Hansard, 1996-01-18

PERMISSION TO MEMBERS TO BE ABSENT Under the provisions of clause 2(d) of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, the following Members have been granted permission to be or to remain absent from sittings of Parliament (or any Committee of Parliament to which they have been appointed) for the periods stated:- Mr Charles Chong - from 6th to 12th December and from 25th to 29th December, 1995. Prof. S. Jayakumar - from 10th to 15th December, 1995. Mr K. Shanmugam - from 10th to 14th December, 1995 and from 15th January to 23rd March, 1996. Mr Tan Soo Khoon - from 11th to 16th December, 1995 and from 3rd to 13th January, 1996. Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M - from 11th to 15th December, 1995. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon - from 11th to 31st December, 1995. Mr Lew Syn Pau - from 12th to 15th December, from 18th to 22nd December, 1995 and from 25th to 26th January, 1996. Mr S. Chandra Das - from 12th to 13th December, 1995 and from 3rd to 11th January, 1996. Dr Wong Kwei Cheong - from 13th to 23rd December, 1995, from 3rd to 5th January and from 15th to 16th January, 1996. Mr Heng Chiang Meng - from 13th to 14th December, on 26th December, 1995, from 8th to 9th January and from 14th to 22nd January, 1996. Mr Lau Ping Sum - from 15th to 23rd December, 1995. Mr Loh Meng See - from 16th to 19th December, 1995. Encik Othman bin Haron Eusofe - from 17th to 27th December, 1995. Mr Leong Horn Kee - from 17th to 22nd December, 1995. Dr Ker Sin Tze - from 18th to 19th December, 1995. Dr Kanwaljit Soin - from 12th to 14th December and from 19th to 30th December, 1995. Mr Lim Hng Kiang - on 19th December, 1995 and from 22nd to 27th January, 1996. Mr Teo Chong Tee - from 19th to 29th December, 1995. Mr Choo Wee Khiang - from 19th to 21st December, 1995. Dr Ow Chin Hock - from 20th to 30th December, 1995. Dr Hu Tsu Tau, Richard - from 22nd December, 1995 to 5th January, 1996. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng - from 22nd to 24th December, 1995. Assoc. Prof. Low Seow Chay - from 22nd to 28th December, 1995. Mr Chay Wai Chuen - from 23rd to 27th December, 1995. Mr Zulkifli bin Mohammed - from 24th to 29th December, 1995. Dr Aline K. Wong - from 26th December, 1995 to 2nd January, 1996 and from 6th to 17th January, 1996. Mr Peh Chin Hua - from 26th to 30th December, 1995. Dr Beng Kian Lam, Arthur - from 26th to 28th December, 1995. Mr Chew Heng Ching - from 28th to 29th December, 1995. Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam - from 30th December, 1995 to 3rd January, 1996. Mr Ch'ng Jit Koon - from 31st December, 1995 to 6th January, 1996. Mr S. Dhanabalan - from 2nd to 26th January, 1996. Mr Yeo Toon Chia - from 2nd to 15th January, 1996. Mr Davinder Singh - from 3rd to 6th January and from 18th to 19th January, 1996. RAdm Teo Chee Hean - from 3rd to 8th January, 1996. Mr Peter Sung - from 3rd to 31st January, 1996. Mr Lee Yock Suan - from 3rd to 6th January, 1996. Mr Goh Chee Wee - from 6th to 11th January, 1996. BG George Yong-Boon Yeo - from 7th to 19th January, 1996. Mr Koo Tsai Kee - from 7th to 13th January, 1996. Encik Yatiman Yusof - from 8th to 13th January, 1996. Dr Ahmad Mattar - from 9th to 13th January, 1996. Dr Yeo Ning Hong - from 11th to 16th January and from 17th to 19th January, 1996. Mr Abdullah Tarmugi - from 13th to 20th January, 1996. Mr Goh Choon Kang - from 14th to 19th January, 1996. Mr Wong Kan Seng - from 15th to 17th January, 1996. Mr Umar Abdul Hamid - from 15th to 19th January, 1996. Mr Ling How Doong - from 16th to 24th January and from 14th to 23rd February, 1996. Dr Wang Kai Yuen - from 18th to 19th January, 1996. Mr Bernard Chen - from 22nd January to 2nd February, 1996. Mr Mah Bow Tan - from 22nd to 27th January, 1996. TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore

