is something which you only catch through a deliberate act, the only way to protect Singaporeans is to educate them and to ensure that they are aware of the dangers of AIDS and that they take all necessary safeguards. We have had a very intensive AIDS education programme since 1985 when our first HIV positive Singaporean was found. We will continue this intensive education to make Singaporeans aware of the prevalence of AIDS in the region. Mr Loh has mentioned some World Health Organisation's figures. In fact, the newspapers have been very very helpful in highlighting that there are problems in the region. And we would like to take this opportunity to remind Singaporeans that when they travel, and even when they are in Singapore, they should not take undue risks. They should adopt a healthy lifestyle. They should avoid casual sex, especially casual sex with prostitutes. Sir, with regard to blood supply, we already have very high standards of control on the donation of blood. The blood that is collected are subjected to all the tests that are available to ensure that, first, the blood does not have any HIV anti-bodies; second, it does not have hepatitis B viruses; and, third, it does not have other sexually transmitted diseases. So our blood supply is safe and there is no need for Singaporeans to worry about that.

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

Amendment No. (5), Mr Loh. The "guillotine" time is at 1.10 pm.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head P of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code PE 1500. Sir, in less than 30 years' time, by the year 2020, we will have 750,000 elderly persons above 60 years old, three-quarter million people, and some will live to a very ripe old age. I want to know from the Minister what the Ministry is doing to expand the hospital geriatric services and whether more trained specialists, geriatricians and nurses are being made available to look after the elderly sick. And whether he is able to convince the HDB, particularly when they upgrade the old housing estates, to look into the needs of the elderly sick so that they will be able to make homes more elderly friendly and accident free. And for home care, whether the Government can expand the transport services to ferry these aged sick for treatment in hospitals and polyclinics. What are the facilities that could be made available to the care givers so that they can have periods of respite and relief? Maybe the Minister would like to address the special health care needs of the elderly.

Dr Beng

I am not speaking, Sir.

Mr Chia.

Sir, the Minister for Finance has put a cap on medical expenditure at 2%. I think this is most timely. The question is: how do we get the people to do prevention rather than to get into the curing part? Can we have a big support for this healthy lifestyle, similar to the island-wide computerisation programme where we came up with lots of ideas to get the whole island computerised? Can we also come up with ideas to get the whole workforce to adopt healthy living? Can we help companies, especially small ones, provide sports and recreational facilities to their staff? Can we make available public facilities or give special grants to companies to put in place some facilities for their staff to make use of, so that health care becomes a lifestyle? Can the Health Ministry provide even trained personnel and nurses to companies to help them educate their staff to better living habits? What about double tax deductions - I think that is the Minister for Finance's responsibility - to help them get some equipment going? The whole idea here is to get companies and workers in the mood to a healthy lifestyle. 1.00 pm An idea to get the workers to be responsible is actually to give them incentives. If companies do provide a certain sum for individuals per year, can that sum be snowballed and given to workers as an incentive for them to keep healthy? In the case of drivers who have to pay traffic fines, say, $200 per driver, if they do not incur $200 a year per driver, the balance could be given to them. If they chalk up more than $200, they would have to pay for the traffic fines. I am wondering whether unions and companies can start working out certain sums as medical remuneration, and if the workers do not use them they could actually be rewarded. If they chalk up more than that amount, they have to pay for the medical cost.

Sir, the Ministry of Health has done an excellent job of maintaining a high level of primary health care for children. Through the School Health Services, children have been screened for physical illnesses early and given immunisations. As a result of the success, we now have problems of another nature, ie, obesity. The School Health Services, together with other health care services for children, are housed in the Institute of Health. A new Institute of Health will be built for which primary health care services for children will be a major component of the health services provided there. How will the quality of health care services for children be improved when the new Institute of Health is completed?

Mr Loh Meng See would like some information on what we are doing to provide for the health care needs of the elderly. Sir, the problem of the elderly is not yet upon us, but we must be making preparations for the eventual day. Whether it will arrive towards the year 2020 or year 2030 is a matter of different population projections. On geriatric care services, since 1987, we have already opened a geriatric unit in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and very soon we will have two other units: one in Changi Hospital and the other at Alexandra Hospital. When the Eastern General Hospital opens in 1996, we will also have another geriatric department. We have over the years been training specialist geriatricians to take care of the health care needs of the elderly who need acute hospital care. At the moment, we have about five. But each year we are training new ones. By the year 1995, in two years' time, we will be increasing to 13 specialist geriatricians altogether. We are also training nurses and social workers in gerontology. I would like to stress that health care services for the elderly need not and should not be concentrated only in acute hospitals. In fact, we need a full range of health care programmes, many of which are community-based. So we are building community hospitals and day- care centres that will provide for the continuous treatment and rehabilitation of the elderly. We are helping the voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) to build more nursing homes. Mr Loh asked about the home care and home support services. One of the prominent VWOs which has been working very closely with the Ministry of Health is the Home Nursing Foundation. One of the big improvements that we made last year was the transport services to transport the elderly to and fro the Senior Citizens' Health Care Centres. Partly because of the improvement in transport service and partly because we now pay the home visiting nurses taxi fare, instead of asking them to take buses, we have been able to increase the number of home visits very drastically. Over the last two years, the number increased from 29,000 to 40,000. As for HDB provision, I think part of the Upgrading Programme would include the possibility of increasing the number of lifts so that it is easier for elderly people to come down either for recreation or to visit other places. The HDB has, over the recent years, been providing ramps so that people who are wheelchair bound can be brought to the lift landings. So HDB is trying to do its part to make it easier for the elderly to lead normal lives in the HDB flats. As for the question on what kind of respite care we are giving to the care givers, it is true that care givers of the elderly can get fatigue, either emotional or physical or both, because it is not easy to take care of the elderly sick at home. So community hospitals will have a number of beds reserved for respite care of the care givers. I understand that even now some nursing homes have some beds for respite care where the family can put their elderly relatives there for a couple of weeks while they take a break, so to speak. So these are the things that we have been doing. We will try to do more for the elderly. In fact, we have formed a Department of Continuing Care in the Ministry of Health since April last year in order to coordinate the whole range of services for the elderly. Mr Chia Shi Teck spoke about giving incentives to workers and companies to maintain the workforce healthy, particularly through healthy lifestyle programmes. There is no question that companies which provide healthy lifestyle programmes reap the benefits of a lower absenteeism rate, higher productivity and higher morale. The benefits are mutual. The workers feel better, are fitter and can work better. The employers also reap the benefits. As to whether this specific incentive provided within the medical benefits scheme of the companies could be given to their own workers, I think this is best left to the company to decide and discuss with the unions themselves. Finally, Dr Michael Lim talked about the Institute of Health (IOH) which we are building and how it would raise the quality of services for the care of children. The Institute of Health not only relocates the present School Health Service and the Child Psychiatric Clinic, but also the Maternal and Child Health Clinic and the Dental Health Service, all under one roof. So it would be much more convenient for the public, especially for families with young children, to visit. It is located right next to an MRT station. We also have new programmes catering to the health care needs of not only the young people, but also of family members. Of particular note is that there would be a model family medicine clinic inside the IOH where doctors would be trained in family medicine and where the public would be able to receive extensive health education. So with this upgrading of services as well as more training of the staff and the streamlining of the work procedures, the services will be offered in a one-stop health centre manner. With that, I think the services to the children will be greatly improved.

Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $703,275,960 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $226,421,200 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head E -

Head E - Judicature. Dr Arthur Beng.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head E of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, in the last year many new changes have taken place in the courts. There are now evening sessions of court, many new Judicial Commissioners have been appointed, and Judicial Clerks now assist the honourable Justices. These are but some of the changes. I am especially delighted that the Criminal Court of Appeal has been set up and that the Bill is now before this House. I would like to ask the Minister how all these changes have affected the judicial system as a whole and what other changes are being planned for? Have the lawyers been able to cope with the increase in the workload that has considerably shortened the waiting time for cases to be cleared?

Sir, I would like to use this opportunity to put on record a Backbencher's appreciation of the progress towards a more effective and efficient court system since the current Chief Justice took office in September 1990. Sir, in instituting a host of improvements and other measures to increase the productivity of judges and magistrates and ensuring that members of the Bar participate in the changes, the most telling progress is in case management, ie, the waiting period for trial dates has been drastically reduced. Using the Hong Kong Supreme Court as the benchmark, the Chief Justice, in fact, in his opening speech for the Legal Year in January 1991, said that he would, and I quote, "work towards an eventual objective of a waiting time for all cases of no more than 12 months." He adds also, and this is a quote from him too, "That is what I found to be the position in the Hong Kong Supreme Court. There is no reason why we should not be able to match Hong Kong's standard of performance." Sir, I understand that this target has been reached. The waiting period for new cases has been reduced from five years in the past to no more than six months in the High Court, and from two years in the past to no more than four months in the Court of Appeal. Sir, the improvements in the Subordinate Courts are also astonishing. But, more importantly, all these improvements have been accomplished without any drop in the quality and reliability of justice. Sir, I especially bring up this point because an efficient court system is a necessary complement to our growing development of Singapore as an international business and financial centre. This point has, in fact, been publicly acknowledged by the Chief Justice in several of his speeches. As such, Sir, although the formation of a single Court of Appeal appears to be the next priority, I would like to request that the same priority and urgency be accorded to the establishment of a commercial court. Given that business and financial transactions are progressively becoming more complex, a specialised court in this area is urgently needed, Sir.

Sir, I thank Dr Arthur Beng and Mr Heng Chiang Meng. Dr Arthur Beng asked how have all the reforms and changes made in the judiciary affected the performance of the courts. To some extent, this has been answered by Mr Heng Chiang Meng. The serious problem which faced our courts was that of the very big backlog. I would say that one outstanding result of the reforms instituted by the Chief Justice has been a very radical reduction of the backlog. For example, during the period 1991-1992, the backlog of cases awaiting dates for hearing, excluding divorce cases, was reduced from 2,059 to 175 cases. That is a very telling figure. As you know, the reforms included improved case management system, a strict policy towards granting of adjournments, new rules of procedure, and the introduction of pre-trial conferences and the appointment of more Judicial Commissioners. As to the current status of waiting time for trials, let me give you some indicators in the High Court. For High Court cases, the waiting period has been reduced from five years to no more than six months. In the Court of Appeal, the waiting period has been reduced from more than two years to no more than four months. In the Court of Criminal Appeal, the waiting period is in the next month after the appeal records are ready. And for capital cases, it has been reduced from four years to no more than two years. This period for capital cases is expected to be reduced even further with the changes in the Bill that was passed by Parliament, I believe, two sittings ago. 1.15 pm I would confirm what Mr Heng Chiang Meng said that the position of Subordinate Courts has also improved in tandem. Can lawyers cope? Of course, when you have a major change like this, the lawyers will have to make adjustments. The previous backlog, I believe, could have been partially caused by, shall I say, a lackadaisical attitude of some lawyers (not all, some lawyers) on the need to expedite the disposal of cases. Now, when earlier than expected dates are thrust on them, of course, they have to make adjustments. They have to work harder to prepare cases for trial or to reach a settlement date with the other side. I believe most lawyers can make adjustments. If there are genuine problems, I have no doubt they will convey the feedback through the Law Society or through the Attorney-General's Office. Mr Heng Chiang Meng next raised the question as to which should have priority, whether it should be the setting up of a dedicated permanent Court of Appeal, notice of which has been given in the Bill which I introduced at the last sitting, or a Court of Commercial Appeal, along the lines of the UK Commercial Court. I understand the arguments for a specialised court. Most of the arguments turn on the UK model where the UK Commercial Court has been held as an example of a specialised court which has proved successful and which has been presented as a model for other countries. But I am afraid that the admiration and respect which the UK Commercial Court had does not necessarily continue to be so now. In fact, the new Lord Justice of England in December 1992 warned of serious delays in the United Kingdom Commercial Court caused by a shortage of High Court Judges, leading to a waiting period of almost three years. And he warned that the UK Commercial Court could lose its commercial work and also the invisible earnings of the United Kingdom arising from this. So the question is: Is the setting up of a dedicated commercial court the answer? Or, is it streamlining the Judiciary with enough judges who are competent, able and to have a case management system that is efficient to dispose of the cases, whether they be commercial cases, civil cases, or criminal cases? I am sure the Chief Justice and Judiciary at some time will consider the establishment of a Commercial Court or other specialised courts which have been suggested from time to time, like a family court, and so on. But the present approach is to provide a solution in providing sufficient judges who have the experience and knowledge to deal with commercial cases. We have, in fact, adopted many of the special procedures applicable to the Commercial Court in UK. Also, the Registrar in assigning cases does take into account the competence and knowledge of various judges in a particular area and, in fact, to some degree, there is informal specialisation already practised. I think we should let the Judiciary settle down with the reforms that they have introduced. I think they have worked well. But we should not adopt the idea of a specialised court for the sake of adopting a specialised court. I understand the points made by Mr Heng Chiang Meng. I think we should observe and see how specialised courts in other countries have functioned, and only if we are satisfied that it is absolutely necessary to establish such courts, should we do so.

Sir, I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply and congratulate him and the Judiciary on the success of the reforms. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $28,237,540 for Head E ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $18,419,700 for Head E ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head B -

Head B - Attorney-General's Chambers. Dr Arthur Beng.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head B of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, when LawNet was introduced last year, there was a lot of excitement and also apprehension, as would be expected of any change. What percentage of legal firms are now using LawNet? What assistance has been given to the smaller legal firms? Has there been a productivity gain in the exercise? What is the Minister's overall assessment of the introduction of LawNet?

