Hansard, 2009-09-15

Under the provision of clause 2(d) of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, the following Member has been granted permission to be or to remain absent from sitting of Parliament (or any Committee of Parliament to which he has been appointed) for the period stated: Name From (2009) To (2009) Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim 18 Sep 18 Sep

ABDULLAH TARMUGI Speaker Parliament of Singapore

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) if he will provide an update on the 200 new childcare centres to be opened; and (b) what plans does the Ministry have to keep the cost of infant care services affordable.

The response from the childcare industry has been encouraging. We have made good progress in ramping up the number of childcare centres. Since August last year, 23 new centres have been set up, increasing the number of centres from 748 to 771 as at end August this year. These new centres have added an additional of over 2,700 childcare places, a 4% increase within a year.

By March 2010, we would expect another 25 new childcare centres to be operational, contributing an additional 2,500 places. My Ministry will continue to release sites to childcare centre operators progressively over the next few years. These centres will be located in areas where there is assessed demand for childcare places.

On the affordability of infant care services, we have been monitoring the infant care fees closely after increasing the infant care subsidy from $400 to $600 last August. We are happy to note that infant care median fees have remained fairly stable, with fees rising by about 2%, from $1,177 last August to $1,200 this August.

The increase in the number of childcare centres has also helped to

Mr Speaker, Sir, Ms Ellen Lee asked about the progress of the development of 200 new childcare centres. As part of Government’s efforts to raise the supply and quality of childcare services, MCYS introduced a number of initiatives since August last year. These include increasing the childcare subsidy from $150 to $300, implementing the higher quality requirements for pre-school teachers and introducing a new scheme to help eligible non-profit childcare centre operators ramp up the supply of childcare places and set the benchmarks for childcare quality and affordability. provide more infant care places and moderate infant care fees. The 23 new centres developed since August last year have added over 250 infant care places to the sector. I believe that our efforts to set up more centres will allow market forces and competition to maintain fees at an affordable level. I would also urge childcare centre operators to exercise restraint in setting their fees.

Thank you, Minister of State, for the answer. I have three supplementary questions. First, is there a training programme in place to ensure that there will be enough sufficiently-trained childcare givers for all the 200 new centres when they are fully operational? Second, if foreigners are to be recruited to be caregivers, will the Ministry impose any minimum qualifications on these caregivers so that the safety and well-being of the infants and young children in their care are ensured? Third, would allowing infants as young as two months to be put in infant care centres effectively defeat the purpose of the 16-week maternity leave granted to mothers?

As the Member knows, our objective is to ensure accessibility, affordability and quality. Therefore, we would not sacrifice the quality of the centres. Both MOE and MCYS have tried to speed up our training programme, conducted jointly with NTUC, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and so on.

On the second question about safety – my Ministry has set up benchmarks, standards and licensing requirements. If they do not fulfil the Ministry's requirements, we will not give them the licence. If operators do not do a proper job to recruit qualified people, we will also withdraw their licences. All caregivers, whether local or foreign, should fulfil the requirements, such as five GCE "O" Level passes, training, and so on.

The third question was about infant care, whether parents will use the maternity leave provided by the Government and employers. We will leave it to the individual family. What we try to do is to give people a choice. So we try to provide infant care for babies as young as two months but whether parents want to use their maternity leave or they want to put their infants into infant care, the working women can make their decisions.

Supplementary questions, Sir. First, I would like to ask the Minister of State whether she has any data to show the development of the remuneration package for professionals in the childcare industry. Has this remuneration package improved a lot over the years? Is it satisfactory? Are we able to attract talent into this industry? I am happy that the Minister of State is asking centres to refrain from increasing fees but if we are attracting talent into this industry, I am not so sure whether it can be sustainable to keep fees low.

On the question of talent – here in Singapore, we are short of talent in all sectors. In the early childcare sector, I should also say that we are quite squeezed. Previously – as Mayor Zainudin knows since he also supervised NTUC's childcare unit – we only recruited people with three GCE "O" Level passes. Now, the requirement is five GCE "O" Level passes and we want to improve on this further. As my Minister said during the COS debate, quality and training for teachers would be the key challenges for my Ministry and MOE. Therefore, we will look into the salary package and how to help this industry improve. I am sure the Member also knows that lately, my Ministry has been very generous in giving grants to some of the anchor operators to train their people. I am sure the Member knows we even give scholarships. We even give some assistance for set-up

costs and administrative costs. In previous years, there was no such thing but from this year onwards we gave operators a lot of assistance. We will work harder with MOE and other training institutions to see how to help to train these professionals and at the same time, make sure they have reasonable rewards in this industry. But it is a challenge.

I would like to ask the Minister of State, in view of our multi-racial and religious society, food is a key concern in childcare centres. Would the Ministry advise the childcare operators to look into the food prepared for the children so that children from multi-racial and religious backgrounds can go to childcare centres?

I think it is a good suggestion and we will look into it. At this moment, I am sure the Member is aware, we do, at least, encourage them to be sensitive to food requirements, especially for the Malay-Muslim children. Whether the operators provide different kinds of food at their centres depends on the operators but insofar as I know, there have been no complaints in this area.

Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of State whether there are plans to develop the informal sector. Currently, we know that many parents leave their children or babies with their neighbours or somebody else to look after. Are there plans by the Ministry to enhance this sector?

We are still studying this informal sector, where some housewives stay at home and take care of two or three children. We do work with NTUC to train some of the housewives to improve the quality of care but we still have not settled the issue of whether we should introduce more structured policy on this. So far, we do encourage NTUC to train some of these housewives.

asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) over the last three years (i) what is the number of cases of ex-spouses seeking court assistance for maintenance payments; (ii) what is the average number of times the ex-spouses have to see the court officials before payments are resumed; (iii) how many of these cases are still unsuccessful in getting the maintenance payments; (iv) what are the main reasons for non-payment of maintenance; (v) what is the average amount of maintenance granted per child; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider allowing applications for enforcement of maintenance payment at Night Courts.

asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) whether his Ministry is looking at other measures to assist wives to enforce their maintenance orders against errant ex-husbands; (b) whether giving free access to marital records and making public the maintenance payments of divorcees to their former spouses and children, including defaults, are being considered and, if so, when would these measures be implemented.

Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I would like to take Question Nos. 2 and 3 on the enforcement of maintenance orders together.

Yes.

In 2008, there were 2,860 applications for maintenance orders made by ex-spouses. This is actually a decrease from 3,021 in 2007 and 3,618 in 2006. On average, 86% (around 2,720) of these cases were

The enforcement of maintenance orders follows the process for all other Magistrate’s Complaints under the Criminal Procedure Code. The applicant has to, first, go to court to file the enforcement complaint. If the applicant does not have a lawyer to represent him or her, the applicant would then need to be present in court a second time, when the court issues the summons and fixes a date for a Mention. On the third occasion, the applicant would then have to attend court for the first Mention and, if both parties are present and agreeable, they can go for mediation on the same day. If both parties can reach a settlement through mediation, then the judgment would be recorded by the judge and the case is concluded. Unfortunately, it does not always stop there. Sometimes, parties have to return to court another day for the trial on the matter. Therefore, it takes a minimum of three court appearances and sometimes, many more.

We acknowledge that there is scope to improve the procedures and introduce more effective measures to enforce compliance of orders, while ensuring that the system is fair to all parties. I had, at this House, mentioned during the last Committee of Supply Debate that my Ministry would review how enforcement of maintenance can be enhanced. We have invited views from the public and from Members of this House. My Ministry, the Ministry of Law, the Family Court, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and various

We are currently studying their various suggestions, as well as reviewing proposals. Some of these measures include introducing stiffer penalties to deter defaults, and simplifying the process of seeking enforcement. There were also suggestions such as giving free access to marital records and making public the maintenance payments of divorcees to their former spouses and children – all these are also being considered. The review should be completed in a few months' time.

Mdm Phua has also asked if we could consider allowing applications for the enforcement of maintenance orders to be heard at Night Court. Unfortunately, I have been informed by the Courts that this will not be practical. The Night Court deals with essentially regulatory offences in which the offenders plead guilty. If the offender decides not to plead guilty, his case will be heard in the day court. Such hearings, which often entail Respondents’ and Claimants’ presentations, could be lengthy and there may be insufficient time for such proceedings to be conducted at night.

However, in order to serve the public better, the Subordinate Courts has recently extended its operations throughout the lunch hour, so we can squeeze in some time there. Hence, applications for maintenance and other family matters can now be lodged during lunch hour as well as on Saturdays.

applications for enforcement of maintenance orders, where applicants failed to get payment on an existing maintenance order from their ex-spouse. Some of the reasons cited for non-payment are the ex-spouse’s inability to pay because of a loss of job, increased financial commitments because of a new family or continued unemployment. We do not have available information on the average amount of maintenance granted per child. agencies have been studying the matter in the past few months. We have also received many suggestions from members of the public and organisations, including the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations.

I would like to appeal on behalf of the ex-spouses. A lot of them are ladies and they have to take on jobs and take care of the children. I

think the lunch hour is really not convenient for them. Many of them are living far away. Can the Minister consider allowing at least the three applications before the court hearing to be heard after office hours? This is so that if they are required to appear for these hearings, they could at least do so during the day time. Secondly, on the payment of the maintenance fees – some ex-spouses use the excuse that they go overseas. Can the Minister consider tagging their passports or restraining them from going overseas, just like for bankruptcy cases?

Could we not do this for the maintenance payments? Third, can the Minister consider tagging the maintenance payments to the ex-spouse's salary, instead of applying for a garnishee order?

Sir, I share the Member's sentiments in making the poor lady – usually it is the lady – go to court at least three times in order to pursue payment of a maintenance order, which has already been made, is too many times. So, rather than just looking at nights or lunch hours, what we are really trying to do is to reduce the number of times that they have to go to court. But, like I said, this is something which I need to do carefully with the courts and the Ministry of Law, because we need to make sure that justice is also done and seen to be done. But give us some time to take this bottleneck out of the system. We will try to shorten it and make it less onerous. I totally sympathise with the Member's views on this.

On her proposal to tag the passport and, in effect, put travel restrictions on people who are in remiss of their maintenance payments, I think that requires further study. The standard counter argument to that will be that they need to travel overseas to work and if we impaired their ability to work, then it would impair their ability to pay. So, let us study that carefully.

On her third supplementary question, they can actually apply for an attachment order. In other words, the employer of that person would then divert a portion of the salary directly to the ex-spouse. But, again, on the ground, this has not been a popular option. And if the Member speaks to the lawyers, they will explain to her. Part of the reason that this has not been so popular is that it tags that person as a person coming with legal complications. And sometimes that may actually reduce his likelihood of getting employment, because employers will say, "Look, I do not want to take you on because you come with all these complications." We need to achieve a right balance. We want these ex-spouses to be able to get work and to generate enough income to be able to pay off what they owe their ex-spouses and their children. I totally agree with the Member's sentiments. I know where she is coming from. But we got to be careful that the cure that we propose does not make things worse.

Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to seriously consider making public the marital record as well as to grant access to the maintenance payments by former spouses to their ex-wives and their children, including the defaults. This is really important because, at least, it will help women to make informed decisions and to prevent grief not only for the first set of family members but also for the second and subsequent sets of family members.

Sir, I share Mdm Halimah's views that the next spouse or the prospective family should be aware of the track record of this person whom you are going to marry. We are still studying that. Again, the key thing is that we need to do so without breaching privacy and confidentiality where that is merited. But, again, this is a proposal which I am sympathetic to.

4. Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan asked the Minister for Education (a) whether his Ministry tracks documented cases of clinical depression and attempted suicide among school-going students and, if so, what are the possible triggers, and what is being done to alleviate the incidence; and (b) how does his Ministry manage these cases in general and, in particular, whether the receiving school is informed when a student moves from primary school to secondary school.

Mr Speaker, Sir, MOE pays careful attention to the mental well-being of our students and closely monitors the state of mental health in our students, including depression. Clinical depression can affect people across social spectrum and age groups but it is far less common among children and adolescents.

Suicidal acts are symptoms of a complex problem for which there is no one single cause. The main contributory factors among student suicides are relationship problems with family and peers, failure to meet self and parental expectations, dysfunctional family patterns, as well as the occurrence of mental illness, including clinical depression.

MOE actively works with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and mental health professionals, including psychiatrists and clinical psychologists from the Child Guidance Clinic (CGC) of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), to implement a comprehensive approach to build resilience against stress and prevent suicides. Our approach comprises three key elements: (i) building protective factors in our students, (ii) identifying at-risk students for early support, and (iii) channelling students with depressive disorders and/or suicidal tendencies to the appropriate

Our schools help students build protective factors through the provision of social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL helps students acquire a set of social and emotional competencies which will enable them to better understand themselves, interact effectively with others and cope with life’s challenges, thereby inoculating them against depressive and suicidal thoughts and behaviours. This is further augmented by the Mind Your Mind (MYM) programme, a school-based mental health education package, targeted at primary and secondary school students. The package, jointly developed by HPB and MOE, covers topics such as stress and anger management, building positive self-esteem and depression.

To help students in need of support, every school has a tiered-referral system to facilitate the early identification and extension of help to them. At the first tier are our teachers who are trained to identify students who show signs that they are troubled and provide the necessary basic support, including referring students to the second tier of support formed by the school counsellors.

Complex cases are referred to the third tier of support, which can involve guidance specialists from MOE, mental health professionals at the CGC, or the relevant social service agencies. Pertinent information about students, including support rendered to them by counsellors, is handed over from the primary to secondary school, as they move from school to school.

While schools can support and educate our youths, the support from the home is also paramount. Parents and family members can help their youths set realistic expectations for themselves and develop the resilience and strength of

psychological, medical and other necessary resources for intervention. character which will enable them to ride the challenges of life.

Sir, I have three supplementary questions. The first relates to the role of teachers. They are inevitably the frontline identifiers. Can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary elaborate on how well teachers are trained in the role of counsellor/mentor, because that is not an easy task and is not an innate kind of ability either?

My second question relates to the balance between student privacy and through-train information, so that when they move from institution to institution, there is sufficient information on their at-risk behaviour so that the next institution will not be caught off guard. What is in place for that?

Third, I wonder if the Ministry would consider reducing class size in secondary schools, because it seems that that is where the impact of all kinds of challenges come on the teenagers, when they are searching boundaries. Perhaps a better staff-student ratio may help students morph into their new identities as young adults, and for teachers and other educators/mentors to be able to better identify students with such a need.