ASSENTS TO BILLS PASSED The following Bills were assented to by the President of the Republic of Singapore on the date stated: 10th January, 1996 (i) The Singapore Productivity and Standards Board Bill 1995; (ii) The Environment Public Health (Amendment) Bill 1995; (iii) The Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Bill 1995; and (iv) The Subordinate Courts (Amendment) Bill 1995. TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) asked the Minister for Health to specify some of the improvements in delivery of health care since the restructuring of hospitals.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Mr Speaker, Sir, restructuring has brought about many improvements in the delivery of health care service in public hospitals. Some of these improvements include more patient oriented services, better communication with patients, improvements in patient waiting times, new clinical services and improvements to infrastructure. I would describe a little the improvements in each of these areas. (i) More Patient Oriented Services One significant area of improvement is in the reorganisation and simplification of operational systems, procedures and work flow which have made hospital services more convenient to patients and more responsive to their medical needs. For patients who require admission, a one-stop admission service at ward level has been introduced at Toa Payoh Hospital (TPH) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH). At the outpatient level, specialist outpatient clinics have been reorganised into multi-disciplinary one-stop clinics, eg, Urology Centre, Brain Centre, Heart Centre and Diabetes Centre at SGH; Arthritis Clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and Oncology Centre at Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH). (ii) Better Communication with Patients Through an extensive service improvement programme, all hospital frontline staff and supervisors have been trained to be more caring and courteous in their dealings with the public. There has been significant improvement in the way doctors, nurses and counter clerks relate to the patients, their relatives and the public. Financial counselling is routinely provided to all patients and their relatives before admission. Information booklets on hospital services and certain treatment procedures have been made available to patients. This has helped to allay the anxiety of patients before admission or surgery. iii) Improvements in Patient Waiting Times There has been a general improvement in waiting times for appointments for surgery and specialist outpatient clinic consultation and waiting times to see the doctor at the specialist outpatient clinics and at the pharmacies to collect medicines. (iv) New Clinical Services New clinical services have been introduced in the hospitals' departments since restructuring. These include Medical Oncology, Neurosurgery and Neurology in SGH, Ear, Nose and Throat and Eye services in TPH, genetic counselling and menopause clinics in KKH, and Podiatry service in TTSH. SGH and TTSH also have walk- in clinics to treat non-emergency patients who would normally have been attended to at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department. This has allowed the doctors at the A&E Departments to spend more time on the emergency patients. (v) Improvements to Infrastructure With the opening of ambulatory surgery centres in the hospitals, more patients can now undergo surgery as day patients, thus reducing their hospital cost. New technology such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerised Tomography (CT) scans have been introduced. The operating theatre and intensive care facilities have been upgraded. Physical improvements have been made to the wards and specialist outpatient clinics in all hospitals so that patients can now enjoy a better ambience and greater comfort as an inpatient or as an outpatient. All these improvements have led to a high level of patient satisfaction. In general, more than 90% of feedback from patients have rated the hospital care as good or excellent.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Sir, I want to ask the Senior Minister of State for Health two questions. First, in response to these changes, has the waiting time for medical care improved significantly? Second, has a review been undertaken regarding the access to medical care for the lower income group?

