Hansard, 2010-03-12

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

1. Mr Cedric Foo Chee Keng asked the Prime Minister given the complex nature of the ongoing international negotiations and the need to consider sustainable domestic measures for adaptation and mitigation, whether existing resources and arrangements are adequate to deal with both external and domestic dimensions of climate change.

For a small, low-lying, densely populated island state like Singapore, climate change obviously is a crucial issue. For this reason and because the issues are complex and, as alluded to by the Member in this question, and because the issues are interlinked across various policy areas, we have from the start taken a "whole-of-Government" approach.

Accordingly, we set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change (IMCCC), which I chair, which comprises of Ministers from six Ministries – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport. This Ministerial

Hitherto I would say that the Ministerial Committee has largely focused on formulating Singapore's positions and strategy for the international negotiations. Domestically, our mitigation measures under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint were coordinated by Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, who were co-chairs of the Sustainable Development Policy Group (SPDG).

But, Sir, we are entering a new phase. As we get closer to a possible global agreement on climate change, the focus will shift. It will shift to what we need to do domestically to fulfil our obligations. Singapore will have to introduce measures that go beyond the 7%-11% below "Business as Usual" (BAU) under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint. We have pledged to reduce our emission by 16% below BAU in the event that a global agreement is reached. But, Sir, this is not a simple matter. We have to formulate climate change policies that strike the right balance between a regulatory, fiscal and other measures, and at the same time, enable us to sustain economic growth. Developing these policies and implementing them will need close coordination among the various agencies.

So while our current arrangements have so far worked well, I believe we need to gear ourselves more to deliver on our domestic commitments as well as to

The Ministerial Committee, which I referred to, will therefore be reorganised to deal with both aspects. It will now have two working groups to deal with the two main policy outcomes. The first, which will focus on our international negotiations strategy, will continue to be led by the Second Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But now, we have the second working group, which will focus on the formulation and implementation of all our domestic climate change mitigation measures, both fiscal and regulatory. It will be co-chaired by the Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Trade and Industry, and Finance.

Of course, there are some other issues which are not directly related to climate change but are still very important aspects of sustainable development, such as water security, air quality, waste minimisation, biodiversity and sky rise greenery, to name a few examples. Those areas continue to be overseen by Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and Ministry of National Development, as the lead agencies for sustainable development.

I referred just now to the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), which has been located in Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In future, it will come under the Prime Minister’s Office. This is to reflect the important scope of policy matters to be coordinated including domestic economic, regulatory and fiscal measures as well as the ongoing international negotiations.

Furthermore, to strengthen the clout of the National Climate Change Secretariat, a Permanent Secretary will now be appointed to head the Secretariat.

Sir, I believe that with these changes, namely the IMCCC reorganisation to deal with both aspects – domestic and international – to provide a coherence between the two; to have two working groups led by the respective Ministries; to relocate the Secretariat under the Prime Minister's Office and to have a dedicated Permanent Secretary to oversee the Secretariat and the working groups, we will have an appropriate framework in place to address the long-term challenges presented by climate change on both the international and domestic fronts.

As to the Member’s question on resources, let me say that the Government will ensure that the IMCCC, the Secretariat and the working groups have adequate resources to function optimally.

Committee is supported by an executive committee comprising the Permanent Secretaries of those Ministries and is headed by the Second Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs. We also have, for the international negotiations, an inter-agency team which is led by a Chief Negotiator. All these bodies are serviced by a dedicated National Climate Change Secretariat, which currently is located in Ministry of Foreign Affairs.tighten coordination between international negotiations and our domestic policies. We have therefore reviewed the matter and decided that it is best to have a single body which will oversee both these aspects of our climate change policies.He will report directly to the Chairman of the Ministerial Committee, which is myself. The Permanent Secretary will coordinate the work of the two working groups which I mentioned earlier.

Mr Foo, a quick clarification.

Sir, I thank the Senior Minister for his reply. I have a supplementary question which is to ask the Senior Minister for his take on how the international climate change regime will evolve. How long would it take and in what form?

I would say that there are two aspects which would have to be addressed – the process as well as the substance. On the process, I must say that immediately after COP 15 in Copenhagen, there was a hiatus and things were slow in re-starting. But there now seems to be a sense of urgency and the parties are going to meet fairly soon at negotiators level in Bonn in April. The new Chairman of COP 16, the Mexican government, is also showing seriousness and enthusiasm in consultating with

Other meetings have been planned including a meeting of Ministers in Petersburg, Germany and the recent meeting held at Bali, attended by Minister Yaacob, which was also useful. These are good developments which, hopefully, will kickstart the process and show an urgency in coming to an agreement. On the substantive aspect of what needs to be done as the process unfolds, there needs to be a bridging of differences between the parties, especially the major economies on both sides – the developing as well as the developed countries – on some key outstanding and unresolved issues such as measurable, verifiable, reportable measures (MRV). It is well and good for countries to announce various targets and emissions. But one vexing issue ultimately is: what will be the method for verifying compliance with each country's announced measures? Another vexing issue, of course, is the issue of financing. There are these two aspects, I wish I have a crystal ball, but I am a bit more encouraged now than immediately after Copenhagen when the pieces were very slow in being picked up.

various Members. In fact, our Chief Negotiator and the team were visiting Mexico for the past two weeks, with visits to New York and Washington. They had good talks to see how we can work together to advance the process. The United Nations Secretary-General is also showing some urgency in this. He has formed a high-level advisory group on one important aspect, that is the financing aspect. He has invited Singapore to be a Member of this high-level working group. Our representatives to that working group will be the Minister of Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Second Minister of Finance, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua.

2. Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the level of English

language proficiency required from foreign applicants before they are appointed as nurses at our hospitals; and (b) whether they have to undergo an oral test to ensure their proficiency to communicate in English.

Sir, one challenge faced by foreign nurses working in Singapore is the variety of local languages and dialects spoken by our patients. We have Mandarin and Malay conversational language training for foreign nurses to enable better nurse-patient communications.

However, English proficiency is most important for speaking, understanding and documentation in healthcare work. Hence both the prospective employers and the Singapore Nursing Board (SNB) require that foreign nurses applying to work in Singapore have English language proficiency. First, interviews are conducted by the prospective employers in English to assess their oral English proficiency. Next, the applicants are required to take the SNB licensure test in English. The test seeks to evaluate the applicants’ general nursing knowledge and communication skills.

Once they start their employment, foreign nurses are closely supervised during their probation. Employers will only confirm their employment if they have the required competencies, which include English language competency and communication. So far, the written test and interviews have been effective in screening foreign applicants for their English language proficiency.

Sir, two supplementary questions. I would like to ask Senior Parliamentary Secretary how many complaints have there been in the last three years regarding the com

munication problems with nurses. Second question: is there any plan to increase the intake of nursing courses in our polytechnics and ITEs?

Sir, at Ministry of Health, we do not receive complaints on language or communication problems. There may very well be such problems at the hospital level but they have not been escalated to MOH. But that probably indicates that the problem is not so acute. We understand that because of the multi-racial composition of our nursing staff, the hospitals will have to organise the shifts very carefully to ensure that there is a good spread of nurses with different language capabilities on duty at any one time. This is a challenge that the hospitals are taking very well. As I said, at the moment, there is no problem that Ministry of Health has received from patients or their families on this matter.

On intake of students, yes, we have been increasing the number of students in our courses, whether is it at ITE, Nanyang Polytechnic or Ngee Ann Polytechnic as well in NUS for the degree course. Over the years, the number has increased, from about 940 in 2003 to slightly more than 1,500 in 2006. For this year, our target is to take about 2,000 students.

First Reading

Mr Speaker, Sir, I have the President’s recommendation for the introduction of this Bill. I beg to introduce a Bill intituled 'An Act to amend the Stamp Duties Act (Chapter 312 of the 2006 Revised Edition)'.

Bill read the First time.

Second Reading

Second Reading, what day?

Today, Sir, after the conclusion of proceedings on the Supplementary Supply (FY 2009) Bill. Mr Speaker, Sir, I lay upon the Table a Certificate of Urgency signed by the President in respect of the Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill.

Certificate of Urgency signed by the President in respect of the Bill, laid upon the Table by the Minister.

The Certificate is in order. Are typed or printed copies of the Bill available for the use of Members?

Yes, Sir. Copies of the Bill have been provided to the Clerk, who will now distribute it to Members. [Copies of handouts distributed to hon. Members ]

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [7th Allotted Day].

Head S – Ministry of Manpower (cont.)

Resumption of Debate on Question [11 March, 2010],

"That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Estimates be reduced by $100." – [Mdm Halimah Yacob].

Question again proposed.

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Adopting cultural diversity at work

Sir, in recent months, we have spoken

But I believe that there is a more neutral territory in which integration can begin – and that is at the workplace. Considering Singapore's large foreign workforce, would MOM incentivise companies to adopt work practices that promote social cohesion to enhance productivity and good teamwork?

Sir, in other countries, this is called "diversity training" which requires people to understand and be sensitive to the needs and cultural background of their co-workers. Many large MNCs require their teams to do this in Singapore. In some companies, there are also "Diversity Managers" specifically employed to look after this area.

Sir, can we support a movement towards this by building on the existing harmony circles that are already in place in workplaces to promote social integration?

Sir, I understand that such circles were meant to promote inter-racial harmony among Singaporeans but why not use them to promote integration among colleagues too? I would ask for a $1 million funding – one-tenth of the same amount given to the National Integration Council – to test-bed integration efforts at the workplace, especially in SMEs. This money could be given to diversity training, to organising social activities and programmes, and even for study trips. Now, what will we be getting for this $1 million?

Firstly, promoting teamwork increases efficiency. This is not merely a matter of

Secondly, a people matter – it builds a better, happier team. People who are happy work better, stay longer, and create a more convivial workplace atmosphere if they are happy with their co-workers.

Thirdly, an innovation issue. Teams which work well together are more innovative, generate new ideas, flexible and inject new life into an organisation.

If the benefits from this pilot project become more clear, then more companies, too, will want to join this movement to embrace diversity at the workplace and the Government can support with some co-funding.

While these three benefits accrue directly to the company, Singapore, as a whole, will gain and benefit as well. A better understanding of other cultures and people at the workplace will translate to enhancing the social living space. After all, Singapore began as a melting pot of different races with a common ground of finding work and building a future – we start with embracing workplace diversity and, hopefully, celebrating a shared future.

about the need to integrate the foreign talents in our midst. In the social space, there may be some tension – assimilating a large inflow of foreigners in our Housing Board void decks, playgrounds and exercise parks, and that is not easy.greater productivity but also in the cases of some foreign workers who work in shipyards, construction sites and even the manufacturing sector. This may even impact workplace safety. Teamwork means you look after one another and ensure that the other person works safely as well as efficiently.

Mr Chairman, my Minister has laid out our plans to improve productivity and expand Continuing Education and Training (CET) in response to recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee. Let me elaborate on these plans, in particular, how we will

When WDA first started in 2003, our priority was to equip our rank-and-file workers with skills to overcome structural unemployment. Over time however, as the proportion of the PMETs increased in our workforce to 52%, we clearly had to adjust our CET model to cater more to PMETs' needs. Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mr Seng Han Thong and Mr Wee Siew Kim requested an update on what MOM was doing to help PMETs upgrade themselves.

Sir, 2009 was a milestone year for PMETs as far as CET is concerned. There were two key achievements. One, we introduced an umbrella programme called the Professional Skills Programme (PSP) for PMETs. The PSP brought together the entire range of training programmes and services available to PMETs under our CET system. Two, from December 2008 to January this year, around 71,500 PMETs have gone for CET training. This accounts for a third of the 204,000 workers trained under CET in 2009.

Yet, our plan going forward is an ambitious one. In 2009, we had 50,000 PMET training places available. We want to increase this to 240,000 by 2015. This is five times the current 50,000 in terms of capacity. And this would mean one in three training places will be designated for PMETs. It is an enormous effort but a necessary step jump.

Apart from quantitative changes, we are also making fundamental qualitative changes to the CET system for PMETs in four ways. One, helping PMETs acquire horizontal skills; two, helping PMETs deepen their professional skills and expertise; three, enabling PMETs to acquire new skills for new industries; and four, enhancing effectiveness of career services. Let me elaborate on each of these four changes.

First, to help PMETs develop horizontal skills, or making them more "T-shaped", we will expand the range of such programmes available. Consider the recently introduced WSQ Manufacturing Sales and Marketing programme. Programmes like this aim to equip engineers and technicians in the manufacturing sector with functional sales and marketing skills. Through a tie-up with IE Singapore, the programme will also expose them working in different countries by way of overseas attachments. In this way, these otherwise purely technical professionals will become marketing and sales-savvy. Being more all-rounded, they will help their companies grow by increasing companies' top lines.

To expand the range of horizontal programmes, we will launch a WSQ programme series in Business Management later this year. This will cover 10 key horizontal skills areas, including sales and marketing, negotiation, and risk management. This series will further enhance the versatility of our technical PMETs so that they can multi-task and become more valuable to their employers.

Next, we want to help PMETs deepen their specialist skills along certain functional areas. How do we achieve this? For functional areas that are already served by WSQ programmes, we will create more vertical upgrading paths at the diploma, degree and even postgraduate level.

We will target programmes which are critical in ensuring our industries remain competitive. For instance, we have introduced a Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis with NUS and a Masters in Sustainable Building Design with the University of Nottingham.

Just two weeks ago, I attended the launch of two new WSQ graduate diplomas – one in Product Life

Over the next five years, we will build more vertical upgrade paths for PMETs in key growing sectors such as digital animation, human resources, aerospace, environmental technology, sustainable manufacturing and energy management.

Third, we want to create more skill conversion programmes for PMETs who are interested to switch to a new growth sector or industry. Sir, we have already put in place 50 conversion programmes so far. They open up a new world of opportunities in professions such as chefs, occupational therapists, pre-school teachers, social workers, hospitality managers, public relations executives, scriptwriters, designers and aircraft engineers for the PMETs.

In 2009, about 1,700 trainees have signed up for conversion training, of which 500 of them were placed in related jobs. Two hundred have completed their training. I am certain that the rest who are still undergoing training will stand in good stead to switch to a new occupation of their choice.

Finally, in addition to training, some of our PMETs would also require career services that are tailored to their needs. This is especially true for those who have been in the same line for many years and need to update their understanding of the labour market or to refresh their career skills.

WDA, together with the Community Development Councils (CDCs) and e2i, has launched a series of career skills workshops targeted at PMET job-seekers. The workshops covered a range of topics including resume writing, job search and

Since the start of SPUR, we have reached out to about 1,100 PMETs through career skills workshops. I am happy to report that the response continues even as the economy recovers. WDA will continue to fine-tune these services to better meet the needs of our PMETs.

All our efforts under the Professional Skills Programme are bearing fruit. Many PMETs have taken upgrading seriously as they see the need to stay current and relevant to the changing job market.

Mr Jayern Woo is 29 years old and a business development manager who holds a Mechanical Engineering degree. After working in his company for just two years, he recognised the importance of upgrading himself to advance his career. He enrolled for the Precision Engineering WSQ Specialist Diploma at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology in July last year. Together with more than 30 other like-minded individuals, he has kept abreast of the latest complex technologies critical for the precision engineering sector.

We spoke to Mr Woo recently and he revealed that he truly appreciates the chance to build valuable relationships with industry experts. Keeping updated on the latest technology in the industry has also helped him to be more confident when promoting his company's services to potential clients. It is always heartening to hear how our upgrading programmes have real impact on the working experiences of our trainees.

Other PMETs have used the CET system to successfully switch careers. Ms Jasmine Hu was in the finance

Ms Jasmine Hu then enrolled in a conversion programme as a stepping stone. She will graduate from the programme at the end of this year and would have enjoyed Government subsidies of 90% of the course fees on top of a monthly training allowance of $1,000.

During her pre-school attachment, however, she was inspired to be closer to the ground and decided she wanted to set up her own pre-school centre instead. Not just any pre-school, but one for children with different learning needs. From the financial industry, to attending a pre-school conversion programme to a budding entrepreneur dedicated to pre-school education, Ms Jasmine Hu's learning and development journey is an inspiring one. If she succeeds, and I am sure she will, our CET conversion programme would have done more than just helping people switch jobs, but also enabled them to realise their dreams. The latest is that Ms Jasmine Hu is now looking for a location to build her new school.

Sir, let us take a step back and consider the larger picture. According to a survey in the United States, an average worker is likely to change jobs 10 times between the ages of 18 and 38. In Singapore, our own data shows that about one out of three workers aged 25 to 29 changed jobs within the previous two years. Among those in their 30s, about one out of four of them changed jobs in the previous two years. Sir, we operate in a globalised world where industry and therefore job requirements change at quickened pace.

be upskilling Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs). Management and the other in Engineering Simulation for PMETs in the manufacturing sector. I am confident that these programmes will help our engineers and manufacturing professionals deepen their capabilities. interview skills. There are also recruitment events and advisory services provided by trainers or coaches. industry for 12 years and held various roles from sales, to training, to customer service and even stock trading. She was also volunteering at a special school for autistic children when she decided to further her studies and work towards becoming a lecturer in pre-school education.

Our workforce,

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In view of this, we have been developing a CET system that is responsive to our economic needs and new developments world-wide. Mdm Ho Geok Choo mentioned the UK Skills Account, which is an online skills account that provides information on life-long learning and individual training pathways. Mdm Ho will be pleased to know that WDA is looking into such an online self-service portal for individuals to help them monitor and plan their own training.

Since the launch of the CET Masterplan in 2008, we have quietly but resolutely made a commitment to life-long learning and upgrading of our workforce. While the spending in CET system accounts for only between 0.1% and 0.2% of the GDP today, compared to 0.3% in some other advanced economies, we believe we have made a fundamental shift, a strategic step towards keeping our workforce relevant, current and agile. We have made a great start and we will ensure Singapore's workforce remains the world's most competitive by putting in more resources for a first-class CET system.

Mr Charles Chong has asked why there was an increase in training fund disbursed while the overall participation rate among the resident labour force declined. He also pointed to the declining job placement rate in the last two years.

On his first point, the training participation rate takes into account all forms of training and education activities, including those supported or provided by companies. In view of the severe economic downturn in 2009, many individuals and companies scaled back on training. At the same time, in response to the economic recession, the Government

On his second point, although the number of job placements between FY2007 and FY2009 increased in absolute numbers from 16,700 to 24,000, the number of new job seekers increased even more due to the recession in 2008. With the recovering economy, we can expect the number of new job seekers to decline. But we still expect a group of job seekers who lack the skills for new jobs and will need to be trained before they can get these new jobs.