Sir, as I mentioned, the approach to addressing the issues is three-fold. One of them is to build the ability of teachers to spot them. We have been working with the Health Promotion Board's psychologists. There is a committee right now or an effort called Reach where teachers are being trained by full-time school counsellors to learn to spot the symptoms of depression or even to look at behaviours that may lead to depressions. Right now, this is piloted in the north zone schools. We hope to finish this by the end of this year, and then roll it out to the rest of the schools, so that

Second, on the question of information, this passing of information on students has just started this year when we started to populate the information in the School Cockpit for counsellors to know about the students who have been counselled from their previous school. We assure Members of the House that we make sure the privacy of the students is taken care of. The information is confidential and only the relevant officers, who are usually the full-time school counsellors (FTSCs), will have access to this information.

Third, class size for secondary classes is always an issue that will be reviewed over time. At this point of time, what we have done instead is to increase the number of support that students get. For example, we have already increased the number of allied educators that support teachers in the classes. We have provided more FTSCs in schools where we find there is a need for them, and also operations managers to take away some of the administrative matters that teachers would otherwise have to do.

every teacher has some level of skill or competency to spot such problems.

5. Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Prime Minister (a) in 2008 and 2009, how many applicants for Government scholarships applied to pursue their studies in engineering; (b) how many of these applicants are awarded scholarships; and (c) what is the Public Service Commission doing to ensure an even distribution of applicants for various courses ranging from humanities to engineering.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in 2009, the Public Service Commission

In 2008, PSC received 2,300 applications, with 6% or 140 indicating Engineering as their top choice of study. Another 17% or 390 applicants indicated the Sciences as their top choice of study. The PSC awarded 72 scholarships in 2008, out of which 11 (15%) and 14 (20%) were for Engineering and the Sciences respectively. This means that 35% of all PSC scholarships awarded in 2008 were for Engineering and the Sciences.

PSC offers its scholars the flexibility to pursue a wide range of courses, including Engineering, the Sciences and Humanities, in different countries. This ensures that scholars bring into the Civil Service a diverse range of perspectives and experiences. This is important as the Civil Service continues to confront increasingly complex challenges in a more inter-connected world.

The Public Service Commission would like to see many of its scholars continue to take up Sciences and Engineering. This will continue to be emphasised at PSC’s scholarship talks to students in Junior Colleges and Polytechnics.

However, the PSC is not the biggest recruiter of engineers and scientists into the public sector. Many statutory boards also offer scholarships.

received more than 2,500 applications. Of these, 11% or 280 indicated Engineering as their top choice of study. Another 18% or 450 applicants indicated the Sciences as their top choice of study. Eventually, the Public Service Commission awarded 84 scholarships, out of which 13% or 11 scholarships and 18% or 15 were for Engineering and the Sciences respectively. In other words, in 2009, slightly more than 30% of all PSC scholarships awarded were for Engineering and the Sciences.

Some of these statutory boards, such as A*STAR, DSTA, PUB and NEA, offer scholarships

for Engineering and the Sciences to meet their specialised manpower requirements. For instance, in 2009, A*STAR awarded 13 Engineering and 32 Science scholarships. DSTA awarded 38 Engineering and eight Science scholarships. These two statutory boards, in particular, work very closely with schools to cultivate students’ interest in Science, Technology and Engineering. This is done through initiatives such as camps, competitions and research attachments.

Sir, I would like to thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the comprehensive answer. Supplementary question, please.

The President's Scholarship, the most prestigious scholarship in Singapore, was not given to anyone studying Engineering for the last two years. I would like to know why. Is it because top grade engineers are no longer required in Singapore?

Sir, I think the Member has got the logic upside down. The President's Scholarship is awarded to the top students in Singapore who choose to devote their lives to serve in the Public Service and this can come from any discipline in Singapore. The numbers awarded each year are few and it depends on the quality of the candidates.

Sir, can I ask the Deputy Prime Minister what is the spread of those who are awarded scholarships for Arts and Humanities because these courses are also essential in equipping our people with the problem-solving skills and different perspectives to life and problems?

First, Sir, I did not quite understand the question – what did the Member mean by "the spread"?

Sir, the Member of Parliament Er Lee Bee Wah mentioned about Engineering courses and the need to have to make sure that PSC gives scholarships to Engineering courses and I think that is fine. But I am just asking the Deputy Prime Minister whether there is also a concerted effort to make sure that scholarships are also provided to those studying courses in the Arts and Humanities as well to ensure an even balance or at least that emphasis is also given to such courses.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is yes.

6. Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in view of the recent remarks made by Indonesia’s Forestry Minister on the haze issue (a) what is his Ministry’s position on the haze situation; (b) whether his Ministry has taken any action with Indonesia to address the worsening haze situation; (c) why is ASEAN unable to work as a cohesive bloc to tackle this issue of indiscriminate forest burning in Indonesia; and (d) what is his Ministry’s assessment on the commitment of the Indonesian Government and the state of our bilateral efforts to prevent forest fires from burning uncontrollably.

7. Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what is his assessment of the efficacy of efforts thus far to tackle transboundary haze pollution, both generally and in particular with respect to Singapore’s efforts in Jambi Province.

Sir, with your permission, can I take Question Nos. 6 and 7 together, please?

Yes.

Sir, Singapore views the haze situation as a very serious issue. Transboundary haze creates health and social problems for our citizens, and has adverse impacts on our economy, tourism and the transportation/aviation industry. Forest fires also release large quantities of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to the long-term effects of climate change. The source of this transboundary haze is largely attributed to the fires in Indonesia. Of late, there have also been fires in other parts of the region. We have thus been working with our regional neighbours to solve the haze problem.

Under the ASEAN framework, Singapore hosts the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) that monitors the regional hotspot situation and provides early warning to our neighbours when the ASMC observes significant rise in hotspot counts. Meanwhile, the ASEAN Secretariat also serves as the Interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre (ACC) to facilitate channelling of regional resources to countries requesting for assistance to combat forest fires. However, Sir, the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which was signed in 2002 has yet to be ratified by both Indonesia and the Philippines. The effectiveness of regional cooperation under ASEAN depends very much on the willingness of its individual members to live up to their international obligations. The Indonesian media has reported that the Indonesian parliament (DPR) has highlighted the ASEAN Haze Agreement as one of six priority bills to be ratified before their current term ends on 30th September. Sir, we hope the DPR will do so expeditiously.

Aside from the ASEAN framework, we had in 2006 formed the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to enhance haze

Sir, at the 8th MSC on 19th August this year hosted by Singapore, MSC countries agreed to ban all open burning including suspending permits for prescribed burning activities in fire-prone areas. Countries also agreed to step up enforcement measures, and to promote public awareness to control fires. These measures, Sir, will help prevent and mitigate haze during the El Nino season in the short-term. To facilitate implementation of longer-term sustainable measures, Singapore will be contributing by playing host to a MSC forum on the 28th of October this year for local authorities of MSC countries and international organisations to share experiences and best practices in addressing the transboundary haze pollution challenge.

Sir, on the bilateral front, our collaboration in Jambi Province has progressed very well. Thus far, we note that the hotspots in Jambi Province and in particular, the Muaro-Jambi Regency where our programmes are being implemented, have been relatively low as compared to the other fire-prone provinces and districts in Indonesia. We will thus continue to share technical expertise to help build up our region's capacity to overcome the haze problem.

Stronger El Nino conditions in the next few months could exacerbate the dry

Sir, we acknowledge that Indonesia has been trying to implement measures to bring down the hotspots. As to whether or not their plan of action is on target, it will be up to Indonesia to review, but we believe that the Indonesian Government remains sincere in combating haze as it affects the health and quality of living of their citizens as well. Where the region lacks the expertise and resources, we should invite international participation to enhance our efforts. It will take strong political resolve by Indonesia to enforce their laws to prevent forest fires, support and co-operation within ASEAN, as well as resources from the international community, to successfully battle the transboundary haze problem.

collaboration in the southern ASEAN region. The MSC, Sir, has met eight times within a span of three years, and seeks to assist Indonesia in implementing its Plan of Action (PoA) to combat haze. The bilateral Indonesia-Singapore collaboration in Jambi Province and the Indonesia-Malaysia collaboration in Riau Province provide progress reports to the MSC. The MSC also closely monitors the hotspot situation in the region. Indonesia has committed to achieving hotspot reduction of 50% in 2009, 75% in 2012 and 95% in 2025, using 2006 hotspot data as a baseline. conditions in the region and result in a prolonged dry season and increased hotspot activities. Major international events like the F1 Grand Prix and the APEC meetings will be held in the next few months and scrutiny of the haze situation by the international media is inevitable. I have therefore offered to the Indonesian State Minister of Environment, Rachmat Witoelar, Singapore’s assistance to suppress the fires if necessary.

Sir, supplementary question, please. Indonesian Environment Minister told media that all five members of the Sub-regional MSC on Transboundary Haze Pollution, including Singapore, agreed not to internationalise our haze issue. I would like to ask the Minister whether this is true and why should Singapore agree to it. Does the Minister think that the Indonesian Government is very slow in taking action to combat this haze issue? Does he think that we have to protest before they start taking action?

Sir, the Member was referring to a Jakarta Globe report on 25th of August which carried the quote from my counterpart, Mr Rachmat Witoelar, that he had asked the neighbouring countries not to internationalise the haze issue and that his

Sir, MSC countries have benefited from international studies, concerns and support for the efforts being put to combat the haze issue. The haze issue is also associated with regional deforestation challenges and there are now active discussions in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) track in which many ASEAN countries are participating. So with the haze problem affecting Malaysia and Singapore again this year and the impending El Nino which can make the situation more severe, the recent MSC meeting was actually brought forward. It was scheduled to be in October but we brought it forward to August and Minister Rachmat had assured the meeting that Indonesia is doing its best to tackle the forest fires. MSC members also discussed how best to tackle the haze in Indonesia, and Singapore and Malaysia have offered their assistance. So we are playing our part. They have promised that they will meet their targets. Whether they are slow or not, it is something which we have to continue to monitor. I do not think we have to protest because we have already protested and that is why we have the MSC meetings starting from 2006.

But, Sir, despite the best of efforts of ASEAN, the haze continues to plague our region and this is actually due to limited resources available in the region to prevent and mitigate forest fires. So we

counterparts from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei had agreed at the 8th meeting of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Singapore. Sir, we are not aware of any agreement among the MSC members not to discuss the issue of haze at international forums. So, the simple answer – no, we did not. It was not an agreement that was reached at MSC. believe that it is important that ASEAN countries continue to seek assistance from the international community for resources and expertise to augment the region's efforts to combat the haze issue.

Sir, three supplementary questions for the Minister. I would like the Minister to come back to the ASEAN Haze Agreement which he mentioned earlier. Three years ago in the House he said that Indonesia should show its political resolve by signing the ASEAN Haze Agreement. However, as he mentioned, to-date it has not been done. And I would like the Minister to comment on whether he thinks that this is a must-have in order to comprehensively resolve the issue or can significant progress still be made even if the agreement is not signed?

Second question: some Indonesian parliamentarians have spoken to the media and they have said that one of the reasons why they do not want to ratify the agreement is that they feel it should be tied in to banning illegal logging which they say Indonesia has been losing revenue and has benefited other countries instead. So I would like the Minister to tell the House whether this issue is also on the ASEAN agenda. Are they looking into the issue of illegal logging or not?

And the last question is this. There was a recent Straits Times report that assessed that slash-and-burn in Indonesia "continues unabated". I would like the Minister to comment on whether he agrees with that assessment and what he thinks is the root cause of that.

Sir, the ASEAN Haze Agreement is an important agreement. It means that all the 10 member countries have agreed to put together their own domestic plans to deal with the haze problem. So if you ask me

But having said that, even though Indonesia has not ratified, we have moved forward because we realise that there are challenges for which we cannot wait. So when the last haze in 2006 came about, we felt that it was important for at least the five ASEAN countries to come together and deal with this collectively. Thus far, both Singapore and Malaysia have made progress by collaborating with some of the local provinces in Indonesia. So our collaboration, for example, in the Jambi Province has proven that it is possible for us to work together with the provinces to come up with an alternative plan to deal with this challenge. As I mentioned in my reply, so far the hotspot counts coming from the area in which we are collaborating seemed to be low as compared to the other fire-prone areas. So I think it is important for the agreement to come into effect but at the same time we cannot wait and therefore we have to move and find other channels, other platforms to deal with the challenge.

The issue of illegal logging is an on-going discussion. It is not an issue that has been discussed among the Environment Ministers but I am sure it has been debated in the other forums. But as far as Singapore is concerned, we keep telling the Indonesian counterparts that if they have come across anybody who has done illegal logging, they should be prosecuted based on the laws of the country. So there is nothing to prevent Indonesia from taking the necessary action in dealing with whoever is responsible for illegal logging.

The third question as to whether or not the slash-and-burn has gone unabated, the hotspot counts have been increasing. So if you use that as a correlation, that means it has gone "unabated" if you want to use that word. But at least in those areas in which Singapore and Malaysia are collaborating with the Indonesian provinces, their numbers seem to be coming down or at least it is holding steady. So what it means is that there are alternative means to removing, clearing land, and so on. So the challenge is really for us to share best practices and that is why we have agreed to host the MSC forum at the end of October where we hope to invite heads of the various provinces across the region to come together and learn from both the experiences of Singapore and Malaysia so that they can then go back and decide as to whether or not they want to adopt those practices. I think that is one of the better ways in which we can achieve an outcome – to get some of the local regional heads to decide. If Jambi can do it with Singapore, if Riau can do it with Malaysia, perhaps they can also do it. We have offered our assistance in terms of training but beyond that, if there are other things that they have to do, they have to find their own sources. In terms of expertise, we are prepared to share with any other provinces that are prepared to work with us in this area.

whether we must have it, we must because we agreed to have it. And so we hope that Indonesia will ratify the agreement as quickly as possible and therefore put in place programmes which they have done so because they have a plan of action, and therefore all of us can work together to ensure that we keep our house in order so that this problem can be under control.

8. Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) if he will give an update on the progress of the islandwide ABC Waters Programme; (b) whether the Ulu Pandan Canal and Park Connector, parallel to the Mount Sinai Estate, will be upgraded; and (c) what are the specific plans for the Ulu Pandan Canal and Ulu Pandan Park Connector.