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) As I informed the Member in my general reply, there has been improvement in waiting time. But for specific information on the waiting time by the kind of service, I would appreciate it if he could file a Question and we will give him the detailed breakdown. But generally, between 1990 and 1995, all the hospitals have seen an improvement in waiting times. On the question of access to health care services for the poor, they have always had access to our public sector hospitals. As the Member is well aware, we subsidize B2 and C wards heavily. We have also introduced a new class of ward, B2+, in some hospitals and they are subsidized at 50%. Medifund has been introduced and the number of applicants has actually gone up and the proportion of cases which have been given financial assistance is still very high. I think some 99.6% have been given assistance. So restructuring does not and has not meant a decline in access to good health care at the public sector hospitals.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Sir, have there been any cases which have been denied health care because they are unable to find the funds to get the medical care required?

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) I am not aware of any cases, but if the Member has any case to report, I would be pleased to look into it.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Sir, would the Minister please tell us why there have been so many changes in the manner of paying fees to doctors and how have these differing schemes impacted on the quality of medical care?

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a consultancy fee scheme for doctors in the restructured hospitals. The idea was to encourage doctors to improve the quality of service to patients. After a couple of years, we found there were some weaknesses in the system and therefore some changes had been implemented to correct the weaknesses. One of the changes was to introduce the point system in remunerating doctors, so that the doctors earned points irrespective of whether they serviced private patients or subsidized patients. The recent feedback is that some doctors find this system not satisfactory either, because they feel that they are being timed and weighted for every single bit of work they do and they feel that their professionalism has been hindered. Now the hospitals are looking into reforming this system again. In reply to the Member, I must say that these changes have been found necessary. If she thinks that there have been too many revisions within a period of a few years, the people on the ground feel that some more changes are necessary because there are weaknesses in the existing system. But whatever system it is, there is always a certain degree of imperfection that we may have to live with.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Would the Minister please confirm that self-referrals, where the patients refer themselves to various specialists instead of being referred by another doctor, are available and how widely are they used?

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Yes, at the outpatient specialist clinics at the restructured hospitals, it is possible for patients to "walk in" to see a doctor, ie, they can make appointments by themselves to see a doctor. But generally, the bulk of the patients in the restructured hospitals come from referrals.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) Sir, would the Minister agree that these self-referrals by patients could lead to unnecessary consumption of medical services and sometimes wrong referrals? So would the Minister consider doing away with self-referrals to consultants and only allowing referrals by other doctors so that there is no unnecessary wastage of medical services?

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE - (Improvements) As I said, the proportion of self-referrals is very small. If we were to do away with it, ie, by requiring all patients to have a referral before they can see a specialist in a restructured hospital, then we require altogether a very different system from what we have. We have to think about this proposal carefully and whether this constitutes another form of wastage of resources for the nation. To cut down costs, the patients themselves also have to be educated. They should not just go and see a specialist for a small thing. But may I suggest to the Member that this question is not really related to the main Question asked by Dr Vasoo.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) asked the Minister for National Development (a) the rationale for allowing the Housing and Development Board sales transactions handled by appointed agents to be completed in 4 weeks while allowing those transacted by private individuals to take seven weeks and (b) what measures are in place to deal with those appointed agents who misrepresent to the Housing and Development Board on the purchase prices.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB's target for resale transactions by private individuals is five weeks. In other words, private individual applicants will be given their first appointment about five weeks after the submission of their applications, provided they submit all relevant documents and valuation report together with the application form, as in the case of applications submitted by the listed agents. Such transactions require one week more than the four-week target for the listed housing agents because HDB will need to do additional checks to ensure that all the documents and valuation reports are in order. In the case of the listed agents, HDB expects these agents to do all these checks before submission to HDB. On the second part of the Question, listed housing agencies who are found to have misrepresented the resale prices will be: i) prosecuted under the Penal Code for making a false statutory declaration. The penalty is an unlimited fine and a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years; ii) debarred from handling resale transactions for a one-year period; and iii) dropped from the list. HDB will also publicise the delisting of the agency in the mass media.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) Sir, it was reported in the papers last month that the private individual transactions will actually take seven weeks. I am happy to hear now that the target is five weeks. But I really want to understand why there is still a one-week difference. Are we trying to encourage people to go to an agent? A 1% fee for an agent for a flat, say, in Bishan, which is now $770,000, is $7,700. So it is quite significant. Why can we not make it four weeks for private individuals who submit all their documents on time just as in the case of agents? Why do we not make it the same for both cases? Also, can we not make the punishment for private individuals the same as that for the agents?