Let me assure Mr Hri Kumar that the CET will also remain affordable to workers. Today, courses under the CET system are already heavily subsidised by the Government with up to 90% of the course fees subsidised under SPUR, including selected tertiary courses. In addition, WSQ course fees can be paid on a per-module basis and some CET centres allow deferred payment arrangements on a case-by-case basis.

Low-wage workers can now benefit from both Workfare Income Supplement and Workfare Training Scheme. Those who face financial difficulties can also approach our Career Centres at the CDCs or e2i, or seek assistance from NTUC and the self-help groups which provide additional training subsidies under the Surrogate Employer Programme.

In addition, MOE has a Tuition Fee Loan Scheme which includes graduate research programmes and Government-subsidised coursework graduate programmes, and various banks also provide education loans. The recent announcement in the Budget Statement to enhance

In summary, there are many channels available and it is unclear at this moment that there is a further need for a Government-run loan scheme. But if there is a gap, and if Members of Parliament come across deserving cases, please refer them to MOM or WDA, and we will be happy to take a look.

Sir, we believe our investments in a first-class CET system will be beneficial for our workers and companies. But our investments cannot produce the kind of outcome we hope for if our employers and workforce do not take collective and individual ownership towards upgrading and life-long learning. I therefore appeal to all employers and workers, PMETs and others, to take full advantage of the training places made available under CET to learn, grow and to stay meaningfully employed.

Sir, now, let me touch on a slightly different aspect of PMETs – the proposed employment dispute resolution mechanism.

Mdm Halimah Yacob has asked for an update on the progress on the dispute referred to MOM for PMEs. On average, about 270 executives seek MOM's assistance each year. Close to half of them were resolved with MOM's help, while the rest sought settlement with their employers or were withdrawn. Some went on to settle their disputes through civil litigation. On the progress of the dispute resolution mechanism, I am pleased to report to the House that the feedback from our tripartite partners has been positive so far. Employers recognise the growing segment of PMEs and the benefits of having tripartite partners play a role in resolving employment disputes. Unions have also expressed strong support for the mechanism as it will allow

Sir, the ESC also suggested that we should adopt good employment practices on foreign workers. I would now like to touch on our ongoing efforts to improve foreign worker recruitment practices.

As part of our national productivity drive, we are emphasising the importance of workforce training and re-skilling alongside other measures, such as innovation, process re-engineering and adoption of technology. Good recruitment practices, pertaining to foreign workers, will also strengthen Singapore as an attractive destination for experienced and skilled foreign workforce, who can help us achieve productivity-driven growth.

In the management of foreign workers, employment agents play a key role. Mr Charles Chong has observed that there was a spike in the number of errant employment agencies from 2008 and 2009. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang has also asked for better protection of employers and workers' interest from the services of some employment agencies.

MOM treats this subject seriously. We are currently reviewing the Employment Agencies regulatory framework to improve compliance and minimise malpractices.

The current situation is this: the Employment Agencies Act was last amended in 1984. Since then, the number of employment agencies has increased seven-fold to just over 2,300 at the end of 2009. Low barriers to entry and a growing foreign worker population have led to more malpractices in the industry

Last year, we received 1,280 complaints from employers, foreign workers and members of the public regarding employment agency malpractices. This was an 80% increase compared to the year before. While part of the reason for the spike in errant agencies was the fact that we ramped up our enforcement actions in the past year, we recognise that we need to strengthen our regulatory system to check on malpractices. Our review of the framework aims to achieve four objectives.

First, we intend to update the coverage and provisions in the framework. Currently, unlicensed employment agencies merely face penalties for operating as an unlicensed agency. One of our key changes is to ensure that they will be subject to employment agency regulations. Apart from imposing penalties on unlicensed employment agencies, we also want to discourage transactions between employers with any unlicensed employment agencies. By making it an offence for persons to knowingly engage an unlicensed employment agency, we intend to break the collusions involving kickbacks between employment agencies and errant employers.

We aim to expand the coverage of the Act to ensure that employment agency personnel will be accountable for their actions. Currently, all agencies are not restricted in who they employ to perform recruitment or placement work. To ensure all key appointment holders and staff performing recruitment or placement work are appropriately qualified, we will impose certain requirements on them such as tests on knowledge of relevant laws. This will raise the standards and accountability of the employment agency personnel.

We will also update the caps on fees charged by agents to employers and workers, including transfer fees, to reflect

Our second objective in the review of the employment agencies framework is to ensure adequate deterrence. This will involve increasing our penalties for some offences to impose costs that are commensurate with the large potential gains from malpractices. For example, the maximum penalty for operating an employment agency without a licence today stands at $5,000 and this pales in comparison to the fees that some foreign workers are willing to pay to come to Singapore.

We will also expand the range of our enforcement options in order to calibrate our actions for offences of different gravities. This will include introducing the power to compound all offences and not just some of them. Suspending the operations of agencies undergoing investigations will also be an option.

Third, we aim to better ensure minimum service standards when employment agencies deal with employers. Accreditation is mandatory for agencies that place foreign domestic workers. The minimum service standards under the current accreditation framework will be moved into the licensing conditions. This will ensure that these requirements have the force of law, and that all agencies, including those not recruiting domestic workers, are subject to those requirements.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang had two suggestions. One is to mandate one rest day per week for all foreign domestic workers and to require all employment agencies to have a written contract with each worker and each employer. On his first suggestion, accredition is mandatory for agencies that place foreign domestic

On his second suggestion, we already have the standard service agreement and the standard employment contract. What is missing is a standard service agreement for employment agencies and foreign domestic workers. We agree that such a service agreement could be developed, and would help reduce downstream disputes. We could also develop a similar set of standard agreements for non-domestic foreign workers and their employers or their employment agencies. As these types of standard service agreements would have to be developed from scratch in consultation with the industry, we will consider mandating them after we have had some time to pilot and refine them.

Beyond making minimum service standards part of licensing conditions, we will also encourage accreditation bodies, such as the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore and CaseTrust, to introduce a new voluntary trust mark scheme. The objective is to differentiate the better agencies by indicating the quality achievements of employment agencies to potential employers. We will be working closely with the accreditation bodies to develop the new trust mark scheme.

Finally, our proposed changes to the employment agencies regulatory framework will place greater onus and

Sir, we can all look forward to many progressive changes to the employment agencies regulatory framework in this coming year. We hope to ensure better compliance and improve the standard of recruitment practices among employment agencies in Singapore. In doing so, Singapore will remain a choice destination for experienced and skilled foreign workers. They, in turn, can make valuable contributions towards our objective of developing a sustainable and a productivity-driven economy.

including PMETs, must be on their toes in upgrading themselves. rolled out the now well-known SPUR to help companies and workers manage the downturn and invest in skills for the recovery. We saw a larger proportion of trainees taking up Government-supported courses. Without SPUR, the decline in overall resident training participation rate could have been worse. course fee tax relief for individuals from $3,500 to $5,500 will also be helpful.them to reach out to PME union members when employment disputes arise. In general, most agree that it will be a cost effective and a speedy avenue for employment dispute resolution. We target to implement this new mechanism in 2011.and insufficient differentiation between good and poor agencies.market realities. This will address Mr Yeo Guat Kwang's suggestion that we review the fee caps in the Employment Agencies Act and make both placement and transfer fees paid to employment agencies more transparent and realistic.workers and accredited agencies already use the standard employment contract that requires employers to stipulate, among others, the number of rest days per month. Zero is not an option. It also stipulates the amount of compensation the foreign domestic worker should receive, if they agree to work on their rest day. Failure to provide the agreed number of rest days or compensation in lieu is a breach of the Work Permit conditions, as is the failure to provide adequate rest. compliance burden on employment agencies that deal with vulnerable workers. For headhunters and executive search firms, they will continue to be managed with a light touch.

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Promoting flexible workplaces

Sir, our labour force participation rate of 55% is much lower than that of the Scandinavian countries which have a rate of more than 70%. A key defence is that flexi-work is readily available in Scandinavia whereas in Singapore it is less so. In a survey by the NTUC Women's Development secretariat, common obstacles cited by employers were costs, difficulty in managing workload during employee absences and disruption to workflow. On the other hand, many female job seekers seeking to re-enter the workforce, when asked, prefer to do flexi-work because of their care-giving responsibilities. So there is a mismatch.

According to MOM's Labour Force Survey, about 60,000 economically inactive women want to return to work over the next two years. At least, 40% of them in the age group 30-39 years have diplomas or university degrees. PMET homemakers face special obstacles to return to work. I met a 43-year old PMET resident who is a homemaker but

I would like to ask the Minister what more can be done to assist our women. Has the Ministry done a further study to determine what are the factors that contribute to the success of flexi-work in other countries, and how this could be applied? Could the Minister consider funding special training programmes for back-to-work women PMETs to make them more employable?

wants to return to work. Although she is a degree holder and had handled big projects before, all the companies told her that her career break worked against her. This is unfair as in our society women are still the main caregivers.

Work-life balance

Sir, a sensible work-life balance is a key to making Singapore a distinctive global city and an endearing home. Work-life balance is now more critical than ever as Singapore faces a labour crunch and a sustained ultra low fertility. As our population ages, in addition to childcare, families will also be burdened with eldercare demands. On this regard, with increased demands from both work and family, I have the following questions for the Minister. To respond to childcare and eldercare demands, employees require flexibility in their work schedule. This allows them to stay engaged in the workforce and, at the same time, honour their care-giving responsibilities. Can the Minister highlight employers who have progressive HR management philosophies and who prescribe flexibility at the workplace? What measures will MOM take to promote greater flexibility in work schedules to facilitate child and eldercare responsibilities of employees? As the population ages, will the Ministry consider instituting eldercare leave options to facilitate step-down homecare for dependent elderly? Can we consider broadening the existing

I understand that this will incur greater operating costs for employers, but can we afford to render invisible this critical care-giving responsibility? While we can choose not to have children, we certainly cannot ignore the needs of our ageing parents.

The rise in dual-income families and the increase in median age at first birth mean that many adult children are still engage in work as their parents move into a dependency phase. And they cannot afford to step back from work because they need the income to sustain the family. Now, more than ever, Singaporeans need the Government's support to recognise their care-giving roles. The rigidity of paid work may cause strains on inter-generational relations if eldercare becomes a burden and source for tension for the family.

Even private businesses cannot take on the cost of eldercare at this point. Will the civil service consider taking the lead in this important initiative?

On recorded childcare leave, I have never understood why we give time off for parents to take care of a six-year-old child, but that privilege is not extended to the care of a seven-year-old child. Will MOM also consider extending the eligibility for unrecorded childcare leave to parents which children under 12 years? Parenting young teens is an equally demanding responsibility.

Singapore workers register one of the highest average hours worked per week in the world. Every additional hour spent at paid work is one less hour for family work. To have a more accurate assessment of how much time employees are committing to paid work, may I appeal to the Ministry of Manpower to develop a systematic way of tracking overtime work, both paid overtime and especially

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I cannot stress enough the importance of striving for a sensible work-life balance. With the exception of a minority who are privileged with wealth, most of us are dependent on paid work to sustain our everyday life. This make policies governing paid work central to our lives. And contrary to arguments that Singaporeans have the flexibility to choose when to work and how much to spend on work, this may not be case on the ground where the organisational culture is focused solely on profit margins and they neglect the well-being of their staff holistically. This is particularly so with the performance-based evaluation system which focuses on output and pits employees against each other. For those who are keen to win the race, they would run and they would run light and strive to carry minimum luggage. So, this may explain for the increase in singlehood rates, the increase in the proportion of DINKS – dual income, no kids – and the increase in small family size. As the leader for manpower, I look to the Minister to watch over the well-being of the Singaporean worker and to cultivate a nurturing work environment in Singapore – one that invests in human resource holistically and facilitates a sensible balance between work and family.

unrecorded childcare leave to include eldercare?unpaid overtime? This will provide important data on work-life patterns in Singapore and alert us on what can be done to help Singaporeans achieve a good balance between paid work and family responsibilities.

Training and development of contract workforce

Sir, faced with an increasingly volatile, unpredictable and fiercely competitive operating environment, many companies have

With the drive towards higher productivity, more companies can be expected to outsource and also enlarge their flexible workforce as they focus even more on cost savings. The labour movement firmly believes that outsourcing and value-for-money can and must be achieved on a sustainable basis. Cost savings for companies need not and must not be at the expense of workers, especially lower-wage workers. It must come out of better productivity backed by better designed jobs, better trained workers, better organisation of work and better use of technology. For this reason, the labour movement pushed hard with the job re-creation programme and the best sourcing initiative over the past six years, and also reached out to lower-wage and contract workers through the Unit for Casual and Contract Workers (UCCW). Unions representing such workers also pay special attention to their interests during collective bargaining.

The NTUC e2i helped train and upgrade thousands of low-wage workers. These programmes combined fair buying on the one hand with improved job value on the other so that both buyers and workers win. The going was far from easy, given the economic forces that play, but the labour movement is never deterred by hard work if that makes a real difference. We are encouraged by the example and perseverance of many low-wage workers across different industries

Moving forward, we must make sure that the foreign groups are given the help they need through SPUR, WTS and other schemes to stay employable amid the outsourcing and flexible arrangements and to share in the productivity gains. The groups, firstly, low-wage workers on contract of service with companies.

Second, lower-wage workers who belong outsourcing companies by providers. Buyers of such services may not see their role to train them. The outsourcing providers may not focus on training of low-wage workers as they service multiple clients over multiple sites and the varied duration of contracts.

Third, lower-wage freelancing workers who do not belong to companies and thus may fall in between traditional arrangements that cater to companies.

I would like to ask the MOM how it intends to maximise the enrolment of low-wage and contract workers in the above three categories into the various training support schemes. What additional resources will be committed towards outreach efforts for these groups? What target outcomes will be set for their training and upgrading, and how can we better assure that such workers also get their fair share of the productivity drive?

switched to a flexible just-in-time workforce. This workforce comprises a small core and a significant flexible component of part-timers, temps and freelancers, trainees, contract and casual workers. In this way, they seek to match supply and demand of manpower and drive down costs. Another response from companies is to outsource what they deem to be non-core work. Official statistics confirm the growth of such a non-traditional workforce.who have since upgraded their jobs, their skills and they pay.

Low-wage, casual and contract workers

Sir, according to the latest Singapore workforce report, nearly 30% of the resident employees are on term contracts. This is about 197,000. The percentage of part-timers in the resident workforce rose from 6.8% last year to 8.4% this year. With such a high proportion of employees currently in contract and part-time positions and with the percentages rising, the very nature of employment has substantially changed. This steady rise is

At the NTUC's Unit for Casual and Contract Workers (UCCW), we assist the low-wage casual and contract workers on issues of non-payment of wages, CPF, WIS, annual leave and medical benefits, which I help, Sir. Apparently, many of these contract workers are illiterate and cannot read their employment contracts. Many are even employed without contracts. It is the plight of the lower-skilled workers that is heart wrenching and calls for attention.

What have been some of the responses to this dilemma? There have been several and I shall list them. One view is that the workers themselves must find their way out of the situation. How? By upgrading their skills to break out of the vicious cycle. This is a long-term solution. Hence, the mantra should be – Singaporeans must learn to be better, faster and cheaper. Sir, our critics argue that even with retraining and continued education, only 6% of workers receive a pay rise after attending courses like SPUR. More importantly, employers are not willing to pay more for skilled Singaporeans when foreign workers may be the cheaper alternatives.

With regard to the low-wage and casual contract workers, I would like to ask the Minister if the proposed changes to WIS unveiled yesterday and the introduction of WTS will be sufficient in addressing the perennial problems of low-

Are we willing to relook at policy and law that will be more effective in protecting the rights of low-wage casual and contract workers, keeping in mind that we want to achieve an inclusive growth?

expected to continue and we need to be concerned. This is because contract workers comprise a higher number of low-skilled, low-wage workers who are usually of low education and age above 45. They work as cleaners, hawker assistants, packers and factory line operators among other things, and earn between $500 and $1,200 a month. Casual and contract workers, unlike permanent ones, are typically not entitled to any benefits, bonus healthcare, and during recessions, they are the first to go.wage casual and contract workers. Are there still loopholes and excuses that employers can exploit to avoid treating the casual and contract workers fairly? We must be cognisant that the jarring difference in treatment given to contract workers and permanent ones may polarise our workforce. This can weaken our social fabric. Job creation and social protection should be the call elements of our economic recovery.

Well-being of foreign domestic workers

(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, we have 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore. With an ageing population, more families are employing foreign domestic workers to care for the elderly. The Chinese has an old saying – "An elder at home is a treasure". As the elderly person becomes less mobile, a maid could make his life more comfortable.

When I visited friends and relatives or attended group gatherings during the Chinese New Year, I noticed that many people talked about their maids such as how much they are paid, how they perform and how many days off they have and how they are compensated in-lieu of day-off.

Most Singaporeans treat their maids very well. I have seen a case whereby the employer took the breast cancer-stricken maid to the hospital for treatment every day. Some maids helped raised the children and they even fly back to attend the kids’ wedding here.

The Tripartite partners have guidelines on how to look after the welfare of foreign domestic workers. Does MOM have similar guidelines to help both the maids and employers? At the moment, we have some negative media reports about employers abusing their maids. However, this is a small minority. We can emphasise those good examples. As our population ages, these maids can help us and we must ensure a cordial relationship between the employers and the domestic workers.

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Sir, foreign domestic workers are an important part of the Singapore household. They cook our meals, clean our houses and, for some of us, they raise our children. At the same time, when they fail to perform their duties up to the expectations of their employers, then both sides will suffer.

So the employers' ability to manage the household affairs is disrupted. A foreign domestic worker often has to be transferred to another employer. In the process, it incurs more debts. Employers find it difficult to tell whether a foreign domestic worker will meet their needs, just based on the information provided by the employment agencies or the interviews they conduct with the foreign domestic worker. Given the stories we have heard and read, I would like to ask MOM two questions:

how significant is the problem of the foreign domestic workers being rejected by the employers simply because they do not have the necessary skills and experience;

what plans does the MOM have to reduce such mis-matches?

Sir, I think the current situation is a rather uneven one where the employer can change their maid, but the maid cannot change the employer, except for running away. We ought have a recourse where a maid can do so, without fuss, rancour or hard feelings on both sides.

Sir, even as we upgrade our workers, we need to ensure our high labour and workplace standards that support a productive workforce. I shall now elaborate on the efforts to promote safe and progressive workplaces for both local and foreign workers.