Sir, the Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters Programme seeks to transform our drains, canals and reservoirs into beautiful, vibrant and flowing streams, rivers and lakes. In creating these new social and recreational focal points for the community to enjoy, we hope that they will develop a bond with water, and hence cherish and keep our water resources clean. inform that the stretch of Sungei Ulu Pandan in the vicinity of Mount Sinai is one of the 28 projects that will be implemented. The proposed site is within walking distance to the estate, about 500 metres downstream of it.

Under the initial phase from FY 2007 to FY 2011, 28 projects will be implemented progressively across the island. For each project, PUB will develop the details of the design and seek the inputs of the community before implementing it. Thus far, the PUB has completed three demonstration projects at Kolam Ayer, Bedok Reservoir as well as MacRitchie Reservoir which was recently launched in end July. I am heartened to note that the amenities and features are well-utilised by Singaporeans. For example, community events such as the National Day Observance Ceremony, Mid-Autumn and Chinese New Year festival celebrations have been held at these waterfronts.

Sir, construction works are ongoing for nine other projects and these include a floating island at Sungei Punggol, as well as a water performance stage and a heritage bridge at Lower Seletar Reservoir. Both projects are scheduled to be completed next year. Seven more tenders are scheduled to be called within this financial year, including Kallang River at Bishan Park, MacRitchie Reservoir Phase Two and the Geylang River Phase One. For the remaining projects, PUB and its consultants are in the process of planning and designing them.

Sir, the Member has asked if there were any plans to upgrade the Ulu Pandan Canal and Park Connector parallel to the Mount Sinai Estate. I am pleased to

A key feature of the project will be a constructed wetland that will provide a habitat for urban biodiversity and enhance the surrounding environment. There are also plans to integrate the canal and park connector with the nearby Centre for Aquatic Science Research that is being set up by PUB, NUS and Deltares. Together with the wetland, these will create new recreational and educational opportunities for the residents. They will be able to get closer to the water, enjoy it and learn more about it. Other details of the project are still being worked out. Later this year when the options are more developed, we look forward to consulting Mr De Souza and his community leaders in ensuring that the eventual design meets the community’s needs. Construction on the project is scheduled to start in the third quarter of next year.

Beyond engaging the community in the design stage, we also look to the community to take ownership of the project over time, eg, in organising activities at the project and helping to keep the waters clean. We look forward to the enthusiasm and strong support of each and everyone in Singapore to make the ABC Waters Programme a success.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Sir, I thank the Minister for his reply. I hope to be able to persuade the Minister that Ulu Pandan is a unique environment where a pilot project will do very well, and I say this for a reason.

Mr de Souza, are you asking a question or are you explaining?

Sir, I would like consideration by the Minister through the avenue of a question I am about to ask. Would the Minister consider a pilot project, given that the park connector divides both private and public lands - HDB en-bloc site of 1,000 units and then through a private property on the other side? This will be a fantastic valley. So would the upgrading of the park connector be accelerated ahead of third quarter of 2010?

Sir, the park connector is under the responsibility of the NParks. But, normally, when we do an ABC project together with NParks, we want to coordinate in terms of the work so that it does not inconvenience the residents too much. So, in this particular case, if we have to do something in the canal together with the park connector, we might as well do it in one shot. And I suppose the Member has to wait until the third quarter of next year when we start work on the canal and, therefore, we will do something together with NParks on the park connector. But I will bear in mind Mr de Souza's consideration and ask our PUB engineers to look into this proposal.

Er Lee Bee Wah, last question.

Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to consider Sungei Seletar to be in the next phase of ABC project.

Sir, we will consider.

9. Mr Hri Kumar Nair asked the Minister for Finance whether it is the Ministry's policy that the road tax structure should promote and encourage the purchase and use of more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles and, if so, whether the road tax to be imposed on Euro-V compliant diesel

engines should be based on comparisons of fuel efficiency and particulate discharge with petrol engines, and not with Euro-IV compliant diesel engines.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the basic objective of our road and vehicle taxes is to control congestion on our roads. Through upfront ownership taxes, road tax and fuel tax, the Government seeks to manage road use. This is complemented by the ERP, which manages peak congestion. Naturally, however, measures to reduce or manage road congestion are also environmentally-friendly. Further, the structure of our taxes does in fact encourage people to use vehicles that are fuel-efficient and produce less emissions.

First, we provide a Green Vehicle Rebate (GVR), which is calibrated so that a typical hybrid car does not attract higher upfront ownership taxes than the equivalent conventional car – despite the higher Open Market Value (OMV) of a hybrid car.

Second, road taxes, which are based on engine capacity, are higher for bigger cars, which tend to consume more fuel and produce more emissions than small cars.

Third, we have also taken environmental considerations into account when setting fuel taxes. In Budget 2008, the special tax rate for Euro-IV diesel cars was reduced significantly, in recognition of their improved emission standards compared to pre-Euro-IV diesel cars.

In determining the special tax to be imposed on Euro-V compliant diesel engines, the Government will consider the fuel-efficiency and emission standards of Euro-V cars relative to both Euro-IV and petrol cars.

I thank the Minister for his response. Industry reports suggest that not only Euro-V are as clean as petrol engines, they are more efficient and consume far less fuel. Could I ask the Minister the following supplementary questions? Would the Minister not agree that our tax structure should encourage or at least not penalise the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles? Put it another way, if the regime makes it cheaper to buy and maintain a less fuel-efficient car, does that not mean the regime is flawed?

First, I quite agree with Mr Hri Kumar that we should not and, in fact, we do not penalise more fuel-efficient cars. The whole structure of our tax system for vehicles today, in fact, does not penalise more fuel-efficient cars – it rewards them. Road tax is a classic example of that. But even by way of our tax on fuel, the petrol tax taken together with the special tax for diesel, it is clear that we are rewarding more fuel-efficient vehicles.

We reduce the special tax significantly from something like four times of the road tax to 2.7 times of the road tax in Budget 2008, in recognition of the fact that it is more environmentally-friendly than the pre-Euro-IV cars. We will take a look at the Euro-V very carefully, study its emission standards. If it is true that it got much lower carbon emissions compared to petrol cars, but it does have slightly higher particulate matter emissions. These are things we will study and find the appropriate special tax to impose. But on his basic questions, we do not penalise more fuel-efficient cars. We do not penalise more environmentally-friendly cars. At the margin, we have, in fact, favoured them. And the calculation of what we achieved through the green vehicle rebate together with the road tax structure, does point to that.

10. Mr Hri Kumar Nair asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the current average waiting period for the allocation of rental flats; (b) how does the Ministry prioritise applications; and (c) whether there is any requirement for occupiers of rental flats to take active steps to improve their financial position.

Mr Speaker, Sir, about a year ago, the average waiting period for a rental flat was 21 months. I am pleased to inform the Member that the average waiting period currently has dropped to about 13 months. The reduced waiting time is the result of HDB’s multi-pronged approach to manage the rental flat supply and demand.

On the supply side, HDB resumed building rental flats in 2007. Since then, 1,400 flats have been added to the rental stock. By 2012, 8,000 new rental units will be added to the current rental stock of 42,000. On the demand side, in February this year, Members will recall that HDB introduced a set of revised rental eligibility criteria. For those who have enjoyed one housing subsidy, HDB will take into account their assets, including proceeds from the last flat sale. Those who previously owned private property will not qualify for a rental flat. In addition, if the applicant has children who own private property or HDB flat with room(s) that may accommodate him, he would not qualify. Approved applicants are added to the queue according to their date of applications. For those already in the rental queue before February this year when the revised eligibility criteria took effect, they will retain their queue

Rental tenants, especially younger households, are encouraged to work towards home ownership. Where appropriate, HDB will refer tenants to the Community Development Centres (CDCs) for employment assistance. Those who have not previously bought a subsidised flat may qualify for the Additional Housing Grant to purchase their first flat. Through these various efforts, some rental tenants will be able to move to home ownership by improving their income over time. HDB also reviews the rental tenancies every two years to ensure that rental flats, which are heavily subsidised, cater to the truly needy.

positions if they satisfy the revised criteria.

Sir, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his response. The rental flats are scarce commodity and generally families or individuals that enjoy them are in difficult circumstances. May I ask, does MND work or share information with CDC and other organisations to bring help to families and individuals staying in rental flats, so that they can help improve their situation in going forward?

Sir, indeed that is the plan. We recognise that whilst they stay in rental flats, they should not be entrenched in rental flats, especially for work-able individuals or households with work-able individuals. And that is why I said in my response earlier, especially for the younger households, we work with the CDCs. In fact, we also work with the Family Service Centres to refer these cases, who have potential to actually gain better income, to upgrade themselves, so that home ownership becomes the end point for them. And that is why we also put in place the two-year term tenancies, so that every two years, we review the cases to ensure that they continue to work towards upgrading themselves, to ensure that home ownership becomes a

possibility for most of them. Even for those who have downgraded, meaning that they have sold their flats and they really need rental flats, we do not see rental flats as the end point for them, but it is transitional. Hopefully, they can continue to improve their circumstances and, therefore, move up and go for another home ownership flat.

Can the Ministry consider stepping up some publicity to build awareness for the new tightened criteria for rental flat applications? I am sure many of us have come across applicants who merely want some privacy for themselves or who do not want to impose on their children or who already have children who could take them in but decided not to. So if HDB or MND could consider stepping up some of these new tightened criteria, it will really help manage the expectations of the applicants.

I thank the Member for the suggestion. We will certainly do more to especially educate rental flat applicants or even current lessees who are thinking of selling their flats because the eligibility criteria have changed quite significantly since February. We will improve on efforts in reaching out to these households and informing them of the new criteria.

11. Mr Zainudin Nordin asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many flats have been repossessed by HDB in the last three years and how many more is HDB expecting to repossess; (b) what are the follow up actions to assist the affected families; and (c) since the introduction of the HDB Loan Eligibility scheme how many applicants have been rejected and what were the main reasons for their rejection.

12. Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for National Development if priority can be granted to rental flat applications by applicants who had to force-sell their flats due to financial hardship and high arrears with HDB.

Sir, may I take Question Nos. 11 and 12 together as they are related?

Yes.

Sir, both Mr Zainudin Nordin and Ms Denise Phua asked about assistance for HDB lessees affected by compulsory acquisition due to mortgage arrears.

HDB has spared no effort to help households in difficulty arrive at a financially sustainable solution. Some of the solutions that HDB explore with these households include: (a) subletting a spare room; (b) including working family members to share the loan burden; and (c) reducing the monthly instalments by extending the loan repayment period.

Notwithstanding these options, if they still cannot afford to keep their flat, HDB will help them to downgrade, by providing them an additional loan that they can afford. However, despite providing ample time and assistance, HDB occasionally encounters lessees who are not willing to work towards a sustainable financial solution. In such cases, HDB has no choice but to undertake compulsory acquisition but, only as a last resort, to prevent their debt from accumulating further. Even after HDB issues its letter of intent to compulsorily acquire the flat, HDB will still allow the lessee to sell his flat in the open market if he is serious about doing so without further delay. This is evident from the small number of flats recovered by HDB compared with the number of accounts in arrears.

Since

Compulsory acquisition will continue to be our last resort, to be used only when necessary. We will ensure that those affected by compulsory acquisition have alternative accommodation, including a rental flat if necessary. Indeed, most of the 1,260 cases were allocated a rental flat as they have no other viable option. I should stress that rental flats are heavily subsidised and should be reserved for only the truly needy with no alternative accommodation.

Mr Zainudin Nordin also asked about the HDB Loan Eligibility (HLE) Letter. This was introduced in January 2007 to encourage financial prudence and forward planning among flat buyers. To date, 8% of HLE applications have been rejected. A third of those rejected were financially not ready to commit to a home loan. The rest were ineligible for a HDB loan.

2007, HDB has recovered 1,260 flats due to arrears. This is 0.3% of the total number of outstanding HDB loans.

Supplementary question, Sir. May I know what HDB did with the 1,260 flats after repossession, please?

The flats were subsequently put up for sale under our balloting exercise.

Thank you, Senior Parliamentary Secretary. I have come across residents whose flats are not acquired by compulsion by HDB, but they have been advised to actually sell their flats in the resale market and these are residents who subsequently have problems getting an alternative accommodation. Can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary please explain that?

Sir, I understand Ms Denise Phua's concern and

in fact, I think many Members of the House have come across many similar cases where residents came to them and said that HDB forced them or asked them to sell their flats. Sir, HDB's intention is really not to displace families. HDB's intention is to help families manage their arrear situation, and many of them have accumulated their arrears quite significantly. What HDB is trying to do is to prevent them from accumulating their arrears further so that they do not come into a situation where their outstanding loan becomes larger than their original loan, which means that they have accumulated so much interest that the loan has become larger or that the property value is lower than the outstanding loan, which means they are in negative equity. So when HDB advises them to sell their flats, it is effectively to advise them to downgrade hopefully to a flat that is more affordable to them. How does HDB help them? They will look at some of the possible alternatives after that. Firstly, we look at the possibility of granting them another loan. If they are really in financial difficulties, HDB is prepared to give them another loan to downgrade. Some of the challenges that these families have are that their income is not high enough or they are not able to afford a loan that will allow them to purchase another flat, which means that they are not ready to own another home, as I mentioned earlier in the reply. As such, we look at other options. Do they have family members who are able to accommodate them while they try to save to improve on their financial situation and purchase another flat? Secondly, we will also refer them to the CDCs to see whether they can improve on their earning capacity so that they are able to get another loan from HDB subsequently. The other alternative that we have is to offer them interim rental housing which is a scheme that HDB has put in place where the managing agents of HDB flats manage some of these flats and they will refer these families for interim housing. We do not want the families to be entrenched in such interim housing but it is meant for temporary accommodation while they work towards longer-term solutions. So, effectively, there are options available for some of these families. If they really cannot find other options, we will consider them for rental flats.

I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary under the following circumstances, what will be the alternative for the residents. The resident is asked to sell the flat because the arrear is too high or HDB has to resell or repossess the flat. He could not get a HLE, a loan from HDB, because he is not qualified or he is required to upgrade, but obviously he cannot upgrade; he has no relative or family member to share accommodation with and he has no financial means to go and rent premises from the open market because the rent is too high. So what is the alternative?