My overall assessment of the introduction of LawNet is that it has started the legal profession and the legal community on a direction which will revolutionise the practice of law and the way in which law firms deal with law- related agencies through hook-up via computerisation. By now I think more than half of the practising lawyers are in law firms which are subscribing to LawNet, and the number of law firms signing on, I believe, is increasing. I understand that almost all the major law firms are subscribing to LawNet. It is mainly the smaller one-man or two-men law firms which have not subscribed to LawNet. I expect that with the services which will be added on to LawNet in the coming years, lawyers will find that it is really an indispensable part of their law firm management to be hooked up to LawNet. On the question of smaller firms, in fact, I recall suggesting to both the Attorney-General and the Law Society that some steps should be taken to promote computerisation of smaller law firms. I understand the Law Society enlisted the help of NCB to develop a generic specification of software for smaller firms. In fact, at the launch of the LawNet services by the Chief Justice last year, this software was commissioned. Also, the Law Society, I understand, had negotiated with finance companies to provide loans to finance the computerisation of law firms. Indeed, the NCB and, I think, EDB, administer a programme called the Small Enterprises Computerisation Programme to assist small enterprises in their computerisation efforts, and some of the smaller law firms would be eligible. Lawyers, in fact, have been taking advantage of this programme. Some law firms may obtain consultancy services, for example, at a nominal fee of only about $100 to study the computerisation requirements. So I am confident that as we progress and law firms find it indispensable, even the smaller law firms will take advantage of these incentives, like consultancy and so on, and get on to the system. As for productivity, I have no doubt that it aids productivity, but it is too early for me to give any precise figures in this area.

Sir, I am glad to hear from the Minister that more services will be added on and that the needs of the small firms are being looked into. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $14,112,280 for Head B ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,080,200 for Head B ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head Q -

Head Q - Ministry of Home Affairs. Amendment No. (1), Dr Arthur Beng.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, Singapore enjoys a safe living environment where crime rates are among the lowest in the world. This is largely due to our sound policies and legislation on law and order, and effective enforcement on the ground. It will continue to be so because the enforcement agencies of the Ministry of Home Affairs are constantly improving themselves, eg, in the areas of training and doctrine, upgrading of operational readiness, and improvement of technical capabilities such as crime investigation. While the Police have been effective in dealing with crime, it is necessary to ensure that their efforts are not hampered by other factors. For example, I have noticed that while our crime rates are under control, the nature of crimes appears to have become more vicious. Crimes are being committed with greater violence. We have read of violence by teenage groups, and infliction of severe injuries by criminals on helpless victims. There was also a rising number of cases of "granny-bashing". This too must not be tolerated. These are not only mere acts of violence but are an extreme form of bullying. We also have the problem of teenage gangs, including female gangs. These wayward youth groups commit theft, intimidation and cause public nuisance. The Police are taking stern action but we must also monitor the trend. If necessary, the Police should work with the Ministry of Community Development or the Ministry of Education to see how the problem can be minimised in the long run. Of course, the ultimate responsibility must lie with responsible parenthood. The proper upbringing of the next generation cannot be relegated to teachers, lesser still law enforcement officers. Despite the very favourable crime statistics of 1992, there was a slight increase in the number of cases of outraging of modesty. This must be studied further as our society must remain safe for all categories of people: the young, the old, the adults, as well as our young ladies. Sir, I am not trying to paint a frightening scenario of a potential crime situation. Indeed, I believe Singapore will remain high in the list of safe communities. What I am saying is that we must not allow ourselves to drift into complacency. The Police should now pay more attention to specific types of crime so that our society will become even safer for all. I would like to have the Minister's comments on how he intends to address these problems. Sir, I would also like to end by quoting from an article from a local newspaper in America entitled, "A tale of two cities: Singapore and almost any city in America". This is what the writer, Mr Richard L. Schreadley, had to say: "In the lifetime of most of us now living, .... the threat to urban civilization has assumed a new dimension. Crime, racism (white, black, yellow and brown), drugs, bad air, bad water, choking traffic, crumbling infrastructure, dwindling tax bases - these are the modern destroyers of cities. It is the same all over the world - well, almost all over the world. There is Singapore. It is, perhaps, the exception proving the rule. It is the one place I know of where urban problems have been met head on, and progress, remarkable progress, achieved. 1.30 pm Singaporeans have paid a price, of course. They do not enjoy many of the liberties Americans take for granted. They have no liberty to fill their streets and thoroughfares, curb to curb, with cars and trucks and motorbikes. They have no liberty to use public parks and libraries as private camp-grounds and hotels, no liberty to turn subway stations into evil-smelling urinals, no liberty to trash other people's property or, if able-bodied, no liberty to eat other people's bread. They have no liberty to pollute the air other people breathe or the water other people drink. If convicted of crime, they have no liberty to forestall or evade just punishment, for years, at public expense. They have no liberty to sell drugs or carry weapons on school playgrounds. By our standards, Singapore is not free. But look at some of the things Singapore is. It is today unquestionably the safest and cleanest urban area on the face of the Earth. It is also one of the most civilized and prosperous.".

Dr Beng, you are next on the list. Would you like to continue your second topic?

Yes, Sir. I am pleased with the Minister's recent announcement of the crime statistics of 1992. Singapore has become even safer than before. On behalf of my GPC, I compliment the Minister and his officers for their hard work in keeping Singapore safe for all Singaporeans. Although we have a high standard of law enforcement and our people have a sense of security, a few new problems have surfaced. For example, in the past, we had the problem of road bullies. This problem was effectively dealt with when many such bullies were arrested and severely punished. The fact that this problem suddenly "mushroomed" reminds us that we must be ever vigilant and not be afraid to take drastic remedial action to stop anti-social acts. Today, we have other problems. The activities of loan sharks were highlighted recently when those who borrowed money from illegal moneylenders were subject to harassment and intimidation, and assaulted. A number of the culprits were arrested but more remained at large. If necessary, we must toughen our laws and lift up enforcement measures as we must send the right signals that Singaporeans do not tolerate thuggery in our society and infliction of severe injuries by criminals on helpless victims. At the same time, Sir, we see more violence in programmes telecast over television. I recall that this issue was raised with the Minister in the Committee of Supply last year. I am glad that the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Information and the Arts are together addressing the situation, and that a committee has now been formed to study this problem further. The British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, said: 'What we watch is the single biggest influence on many people's thinking ... There's another factor that goes right home in every sense and that's too much violence in videos and on television.' We can also benefit from his wise words to the media: 'We can say to those who make and distribute films and videos - think whether a relentless diet of violence won't have a serious effect on the young ... and we can say to television programmers - don't just be careful when you show it, be careful what you show.' Here again, parents must be mindful of their role in nurturing these young minds into responsible adults. Yes, the intellectual may say that crime is multifactorial, that is, many factors, for example, socio-economic and education, contribute to crime, and not only TV. The question to ask ourselves is whether we wait for students of sociology to prove that there is a direct "cause and effect" between broadcasting and violence, or do we use commonsense and act now. I urge the two Ministers to act now. I would like to know from the Minister the Police's assessment of the impact of TV violence on the crime situation today and what can be done to ensure that our happy and secure environment does not degenerate.

Sir, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) plays an important role in ensuring that Singapore continues to be one of the safest cities in the world. Our police officers are effective in law enforcement and criminals know that there is no escape from the long arm of the law. At the same time, the Police maintains its close rapport with the people through community policing. In this regard, the National Police Cadet Corps, or NPCC, with its 20,000 members, plays a useful role. I take pride in our Police as being one which is forward-looking and vigilant for new crime trends in order to be steps ahead of the criminals. The professionalism of our police officers is internationally recognised when they are called upon to serve in peacekeeping forces overseas. The SPF is a tough and effective force, yet one with a human face. I hope all Singaporeans appreciate the vital contribution of the Police in maintaining law and order, an important consideration for investors when they decide where to commit their funds. I feel that the Police is under-appreciated by the public. Such outstanding performance can only be sustained if the Force can recruit good people into its ranks. School-leavers must regard a career in the Police as attractive so that more will be prepared to join the Force. I would like to ask the Minister what measures are taken to ensure that the Police continues to have its fair share of good people coming into its ranks. Apart from regular police officers, the Police Force also has NS men, reservists and volunteers. A key to success in community policing is the participation of volunteers. In schools, NPCC teacher-officers and cadets do their bit. The National Crime Prevention Council also plays a role. The backbone, of course, is the Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC). I note and welcome the Minister's statement recently on plans to put NS men to more effective use. I wish to ask him, in general, what can be expected in such a review and whether it will also include reservists. I would also like to know whether parallel efforts are being taken to induce more volunteers to join the efforts of the Police.

Sir, the Singapore Civil Defence Force has been successful in reaching out to the community for volunteers. The present pool of CD volunteers has now undergone some form of basic civil defence training and the skills of many of them have been put to use during civil defence mishaps, for example, the shophouse collapse in Chinatown. The manpower strength of CD reservists is also increasing. I would like to know what is the future direction of the Civil Defence Volunteer Scheme for, say, the next five to ten years. For those who have served many years as a volunteer, perhaps, some can be singled out for higher duties or responsibilities. They must be given a more meaningful role in Total Defence. I believe that there is a need to motivate our volunteers further so that they can contribute better to civil defence readiness in Singapore. Sir, I next turn to the issue of high-rise fire control. Singapore is a city of high-rise buildings. Such buildings are getting taller every year. The events worldwide have shown that even in this modern day, no city is spared of disasters involving high rise buildings. Recently, in Amsterdam, a jumbo jet crashed into a number of residential apartment blocks. In New York, the World Trade Centre, which is more than a hundred storeys high, had to be evacuated because of a bomb blast in its basement. We are fortunate that the fires that we have had in high-rise buildings were very small by comparison, eg, Asia Radio and Hilton Hotel. I am aware that our fire safety standards are very high and that the SCDF is constantly upgrading its standards and ability to deal with all kinds of fire. I would like to hear from the Minister what further measures are being contemplated to make high-rise buildings even safer in the future. May I continue, Sir?

Yes.

Sir, the Ministry has liberalised its immigration policy in 1989 to attract more skills and talents to Singapore. This is a very important factor that will help increase the pool of skilled workers, professionals and entrepreneurs for our economic growth and prosperity. We must continue to welcome such people from abroad for the sake of our future. Our policies can do with fine-tuning from time to time. I am referring to the issue of applications for permanent residence (PR) by foreign husbands of Singapore ladies. This issue has been raised in Parliament before by various MPs and, most recently, by Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, who asked whether the Ministry was willing to allow the economic and financial status of the Singaporean spouse to be the determining factor in PR applications regardless of sex. I have noted the Minister's answer that the qualifications and skills of the Singapore spouse, regardless of whether the spouse is the husband or wife, are taken into account. However, where the foreign spouse is the husband, he should be gainfully employed and be able to support his family. I understand the rationale behind such a policy. One cannot argue against it. But I do feel that the criteria regarding employment can be made more flexible. The foreign husband should not, in every case, be required to be employed in Singapore. It may not always be easy for a foreign husband to find a job immediately in Singapore. By insisting that the husband who is a foreigner be gainfully employed before he can be granted PR, we may be seen to be discriminating against our women citizens who are married to foreigners. Let us remind ourselves that as Singapore goes global, more of our men and women will marry spouses of different nationalities. Let us assist them to settle down in Singapore with minimum of fuss and bureaucratic hassle. Will the Minister please consider having more flexible guidelines for such cases?

Sir, I would like to join my colleague, Dr Arthur Beng, in making an appeal to the Minister that we have to regularise, clarify and make more transparent the criteria for awarding PR status to spouses and children of Singapore citizens. I would like to illustrate some of the inequities and anomalies and a few uncompassionate practices that occur when PR status is applied for. I will do this by giving examples of real cases. Case one. Singaporean woman who is a senior accounts executive in her late 30s. She earns $2,700 per month. Her husband is British and is 53 years old. He is on a monthly pension of o

367. The couple have no children. The husband is unable to get PR status, even though he has the means to look after himself and the wife is earning a high salary. Case two. Singaporean woman aged 48 and is working as a production operator, earning $900 per month. She has two children who have Malaysian nationality but studying in Singapore for the last 10 years in local schools. One is 18 years old and is doing 'A' levels, and the other is 15 years old and doing 'O' levels. These children are not given PR status. Case three. Singaporean woman working in a family business. Has a British husband who is in Singapore earning $2,000 per month. However, their two children were born in the UK but have been in Singapore for 10 years and studying in local schools. Daughter is 19 years old and doing 'A' levels, son is 16 and doing 'O' levels. Sir, in the last two cases, the Singaporean mothers are very worried about what is going to happen to their children when they finish their studies. As they have no local identity cards, the boys will not be enroled for National Service and the girls will not be able to find employment. These four young people will make admirable permanent residents of Singapore. They have gone to local schools for many years and are doing well academically and have one Singaporean parent, even though it is the mother. They eat local food, they have imbibed local culture and values and they interact with the local extended families of their mother. They are Singaporeans in most respects except immigration status and, yet, we are not thinking of making them permanent residents. We are not exploiting the advantage of retaining these young people. Many of the permanent residents we are taking from other countries can barely hold a candle to these four young people. Case four. Widowed Indian woman - was married to Singapore male citizen who died after the birth of the first child. Before his death, he did not apply for PR status for his wife. The child is now eight years old and goes to a local school but the mother is only granted social visit pass. She is not granted PR status. Now who is going to look after her school-going eight year old son? Case five, and this is the last case, Sir. Singaporean woman, production operator, earning $800 per month. Husband is a Malaysian and on work permit, earning just over $1,000. They have three children. The older two are nine and eight years old and born in Malaysia. The youngest one is six years old and born in Singapore. The youngest is in school but the two older children are only on social visit passes. They have been refused PR and are not even given a student visa. As a result, no local school is willing to take them and the eight and nine year old children are therefore not in any school. 1.45 pm All these cases illustrate, Sir, that we have to look at how our immigration laws and rules affect the near and dear ones of Singapore citizens. Strict rules and regulations were formulated during the time when Singapore's economic growth was uncertain and immigration of outsiders was strictly controlled. Now we have changed our thinking and are allowing PR status quite liberally. We had 4,700 people from Hong Kong in Singapore with PR status. And in the years 1991 and 1992, PR status was given to about 20,000 people each year. In view of this, we must relax and rationalise our policy to allow spouses and children of Singapore citizens to have PR status. I would like the Minister to respond to this important issue. Finally, the immigration officers are unable to deal with many of the cases and they end up at the doors of MPs' offices. The policy and the rules should be spelt out and not dealt with on a case by case basis. Because of the ambiguity, there is a great deal of worry, uncertainty and unnecessary suffering on the part of our Singapore citizens who are married to foreigners with children and those with children born outside Singapore. Even lawyers, social workers and MPs are unable to give clear and consistent advice to these unfortunate citizens and what is going to happen to their relatives. Would the Minister please respond to this? Could he also let the House know how many female citizens have left Singapore because they were unable to get PR status for their husbands and children?