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) As I explained in my answer, there is additional processing time required by HDB. The agents do provide a certain level of service and because of this additional processing time individuals will require five weeks whereas the listed agents require four weeks. One week does not make that big a difference. In fact, HDB encourages individuals to do the resale transactions on their own. HDB has been running seminars on Saturday afternoons and they intend to run seminars now on every first Saturday of the month. So individuals who are planning to buy or sell resale flats can book into one of these seminars. HDB will explain the procedures clearly and what is required, and they are welcome to do the transactions themselves. But those who want to engage housing agents must be prepared to pay the commission and we hope the housing agents will provide the level of service expected in earning that commission.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) I agree that one week is not too much of a difference. But I want to make the point that HDB should deal with private individuals as well as agents on equal terms. Let us try and target for four weeks. Secondly, we should publicise what the Minister has said. HDB must publicise more of this to the public so that they are aware because right now they think that their transactions take seven weeks while it is four weeks for the agents and that the HDB is really trying to encourage them to use the services of the agents.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) That is why we appreciate the Member raising this question here for us to clarify the situation and to explain that HDB does run these seminars. These seminars will also in time be conducted in Mandarin so that the ordinary persons can do these transactions on their own. But if they want to hire an agent, the agent does provide a service by linking a willing buyer and willing seller. We hope the agents would provide that level of service as required.

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) How about my question to allow 4 weeks as well for private individuals?

HDB SALES TRANSACTIONS - (Handling by HDB appointed agents and private individuals) As I have explained, there is extra work to be done by HDB when an individual submits an application. Some portion of the work is done by the agent. If an individual does it, he is not doing that segment of the work. So that part is done by HDB, and HDB takes an extra one week.

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) asked the Minister for Finance - in the light of the Minister's statement in Parliament on 1st March 1995 that SIMEX would appoint experts from the global futures industry to advise it on protecting itself against future crises like that involving Barings Futures -

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) Mr Speaker, Sir, in March 1995, SIMEX appointed an International Advisory Panel comprising experts from the global futures industry. They include Dr Wayne Angell, a former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Mr John Gilmore, a former Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade, Mr Michael Jenkins, the Chairman of the London Commodity Exchange, Mr Leo Melamed, the former Chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Mr Jack Sandner, its current Chairman. They were appointed to advise on best practices in the futures industry worldwide that could be adopted to improve SIMEX's operations and systems and to enhance customer protection. The Panel concluded its study in October 1995 and made the following recommendations to SIMEX: (i) To establish rules and evaluate those in place regarding customer protection with respect to proper margining of positions, segregation and trading floor practices; (ii) To upgrade SIMEX clearing policies, systems and procedures to incorporate real-time clearing and settlement and critical risk management systems; (iii) To establish confidential information sharing arrangements with mutual offset partners and other exchanges; (iv) To establish a requirement for clearing members that a senior officer, who must be in a position of full authority for all business of the firm at SIMEX and related activities on other exchanges, be registered with the Exchange; (v) To enhance SIMEX's Market Surveillance Department which is charged with responsibilities including monitoring market positions and their potential impact; and (vi) To establish a comprehensive large trader reporting system which will enable the Exchange to determine the ultimate owner of large positions on SIMEX including those maintained in omnibus accounts. In April 1995, SIMEX also appointed a consultant, Dr Roger Rutz, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Trading Clearing Corporation, one of the world's largest clearing houses. He was asked to review SIMEX's clearing and settlement operations and its system for market surveillance so as to improve its clearing and risk management functions. The key measures recommended by the consultant included: (i) Establishing a Risk Management Committee to oversee policies on capital requirements, financial and segregation requirements, position limits and reporting and clearing house systems; (ii) Improving internal risk analysis procedures to identify accounts and members carrying large positions which may result in substantial losses, and perform tests on these accounts to determine the potential risk to both members and large account holders; (iii) Performing detailed analysis of settlements and margin calls on clearing members on a daily basis; (iv) Monitoring closely positions carried by clearing members and large accounts which constitute a high percentage of the positions in the market; and (v) Upgrading computer systems to provide real-time, on-demand information for clearing processing and risk management. SIMEX has adopted all the recommendations made by the Panel and its consultant. It has already implemented the majority of these recommendations and is in the process of implementing the balance, which involve software modifications or rule changes. In line with the recommendations, a new Regulatory and Risk Management Division within SIMEX has been created, comprising the Audit, Floor Compliance, Market Surveillance and Clearing House Departments. Staffing for the division has been strengthened from 48 to 68 members currently, and an eventual total of 78. The steps being taken by SIMEX should enable it to monitor its risk exposure to large accounts and take the necessary action to contain these risks. This would minimise systemic risk arising from the failure of a firm having knock-on effects on other participants in the market. However, it should be emphasized that no regulatory system, however comprehensive, can guarantee that a firm will not fail as a result of fraud or excessive speculative trading.