Sir, as I have mentioned earlier, given the description by Mr Low, one of the options that we will offer them is the interim rental housing. This is a short-term rental housing to help them with accommodation if, as Mr Low mentioned, they really do not have any other rental accommodation options. Of course, we would prefer that they continue to stay with their family, if they have family members to support them. While they are staying in the interim rental housing, we will look and explore other possibilities, like how we can support and help them. The reasons why they are not earning or not working will have to be explored. These are situations where we need case management by the social service sector to be able to help some of these families. I think if Mr Low has a specific case in mind and would like to refer it to us, we would be more than glad to review the case.

13. Dr Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Health in view of the increasing cost to society as a result of invasive pneumococcal disease with increasing multi-drug resistance and higher case fatalities, whether the Ministry will consider to include the pneumococcal vaccine in the National Immunisation Programme.

Sir, pneumococcal disease is a major public health problem all over the world. The World Health Organization has estimated that up to one million children die of pneumococcal disease every year, mostly in the developing countries.

The disease is caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. Transmission is via direct contact with respiratory secretions from infected persons who may or may not show clinical symptoms.

Pneumococcal infections may be invasive, causing, for example, pneumonia and meningitis. The infections may also be non-invasive causing conditions such as middle-ear infections and sinusitis. In Singapore, there were about 70 hospitalisations among children under five years of age for pneumococcal disease every year. Since 2000, we have recorded seven deaths among young children from invasive pneumococcal disease.

Fortunately, a vaccine is available to protect children against this disease. Extensive studies have shown the vaccine to be safe and effective. Several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, UK and the US have included pneumococcal vaccination in their national childhood immunisation programmes.

Our Expert Committee on Immunisation has reviewed this and they have recommended that we follow suit. My Ministry has considered and accepted the Expert Committee's recommendation to include pneumococcal vaccination into our National Childhood Immunisation Programme. We are following up on the implementation details.

14. Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan asked the Minister for Health (a) whether there is a regulatory body that oversees private health insurers in Singapore; (b) whether there is data on the proportion of rejected applications for private health insurance; and (c) what are the reasons for rejecting these applicants.

Sir, private health insurers are regulated by both the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and my Ministry.

MAS regulates and supervises all insurance companies in Singapore, so it includes those that offer health insurance. MAS regulates them with a view to promoting the safety and soundness of the industry. Insurance companies are required to have sound risk management systems and maintain adequate financial resources in order to meet their obligations to policyholders.

My Ministry regulates Medisave-approved Integrated Shield Plans to ensure that they make proper use of Medisave monies for the welfare of policyholders. We require the Integrated Shield Plans to focus on catastrophic coverage where risk-pooling is most effective. They must retain the core co-payment principle through features such as deductibles and co-insurance. This is to discourage over-consumption and help to keep premiums affordable. Before a plan

can be marketed, it is scrutinised by my Ministry to ensure that it complies with these basic requirements. The insurers compete to provide their policyholders with the most cost-effective insurance protection over their lifetime in the most sustainable manner. We encourage them to innovate with new product features but we discourage comprehensive first dollar coverage which has led to many moral hazard problems elsewhere.

We encourage insurers to be transparent and upfront with their customers by keeping their terms and conditions simple and clear. Where necessary, we may require an insurer to amend its contract if any of the terms and conditions is ambiguous.

We assess the performance of the insurers on an ongoing basis. For example, the time taken for them to process claims is published on my Ministry's website and updated quarterly. In the same website, we provide a comparison of the key features of the Integrated Shield Plans marketed in Singapore. This will help the public to choose the plan that best meets their needs and budget.

However, the Ministry of Health does not regulate the decision of private insurers on whether to accept an applicant into their plan. These decisions will have to be made by the insurers based on their claims experience, risk appetite and actuarial analysis. We therefore do not have data on the proportion of applicants who are not accepted for private health insurance coverage, nor the reasons for the rejection. But we do require the insurers to guarantee renewals so that policyholders are not dropped should they fall sick and incur higher claims later.

I would like to ask the Minister a

supplementary question. Can the Minister comment on the take-up rates for private insurance? I just want to have a good sense of what the gap is out there and the efforts taken by the Ministry to improve the take-up rates.

We do many things to try to increase the take-up rate. We share a common objective that as many Singaporeans as possible ought to be "Shielded", and the coverage rates are not bad. I have in an earlier reply during a past Sitting mentioned that among working adults, more than 90% are insured with at least MediShield. Among all Singaporean residents, about 85% have medical insurance. If you look at the remaining uninsured, 15% or so, two large groups are prominent – first, young kids, those below 20 years old, form a big number, about 300,000. They are not insured for various reasons, ignorance or inertia. Another big group, maybe about a quarter million, or 300,000, comprises housewives whose husbands have forgotten to insure for them. On both fronts, we are working very hard to get them in. For the kids, it is easier because at the stage of registering birth for all newborns, we can remind the parents to sign up their kids. We have more than a year of experience with this system now. 98% of all parents said, yes. Only 2% opted out for whatever reasons. Among the housewives, I am working very hard with Mdm Halimah and NTUC to get them in, and we will get there, I am quite sure of that. It is a matter of time. These are for basic MediShield. And among them, about 60% have private insurance as top-up. If you look at it as a total population, about half of Singaporeans have private insurance. And if you remember that private insurance is really meant for the upper and middle class who prefer and can afford private hospitals, then 50% of medical insurance coverage for private shields is quite a good coverage rate.

15. Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the breakdown of workers trained in 2008 by age group, gender, educational profile and race; (b) whether he will provide an assessment of employers' support for the training of older workers; and (c) whether there was any research done to assess the effectiveness of training in helping older workers to improve their employability, career prospects and earning power.

Mr Speaker, Sir, mature workers over the age of 40 years old comprised more than half the 80,000 local workers who underwent Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) training in 2008. The gender distribution of trainees was fairly equal with females taking up slightly more than half the training places. About two-thirds of the trainees possessed secondary and below education, while the remaining one-third had post-secondary education. About two-thirds of the trainees were Chinese, Malays made up one-fifth, with the rest of the trainees Indians and other races.

Employers have shown support in the training of mature workers. Approximately half of the workers sent for training by employers were mature workers. Take for example Robinsons' group, a well-known retailer and a strong believer in people development through training. Robinsons has been very supportive of the Retail WSQ programme. As an in-house approved training organisation (ATO), they have developed two Retail WSQ modules called "The Service Ambassador" and made it compulsory for all frontline operations staff to attend. Apart from this, Robinsons also organised the Retail WSQ programme Certificate in Retail Operations conducted by the Singapore Institute for Retail Studies (SIRS). In all, Robinsons had taken up 938

training places in year 2009, of which, about half, 408 were taken up by mature workers.

The Adult Training Survey conducted in 2008 by my Ministry showed that older workers had benefited from training in different ways. For example, 60% of employed workers aged 50-64 who underwent training over the 12 months ending June 2008 reported that the training had enabled them to be more productive at work, comparable to the average of 58% for all workers who underwent training. Forty-two percent of these older workers felt that they were able to deliver better service, higher than the average of 38% across all ages. Older workers also indicated that training had enabled them to retain their job or to obtain a permanent job.

A case in point is Ms Chandriga d/o Krishnasamy. Ms Chandriga, a mature worker, was working as a part-time security officer earning about $300 a month when she registered with the Central CDC in January 2009. As she had an interest in cooking, the CDC supported her training in Workplace Skills courses under the Employability Skills System (ESS) followed by the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) in Food Production conducted by At-Sunrice. Ms Chandriga completed the course in May 2009 and is now employed full-time in a Japanese restaurant, earning about $1,200 per month. She is a good example of how age is never a barrier to learning new skills and moving into better jobs.

I would encourage companies to support the training of all their workers regardless of age. This is an important strategy for us to continue to enhance our productivity and competitiveness.

I think the statistics and figures are really heartening.

It shows that the older workers are very willing to go for training and the companies that have sent them for the training are truly commendable and also it shows that they have benefited from it. What I would like to ask the Minister is despite this, older workers continue to raise concerns that they face obstacles in getting employment, therefore what more can we do in view of the fact that they are flexible and prepared to go for training. One of the common complaints raised by employers is they are inflexible, they are not prepared to go for training, they are not productive but the figures the Minister has cited show otherwise, what more can we do to remove the obstacles to employment of older workers?

Mr Speaker, Sir, employment of older workers is a very important issue and Members will know we have announced in this House before that we are going to introduce re-employment legislation by 2012, that will require employers to offer re-employment opportunities for all workers who reach the age of 62. This is one important step towards enhancing the employment of older workers. If older workers were to be employed effectively, the employers must continue to provide training and upgrading for these older workers so that their skills can remain relevant to the industries that we are moving into. From the Government's point of view, we will continue to work with our tripartite partners, through our tripartite workgroups, on the implementation of re-employment to reach out to companies even ahead of the introduction of the re-employment legislation; to encourage companies to be early adopters of these re-employment practices. We will also provide funding and help through our Advantage! scheme to help companies adopt these practices, including providing training for older workers before they reach retirement. We also provide counselling, help and support for these older workers so that they are able to

adjust to post retirement, re-employment jobs. Because under re-employment, they may not be doing the same job. They may be doing something quite different from what they used to do and therefore training and preparation is part and parcel of the preparation for this re-employment. We will continue to do more together with our tripartite partners to reach out through our various network including Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), Singapore Business Federation (SBF) as well as the Association for Small and Medium Enterprises to reach out to companies and employers to put in place re-employment practices as well as a framework for training and upgrading for our mature workers.

16. Mr Calvin Cheng asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts in view of the Auditor-General's Report for FY08/09 (a) what specific steps are being taken by Media Development Authority (MDA) to ensure proper oversight of MediaCorp in using MDA funds for Public Service Broadcast (PSB) programmes; and (b) what other performance measures can be adopted to ensure that MediaCorp’s PSB programming meets the standards required by MDA.

17. Mr Calvin Cheng asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts in view of the current Public Service Broadcast requirements and MediaCorp being a profit-driven enterprise with a small market size of Singapore, what else is being done to increase the number and quality of local productions on local television.

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would like to take the next two Questions together.

In FY 2008, the Media Development Authority’s Public Service Broadcast, or PSB funding, provided for about 2,000 hours of local content being produced and telecast across our seven free-to-air channels. This was an increase of 10%, or about 200 hours, more than local production here in 2007.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has instituted several initiatives to improve the quality of our local productions. First, MDA requires MediaCorp to outsource a minimum number of local content hours to independent production companies annually. Currently, about 35% of local PSB production hours are outsourced to independent production companies, and this is an increase compared to 26% in 2005. As a result, we have a more competitive and creative environment and this approach has also helped to ensure a constant flow of fresh programme ideas.

Second, MDA has also introduced direct commissioning of PSB programmes since 2007 to bring about competition for PSB funds. Today, about 10% of the total PSB funds are set aside for this purpose. MDA invites independent production companies as well as MediaCorp’s production units to pitch ideas to develop high-quality programmes that would appeal not only to Singapore viewers but also to an international audience.

As a result of this and other measures, Singaporeans today enjoy a greater range of content choices and higher quality productions from PSB funding. Some of our local PSB programmes received the highest ratings on their respective channels. They have also won international accolades. Last year, our local PSB programmes won 20 awards and 16 other nominations at renowned international award events. Our local productions are also being acquired by established regional media players and channels.

On the usage of PSB funds, MDA recognises the importance of ensuring transparency and accountability, and adopts a stringent approval process. In addition to discussions on programming strategies and PSB themes, in-principle approval from MDA is required before a production is commissioned to ensure the programme meets specific PSB objectives. Regular comprehensive reviews of the annual PSB Funding Agreement are conducted to ensure that MediaCorp has fulfilled its commitments in terms of total output and range of PSB programmes as well as outsourced production requirements.

MDA also sets target viewership ratings and Programme Appreciation Index as Key Performance Indicators for PSB programmes. The latter is measured in terms of the level of informative value, relevance, enjoyment and effectiveness in promoting social values, and our culture and heritage. MDA conducts quarterly PSB Appreciation Surveys to determine the Programme Appreciation Index. The survey results have been positive and encouraging. The past four surveys over the last year, showed that eight out of 10 Most Appreciated Programmes were PSB-funded.

MDA also receives regular feedback from its various advisory committees on the range and quality of TV and radio programming, including PSB programmes. Such feedback helps to enhance the overall quality of PSB programmes going forward.

MDA is commissioning an independent review of the effectiveness and efficiency of PSB funding, and will use the findings to develop other meaningful key performance indicators for PSB programmes. Let me conclude by saying that MDA will exercise proper oversight of how PSB funds are used and continue to

work with the industry and stakeholders to enhance the quality of local productions.

Thank you, Minister, for your comprehensive answer. I have two supplementary questions. First, is there a target that MICA and MDA would be working towards in regard to the percentage of local PSB-funded productions? Secondly, bearing in mind the difficulties of MediaCorp making profits in a very small market, would MICA consider subsidising MediaCorp to enquire better quality foreign productions?

You have three minutes left, Mr Lui.

As I mentioned previously, what we provide funding for today is about 2,000 hours of local content. That has grown by about 10%, and in part, the limit is determined by the amount of radio and TV licence fees as well as the cost of production. Increasingly, we note that the cost of quality production has increased and what we want to try and do is to have about 35% of the money that we channel over to MediaCorp, perhaps be channelled into independent production houses so that there is a variety of programme genres, a variety of programmes not necessarily from MediaCorp alone. Rather than talk about subsidising, we work in partnership with MediaCorp.

For instance, MDA stepped in to co-fund "The Little Nonya". In part we did this, not knowing that it would be a commercial success. But we felt that "The Little Nonya" offered the opportunity to shine the spotlight on local culture and heritage. And together with the opening of the Peranakan Museum, I think it indeed had brought Peranakan culture to the forefront over the past 18 months or so. In doing so, we also retained the rights to subsequent revenue streams as a

result of DVD sales or sales to overseas media and broadcasting companies. So we enjoy part of the success that follows from this production.

I want to add that, if we have not gone in to work with MediaCorp on this, there is a possibility that "The Little Nonya" would not have been produced in the first place. Cost was actually quite a bit higher than the usual drama series, because of the sets, expensive costumes and the amount of research that had to be conducted for this to be a viable production. So what we will do is to work with MediaCorp on the best ideas and determine which are the ones that deserve funding.