Sir, let me respond to the various points in the order in which they were made. First, on Police and crime; next, on civil defence; and, finally, on immigration. Dr Arthur Beng talked about various incidents and crimes involving violence. I agree with him that this is the position taken by the Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs, that we should not tolerate resort to violence, whether it be road bullies, violence against the elderly or violence by teenagers. It goes without saying that we are a very small, compact, society, densely populated. Whether at work or at recreation, we have to interact with other Singaporeans at very close quarters. We are bound to have irritations or misunderstandings from time to time. But we must evolve in a way where we handle problems and frictions without resort to violence. So where people resort to violence, other than for self-defence or unless there are other valid exceptions, we must come down very hard on them. That is why we have taken a very tough view, for example, on road bullies and the problem has diminished. He mentioned the problem of violence and intimidation by moneylenders and people hired by moneylenders. I think he knows that we have introduced measures in the form of amendments to the Moneylenders Act which will enhance penalties for offences committed by moneylenders as well as people employed by them to commit harassment and intimidation. That Bill will come up for Second Reading very soon. Violence against the elderly, yes, the extent of robberies against elderly people who are, of course, easy victims, has been increasing. They are not the work of organised gangs. In fact, the Police believe that they are the work of individual perpetrators. In fact, recently, they arrested one individual and charged him in court and he was responsible for 40 such offences. But we must also launch, and we will, through the Police, crime prevention talks to educate our senior citizens on basic dos and dont's when they are out of their houses so that they will not be easy victims. We have also produced a tape which the Police will distribute to various senior citizens' committees. Youths and violence. Although the percentage of youths who are engaged in gang activities and secret societies is small, I agree that this is a matter of concern. In fact, the number has increased recently. What are the measures which we will take? First, of course, the soft approach would be to go to schools, talk to the schools, show videos of the evils of secret societies and so on. That is already being done. We will also enlist the help of principals, calling up kids who are troublesome. The CID, in fact, also brings in to the CID such teenage kids who have proved problematic, probably on the verge of joining secret societies, and counsel and warn them in front of their parents. For the really troublesome youngsters who are dabbling in and experimenting with gang and secret society activities, I mentioned last year that we were launching what I have called a visit to prisons programme. The CID rounds up these kids and takes them on a visit to the prisons. It is a very sobering experience, let me assure you. I am told by the Director of CID that teenagers taken on this conducted tour to the prisons have told the CID that they were really sobered by the experience. And what is interesting is that none of the 400 or so teenagers who have been taken on this visit to the prisons has surfaced on CID records since then. It has been about nine or 10 months. Outraging of modesty. As the figures announced by the Police showed, there has been an increase in outraging of modesty cases. I would like to make two points. First, the Police believe that more women are now prepared to come forward and report, which is a good sign because unless a report is made, we will never be able to catch the perpetrators. The second point to bear in mind when viewing these statistics is that the Police make a distinction between outraging of modesty and aggravated outraging of modesty. Of course, any form of outraging of modesty must be treated seriously. But it covers a wide spectrum of circumstances. But aggravated outraging of modesty, where a victim is put in fear of bodily harm or where it is in a lift, we pay special attention to such cases. And I am glad to say that the figure for aggravated outraging of modesty has been on the decline. In fact, 80% of outraging of modesty cases are not aggravated outraging of modesty. He raised the question of violence on TV. I think he knows from what has been said in the press that the Minister for Information and the Arts and I have expressed our concern. He wants to know what is Police's views. The Commissioner of Police gave me his own views and they are concerned about the extent of violence on TV. Why are they concerned? I would put it this way. We have a situation now where major crime rates have been coming down - murder, robbery, housebreaking. But we see, as Dr Arthur Beng mentioned, a phenomenon where people seem to resort to violence for various minor incidents, which is worrying. The Police deal with crimes on a daily basis and it is a matter of concern when the Commissioner of Police writes to me and tells me that he and his senior officers are very concerned that the extent of violence on TV is excessive. He tells me that constant bombarding of violence on our viewers, especially our youths, would desensitize people to violence. There is a danger, in their view, of raising a new generation which believes that violent behaviour is an acceptable way of dealing with others. If I may just mention, although there is no empirical evidence, the Police did an informal survey amongst 50 young violent crime and secret society offenders and the majority told them that they loved to watch violent films and got a thrill out of watching other people being beaten up or being killed. This is very worrying. The Police are particularly concerned with locally-produced TV series and here I will quote: 'It is bad enough for violence to be featured in foreign settings of acquired programmes shown by SBC. However, it is much worse when the setting is local and the characters are portrayed by well-known local artistes. With Singapore's current low crime rate, such violent scenes are patently exaggerated but may appear realistic to the young and impressionable. Local artistes may also be role models for the young. We must not under estimate the adverse influence these local artistes have over the young when they portray violence or evil.' I am glad to say that I raised it with my colleague, the Minister for Information and the Arts. We both viewed extracts from some of the series, particularly the film cited by the Police, "Angel of Vengeance". We both felt that it was excessive and we had a good meeting with SBC. And arising from it, my colleague set up a standing committee to monitor the situation and to indicate Police's concern. One of the Police representatives on the Committee would be the Director of CID himself. Mr Ho Peng Kee asked whether we are successful and what measures we are taking to recruit good quality men into the Police. I think he knows that I have emphasised the importance of the Police having high-calibre officers. We have, as he knows, pegged salaries at 10% above the market rate. We have introduced schemes to promote the better officers. We have also introduced opportunities for educational advancement for the non-graduate officers. This year, what we are doing is to make a special targeted drive at 'A' level and polytechnic graduates. We think that this is an area which has been sufficiently tapped and we try to zero in and get as many of them as possible. The Police will therefore visit polytechnics and other post-secondary institutes. I agree with Mr Ho Peng Kee that we should try to better utilise NS men, the reservists and the Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC). Indeed, I have discussed with the Commissioner of Police and he and his senior management will see how, in the review of the neighbourhood policing, we can integrate the reservists, the national servicemen and the Volunteer Special Constabulary. In this regard, I want to say that the Volunteer Special Constabulary must be congratulated for the role that they have been performing. These are men and women from various walks of life who, after their normal vocation during the day, spend time performing regular Police duties alongside the regular Police officers. The VSC launched a recruitment drive which was successful, but we need more men and women to come forward and volunteer in the VSC. 2.00 pm Dr Arthur Beng asked about civil defence. Yes, we have had the volunteer scheme for some 10 years. We have some thousands of volunteers in the various constituencies. These volunteers can play a very useful role in peace-time disasters. We do not need examples of the World Trade Centre in New York or the Amsterdam jumbo jet crash to remind ourselves. We have our own local examples such as the Hotel New World disaster, the Ginza Plaza explosion and the Chinatown collapse of a shophouse. In the last two incidents, in fact, Civil Defence volunteers were the first to turn up at the scene to help, ie, to give first aid, to ferry the victims to hospital and so on. What we have to do is that we cannot be satisfied just having 38,000 or 40,000 Civil Defence volunteers. It is important to give a new impetus to the Civil Defence volunteer scheme because we do not live in a place like Japan or elsewhere where you have hurricanes and other natural calamities. So we may not have every year some catastrophes happening, and I hope we do not have. How do we maintain the interest of volunteers? How do we recruit new volunteers? So there must be challenges and new directions for the CD volunteer scheme. To achieve this, we are thinking of a system where existing volunteers who are a cut above the others can be given more responsibilities, more duties and more leadership roles. This is being worked out by the Civil Defence. Also, for volunteers, we are looking at people with specialist skills, like doctors, nurses and chemical engineers. I say chemical engineers in case of a hazardous material incident. We need such people. So we must also look at volunteers with specialist skills. As for highrise fires, I would say the measures we have taken are, first, preventive, ie, education on preventive measures, enforcement of strict fire safety codes, which our Fire Safety Bureau does. Secondly, we must have regular fire drills and exercises. The Civil Defence does this because one of our major preoccupations is that of a highrise fire. We do not just treat highrise fire as a fire incident. We even consider it as a potential major disaster. Therefore, for very big scale fires, the Civil Defence will work with other agencies like MINDEF, Police, PUB, etc. For this, as he knows, from time to time, we conduct major drills, as we had in Raffles City. Finally, we will have to also beef up the law. Sometime this year we will introduce a Fire Safety Bill to toughen the Civil Defence's ability to deal with fire hazards, particularly in highrise situations where fire safety managers may have to be appointed. Also, managements which lock up fire exits, we should have the power to deal with them quite severely. Finally, the immigration question by Dr Arthur Beng and Dr Soin. Let me put matters in context. First, we have in fact liberalised our immigration policies in recent years. Although you can cite specific cases, the fact is that the majority of cases are approved. Of applications for male spouses of Singapore citizens, nearly 70% of cases are approved. Contrary to what Dr Soin says, it is not that Immigration is unable to handle cases and the majority land up at the doors of Members of Parliament. Members of Parliament who handle meet-the-people session cases will tell you that they have been receiving in recent years more and more approvals than in previous years. It is the difficult cases, the gray cases, that land up in the MPs' offices. Of course, we must be prepared to look at each of these cases. As I said, the difference between the husband and wife of the Singapore citizen is that for the foreign husband, we require that he must be able to work in Singapore. This is not a discriminatory move against women. There are good reasons because we want to ensure that they and their families will not become a burden to the state. Why do we say that? This is because the Immigration Department has provided me with figures that in the majority of cases where the Singapore wife applies for her foreign husband, the majority of the wives who were sponsoring are not employed, whereas the majority of Singaporean men, who apply for the foreign wives, are employed. So it is reasonable for the Immigration Department to be satisfied that the foreign husband will be able to look after his wife and the family that they are about to raise. Therefore, the Immigration Department will want evidence that he has a job or that he can get a job. If he has not got a job, and I give her and Dr Arthur Beng the assurance, the Immigration Department will always give ample time for the person to be in Singapore to obtain a job. I think the Immigration Department has never failed to be reasonable on that score. Specific cases were cited by Dr Soin. Of course, not knowing the details, and one must know the details because there are many sides to a case where, after you investigate, you will find that it takes on a different complexion. If she can let me have the specifics of these cases, I will be prepared to look into them. But let me put a caveat. The Immigration Department in Singapore is not devoid of compassion, nor am I, as a Minister, devoid of compassion. But all Immigration Departments the world over must take into account one overriding consideration, ie, the national interest. We would like ideally to let in anybody who likes to come to Singapore. Mind you, there is no end to the number of people who want to come to Singapore. So it must be the national interest and specifically we must be sure that the person who is going to be given permanent residence does not become a charge on the state. That is critical. Even advanced countries, if you read the prospectus, and I have just looked at the New Zealand prospectus on immigration, it says: Entry of spouses is not automatic. If that is so for New Zealand, what more for a small little place like Singapore? So the Immigration Department has liberalised and will be reasonable, but there is a certain bottom line. I agree that those who have connections with Singapore in terms of relatives, wives or husbands, we should be reasonable and exercise flexibility. I think in most cases we have done so. But if there are any specific cases where Members feel that they deserve consideration, by all means, raise them with me or my Parliamentary Secretary and we will have a look at them.

Sir, could I get a clarification from the Minister? In one of my meet-the-people sessions, I had a girl coming to me to complain that her modesty had been outraged while working. Accordingly, I wrote a complaint to the Police Division concerned. I was surprised when I received a reply about one or two weeks later. The Commander stated that since the girl was not from my constituency, would I ask her to go to her constituency and lodge a complaint through that MP. In fact, I was really shocked with this sort of reply. I can well understand that if it is a problem with any department you can take all the time in the world to reply. But in a case where information has been given about the commission of a crime, I would have thought that time is of the essence, and that the Police would carry out the investigation straightaway, rather than direct her to go back and complain to her own MP. To be fair to the officer concerned, I did write a letter to him saying that I was a bit surprised with the sort of reply from him. Later on, he replied to me that the matter had been investigated into. I want an assurance from the Minister that complaints of this nature should be investigated straightaway rather than directing her to go back to her own MP to lodge a complaint again.

Can I ask whether the lady who came to see Mr Ling has filed a Police report?

I am not aware of this. Whether she has filed a complaint or not is not important at all because the complaint could be in the form of a report to the MP in that sense. The complaint was for the Police to initiate investigation from there because she came to me and I wrote in the complaint.

Let me first say that, as far as I know, all Government Departments reply to appeals raised by MPs on behalf of their constituents. I know that this is the case. But it must be an appeal raised by the MP on behalf of his constituent. If it is not his constituent, the Government Department will not reply. As far as I know, that is the procedure, whether it is a PAP MP or an Opposition MP. A lady says her modesty has been outraged. I would think the first thing she should do is to go to a Police Station. If such a lady came to me, my advice would be that she immediately goes to the NPP and makes a report. It goes without saying. But for me, as an MP, to write to the Police to say so and so has made a report, how can the Police investigate? The Police must get the first information report from the individual concerned. It is not the MP whose modesty has been outraged. Mr Ling is a lawyer. Surely, he knows that that must be the advice, whether as an MP or as a lawyer, he must give the girl.

I am surprised at the reply of the Minister. Here is a case of a layman. You do not expect her to know. She may be frightened and she is shy of everything. We wrote the letter. What is so difficult for the Police to write to her to tell her: Come to the Police Station and lodge a report. I am surprised at the Minister's reply.

What is the difficulty in Mr Ling, as an MP and as a lawyer, to tell the lady: "Look, this is important. It must be investigated. Make a report immediately to the Police."