I agree with Mr Yeo Guat Kwang that we must not overlook safety in our pursuit of productivity. In fact, I would emphasise that a safe working environment can contribute to the productivity of employees. The DGUV, an association of the German Accident Insurance Institutions, shared its pilot study on "Return on Prevention" with me at the end of last year. The study showed that accident prevention measures improved productivity. They reduce production shortages, remove the needs to replace and retrain injured staff and resulted in better staff satisfaction. In fact the study estimated that every one Euro invested in workplace safety and health (WSH) prevention measures, produced economic returns of 1.60 Euros.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang and Mr Charles Chong have pointed out that we have made steady progress in improving our safety and health outcomes, bringing down our workplace fatality rate, from 4.9 per 100,000 employers in 2004 to 2.8 in 2008. While our workplace fatality rate is one of the lowest in the Asian region, we share Mr Chong's concern on the stagnation of the pace of our progress in recent years.

Sir, however, at this outset, I would like to clarify that the workplace fatality

Implementing WSH 2018, our national strategy for workplace safety and health, will remain a priority in 2010. I will now elaborate on our key initiatives this year. As Mr Chong has highlighted, the construction and marine sectors accounted for 63% of the workplace fatalities last year. We will continue to address the challenges in these two risky sectors in 2010. MOM and WSH council have developed sectoral plans to guide the construction and marine sectors in the implementation of the WSH 2018. The plans have set a target of reducing the fatality rates in these two sectors by 50% by 2013. And eventually bring them below 1.8 by 2018. The finalised plans will be released later this month.

Besides addressing sector-specific risks, we will also work with industry to tackle riskier work activities conducted across several sectors. Last year, the industry took the helm and formed two task forces to improve the safety of work at height and crane operations. The task forces identified gaps in safety manage

Mr Chong also asked for an update on the new WSH (Confined Spaces) Regulations. The Regulations came into force on the 1st November 2009. To assist the industry in meeting the requirements under the Regulations, we have released the Confined Space Kit. It included materials such as a safety guide book for supervisors and workers. The WSH Council has also developed a Technical Advisory on Work in Confined Spaces in consultation with the industry. We will continue to work with industry to ensure that they can carry out work in confined spaces safely.

We agree with Mr Yeo that in most workplace accidents, the learning points may not be new. But we can do more to reach out to every worker to ensure that they understand the workplace risks and the measures they can take to mitigate and remove such risks. We will ensure that our safety training framework is updated regularly to remain relevant to our workers. General WSH training is provided to all workers through one of the Employability Skills (ES) modules. For WSH professionals, we developed a competency framework under the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) system in 2008, to equip them with the relevant technical competencies. We are

Thirteen trade-specific WSQ courses had been developed for the marine sector. For the construction sector, we are developing six new courses. The courses on electrical works and plumbing and piping will be launched this year. Going forward, we will look into developing WSQ courses for other sectors. In the course of MOM's work, we have seen cases where stakeholders failed to engage their SME sub-contractors to ensure that work was carried out safely. We would like to stress that while work can be outsourced, the duties of the principals to ensure that work is done safely cannot be outsourced. Being the person who engages the contractor, the principal has the responsibility to hire the right sub-contractor for the job and ensure that they are able to carry out their work, not only competently but also safely. We will thus be amending the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA) later this year, to ensure that principals remain accountable for the safety and health of the employees of the contractors and sub-contractors, whether or not they direct the work.

Sir, during the second reading of the WSH Bill in January 2006, then Minister for Manpower announced our intention to progressively extend the coverage of the Act to all workplaces by 2011, based, of course, on the philosophy that all workers have the right to a safe and healthy workplace. With effect from September 2011, the WSHA will be extended to all workplaces. An estimated 1.4 million workers across 16 industry sectors, accounting for close to half of the workforce will be brought under the ambit of the Act. Businesses can be assured that MOM will be working closely with the WSH Council to engage the stakeholders to educate them on their

Mr Yeo would be pleased to know that we have set aside close to $70 million to help companies achieve the objectives of WSH 2018. The initiatives will cover four broad areas. First, the WSH 2018 Fund will be used to help companies develop the safety culture within their organisations. Second, we will use the Fund to help companies tackle safety challenges within their industries, by developing programmes that take into account their distinct WSH and operating landscape. The construction and marine sectoral plans are one example. Third, given the challenges SMEs face in managing WSH, we will also allocate funds to support SMEs in capability-building efforts. This will include educating SMEs that will be brought under the ambit of WSHA when it is extended to all workplaces in 2011. Last but not least, we will provide funding to establish new drivers to bring our WSH performance to the next level. This includes the WSH Institute, which will conduct research into emerging WSH issues and provide top-class WSH education to WSH practitioners, business leaders and executives. We will announce more details on the WSH 2018 Fund and its initiatives at a later date. As Mr Yeo had said, the collaboration of tripartite partners has been effective in bringing down our fatality rates over the years. MOM will continue to work with our tripartite partners on the various initiatives under the WSH 2018. I would like to thank Mr Yeo for his suggestions on the establishment of a tripartite resource centre. We will work with our tripartite partners to explore how we can improve stakeholders' access to WSH resources. We will keep this idea open. But I would like to draw Mr Yeo's attention to the fact that we already have the organisation and institutions to carry out the work.

Besides ensuring the safety of our workers, we will also focus our efforts on

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Mdm Halimah Yacob, Mr Wee Siew Kim, Ms Joscelin Yeo and Assoc. Prof.

rate increased marginally, from 2.8 in 2008 to 2.9 in 2009. The absolute number of fatalities increased from 67 in 2008 to 70 last year, not the numbers extrapolated by Mr Chong. Our journey to improve WSH standards is a continuous one and we will face many challenges along the way. We will continue to push the boundaries to further improve our workplace safety and health performance and stay the course to reach our long-term goal of bringing our workplace fatality rate to below 1.8 by 2018. This will put us on par with leading-edge countries such as Sweden and the United Kingdom. Mr Chong has suggested the target of zero fatality, this is something we should always strive for. In fact, we have reached out to CEOs of major firms in the construction and marine industry in pursuit of this objective. Indeed, one death is one death too many.ment and made recommendations ranging from capability building, promotion and outreach to regulatory issues. We have been working closely with the industry to implement these recommendations. For example, the WSH Council had developed a new Code of Practice for Working Safely at Height. This new Code or Practice and the revised Code of Practice for the safe use of mobile cranes have been legislated as Approved Codes of Practice under the Workplace Safety and Health Act. The task forces will be providing a detailed update on the progress later this month.expanding the competencies framework to provide workers in the construction and marine sectors with the technical skills to carry out specific tasks relevant to their industries safety.responsibilities under the WSHA and what they need to do to meet these obligations.promoting progressive workplaces. Given our ageing workforce and declining birth rates, economically inactive residents constitute a sizeable pool that companies can tap on to meet their manpower needs. Mdm Halimah Yacob, Mr Wee Siew Kim and Assoc. Prof. Paulin Straughan asked about the training schemes for homemakers and recent retirees. To encourage economically inactive women to re-enter the workforce, the Workface Development Agency (WDA), supported by the Tripartite Workgroup on Enhancing Employment Choices for Women and the Community Development Centres (CDCs), rolled out the Step-Out For Change Programme in July 2008. This induction programme involves a series of workshops to help participants overcome their inertia or fear of entering or re-entering the workplace. Career consultants at the CDC Career Centres will advise the participants on training opportunities, based on their interests and skills development needs. Interested candidates will be enrolled for training offered by Continuing Education and Training (CET) Centres. They range from generic skills courses on literacy and numeracy to vocational skills training for entry into growth sectors. The CET Centres and CDC Career Centres will also refer the trainees to the network of hiring employers for job placements. In 2009, 520 women benefited from this programme, of which about 160 have been placed into jobs. Over the past three years, the Tripartite Work Group on Enhancing Employment Choices for Women, chaired by Mdm Halimah, has also successfully placed more than 5,600 women in jobs through job fairs, recruitment drives and job matching services. Flexibility is an important factor that economically inactive individuals look for when they transit back into the workplace.Paulin Straughan have also raised concerns about promoting flexible work arrangements and enabling employees to achieve work-life balance. MOM has put in place initiatives that promote flexible working arrangements. We have set up the Work Life Works! ("WOW!") Fund and "Flexi-Works!" to help employers kickstart

their implementation of flexible work arrangements such as part-time and other work-life initiatives. The "WoW! Fund" and the "Flexi-Works!" provide grants of up to $20,000 and $100,000 per company respectively. We are pleased to share that $10 million of the "WoW! Fund" has been disbursed as at January this year. In addition, more than 180 companies have come onboard the "Flexi-Works!" scheme and 1,900 workers have been recruited, as at February 2010, on flexible-work arrangements since the inception of the scheme. I have circulated a fact sheet on the "Flexi-Works!" scheme to Members.

Let me give Members an example. SingPost is a company that has successfully tapped on the "Flexi-Works!" to reduce its costs of recruitment, training and equipment purchase. SingPost provides its employees with various flexible work options. They include teleworking, part-time and job-sharing. These have benefited many of its female employees. In fact, most of SingPost's neighbourhood postmen are actually "post-women", as the job gives them the flexibility to collect mail from the mail transit room near their homes and deliver them in their neighbourhoods.

Given the encouraging results, we are pleased to announce that we will extend "Flexi-Works!" for another three years, from April 2010 to December 2012 at a cost of $10.5 million, and target to help another 4,500 individuals.

Employers in Singapore increasingly recognise the value of flexible work

MOM will continue to study the ways which flexi-work has been implemented successfully in other countries and apply the learning points to businesses in Singapore.

With the ultra high-speed national broadband network coming onboard in 2012, companies will find it increasingly viable to have their employees work from home. Employers should take the opportunity to redesign jobs to allow more jobs to be done from home – in other words, "homeshore" these jobs. Homeshoring allows workers to achieve greater work-life harmony and enables businesses to better manage their manpower resources and reduce overhead costs such as office rental.

The Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy has formed a workgroup on homeshoring. The workgroup is chaired by Mrs Mildred Tan and comprises representatives from MOM, iDA, NTUC and SNEF. It will identify jobs that leverage on Singapore's increased infocomm capacity and recommend measures to encourage companies to "homeshore" these jobs.

Separately, Assoc. Prof. Paulin Straughan has suggested tracking paid and unpaid overtime work and studying

Sir, on eldercare and childcare support. I would like to address the views of Assoc. Prof. Straughan who has suggested instituting eldercare leave and extending childcare leave to parents with children below 12 years old. The Government recognises the importance of providing eldercare and childcare support for families. However, enhancing statutory benefits affects business costs and must be carefully considered. Currently, our employees' leave entitlements are comparable to those in developed countries. Given that the Government had recently increased the leave entitlements for employees as part of the enhanced Marriage and Procreation Package in 2008, it would be untimely to impose additional requirements on businesses at this stage. Instead, we will continue to encourage companies to implement flexible work arrangements. Employers should work closely with their employees to work out appropriate work arrangements to achieve win-win outcomes. I am pleased to give some examples, as requested by Assoc. Prof. Straughan, of companies and organisations that have implemented flexible work arrangements for their employees. WDA, for example, gives eldercare leave of five days per parent or parent-in-law per year. The Health Promotion Board (HPB), under the Ministry of Health, gives two days of full-pay, unrecorded leave to attend to the medical visits of his or her aged parents or parents-in-law. The private sector, in IBM

The Civil Service places importance on promoting work-life harmony. Statutory boards, such as WDA, Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and HPB, have provided eldercare leave for its officers – as I have mentioned earlier as examples. We have also implemented various flexible work arrangements to cater to civil servants at different life-stages, such as telecommuting, flexi-time and part-time employment schemes.

Sir, Mr Yeo suggested that MOM take the lead to generate greater awareness and encourage employers to shift their current Group Hospitalisation and Surgical (H&S) company-based plans to the Shield-based Portable Medical Benefits Scheme (PMBS) for their employees. I would like to clarify that the CPF MediShield is already a portable scheme. It covers employees' inpatient medical expenses during their employment, while they are in between jobs and after retirement. About 93% of our resident working population between the ages of 21-65 is covered either by MediShield or a private integrated Shield plan. Hence, the vast majority of Singapore employees are able to meet their medical expenses when they change employers or when they retire.

To ensure that employees have adequate Medisave savings to pay for Medishield premiums, the tripartite partners have been encouraging employers to enhance their employees' Medisave savings. Employers can make additional Medisave contributions in place of company-based medical benefits. In 2009, 302 private sector companies made additional contributions to their employees' Medisave accounts, totalling about $6.5 million. This decision is best left to the employers in consultation with unions and employees as they need to take into account their employees' needs and the companies' financial resources.

Next, on cultural diversity at work. Mrs Mildred Tan has made several suggestions on promoting social integration at the workplace. A National Integration Working Group for Workplaces (NIWG) was set up in April 2009 under the auspices of the National Integration Council. The NIWG is pursuing measures to help employers understand the benefits of an integrated workplace and build capabilities to manage diversity.

For instance, a tripartite conference will be held in April on fair and inclusive employment practices. The NIWG will also set up a database of best practices for managing workplace diversity and provide additional materials addressing common misconceptions about workplace harmony. This includes information on different cultural norms at the workplace.

NIWG's initiatives augment ongoing efforts by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) to raise the capability of employers in responding effectively to the increasing diversity of Singapore's workforce. TAFEP's workshops, seminars and other educational materials are highly-subsidised and often free of charge. TAFEP also has a programme where employers appoint fair

We agree with Mrs Tan that human resource (HR) practitioners and individual employees may need training on how to adapt to a diverse workplace. There are courses which are subsidised for Singaporeans and PRs. For example, HR practitioners may take the elective module titled, "Develop a strategy for managing diversity" in the WSQ Specialist Diploma in Human Capital Management. Employees may also enrol in the Employability Skills module on Learning and Personal Development offered by four CET centres. The module covers, among other areas, effective approaches to working within a diverse workforce and facilitating staff to work in a diverse team.

The Government and our tripartite partners will continue to facilitate greater harmony in workplaces through funding promotional efforts and training. We encourage employers to do their part and drive change within their organisations. With the strong support of the tripartite partners and other stakeholders, we can achieve our objective of bringing about a cohesive workforce and social integration.

Let me now turn to the issue of vulnerable workers. The number of casual and contract workers has been rising. By June last year, the number of resident employees on term contracts rose by 4.3% over the year to 197,200. This includes workers on fixed-term contracts and casual employment. Fifty-three percent of these workers have secondary or below qualifications and about 40% of them have a gross monthly income of less than $1,000. Many of them are employed in services, in occupations such as cleaners and security guards.

Mr Heng Chee How, Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mr Low Thia Khiang and Assoc.

First, we seek to improve the income security of low-wage workers. We do this through the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS), which encourages low-wage workers to work, helps supplement their incomes and builds up their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As announced by the Minister for Manpower yesterday, we will further refine and strengthen WIS.

Second, we aim to ensure that there are sufficient opportunities for low-wage workers to upgrade to better, more productive jobs and remain employable. To encourage employers to send these workers for training, the Minister for Manpower announced that MOM is rolling out the Workfare Training Scheme in July 2010. The Minister has also explained how self-sponsored, self-employed and casual and contract workers can benefit from WTS.

Third, we aim to enhance the employment conditions of these workers by ensuring compliance with our employment laws and working with employers to improve working conditions, such as work patterns and wage levels.

arrangements in attracting and retaining employees. Last year's Influenza A (H1N1) episode also encouraged many companies to implement tele-working. According to MOM's Conditions of Employment 2008 survey, 28% of private-sector employers in Singapore offered flexible work arrangements, such as part-time and telework, compared to 21% in 2002. Among private-sector employees, 7.4% opted for flexible work arrangements in 2008, compared with 3.8% in 2002. Many companies also provide informal arrangements for their employees to work flexibly. work-life patterns in Singapore. The Ministry regularly collects data on hours worked and publishes them in the quarterly Labour Market Report and the annual Report on Labour Force in Singapore. In addition, data on work-week patterns are also publicly available in the biennial Conditions of Employment survey. However, we currently do not have statistics on unpaid overtime work as it would be difficult and onerous for employers to keep track of unpaid overtime hours. Singapore, the Work-Life Leave Programme is made available to employees where employees can take time away from work to meet personal needs. In social organisations like Yayasan MENDAKI, employees have this benefit – first day of school leave for parents who support their children on the first day of pre-school or primary school. These are some examples of flexible work arrangements which companies and organisations, including those in the public sector, have implemented for the benefit of their employees. We would like to encourage more companies to come onboard because by doing so they are able to take better care of workers and the workers will be more engaged and loyal. employment advocates who will help promote the adoption of fair and inclusive employment practices. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan have expressed concerns about the situation of part-time, casual and contract workers, especially the low-wage workers. MOM pays particular attention to this group of workers. The Tripartite Committee on CPF and Work Related Benefits for Low Wage Workers, which I chair, adopts a multi-pronged approach to raise their incomes, productivity, employability and employment standards.

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MOM has stepped up enforcement efforts against errant employers who do not provide employment terms and benefits to their workers according to the law. In 2009, MOM prosecuted 29

As Mr Heng has highlighted, MOM and the CPF Board also work closely with NTUC's Unit for Contract and Casual Workers, led by Mr Zainudin Nordin, to reach out to low-wage workers and inform them of their employment rights and avenues of recourse. We also reach out to service buyers, managing agents and employers to encourage them to adopt recommendations in the Tripartite Advisory for Responsible Outsourcing Practices. Between April 2009 and February 2010, MOM has conducted regular briefings or workshops for more than 100 employers, mainly from the cleaning, security and F&B sectors. We will continue to reach out to employers who engage these low-wage workers.

WDA and NTUC also launched the Best Sourcing Initiative (BSI) Early Adopters Scheme in July 2009. Workers will benefit when companies adopt the BSI and compete on quality instead of cost, as they will then look at improving workers' productivity by up-skilling, multi-skilling and re-skilling them. BSI therefore allows our workers, including the contract and casual workers, to be more productive through better job performance.

Lastly, MOM focuses on industries with sizable numbers of low-wage workers, such as the security and cleaning industries. For the security sector, MOM works with the Security Industry Regulatory Department (SIRD) and the Union of Security Employees to encourage security guard agencies to raise the basic salary and improve the employment terms of security officers.

Our joint efforts have led to an improvement in the employment terms of these workers. For instance, the median gross monthly salary of security guards in full-time employment has increased from $1,278 to $1,379 from 2007 to 2008. The conditions and professionalism in the security and cleaning industries have also improved over the years. This was also alluded to by Minister Lim Swee Say and Mdm Halimah Yacob earlier in the Budget debate. We are also seeing companies improve their work conditions by adjusting their working arrangements, eg, shortening shifts from 12 hours to eight hours, to recruit and retain security personnel.

Mr Wee Siew Kim and Ms Denise Phua have asked about training programmes for the disabled. The courses provided by the CET centres and other WDA-approved Training Organisations are open to all individuals who are willing and able to undergo training, whether able-bodied or disabled. Our CET infrastructure does not exclude any group of people.