3.00 pm

Order. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 19, 21-22 and 25 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 18, 20, 23-24 and 26-32 have been postponed to the next available sitting of Parliament.]

*Cols. 1539-1546.

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, when the Copyright Act was first introduced in 1987, one of its key objectives was to strike a fair balance between the rights of copyright owners and copyright users, ensuring in the process that the flow of knowledge, ideas and information would not be unduly stifled.

Towards that end, the Act provided for the establishment of a Copyright Tribunal as a quasi-judicial body to hear

disputes over copyright licensing issues. Its role was to provide an expeditious forum for copyright owners and copyright users to resolve their disputes on issues involving the terms of licences granted such as the fees payable, without having to go to the Courts. The Tribunal has fulfilled an important function these past 22 years.

During this time, however, changes in technology have given rise to new ways of accessing and using copyright works. Hence, this Bill seeks to update the Tribunal’s scope of coverage, to ensure that the Tribunal remains relevant in the face of these technological advances.

Sir, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) conducted a round of public consultations over six weeks from 11th February to 24th March last year to solicit views on possible changes to the Copyright Tribunal. It received valuable feedback from IP rights organisations, academics and user groups which were carefully considered. Where appropriate, they have been incorporated in the provisions of this Bill.

Let me now highlight the key amendments.

Firstly, the amendment to expand the Tribunal’s jurisdiction over all types of copyright works.

Mr Speaker, under the existing Copyright Act, the Tribunal’s jurisdiction is confined to disputes over specified types of copyright works for a limited number of uses. For example, the Tribunal can hear disputes over the fees payable for making copies of literary works by educational institutions for teaching purposes, or the making of recordings and films of works for the purpose of broadcasting.

This limits the ability of the Copyright Tribunal to deal with copyright disputes

arising from new technological advances. For example, the reproduction and storage of digital sound recordings in hard disks for commercial use is prevalent today. However, disputes arising from such use do not currently come under the purview of the Tribunal.

The amendment, therefore, seeks to refine the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to allow the Tribunal to play its intended role in the face of technological developments. With the proposed amendment, the Tribunal will be able to hear licence disputes relating to all types of copyright works.

Sir, the second amendment seeks to refine the scope of the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to cover licensors who are in the business of collectively administering copyright licences for different copyright owners. This change is mainly in recognition of the fact that licensors such as collecting societies and commercial agencies are capable of amassing a wide repertoire of copyright works. As such, they are able to adopt a relatively strong bargaining position vis-à-vis licensees or businesses that make use of the copyright works under their purview. In this way, the Copyright Tribunal can act as a check against licensors imposing unreasonable licensing fees and terms. IPOS intends, in due course, to enact regulations to further amplify this provision.

Individual copyright owners will be excluded from the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. This approach of excluding individual copyright owners is also the practice in Australia and the United Kingdom.

A third amendment is to empower the Tribunal to vary the terms of any licence scheme, to the extent of substituting the licence scheme, as deemed reasonable.

Currently under the Copyright Act, the Tribunal is only authorised to vary a

licence scheme. The current provisions do not expressly empower the Tribunal to substitute a new scheme. However, in practice, the Tribunal may have to order a copyright licence scheme to be substantially varied if justified on the facts of a case. In doing so, the question may then arise as to whether such changes have the effect of substituting a new scheme, which the Tribunal does not appear to be empowered to do under the current provisions.

This amendment will provide certainty that the Tribunal can do so, that is to say, the Copyright Tribunal, in order to make rulings that are reasonable and fair in a broad range of circumstances, may substantially vary an existing licence scheme, to the extent of substituting it with a new scheme.

Sir, on amendments to the structure of the Copyright Tribunal, the Copyright Act provides for the appointment of one President and up to four other members. Each Copyright Tribunal hearing requires a quorum comprising the President and at least two members.

In practice, with so few members appointed, this can pose difficulties in convening the Tribunal promptly as the Tribunal members’ personal schedules may be conflicted.

The proposed amendments will give the Minister the powers to appoint two more Deputy Presidents and up to 15 members to the Copyright Tribunal. This will provide a bigger pool of members to fill the three requisite positions to convene a Tribunal hearing. The amendments also empower the Deputy Presidents to preside over Tribunal proceedings in place of the President.

As the expansion of the Tribunal’s scope of jurisdiction may result in an increase in the number of cases, these amendments will allow multiple tribunals

to be held concurrently, if such a need arises.

Sir, in conclusion – in summary, these amendments will expand and clarify the powers as well as improve the operations of the Copyright Tribunal to ensure that it can effectively and expeditiously discharge its duties to hear all copyright disputes in the face of continuing changes in technology and usage of copyright works.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Order for Second Reading read.

3.07 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Bill proposes two main sets of changes to the Casino Control Act:

First, improving the administrative process of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore or IRAS to collect casino taxes; and, s econd, strengthening our social safeguards for problem gamblers.

Sir, let me now explain the first set of amendments.

Since the passing of the Casino Control Act, the Government has done a thorough review and comparison of the Casino Control Act with other tax legislation. We aim to align the administrative powers granted to IRAS under the Casino Control Act with those granted under the Income Tax Act, the Goods and Services Tax Act and the other gambling tax acts, namely the Private Lotteries Act and the Betting and Sweepstakes Duties Act.

For example, a proposed new section 146B will allow the Comptroller to make an assessment of casino tax if the returns from the casino operators are not furnished, incomplete or incorrect. This is similar to section 45 of the GST Act. Another provision is the proposed new section 150A, which will allow the Comptroller of Income Tax to appoint a person to be an agent of the casino operator liable to pay tax due on behalf of the casino operator. This is similar to section 57 of the Income Tax Act. The inclusion of such clauses will empower the Comptroller to administer the collection of casino taxes more efficiently.

Sir, I will now explain the second set of amendments. As part of the Government’s comprehensive social safeguards on casino gambling, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has statutory powers under the Act to exclude Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents aged 21 and above from entering the casinos. There are three types of casino exclusions: Family, Self and Third-Party. Family Exclusion is where a family applies to exclude a family member with gambling problems from casinos. Self-Exclusion is where an individual voluntarily decides to exclude himself or herself from casinos. Third-Party Exclusions cover some 29,000 undischarged bankrupts and beneficiaries of the Public Assistance and Special Grant.

The NCPG has conducted fairly extensive discussions with the public, stakeholders and its partners on the exclusion process. Following these discussions, it has rolled out the Family Exclusion process in April this year. On the other hand, one key feedback it has received is that it should simplify and shorten its Self and Third-Party Exclusion processes so as to more efficiently and effectively protect those who are vulnerable towards problem gambling.

The NCPG has recommended three amendments to the Act, which the Government supports.

Firstly, to remove the need for a Committee of Assessors to convene and decide on exclusion for Self and Third-Party. There is no need for any "judgment" or exercise of discretion for the decision on such exclusions because Self-Exclusion is voluntary and Third-Party is by fiat. For the same reason, the opportunity to object and appeal against an order for Third-Party Exclusion has been removed.

Secondly, to remove the need for hard copy notifications for both Self and Third-Party exclusions. Those who have bankruptcy petitions against them or who are applying for Public Assistance and Special Grant would already be notified of potential casino exclusion as part of the administrative process.

And lastly, to enable the Council to notify the casinos, Casino Regulatory Authority and the Police of exclusions via electronic means, as opposed to informing them using paper documents. This will facilitate the administration process for exclusion orders.

Sir, once approved, the provisions of the Act will come into force by 15th October 2009.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.12 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on the Second Reading of the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill and I am glad that this Bill is being tightened further.

Sir, who could have forgotten the TV advertisement, where a father pleads with his daughter to break into her piggy bank to fuel his gambling addiction. Very touching but, at the same time, extremely disturbing. It shows the abysmal depth to which a gambler might descend, to feed his perverse and insatiable addiction to gambling.

According to a 2007 survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling, nearly all the respondents welcomed the casino exclusion order and said that they would apply for casino expulsion orders to ban family members having gambling problems.

That is the good piece of news. On the flip side, the survey indicates that the number of people who felt that gambling could lead to an unhappy family life, has decreased. There is a new-found acceptance towards gambling. Many more gamblers believed that having the right gambling skills could lead to a large payoff and the number of gamblers, with a dogged determination to recover what they lost, had doubled according to the survey. Therefore the $100 entry levy or $2,000 annual membership might have little impact on gamblers, and you do not even have to be hardcore addicts, to try to "cheong " as much as you can.

Sir, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports did a survey on Participation in Gambling

activities among Singapore Residents in the year 2008. The Chinese are well known for their fondness for gambling but what is disturbing is that, over the span of three years, between 2005 and 2008, the number of Malay and Indian gamblers has increased from 12% to 22% and 30% to 36% respectively. The number of low income earners, those earning up to $2,000 monthly, gamble more and the numbers are increasing, according to the survey.

Sir, these are worrisome facts and figures. We decided to go ahead with the casino project to give a fillip to our economy and in particular our tourism sector but what about those poor, weak-willed, easily-led, misguided individuals amongst us who are unable to resist temptation? What are we going to do about them? How are we going to rein them in?

Sir, my views on the Integrated Resorts (IRs) are known but I welcome the further tightening of the screws to filter out the "Exclusives." They might not realise the good "fortune" that we are bringing upon them by restricting their presence at the IRs.

Sir, persons on Public Assistance, undischarged bankrupts and those who make a voluntary application for exclusion are excluded from the casinos,

but now with the doing away of the Committee of Assessors for the issuance of the exclusion order, makes life easier and hassle-free for them.

Singapore has come a long way over the past 50 years. The hard-earned wealth that Singapore painstakingly accumulated over the years helps to pay for several social programmes like Public Assistance. We do not want to have instances where our ComCare and other Public Assistance programme beneficiaries, instead of using the money given

to alleviate their hardship, blow it on chips, blackjack and the one-armed bandit.

Sir, these amendments allow for automatic exclusion of undischarged bankrupts and persons on Government social assistance. The concept itself is good, since undischarged bankrupts and persons on Government social assistance really should not be gambling at casinos.

These amendments make it administratively easier, as well as send a strong message across that gambling is not for those who cannot afford to do so and this approach is to be commended. However, the question is: how is the casino going to implement this on the ground? Will they be doing ID checks on all patrons? Sir, this is not the normal kind of ID checks that clubs would do, ie, that of checking age, but this would probably require a computer database and an efficient checking process.

Extra effort must be taken by the authorities to ensure that the list of those excluded is regularly and thoroughly maintained to prevent misunderstanding. A person who is no longer a bankrupt or on Public Assistance may wish to explore the casino but if a non-updated list prevents him or her from entering, the negative effects on the casino, our tourism sector and our much-vaunted efficiency would be far greater. Casinos overseas do not have such stringent checks. Would it be a deterrent, albeit a small one, to tourists if the checks are slow and hamper entry into the casino?

Also, how is "poor credit record" under the existing section 165(1)(c) defined? This is the only instance in which the Committee has discretion in making an exclusion order against a person, but it is not clearly defined under the Act. Would the Minister consider clarifying what "poor credit record" means, so as to

promote transparency in making exclusion orders?

Sir, the amendments on the casino tax provide a more nuanced approach to taxation of gaming profits. Previously, profits were taxed without regard to whether the casino was a party to the wager. The amendments clarified that (i) profits earned from games where casino is a party to the wager are taxable, and (ii) moneys received from games where casino merely conducts the game are taxable. In practice, how will the taxman know how much the casino earns through either method? If false declarations are made, will the taxman be able to find out?

While there is a deterrent found in the current legislation – allowing for the collection of up to four times of the underpaid tax – is this sufficient to prevent deliberate under-declaration of income, especially when it is so easy to do so? At the same time, is it too harsh to impose personal criminal liability on those who make incorrect returns or give any incorrect information in relation to any matter affecting a casino operator’s liability to pay tax?

Sir, first of all, this offence does not require any guilty intent – instead, the moment the person makes an incorrect return or gives any incorrect information, he is guilty, whether he intended to evade tax or not.

Second, is it fair to hold individuals criminally responsible? Would it be better instead to hold the casino operator company criminally responsible? Yes, there is a stronger deterrent effect in holding individuals criminally responsible but we must remember who benefits the most at the end of the day. If there is tax evasion – it is the company rather than the individuals running it.

The two points coupled together make it especially harsh to hold individuals criminally liable – they do not benefit directly, and yet can be held criminally liable even if they were merely negligent (rather than actively trying to evade tax) in preparing tax returns.

Sir, on this note, I support the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill.

3.20 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to join in this debate.

One of the main amendments to the Casino Control Act is that those who give incorrect tax returns on gaming revenue will face stiffer penalties. In addition to paying double the underpaid amount, they can be fined up to $25,000 or jailed for up to two years or both.

I support this amendment under section 149A of the Bill. This will send a clear signal to the casino operators to put in place rigorous accounting processes to ensure that their relevant departments and staff adhere to the law.

The other major amendment is to automatically exclude from the casino un-discharged bankrupts, persons on Public Assistance as well as those who voluntarily want to be kept out, thereby removing the need for a Committee of Assessors to make an exclusion order in respect of each such person.

I wish to make three points arising from these amendments, and the family exclusion orders which already exist in the Act:

Firstly, we cannot rely on pathological gamblers or probable problem gamblers to self exclude themselves. Incidentally, these terms "pathological" or "problem gamblers" are phrases used in a 2008

MCYS Report on Participation in Gambling Activities Amongst Singaporean Residents.

Secondly, family exclusion orders which already exist in the Act under sections 158 to 164, which allow families to apply for exclusion of problem gamblers from casinos, are also unlikely to have much impact as I understand that, to date, only 14 families have gone beyond enquiring about these orders.

According to NCPG, Singapore is the second place in the world to have such family exclusion orders, after the state of South Australia, where only 170 enquiries were received between July 2004 and July 2008. According to a Straits Times report on 2nd April this year, "If South Australia's experience is any guide, however, Singapore will see few applications for family exclusion orders. In the four years up to last June, there were 18 applications for such orders in the Australian state, and only eight were issued. The rest were dismissed or withdrawn."

My third point is that I think it is important to remember the objective of the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), which is captured in section 8 of the Act. In particular, section 8(c) reads:

"The objects of the Authority are to maintain and administer systems for the licensing, supervision and control of casinos, for the purpose of containing and controlling the potential of a casino to cause harm to minors, vulnerable persons and [importantly] society at large."

