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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: NameFromTo (2001)(2001) Mr Chan Soo Sen30 Sep3 Oct Mr S Iswaran30 Sep7 Oct Mr Yeo Guat Kwang30 Sep7 Oct Mr Ahmad Md Magad5 Oct11 Oct Dr Ong Chit Chung7 Oct10 Oct Mr Tang Guan Seng7 Oct10 Oct Mr Chng Hee Kok9 Oct12 Oct Mr Wong Kan Seng13 Oct14 Oct NameFromTo (2001)(2001) Assoc Prof Koo Tsai Kee15 Oct18 Oct Mr Sidek bin Saniff16 Oct19 Oct Mr Goh Chok Tong18 Oct22 Oct 4 Nov6 Nov TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore
ASSENT TO BILL PASSED The following Bill was assented to by the President of the Republic of Singapore on the date stated: 1 October 2001 Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill. TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore
NOMINATED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT - (Announcement by Mr Speaker) Order. The term of service of the nine Nominated Members of Parliament appointed on 1st October 1999 expired on 30th September 2001. The Special Select Committee, constituted on 6th December 1999, nominated the following eight persons for appointment by the President as Nominated Members of Parliament to fill the vacancies: Mr Goh Chong Chia; Dr Jennifer Lee Gek Choo; Mr Noris Ong Chin Guan; Mr Tay Beng Chuan; Mr Simon Tay Seong Chee; Mr Thomas Thomas; Ms Braema Mathiaparanam; and Mr Chandra Mohan K Nair. On 1st October 2001, President S R Nathan, by Instruments of Appointment dated 1st October 2001, appointed the eight Members as NMPs for a term of two years with effect from the aforesaid date. The eight Nominated Members are present today to take their seats. They will now take their oath or affirmation of allegiance.
ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS The following Members took and subscribed the Oath of Allegiance, or made Affirmation of Allegiance, in the order below: Ms Braemaputhri Mathiaparanan (Nominated Member of Parliament); Mr Chandra Mohan K Nair (Nominated Member of Parliament); Mr Goh Chong Chia (Nominated Member of Parliament); Dr Jennifer Lee Gek Choo (Nominated Member of Parliament); Mr Noris Ong Chin Guan (Nominated Member of Parliament); Mr Tay Beng Chuan (Nominated Member of Parliament); Mr Simon Tay Seong Chee (Nominated Member of Parliament); and Mr Thomas Thomas (Nominated Member of Parliament).
ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS I welcome the Nominated Members of Parliament and look forward to their participation in the proceedings of this House. [Applause.]
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked the Minister for Trade and Industry, whether the Government recognises the potential of the People's Republic of China as a significant market for incoming tourists and, if so, what steps are being taken to tap this market.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Mr Speaker, Sir, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is an important and a fast-growing source of inbound tourists for Singapore. My Minister mentioned earlier in Parliament that the PRC tourist arrivals to Singapore during the Asian financial crisis continued to grow at double digit level while our other markets shrank. In spite of the 11th September incident, PRC tourists are expected to increase in the coming years. Based on Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) statistics, from 11th to 27th September, PRC tourist arrivals registered an increase of 12.87%. PRC is currently the sixth largest visitor-generating market for Singapore. Last year, we received more than 400,000 visitors from the PRC, an increase of 16.5% over the previous year. Due largely to China's strong internal economy, the STB targets to achieve 1 million PRC visitor arrivals to Singapore by 2005. This will place PRC as one of our largest tourism market. We intend to tap this market to the fullest extent possible. This large flow will feed our tourism sector and provide many jobs for Singaporeans. STB is working closely with other Government agencies to make this happen. These include increasing airlinks between our two countries and more streamlined visa procedures. For Singapore travel agents handling PRC tourists, the quantum of the Banker's Guarantee has been lowered for the 96-hour Collective Gratis Visa (CGV). In addition, STB will work closely with local industry members as well as our neighbouring countries to market our countries collectively and to develop new products for the PRC market. STB will establish more offices in China to promote Singapore. This year, it will set up a new office in Beijing.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary whether the Government will improve on the approval process for visas applied by these visitors. Even though we have a target to achieve 1 million PRC visitors it seems to me that the approving authority for visas still vests with the Ministry of Home Affairs and they have been quite restrictive in this area.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Mr Speaker, Sir, it is true that there is stringent control on visitors from PRC. However, recently, there has been a relaxation on the requirements. For example, the Banker's Guarantee for group visits I mentioned earlier has been reduced from $150,000 to $100,000. This is what we have been doing and we have been discussing with the Ministry of Home Affairs to work towards a streamlined visa procedure.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Sir, my other question is how to leverage on the very positive impression of the Chinese public of Singapore and how to prevent the tarnishing of such impression by unscrupulous merchants in Singapore whereby some of the practices seem to be unhealthy and they tend to fleece the tourists.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) STB has been encouraging a group of tour agencies who are members of the National Association of Travel Agents in Singapore to work closely with the authorised tour agents in China so that collectively they can improve on the quality of the package tours in Singapore, thereby increasing the number of tourists from PRC and also improving on the quality of service provided to them.
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) Sir, are there any plans under way to conduct visa-free travel between the two countries?
ORAL ANSWER TO QUESTION - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - (Market for incoming tourists) As I said just now, the procedure for visa application has been streamlined for certain groups of visitors from the PRC. As of now, there is no plan for visa-free travel between the two countries.
UNITED NATIONS BILL "to enable Singapore to fulfil its obligations respecting Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations", presented by the Minister for Law and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.
SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPLY (NO. 2) BILL "to provide for making supplementary provision to meet additional expenditure for the financial year 1st April 2001 to 31st March 2002", recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for Finance (Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS (TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF - OVERSEAS VOTING) BILL "to provide for the temporary suspension of provisions in the Parliamentary Elections Act (Chapter 218 of the 2001 Revised Edition) relating to registration of overseas electors and overseas voting", presented by the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Wong Kan Seng); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed.
SECURITIES AND FUTURES BILL Order for Second Reading read. 12.45 pm