Sir, I am glad that the Ministry has been and will be focusing on the problem areas. Once again, I congratulate the Ministry. I am also glad that the Ministry has innovative programmes like the prison visit scheme and the video tape for senior citizens on how to protect themselves. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (2). Mr Kenneth Chen, please take your two topics together.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QC 1500. Sir, my colleague, Dr Arthur Beng, has spoken lengthily of the fact that Singapore is one of the safest cities in the world. Therefore, the low crime rate achieved again in 1992 is definitely not going to make any headline. The notion of personal safety has never been so sharply focused to me until my recent visit to Los Angeles. During my half-hour journey from the airport to the hotel, I hardly see anybody walking in the street. It was really eerie. I was told later by an American friend that it would take a very brave man, or a very stupid one, to walk in the street of Los Angeles after 7.00 pm. But we should be happy to be able to enjoy personal safety and well-being in our own city all the time. We should maintain our alertness and vigilance against the would-be criminals. Therefore, I would like the Minister to assure us that our Police Force would receive the best possible support in both facilities and manpower. It should be equipped with the latest state-of-the-art crime detection equipment. 2.15 pm On recruitment of talent, I would ask the Ministry to take a cue from the SAF in offering competitive incentives such as abundance of scholarships and good promotion prospects to induce our top talent into the Force. Sir, can I go on to the next cut?

Yes.

Sir, the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme has been introduced many years ago. The formation of the Neighbourhood Watch Group, or NWG, has helped to deter crime, especially house-breaking in HDB housing estates. They have also worked closely with the Neighbourhood Police Post to ensure peace and security in the neighbourhood. During the launching of the NWG, a lot of publicity and projects have been initiated. However, during the last one or two years, since the whole Neighbourhood Watch Scheme is more or less in place, very little publicity and activities are being highlighted. I would like to know from the Minister whether the Ministry has continued to monitor the effectiveness of the scheme and whether it has any new programme to keep up the momentum of the Neighbourhood Watch Group. I would suggest that there should be updating and major improvement made. Since there are many new HDB estates being completed, the Police should re-activate the drive for the recruitment and the formation of new Neighbourhood Watch Groups as well as maintaining a high morale of the existing groups, so that they can continue to be an effective crime prevention component.

Sir, with Singapore being a country with one of the lowest crime rates in the world, the question that is sometimes asked is whether our Police personnel have enough on their hands to keep them occupied. This has come as no surprise to us and should be seen in a positive light as it reflects the success of our Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP) system. Sir, after almost 10 years, the concept and practice of community policing is now well established. Today, the Police and the public look upon each other as partners in combating crimes and there is close rapport and cooperation. It has shown results in that members of the public are more prepared to come forward to assist the Police and to report crime. I am made to understand that a significant percentage of crimes were solved with assistance from members of the public. The rapport of our NPPs and the community is so close that sometimes families call up the NPPs for assistance to resolve domestic disputes and quarrels with neighbours. Sir, it is apparent that more and more of such cases, albeit non-criminal in nature, will come to the fore and Police involvement is expected. This is inevitable because Singaporeans have become more vocal and demanding and they expect a better standard of service from the Police and can be critical if such a service is not forthcoming. Sir, I would like to suggest that our men and women in blue be further equipped with relevant human relations and social skills to enable them to be better prepared in handling neighbourhood problems. Sir, in the last Committee of Supply debate, the Minister indicated that the NPP system would be reviewed to make it even more effective. Can the Minister inform the House whether the review has been carried out and what are some of the key recommendations made?

Sir, in the past three months, there were many cases of fire occurring in schools. The first in the series was during the December school holidays where the staff room and other facilities in a school were destroyed. The damage was substantial. I am very concerned because these are not merely school boy pranks like damaging tables and chairs or scrawling graffiti. These are serious crimes committed. I would like to find out from the Minister whether the recent fires were the act of different people or a group of arsonists going from school to school. I understand that some youths were arrested and prosecuted in court. I would urge the Police to pursue further in solving the remaining cases and arrest the problem as early as possible so that we do not give the impression to other school children that this type of behaviour can be condoned. I would also like to know from the Minister what follow-up action has been taken against those who have been arrested and prosecuted. I feel that they should not be treated just like any other criminals. We must follow up to find out the cause of the culprit's action. Perhaps the Ministry of Community Development and the Ministry of Education can further investigate into the background and profile of those culprits and get into the fundamental problem that leads them to commit such a serious crime, and take appropriate action to prevent and deter such incidents in future.

Sir, we have a good system of expressways, permitting quick transit from one part of Singapore to another by motorists. They are, generally, safe to travel on. However, some accidents which occur on our expressways are what I call "not true accidents" but are deliberately caused by syndicates to bring business to motor repair workshops, thereby cheating motorists and insurance companies. Sir, the almost immediate appearance of towing equipment and so-called assistance soon after the occurrence of some accidents, in not a few cases, is too much of a coincidence. I am aware that the Police have been taking action against such syndicates wherever and whenever they are detected. I also know that it is difficult to catch syndicate members and the workshops red-handed. But my concern is that it is not just a question of cheating. My concern is that such accidents which are deliberately caused could have resulted in serious injuries or even death. Because these acts are deliberate, and if death occurs, it would be manslaughter or even murder. Sir, we must not let this happen. We must send a very clear signal that such dangerous acts of playing with lives will not be tolerated in Singapore. I would like the Minister to consider enhancing the penalties against such syndicate members, even if their actions do not result in death or serious injuries. Sir, after all, if there are no deaths, it is still what I call "attempted manslaughter". In this respect, perhaps I would like to make an appeal to the public, especially to the motoring public, that, wherever possible, they should also help by giving leads to the Police so that we can eradicate this evil once and for all.

Mr Choo, take your three topics together.

Sir, Dr Arthur Beng, Chairman of the GPC has touched on crimes such as loan-shark activities, granny bashing and teenage gangs. I agree with the view expressed that these activities must be strongly deterred and we must send a deterrent signal to potential culprits. My concern is that this may be an indication of a worrying trend among our present generation where bullying now manifests itself in many other different ways. More worrying is the growing involvement of youths in gang activities. I expressed my concern during the last Budget debate, and I would like to reiterate this point. I wonder whether this is the result of our highly urbanised living where the pressure of life and work results in less attention being paid to the upbringing of our children and they grow up with the wrong social values. I recall that in our younger days, our parents used to threaten that the "Mata" would come after us if we got out of line. I am not suggesting that this is how we should bring up our children. Our police officers today are friendlier and closer to the community than in the past. I think this should continue. How we bring up the younger generation will depend on our school system and the attitude of parents. For the Police, they have a role to maintain law and order. I think we must ensure that this continues to be so. Here, I would suggest that the Police spare no effort to give the right signal to youngsters to deter them from acts such as taking part in teenage gangs and secret societies. In a recent case, a group of teenagers beat up and eventually killed an innocent youth who was resting at a bus-stop. If tougher action is not taken to deter such "extreme form" of bullying, we may well end up in a situation like that in the city of Liverpool where recently two teenagers kidnapped and killed a two-year old child for no apparent reason. We must avoid heading in that direction at all cost. I therefore welcome the recently introduced programme where the CID would bring wayward kids for free "guided tours" of our prisons. This must be continued, and the Police must send more problem kids of this kind on such visits, if necessary, so that they know what is in store for them when they break the law. I would like the Minister to inform the House about the progress of this programme and whether it has had a salutary effect.

Order. I propose to take the break now. Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at five minutes to Three o'clock. Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.27 pm to 2.55 pm. Sitting resumed at 2.55 pm

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed. Head Q (cont.) -

Sir, can I take up the points which were made just before we adjourned for tea break? Mr Kenneth Chen asked about Neighbourhood Watch Groups (NWGs) and, in particular, whether we will encourage formation of NWGs in the new estates, and so on. Neighbourhood Watch Groups, if I recall, are informal gatherings on a small basis - two, three, or, maybe, four households. No major responsibilities are expected of them but simple tasks of keeping an eye on each other, eg, each other's kids when adults are away, and so on. It is formed jointly by the Residents' Committees or private estates residents' associations and the Police. Most of them are in the HDB housing estates. There are some 97,000 Neighbourhood Watch Groups, the vast majority of about 89,000 would be in the HDB housing estates and the others in private estates. As I said, they are informal with very minimum duties. If we have more onerous functions entrusted on them, there may be reluctance for people to form NWGs. But having said that, I take Mr Kenneth Chen's point that we must not let these groups, or the institution of NWG, fall into disuse or atrophy. So the Police, in fact, are reviewing the concept of the NWGs to see what new directions, new impetus we can give, for example, whether the Neighbourhood Watch Groups can be involved in certain specific activities. For example, can we activate the NWGs in a particular area, say, in a block of flats, or in a neighbourhood, where some incident has occurred, maybe, a snatch theft, burglary or housebreaking? Can we activate the NWGs either to be on the look-out before we catch the culprit, or to be able to give information which is helpful for the police, and whether we can involve the Neighbourhood Watch Groups in crime prevention activities organised in the vicinity? We are also considering ways and means of giving recognition to the more outstanding and more active NWGs. Mr Zulkifli asked about the review of the Neighbourhood Police Posts and the community-oriented policing. As I have mentioned last year, the Police were conducting a review. This review has been completed. Why did the Police conduct this review? It was because we felt that the single major force which has contributed to the success of the Police in the past decade has been the community-oriented policing and the Neighbourhood Police Post system. It has brought about a quantum change in the image of the Police and in the level of cooperation and rapport between the community and the public. The fact that for the past three years we have had a high level of assistance and support from the public in the solution of crimes speaks for itself. The figure is more than 30% of major crimes have been solved or arrests made either with the cooperation or the assistance of the public. It is a very high figure which very few countries can boast of. 3.00 pm The Police's thinking is that they are on the right track with the NPP system and the community-oriented policing. But how can they improve on it further? And that was the thrust of the review. In the months ahead, the Police will, of course, publicise the various aspects of the review. But if I may indicate, one of the major findings of the review is that the Police must press on with community-oriented policing not only with serious crimes, like murder, rape, burglaries, robberies, but the review has shown that the Police must also emphasise on a pro-active approach in dealing with the community, even for lesser offences. Sometimes it may not even be offences. It may be incidents or misunderstandings or incidents which have a high level of irritation or inconvenience factor where they look at the neighbourhood police post for solution. Strictly speaking, perhaps it is not a law and order function. Strictly speaking, an offence may not have been committed by anybody. But as the interaction between the Police and the community improves, there is going to be greater reliance on the policemen, greater calls made to NPP, because they have got to know him as a member of the community. They do not know who else can immediately come to the situation. So they call. The Police have decided that for the years to come, they must build on these links they have established with the community, with the grassroots organisations, and one of the ways is that they will press on with the pro-active approach, even in non-serious offence related issues. To give you an example which the Commissioner of Police has given me, there was, for example, a problem of illegal parking complaints at the Kopi Tiam food centre in Upper Thomson Road. Many residents phoned up complaining about the illegal parking. The Police could, of course, have resorted to just one method, just issue summonses and tickets and do nothing else. But what the Police did was to look at the problem in macro. They went down to the ground level. They worked with the residents. They talked to the residents. They worked with the food operators. They persuaded people to park in the proper places. They identified another area which most of the patrons did know about where they could park their cars. And therefore the problem was considerably eased. Similarly, often you find residents phoning up the Police to say, "Look, the kids are making a lot of noise and nuisance at the void deck." But the kids are not really committing any offence. They want to play ball and so on. This is typical of the situation where the Police are now being asked to come in at the community level. So taking this new pro-active role, the Police will have to work with the grassroots organisation and say, "Look, can we not find some other avenue for these kids to play basketball or soccer?" It is far better that they play basketball or soccer than gather in some nook and corner smoking away, plotting to shoplift or some other offence. I would say that the Police's review of NPP has shown two things: one, that they are on the right track; two, that they must further build on their links with the community. And for this, they have to be even more pro-active than they have been in the past. Mr Kenneth Chen asked about arson in schools. Yes, there has been an increase in arson. In 1991, there were seven cases. In 1992, 14 cases and this year, to-date, two cases. We take a very serious view of this for the reasons which Mr Kenneth Chen has stated that (a) any kind of arson or attempted arson is treated seriously, and (b) you can have lots of damage to property and, worse still, danger to life and limb. The intelligence of the Police as a result of investigations is that there is no organised gang behind it. Mainly, the culprits are students or ex-students who have some grudge or other against the school. They might have been disciplined or some other reason for having a grievance. As you know, we already had one arrest and therefore I cannot go into the details of the case because the sentencing, I believe, has not taken place. What measures will be taken? Firstly, the Police will have more patrols. Secondly, the Police will work out with the schools some arrangements for intelligence gathering and information and also basic dos and don'ts. Thirdly, the schools will also be advised how they can set up their own crime prevention measures. Because many of our schools have quite wide parameters, fencing, and at night they are not guarded. But during the day-time, certain systems can be put in place and, in fact, I think the schools can have their own school watch scheme or equivalent of our neighbourhood watch group, to be alert to potential trouble makers. Mr Heng Chiang Meng asked about accidents on expressways. The Police are aware of this. And, as he knows, in November 1991, the Police had a blitz and cracked down on several workshops which were engaged in touting. This problem that he mentioned is related to touting because it is very difficult to prove that the accident was actually staged. So we have to crack down on illegal touting. I have taken his point as to whether we should amend the law. I am of the view that the present laws, both in the Penal Code and the Road Traffic Act, provide a sufficiently wide and deterrent range of penalties for the offences of reckless or dangerous driving and I do not think it is necessary to amend this. After the November 1991 blitz, the assessment of the Police is that the situation is under control. But should we ever need to, then I will take up the suggestion and look into the need for amending the laws. Mr Choo Wee Khiang raised the point concerning juvenile crime and so on. To some extent, I have already touched on this in my first reply to Dr Arthur Beng. He specifically asked about information on the programme of visit to the prisons. I had given some information when I replied to Dr Arthur Beng. If I may quickly recapitulate, these are kids who are dabbling in secret society activities or on the verge. They already have one foot in secret society activities or about to get a foot in the activities. The CID gathers them. They take them on a trip to the prisons and they see how life inside the prison is. They see how big, grown-up adults, thuggish looking with tattoos, are in prison, docile, well-behaved. They are shown videos. They are even shown videos on caning. And as I mentioned earlier, I can assure the House that it is a sobering experience. Every one of them who had been interviewed vowed to the Police that they would never want to get involved with secret society activities. To-day, every one of the 420-odd youths who have been taken on this visit to the prisons has not resurfaced on CID's records.