However, persons with disabilities (PWDs) have specific needs depending on the nature of their disability. We should tap on the expertise of the various voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) to provide customised assistance for them. In fact, in my reply to a parliamentary

We need to develop the capabilities of our VWOs in assisting PWDs with their training and employment needs. We are prepared to do our part. WDA is working with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the National Council of Social Services (NCSS) to equip NCSS with sufficient knowledge and skills to develop an employment facilitation function for the disabled. VWOs can also leverage on the Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA) under the WSQ framework for essential skills and knowledge to design and deliver competency based training programmes and assessments for the disabled. Ultimately, helping PWDs requires efforts from all parties, including the Government, VWOs and employers.

I will now talk about the management and protection of foreign workers. Mdm Halimah Yacob and Mr Yeo Guat Kwang commented that errant employers of foreign workers must be held responsible for employment malpractices. Ms Jessica Tan asked about the measures to ensure foreign workers are properly managed by sub-contractors. As I mentioned earlier, MOM has stepped up enforcement of the Employment Act which requires employers, including subcontractors, to provide their workers with minimum employment standards, such as timely payment of salaries, overtime payment and rest days. In addition, all employers of foreign workers, including subcontractors, are subject to the work permit conditions under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA). For example, they are required to pay their foreign workers' salaries promptly, ensure their foreign workers have acceptable accommodation, and bear the costs of their medical treatment. Employers who fail to do so may be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both. They will also be barred from hiring foreign workers.

Last year, the Ministry stepped up inspections to ensure compliance with the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) and took action against employers who did not comply. This stepped up enforcement accounts for Mr Chong's observation that the number of foreign worker and foreign domestic worker management problems per 1,000 foreign workers had increased in 2009.

To expedite the settlement of employment disputes, MOM also offers mediation services to help parties resolve their disputes as quickly and as amicably as possible, to reach a settlement that is reasonable and fair to all parties involved. If an agreement cannot be reached, workers may refer their claims to the Labour Court for adjudication. More than 90% of the cases involving foreign workers were heard and concluded within two months from the commencement of the first hearing.

We employ targeted measures to ensure the well-being of foreign domestic workers (FDWs). At last count, there were 196,000 FDWs in Singapore. That means about one in every five households in Singapore relies on a FDW to help out in the home.

We agree with Mr Sam Tan that more can be done to facilitate better matching between employers and FDWs. Among employers who engaged a new FDW last year, 28% of them terminated their employment contracts with their FDW within three months. It is likely that many of these terminations happened because employers thought the FDWs were not a good match for their family.

Most employers go through an employment agency to engage their FDWs, but in 2009, the employment agency accreditation bodies, the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and CaseTrust, received 154 complaints

The accreditation bodies have identified the uneven quality of bio-data used by employment agencies as one of the root causes of this problem. For example, the level of detail of bio-data varies across agencies, making it difficult for potential employers to compare FDWs' bio-data across agencies. The bio-data may not contain all the necessary information that employers need before deciding on the FDWs that they want. It is often unclear from the bio-data whether agencies have independently verified claims about the FDWs' skills and experience. They may have extensively interviewed the candidate, or merely relied on declarations from the home country agents. These problems lead to the employers hiring FDWs who do not meet the employers' expectations.

The accreditation bodies have therefore proposed to create a standard bio-data template for the industry. The standard template could help distinguish more responsible employment agencies by requiring agencies to indicate if and how they had attempted to verify the information provided. A standard template will also help employers compare bio-data received from different agencies, and ensure they have enough information to select the best FDW for their family. We support the accreditation bodies' efforts and will be working with them to develop this standardised bio-data template. We aim to have it ready by June this year.

Working and living in a foreign country as a domestic worker can be challenging for new FDWs who have to adapt to a vastly different environment and culture.

Mr Seng Han Tong asked if MOM has plans to help FDWs better manage their transition to working in Singapore. Currently, all first-time FDWs are required to attend a Safety Awareness Course,

To further help FDW employers ensure their FDWs are well-adjusted to working here, MOM will be engaging the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Skills Training (FAST), to introduce a Settling-in Programme that includes lessons on Singapore's culture and norms, financial management and stress management.

These courses will be held on weekends at selected community centres, and will run from this May onwards. All FDW employers who are interested in signing up their FDWs for the courses may visit FAST's website at www.fast.org.sg from April onwards for more information.

Sir, at this point, may I seek your permission to take about one or two minutes more than the allocated time.

employers for various Employment Act offences. The CPF Board also prosecuted a total of 312 errant employers for CPF-related offences. The number of Employment Act-related claims by contract and casual workers has remained low despite the economic downturn, accounting for about 2.1% of claims in 2009. MOM also encourages the agencies to include employment and training-related criteria in SIRD's compulsory annual grading of security guard agencies. Similarly, for the cleaning sector, MOM and WDA are working with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to include employment and training-related considerations in the voluntary accreditation framework for the cleaning industry. This was announced by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources during this COS debate.question by Ms Denise Phua, I elaborated on this.against employment agencies for poor job matching or inaccurate bio-data.which provides them an introduction to working in Singapore households, with an emphasis on domestic safety and safe practices in high-rise residences. First-time employers are required to attend an Employer's Orientation Programme, which helps them understand what to expect from their new FDWs, given that their FDWs may be unfamiliar with Singapore and the demands of domestic work here.

Yes, carry on.

Mr Sam Tan commented on the change of employer policy for FDWs. Currently, FDWs are allowed to change employers with their employers' consent. In most cases where the FDW wishes to change employer, her current employer will consent, as it is in neither party's interest to carry on an employment relationship that has soured.

FDWs are also allowed to change employers if their employers have ill-treated them. To facilitate FDWs reporting employer malpractices, MOM operates a

Sir, in conclusion, our efforts to promote safe and progressive workplaces will enable us to maximise the potential of our workers. While we ensure that workers are provided with the basic standards of employment, such as safety and health, we must also put in place fair and progressive employment practices for all members of our workforce, from casual and contract workers to foreign workers. This will help nurture a competitive workforce and make Singapore a great work place to work for both foreign workers as well as locals.

dedicated helpline for FDWs, informs FDWs of their rights and avenues for help during the Safety Awareness Course and conducts random interviews with first-time FDWs within the first few months of their arrival in Singapore. We currently do not see the need to relax the policy on changing employers.

1.45 pm

Any interventions? Mdm Halimah Yacob, Ms Josephine Teo, Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang and Mr Ang Mong Seng – in that order. Mdm Halimah Yacob.

Sir, first, I would like to thank the Minister for a very comprehensive description yesterday of the $2.5 billion allocation to the CET. I think that is indeed very good for workers. It does show how we can help to improve productivity skills and income. I just want to seek clarification from the Minister on how does the new CET system provide a better link between training to career progression pathways. Sometimes, feedback from workers is that after they go for training, they come back, they do not see much improvements in their career prospects.

My second clarification is to ask the Minister how would small companies with tremendous manpower constraints be able

My last clarification is, I have heard Senior Parliamentary Secretary's explanation about ways to ensure better enforcement of labour laws. But I still have this concern about the higher foreign worker levy because unscrupulous employers can get round the whole higher levy and still employ foreign workers cheaply by cutting their pay, making them work longer hours or work on public holidays and rest days without over-time. Having a monitoring mechanism will be extremely difficult because there are so many foreign workers in Singapore. I would like to ask for clarification whether this will undermine our efforts to improve productivity, and what plans does MOM have to address this issue.

to benefit under the new CET system, because it will be difficult for them even to send their workers during their working time even with the support from the CETs.

Can I appeal yet again to Members to make their interventions short, because we have got to finish by 2.25 pm and I have got a list of MPs who wish to speak here? Mr Gan.

Sir, I will keep my reply short. Mdm Halimah Yacob asked about the link between training, career progression and career prospects. Sir, I would like to stress that this is precisely the reason why we have to ensure that our training is outcome-based. We want to encourage our workers to go for training that are relevant to their work outcome. Some of them may have unrealistic expectations. They may expect to be promoted immediately after training. But I would encourage them to be patient and work with us. In fact, today, we have set up a system where we help to profile the workers, understand their skills and career paths, and help them to design training programmes that would suit them and that would enhance their capability in

On the second point which is also a related point, that is, how do we encourage smaller companies to also send their workers for training, given that they have very limited resources. First, I think I should stress that sending workers for training is the responsibility of the employers. The Government can help, support and provide the programmes and incentive schemes, like the Workfare Training Scheme (WTS) that we just announced yesterday. But, ultimately, employers must take responsibility for the outcome of raising productivity, by training their workers. Sir, I would encourage employers, big or small, to tap on our programmes, like the WTS that we recently announced. We will also find ways to customise our training programmes to suit different employer profiles. So, if you need the workers to work in the daytime, make time for them to go for training after work-hours. So for our training programmes, especially in our structured training programme, Workfare Skill-Up, we will customise our programme so that we can suit the different profiles of our employers' and employees' needs. We will also be talking about instituting training-in-place, at the worksite where they are working, so as to minimise disruption to work and reduce the time taken to travel from workplace to training place. We will try our best to make it as convenient as possible for both the workers as well as the employers. But, ultimately, workers and employers

Sir, I will leave the third question to my Senior Parliamentary Secretary to answer.

their job. So the whole idea is, hopefully, we will be able to help them do their job better or help them to be able to take on better jobs. These are the outcomes that we want to put into our training programmes. It is also for that reason that we engage the industry players very closely so that in the process of developing these training programmes, we ensure that they remain relevant to the industry and the skills that we impart are valued by the employers.themselves must take responsibility of their training outcomes.

Sir, one of the concerns of employers is whether they can continue to employ the good foreign workers. Under the new levy system, they will be assisted to do just that, because if they upgrade the skills of their good foreign workers, they will be charged lower levy. This is one way to help raise productivity. So there is no conflict between productivity and higher levy.

My reply to Mr Chong earlier in my speech on enforcement indicates that it has worked. I would like to assure Mdm Halimah Yacob that we will continue to enhance our intelligence gathering capabilities, continue to conduct enforcement to ensure that we can detect errant employers and malpractices in various aspects that can help enhance the welfare and interest of our workers.

Sir, I refer to the document that was distributed by the Minister yesterday on the changes to the foreign worker levy, and I refer to the Annex that shows us the levy rates for the construction sector. Although, in general, levies are supposed to go up over time, in the construction sector for the unskilled worker's levy, in fact, it appears to be a reduction. Currently, it is $470 for unskilled workers but come 1st July 2012, there is no unskilled worker levy but only a basic skilled worker levy, and that is actually $300 which is lower than what it is today. So I hope the Minister could share with us what exactly is going to be the difference between an unskilled construction worker whom we have in abundance today and what is so much of

an improvement when we say that they are basic skilled. Is it realistic for us to be able to reduce or eliminate unskilled workers in construction? On a broader issue, I would like to ask the Minister how he thinks the whole process of skills definition and testing could be improved, so that we help the employers to accurately identify the proficient foreign workers. For example, is it possible to do the testing even before the foreign workers arrive in Singapore?

Sir, with regard to the change in the construction foreign worker levy, I should explain that, currently, in the construction sector, there are not many unskilled workers, because most of them are required to have some basic skills before they are allowed to work on a worksite. In fact, we are going to remove the entire unskilled category, and therefore, we are going to eliminate the levy rate for unskilled workers. So the new term, "basic skilled" workers are the skilled workers today. In fact, the Ministry of National Development is going to create another category higher than "basic skilled", which requires even more skills and experience to qualify for the skilled levy. In other words, it is not a reduction in the levy but, in fact, it is an increase, because we should really compare the new "basic skilled" levy with the skilled levy today. So there is an increase. We want to encourage construction workers to continue to upgrade their skills and the sector as a whole, improve their productivity level.

The Member also asked about the definition of "skills" and how we can test them better. I think it is very difficult to have an academic definition of skills, because skills, as I have mentioned just now in my reply to Mdm Halimah Yacob, have got to be related to the work that they do. They must have an impact on the outcome of work performance and they will vary from sector to sector. The construction sector, for example, has its

As to the suggestion of testing foreign worker skills before they come to Singapore, the construction sector already does that. They have set up training centres as well as testing centres overseas. Because in the construction sector, the skills required are quite well-defined. So it is easier for them to do so. But for different business and industries, say, for example the services sector, because it is so diverse and it is very difficult for us to have a single point of training or certification. Workers also come from quite a variety of sources. So it is better to leave this for the employers to decide how best to do so. We provide some guidelines on the test and requirements for the test so that the employers, if they need, they can always set up some arrangements with the agents overseas to provide prior training or testing before they come. But the official testing should be done in

own set of criteria. The manufacturing sector also has its own set of criteria for skilled workers, in particular, for the foreign worker's definition. In the manufacturing sector, we require them to have at least a SPM qualification for those who come from traditional sources. For the others, we require them to have either a skills evaluation test certificate from ITE or an assessment certificate from WDA. So there is a criteria framework for skills definition for purposes of skilled levy. But having said that, these skills criteria will also change over time. Not only they are different from sector to sector, they also will change over time. As we move towards different business, we need to have different definitions. For example, recently, we introduced the English language proficiency requirement for certain services industries' foreign workers to qualify for skilled levy, particularly in hospitality. In the middle of last year, we also tightened the skills requirement for S Passes. So from time to time, we will need to continue to tighten these skills requirements.Singapore so as to ensure the integrity of the test results. Sir, I hope that answers the Member's question.

Sir, I have two clarifications for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. His response was so refreshing. It is good to hear of these progressive employers who have augmented benefits for the employees. May I suggest that MOM gives these employers more presents and publicity, so that potential employees can seek them out and it will be a win-win situation for all of us?

My second clarification has to do with the FDW response. I am glad to note that we have good processes in place to protect the FDWs. That is a decent and right thing to do. My question is on the recourse that employers can take if they find themselves stuck with a poor fit but they face barriers for termination or transfer because the agencies are not willing to honour the contract. What can these employers do?

Sir, it is a good suggestion to publicise companies that have employed good work-life and enlightened practices. Assoc. Prof. Straughan may know that MOM has given out awards to such employers annually. We will continue to give them some publicity to encourage others to come on-board.

On FDW employers, it is something that they have to work out with the employment agencies. If they have problems, they can refer their problems to the accreditation bodies. We will leave it to them to settle their problems.

Sir, I am glad that the basic operational standards and the requirements established by the accreditation bodies for the employment agencies would now be made mandatory. I would like to ask the Minister of State

On the issue of Portable Medical Benefits Scheme, it has been NWC's recommendation every year. Sir, I am quite surprised to hear from the Senior Parliamentary Secretary that we best leave it to the employers. Although the basic MediShield is sufficient for employees who are entitled to B2 and below, but for those who are entitled to B1 and above, it is important for us to encourage the employers to shift from their current company-based Group Hospitalisation and Surgical scheme to an enhanced suite scheme.

specifically whether the standard contract, which is a compulsory requirement, between the employers and employees under this accreditation arrangement, will it also be made as a standard in this new regulation? Would he think that more than one rest day per month is considered as adequate rest for the FDW?

Sir, I think it is something audacious that we can study. But MediShield is already portable, so it has benefited a large number of Singaporean workers.

2.00 pm

Thank you, Minister, for sharing the plans on the foreign workers and the various schemes. But I still struggle in terms of understanding how and what we will be going to be doing differently that will raise the quality of the foreign workforce that is coming in. I hear the point about the levy and that forcing some changes in behaviour and more thoughtful planning. But I am struggling to see the correlation in terms of how the quality of the foreign workforce will increase. The other thing that I do not think the Minister did answer is with regards to the cost. What will happen is there is no ability to hire locals to fill these jobs, with the higher levy, it might still translate to a higher cost for the consumers.

Sir, during the Budget debate, I spoke on how the proposed levy changes will bring about improvements in the productivity and the quality of foreign workers. I will just summarise the key points. The important thing to bear in mind is that ultimately, the improvement in productivity and quality of foreign workers will benefit the employers. Employers therefore, must take responsibility for the outcome of the quality of their workers. The Government can only facilitate. We will adjust the foreign worker levy so that there is greater incentive for employers to reduce their reliance on foreign workers. One way of reducing the reliance on foreign workers is to ensure that each foreign worker is able to contribute more, by bringing in better quality foreign workers. We cannot dictate whom they should recruit. We have put it into the system through the foreign worker levy, so that employers will be incentivised and motivated to look for the best quality of foreign workers that they can find to produce better results and create higher value-add.

At the same time, we also raised the skills requirements as Ms Josephine Teo asked just now. Over time, we will raise the skills requirements for foreign workers, so that employers will have to bring in better qualified workers to work in Singapore. We also have widened the levy differential between skilled workers and unskilled workers. By doing so, employers again will have the incentive to raise the quality of their foreign workers. Most of these criteria will affect employers' recruitment decisions to bring in better quality and more productive foreign workers. For foreign workers who are already here, we encourage employers to send them for training and upgrading. If they have been here for five to six years, as the economy and industry move, their skills may have to be upgraded to keep pace with economic progress. Therefore

The foreign workers will not have access to course fee subsidies or absentee payroll, because training is the basic responsibility of the employers. However, the employers can also benefit from the Productivity and Innovation Credit announced by the Minister for Finance earlier. This applies to all training programmes, whether they are for local or foreign workers. It is important for us to send a message to employers that upgrading the quality of their workforce – local or foreign, is their responsibility.

The Ministry of Manpower's main programme, WTS, etc, will focus primarily on Singaporean workers. The infrastructure that we have put in place is also available for foreign workers who are here. Employers should take advantage of the schemes that we provide as well as leverage on the changes in the foreign worker levy to go for higher quality foreign workers as time goes on.

As to the second question which is what happens to the cost of companies as they face higher levy, if they cannot find local workers to replace these foreign workers. I also explained in my speech during the Budget debate that the primary objective of the foreign worker levy adjustment is to motivate employers to reduce dependence, not just simply replacing foreign workers with a local worker. If you replace one foreign worker with one local worker, with no change in skills or productivity, the output will be the same. There will be no improvement in productivity. Instead, we encourage employers to replace either a foreign worker with a higher skilled local worker or just simply reduce the reliance on foreign workers. If a company needs 10 foreign workers in the past, going forward, if they are able to change their way of operation and he needs only eight foreign workers, this will result in higher

we encourage our employers to send their workers for training.productivity. In fact with the improvement in productivity, together with the Government's schemes that we put in place, the cost of the foreign worker levy increase will be more than offset. The improvements in productivity will be long-lasting and it will improve the competitiveness of the company as a whole, not just the workers. We have to be very clear that the objective of this exercise is ultimately to raise productivity, not just replacement of workers. If we simply replace them without changing anything else, productivity will not improve.