Therefore, it is an object of the CRA to study and stem the negative social implications of casinos beyond the casino, ie, "in society at large".

Therefore, my proposal is to make it explicit in the Bill, or at least in the Minister’s reply in this debate, that the

CRA is empowered to work with NCPG and MHA to track whether the casinos are creating irreversible damage to our social fabric in the form of:

money-laundering activities;

rise in problem gambling and the effects it has on families;

growing number of people resorting to loans from loan sharks; and

an increase in prostitution syndicates.

It is also proposed that the Bill, or the Minister’s reply, should make it explicit that the CRA is empowered to collect data on these social implications.

The CRA can be empowered to take on this co-ordination and data-collection role through an avenue which already exists in the original Act, namely, section 10(2)(d) which states that the CRA may "carry out research or other educational activities relating to casino gaming, or to support (financially or otherwise) the carrying out by others of such activities or the provision by others of information or advice".

Therefore, I ask, should not the CRA be empowered under section 10(2)(d) read with its object as stated under section 8(c) to become the co-ordinating body between MHA and NCPG so that it will have enough data to accurately calibrate the level of regulation of casinos to ensure a minimal amount of negative social impact on Singaporeans and their families and a reduced amount of casino related offences, like money laundering, soliciting and loansharking?

After all, NCPG is primarily dedicated towards preventing problem gamblers from gambling and MHA is committed to fighting crime. Their roles are separate, distinct. Whereas, to battle the negative

social implications which the casinos will bring, we need to have synergies between these organisations. This will translate into a clear understanding of what is an effective level of casino regulation. This role should be fulfilled by the CRA.

A further avenue to provide the CRA with such power is section 9(2) of the original Act which states:

"The Authority may undertake such other functions and duties as the Minister may assign to the Authority and in so doing, the Authority shall be deemed to be fulfilling the purposes of this Act …"

My proposal for empowering the CRA to:

possess oversight of the social implications casino gambling has on Singaporeans – these implications being problem gambling, loan sharking, money laundering and heightened vice activities, and (thereby);

calibrate its regulation of casinos to minimise such negative social implications finds support in the second reading of the original Bill where Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng stated:

"... having casinos could mean more people gambling and getting themselves – and their families – into trouble. Concerns were expressed that crimes, such as loan sharking, money laundering and prostitution, could increase and tarnish Singapore's reputation as a clean, safe and secure place ..."

Deputy Prime Minister Wong’s candid statement finds support in empirical data. According to the Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS), the number of debt-distressed individuals who cite gambling as a major cause of their financial problem grew from 12.7% in 2006 to 27.5% in 2008. The percentage more than doubled.

Even more worrying, younger people, age 40 and below, make up a bigger proportion or 60.7% of this group of debtors.

It seems that the major pre-occupation of the Act and this Bill is to empower the CRA to regulate only what happens in the casino. This would be ineffective to battle negative social implications outside of the casino, ie, in the society at large, which is an explicit priority of the CRA under section 8(c). So as to achieve this objective, would the Minister consider the proposal to empower the CRA to (1) carry out the co-ordinating and data collection function between MHA and NCPG in order that (2) it is armed with valuable insight into the social implications casino gambling has on Singaporeans – these implications being problem gambling, loansharking, money laundering and heightened vice activities, which information will (3) allow the CRA to calibrate its regulation of casinos to minimise such negative social implications in society at large.

This proposal is consistent with the object of the CRA under section 8(c) of the original Act and the broad power it can be given under two other sections of the original Act, namely, section 10(2)(d) and section 9(2). This proposal will also allow the CRA to take on a more effective role in minimising the social implications of problem gambling outside of the casino, ie, in Singapore society.

Sir, I support the amendments but seek the Minister’s reply on my proposal which attempts to make the regulatory framework tighter and more effective.

3.29 pm

Sir, the public was asked to accept the potential social fallout from casinos due to their projected economic benefits, including tax revenue. Thus, it

is interesting that the Bill introduces clause 7 which allows the Minister to remit the tax on gaming revenue if he considers it just and equitable. I am aware that a similar provision exists in other tax legislation, such as the Income Tax Act and the Property Tax Act, giving the Minister power to remit those taxes if he considers it just and equitable. However, in the context of the Integrated Resorts, under what circumstances would it be just and equitable to forgive the casino tax due from a casino operator? Could the Minister clarify whether there is concern about the viability of the IRs due to the mixed projections put forth by the various analysts?

Another provision which should be clarified is clause 4 concerning the new section 146B. In particular, section 146B, sub-section (5), provides that if a casino operator does not submit tax returns for two consecutive accounting periods, then the Comptroller of Income Tax can take this into account in making his assessment. In particular, it is provided that the Comptroller can take the failure into account and make an assessment of "an amount of casino tax greater than that

which he would otherwise have considered to be appropriate." Does this mean that the amount of tax is going to be over-assessed because the casino operator failed to file returns?

This does not seem to be an appropriate response. By contrast, other tax legislation, such as the Income Tax Act, makes it an offence not to file returns, which attracts certain penalties and fines which, on principle, seems more justifiable.

Clause 8 introduces the offence of making an incorrect return or giving incorrect information. This becomes an offence under new section 149A and it is punishable with the following – a penalty of double the tax underpaid due to the error, and either fine or imprisonment or

both. This section is worded very generally and does not distinguish between errors which are deliberately or recklessly made, and errors made after due diligence was exercised. By contrast, the corresponding provision under the Income Tax Act, section 95, clearly distinguishes between the two types of errors – those made under due diligence are punishable only by a penalty equivalent to the tax which was underpaid. Under the proposed section 149A, errors made after due diligence will also potentially attract double tax and fine or imprisonment. Why does the provision not distinguish between the two types of errors?

Finally, Sir, regarding Exclusion Orders, I am glad to note that the new section 165A provides for the blanket exclusion of undischarged bankrupts, from entering the casino, rather than a cumbersome case-by-case approach. This blanket exclusion for undischarged bankrupts, in effect, adopts a suggestion made by the Member for Hougang, Mr Low Thia Khiang, in 2006, when the Bill was first debated.

Order. I propose to take the break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.55 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.35 pm until 3.55 pm.

Sitting resumed at 3.55 pm

Debate resumed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for this opportunity to speak on this Bill.

I followed the discourse on the introduction of Integrated Resorts to the Singapore landscape when the proposal

was first discussed in April 2005 and, subsequently, in February 2006 when the Casino Control Bill was debated and passed. Personally, I think it is important that after the extensive public consultation with the respective concerned parties, the decision taken by the Government was that individual Singaporeans should be entrusted to make their own decisions on whether they want to participate in the casino activities. Nonetheless, as a community, we are also concerned about the implications of having two IRs in Singapore on the vulnerable segments of our population.

With your permission, Sir, I would like to speak on this aspect of the amendment – the clauses that aim to protect vulnerable segments of our community from the ill-effects of gambling. In the consideration of Exclusion Orders, we have to be cognizant of the delicate balance between seeking preventive measures and the impediment of civil liberties. I am of the view that we should only invoke the law in extreme cases where vulnerable individuals cannot protect themselves, and the gains from invoking the Exclusion Orders outweigh the social costs.

Clause 14 seeks to insert a new section 165A to the Bill, which invokes an automatic exclusion from entering, remaining in and gaming in a casino, individuals who are on social assistance funded by the Government or a statutory body. I find resonance with this exclusion clause as individuals who are in need of financial assistance should not have surplus for funding gambling activities. In addition to Government or statutory bodies, there are also private agencies which offer financial assistance to the vulnerable poor.

May I ask the Minister if there is a mechanism for these private philan

thropies to seek to exclude their beneficiaries from participating in casino gaming?

Clauses 15 and 16 relate to the Family Exclusion Order. There are several concerns I have with the Family Exclusion Order, which have not, in my opinion, been adequately addressed in earlier debates.

The definition of a "family" embraced by the National Council for Problem Gambling is a very broad one. I quote from the Council’s website, "Exclusion is available to immediate family members defined as spouses, children, parents and siblings, including adopted and step relations." In addition, minors below 21 years of age or are incapacitated due to physical or mental impairment could apply for the Family Exclusion with an extended family member or a Minister-appointed person.

To be indicted as a problem gambler through the Family Exclusion Order is a serious charge, and a socially humiliating experience. I am particularly concerned with frivolous or wilful charges initiated by individuals who are seeking means to harm or curtail civil liberties of family members.

I would like to ask the Minister if there are processes and safeguards in place to protect innocent members of the community in such instances. For example, will the named individual be spared from emotional distress when a Family Exclusion Order is initiated but not yet verified? Will there be punitive measures taken against those who initiate wilful charges to prevent abuse and misuse of the Family Exclusion Order?

Unlike Mr de Souza, I was very surprised to learn that there were so many enquiries received by the NCPG. As of June 2009, the Business Times reported that there were 78 enquiries. This is just a

little less than half the number of enquiries received in South Australia over a four-year period.

As there is a significant number of cases involved, we must take note of the social implications of this Exclusion Order.

Inevitably, regardless of the outcome, invoking a Family Exclusion Order will result in animosity and ill-will between family members.

Like the Parents Maintenance Act, once the law is invoked to manage family ties and relationships, the family loses its distinctive altruistic nature and the social ties between affected members are irrevocably damaged. In short, the family will cease to function as a family where social obligations are driven by notions of love and compassion. Instead, the exchanges will be policed by the law, and will very likely cease to exist once the whip is lifted.

I would like to seek an insight into how the NCPG manages the potential fallout between family members when this Exclusionary Order is invoked. I understand from published reports that there are at least two individuals who are likely to be barred from entering the casinos here because of the application for a Family Exclusion Order initiated by their spouses. Was the NCPG successful in reinstating a functional spousal relationship in these initial cases?

As we strive to plug the gaps through a comprehensive legislative Bill, we must be cognisant that we have yet to address a fundamental concern regarding the establishment of the two Integrated Resorts in Singapore – and that is the glamorisation and normalisation of casino gambling (which, in turn, may inevitably normalise other forms of gambling). In particular, we must be vigilant of the potential draw the Casinos in the IRs will have on our youths. In this regard, the NCPG must step up its education

initiatives to be targeted at young Singaporeans who are testing boundaries.

With these comments, I support the Bill.

4.02 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for allowing me this opportunity to join the debate on this Bill. Like many other Singaporeans, I was very concerned with the introduction of the Integrated Resorts (IRs) and, of course, followed the debates on the Casino Control Bill from the start. I would like to seek a few clarifications from the Ministry on the section of the Bill with regard to persons to be excluded from the casinos and also to raise some related concerns on problem gambling which other Members of the House have also spoken on today.

As I understand it, the spirit of the proposed amendment to section 165 of the principal Act is to offer more protection to those persons and their families who are most at risk from losing everything they have through uncontrolled gambling. While there was provision in the original Act for a person with poor credit record to make a voluntary application for exclusion, the new amendments take away this option for those who are on Public Assistance or are undischarged bankrupts. There will now be automatic exclusion for these persons. In fact, I understand that this is already the practice with the third-party exclusion order and it has also been stated in a brochure I saw on casino exclusion published by the National Council on Problem Gambling. I have to say this definitely offers more protection to a particular group of persons who might be most at risk, particularly to the children and elderly parents who might rely on their children for support and these would be the more vulnerable groups. This might well be the reason for the amendment.

However, like my fellow Member, Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan, I am concerned about whether automatic exclusion or some of the exclusion orders would erode the sense of responsibility of the individual by taking away the powers of self-determination. If individuals are not allowed to determine for themselves what is good for their families and to make the right judgments and decisions, take responsibility for their own families, it might reinforce the attitude of dependency on the State. And automatic exclusion I feel could perhaps reinforce an attitude of dependency on the State.

We must encourage people to take responsibility for their lives. I am sure we would all like Singaporeans to be much more self-reliant and resilient. Undoubtedly, it is irresponsible for someone on Public Assistance or someone who is an undischarged bankrupt especially to use Public Assistance funds to gamble or to use it to pay the $100 admission charge to the casinos. However, automatic exclusion may not actually stop persons with poor credit records from potentially developing gambling problems. Anyone can still get their fix from other forms of gambling they are permitted – 4D, football betting – or even take that bus ride up to Genting.

In drawing up the amendment, I am sure the Ministry was thinking of protecting those at risk and it is indeed not easy to strike an exact balance between regulation and protection of the more vulnerable members of society. At the same time, with automatic exclusion, it could also stigmatise those who, for whatever reason, are on Public Assistance. I would urge that exclusion orders, when they are implemented, to be done with due consideration of their impact on the individual on their sense of responsibility to their families as well as the impact on their family relationships

and also to ensure that these individuals have the chance to improve their financial circumstances. I hope the Minister will further explicate the reasons for automatic exclusion.

I would also like to ask for more explanation on how automatic exclusion will be implemented. Does it mean there will be much more inter-agency cooperation because different agencies handle casino regulation, Public Assistance and bankruptcy? Would MCYS and the Public Trustees Office share information and automatically and regularly update the Council on the names and particulars of persons on Public Assistance and undischarged bankrupts, including automatically informing the Council when a bankrupt has been discharged? Will there be a time lag between the discharge of a bankrupt and the revocation of an exclusion order by the Council? And is there still provision for someone who may wish to object to his exclusion as provided for in the existing Chapter 165 of the Act or will this no longer apply once automatic exclusion kicks in?

I am not in opposition to the spirit of the law with regard to protecting those most at risk. We are all aware of the destructive and painful effects of problem gambling on families and individuals. Singapore is entering into new territory with the IRs and our regulatory mechanisms will be tested as the IRs start to operate and these would include the laws on exclusion orders. Perhaps, we should have a period of careful study once the casinos are in operation to monitor the efficacy of the legislation as well as the regulatory mechanisms, including those mechanisms that are managed by the casinos themselves, and not be afraid to make further amendments in the future, if necessary.

Please allow me now to turn to another issue of concern – the regulations and restrictions on public advertising of

the casinos. When the Integrated Resorts open, we can expect a lot of fanfare, glitz, media coverage and advertising. It will be premature to presume that increased media coverage and advertising will encourage Singaporeans to gamble more. But we should be careful not to discount the impact of aggressive advertising on human behaviour, particularly if casino-related activities are portrayed as glamorous lifestyle and entertainment options. There are already regulations against advertising on gambling in Singapore and I understand there will be restrictions on advertising of the casinos in Singapore.

