Hansard, 1998-11-25

(Progress) asked the Minister for Communications (a) how has the pilot project allowing traffic to turn left on red at some of the traffic lights been progressing; and (b) whether his Ministry will consider extending it to more or all traffic lights.

(Progress) Mr Speaker, Sir, the Left Turn On Red scheme has been successful in reducing the delay of left-turning traffic at the junctions where it is implemented. On average, more than half of these vehicles are able to clear the junction during the red light period. The scheme has been extended to a total of 58 locations island-wide. The scheme requires motorists to come to a complete stop to look out for any pedestrian or vehicle before proceeding with the left turn. However, there have been instances where motorists failed to do so. I would like to take this opportunity to remind motorists to take due care and make the left turn on red only when it is safe to do so. LTA will monitor the practices of motorists in this regard before extending the scheme to other junctions.

COMMITTEE ON SINGAPORE'S COMPETITIVENESS Order read for Resumption of Debate on Question [23rd November, 1998], "That this House endorses the strategies and policies set out in the Report of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness, contained in Paper Misc. 3 of 1998, as the basis for strengthening Singapore's competitiveness.". - [Minister for Trade and Industry]. Question again proposed.

COMMITTEE ON SINGAPORE'S COMPETITIVENESS Mr Speaker, Sir, I am sure for the last few days, you have listened to many colourful speeches. There will be 18 more after me and I hope you will be able to have a keen ear in terms of what would be expressed. I am sure, Mr Speaker, you will be able to write a thesis after that! Sir, I would like, first of all, to commend the members of the Committee on Singapore's Competitiveness for mapping out a very good comprehensive strategy to meet Singapore's economic and future challenges. The Report sets out the direction and we have got various inputs. The members have indeed done a significant job in compiling a very comprehensive report. What I would like to also commend is the very effective and immediate measures taken by the Government to implement with immediate effect the cost cutting measures to boost our competitiveness. The measures are very significant and I hope all Singaporeans will rally behind the Government to see how they can support a plan which can be implemented to help Singapore to be viable and to be able to meet the more serious challenges ahead. Sir, having a plan is not sufficient but I think we will have to examine why Singapore is one of the countries in Asia that is not seriously affected and dislocated by economic problems, unlike many other places. I think most Singaporeans tend to take this for granted, that things are going well and therefore there are less issues that we are challenged with. The Government is able to look after these issues. They are capable people to think of solutions. I feel this is not realistic, Sir. It is very important that we go behind the reasons as to what makes Singapore less affected by the current economic problems. This analysis is very important so that we can understand the fundamentals that can be challenged in future. Sir, I would like, at the outset, to state that political stability is one of the cornerstones in our capacity to remain afloat, and I see that we have also taken this for granted. We should look at the political mess in many of the countries around the region and the world. There are many so-called democracies which have very good plans, good ideas, but many of these have not been implemented. Many people in these countries are affected and many of them have no capacity or ability to influence such decisions that have been made, and many of these people have suffered grave economic injustices and grave problems and regression in terms of their standard of living. And all these are issues that we need to examine and appreciate in the context of why we have been able to manage effectively. Sir, what becomes very important when we are faced with a recession is our capacity to maintain good political stability and cohesion. When resources are limited, there is always competition for resources, and the less able will not be able to get the kind of resources which they require for their living. So what is most important in this respect is that I would like to urge employers to seriously examine the approaches they adopt in the employment of workers, in ensuring that their practices are not discriminatory in terms of race, language and religion. This is very important in the context of Singapore, because we are a multi-racial society. If we believe in the principle of meritocracy, then I think employers, in times of recession and economic problems, must be very objective to ensure that we deal with the problems of retrenchment and unemployment on the basis of merit and objectivity. This is very important. Otherwise, we will upset the equilibrium of the multi-racial society that we live in. Secondly, we also have to look at the whole issue about good leadership in social institutions. Unless and until we ensure that we have good people managing our various social institutions, we may not be able to discharge the kind of plans that we have. And what is important for us Singaporeans is that we have to ensure that we continue to have people with good leadership, good personal integrity and honesty to manage various social institutions. Because these very social institutions, by their nature, are institutions that will make our society viable. It is not sufficient to say that we need good social institutions, but it is important to ensure that we need to nurture and have good people who can manage these institutions. We should induct good people into these institutions so that they can continue to manage them effectively in the interest of the majority. Finally, we also need to look at a good plan to manage issues ahead. And the CSC Report is an effective plan in that we have been able to mobilise various people to work on it and come up with various ideas that we can marshal and, hopefully, with the implementation of these ideas, we will be able to make a further stride in dealing with the economic problems that we face. So good plans do require good people and good political context to manage and implement them. Without these precursors, the best ideas that we have will not see any fruition and it will not have any impact on the social lives and to solve various social problems that we may face in our society. Sir, what we need to look at is to see how the CSC Report