Mr Kenneth Chen, do you want to withdraw your amendment?

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

Amendment No. (3), Mr Choo Wee Khiang.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of QD 1500. Sir, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted an island-wide test of its newly installed public warning system (PWS) last year. The public then were only advised not to be alarmed by the sirens. There was insufficient education for the public to know what the different signals meant nor how to react or respond to these signals. May I know what the SCDF's plan is to educate the public on the PWS and whether the schools would be advised to educate students on the public warning system? Sir, I am aware that in some countries with civil defence programmes, the public warning systems are put to good use during peace-time. In Singapore, we can do the same too. For example, PWS can be used to give safety instructions to the public during a major blackout, if we ever have another one. I would therefore like to know whether the Ministry has a plan to use the public warning system for such emergencies.

Sir, in reply to Mr Choo Wee Khiang, it is true that last year our sole objective was to make sure that the public warning system and the sirens located in various places, in fact, work and to make technical testings, the acoustics, the range and so on. So all that was done last year with regard to public understanding and cooperation was that they not be alarmed, that this was only a test, and to inform them that the PWS has been put in place. Last year, we did not require the public to do anything else. But the next stage, from now onwards, is to inform the public and bring about an awareness of how the public warning system will be used, can be used, in an emergency to make the people aware of the various sounds and what each sound of the siren can mean, like warning, a particular kind of sound; all clear, another particular kind of sound; and, third, important message. In peace-time, we envisage, of course, that the third sound which I mentioned, important message, is likely to be the one most resorted to. You can imagine that if we have a major peace-time incident of the scale, say, what happened in the World Trade Centre in New York or if we have an industrial accident in another particular place, it is possible for us to activate the sirens in that part of Singapore only and sound the important message siren sound, in which case the public can tune in to SBC where they can hear repeated messages as to what to do. The message may be on SBC, "Please avoid this area. Keep the streets clear because civil defence and ambulances may want to go to this particular locality." And other kinds of messages can be given. It can be very useful to allay people's fears, to give clear directions to the people in the case of such an emergency. So this will be the next phase of the public warning education system. 3.15 pm I also agree with him on the need to teach our children the basic understanding of the public warning system. For this purpose, the Civil Defence has produced cassettes which will be distributed to schools in due course which will contain the different types of siren sounds. Over the years in future, the public warning system will be activated on occasions like nation wide civil defence exercises, maybe on Civil Defence Day and so on. Eventually, the public warning system will become part and parcel of civil defence way of life.

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

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QE 1500. Sir, in January, there was a report of a fire in a highrise building in Taipei which killed 33 people and quite frequently we read from the newspapers of such similar incidents in many other parts of the world. Fortunately, in Singapore, we are spared of such horrific happenings. We enjoy a high standard of fire safety and this is due mainly to the fact that our fire codes are up to date and the enforcement of our fire regulations has been effective. The credit must go to the SCDF, in particular to the Fire Safety Bureau. I am confident that this good record will be maintained. Before I proceed further, I must declare that I am a practising architect. In our booming construction industry, more building projects are being designed and implemented. They are subject to controls by regulatory bodies such as the Building Control Division and the Fire Safety Bureau. In order to ensure the safety of these buildings, checking and inspection by these regulatory authorities are necessary. But because of the sheer volume of the projects to be processed, the time taken can be quite considerable. With regard to the Fire Safety Bureau, I understand that it is experiencing a tremendous shortage of manpower. This, to a certain extent, aggravates the cause of delay in the issuing of approval and temporary occupation permit in a completed building. This delay would invariably have a tremendous cost implication on the development, especially when the development is large and is situated in an expensive central business district. To overcome this deficiency and yet maintain a high safety standard, may I suggest to the Minister that he consider introducing a system of checking and inspection by approved external professionals. This system is unlike the accredited checking system in the Structural Branch of the Building Control Division. These accredited checkers can then take over the duties and responsibilities of checking and inspecting all building projects. This will free the Fire Safety Bureau a lot of manpower so that they can concentrate on the operational aspect of ensuring fire safety in our buildings. However, I would like to add that the accredited checking system should be introduced as a substitute to the in-house checking and not as an additional level of processing as is being practised in the BCD Structural Branch. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of the whole exercise.

Sir, the Fast Response Medic (FRM) Service came on the scene in Singapore towards the fourth quarter of last year as a pilot scheme involving medics on motorcycles. If we could recall, its objective is to provide faster response time to accident victims whilst at the same time enabling more lives to be saved. Sir, despite the relatively short period that it has been in operation, it is no exaggeration to say that there is no lack of public interest on its progress, in particular, whether the FRMs have significantly reduced the time taken to respond to road accident victims. In this connection, I would like to raise two other points. Firstly, has the Ministry of Home Affairs been able to make some kind of assessment on the performance of the FRMs to-date? Secondly, whether the Ministry sees the need now to set up more FRMs for a wider coverage. Perhaps the Ministry should also consider extending the service to cover other kinds of accidents and not just confining it to road accidents. At the same time, Sir, I am told that the SCDF is looking at some new measures to improve our Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS). I would like to take this opportunity to ask what are the future plans for the EAS that are already in the pipeline and when will it be implemented.

Sir, the volume of work for the Fire Safety Bureau (FSB) has been growing steadily over the years and FSB officers have tried their very best to keep up with the increasing work load, bearing in mind its very limited manpower. The FSB has made several adjustments or improvements to its working procedures in order to simplify and expedite the processing of cases. Some of such measures are, first, the setting up of an inquiry counter to grant on-the-spot approvals for minor renovation works. Second, encouraging the professionals to make preliminary consultation of major projects. Third, allowing engineers in charge of the project to certify that the minor fire requirements have been complied with. However, despite these measures, the manpower shortage remains a problem. Therefore, we have to have a re-think and a new approach. FSB is currently looking into the possibility of selecting and appointing accredited private professional companies to undertake some of the inspection work on behalf of FSB so that FSB can concentrate on the major aspect of fire safety and fire prevention. Under this concept, plans for all building projects would continue to be first vetted and approved by FSB so that basic safety requirements are met and the plans are scrutinised. Upon completion of these plans and buildings, FSB will appoint an approved professional company to conduct on-the-spot inspection to check that all plans and designs are complied with and safety measures are in place. I would like to assure Mr Kenneth Chen that there would not be any double checking. It would expedite, it would not hold back, and the procedures would be simplified. The feasibility of this scheme is still under study and, if viable, it would be implemented after all the procedures, the ground work and safeguards are in place. I assure Mr Chen that we will consult all the professionals and all the parties concerned and brief them before implementation. Sir, with regard to Mr Zulkifli's question on the FRMS, I am glad to report that the results have been encouraging. The average response time of the FRMS is 4.7 minutes during the peak hour as compared with 11 minutes on ambulances. In view of the successful result and the very good rate of response, we have decided to expand the service to cover other areas. Starting from July this year, six more teams of FRMS will be deployed, doubling their numbers. This will bring the FRMS to most parts of Singapore, including all expressways. As for Mr Zulkifli's suggestion that we extend it to other areas, I am glad to say that we are considering this scheme and we hope to extend into other kinds of accidents and emergency, but we wish to take it step by step. With regard to the question of ambulance service, my Ministry is considering various ways to improve this emergency ambulance service. We are considering the starting of a paramedic service with the assistance of the Ministry of Health. A core of officers will be specially trained to man the emergency ambulance service as paramedics. This, I believe, will be a major improvement in the service, especially in emergency ambulance services. We are also considering the setting up of a special or private service undertaken by private medical transport companies to carry non-emergency cases. This will then relieve the emergency ambulance service of non-essential and non-emergency cases so that it can carry on and focus on the major emergency cases. By the end of this year, all emergency ambulances will be equipped with defibrillator which is a very essential equipment, particularly helpful to cardiac patients. It will help to revive them and stabilise their conditions before they reach the hospital. So all in all, I would say that the emergency ambulance service will be updated and upgraded to meet the needs of our population.

May I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his reply. I am sure the industry is looking forward to the introduction of this system. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QG 1500. Sir, recently the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has had many successful cases of arrests of drug traffickers and seizure of large quantities of narcotic drugs. This speaks very well of our effort to control drug abuse by hitting relentlessly at drug suppliers. This will make it more difficult for youngsters to obtain drugs and go into drug addiction. On the demand side, I would like to know what is the state of drug abuse today. I am aware that the number of drug addicts in our DRCs is under control with the various rehabilitation programmes that the Ministry and CNB have introduced in the last few years, eg, the Exit Counselling Programme and the 3-phase Rehabilitation Programme. However, I am also aware that the incidence of relapse cases is still on the high side and that this is a problem we are encountering difficulties in solving. In this respect, Sir, I have heard that there is currently a programme being experimented in the United States of America using medication to treat hardcore drug addicts and I understand a high degree of success has been achieved. What I would like to find out is: are there any new measures being considered by the Ministry or CNB to further help tackle the problematic drug abusers? I trust the Ministry will continue to explore every possible measure to combat drug abuse. Sir, another related question concerns the recently introduced Electronic Monitoring System (EMS). I would like to know whether the system has been successful and whether there are any problems faced by users of electronic tags or their families. I am also interested to know how many persons have undergone electronic tagging so far, and is there any intention to extend the use of tagging to other supervisees?

Sir, helping ex-drug addicts to kick the habit, re-join the work force and live meaningful lives thereafter is no easy task. It requires the concerted efforts of Government, volunteer organisations, community groups and individual Singaporeans. Thankfully, the drug situation in Singapore is well under control. There are, however, areas for improvement. One area is in the recruitment of Volunteer Aftercare Officers (VAOs). SANA ideally needs 4,000 officers. There are currently only 1,000. May I ask the Minister what steps have been taken to attract more volunteers to help out in the drug rehabilitation program-me. 3.30 pm In my view, Sir, an important strategy of drug rehabilitation is to provide for more half-way houses. Having sat on a management committee of one many years ago, and having visited one recently, I am convinced that it is extremely useful for ex-drug addicts who find difficulties in re-integrating with their families and the community to live for a spell in half-way houses. Currently, I understand that SCORE offers start-up grants to new half-way houses that are being formed. I would like to know whether the Ministry is prepared to give more support for the setting up and running of these half-way houses. In particular, would the Ministry consider providing operating grants to such houses, perhaps, on a per resident basis or matching-of-funds-raised basis? Another point, Sir, is this. Many half-way houses today are on Government premises and occupy old Government buildings. The problem is that the leases for such premises are usually rather short. I would suggest that the Government takes a longer-term view and see how half-way houses can be provided on premises with longer-term leases. I would also suggest that half-way houses be considered as institutions to be factored into Singapore's long-term land use. Finally, can more be done to encourage better patronage by Government departments of the varied and, I hear, good quality services offered by many of these houses, including house and office removal, painting of premises, upholstery of furniture, carpentry, catering, general cleaning and frame-making?

Sir, with the large number of arrests of drug traffickers in Singapore and the seizure of large quantities of narcotic drugs, they should have a dampening effect on the drug abuse situation. I would like to know whether this has resulted in a decline in the drug addict population. Sir, glue-sniffing is another problem that we must continue to monitor as it affects children. The danger to health and life caused by glue-sniffing is well-known. Not much has been heard of such problem lately. Would the Minister give an update on the glue-sniffing situation?

Sir, our drug problem is under control. But that is not to say that the problem has disappeared. I think Members will know that there is so much money to be gained from drug trafficking and that we are close to the Golden Triangle drug-producing area that just to stay on top of the problem and to keep it under control is a major achievement. Whereas in other countries, they have practically thrown up their hands and in some places, worse, drug traffickers are holding the government to blackmail. Our problem really is that although we have contained the number of new drug addicts or fresh drug addicts, it is the problem of the hardcore drug addicts that causes us concern - the fourth time and more DRC admissions. They constitute some 39% of our DRC population. So Mr Zulkifli is quite correct that we should be concerned about this. Members will recall that last year or the year before, I informed the House that one of the reasons why hardcore addicts did not mind coming back to the DRCs was many of them thought it was a soft option that they came back to the DRCs. In fact, they were well-fed and probably gathered new information on sources and supply. So we changed the regime and the Director of Prisons introduced a tough regime in DRCs for hardcore addicts. It is no longer comfortable or they should not think that it will be comfortable. And hardcore addicts who began to vandalise or damage property were even caned. I agree with Mr Zulkifli. He asked us to consider all new ways. We will do so. He mentioned that in the United States there was a programme where medication had been successfully used. I believe he is referring to a drug called Naltrexone. Yes, we will get information on this and see whether the information is persuasive enough for us to try. We have been very careful. For example, we have refused to go the way of some countries to try Methadone, which is a substitute for heroin. But from what we have heard, Naltrexone is not a substitute. It suppresses the addiction and we have heard that some 70% success rate has been achieved in keeping heroin addicts off the habit for more than a year. We will have to study this carefully before considering whether we should embark on that track. He asked about the electronic monitoring system. I am glad to report this has proved successful. We had some 2,200 drug supervisees and the DRCs placed them on electronic monitoring. Feedback was very good. They were staying indoors and the supervision that they were staying indoors during curfew hours was effective. The feedback from the families was good. Initially, there was some apprehension on the part of the addicts and families. This has been overcome. And because of our success with trying the electronic monitoring on drug addicts, we are now convinced that the time has come for us to extend it to other areas, particularly, we will try them on criminal law supervisees. The benefit is that we can release them earlier than planned. They can be re-united with their families and get back to a job and be useful citizens once again. So we will try the EMS on criminal law supervisees. Mr Ho Peng Kee asked about VAOs. Yes, we need more because drug addicts need counselling, and this kind of counselling is not easy. You need a dedicated volunteer. So SANA, which has done a very good job in marshalling volunteers for fighting the drug menace, is launching a full-scale effort to recruit additional volunteers and I hope they will meet with good response. On half-way houses, SCORE does give start-up capital grants for new half-way houses. I understand some six half-way houses have been given grants of almost $1 million in all. But I do not think it is necessary to give operating grants because the organisations to which the half-way houses are affiliated have been able to manage with their funds. On the question of leases, Home Affairs and CNB will take it up with URA and other agencies like Land Office. On drugs, I think I have touched on Mr Choo Wee Khiang's question on drugs. On glue-sniffing, I think it is no longer a serious problem. In 1987, we enacted the Intoxicating Substances Act. At that time we detected more than 1,000 cases. I think last year, there were only about 300 cases, a tremendous drop. And what is important is the number of inhalant abusers below the age of 20 has also dropped quite significantly from 72 in 1987 to about 53 in 1992. On inhalant substances, I think we have probably broken the back of the problem and I hope it does not re-surface.