I would like to seek further clarifications on specific regulations regarding advertising of the IRs and casino activity. Will casino operators be subject to a certain advertising code of practice? For instance, would advertising depicting gambling-related activities or any aspect of the IRs which relates to gambling be allowed at bus-stops near schools? We already have some regulations on certain activities such as the screening and advertising of R(A) movies in Singapore, with the rationale being to protect the innocence of the young. Will we have more specific regulations to protect the vulnerable with regard to IR advertising and how will this be implemented and enforced? In some of the Australian states, restrictions on advertising and promotion of gambling and casinos are written into legislation. In the Australian Capital Territory's Gambling Industry Code of Practice, there is also a stipulation that information about gambling counselling services must be made available in conjunction with advertising.

As it stands, it appears that gambling might be on its way to becoming more socially acceptable. Mdm Ho Geok Choo had earlier cited certain surveys to show that the number of gamblers has increased. I find it interesting also to read in the survey on participation and

gambling activities among Singapore residents in 2008 which was published by the National Council on Problem Gambling, that compared to the findings in 2005, the proportion of respondents in 2008 who considered 4D, Toto, Singapore Sweep and social gambling as leisure activities actually increased and "increased substantially", in the survey's own words. I believe around 50% of respondents considered these forms of gambling to be leisure activities. Other Members of the House have spoken on these disturbing trends as well. I am aware that MCYS and National Council on Problem Gambling are seriously addressing these issues and that they have already made a headstart on them. I hope that the relevant Ministries will continue to monitor and review the measures on gambling-related activities and to propose new legislation as the need arises.

I will also like to lend my voice to support my fellow Member, Mr Christopher de Souza's call for the Casino Regulatory Authority to work more closely with NCPG and the Ministry of Home Affairs to track the social impact of the activities of casinos on Singapore as a whole, for instance, to track the trends or any rise in illegal activities or negative activities in society at large such as money laundering, loansharking and vice activities. In last month's parliamentary session, there seemed to be a lot of concern about the visibility of illegal moneylenders and how they harass residents in HDB estates. These clearly are concerns for many Singaporeans and I hope that we continue to monitor and track how we regulate the casinos in Singapore.

With that, I support the Bill.

4.13 pm

Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Bill.

I only have two comments, specifically on section 165(A) "Persons to be excluded from Casino". I applaud the move to automatically exclude certain categories of persons from casinos, persons manifestly unsuited from going near any gambling place. I hope that the Minister can consider another category of such persons, namely, persons who have committed offences under the Common Gaming Houses Act, the Betting Act, and the Private Lotteries Act. The reason why I think these people should also be automatically excluded is that they have committed crimes related to gambling and a casino is a place for that very specific purpose. Some of these people may have retained links to gambling syndicates, and may be more likely to offend, if given access to casinos and the many gamblers in these casinos. For example, a recalcitrant illegal bookmaker may find a casino fertile recruiting ground for gamblers interested in his illegal activities. Some may think this suggestion to exclude such a category of persons too harsh. May I also suggest the following: that the automatic exclusion stands for a period of time after their conviction, for first time offenders convicted under the above acts, after which the exclusion is lifted. Repeat offenders under the same abovementioned acts could be excluded for longer periods of time, with recalcitrant offenders excluded permanently, subject to periodic reviews.

4.15 pm

The second comment I have is to ask whether dependants of those on Public Assistance, and of undischarged bankrupts, will also be automatically excluded. These people may not be on

Public Assistance or bankrupt themselves, but because they are dependants – the wife

or children, for example – they are indirectly also beneficiaries of Public Assistance, or in the case of undischarged bankrupts, dependent on the finances of the bankrupt person. If these people are also not automatically excluded, the whole idea of excluding undischarged bankrupts and people on Public Assistance may be undermined.

Other than these points, Sir, I support the amendment Bill.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will address the issues raised by Members with respect to the casino exclusion orders and the social safeguards. This is probably the second or third time I am participating in a debate on the casinos, and the casinos have not even opened. It shows that this is not the first and will probably not be the last time that we will have to calibrate and adjust our regulatory and operational postures with respect to casinos.

Let me, first, reassure Mdm Ho Geok Choo, Mr Christopher de Souza and Ms Audrey Wong that we will establish a set of social safeguards which are, in fact, more stringent than that in many other jurisdictions. Apart from the common safeguards, such as the minimum age of 21 and the process of self-exclusion, we also have safeguards which are uncommon or uniquely Singaporean – for instance, the casino entry levy, the prohibition of casino advertising in the local mass media, as well as Family and Third-Party Exclusions.

Mr Christopher de Souza will be pleased to note that section 129(1) of the Casino Control Act requires the casino operators to take all appropriate steps to ensure that undesirable activities, such as prostitution and illegal money lending, do not take place within their premises. The Police and the Casino Regulatory Authority will work closely with the casino operators to ensure that their

casinos are free from such undesirable activities. Any casino operator who contravenes section 129(1) of the Casino Control Act shall be liable to disciplinary action, which is spelt out in section 54 of the Act. In addition, should loansharking, money laundering and syndicated vice activities be detected in the casinos, the Police will not hesitate to prosecute the offenders. Outside of the casinos, there will also be existing laws and processes to guard against such undesirable activities.

The Casino Regulatory Authority’s core duty, therefore, remains the regulation of the casinos. However, having said that, I agree with Mr Christopher de Souza that the Casino Regulatory Authority, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) and MCYS will clearly have to work together and collaborate in order to monitor and to address the overall social impact of casino gambling. In fact, these various agencies have already begun to work very closely together and they do meet very regularly at staff level.

Mr Calvin Cheng has also suggested that persons who have committed offences under the Common Gaming Houses Act, the Betting Act and the Private Lotteries Act, and I presume he also means loansharks, should be excluded from the casinos as they may have links with gambling syndicates. I think this is an interesting suggestion which we will consider. Nevertheless, let me reassure him that the Police and the Casino Regulatory Authority will work closely with the casino operators to make sure that our casinos are free from such undesirable activities and individuals.

The Government will assess and monitor the effectiveness of the social safeguards after the casinos are open, and as I have said earlier, if we need to tighten, we will do so.

Let me now move on to Family Exclusions. Family Exclusions enable a family to exclude a particular family member with a serious gambling problem from entering the casinos. A Committee of Assessors will be appointed by the NCPG which will sit to hear and to review each case before making a Family Exclusion Order. An Order will only be issued if there is reasonable apprehension that the respondent may cause serious harm to his family members because of his or her gambling. The making of the Order has to be appropriate in the circumstances, and the respondent has to be given an opportunity to object to the application, and the Committee must be satisfied that it would be in the best interests of both the respondent and his family members to make such an Order. So there will be safeguards in the process by which such Orders are executed.

A respondent will be regarded to have caused serious harm to his family if, for instance, because of his gambling habit he has previously engaged in gambling activities irresponsibly, has done so repeatedly over a period of not less than three months or in a particularly irresponsible manner over a lesser period. It is difficult to spell out in fine detail, but these will be judgments which we will have to leave to the Committee of Assessors.

Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan has asked about measures to prevent abuse of the Family Exclusion Order. All members of the Council and anybody sitting in the Committee of Assessors will be deemed to be public servants under section 193 of the Casino Control Act. Hence, a false declaration made to the Council or Committee is an offence under section 182 of the Penal Code. Such an offence draws a punishment of imprisonment for a term up to one year, or a fine which may extend to $5,000, or both.

I would like to assure Prof. Straughan that the procedures that the NCPG has put in place for the Family Exclusion aim to help the family and the person with a gambling problem. The first point of contact for a family member who wishes to make an application for an Order will, in fact, be with a social worker. The social worker will help to stabilise the family, while taking a non-adversarial stance with the member with a gambling problem. Both the problem gambler and the family members will be invited to attend interviews, offered counselling and necessary support by the social worker. So it is meant to be a supportive and non-adversarial interaction in the first instance.

The NCPG has also consulted extensively on the composition of the Committee of Assessors. It will be chaired by a NCPG member and, thus far, the Council has asked two of its members, who are retired High Court judges, to chair these Committees. The other members of the Committee will be drawn from professions such as social workers and counsellors as well as grassroots leaders, Justices of the Peace and school principals.

The Family Exclusion empowers a family that is adversely affected by a problem gambler to seek assistance in curbing the problem behaviour of the gambler. As at 31st August 2009, seven Family Exclusion Orders have been issued. Of these seven cases, three cases have opted to continue with counselling on a voluntary basis.

Amongst the seven cases, two were made by wives against their husbands, three were made by parents against their sons, and two were made by sisters against their brothers. For both cases made by wives, the husbands were supportive and agreed to the Order. Of the three cases that were requested by

parents, there was no indication of a strained relationship with their sons. In fact, they had earlier bailed their sons out of their debts and the children were remorseful and understood their parents' reason for making such an application. Of the two applications made by sisters, the brothers were also supportive and understood the reasons why the sisters made these two applications.

As the NCPG handles more cases in the future, I am sure there will be more difficult, more complex and more adversarial cases. But with a social work approach to these cases, we believe that we will try, to the maximum extent possible, to avoid an adversarial outcome.

Mr Christopher de Souza expressed concern that the Family Exclusion may not have much impact. I think time will tell. We should look at things in totality and remember that this is just one part of a total package of social safeguards that we have put in place after carefully studying the experiences and lessons of other jurisdictions. And, as I have said earlier, we are prepared to tweak these measures, if need be, in order to suit our own unique context and circumstances.

Under the Third-Party Exclusion, undischarged bankrupts and recipients of Public Assistance and Special Grants from the Government will be excluded from the casinos. We estimate that there are about 29,000 people who will be excluded under this scheme. I would like to inform Ms Audrey Wong that there has, in fact, been no change in policy. This is something which I had previously stated during the earlier parliamentary debate in 2005. The objective of the Third-Party Exclusion is to protect persons who are already in severe financial hardship and can ill afford to gamble, from getting into further debt. The proposed amendments simplify the legal process. For this group of persons, there is no need for any "judgment" or discretion to be exercised

by the Committee of Assessors since the exclusion criteria are clear cut. For the same reason, the opportunity to object and appeal against casino exclusion has also been removed.

Mr Calvin Cheng would be pleased to know that dependants of those receiving Public Assistance and Special Grants will be automatically excluded from the casinos. The dependants of undischarged bankrupts would not, however, be automatically excluded, as it may not always be the case that these dependants are financially vulnerable. For dependants of undischarged bankrupts, I would suggest that they consider voluntary Self-Exclusion and the NCPG can work with the families who come forward for such help.

I share Prof. Straughan’s concern for persons who are receiving assistance from other charities, but I am not willing to automatically exclude them. I would suggest that they consider voluntary Self-Exclusion. And perhaps the benefactors can consider making this a pre-condition before offering assistance. But the NCPG will explore her idea further.

The NCPG will also accept applications to exclude persons with a poor credit record. On this point, I must say that it has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. It will take into account the total debts, the unpaid bills the person has accumulated, his earning capacity, overall financial circumstances, emotional stability and family support. These are cases which we cannot hard-wire and hard-code.

I agree with Ms Audrey Wong that it is not easy to balance between over-regulation and protection of the more vulnerable members of our society. On this issue, I am inclined to agree with Mdm Ho Geok Choo that those in financial hardship should not be gambling at the casinos. And I am sure Ms Audrey Wong

will also agree that we do want to send a strong message that gambling is not for those who cannot afford to do so. It is not a means to make a living. It is not a means to salvage an already compromised financial situation.

Ms Audrey Wong asked about the process of implementing the Exclusions. Yes, there will certainly be inter-agency link-up. The NCPG will obtain, on a regular basis, an updated list of undischarged bankrupts and Public Assistance and Special Grant recipients from the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office and from my Ministry’s ComCare database respectively. This list will be sent to the Casino Regulatory Authority, the Police and the casino operators. The NCPG is currently finalising the process for Third-Party Exclusions and Ms Wong and Mdm Ho can be assured that we will make the process as speedy and efficient as possible. That is also the reason why we have to amend the legislation to enable us to transmit this information in a soft copy form, to ensure that the information is accurate and updated.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo also asked about the checks conducted to ensure that excluded persons do not enter the casinos. Under the law, section 126 of the Casino Control Act states that the onus is on the casino operator not to allow an excluded person into the casinos. The Casino Regulatory Authority and my Ministry will hold the operators to this duty. As to whether the stringent checks to detect excluded persons will deter tourists, I think the operators will have to exercise some ingenuity in order to create an effective semi-permeable membrane. In other words, for bona fide tourists, they should be able to get through easily. For those who are excluded, they should find it virtually impossible to get through.

As far as advertising is concerned, I am pleased to inform Ms Audrey Wong that my Ministry will be working closely

with the Casino Regulatory Authority to promulgate the casino advertising regulations. Regulations on casino advertising to our local population are a key social safeguard, as we do not want to promote or normalise gambling. The regulations will be in line with the advertising restrictions that the integrated resort operators agreed to when we first conducted a Request for Proposal for the integrated resorts,

and they agreed, at that point in time, that there would be no advertising to the local population. These restrictions include prohibitions on advertising in free-to-air and cable TV, radio, newspapers, and outdoor advertising, such as at bus stops and on public buses. The advertising regulations will only permit casino advertising within Changi Airport, the Singapore Visitor Centres, and tourist attractions. Even then, the information disseminated on the casinos should be factual and not promotional in nature.

Let me finally turn to youth gambling, which is a concern that I share with many Members of this House. That is one of the reasons why we chose a minimum age of 21 years for entering the casinos, rather than 18 years, in contrast to other forms of gambling. We recognise that casino gambling is potentially more addictive and more dangerous, especially to young people.

The NCPG has identified youths as a key target group. It has conducted consultations with students from schools and tertiary institutions, as well as with youths-at-risk, in order to find out their motivations for gambling. NCPG and its partners have also developed youth programmes to reach out to students. A recent example is the "Play It Right" youth outreach initiative by the Singapore Management University's Recreational Gaming Club, which was supported by the NCPG to reach out to students in our

local universities, in order to raise awareness of problem gambling, to allow people to identify early signs of problem gambling and also to know the community resources which are available. This is an excellent example of empowered youths reaching out to other youths.