could address a number of issues which have been left out. I foresee that the issue of prolonged unemployment needs to be re-examined very closely, because we have depended on full employment as a form of social security. This is good as long as full employment lasts, but we never know through prolonged recessions, what impact this would have on people who are less skilled, semi-skilled and others who may not be able to find themselves employable. We need to examine the assumptions of full employment very critically, and in future, if we run into a prolonged recession, there is a need to assess how people who cannot be employed for a long time would still have a way to manage their lives. Sir, prolonged unemployment is one of the issues that we need to examine and the CSC has not examined this issue fully. We have to look at what can be done, particularly for older workers who would remain unemployable for a long time. We may argue that there are retraining funds available to upgrade them, that special funds would be available and set aside for their training, but I think the issue at hand is their employability. In some circumstances, it may not be possible for them to find employment itself because work institutions may not necessarily take them. I feel that there is a need to look at either the trade union level where some funds are set aside to deal with the upgrading of these workers in order to solve their long-term employment needs and problems. The other issue the CSC Report has not addressed is the challenge of the older workforce. This would be one of the more serious challenges that we are likely to face in the next decade. And with an older workforce, would we remain competitive? This is a question we need to examine. We may not become competitive, provided they have the capacity to be trained and upgraded and to move into job areas which would deal with information technology. So I feel that with a declining population which is below replacement, the issue will become very grave in the near future, and we have to look at how we can maintain a more robust workforce. This means that we have to recruit more talents, more semi-skilled and skilled workers to enter our workforce. I see this issue requires to be studied more closely. I am glad that the Government has set up the STAR Committee to look at these issues and, hopefully, it will solve some of the problems of the greying of our workforce. I would like to give some comments on the Government measures to reduce costs which have been announced yesterday. The measures are comprehensive and will help to stimulate our economy. The measures are realistic because they are implementable and some of them, in fact, have taken immediate effect. Hopefully, with the implementation of these measures we will be able to become more viable. What is most important and gratifying to note is that the direction of the cost-cutting measures which are to be implemented works on the principle of shared burden. I am glad that the cost-cutting measures work on the basis of those who can carry a heavier burden than those who cannot. This is a very good principle and I must applaud the Government for the effort in this direction, because for those who are unable to do so they do sacrifice, but they do sacrifice a little. This, at all costs, will enhance our ownership to the problem. We will be able to promote the sense of commitment to the various issues that we face. This in itself is very important. People feel that they can work towards a common cause and we are all sharing a common purpose and a common destiny, and we all believe that we want to make Singapore viable. Therefore, the question of ownership to these issues that we face has been reinforced. What I would like to urge is that we should have been a bit more generous with the lower income group. The rebates that have been granted by the Government provide an extension for a further period of time in their relief. But we could have been more generous in increasing the amount of S&C charges and PUB rates. That would have relieved further some of their burdens because many of them are unskilled and low income workers. They will face the greatest impact in terms of the capacity to manage their lives. It is desirable and our responsibility to see that we can do much more than what we have given to them. The second area which seems to invite attention is the levy. Many working mothers are most disappointed that they have not been given a reduction. All other companies that are employing foreign workers have been given a reduction. I think working mothers employing domestic maids should deserve attention because many of them are working hard in terms of helping to develop our economy and making Singapore viable. I do not see any reason why their case could not be considered. A very small proportion of working mothers benefit from the tax set-off. A large proportion of them are not benefiting from the tax set-off measures. I think it is not equitable in the sense that we have over the years increased the levy, but when all other revenues are being reviewed, they should in fact be given an opportunity to benefit from the reduction. In that respect, the argument that we want to dampen the demand for more of them to employ maids should be re-examined. I do not think the reason is strong enough to support the argument that no reduction has been considered for them. The issue is that many of them are in the middle class group, which I would call the "sandwiched" families. I feel that they should be considered. This is no real logical reason that I can gather that they should not be given due consideration for reduction of maid levy. There is a very large sector that would be affected in these trying times. I hope that their case could be reconsidered by the Minister for Manpower. Sir, in the final analysis, the social and economic crisis that we are all facing is our problem. It is important that we have to work together to fix it. Unless we can rally around to work together and find new creative ways, new approaches and new solutions to all these issues, we would not be able to tackle the problem as we hope to do so. So it is very important for us as Singaporeans to commit ourselves to working together. I am sure that all Singaporeans will rally behind the Government to see what we can do in our own ways. Whether big or small, we are all to be counted. Like what our Mr Deputy Speaker has said, small is beautiful. It is not just beautiful, but we are a people of mettle who can withstand and be counted as Singaporeans. I hope we can come together and find ways to weather the storm ahead. By doing so, we will keep ourselves afloat.