Sir, I am happy with the positive replies given by the Minister and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (6), Mr Yeo Toon Chia is not moving. The sum of $649,027,300 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $173,987,800 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head O -

Head O - Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Amendment No. (1). Mr Bernard Chen is not here. Mr Chia Shi Teck.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head O of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Our Foreign Office has done a good job in the political area. But under its Mission Statement, it states, "To manage Singapore's external interests in both political and economic fields". And under one of its programmes, it states, "To promote international and regional cooperation and expansion of economic and trade relations". It is on the economic and trade relations that I feel our overseas missions can step up their activities. Just about a year ago, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), together with all the High Commissioners and some CEOs of corporations in Singapore, had conducted a seminar to find out how they could help businesses venture overseas. To our surprise, those of us from the private sector found that the Excellencies that were called back got their wings ruffled when they were asked to do more than what they are doing now. In fact, some of them were angry and words thrown out were not very good words. They also claimed that they were not familiar, not trained, no manpower, and they were not willing to accept too many new masters to tell them what to do. So probably, here, it is again a question of mindset and whether now, with our emphasis on moving overseas, we could have the embassies work together with EDB, TDB, STPB and all our other agencies to help Singapore get this external wing. In Singapore, we often have visitors from the various embassies and the different ambassadors wanting Singapore businessmen to go to their countries. Similarly, we could get our embassies overseas to work for us. They could get staffing from the Administrative Service which I have suggested earlier and also from the private sector appointments. Our people who have invested overseas could become resource people to our embassies to help our businessmen venturing in those fields or areas. The other point is that our businessmen going overseas are not calling on our embassies. Why is that so? Is it because they are not inviting them? I had an experience once that I was not even allowed to use the telephone.

Sir, Singapore is strategically located in the region which is also the major sea route of the world. Our economy is plugged to the world and our prosperity depends very much on our national as well as regional political stability. However, the region itself is not free from problems. The Spratlys and the Paracels in the South China Sea are being claimed by no less than six different countries with some countries maintaining an armed presence in some of the islets. The Spratlys issue remains a possible flash point. Any armed conflict in the Spratlys will affect the sea lanes on our east. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge are still heavily armed and are uncooperative with the United Nations. UNTAC does not seem to be very effective. The solution to the Cambodian situation has not been found. The Straits of Malacca has been very much in the news lately. For centuries, the Straits of Malacca is a major sea route linking the Pacific and Indian Oceans for commerce and communications. Several recent accidents have highlighted the dangers to ships using the waterway. The collision of two ships in September 1992 which resulted in a massive oil spill had prompted the Malaysian Prime Minister to propose that shipping lines pay levy to transit the Straits of Malacca. Following another collision of two ships on 22nd January 1993, Dr Mahathir renewed calls for a toll to be paid by ships using the Straits to pay for better navigation aids and oil spill clean-ups. Sir, any toll fees introduced to ships passing through the Straits of Malacca will increase the cost to ships calling at Singapore. It will also increase the cost of goods being shipped to us. Sir, the important question here is whether any of the bordering states of the Straits of Malacca have the right to unilaterally impose a levy and, if so, can they also deny transit passage to ships which refuse to pay the levy. 3.45 pm Sir, while we ourselves are a peaceful nation, we are nevertheless a small country vulnerable to all regional conflicts, big or small. Can the Minister update the House on this issue and explain what role Singapore can play in resolving such regional disputes?

Dr Lau Teik Soon, can you take your three topics together, please?

Thank you, Sir. Sir, it is very unfortunate that we have an outstanding territorial issue with our neighbour, Malaysia, that is, the dispute over our territory of Pedra Branca, an island which has been ours since the British founded Singapore. Malaysia claims that she has sovereignty over that island. And, of course, we dispute this claim. But because we believe in the peaceful settlement of disputes, the Government has agreed to exchange documents to maintain our claim. The problem, however, remains that Malaysia has not conceded to our sovereignty over the island and discussions over the issue seem to be making little, if any, progress. Sir, my concern over this issue is two-fold. Firstly, I hope that the Pedra Branca issue will not go the way of the Sabah issue, that is, the territorial dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines over Sabah. That issue has not been resolved after more than 30 years and it does not look like it will be resolved soon. That issue had led to the suspension of diplomatic relations and it nearly led to war between Malaysia and the Philippines. And it continues to be an obstacle in the way of friendly relations between the two countries. Secondly, Sir, I hope that the Pedra Branca issue will not become a permanent political football for Malaysian politicians, especially those of UMNO Johor and Parti Islam. Such politicians, to gain popularity, have championed the cause of Malaysian sovereignty and nationalism and have even suggested that they should occupy the island. Fortunately, the Malaysian Government has prevented such foolhardy act from occurring. It is evident that this issue is a very serious problem and, therefore, I would like to ask the Minister to update the House concerning this issue. Sir, with regard to the Cambodian situation, Dr Ho Tat Kin has mentioned that it is one of the serious regional security issues confronting the Asia-Pacific region. Despite all the efforts of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia, the situation seems to be deteriorating and there is a possibility of a civil war breaking out after the May general elections. A number of incidents of late point to the decline of the situation in Cambodia: the withdrawal of the Khmer Rouge from the peace process, the increasing incidents of violence and murder against civilians committed by the Khmer Rouge as well as the Phnom Penh government. Also, Sir, it seems that although China voted for the Security Council's resolution to recognise the government which will emerge after the May general elections, Beijing continues to support the Khmer Rouge. Sir, I would like the Minister to state whether Singapore and ASEAN would move the international community to take firmer measures to ensure peace in Cambodia and for the UN to continue peacekeeping operations after the May general elections. Sir, in the new world order which is emerging, it is vital that all major powers in the Asia-Pacific, like the United States, Russia, China and Japan, be involved in cooperation to deal with the security problems of the area. There is increasing tension in the Asia-Pacific region. As Dr Ho Tat Kin has mentioned, the problem over the Spratlys and at the moment, of course, a very critical situation is occurring in the Korean Peninsula. According to a newspaper report, a North Korean diplomat has been quoted as saying that war may break out any moment in the Korean Peninsula. Yet, in this region, there is no mechanism to deal with regional security issues. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether there are efforts to establish a forum for dealing with regional security issues. And, in this connection, Sir, I would like the Minister to inform the House what steps have been taken by ASEAN in line with the declaration of the Singapore Summit in January 1992 to put security issue as an item in the ASEAN Agenda. 3.50 pm

Sir, the Straits Times of 13th March, 1993, reported in a headline, "Singapore top investor in Johor" according to the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia. The Republic has overtaken Japan and US, according to statistics. Here is the report: `JOHOR BARU - Singapore has overtaken Japan and the United States as Johor's top investors, according to Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Chua Jui Meng. He attributed the surge in Singapore investments in Johor to the private sector moving freely across borders within the Johor-Singapore-Batam Growth Triangle. Mr Chua said that over the past two years, Singapore had also emerged as Johor's biggest trading partner.' Sir, our efforts to regionalise our businesses and form an external economy can succeed only if we continue to enjoy political stability and economic development in the region. Singapore is actively involved in various regional cooperation programmes, such as APEC, AFTA and the Growth Triangle. Our future depends on the success of such cooperation efforts. May I request the Minister to give the House an update on the various programmes for regional cooperation and explain how does the Singapore Government intend to enhance such regional cooperation and what are the likely future political and economic implications or benefits for Singapore?

Sir, I must first of all thank Mr Chia Shi Teck for complimenting our overseas Missions for doing such a good job in the political arena. But I am not sure that his remark that Singapore Missions overseas have not helped in Singapore's efforts towards getting more economic benefits from our active relations with other countries is a completely correct one. Our Mission's job is two-fold. Firstly, of course, as an organisation to find out political developments in other countries and to build and enhance relations with these countries with which we have good relations. Secondly, to help to attract foreign investors to come to Singapore and also to help our businessmen who are going overseas to trade, to do business, to invest in those countries and facilitate their activities. But with more Singaporeans travelling overseas and with more overseas visitors coming to Singapore, the work-load of the Singapore Missions definitely has increased tremendously. And we must know where our priorities lie. Being the Foreign Ministry, our priority must first be in the political relations. In other words, establishing good relations with the countries with which our Missions are present. I must also add that our ambassadors and officers who are in a particular Mission are not just accredited to the country where they are based. Because of our small size in the Ministry and because of the need to befriend and establish relations with as many countries as possible, our ambassadors in our Missions overseas are accredited to many other countries in the region where the Mission is based. But despite this lack of resources, I think we have done our best. Perhaps, I would just quote a few examples as to how our Missions overseas have helped businessmen. The extent of our Mission's involvement in helping Singapore businessmen, firstly, has to depend on whether there is already an EDB or a TDB office. If there is one, and since the economic agency is there, then the primary task of helping our businessmen or attracting investors to Singapore must lie with the EDB or TDB. Secondly, it depends on the local condition. If the local economic condition is favourable and if the economy is active, then of course our people will be more active. And if it is not, let us say, the country is in a bit of difficulty, then economic relations will not be the priority. So just based on these alone, I will very quickly run through a few examples as to how our Missions overseas have helped our businessmen here, or have helped to establish contacts for our businessmen. In our Tokyo Mission, for example, we have always given information to Singapore businessmen wanting to do business in Japan, or helping Japanese businessmen to come over to Singapore. Our Bonn Mission, for example, has helped a Singapore company set up an Operational HQ in Munich. Our Canberra Mission has alerted one of our companies on the possibility of a joint venture with an Australian company to produce catamarans in the market. Our Jakarta Mission, for example, has helped Singapore and Indonesian companies to come up with an investment franchise in Batam and Bintan. Our Bonn Mission again has facilitated several joint ventures and commercial tie-ups including one between SISIR and a German company for a consultancy contract. These are just contacts which we have provided but we have also helped our businessmen and facilitate them to get in touch with high level political leadership. For example, in 1991, our Mission in Kuala Lumpur organised a Roundtable for Singapore businessmen to meet with the Prime Minister. And, similarly, our Jakarta Mission also organised a similar Roundtable in Jakarta together with the EDB in 1990, and another is being planned. I can go on and on to explain how our Missions have helped Singaporean businessmen overseas. But really the job of getting business overseas must be left with the businessmen. MFA officers are not businessmen. But on occasions, when they come to know of opportunities and if they know who are the right companies to get in touch with, they will try as best as they could to facilitate such contacts. So I would urge our businessmen not just to depend on MFA but to depend on their own resources in reaching out to these countries overseas and to help develop our second wing. On Dr Ho Tat Kin's question as to how Singapore helps to play a role in resolving regional disputes, I would say, firstly, Singapore plays a very active role, sometimes alone with the others and sometimes in the context of ASEAN. And I would say that in the context of ASEAN, we are, indeed, very fortunate to have enjoyed and benefited from a very stable and secure regional security environment. But, nevertheless, problems remain. As Dr Ho himself said, one such example is Cambodia, which I will elaborate a bit afterwards if there is time. The other issue is that of the Spratly Islands where many countries have claimed sovereignty and they have to find a way to resolve it. But last year, at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Manila, ASEAN took position by issuing a Declaration on the South China Sea. That Declaration spelt out a code of conduct based on the principles of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. This Treaty of Amity and Cooperation is a unique diplomatic instrument not only because it establishes a code of conduct but also because it provides a mechanism for dispute settlement in the region. Apart from the six ASEAN countries, Vietnam, Laos and Papua New Guinea have also acceded to this Treaty. This Treaty could serve the broader interest of peace if all the states in the Asia-Pacific region also accede to it. 4.00 pm Singapore, together with the other ASEAN countries, has also obtained the United Nations' cognisance of this Treaty through a consensus resolution last year. This signifies the ASEAN commitment to the centrality of the UN's role in the maintenance of international peace and security, and in the peaceful resolution of conflict. Indeed, if there is any dispute at all, the dispute can only be settled if there is a political will to settle the dispute. This in turn depends on whether there is a climate of confidence and trust. It is for this reason that Singapore is committed to building up good relations with all the countries, in particular with our neighbours, and bilaterally through ASEAN, internationally, through UN organisations and the other multi-lateral organisations. It is this climate of trust that allowed the three littoral states of the Straits of Malacca, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, to discuss and address the problems of navigation in the Straits of Malacca. To this end, there is this Tripartite Technical Experts Group comprising the three states which recently met in Kuala Lumpur to discuss ways of ensuring safety of navigation and control of pollution in the region. And we will play our part and indeed a very active part. On Dr Lau's request for an update on Pedra Branca, I informed this House that on 17th February 1992, we gave our set of documents to the Malaysian government. And on 29th June last year, the Malaysian government gave us their set of documents. We have just held our first round of consultations on 4th-6th February this year and we have agreed to hold another round of consultations some time towards the later part of this year. We hope that all these consultations will lead to an early and conclusive understanding that Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore. But despite this outstanding issue, I must say that it has not affected the good relations between Malaysia and Singapore. So let me lay to rest the concern of Dr Lau that this issue will affect our good bilateral relations. On whether Singapore and ASEAN will move the international community to solve the problem in Cambodia, let me say that the problem in Cambodia is a very complicated one. It has gone on for so long and finally with the Paris Agreements about one and a half years ago, although the UNTAC forces are there, I do not think a solution is yet in sight. From time to time, UN personnel have been detained and there are increasing incidents of violence, assassinations, harassment and all kinds of things being done by one political party against the other political party. Indeed, as Dr Lau said, one of the factions in the SNC, the Khmer Rouge, has decided not to take part in the general elections. And it will also not allow general elections to be held in the areas under its control. But the general elections will have to go on with or without the Khmer Rouge. UNTAC and the permanent members of the UN Security Council should do their utmost politically to persuade the Khmer Rouge to join in the peace process. Otherwise there will be civil war and there will be risk of conflict. There is no guarantee that even with the holding of general elections there will be peace, because, as I said, the problems are deep-seated among the factions. If the elections do not result in an effective government, then the premature withdrawal of the UN forces in Cambodia will leave behind many many problems. Those outside the government would choose to continue to destabilise the elected government and the country and this will in turn affect regional security. For more than 10 years, ASEAN has played a pivotal role in keeping Cambodia on the international agenda and in preventing the occupation of Cambodia from becoming a fait accompli. But can ASEAN do more? I think ASEAN, and Singapore in particular, with its limited resources can only do so much. It will require all the resources that we can muster from the international community and more than that, it will require the political will of the Cambodian parties to want to settle this decade-long dispute among themselves. Up to now, the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) is the largest peace-keeping commitment of the United Nations. Its success will be judged by whether Cambodia finds the peace and progress that has been denied it for more than a decade. On how ASEAN responds to the changing environment in the Asia-Pacific region and the role of the major powers, ASEAN as a whole has to respond in a realistic and pragmatic manner to the post-cold war period. In order for ASEAN to survive and prosper, it has to open its markets to foreign trade and investments, and we also need to have a predictable and constructive pattern of relationships in which all the major players can play a part. The major players I refer to are the United States, China, Japan, Russia and India. And that is needed to ensure a peaceful and stable environment. To achieve this, we need to have continuous dialogue and consultation among the regional countries in order to achieve a better understanding and to anticipate and resolve problems. Recognising this need, the Fourth ASEAN Summit held in Singapore last year authorised discussions on political and security matters with the dialogue countries at the Post-Ministerial Conferences (PMCs). As a first step, all these issues were discussed and put on the agenda at our last ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and Post-Ministerial Conference in Manila last year. This practice will continue at this PMC and AMM to be held in Singapore this year. Regional issues will also be included in the agenda of several ASEAN meetings with its dialogue partners, including Australia, Japan and the United States. In addition to this, as part of the regional confidence-building process, we have also developed consultative relationships with China and Russia. The accession of Vietnam and Laos to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation also opened the way to a new phase of relations between ASEAN and these two countries. A further step in implementing the decision of the Fourth ASEAN Summit is to have the PMC dialogue partners join in a discussion together with the senior officials to talk about regional security issues. So a meeting will be held among senior officials to discuss this some time this year before the PMC in July. All these processes represent an evolution in the pattern of relationships among the countries in the Asia-Pacific. We also have APEC which is principally an economic forum to promote economic cooperation among the Asia-Pacific economies. But how APEC develops will depend on what its members want for it, but we hope that all these processes will develop into a network of overlapping and multilateral political, security and economic dialogues and forums to engage all the Asia-Pacific countries, including the major powers. Mr Robert Chua asked for an update on our programmes of regional cooperation. I have briefly touched on that. But I would add that we have done as much as we could to take advantage of the policies of the various governments in the region to attract investors, to open up their markets for businessmen and so on, and to facilitate our businessmen into all these areas. I must thank Mr Robert Chua himself for taking the initiative in setting up a number of joint commissions with three Malaysian states like Johor, Pahang and, most recently, with Malacca. But Singapore businessmen could also take advantage of the various ASEAN business forums, where they could meet their counterparts and establish a network of contacts. And if there is a need to do more, we will be very pleased to hear other suggestions that Mr Chua has on them.