(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A *.] Mr Chairman, the construction industry requires a lot of foreign workers, including both skilled and unskilled workers. However, the MOM has decided to reduce the number of unskilled workers. I understand that it is very difficult to get Singaporeans to work in the construction industry. If we do not have enough foreign workers, our construction projects will be delayed. Does it mean that we will have to wait longer for our HDB flats? In addition, the foreign worker levy would also increase the cost of construction projects and we all know that the property prices have already gone up. Will this increase in foreign worker levy cause inflation? Does the Minister have any plans to solve this problem?

Mr Chairman, I will respond in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A *.] I would like to thank Mr Ang Mong Seng for these questions. During the debate of Ministry of National Development’s Budget, the Minister has already mentioned how to improve the productivity in the construction industry. In the next few years, a substantial sum of money will be invested to improve the productivity in the

construction industry. As I said earlier when answering Ms Jessica Tan’s question, the transformation of our construction industry does not mean 10 foreign workers will be replaced by 10 local workers. If that is the case, the process is not changed and there will be no increase in productivity. We have to find other ways, such as automation, mechanisation and the use of pre-fabrication technology, to increase the productivity. If we can do so, then we will not have to depend so much on foreign workers and there will still be savings and productivity enhancement even with the increased foreign worker levy. In addition, the Ministry of National Development has launched schemes to attract more Singaporeans to join the construction industry to do high value-added jobs such as supervisors or high skilled workers. Singaporeans should be able to undertake such jobs. The Ministry has a series of packages to attract Singaporeans into the industry.

My question is on re-employment of older workers for the Minister.

As we talked about this subject in this House yesterday, the concern seemed to be that with the law coming in, employers may try to get rid of their older workers earlier so as not to have to meet up with the requirements under the law. If that happens, then the employment rate for workers, as they approach 60 or 62 years old, ie, those in their 50s, actually goes down, either through people being let off or being placed on contracts that are not renewed.

I would like to ask the Minister whether the Ministry would be monitoring this kind of statistics very carefully, and if necessary, to take stronger measures in these areas to ensure that the employment rate is sustained throughout

Secondly, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would agree that in many western countries and economies, as they see their workforce age and retire, far from wanting to get rid of their older workers now, they have a huge skill- and experience-shortage, which they feel deeply and are now figuring ways of how to get the older and retired workers back to work, and whether this is something that would also happen in Singapore, and which we should then emphasis to employers.

the years that a worker approaches 62 and then to link up with the re-employment Act.

Sir, the tripartite partners have been working very closely over the last two to three years in profiling our older workforce and presenting the values that older workers offer, including experience. In fact, many of the older workers are very patient and they become very good mentors to help the younger workers acquire skills and settle into their new jobs. Older workers have value and we are working together with the tripartite partners to promote them and to make employers more aware of the contributions of older workers.

I am quite encouraged by the employment statistics in 2009, despite the economic downturn. Employment rate of older workers, age 55 to 64 has remained at 57.4%. This is despite the fact that the overall employment rate has softened because of the recession. This goes to show that our employers actually do value older workers. I am encouraged and confident that when we introduce re-employment legislation, employers would continue to support this move. We will continue to monitor the employment rate of workers that are nearing age 62 when re-employment kicks in. In fact, we are monitoring employment rate of those who are 40 years old. If they are out of job between 40 and 50 years old, they would

not be there by 50 years old and 62 years old. We are monitoring what we call, mature workers. They are not old yet, they are just mature and maturing. So we will monitor the employment rate to ensure that they stay employed. The real strategy is to ensure our economy continues to grow and there will continue to be new job opportunities created for both the old and the young. Otherwise, the companies will be facing tremendous pressure to keep their cost low to survive when the economy is not growing. So it is important for us to work together to ensure the economy grows strongly and jobs are created, both for the young as well as the old. We will ensure that we put in place measures to help older workers to remain employable and to continue to improve their employability so that they can remain productive.

Ms Denise Phua, last question.

Sir, I agree with the Minister's vision for the dual purpose of raising the foreign worker levy to reduce dependency on the foreign workers and to induce people to hire higher skilled foreign workers. But in workplaces such as the non-profit nursing homes and adult disability centres where some jobs are shunned by locals and unappealing, does the Minister have any ideas how productivity and innovation can be achieved to address this issue? Will the Minister consider granting any leniency to this group or at least look into this group of non-profit employers?

Sir, as I mentioned in my speech yesterday, we will engage the various industries to explain to them the levy changes and to understand better what are their challenges. I will hesitate to make too many exceptions, because once it is considered that one particular sector has special requirements, I am sure that there will be many sectors that say that they are equally deserving of special

consideration. It is probably better for us to maintain the foreign worker levy framework as a macro- and broad-based system that applies to all industries and sectors. We have differentiation between broad sectors – construction, marine process, manufacturing and services. But within those sectors, while each industry has its own peculiar requirements, it is better to leave it to the various industry champions. For example, for the tourism-related hospitality industries in need of special help and support, STB will be able to look at what other ways they can help them by giving them support incentives, grants as well as training programmes. Similiarly, construction sector has its own different requirements and the Ministry of National Development will also have programmes to help them. For the volunteering sector, for example, it would be better for the Ministry of Health for the health-related organisations, or MCYS to look at how they can more directly, help and support these organisations to achieve the Ministries' respective objectives. This is better managed that way.

2.15 pm

I understand that different industries, businesses or organisations will face different challenges. But it is better for the respective parent Ministry or host Ministry to look at these issues separately and see how best they can help these organisations cope with challenges, not just foreign worker levy, but many other challenges as we move ahead.

Mr Low Thia Khiang. Absolutely last clarification.

Thank you, Sir. In Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Just now I heard the Minister clarifying Ms Jessica Tan and Mr Ang Mong Seng's questions

on foreign worker levy. I was a bit puzzled. The Minister said that he wants companies to raise productivity of foreign workers and upgrade their technology to be productive. He said that replacing 10 foreign workers with 10 local workers is not increasing productivity. I thought that the main purpose of this productivity drive and raising foreign worker levy is to enhance the productivity of Singapore workers so they can earn more. Can the Minister clarify please?

Sir, the point of productivity drive is to achieve sustainable inclusive growth, rather than expanding total labour force. We have to drive it through productivity improvement. Therefore it is important for us to raise the productivity of the entire economy. We have to mobilise the whole nation, everyone included.

We have to bear in mind that foreign workers today constitute about one-third of our overall labour force.

It is like a space shuttle. A space shuttle has three booster engines. If we switch off one engine and run only on two – ie, the local workforce of two million – I think the shuttle will be much slower. It may not be able to run properly and if it is not balanced, it may just run around in circles. I think it is important for us to bear in mind that we have three engines; that we must have all three engines firing so that the shuttle can go as fast as it can.

This one-third of foreign workers in Singapore must also continue to raise their productivity. Otherwise, we will see that the local workforce will raise the productivity, but one-third of the foreign labour force will remain where they are today. The economy will then be lopsided and we will not be able to realise the full potential of our productivity improvement.

Therefore it is important for us to bear in mind that as we raise the productivity of local workers, we must also make sure our foreign workforce's quality and productivity will also be improved. If we are able to achieve this and the economy is growing strongly, the businesses are doing well, we have productivity growth, high value-added businesses, then we will have a lot more to share. Singaporeans – our own local workers – will then be able to benefit from this growth. If we slow down, the economy will slow down and there will be less to share.

To answer Mr Low's point on productivity growth, the ultimate objective is to benefit local workers – Singaporeans – so that they see improvement in their wages. That is stated in the ESC report and also repeated by Minister for Finance during his Budget speech. But in order for us to do so, we have to ensure that local workers' productivity will improve. At the same time, we cannot ignore the foreign workers. They must also improve in order for the whole economy to progress and achieve sustainable inclusive growth.

Sir, the Manpower Minister has his work fully cut out. $2.5 million allocated for MOM's budget. This is a huge investment in our people but the rewards are clear. As skills go up and with productivity raised, our people can earn better wages. The devil, of course, lies in the details and the implementation. But with strong tripartism, I am sure we can move the agenda forward.

Let me take this opportunity, Sir, on behalf of the GPC and other MPs, to thank the Minister, Minister of State, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for sharing with us their vision and their very comprehensive and patient responses; although I am still unhappy with including "OT" under the $1,700, a point which I will continue to raise.

Our thanks also to MOM and their staff for their hard work last year, which was a very stressful year, and for working very closely with the tripartite partners to help support companies and workers.

On this note, Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $956,344,200 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $46,024,700 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

Head Q – Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts

Growing global competitive enterprises

Sir, I beg to move,

That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates to be reduced by $100.

Mr Chairman, Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to kick-start the COS for MICA. I am heartened with MICA's themed approach, given the breadth of sectors that it covers. I am sure that the House looks forward to the Minister's response to our cuts on its Economic, Cultural and Social strategic themes.

One of the ESC recommendations was for Singapore to develop a base of globally competitive local enterprises by growing 1,000 Singapore enterprises with revenues over $100 million by 2020. A common feedback in the industry is that beyond the likes of Creative and even the likes of SingTel, StarHub, SPH and MediaCorp, we have not grown many more globally competitive firms in the ICT and media sectors.

Given the advanced infrastructure such as high-speed broadband, many multinational companies here and the high penetration of Internet-savvy population, we have not been able to grow more $100 million global brands in recent years. With the fact the world is now borderless and that we have a globally exposed, highly-educated population, I would have thought that the current environment presents opportunities for us to create the next Google, Yahoo or eBay out of Singapore. The same way we nurtured the water industry, to help develop Hyflux to be a global player, through innovative projects with the PUB and overseas missions, I would have like to see more industry champions created as MICA looks to strive towards the ESC's economic objectives.

So, how is MICA developing our local companies in the info-communication, media and design sectors? What is MICA doing to help them grow beyond Singapore?

Apart from the GLCs, what is the estimated number of $100 million ICT, design and media companies on MICA's radar? Does MICA have a performance indicator or target of the number of $100 million companies that it plans to grow over the next three years? How many of our local ICT, design and media companies have also responded to grow internationally? What are MICA's challenges to grow such companies?

MTI has a wide, diverse network in key sectors in overseas markets. Will MICA consider letting MTI to take over the industry development aspects of the charter? ICT and design sectors are horizontal sectors that can cut across industries and if allowed to work closely with the other sectors, there may be greater synergy found with other Singapore companies overseas in many

Mr Chairman, I am on to my second cut.

Promoting more 'Singapore-made' works

The challenge with many of our industry development initiatives are that they call for accountability for real, quantifiable outcomes. Sometimes, in an effort to justify Government spending in the areas of the arts and media, we rush for "quick wins".

Sometimes, this may mean justifying supporting movies that have visible commercial value and the use of overseas acting and production houses, rather than attempt to take the less tested path of trying to groom our local artists and production talents. I think that sometimes, for national interests, we have to take that leap of faith in our local talents.

It is hard to quantify national interests in grooming our local talents and productions in terms of commercial returns or value-add. We should promote a thriving local industry and give more room for local talents and Singapore-made productions. The objective is to make Singapore more prominent in the global media map, to establish our own creative identity, for which in some countries equals to promoting a nation's "soft power" or cultural influence.

This is an established concept even in developed countries. Some equivalent initiatives elsewhere include the French and Canadian film industry that have the

I do not think their industry makes huge returns on government funding. Most do not turn out to be blockbusters, but they imprint in our minds images, impressions to provide some understanding of their culture, language and their unique view of the world and its affairs. It is obvious, in this media scene that is dominated by commercial blockbusters and pop hits, one can sense the need to preserve some bits of our uniqueness, culture and identity in our home-grown works.

I recognise the pressure on MICA and MDA following AGD's questions on the effectiveness of its funding for the film sector in 2009. But if MICA is not given the leeway to promote more initiatives and grants that favour Singapore-made works, then who will champion for our local productions? So, I urge MICA to look into providing greater support and funding to develop our local media sector. There are not many financiers out there who will help our local filmmakers, artists and creative talents. We are building our local culture, and many of such works can leave a legacy not just for our children, but for the world out there to appreciate Singapore and our view of the world from our eyes.

I am on to my third cut, Chairman. Effective media competition

One topic of greater interest in recent months has been the bidding war between SingTel and StarHub over the EPL broadcasting rights. This was then followed by the broadcast rights issue with the World Cup.

Although SingTel, which finally won the bid, eventually offered plans at a comparable cost to StarHub's current packages, there is no guarantee that future competitions for key content would not drive up costs for subscribers. We have had many debates in this Parliament on exclusivity of content. Can MICA provide an update on MDA's review of the EPL and World Cup issues, in particular, how it plans to respond to these developments, and whether there are plans to rationalise some of the state of competition to better protect consumers' welfare?

Consumers have also expressed concerns over the inconvenience of having to switch set-top boxes, now that the EPL is offered by a different provider. Are there plans by MICA to move towards a single set-top box environment? This may make it easier for consumers to make choices if there are more players in the market. Would these measures also be extended to equipment such as the exclusivity of products such as the iPhone for example, to selected carriers? I think at the end of the day, such service providers can do more to differentiate in terms of services, plans and prices, rather than hold on to the monopoly of products and content. I think this will benefit consumers in the long term.

different sectors, if they are handled under one umbrella instead of two. Industry development is about business development, business match-making and facilitating financing with venture capitalists or financial institutions rather than about specialist technical competencies or regulation.mandate to develop and product French and Canadian films. The BBC is government-funded to promote specific interests. Even such developed nations find it important to promote their cultures and creative works for the domestic and international markets.

Media industry development

Sir, local films have an important role to play in our effort to build a strong national identity. Governments in other countries, some more subtly than others, have utilised films as highly visible vehicles to rouse feelings of patriotism and instill national pride.

Therefore, I think it is timely for us, at this juncture, to pay more attention to how we can facilitate the creation of memorable, high quality, local films.

Making movies is a highly risky, expensive business. And yet, the only way our film-makers can improve and make good movies is to start and continue making movies.

The governments of China and South Korea know that it is necessary to give their local filmmakers exposure and time to gain experience before they can make an impact globally. Without the support of the state, local filmmakers have very little chance of facing off Hollywood blockbusters at the box office. Both governments enforce screen quota systems which reserve screen time for local films.

I am not suggesting measures such drastic as that for Singapore. But I like to propose instead that we require our cinema operators to screen local short films before feature films. Such short films usually last only 10 minutes. Many filmmakers do start off with making short films. That is where they hold the scales. The exposure will be invaluable to our budding artistes. We will be bringing their works to audiences island-wide. Discussions, criticism and debates that ensue will help them to improve. Over time, a number of them will win supporters and fans and attract collaborators and investors.

Foreign films dominate our screens. Our youths are fed a steady diet of foreign, particularly American, values and attitudes, and their visions for the future. We should have our own voice and tell our own stories.

Initiatives like the New Feature Film Fund launched by the Singapore Film Commission in 2008 are promising. I am particularly happy to note that the scheme also ensures that there is distribution for the finished products, as Golden Village Pictures has signed on to screen the movies.

This year's Budget is providing a tax deduction of 250% on the first $300,000 of R&D expenditures, and 150% on the remaining R&D costs. Investment into creative content like films is like R&D into our national culture and identity. While some films do make commercial returns, so does R&D in technologies and products. So I would like to urge MICA to look into tax relief schemes to encourage private investors to finance our local films.

We should also do more to expose Singaporeans to working opportunities with foreign production teams. A good example is the move "Host 2", the first Korean-Singaporean co-production. Some industry-insiders believe that the recent increase in co-productions has been due to these other countries' interest in the huge China market. They hope that a partnership with Singapore will make their products more acceptable for the Chinese domestic market, and we should leverage on this opportunity.

Finally, I would like to ask the Minister to give us an update on the Singapore Media Fusion Plan with the focus on our film industry and what we can do to help our local filmmakers.

2.30 pm

Competition in the media industry

Sir, the media industry has been undergoing a lot of changes in the recent years, especially where competition is concerned. Much has been said about whether competition is necessarily good in a small market like ours, but the Government has taken large steps in trying to increase the competition in Singapore's media industry.

It is however, in the free-to-air market that most of my concerns lie. MediaCorp remains a monopoly. I am not calling for another experiment in horizontal competition, by introducing another free-to-air broadcaster. We have had already one expensive failed attempt, and Singapore can hardly afford another one. Moreover, the future in horizontal competition lies in satellite, IP TV and cable networks because of the near-infinite bandwidths that these technology platforms offer.

Instead, Sir, I would like to focus on vertical competition. MediaCorp TV is now a vertically integrated entity that distributes through its TV stations, produces through its studios as well as provides the artistes for its own productions. Sir, although vertical integration can create lower internal transaction costs as well as reduce uncertainty in the supply chain, it can also be highly inefficient if there are upstream bottlenecks. In the case of MediaCorp, because it is the monopoly free-to-air distributor, there is one big bottleneck. In this case, MediaCorp has the ability to

Although I understand that MICA has a certain quota of productions that it compels MediaCorp to farm out to external production companies, it is highly incentivised to retain the most profitable productions for itself. It is also highly incentivised, as a vertically integrated profit-making company, to use its own production houses as far as possible as it then internalises the profits rather than having to hire a third-party. This is the same further downstream where it makes sense to use actors and actresses it already has on its payroll, from its own artiste management division, rather than hire artistes from outside the company. In this way, the whole value chain is incentivised towards MediaCorp foreclosing the vertical market, not through conspiracy or malice, but because it makes sense to do so from a business perspective.

Sir, I am not a radical and although after talking to people in the TV production industry, there has been some urging for me to call for the vertical breakup of MediaCorp, I am not about to do so. This would be extremely costly, difficult, and if it fails, we may not be able to put "Humpty Dumpty back together again". Instead Sir, I would like to offer another suggestion, that of the functional separation of MediaCorp and for MICA to regulate this.

Recently, an article was sent to me by British Telecommunications (BT) detailing the case of the functional separation of BT. BT was the first telecommunications firm to functionally separate and there may be lessons we can learn in terms of MediaCorp. What is functional separation? I quote from the article: " 'Functional Separation' is driven by the principles of competition, transparency and non-

Two principles stood out for me in terms of ensuring behavioural compliance: First, different parts of the businesses must follow strict rules when sharing customer and commercial information. Secondly, and this is very important. If a company has been functioning for a long time as a vertically integrated company, it is a Code of Practice for employees to ensure that cultural and behavioural changes take place to support the undertakings of functional separation. How would this apply to MediaCorp? It will entail MediaCorp functionally separating its broadcast network from its production network. This would mean that all production companies, whether owned by MediaCorp or not, have a fair chance, perhaps through a pitch or tender, to put its programmes on MediaCorp channels. If a MediaCorp channel wants to commission the production of a programme, it will need to call for a tender from all production companies, including its own, and award the commission to the best tender. If MediaCorp Studios happens to win the tender, or is the production company, it has to cast artistes from all artiste management companies, as well as freelance artistes, and not only from its own salaried employees. MICA, as the regulatory body, will then have to ensure that there is behavioural compliance.