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) Sir, there were certain comments made by British authorities in the wake of the Barings collapse that they were not receiving full cooperation from the Singapore side, ie, from SIMEX or other authorities. Would the Minister comment on that?

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) Who were making the comments?

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) There were some statements made. I believe the Chancellor of the Exchequer did say that.

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) The comments relate to earlier investigations by the British Serious Fraud Office and by the Bank of England in the early stages of the Barings fiasco. There were legal technicalities which did not allow the Singapore authorities to provide comprehensive information and there was some mis-communication. I think these had been largely settled.

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) Sir, now that Mr Leeson has been convicted and sentenced, have the investigations into the Barings matter been closed or can we expect further prosecutions?

SIMEX - (Protection against future crises) Following from the Inspectors' Report, there were suggestions that other people might be involved with Leeson in the fiasco. The Commercial Affairs Department has been pursuing these leads and they are in the process of finalising their report. Let us wait for it. It should not be too long.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) asked the Minister for Home Affairs how many religious or quasi-religious organisations have been banned in Singapore under the Societies Act or other legislation.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Mr Speaker, Sir, three religious or quasi-religious organisations have been deregistered under the Societies Act.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary please give details to the House? Which three, and why?

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, the three organisations are, firstly, the Singapore Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses (deregistered in January 1972), the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity or the Unification Church, whose followers are known as the "Moonies", (deregistered in April 1982) and its front organisation, the Moral Home Society (deregistered in July 1990), and the Christian Conference of Asia (deregistered in December 1987). Sir, they were deregistered under section 24 of the Societies Act by a Ministerial order on the grounds that their activities were prejudicial to public welfare and good order.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, could the Senior Parliamentary Secretary give us further details? In what sense were their activities prejudicial to good order?

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, in the case of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the group, for example, claims a neutral position in war time. Therefore, this led to a number of its believers in National Service refusing to perform any military duties; some, in fact, refused to wear uniform. In the case of the Christian Conference of Asia, the group professed to be a religious organisation but was in actual fact an organisation involved in politics. It encouraged inter-faith dialogues for political ends and involvement of religious organisations in politics. In the case of the Moonies, the group brainwashed families and broke them up, and members gave up their possessions to the Church. These are examples which illustrate the basis for the ban on these organisations.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary reconcile these bans with the constitutional protection on freedom of religion?

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, certainly there is freedom of religion in Singapore. Article 15 of our Constitution provides for it. However, Article 15(4) says that, "This Article does not authorise any act contrary to any general law relating to public order, public health or morality". In so far as these organisations have been banned, that is the basis for not allowing them to propagate their beliefs in Singapore.