On behalf of all the speakers, I would like to thank the Minister for his vivid answers, particularly the assurance that Pedra Branca is not a big problem. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $102,432,050 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $52,810,600 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head R -

Head R - Ministry of Information and the Arts. Amendment No. (1), Mr Peter Sung.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head R of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, I have two cuts under this amendment. May I take them together?

Yes, please proceed.

Censorship relaxation Sir, censorship rules have been relaxed. What are the reasons for this? Is it because we want to keep up with world trends? Or is it because there is a push for us to have more explicit scenes on our cinema screens? I believe there is a cycle. Whether it is a vicious cycle or a virtuous cycle, I do not know. We first relax censorship standards. Then the shows get more explicit. That becomes the new norm. There will be more pushes at the margin. We relax standards again. The shows get even more explicit; and so on. The limits get pushed bit by bit. For some, this is freedom. For yet some others, there may be a commercial reason to perpetuate this move. In the end; well, I do not know what will happen in the end. In January this year, I asked MITA for some information about films screened in Singapore. The information that MITA produced showed that less than 1% of the films were of the general category and more than 99% needed parental guidance or they were of the restricted category. I hope MITA will closely monitor the situation and make adjustments where necessary. This is because members of the public are concerned. Many feel that matters for the bridal chamber should stay there. Copying from abroad We know that many Singaporeans do travel. On their return, some of them would like Singapore to copy things from the countries they have visited. Should we oblige and, if so, to what extent do we do this? I urge the Ministry to consider this particular position. Let them go where they want to go, to do what they want to do and see what they want to see. But be careful about bringing these things back to Singapore, because these things may influence other people who have no intention to do the same thing in the first place. But making them available in Singapore may lead some to copy. Hero worship Sir, I may be old-fashioned. For people of my vintage, the popular screen heroes were Robin Hood, Superman, Tarzan, Yue Fei, Huang Fei Hong, etc. Knowingly or unknowingly, we try to emulate the heroes and heroines in the films. Through entertainment, we were exposed to virtues which may be embodied in four Chinese words: ren yi dao de ( ). These are ingredients that make up a gentleman. And in those films, those who score poorly in these ingredients usually end up in a bad state. Films have a moral and educational undertone. So, with apologies to Peter Drucker, may I say that it would be "entertainment by objective". The way we choose or censor films can be used as a tool for character building. Why can we not use this to help foster the development of a nation whose people are upright and virtuous? 4.15 pm Government needs to maintain control Yes, the Government should listen to the people's views. They should provide variety so that people from different sectors of the community have something for them in the art scene. But at the end of the day, the Government has to make difficult choices. In doing this, it may be well to bear in mind that the Government must maintain control because, in some ways, it is the guardian and protector of public morality. Sir, let me quote an example. Some 10 days ago, the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, said at a Conservative Party Meeting in Harrogate in England that violent scenes in videos and television lead to an increase in juvenile crime and parents should control what their children watch. Let me quote what he said: `We can't censor television. But we can say to parents - control what your children watch.' What Mr Major is quoted to have said is tantamount to admitting that there is nothing the Government can do to control the supply of undesirable material. He has asked parents to control their children and prevent them from watching such films. In other words, the Government will continue to allow the supply of these nasty things and parents should take on the role to control their children, to curb the demand and prevent the children from watching them. Sir, I do not want to be critical of another government. But this may well be a case where the government has abdicated its role. Let me turn to another example. America mounted an exercise called "Operation Longarm". This is an exercise to try to foil the importation of sexually-explicit pictures of children involved in sexually-explicit acts. These were imported to America through phone lines and modems through computer bulletin boards. The US Government wanted to stop this. Why? It is clear that even for a liberal country like America, it has been found necessary to exercise control or, shall I say, to re-establish control. Do we want simply to copy from these liberal countries? Do we want to go the way of countries which are more liberal in their views and thoughts? I urge MITA to be cautious and to remember the Chinese saying qian che zhi jian, ( ) meaning that the vehicle in front of you on the road has fallen into a ditch. Do we want to follow suit? The Consequences Should the Government be an accessory to make undesirable films available knowing full well that they may get into the wrong hands. If we do this, we do so at our own risk. We will not forget a recent newspaper report that pupils were caught watching a R(A) film. In that incident, some 30 students were caught watching the R(A) film -The Lover. That film was brought into Singapore with the full blessings of the Government. How this helps, I do not know. I notice that the Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs are concerned. I also notice that MITA and SBC are reviewing the position. This is comforting and encouraging because it is not too late to mend. Another Chinese saying goes like this: wang yang bu lao, you wei wan yi. ( ) The sheep has left the arena.

Order. You have another 30 seconds only.

The sheep has left the arena. You mend the fence. It is still not too late.

( In Mandarin): Sir, the Censorship Review Committee commissioned by the Minister for Information and the Arts has already presented its report to the Minister. Although I agree with part of the recommendations by the Committee, I beg to differ in some of its recommendations which may be an erosion of our traditional values. We all know that it is an extremely difficult task to set up a strict policy without limiting freedom for creative pursuit, yet maintaining our traditional values. This is especially so when Singapore is such an open society and Singaporeans can travel freely to every part of the world. Also, we have about six million tourists visiting Singapore every year. This makes the job even more difficult. However, we cannot deliberately relax the standards of censorship in Singapore because of this practice. I must stress that our standard of censorship must be set in such a way as to ensure that we do not move away from our traditional values which must not be destroyed or eroded. At the same time, it should be in line with the Government's emphasis on shared values. Sir, I therefore request that the Ministry of Information and the Arts review some of the recommendations made by the Censorship Review Committee. Since the R(A) classification was introduced, many older and more conservative Singaporeans are very worried. Now the Committee recommends an intermediate category of NC-16 to be introduced between the R(A) category and the PG category for the benefit of those who are below 21 but above 16 years of age. On the surface, this appears to be making provision to control PG films by classifying them under NC-16 category which is accessible only to youngsters above the age of 16. But, in actual fact, it is to further relax the standards of censorship by allowing the inappropriate parts of PG films, which ought to be banned or censored to be relaxed as NC-16 films. I am worried that this relaxation would bring about unhealthy consequences on our teenagers. The news of relaxed censorship has already led to some bold presentation in the Act Magazine, which is published by the volunteer Aids Awareness Group, known as "Action for Aids". Its contents are crude and explicit causing the principal of a school to lodge a formal complaint against it. There is a caption which says: "Either you use the plastic, or I use a cucumber." That is very crude. On the other hand, the family planning authority has also produced an advertisement showing a pair of innocent young children acting as a young courting couple to convey the message of starting a family early and to discourage late motherhood. This has also brought about a lot of public dissent. The advertisement would give people the wrong impression that we are promoting early maturity of children and for children to criticise the elders, which is contradictory to our traditional values. We can say that the relaxation of standards by the Censorship Review Committee has caused the family planning authority and the above voluntary group to be confused. For example, the Minister has shown concern over the violent scenes in the SBC drama Angel of Vengeance and also the ban on the Marie Claire magazine which carries articles on casual sex. We need not blindly copy the liberal lifestyles of other countries. In fact, as an MP, I have received many pictures sent to me which have very explicit scenes. We should not copy this liberal lifestyle of the other countries. As a Government, we have a duty to explain to the more conservative Singaporeans the objective of relaxing the censorship standards: How does it benefit our nation and the people of Singapore as a whole? How could it contribute to the future development of our nation? Will it corrupt our people or will it encourage them to be more rugged? These are some of the things which our older Singaporeans would like to know.

Sir, can I take the two cuts together?

Yes, provided you keep within 10 minutes.

Sir, lately our cinemas have been flooded with Chinese films featuring martial arts. These films, such as the East is Red and Once Upon a Time in China have become box office hits. I was told that films which are modelled after the East is Red have scenes of flying swordsmen who kill indiscriminately by slicing human beings or animals into halves. Other techniques to demonstrate invincible internal prowess are the severing of heads by twisting them or dismembering the bodies till they are beyond recognition. Films which are modelled after Once Upon a Time in China boast of flying kicks and smashing blows. Other productions from Hong Kong featuring the contemporary society present even more violence of a realistic kind and often violence for a good cause. Usually it is with Jackie Chan in the lead and of late, I think, Jet Li has also become quite popular. Sir, so far, the emphasis on R(A) films has been the censorship of pornography. Comparatively, violence has escaped stringent scrutiny. We must be mindful of the effects of viewing cinema violence. Most of them offer scope for easy imitation by the audience. Already in Britain, the arrest of two 10-year olds suspected of murdering a toddler has shocked the country into focusing on violence in the mass media. Last year, we were also disgusted with the road bullies, granny muggers and teen gangs who fought at Orchard Road. I would therefore like to ask the Minister whether there are any plans by the Ministry to fine-tune the censorship guidelines relating to violence. On the specific issue of TV violence, I think the last episode of the Mandarin serial Angel of Vengeance was the last straw. It was violence laden enough to warrant a PG rating from SBC and the concern of MITA itself and also the Ministry of Home Affairs and the public. This local production was the latest addition to our steady diet of Hong Kong movies with a violent content. Last year, SBC also made the news with a rape scene in "Pretty Faces" and an episode of gay scene in "Breaking Point". SBC has again and again ventured into these controversial scenes acceptable by its own in-house censorship standards, but not the public. Sir, for some reasons, SBC productions are getting more and more similar to those of Hong Kong's in terms of its violent contents. Singapore is not Hong Kong, and SBC is not TVB or Asia TV. We have a different social environment, different values and, I think, a different threshold of violence. What is acceptable in Hong Kong may not necessarily be the case in Singapore. I am aware that SBC has its in-house censorship guidelines. But what are its standards and who decides whether these standards are acceptable? It is simply not right to leave it to SBC to define what is or what is not acceptable. As far as violent scenes are concerned, I think easing of censorship should not mean allowing the media to set its own standards or find its own level. Take the case of UK. If you do that, I think there will be no standards, and it will actually end up with the government quarrelling with the media. I would also like to cite this report on Mr Major. He asked the media to think whether "a relentless diet of violence won't have a serious effect on the young". And then the Chief of BBC Channel 1, Mr Alan Yentob, retorted by saying that he had never seen any evidence that had convinced him there was a direct casual link between violence on TV and copycats crime on the streets. I am not too sure whether there are copycat crimes in UK. But I am quite sure that our TV producers have already become copycat of TV crimes. Sir, does MITA intend to play an even more active role in reviewing and refining SBC's in-house censorship guidelines? What plans does MITA have to ensure that SBC abides by the guidelines, especially the new guidelines which will be set by the newly formed Committee which will be looking into TV violence? Who will be appointed to this Committee? And how does MITA ensure that the standards set will be balanced and realistic?