Sir, the aim of our failed experiment at horizontal competition was to nurture a competitive, thriving media industry in Singapore. I would argue that the functional separation of MediaCorp will go even further and be easier to execute, in achieving this. Production houses are the lifeblood of a media industry and if they were allowed to compete on an equal footing with MediaCorp Studios to get their programmes distributed in Singapore, we would be more likely to nurture good production companies that create content for the international market. It would also be a more efficient use of PSB funding if all production companies can compete equally to produce PSB-funded programmes. We may also see a flourishing of actors and actresses, and even produce our own Michelle Yeoh or Zhang Ziyi, if talent comes to Singapore knowing that they have an equal chance of appearing on our local TV channels, without being signed up by MediaCorp artistes.

I understand that what I am suggesting will take a fair bit of research and resources by MICA, and I do not expect this to happen any time soon. However, I do hope that in its next strategic review of competition in the media industry, MICA can take my views into consideration.

Finally, I would like to turn to competition in the magazine market. I declare my interest as my company prints one title. Sir, I understand that there are over 5,000 magazines in Singapore, both indigenous as well as imported. However, I would like to ask whether MICA has ever conducted a study on the market to see if there are oligopolistic forces inherent in the market, given that there are two big players, SPH Magazines and MediaCorp Publishing. Sir, it is not the number of magazines that is relevant here but the circulation as well as the defined market. The magazine market is not one

Sir, the media industry is one of the backbones on which a national and cultural identity is formed. It is necessary to ensure that it is competitive, as it is only then that Singapore can have a thriving media and arts scene to shake off the "boring" image that we have.

First, the broadcast industry. After the tragically failed experiment in introducing competition in the free-to-air market, the Government has taken important steps to encourage competition in the pay-TV market. Much has been said that the competition between SingTel's mio TV and StarHub Cable TV has so far been destructive and to the detriment of consumers and thus should not be encouraged. I disagree. What we are seeing now is a natural play-out of competitive forces in the short run and although consumers may feel disadvantaged in the short run, in the mid and long run, if mio TV is able to successfully compete with Starhub, consumers will benefit. Together with the MICA's effort to encourage the cross-carriage of channels, and the development of a common platform, I have no doubt that this will be achieved.foreclose the downstream market by being vertically integrated as it is the case now.discrimination. It is a system where a business unit is separated within its parent company without becoming an autonomous company in its own right. It is a form of regulation that seeks to ensure that competitors can use an incumbent's network without fear of discrimination". In this case, MediaCorp's monopoly free-to-air TV channel network. It objectively shows that non-discrimination and transparency exist, giving the regulatory certainty needed to invest; it allows for downstream deregulation by concentrating on upstream enduring bottlenecks.monolith, but segmented. If there are 5,000 magazines, and one company owns most of the biggest magazines by circulation in one market segment, say the women's magazine market, there may still be monopoly power. I thus hope that MICA could take a proactive role to ensure that the print media industry is also competitive.

SingPost

Chairman, Sir, visiting the post office now can be quite an experience ever since the privatisation and subsequent listing of SingPost on the Singapore Exchange. Over the years, SingPost has transformed itself into a multi-service centre instead of just providing postal service.

To those who have not visited a post office lately, let me give them a quick tour. Apart from postal service, you can buy software, computers, cameras, household appliances, and insurance. You can do remittance, get ezyCash, and borrow money from a "guy" named "James". SingPost is even into pawn broking. You can get "Speedcash" by pawning your gold jewellery. If you have no gold jewellery, you can try the outlets in Geylang and Chinatown Point. These outlets accept branded watches. I understand the need for SingPost to move with the times to go beyond providing postal service. I also understand the listed company needs to be proactive in its commercial activities to remain viable and to create value for its shareholders, of which the Government, through Temasek Holdings, is a substantial shareholder.

However, Sir, my concern is whether SingPost is distracted by all these "high value" services and has forgotten its Pledge of Service of providing reliable, on-time, and value-for-money postal service. I received feedback of long waiting time at some post offices for simple transaction of posting a registered mail or even buying stamps. I have also received feedback that letters were not delivered to the correct addresses but to a neighbour's home instead. Such incidents are not uncommon and we cannot always depend on the goodwill of our neighbours to return the wrongly delivered mail.

Recently, to my surprise, even mail posted to a PO box can be delayed by a month or two. I would like to know the role of the Government in regulating postal service and the benchmark it uses to assess the service standard delivered to the public.

Live football coverage

Sir, lovers and fans of football were greatly boosted with the broadcast of football matches telecast "live" from all over the world, unlike the times during most of our school days, where only a few high profile matches had "live" telecast. I recall one such football season where my classmates would come to school looking glum and brooded throughout the day because his favourite football team had lost, such is the fervour of football fans.

The "live" telecast of football matches in general and in particular matches from the English Barclay's Premiere League, games upbig business. Many entertainment outlets from private clubs to sports bars and right down to the neighbourhood kopitiam showing the games "live". If they do not, they stand to lose business to their immediate neighbour who does. This probably explains why SingTel will fork out $40 million in the successful bid

However, even though the changing of hands of the right to broadcast would only take place in the season 2010 and 2011, it is causing a great deal of anxiety, grief and worry. Football fans in Singapore were dismayed, to put it mildly, last year, when they were unable to view Live European Club Championship or commonly known as the Champions' League. But they were able to continue with their English Premiere League games. Come next season, they would have to change their contracts and deal with the unfamiliar setups, bringing grief to many. Well, football fans will, nonetheless, put up with it.

It is big business and interest at stake. SingTel has paid big money to wrestle the rights from StarHub. Although in the initial period, football fans have not lost out the possibility of paying more in future is not guaranteed. It is a commercial decision and commercial operators get in to recoup their investments with a view to generate profit. Consumers may end up paying more. Because of the amount that SingTel had paid for the right to telecast, this is the unwitting effect of FIFA asking Singapore Football fans to pay more to be able to watch football World Cup 2010 from Africa "live".

What can MICA do to ensure the local consumers are not held to ransom with the monopolising of the rights to telecast?

wresting the rights to broadcast the games "live" from StarHub.

Mr Zainudin. Please take your two cuts together.

Impact of bidding war for media content

Sir, the issue of free competition and bidding war for media content like popular Championships and sporting events, for example, the EPL, has become a topic of concern for consumers. Research company, TV Sports

In my view, Sir, unproductive competition is unhealthy. Similarly, the authorities cannot just sit by and watch as an observer. There need to be some degree of regulation to monitor bidding behaviour and protect consumers from possibility of cost spiralling out of control. May I ask the Minister what is MICA's policy on unproductive competition? Are there plans to rationalise future competition?

Digital divide and broadband usage

Singapore has developed an advanced and reliable communication infrastructure and our Government is strongly committed in making Singapore one of the most connected cities in the world. A high quality, progressive telecommunications security regime has resulted in a richly competitive market and all restrictions on direct and indirect foreign ownership within the countries' telecom sector, has been lifted. Experience has proved that given the proper infrastructure, ICT can be an enabler for social economic development.

However, have we done any research on measuring the real impact and benefits of ICT on the commonman to justify the increasing of ICT investments? With an elaborate internet network and excellent infrastructure available to support broadband services, almost 100% of the Internet households have broadband access. The Government has continued to maintain a strong commitment to make broadband internet access widely

Markets, claimed in May 2009 that Singapore is the EPL second most lucrative overseas territory worldwide after Hong Kong. In addition to the inconveniences and the uncertainties that resulted from these competitions, consumers are also worried about escalation of costs and wastage. available to the population, at the same time, lifting the quality of the access. Experts say that broadband-based application have the greatest impact on people, society and businesses. Generally, access to broadband enhances business efficiency, enables swifter product market penetration, promotes greater productivity, creates avenue for rapid exchange of information, improves logistic and delivery systems and facilitates efficient service to customer. Sir, I would like to ask if MICA has enhanced efforts to increase the public awareness of broadband usage and I would like to see more of our Singaporeans benefiting from being connected.

Mr Teo Ser Luck, please take your two cuts together.

2.45 pm

Reaping the benefits of broadband

Sir, like the Member, Mr Zainudin Nordin, I am also very excited about the plans for broadband. It was previously announced that it would reach 60% of the premises in 2010, 95% in 2012 and also there was a vision for a computer in every home by 2015. This would make us all wired up and help position Singapore as a truly technological nation. The benefits are not just for the business sector where it will become more efficient, but also in job recreation. Like the Member, Mayor Zainudin, I think this is going to benefit every Singapore citizen. My question would be, how would the Ministry ensure that every citizen actually benefits from these broadband plans and that we can have access with efficiency and with knowledge. It is good to close the digital divide and it is important also that we be more inclusive to make sure that everybody has access

Helping local SMEs

This year many of the Budget measures were focused on the SMEs. One of the ESC's recommendations was for Singapore to develop a base of globally competitive local enterprises by growing 1,000 Singapore enterprises with revenues over $100 million by 2020. I want to know how would the Ministry actually help those SMEs in the media and digital media sector? It is never easy to spot a winner. I had experienced with several dotcom and digital media companies. Everybody wants to be a Goggle, Yahoo or a Facebook but it is hard to pick a winner. Still we do not want to discourage these dreamers because these dreamers are the ones that can see the future and they can create a company around that. I want to know how the Ministry would help this industry. Although this industry is high risk, it has high returns as well. How would MICA help some of the local SMEs or is MICA going to select some SMEs to provide them with the incentives or seed funding in order for them to succeed overseas and become a $100 million company in many years to come?

to broadband at all levels in all segments of the society.

ICT infrastructure projects

MICA has done well to keep Singapore among the leaders of ICT adopters in the world – bringing innovation to businesses and consumers, as well as investments that provide jobs for Singaporeans.

Can MICA give an update on its infrastructural projects that are being implemented and the benefits that they will bring to businesses and consumers? What can they expect in the near future?

In the previous budget, the Government announced a large expenditure of

One aspect of this initiative was concerned with the open access and therefore the creation of Netco and Opco. However, the outcome of the tenders is that both are subsidiaries of incumbents – SingTel and StarHub. I hope that after spending millions, we are not back at square one with the two big boys. What measures are in place to ensure new entrants to this open access network are not disadvantaged by monopoly or oligopoly? Will the regulator have sufficient powers to intervene quickly in unfair commercial practices, given that the aim is to promote new entrants through this open access network?

On a separate note, the development of ICT by MICA and its agencies can only be as good as its people. To their credit, we have done well. Firstly, ICT jobs are not choice jobs for many young Singaporeans. So how does MICA plan to attract and retain the best talents? With MICA outsourcing many projects to the industry, how does it also plan to retain competency within the Government? For the Government to continue to drive ICT innovation, it must not only be technically competent but increasingly, have a good understanding of the business of Government. And well, the business of Government cannot be easily outsourced.

close to $1 billion for the Next Generation Broadband Network. How does MICA plan to regulate the industry to ensure sufficient competition and lower broadband connectivity prices? How much savings or improvements in performance can consumers and businesses expect when NGN goes "live"?

Chairman, Sir. First, let me first thank GPC Chair, Mr Zaqy Mohamed, and hon. Members who have spoken. Members have made many thoughtful comments and insightful suggestions, some of them delivered at breathtaking

MICA's focus over the past year was to help the infocomm, media and design industries ride out the economic storm, and to prepare for the upturn. Moving forward, MICA will intensify our efforts to boost the skills, innovation, and productivity of our workforce, to contribute towards the growth of globally competitive local enterprises, and to make Singapore a vibrant global city and endearing home.

Several Members – Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Mr Teo Ser Luck, Mr Baey Yam Keng and so on – have enquired on our plans to help local SMEs. Let me first start with the infocomm sector.

To help our local infocomm companies scale up and expand globally, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) plays a key role in establishing G2G and G2B partnerships with key overseas markets. To date, we have about 50 Singapore infocomm companies that are engaged in a number of overseas markets.

We launched the IDA International and the Global Development Centre of Excellence in 2009. The IDA International was launched as a result of many requests from foreign governments to Singapore to help them address and grow their e-government services and we found that IDA was not able to devote the

IDA also actively promotes Singapore-made infocomm solutions through many channels. For example, the National Infocomm Awards (NIA) has been an excellent platform to help firms gain local as well as international visibility. Muvee Technologies was a winner of the first NIA in 2002. It gained international recognition for its work and today millions

In terms of raising workers' skills and productivity, the IDA has put in place a range of schemes together with partners such as the Institute of Systems Science, NUS and the polytechnics, to develop the ICT manpower pipeline. In total, over 400 training courses were endorsed and more than 7,500 professionals had benefited from these schemes in 2009, almost double the number of those who benefited in 2008. To build our pipeline of future talent, IDA has also invested in programmes such as the National Infocomm Scholarships (NIS) and the Integrated Infocomm Scholarships (IIS) that allow somebody who enters the programme at the polytechnic level to continue to university and to be funded for both programmes, the diploma as well as the bachelor's degree. Last year, we awarded 26 National Infocomm Scholarships and 20 Integrated Infocomm Scholarships.

Beyond the infocomm industry, ICT can play a critical role as a multiplier to raise productivity and drive innovation. This is especially so for SMEs. More SMEs are recognising the benefits and they are now investing in infocomm technology. Under what is known as the Infocomm@SME p rogramme, more than 3,000 companies enjoyed subsidies to establish their first company website since the year 2008. Over 7,000 SME participants learnt how to harness infocomm technology through the SME Infocomm Resource Centres. In addition, more than 90 SMEs have transformed their business operations using infocomm technology, with over $6 million in grants from a joint collaboration between IDA and SPRING.

IDA has been working closely with IRAS and SPRING to enhance this Infocomm@SME p rogramme. Starting

Just to give an example of how powerful this can be, Nanofilm Technologies implemented a SAP solution last year to manage its business operations and to improve data reporting. Now, its management has better oversight over its sales, production and inventory as well as data from transactions being entered directly into databases. The estimated savings come up to around $200,000 per year and this would allow Nanofilm to recoup its initial investment in about a year.

The Design Capability Development Programme grooms local designers by supporting their professional development and overseas exposure. Twenty-two grants worth more than $250,000 were awarded last year. The Overseas Promotion Partnership Programme, which co-funds local designers and firms' participation in prestigious international platforms, awarded close to half a million worth of grants last year. Through these efforts, Singapore design and designers have been gaining greater recognition internationally. They garnered 126 awards last year compared to 51 awards a decade ago.

MICA is carefully studying the ESC recommendations, which have highlighted design as a key business capability to raise productivity. We are fine-tuning a

Let me now move on to the media sector which has attracted a lot of attention. Some of the points that are raised I will try and answer now; some relating to national identity, culturally-related issues, I will answer after the next set of cuts.

Firstly, Mr Baey asked about the progress of the Singapore Media Fusion Plan (SMFP), to strengthen the media ecosystem, to create globally competitive companies. Let me just say that the SMFP tries to do several things. One is partnerships; second is funding; and the third, markets. So it tries to establish partnerships – whether it is in co-production, whether it is getting companies to do work here that will allow them to partner our local companies or whether it is to have foreign companies locate here that will be able to employ more of our people and help them upskill their expertise. We have overall made, I think, good progress with SMFP. Last year, we had about 2,400 media professionals trained and more than 1,400 jobs created or supported. International calls for proposals have generated projects with partners from countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea and China. One of the key priorities of the SMFP is to secure media financing, crucial in enabling our media enterprises to expand globally. Despite the economic downturn, MDA attracted another $200 million of private media funds in 2009 and this brings the total media funds anchored in Singapore to $1.3 billion.

3.00 pm

To support the local film industry, the International Film Fund was launched under the SMFP in the middle of 2009. This provides seed funding of up to about $5 million per movie. And among the projects selected is BAIT, which is a Singapore-Australia feature film co-production which will involve two Singapore companies that have expertise in 3D stereoscopic production and post-production services.

speed. So I hope you will allow me and the Ministry time to reflect on them and consider them carefully because many of them are worth much deeper thought and careful consideration. But I will try and group my response to cover three main segments that have been raised by Members. Firstly, promoting the growth of our local companies; secondly, to address the state of development and competition in the media sector; and lastly, to talk about the progress of our ICT infrastructural projects.bandwidth and resources to this effort and so we started IDA International. One year later, more than 10 infocomm-related MOUs have been signed and we have consulting service engagements secured in countries from as far as Trinidad and Tobago to Oman. IDA International works with the local industry, and together they secured about $11 million of projects in 2009, its first year in operations and it expects to do significantly better in 2010. So I would say that there is actually much growth potential for our local infocomm companies. We will want to pursue this pipeline of opportunities in partnership with IE Singapore and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF). This is the model that has been adopted in many industries. Rather than have MTI alone oversee some of these efforts to bring our companies abroad, the sectoral champions in this case, IDA and IDA International for the Infocomm, will work with the Federations as well as with the companies to identify and exploit the opportunities overseas. Many of our local infocomm companies had succeeded in gaining access to overseas markets but SiTF and IDA International will actually need to actively encourage a consortium approach by our companies so that we can exploit the larger overseas opportunities. Members are right in the sense that we do not have many companies that are of that sufficient scale – ST Electronics, NCS, Crimson Logic are some of the names that come to mind – and we need to actively encourage companies to come together so that they together with SiTF and IDA can bid and win some of these projects overseas. of copies of its award-winning home-movie making software, the autoProducer are shipped.from March this year, SMEs can look forward to a wider scope of assistance with what is known as the new iSPRINT scheme. A total of $25 million has been set aside for this scheme, $5 million from IRAS under the Accounting Software Assistance Scheme, and $20 million from SPRING. We expect that this will benefit more than 4,500 SMEs. In the design sector, the DesignSingapore Council has in place several programmes to grow the capabilities of our local designers and design companies. number of design-related initiatives and programmes that will sharpen our competitive edge and we will share more details on a separate occasion due to time constraints.

Such cross-collaborations provide useful opportunities for our local players to work with foreign production teams and to build up their expertise. We also have schemes such as the New Feature Film Fund, Short Film Grant and Script Development Grant, to support local projects that may be less commercially attractive, but have strong social and cultural relevance to Singapore. Films which have benefited from these schemes include the acclaimed film Ah Ma by Anthony Chen, which won the Special Mention Award at the Cannes Film Festival. MDA will study Mr Baey Yam Keng’s other suggestions on how to further enhance support for our local film industry closely.