As part of NCPG's capability-building efforts, it recently organised a Train-the-Trainers Workshop in August this year to train social work practitioners, youth workers and psychologists to deal with young people. This workshop was conducted by Dr Jeffrey Derevensky, who is a world-renowned expert in youth gambling, prevention and treatment.

Going forward, we will continue to work with schools, tertiary institutions and our other community partners to expand our outreach and our public education efforts, as well as to focus our efforts in capacity- and capability-building, especially when it comes to young people, who are the most vulnerable members of our population.

Let me end by urging all Members to support these amendments, as we walk this fine line between ensuring that, for the majority of our people, they would be given sufficient freedom and latitude to exercise responsibility, whilst for the minority who are most vulnerable, we do our best to protect them, sometimes even from their own bad judgments.

I will be prepared to take clarifications, Mr Deputy Speaker, before Mrs Lim Hwee Hua rounds up the debate.

Any clarifications? Mr de Souza.

Sir, I thank Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, for his considered reply. The Minister mentioned section 129. I am aware of that section. I think section 129, sub-section (2) refers to going after casino operators – if they

fail to carry out reasonable checks to prevent a series of crimes happening in the casino. So that is, again, casino-centric. That is a focus within the casino. My speech was really what we could do to ensure that the trickle-down negative social implications are stemmed beyond the casino and society at large.

I understand that the reply was a coordinated effort between MHA, MCYS, NCPG and the CRA. Again, my point is different from that. I am asking whether the Minister would consider that CRA be empowered, after collecting the data and looking at the information, to tweak and regulate upstream, the casino to ensure that the trickle-down negative social implications do not happen.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I share Mr Christopher de Souza's motivation. But it is a question of how we achieve this objective.

I have handled this casino issue – in my stints at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, MICA, MCYS and even partly when I was in MND. The lesson I have learnt is that in dealing with this complex issue we, in fact, need a network approach and we need multiple agencies to all do what they are best at, but to share information, coordinate and collaborate. I may be misreading your speech but the gist of your speech was that we should empower and even put a duty on the Casino Regulatory Authority to do all these things. That means, apart from regulating the casinos itself, it should also concern itself with all the upstream, downstream and side-stream issues related to the many social ills which could arise from casino gambling. What I am giving you is an assurance that we will work collectively.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and

Sports and all our necessary agencies will work to ensure that we take collective responsibility for this and we put in place a sensible and practical system that will mitigate the social ills from casino gambling.

I do not believe it will be practical to put everything into one vehicle or any single agency. I now have sufficient experience to know that it makes for a convenient speech, and it makes for a tidy summary on a piece of paper but it does not work in practice. So I would urge you to hold us to this commitment. And as the situation unfolds, if you notice that we are falling short of these commitments, bring it up in Parliament, file a parliamentary question or cause a debate to occur and the Government will have to respond. But I give you that assurance that we share your concerns.

I thank the Minister for his reply and I ask for his patience as I do not fully understand his clarification regarding the dependants of undischarged bankrupts. If an undischarged bankrupt is financially vulnerable and the person is fully dependent on him, then logically speaking, this person will also be financially vulnerable. If this person has his own means of finances, then this person would not actually be dependent. So can I ask the Minister to clarify, please?

I think it is a matter of degree. I assure the Member for recipients of Public Assistance and Special Grant, the automatic exclusion will include family members. In the case of undischarged bankrupts, we have decided not to be so liberal in automatic exclusion. And whilst I accept his point that there may be some family members of undischarged bankrupts who are vulnerable, I would rather leave it at this point in time for them to voluntarily exclude themselves, rather than subject them to an automatic exclusion. So again, I share

his objective but it is a matter of how we implement this.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, first, let me thank all Members for speaking on and supporting the Bill. My colleague, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has explained in detail the non-tax concerns as well as addressed the suggestions raised by the Members. So let me now address the specific tax-related queries raised by Mdm Ho Geok Choo and Ms Sylvia Lim in turn.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo has raised queries on three aspects of the provisions concerning the administration of the casino tax. The first is on how IRAS will keep track of the profits which the casino operators would accrue from the different types of gaming activities.

The casino operators are to comply with the set of internal controls requirements issued by the Casino Regulatory Authority for key processes within the casino. The internal controls specified include how the revenue is to be collected, counted and reconciled for every casino game. For example, the wagering activities at the slot machines will be tracked by the machines' meters and these are linked to a slot management system. This system can, in turn, generate reports on the breakdown of gaming activities like the amount of payouts and casino profits on a daily basis.

Casino operators are also subjected to scrutiny by internal and external auditors, at least once a year. The audit findings relating to the computation of casino tax will then be sent to IRAS for review. And IRAS, in addition, will conduct its own audits and follow-ups with the casino operators on any irregularities discovered in the audits.

Mdm Ho also raised the point on the penalties for tax evasion. She asked if these are sufficient. If there is a wilful intent to evade casino tax, as we are told earlier on, the operator will be liable to a penalty of four times the amount of the tax underpaid. We also note that this provision is in line with similar provisions in the other tax acts such as the Income Tax Act and the Betting and Sweepstake Duties Act.

Mdm Ho raised a question revolving around the phrase, "any person of the proposed section 149A." She is concerned that IRAS will impose on individuals a fine, or jail term for making incorrect returns or giving incorrect tax-related information, regardless of whether the action was intentional. Let me clarify that this provision is not intended to target individuals. And that the phrase, "any person" means any legal person. It is primarily targeted at the casino operators. We have used the phrase, "any person" to give the authorities sufficient flexibility to act against individuals such as errant employees and tax agents who collaborate with the casino operators to commit a crime. And I should also add that this is a legal term that is aligned with all the other tax acts such as the Income Tax Act. Ultimately, we should take note that the casino operators are responsible for filing casino tax returns accurately. And that filing an incorrect tax return under this provision is an offence by itself, regardless of whether there is an intention to evade tax.

Let me, now, move on to the comments raised by Ms Sylvia Lim. Ms Lim has asked under what scenarios the Minister will remit casino tax as provided for under section 148A of the Act. Let me clarify that section 148A is aligned with similar provisions in the other tax acts such as sections 89(I) and 92(II) of the Goods and Services Tax and Income Tax Act respectively. And these sections are exercised under only very special and

exceptional circumstances such as poverty or equity reasons. While we do not anticipate usage of these sections, we, nonetheless, propose the addition of these sections to give the Minister the flexibility to remit casino tax, if he assesses that a remission is just and equitable. Let me also confirm that this does not include a consideration on the viability of the IRs as raised by the Member.

Ms Lim has also asked why the proposed section 146B(V) that gives the Comptroller powers to assess tax due and section 149A that governs penalties for incorrect tax returns are not similar to the provisions in the Income Tax Act. Let me just clarify that in the review of the Casino Control Act, references were made to the other tax acts, in addition to the Income Tax Act. So it is not just the Income Tax Act. And for this particular provision, section 146B(V), the more relevant act is actually the Goods and Services Tax Act, which is under a self-assessment system, as opposed to the Income Tax Act which is under an official assessment system. So section 146B(V) was modelled after section 45(VII) of the GST Act to address a similar scenario where the tax payer fails to make a tax return. And the higher casino tax assessment provided for here, acts as a deterrent to encourage the timely filing of returns.

And finally on section 149A, let me clarify that income tax filing involves individuals and business entities and the distinction as outlined by the Member is relevant. This is because an offence under section 149A which relates to incorrect

filing is assessed to be a lesser charge,

and where the penalties for the offence under this section are half of that under section 150 which addresses a graver charge of tax evasion. In fact, I should add that this is intended to hold the casino operators to higher standards of accountability because with the accounting systems and the internal controls that they have, they are not expected to file incorrectly for casino taxes.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and myself have responded to all the queries. Once again, let me thank all Members for the support and I wish to underscore the need to continually review this piece of legislation even after the IRs are in operation.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Mrs Lim Hwee Hua].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Resolved,

"That Parliament do now adjourn to a date to be fixed." – [Mr Mah Bow Tan].

Adjourned accordingly at

Eleven minutes to Five o'clock pm

to a date to be fixed.

WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT ANSWERED BY 3.00 PM

asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) how many young people below the age of 21 committed suicide over the last three years; (b) what are the main causes of the suicides; (c) what lessons can be learnt from these cases so that such future suicides may be prevented; and (d) what is the Ministry doing to address this problem.

In 2008, 14 young persons below the age of 21 committed suicide. There were 19 and 15 in 2007 and 2006 respectively.

Each suicide represents a tragedy for the family and loved ones involved. Each case is unique, and we should not simplistically over-generalise the causes that lead to suicide. The medical literature indicates that multiple factors, including depression, desperation, emotional instability, anxiety or inability to deal with stress may all play a role.

The main lesson for us is that a person who is resilient and well supported by family and friends will be better able to cope with the many challenges of life. Early detection and professional advice will also be useful.

Given the complexity of the problem, the Government adopts a multi-pronged strategy and a many helping hands approach to prevent suicide.

Firstly, we aim to build greater resiliency in young people. Our schools provide opportunities for students acquire social-emotional skills to enable them to cope with life's challenges. This enhances their resilience. An example is the "Mind Your Mind" programme launched by the Health Promotion Board in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The programme targets primary and secondary school students and covers topics such as stress and anger management, building positive self-esteem and recognising depression. Resiliency and character building are also elements that are built into many of my Ministry’s programmes and services targeting young people.

Secondly, we work with community partners and supporting ecosystems on preventive measures to reduce suicidal tendencies. Families play a crucial role as the first source of care and emotional support for the young. MCYS strives to build strong and stable families through our various initiatives such as our series of family life education programmes. In schools, teachers, school counsellors, and guidance specialists are also trained to actively identify and support students in distress. Support services are also available at the Family Service Centres and most social service agencies.

On top of this, the Samaritans of Singapore runs a 24-hour crisis hotline to counsel anyone in distress, including those with suicidal tendencies. Past record suggested that young people contemplating suicides do indeed make use of this hotline to seek help in addressing their concerns and suicidal thoughts.

Thirdly, the Government engages health workers and social service professionals to identify and help high risk individuals such as youth in crisis. Treatment programmes available in our healthcare institutions include the Child Guidance Clinic under the Institute of Mental Health. The Institute of Mental Health also works with general practitioners in the community to provide the first line of treatment.

Fourth, research has consistently shown that early identification of warning signs of suicidal thoughts is an important factor in preventing suicides. One important approach is therefore to increase public awareness of mental health issues and to promote mental wellbeing. The annual Suicide Prevention Week by the Samaritans of Singapore, for example, helps to increase public’s understanding of suicidal thoughts and the available avenues for help. Through talks and workshops, members of the public are equipped with information on where one could seek help, and how to identify early warning signs.

Whilst on this subject of public awareness, I would also like to make a plea for the mass media not to over-sensationalise cases of suicide. We do not want to cause even more pain to the remaining family members, and certainly do not want to promote copy cat suicides.

We must all do our part to identify, reach out and enable vulnerable persons to access the support services available. We also need to be especially supportive of the families whose lives have been torn apart by the impact of a suicide.

asked the Minister for Education with the rise in the number of young people indulging in consensual sex (a) what is the Ministry doing to address this problem; (b) whether the Ministry has conducted any studies to find out why this trend is increasing; and (c) whether the Ministry will review its sex education programme to increase its effectiveness.

To address this trend, MOE provides sexuality education in schools to complement the primary role that parents play in this area of their children’s behaviour and development. Age appropriate sexuality education is delivered through the formal curriculum on Health Education, Civic and Moral Education and Science as well as through the co-curricular programme "Growing Years", which seeks to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to form healthy relationships with the opposite sex, while making responsible, values-based decisions on matters of sexuality. It advocates abstinence as the best option for teens and helps them to understand the risks and consequences of pre-marital sex. Teenagers are also educated about Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), including HIV, and protection against these diseases from a health perspective, through the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) programme, "Breaking Down Barriers". Students, who are likely to be sexually active, are given one-on-one counselling sessions by their Full Time School Counsellors or referred to other health services with parental consent.

As parents are a child’s first educators, MOE has been working with HPB and MCYS to better equip parents to play their role through a programme called "Love Them. Talk About

Sex". This programme seeks to raise parents’ awareness about the importance of sexuality education and give them tips on how to talk to their children about sexuality matters.

The rise in teenage sexual activity is a trend seen in many countries. While MOE itself has not conducted specific research into the causes behind this trend, existing research and feedback from school counsellors suggest that the causes are multi-factorial.

The Director-General for Education chairs a committee of education, health and social service professionals, which has been set up to regularly review the curricula on sexuality education and its effectiveness.

asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) how the maintenance of the various drains and waterways is shared among PUB, Town Councils and other agencies; and (b) whether the cleaning frequency is synchronised among the different agencies to ensure an optimal state of cleanliness.

Maintenance of drains and waterways includes both cleaning and repair works. PUB maintains major waterways and all drains along public roads. Small drains within public housing estates are maintained by Town Councils, while small drains in private properties like condominiums, are maintained by their owners and management corporations.

Different drains require different cleaning frequencies based on their type and location. Under performance based contracts, contractors clean the drains as often as necessary to ensure a minimum standard of cleanliness. In addition, while individual agencies are responsible for the maintenance of their drains, PUB also maintains oversight to manage flood risks from the drains.

Drains and waterways are part of our water catchment. Stormwater collected is transported to our reservoirs and makes up our supply of drinking water. We all have a part to play in maintaining the cleanliness of our environment. We hope that the public will continue to take ownership of our drains and waterways, and help to keep them clean.

asked the Minister for Transport in the light of recent cases of traffic accidents caused by speeding (a) how many vehicles involved in speeding accidents in the past two years were found with illegal engine modifications; (b) how many workshops involved in doing such modifications have been prosecuted in the past two years.

Accident investigation comes under the purview of the Traffic Police (TP). TP has advised that they do not specifically track the number of accidents caused by speeding where there are engine modifications.

Notwithstanding this, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) takes a serious view of illegal modification of vehicles as it could adversely affect the vehicle’s safety and exhaust emission characteristics. LTA requires all vehicles to be sent for periodic inspections to ensure that they are roadworthy, and that they have not been illegally modified. Owners of vehicles that fail the inspection would be required to rectify the fault. LTA also conducts regular enforcement checks on the roads and carries out blitzes island-wide to detect such modified vehicles.

Over the last two years, no workshops have been prosecuted for being involved in illegal engine modifications.