Sir, last year, I suggested that MITA look into the setting up of a Business Library. May I now make some suggestions as to the types of information that might be included. Firstly, information on the political environment. I am thinking of information on the political trends and developments in the countries that our businessmen will be visiting to do business. I hasten to add that I am not asking MITA or the Business Library to take a position on any particular issue, but really to collect information for the convenience of businessmen. This information may be those available in newspapers, academic papers, seminars, and so on. Secondly, information about the operating environment. The operating environment is different from one country to another. So, when Singaporeans move overseas to do business, they really need to know how to do business there. The information I am thinking about would include laws and regulations as well as the legal systems in the countries concerned. It also includes information on the living environment. For example, the American Association of Singapore published a book called "Living in Singapore". It describes Singapore from the American perspective and it is meant for Americans who intend to visit Singapore, live here, and do business here. A similar publication or a series of information on this subject will be most helpful to Singaporean businessmen if we were to encourage them to go overseas. Information may also include guidelines on business practices. To be sure, this varies from town to town, even within a country. The challenge here is that information is very varied, very diverse, and sometimes sensitive. So how to collect the information and, more importantly, how to disseminate it is a challenge which the Business Library would have to overcome. Thirdly, information on the economic environment. This should include macro-economic analysis of the economies, the trends and the developments there. It should also include macro-economic studies of individual industries or sectors which Singaporean businessmen may be interested in. Fourthly, information on selected industries. For selected industries, the library may also collect information about individual firms. I am aware that the information required about individual firms may be very detailed, very complex, and may be difficult to collect. But these are precisely the kind of information businessmen want and need. Perhaps the Business Library can do something about finding a way to satisfy some of these needs. Collection of information may not be all that difficult. Much of the information is already available here and there. And it is really a question of assembling them and collecting them together. More importantly, we should also establish, maybe computerise, links with other libraries with similar types of information so that Singaporean businessmen can go to our library and have access to information in other people's libraries. Even Government departments have information which may be useful to businessmen and to the extent that these are not sensitive or confidential in nature. I hope the Government will make some of these available to the public. Finally, some kind of research may be necessary when we go overseas. Perhaps the library can engage the services of people from the target countries because they would know the environment there and know information sources which we ourselves may not know. Perhaps the library will consider getting the services of these people to help.

Sir, thank you for allowing me to join in the debate. Sir, in the last few years, the Ministry of Information and the Arts has taken active steps to promote cultural heritage. This is indeed a right move because it will enable our young people to have a better understanding of our cultural roots. This is a very good move. But there is always this danger that by persuading various cultural groups to undertake activities, there would be an over-zealous competition between groups. One may argue that competition between various ethnic and cultural groups may be useful, but in this area one has to be very cautious. I would like to exercise caution here in the sense that there may be fall-outs, there may be problems, and the Ministry of Information and the Arts may have to mediate very carefully in the promotion of cultural heritage activities. Sir, Government will have to be seen to be even-handed in the promotion of cultural heritage, lest it be misinterpreted by various ethnic groups that support has been given strongly for one group vis-a-vis support for other groups. Nevertheless, it is essential that we should take various steps to promote cultural heritage. And I would like to see that various cultural groups, organised under umbrella organisations, be encouraged to centrally promote cultural heritage. Allow them to allow various groups to spawn and to organise various cultural activities related to the group's interest. Though one may argue that it is essentially good to do so - an activity such as this is fairly sensitive and may require a very cautious track - one should probably promote this activity through the various umbrella organisations like the Malay central cultural organisation, the Indian central cultural organisation, and likewise, the Chinese central cultural organisation, which can undertake such an activity. I would also like to find out from the Ministry itself what plans it has and what support it is giving to various cultural groups to promote cultural activities. Sir, I have another cut following this regarding censorship and restructuring of radio and TV service. Sir, since the censorship review, there have been uncertain signals to the public. The signals are whether we have gone more relaxed in relation to films which depict violence and soft pornography. There is this thinking that we have gone soft in terms of promoting such films and programmes through the TV. It appears to the public that our censorship has become more relaxed. In the various cinemas, I think R(A) films have taken over and become the major screenings of the day. This is because we have relaxed censorship in the last one year or so. In the process of this relaxation, insufficient control has been exercised, and I hope we would not carry or stretch ourselves so far that such claims would become rampant in the context of Singapore. I am pleased to note that the Ministry of Information and the Arts, together with the Ministry of Home Affairs, has set up a special committee to view films related to violence. Sir, from many researches, reviews and public opinions on showing of violent films on TV, too much of them do in a way have serious influence on the value orientation of children. They inculcate values which may promote aggression or that aggression is acceptable. And values related to what is right and wrong become blurred with constant screening of such films with less cautious exercise of censorship. The greatest impact will be the impact on the young minds, because many children watch TV, although "parental guidance" has been suggested. I think the moment you switch on the black box, you get millions of people watching such films. One may say that the parents can exercise control but there is always this problem that once it is open to the family, there is very little exercise of control. The TV takes over and, in the longer term, it has tremendous impact on the value orientation of children towards life, towards relationship, towards acts of violence and what is justice. Various things become seriously blurred. I would like to find out from the Minister whether we are taking serious steps to control the showing of violent films. 4.45 pm The other issue that I would like to ask the Minister is on the restructuring of radio and TV. There is always a danger that in a restructuring exercise we may allow for privatisation. We have already gone into the establishment of Singapore Cable Vision. Would we lose control or influence in showing films which may not be very relevant and which may reinforce negative values on the society? Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether, through privatisation, there is this danger that we will lose control of our censorship, and what steps are we taking to ensure that we are able to maintain a fair balance in terms of showing and viewing positive films which will promote a healthy lifestyle.

Sir, recently the Minister officiated at the opening of Home Box Office's (HBO) regional headquarters in Singapore. The operation of HBO channel is part of the liberalisation of our radio and television industry by the Ministry to give Singaporeans a better choice in their home entertainment. I believe this is a move in the right direction. It is noteworthy that, in radio, liberalisation had led to the establishment of NTUC Radio Heart and it is pretty successful by any measure. This is a wholly-owned Singapore company with Singapore programmes. This service attracts a large audience and its DJs have become household names. Faced with competition, the SBC radio services have also improved significantly. In television, Sir, the picture is quite different. All the service channels for news and movies are dominated by foreign companies. Through these fee-based services, we have allowed foreign companies access to a potentially lucrative market. Very few countries in the world give foreign companies unfettered access to their TV audience. Similarly, I think we should always ensure that local companies are given a piece of the action. Furthermore, the local companies should be given the opportunity to gain the knowledge and technology of running such a fee-based company to gain a toehold in this very important industry. It is regrettable to note that to-date, no local company is deemed suitable to run such a service. Sir, I realise that producing television programmes is several orders of magnitude more complex than producing radio programmes. However, if Singapore wants to be a motion picture and video production centre, which is one plank in the EDB's promotion for the Singapore industry in the next decade, then producing local talent and television programmes is a necessary step. And we should encourage local companies, like NTUC Radio, or even Rediffusion, to venture into TV broadcasting. Furthermore, television is a mass media with power to mould public opinion. Its reach is so pervasive that in the latest US presidential election, the innovation in the election engineering was the appearance of candidates on the talk shows. Furthermore, as Dr Vasoo has just now talked about cultural heritage, young people spend hours watching television and, therefore, TV also helps to shape the character of our future society and plays a major role in forming our future culture. As such, I think it is important that, as we introduce more special interest channels, the interests of Singapore should be safeguarded. I am concerned that the American programmes which dominate HBO and CNN could leave an indelible impression in the minds of our youths. I am concerned that as our youths are fed a constant diet of American culture, Singaporeans are becoming more and more, to borrow a term from my colleague, Mr Walter Woon, "cosmopolitan". So I agree with Dr Vasoo that somehow or other we should take charge of our own destiny in our own culture. Sir, would a local television company be successful? Perhaps, the mode of operation of HBO could be adopted here and this new channel could screen many movies using languages commonly understood by Singaporeans, including movies in Chinese dialects. One might argue that this is against the Speak Mandarin Campaign. However, being a fee-based service, only those who pay for the service get to watch it. So, in this respect, it is no different from renting video tapes from a video library. This will also address the needs of the older non-Mandarin speaking Chinese population. Doing so will probably ensure the commercial viability of this venture. With this as a base, an independent Singapore television company could be formed. Sir, while I welcome foreign participation in our television industry, we should nonetheless incubate the development of our own local company in this very important media. As we seek to build a second wing for our economy, what could be better than our very own television network beaming Singapore shows and video series via television satellite to the region. May I have the Minister's comments on my remarks?

Sir, it is time more newspapers were started in Singapore. All the major newspapers, at the moment, are owned by one company and, basically, they have one editorial policy and they have become the voices of the PAP Government. They have been controlled by the Government and consistently toe the Government line, unashamedly, pro-PAP and anti-Opposition. Anyone who reads only the Straits Times and the Lianhe Zaobao would think that the PAP makes no mistakes and is infallible, whereas the Opposition are made to appear trivial and inconsequential. Just look at the reporting of the last by-election at Marine Parade GRC. By reading local newspapers only for the news of the said by-election, who would know that 20,000 to 30,000 people attended the SDP election rallies, and who would know that there was such spontaneous and enthusiastic support for that Party. On the other hand, no report was made that the PAP had to transport senior citizens and others by the bus-loads to attend their election rallies. Without the organised support, PAP rallies at the Marine Parade by-election would look quite empty. The issues highlighted by the SDP at the by-election were distorted and slanted. The SDP's issue of the two-party system was made out to appear that only two parties were allowed, the PAP and the SDP, to the exclusion of all the other parties. On the other hand, the HDB Upgrading Programme was so touted that voters at Marine Parade were made to think that they would immediately get their flats upgraded once the PAP won the election there, which was not really the case. Despite the biased reporting, we have to give credit to the voters at the Marine Parade GRC for giving the SDP four percentage points more votes. Our newspapers have been controlled by the Government for the last 30 years. Do we want them to be controlled for the next 30 years? Do we want better quality reporting by local journalists? If so, then I believe that we must have more newspapers to balance up the reporting. If so, then it is time we also reviewed the issue of press freedom in Singapore. The words "press freedom" in Singapore today means only one-sided press freedom - the freedom for journalists and others to praise the Government and scold and denounce the Opposition in the press. There is a ruling in Singapore that only those in the political parties can take part in politics. But it would appear that journalists are given the licence to criticise the Opposition and take part in politics against the Opposition in a widespread manner and nothing appears to have happened to them. But if anyone who is not in a political party and who criticises the Government, all the press laws and the law under the Internal Security Act will be thrown at him. I wonder how long more this situation will persist. If it does, then it will not be healthy for Singapore. We shall never become a truly mature society.

Sir, the Singapore Government believes in open competition and in allowing market forces to improve the productivity and performance of the various sectors of the economy. Yet, the radio and TV industry has always been a Government monopoly. In the light of new developments in the radio and TV industry and the advent of satellite broadcasting, and the need for faster and wider access to new technology and world events, may I ask the Minister the following questions? First, does the Government plan to deregulate the radio and TV broadcasting industry and allow private radio and TV stations to be set up in Singapore in the near future? Second, does the Government intend to allow the general public, including homes, to receive direct satellite TV broadcast in the near future? Third, does the Government plan to operate a satellite TV station to broadcast Singapore TV programmes to the region so as to promote Singapore's role as the regional economic and telecommunications hub and, at the same time, keep Singaporeans working abroad posted on the latest developments here in Singapore?

Sir, because we have about two minutes left, I will take the time to answer the points raised by Mr Peter Sung concerning the provision of a library for businessmen. This was a subject he raised last year and, in fact, I passed it on to the Library 2000 Review Committee. They have formed a sub-committee to look into it specially. And in the sub-committee, they have EDB and TDB because they are the principal agencies involved in helping businessmen. Your detailed recommendations I will commend to them. Their report should be out some time in the middle of this year. So I hope that is satisfactory to Mr Sung. I will just answer Mr Robert Chua's question on our policy concerning satellite dishes for households. Our policy is to allow it freely for businessmen, for corporations, for institutions, but not for households. And there are three reasons for this. First, because we want some control over what comes in through the Cosmos. As you know, in Europe, there is pornography of the wireless kind coming through the airwaves. It may be difficult, one day, to stop it because the dishes will become so small that you are in no position to regulate anyway. But for as long as it is possible to regulate, we should. Equally, programmes which inflame racial, religious hatred, we should always be careful of. So that is the first reason - to achieve some control over what comes in for as long as we can control. The second reason is, and which was a point raised by Dr Wang Kai Yuen, how do we protect market access. It is like air rights. Star Television wants to come into Singapore. Why? Because they see money to be made from Singapore. So they push MITA and my response to Star Television is, "Well, what do you offer us in return?" So, that is the second reason.

Order. It is 5.00 pm. Thereupon Mr Deputy Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates for the financial year 1993/1994, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.

So be it.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn." - [BG George Yong-Boon Yeo]. Adjourned accordingly at Five o'clock pm.