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) Sir, is there any mechanism to review the bans, or are the bans perpetual?

RELIGIOUS/QUASI-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS - (Ban) I am sure the Member would know that there have been certain groups, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses, that have challenged the legality of the Ministerial orders in court, and the courts have upheld the legality of these orders.

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) asked the Minister for Information and the Arts (a) what is the main mission of Radio Singapore International and (b) why the broadcasts are not available for local consumption.

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Mr Speaker, Sir, Radio Singapore International (RSI) was launched on 1st February 1994. The mission of RSI is to provide external audiences and Singaporeans abroad with a reliable and objective source of news and information on international, regional and domestic events. Through RSI, Singaporeans abroad are kept in touch with what is happening at home. RSI also enables others who are interested in Singapore, a convenient way to learn more about us and to see the way Singaporeans view the world. RSI broadcasts are not available locally because its services are for listeners outside Singapore. The transmissions in shortwave cannot be heard in Singapore. This is similar to the United Kingdom where BBC World Service shortwave transmissions are also generally not receivable in the country. However, local listeners do not need RSI's services as they have 14 local radio channels which cater to their needs.

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Sir, would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that a lot of time, money and effort are spent in producing the programmes for Radio Singapore International? So, would he consider having them broadcast on FM so that we in Singapore can have the benefit of listening to them as well?

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Sir, at the moment, all available FM channels have been used up. So we do not have any FM channel. In any case, this service is meant for external audience, not for Singaporeans. However, Singaporeans who have some interest in RSI programmes can follow its news and information features which are available on the RSI Web site on Internet. This is another means for local Singaporeans who are interested in RSI broadcasts to have access to the programmes.

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Sir, would the Parliamentary Secretary let us know which countries get these broadcasts and what is our range and how many people are estimated to be listening to these broadcasts?

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Sir, RSI serves mainly the South-east Asian region, and these countries are mainly Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the southern part of Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. It is broadcast for about nine hours a day.

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Sir, would we have any idea on what is the number of listeners?

RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL - (Mission) Since its inception, RSI has succeeded in making its presence felt in the target region. We receive comments on the programmes based on letters and feedback and they have so far been quite positive. However, there is no figure to show how many of them are listening actually. But some feedback indicates that people are listening to the service and, I think, over time, we will try to improve further.

OLD PRIVATE ESTATES - (Subsidised upgrading scheme) asked the Minister for National Development whether the Government will consider introducing a subsidised upgrading scheme for old private apartments and the run down common facilities of private estates similar to the Housing and Development Board upgrading scheme.

OLD PRIVATE ESTATES - (Subsidised upgrading scheme) Mr Speaker, last year, my Ministry set up a committee to look further into what can be done to improve private housing estates. However, this programme that is being studied is, by no means, equivalent to the upgrading programme that we are carrying out for HDB flats. What the committee is doing is to see whether all the current improvement works on the roads, planting on the verges, lighting, neighbourhood parks, etc, can be better coordinated so as to achieve a better result. In doing so, there may also be scope for further improvements. The main thrust of the programme being considered for private housing estates is therefore to see what can be done to the common areas outside the individual homes. Similarly, for private apartments, the upgrading will be carried out outside the apartment blocks. Apartment developments which can form part of a cluster with a housing estate will be included in the upgrading of that housing estate. The difficulty is that many private apartment blocks are stand-alone developments which do not form part of a cluster within a housing estate. Such cases will have a much more limited scope for upgrading. I must, however, stress that the Government's priority remains with the upgrading of the older smaller HDB flats. One of the objectives of upgrading HDB flats, besides improving the environment, is to enhance the value of these flats. As the value of private property has appreciated significantly over the past few years, we will continue to place our efforts and emphasis in the HDB estates.

OLD PRIVATE ESTATES - (Subsidised upgrading scheme) Sir, has any money actually been disbursed to private estates for the purpose of upgrading their common areas?