Bringing companies and projects to market is something that MDA gives great attention to and this is important, because of the size of the local market. It is important that our local companies are able to benchmark themselves and their works against international counterparts. As a result of MDA’s promotional efforts, media content made in, by and with Singapore is now seen in 70 countries around the world. One such example is Dinosaur Train, one of the best-received series on the PBS Kids channel in the United States. It is a co-production between The Jim Henson Company and our very own Sparky Animation. One of the reasons they are working with Sparky Animation is because they use R&D that is developed by Sparky in Singapore that allows them to deliver the project with

Mr Baey also talked about the work that we are doing with Korea and how we can use this to enter the Chinese market. We are also hopeful that we can work with China to produce works that would be seen and viewed not only in China and Singapore but in other parts of the world. There are opportunities, we are growing a certain reputation and we certainly have identified co-production as something that is useful in helping our firms and companies work in partnership with their foreign counterparts.

In addition, our locally designed and built Interactive Digital Media (IDM) applications and services are reaching the world. Last year, I spoke in this House about Garena, an online gaming service provider. Over the past year, it has more than doubled its user base to 32 million users in more than 200 countries.

Some of you may have heard or used buUuk, a smartphone application which uses location-based technology to help users find food and drink spots. Now you will say that for Singaporeans in Singapore we find our way quite naturally. But this is applied in many countries across the world. The last count is about 70 countries worldwide and it helps them identify places and make reservations in various cities worldwide. It was launched at the end of 2008 and buUuk was one of the first applications to implement augmented reality on the iPhone. It has over 100,000 users and was voted by CNN as one of the top applications to have while travelling. This is the brainchild of a local IDM company by the same name.

These are some examples of how our young companies are starting to make their mark on the world stage. Our efforts aim to develop a pipeline of such promising enterprises and to help the

An upcoming development in the media sector is the switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting. This is a world-wide phenomenon and a number of countries have completed or are in the process of making this switchover. ASEAN has committed to do so between 2015 and 2020. We plan for Singapore to transit fully to digital broadcasting in line with ASEAN’s switchover. This switch will free up broadcast spectrum that will allow industry players to develop novel digital content and services. For consumers, switchover means that they can look forward to clearer and sharper wide-screen images and more innovative and interactive content.

The Government is reviewing how best to achieve a seamless transition from analogue to digital broadcasting and will provide further details in due course when we have firmed up our plans.

Let me now address the queries raised by several Members of the House – Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mr Arthur Fong and Mr Calvin Cheng, among others – on the state of competition in the local media market. Arising from the recent contest over the Barclay Premier League (BPL) broadcast rights, Members asked how competition in the pay TV market had impacted consumers. After this, I will speak briefly about the World Cup.

In general, competition in the pay TV market has brought benefits to consumers through the introduction of more content, better quality programming and service innovation. Today, consumers have access to about 179 channels compared

The pay TV market is still evolving. We have not reached a stable equilibrium in terms of subscription to the two pay TV retailers and MDA believes that the overall development of the sector is best left to market forces. Nonetheless, I wish to assure the House that MDA will study competition issues carefully and not hesitate to step in where necessary. We share Members’ concerns with the proliferation of exclusive carriage agreements (ECAs), a commercial practice in the pay TV market that allows pay TV retailers to lock-in premium content. In order to lock out potential competitors and differentiate their content offerings, these retailers are prepared to pay a substantial premium for exclusive rights to content. This translates to higher content acquisition costs for the retailers.

Since SingTel’s entry into the pay TV market in July 2007, competition between SingTel and StarHub Cable Vision (SCV) has resulted in the doubling of ECAs from 64 in December 2005 to 131 today. This widespread use of ECAs between channel providers and pay TV retailers, as seen in Singapore, is rare in international markets. In view of this, MDA had commissioned a study on competition issues in the pay TV market in Singapore which concluded last year. Its review of international practices showed that some countries such as the United Kingdom and France were actively exploring measures to address the issue of competition for ECAs. The United

The study also showed that the ECA-centric competition in Singapore since 2007 has resulted in both industry and consumers being negatively impacted. Firstly, content costs now constitute a significant percentage of pay TV retailers’ revenue, compared to international benchmarks. For example, SCV’s content cost to revenue ratio has risen from 40% prior to 2007 to 70% today. This is much higher than the average 40% for pay TV operators in most other countries including the US, UK and Hong Kong.

Secondly, Singapore suffers from a high degree of content fragmentation compared to other countries. Out of 179 channels today, only seven channels are common to both SCV and SingTel. An international benchmarking exercise that we conducted using a group of 16 popular channels showed that Singapore was the only country with exclusive arrangements for all 16 channels.

MDA’s review has concluded that this situation is unlikely to self-correct in the near future and steps need to be taken to address this market failure. Arising from its review, MDA will now require pay TV retailers to cross carry each other’s content which has been acquired exclusively. Let me explain how this will work when implemented. For example, if SingTel acquires a new channel exclusively, it will have to make this channel available to StarHub’s or SCV's subscribers on SCV’s set-top box and vice-versa. This measure will allow consumers to watch an exclusive channel through their preferred pay TV retailer, regardless of which retailer acquired the rights to that channel and they will access

This mandatory cross carriage measure will only apply to exclusive agreements entered into, on or after 12th March 2010, including renewals of existing exclusive agreements. It is not reasonable to apply such a measure retrospectively and, therefore, it will not apply to existing agreements such as the 2010-2013 BPL broadcast rights.

MDA has launched an industry consultation on the implementation details. This period of consultation will give pay TV retailers sufficient time to make the necessary adjustments and we expect mandatory cross carriage to be operationalised by the third quarter of this year.

Mr Zaqy Mohamed, Mr Arthur Fong and Mr Zainudin Nordin also asked whether the Government plans to intervene in the broadcast of the forthcoming World Cup. Let me just say that I am very happy that the World Cup comes around only once every four years. [Laughter ]. We understand that SingTel and StarHub have recently made a new offer and negotiations with FIFA are still ongoing. This is a commercial matter that is best left to the two pay-TV retailers and FIFA to settle. I know time is running short, we are well into the second half and approaching injury time, but we will remain hopeful that the negotiations will reach a sensible outcome. Let me now address Mr Calvin Cheng’s query on competition in the broadcast and magazine publishing sectors. Let me state upfront that to date,

The decision to intervene in the market must be taken after very careful study and due consideration. And I think when market failure is evident, that gives a strong basis for why the regulator needs to go in. The telecom market as Mr Cheng mentioned, British Telecoms (BT), is somewhat different from what we have here in Singapore in the media sector. BT was under investigation by Ofcom, the regulator in the UK, and they decided on functional separation which, therefore, brought an end to the investigation by Ofcom. It is a slightly different situation that applies largely to what they were doing in the telecom sector.

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MDA is mindful that a vibrant media industry should not depend on MediaCorp alone and we need to build up the capacity and capabilities of the independent production companies.

30% more efficiency than its closest competitor.most successful reach the major milestone of 100 million users or $100 million in revenue. With the support of the National Research Foundation (NRF), MDA will continue to invest judiciously in the IDM sector, to spur cutting-edge innovation and produce world-class enterprises. to 99 channels prior to SingTel’s entry in 2007. They have a range of subscription options and over new platforms like IP and mobile. High-definition content is increasingly available and consumers can catch some Hollywood programmes as early as 24 hours after their US broadcast.Kingdom, in particular, has been studying the issue since 2007 and has to date not issued its final decision due to the complexities involved. Singapore, too, has to carefully consider the implications on commercial grounds as well as our international obligations.available content from a single set-top box. Consumers would no longer require multiple set-top boxes or switch retailers each time the rights of exclusive content change hands. This will facilitate greater consumer access to pay TV content and re-focus competition to other aspects such as service differentiation and competitive packaging. we have no evidence that MediaCorp has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour that warrants functional separation of its business units. But I will add that MDA will not hesitate to take action under the Media Market Conduct Code should MediaCorp be found to engage in such behaviour. As mentioned by Mr Cheng, the House may also recall that we liberalised the free-to-air TV market a few years ago with the introduction of MediaWorks. Market realities showed that the local free-to-air TV market could not sustain both MediaCorp and MediaWorks and this led to their mutual agreement to consolidate.

Our annual PSB funding to MediaCorp stipulates that the minimum number of hours of public service broadcasting be outsourced to these independent companies. This has increased from about 500 hours or 27% of local PSB hours in 2005 to more than 700 hours or about 35% of the local hours in 2009. Since

Likewise, Singapore has a thriving magazine publishing industry. Besides SPH magazines and MediaCorp Publishing, there are close to 100 other publishers in the market. We have no restrictions against publishing or distributing of magazines in Singapore as long as it is in line with MDA's content guidelines for publications. There are currently about 2,600 local and 5,500 imported publications in circulation in Singapore and SPH and MediaCorp account for about 1% of these publications although, I think, we were acknowledged that their publications have been pretty successful and, therefore, command a larger market share.

Mr Chairman, Mr Low Thia Khiang talked about the proliferation of services offered by SingPost, mentioned the service benchmarks and how some of these services may have impacted on its

In terms of quality of service, IDA requires that 99% of the mail collected has to be delivered by the next working day to areas within the CBD, and to the areas outside of the CBD, 98% must be delivered by the next working day. And these are comparable to other countries such as Hong Kong and the UK. As with delivery to the wrong address, to the wrong PO box, we will be happy to take on board some of these specific feedback and get SingPost to address them directly.

SingPost had also decided to move to a five-day week postal service. IDA had, after careful consideration, agreed to this proposal. This will allow SingPost to cap costs and to reap savings, and these savings will be shared in the form of discounted stamp booklets for consumers from 15th May 2010 and rebates for franked-mail customers for a period one year from 1st June 2010. To mitigate any impact of the revision of this collection and delivery on businesses and consumers, SingPost has extended its mail collection times by one hour on Fridays to 6.00 pm for areas outside the CBD and 8.00 pm for areas within the CBD.

Let me move on to ICT infrastructural investments. Several Members, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Mr Zainudin Nordin and Mr Teo Ser Luck have also requested for an update on MICA's ICT infrastructural projects and the benefits they bring to Singapore. One key project is the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network or what we call the Next Gen NBN

To Mr Zaqy Mohamad's query on competition and prices in the broadband market, the IDA has structured the Next Gen NBN to ensure the effective open access through structural separation for the network company and operational separation for the operating company and the RSPs. And so even though Singtel and Starhub are shareholders of the Next Gen NBN operators, the Next Gen NBN operators cannot discriminate against their downstream competitors in favour of their own affiliates. And, in fact, for the Net Co, where Singtel is participating, the lead in the consortium is actually Nexia, a Canadian company. IDA has also conducted an industry consultation with the view to include similar separation requirements in the regulatory toolkit for other players in the telecoms market. Given the open access structure and the prices committed by the Next Gen NBN operators, which are subject to IDA's price regulation framework, we expect wholesale broadband service prices to be competitive. IDA will also monitor service availability indicators closely to ensure that the Next Gen NBN operators continue

Let me share with Members two initiatives that will strengthen Singapore's position as a telecoms hub. The first is the implementation of the neutral Non-profit Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX). We expect the SGIX to facilitate highly efficient routing of Internet traffic. This should attract more telecom carriers, Internet service providers and content and game providers to hub in Singapore and use Singapore for the exchange of international Internet traffic and content posting. This will further reduce broadband access cost and improve our speed of access to content and services, which particularly benefits highly interactive applications like online stock trading and interactive gaming as well as bandwidth-intensive activities like cloud computing. It was incorporated in September of 2009 and it has since received strong support from the industry. Many of them submitted comments on how it will benefit them. Let me just pick out two: Starhub believes that the SGIX will attract richer and more overseas content into Singapore and OneNet Singapore shared that SGIX will enable faster and smoother delivery of high-speed broadband applications and services.

The second initiative is the establishment of a National Authentication Framework (NAF). Online transactions between Government, businesses and consumers are expected to rise, and we need a highly robust and trusted security architecture. Today, consumers often have to use different tokens to access the services of different operators who have deployed their own security systems and you may remember reading, a couple of days ago, problems that some of these tokens have. This has led to some inconvenience for users and varying standards for delivery of authentication services. IDA has worked closely with key sectoral regulators to establish the NAF

Mr Chairman, in conclusion, MICA will continue to build on our efforts to boost innovation and productivity amongst our enterprises and help them expand beyond our shores. We will also promote the competitive and conducive regulatory environment and invest judiciously in infrastructure. This will contribute to Singapore's global competitiveness and create a vibrant economy for the benefit of businesses and consumers in Singapore.

2007, MDA has also started to commission public service programmes directly where production companies and MediaCorp's in-house production units compete to pitch programme ideas to MDA for funding support and MDA arbitrates and decides where to award this funding. Today, some 350 hours of public service programmes have been commissioned. Most of which were awarded to independent production houses. In addition, many TV and radio artistes are not directly employed by MediaCorp. Many of them who appear on MediaCorp's programmes are actually managed by artistes management companies and they are also available to independent production companies. MediaCorp also outsources many complementary activities such as dances or back-up singers and, overall, I believe that there is both business opportunities and healthy competition at the various levels of the media production value chain. quality of service. I think we both agree, and he has mentioned it, that we should allow SingPost the liberty to expand the range of business offerings but we must do so without affecting the quality of service that it provides. SingPost has taken on board the feedback, it now has a separate queue for those who are on their premises purely for postal-related services and the rest of their customers are served on different queues. for short. This will provide ultra high speed broadband access of up to 1 Gbps per second islandwide. It will transform the way enterprises and consumers interact and access information be it for entertainment or commercial purposes. With high-speed network, together with our extensive international links to the multitude of submarine cables that land in Singapore, will position Singapore at the forefront of international high-speed broadband developments. The Government's investment is up to $1 billion and this is expected to capitalise some $3 billion in private investment from the Next Gen NBN operators OpenNet and Nucleus Connect. Rollout of this network is well underway islandwide, I understand they are ahead of schedule and Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Sam Tan, will elaborate on its progress and benefits later. to provide access to their wholesale services on equal basis. which will enhance the security of online transactions through the deployment of a nationwide strong authentication platform. By aggregating demand at the national level, this NAF is envisaged to provide more cost-effective authentication services for businesses. Consumers can also look forward to the convenience of using a single authentication device to access multiple online services.

Cultural diversity and vibrancy

Sir, a city with people from China, Japan, Korea, India, Vietnam, Persia, Central Asia and many other parts of the world. Places of worship for Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Ladies with blonde hair and blue eyes working side by side with locals in taverns, serving drinks, too, and entertaining customers with songs and dance. Is this Singapore? No. This was a scene from the city of Chang'an during the Tang dynasty more than 1,400 years ago. The Tang dynasty was the golden age of Chinese culture and economic development. It produced two of the greatest poets in Chinese history. One of them, Li Bai, was born in a town in Kazakhstan, some historians even believed that Li Bai was not a Han Chinese but a foreigner. An anthology of 310 poems is still the primer for many students of Chinese poetry. The Tang style of writing poems remained a

Sir, the infusion of foreign influence during the Tang dynasty benefited and enriched China for more than 300 years. Singapore today is a cosmopolitan city. When I visited Astoria Park Condominium in my ward recently, I was greeted by Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Finns, Russians, Swedish and even Africans. More than one million foreigners live in Singapore. They come with rich cultures and traditions of their own. I believe they add to the richness and vibrancy of our already colourful and diverse multi-culturalism. Let us seize the opportunity to tap on the cultural diversity of this million of people. Let us be the oasis of the world.

Kotan, a Chinese city in the present day Xinjiang, was one of the important oasis to the silk route traders. Marco Polo described Kotan as the most splendid city in the capital of the kingdom. Singapore sits at the crossroads of East and West. We were one of the oases along the maritime trade routes during the time of

The Renaissance period was a cultural movement that profoundly affected the whole of Europe. It produced great artists like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. With the diverse cultures found in Singapore today, we will be the ideal place for the start of a cultural renaissance for the region. However, whatever we do it must never be at the expense of any culture. We have a healthy respect for the equal importance of each and every culture here. It is a principle that we must not compromise on. We must embrace new cultures while preserving our existing one. Our pursue of cultural vibrancy must follow two guiding lights. First, it must foster unity and promote harmony amongst the various races. Second, we should explore the economic advantage of our cultural diversity. The economic dimension is important and it will ensure sustainability.

dominant style until the earlier 20th century. Tang law codes remained in force until Ming dynasty revised it 600 years later. Printing and gunpowder were two inventions that profoundly affected the emergence of modern works. Why did the Tang dynasty prosper? I believe it was partly because of its open-door policy and tolerance attitude. Through the sea trade and silk routes, Tang dynasty not only benefited from doing businesses with the world but also gained many new technologies, cultural practices, contemporary items and new ideas. Songs, dances and musical instruments from foreign regions became popular in China. Even the foreign concept of chair – here I am referring to the inanimate object of chair for sitting and not the chair as in Chairmanship – was gradually adopted by the Tang. For hundreds of years, Chinese used to sit cross legged on the floor. Such was the openness of the Tang people to embrace new things. Majapahit empire when we were known as Temasek. When we became a British trading port in the 19th century, we were once again subjected to cultural influences of traders and migrants passing through. Sir, can we afford to close ourselves up? There is another lesson for us from Chinese history. China shut its door in Ming dynasty after Admiral Zheng Ho's seventh naval expeditions and remained so until the Ching dynasty. China ended up poorer for it. What happened to the city of Kotan I mentioned earlier? The isolationist policy of the Ming dynasty condemned Kotan to the desert elements eventually buried by the sand. Hence, we need to have policies of enhancing and tapping on our cultural diversity.

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Sir, while most people are supportive of multi-culturalism, there are some critics that claim that diversity is the enemy of unity. History and our experience have proven that diversity, in fact, enriches and unites a society. We should be committed

Nevertheless, multiculturalism may sometimes pose challenges to some members of our society, particularly the young people. They may be confused or have conflict of identities when they are faced with these diverse cultures. Multiculturalism is more than just acknowledging people's particular heritage. It should also recognise that individuals can draw from different cultures in shaping their own identity.

I look to MICA and the Ministry's agencies to embrace and tap on the diverse richness of our many newcomers and make Singapore a culturally more vibrant society.

to supporting the cultural heritage of Singaporeans.

Media, arts and our cultural identity

Sir, MICA is the successor Ministry to the former Ministry of Culture, which was dissolved and re-named in 1985. Although the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts is a name that is technically detailed and accurate, it is nowhere as emotionally evocative as the Ministry of Culture. Sir, in order for our nation to be world class, it not only needs to have a high GDP, world-class infrastructure and be advanced technologically, it also needs to have a strong culture. Hard power makes for an economically developed country, but it is soft power that makes a nation truly great.

Sir, I am concerned with the cultural identity that Singapore will assume as it seeks to be a global city. As Singapore aims to be a global city, it is imperative that Singapore and Singaporeans are aware of what this means, and the cultural identity it will adopt as it takes the world stage along cities such as London, New York and Tokyo.

It is my opinion that, first and foremost, Singapore needs to recognise

Nowhere is this more apparent than in my industry. Media, arts, fashion, advertising are the windows through which a country projects its culture. First, fashion. Every year at every fashion week, we hear declarations of the objective of Singapore becoming a fashion capital and of being a Paris of the East. At every Fashion Festival, Fashion Week or, indeed, any fashion show, most if not all the models used are Caucasians. I think this is ludicrous – we are an Asian city and there is absolutely no reason why in order to look international, the majority of models have to be Western. Again, I reiterate – international is not Western.

Why would tourists want to come to Singapore to see a replica fashion show trying to imitate the runways of the West? Do they also not realise that for an Asian city, a fashion event that is primarily Asian yet international would be more representative of our country and would generate more interest? It is the same with our print media, especially our fashion and lifestyle magazines. Most of the models used on the covers and inside editorials are Caucasians; empirical observation would also reveal that Asians are used infrequently. Even our own home-grown fashion magazines, Her World and Female, use mainly Caucasian models on their covers and in their editorials. It is obvious that, again, our media labours under the false impression that Western is international.

As we move on from the print industry to advertising, again, we see the same

Sir, forgive my frustration, and I find it hard to mince my words. This is just puerile. It is like being stuck in a time warp from our colonial days.

After speaking to some of my colleagues in the media and event industries, there is an assertion that the content-providers are catering to the tastes and mindsets of consumers who want to see Caucasian faces, given that they are seen to be more glamorous. I refuse to believe this, as believing this would mean that Singaporeans are still stuck with this puerile, colonial hang-up. Even if this were so, the vicious cycle needs to be broken, otherwise Singapore will never be a first-class global city, but only a second-rate "wannabe" Western city.

What is happening in our fashion and media is, I think, a manifestation of something deeper in the Singaporean psyche. Maybe we think as a young nation, we do not have our own culture and we need to ape others. I think this is false. We may be a young nation but the constituent cultures of our nation are old. The Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures are hundreds if not thousands of years old. And for almost 200 years since 1819, these cultures have interacted, together with European culture, to form a unique "rojak" that one cannot find anywhere else in the world. It may be a "rojak" culture we have, but it is ours, let us embrace it, let us be proud of it, because it is our own. We do not always have to look outwards for inspiration in

As we work towards being a global city, I think it is imperative that we create a first-class Asian and international city, and not a second-rate Western city, a pale imitation of the original. We can continue what I see as our current obsession with Western content, Western media, Western ideas and import more of these, or we can have a healthy blend of East and West that creates a uniquely Singaporean cultural identity. To do the former would be foolish and stunt our growth into a matured society. Only the latter route would offer Singapore and Singaporeans a chance to establish a permanent and unique role in the world.

I believe that MICA has an important role to play in all of this. It may have lost its name as the Ministry of Culture, but it is in fact our de facto Ministry of Culture. Sir, it is my opinion that MICA's role nowadays is greater as a facilitator and a regulator. This is not enough. It needs to be an influencer. Regulating the hardware and technology is a necessary but insufficient condition for building up Singapore's soft power. It needs to step up, step forward and start setting an agenda on how Singapore's culture can be grown, how we can draw from the richness of our "rojak " culture, embrace it, be proud of it, so we can truly grow as a nation, and create a Singapore that we have an emotional connection to. For at the end of the day, the ties that bind a nation are not material, but emotional and spiritual, and what will make Singaporeans stand up and be counted, what will make Singaporeans pick up a rifle and sacrifice his life, is not to protect our bank accounts but because we have created a way of life, a culture and a nation we want to preserve and protect. And even if we are small, let us not forget the great city-state of Venice of the ninth century

that being a global city does not mean being a Western city; globalisation also does not mean westernisation. Singapore must understand that no matter how globalised or modernised it may still be, it is still an Asian city. International recognition will not come from aping the West.syndrome. I have here three print advertisements from two department stores, Robinsons and OG, and from a bank OCBC [indicating]. All were from yesterday's Straits Times. Here, we see the two local department stores using Western faces to push their fashion retail and a local bank using a variety of Caucasian models to urge Singaporeans to get a card they "must have".our media, arts or fashion, as I truly believe there is enough richness and substance in what we already have inside us.which existed for 300 years as a state not only at the nexus of trade and commerce but also as a cultural influencer in the region. We have been well known to punch above our weight economically. I am convinced we can also punch above our weight culturally. MICA needs to influence, not just regulate, project not just protect, and in order to do this more resources are needed. I find it highly ironic to call for this in what is termed as a "cut", but I call for more funds to MICA to take on, or rather re-take its role as our Ministry of Culture. Otherwise, to echo the words of Ms Denise Phua, we can be a prosperous nation, but never a great one.

Promoting reading and writing

Sir, unlike the Singapore Arts Festival, the Singapore Writers' Festival has yet to register in the mind of the public as an important cultural event. We should refresh our Singapore Writers' Festival, and raise its profile to put it on Singapore's cultural map. It should be a festival as much about ideas as about writers. And the ideas should not merely be of the literary variety, but cover the range from political commentators and economists to newspaper columnists and historians.

The festival should also be a celebration about books and all that all goes into their making and enjoyment – readers, story-tellers, bookshops, publishers big and small. To reflect this, I would suggest renaming the festival to the Singapore International Book Festival. It should be a platform to showcase Singapore's thinkers and writers and expose them not only to Singaporeans but also to the region and the world, and vice versa. Newspapers, bookshops, publishers and libraries should also play an active role at the festival. We should not forget that all writers begin as readers. And readers sometimes begin as listeners.

I must confess that I discovered the lyrical beauty of the poems by Edwin Thumboo only when I heard him read his work at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last year. Had it not been for that session, I would not have felt a connection with the poet, even though I am a strong supporter of Singapore writing. That is the magic of a book festival.

At our bookshops, Singapore books are generally not as well marketed as the international ones. It takes some effort to search out good local writing.

We should use the festival to make it easier, and to spark the public's interest in our own literary legacy. The festival should allow ample interaction between writers and audiences through debates and workshops. There should be an explosion of activities to encourage reading for pleasure by young and old alike.

My wish list for the Singapore personalities to be featured at such a book festival will include people like Lee Kuan Yew, Kishore Mahbubani, Tommy Koh, among others. All authors – each with a unique voice. Writers of cookbooks could be featured, after all everyone in Singapore is interested in food. Also humour writers – why should the book festival be all serious? That should get some buzz. The buzz should extend to the heartlands. The community involvement will give the book festival a sense of purpose. To do this well, the festival needs a bigger budget. I should declare my interest as a published author, although I have been speaking up on such issues for many years now.

It seems to me that if our book festival wishes to not just survive but thrive, it needs to ask what to make it essential to the nation. I urge MICA to work at its transformation, so that our literary and intellectual scene can also be transformed.

I propose to take the break now.

Thereupon Mr Deputy Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 4.00 pm.

Sitting according suspended

at 3.42 pm until 4.00 pm.

Sitting resumed at 4.00 pm

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

Head Q (cont.) –

Sustainability and talent development

Sir, before the break, Mr Calvin Cheng called passionately for MICA to be allocated more budget to carry out its work on culture. I reiterate that call but, firstly, I would like to welcome the proposed increased budget for MICA in this coming year's Budget. It is a sign that we are paying attention to the "softer" aspects of Singaporeans’ lives and our quality of life.

I would like to address one main theme – the sustainability of the arts, culture and creative sector. Specifically, I will talk about arts, culture and the media sector. The ESC has articulated our aspirations to make Singapore the "best

Such aspirations to be an endearing home go beyond economic measures of success, to touch on the more intangible aspects of life. Indeed, to sustain the arts and cultural sector, we have to look beyond economic measures. We have come a long way since the Renaissance City report of 2000. It is now time for our policymakers to look towards deeply rooting arts and culture – including heritage, ethnic customs, cuisines, social histories, artistic works – in our people and society. To be a global arts city, we cannot simply import big foreign shows and blockbuster exhibitions; we must have pride in our own artistic works in order to anchor our legitimacy as a culturally vibrant city. The rooting of arts and culture cannot be mandated by Government although Government support is crucial for it to take off. It happens through the people – by the actions of citizens, artists and creative people; by scholarship and research; by presenting our social, cultural, and artistic history to the public; by continually creating new work; by encouraging our people to appreciate local content. The question we now face is, how can Government support facilitate such people’s activities so that they can have a deep impact?

To build up our cultural confidence, talent development, I would say, is crucial. The Budget emphasises continual training and education for our people. How can we translate education and training into the creative sectors? How does education and training help to sustain the sector and develop more and stronger local content in all areas – from visual art to film, the performing arts, design, music, fashion?

I would like to suggest a few strategies for investing in talent

At the same time, we should aim to create an atmosphere amenable for creativity and, here, censorship plays a part. While there has been a lot of liberalisation over the past decade, both local and foreign talents in the creative industry remain concerned about the long-term impact of an overzealous curtailment of content. Recently, concerns have been

Another strategy to sustain the sector is to look at how MICA can best nurture and support arts groups, companies, individual artists, creative talents, and strive for the next stage of their evolution – in a similar way to how SMEs are being encouraged to develop their businesses and take the next big leap. For example, through the Renaissance City Funding, we already have some flagship arts companies, such as The Necessary Stage, Singapore Dance Theatre and TheatreWorks. What is the next stage of their development? And, how can we nurture more artistic and cultural leaders to take us to the future?

Cultural leaders would be important as Singapore strives to be a vibrant, global arts city. They may be artists, artisans, designers, business owners, managers. They create cultural capital, inspire others in the community, inspire the public and can be a focus for civic pride. They can also drive new initiatives to improve the sector. An example of a cultural leader cited in a research report that was entitled "The Artist as Leader" – the research was carried out by a British university – it cited the conductor Daniel Barenboim. The author said that he "demonstrated leadership in three ways". First, as a conductor, he leads musicians. As a pianist, he leads through the "sheer quality of his work". And, finally, he even leads in the socio-political-cultural sphere as a co-founder of West Eastern Divan, an orchestra of young musicians from Israel, Palestine and Arab countries, which builds bridges among the peoples of the Arab-

In our own backyard, we also have had cultural leaders, such as the late Kuo Pao Kun who inspired many with his dramatic works and teaching. Today, we have directors like Alvin Tan and Ong Keng Sen who are respected locally and internationally. Ong Keng Sen has demonstrated his leadership through programmes such as The Flying Circus Project, which creates dialogue among artists from east and west, between traditional and contemporary. He also led the setting up of Arts Network Asia, which supports inter-Asian collaborations. So how do we groom more capable people with the X-factors of passion, talent and the capacity to go above and beyond? What do we need beyond scholarships and bursaries? In this light, I would also urge the Government to trust the people who work on the ground, to give them the support to do what they do best.

Another way to sustain the practice is to invest in artists' research. Experimentation leads to new discoveries, and deepening knowledge leads to better quality work, and such research should be supported and it can happen in different institutions, in the education institutions, at an individual artistic level, and in private institutions like the Theatre Training and Research Programme (TTRP).

It is also important that we continue to create channels for young people to enter the creative sector from school, ensure they have access to continuing professional development and training, and, more importantly, keep our talents working in the sector. In the film and broadcast industry, I have received feedback that it is crucial now to develop talents for top-tier and specialised positions, such as cinematographers, editors, lighting grips and so on, and not just rely on the foreign collaborators in our

There is also the challenge of sustaining arts and cultural businesses, such as commercial arts promoters, galleries, auction houses and so on. Currently, the cultural events field is dominated by the museums and the Esplanade. The Esplanade brings in artistic acts as well as commercial artists such as world-famous musicians. Because of their mission to make the arts accessible, the Esplanade does not charge market prices for tickets. Unfortunately, this creates an unbalanced playing field because commercial promoters cannot match the same pricing level. For example, at the Esplanade, the tickets for world-famous musician Branford Marsalis are priced from $40 to $100; in comparison, a private promoter bringing in a lesser-known musician, Imogen Heap, has charged tickets between $68 and $148. Private promoters bring variety to our landscape and offer more consumer choices, and I hope that the Minister could comment on this.

It is important for us to look at boosting the entire ecosystem of the cultural and creative industries, from training of talents to the sustaining of enterprises and carving a place for arts and culture in Singaporeans’ everyday lives.

We need to do this to promote local content and nurture the appreciation of local content among Singaporeans through the schools, through our festivals and through collaboration between different institutions, both private and public.

In promoting local content, the mass media also plays a large role. In this light, can we ask MICA to expand the range of KPIs expected from MDA-supported TV

The most dynamic "arts cities" in the world thrive thanks to a combination of state, private, and people support, and I thank MICA for continuing to support the arts and culture in Singapore and I look forward to more enlightened policies.

home for talent" and an "endearing home". Arts and culture are a cornerstone to ensure that Singaporeans, no matter where they are, have a compass point for their identity.development. First, continuing support for arts groups, organisations, businesses, and individual creative talents – whether in the form of arts housing, provision of studios, direct grants, or programmes to encourage the appreciation of the arts by the public. Here, I have to declare my interest as I work in a non-profit arts company. But more than that, there should be support for risk-taking and policy-makers need to better understand this. There is always risk in content creation. I think Mr Baey Yam Keng had referred to this earlier. We cannot predict the success of a film or an art project. An example: back in 1997, who could have expected the TheatreWorks’ production of King Lear, which featured a cast from all over Asia, to make such big waves internationally? It was written about and studied by academics locally and overseas, and today it is still being discussed. In film, our funding schemes tend to be aligned towards investment with expectation of financial returns, and this could be disadvantageous to filmmakers with different stories to tell or alternative ways of telling them. Let us not be afraid to find a fresh paradigm to develop the capability of artists and arts groups in content creation. Mr Baey earlier also suggested a fresh idea – the idea of some kind of tax deduction for investments in non-commercial films. From what filmmakers tell me, a lot of Singapore films tend to be niche, non-commercial. In fact, they are artistic films and sometimes cannot be easily pigeon-holed into funding schemes that rely more on commercial returns. expressed by the arts community that censorship regulations are not sufficiently transparent and clear. It is therefore timely for the Government to hold a censorship review which was announced last year, particularly now when all kinds of content can be accessed online.Israeli world and offers an alternative model for dialogue in the region. co-productions. We should aim such that it is our professional standards that attract collaborators and co-producers from around the world. productions to emphasise creative quality and production quality rather than seeking direct financial returns? And just as importantly, can MICA help to improve the professional standards of the broadcast and production industry? How are those companies going to be sustained in the long term? I hope that MICA would consider a review of the broadcast landscape.

School of the Arts

Sir, after operating for the past three years at the temporary campus at Goodman Road, the School of the Arts' (SOTA) $145 million campus in Bras Basah was officially opened early this year. SOTA now has a huge advantage of being a purpose-built facility to accommodate all the art forms. I was told that SOTA currently has about 580 year 1 to year 4 students, 200 of whom are in the first year.

As art education is widely perceived as a niche in Singapore, can the Minister give us an update on the development and progress of SOTA? What are the unique and distinctive characters of SOTA that makes it different from other arts schools here and around the world? How does SOTA intend to achieve excellence for its programmes and the students that it produces?

Sir, sometimes I feel that we do not have enough Singapore talents that dare to dream, be different, willing to step out of their comfort zones to pursue a passion or step into an unchartered territory. That makes the talent very scarce here and it is a scarcity. As such, these are precious gems that we

cannot afford to lose if we find them. And I think SOTA is within that unchartered territory, trying to nurture these talents, and it is an excellent opportunity for students to mix studies and also to maximise their talent to the fullest. Such talents need time to nurture and their skills need time to hone. I had the first-time experience of watching a performance by a SOTA student. Her name is Sherry Low, she played the piano and she sang as well. The power of her vocals was fantastic. She reminded me of Alicia Keys. I thought that if all students in SOTA had that kind of talent and ability, I think we should help them to realise their dreams. I want to know from the Ministry what can we do to let them continue with their pursuits after they graduate from SOTA so that they can continue and retain their talent. Maybe, in the future, we will see one that wins a Grammy and also makes a good living.

Sir, I am pleased to read how well SOTA is doing. The school started with its pioneer batch in 2008 with 139 students and it has grown to 586. Feedback that I get from parents and students who enrolled in SOTA are that they are seeing less of their children, less of their kids. This is not because of the workload that is keeping the students back in school. It is because of the intense passion from both the students and the instructors that provide that "mojo" or motivation that keeps them back in school for longer hours.

Sir, there is a waiting time to get into the school and some have likened it to a queue for a flat. For the 200 places for the first year, a thousand students auditioned for it. I understand that it is not the intention of SOTA to be like a machine to churn out professional artistes. Perhaps only about 2%-3% of the cohort will go on to be professionals in their chosen art form. The other

students will continue their education journey in universities or polytechnic, with a strong base in the arts. I would like to ask MICA the following: what is SOTA's progress towards preparing the majority of the students via the choices of classes for the IB Diploma? Can the Minister also tell us or elaborate on the pathway of the SOTA graduates in regard to how they can further their training and their studies? Is SOTA tying up with NUS or NTU to have degree courses to allow the students to draw on the arts training base that they have gained at SOTA? This would go far towards adding to the professional base for the arts industry. Would SOTA also consider taking in mature students who otherwise would have missed the opportunity of attending the arts school?

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Mr Chairman, I thank hon. Members who have spoken for their strong support in the development of the arts and culture in Singapore, and because the Minister for Finance has just come in, I also want to thank Members who have spoken very loudly that MICA should be given greater financial support [Laughter ]. Thank you very much.

In reponding to the Members, I want to eleborate on how arts and culture has and can enhance Singapore's liveability and contribute to our vision for Singapore to be an endearing home and leading global city in the heart of Asia.

To become a leading global city, we need to move beyond our established strengths and economic development, governance and infrastructure. One area where we need to further improve on, when compared to the top tier of global cities, is in the arts and culture sector. To this end, the Economic Strategies Committee have recommended that we make significant investments to better our

Mr Chairman, MICA will focus on three areas in 2010. First, we will conduct a strategic review in the development of the arts and culture. Second, we will invest more in distinctive content creation and capability development, particularly in the traditional and literary arts. And, third, we will broaden and deepen community engagement.

The seminal work of the Advisory Council on the Arts and Culture (ACCA) in 1989, led by then Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong, mapped out the blueprint for the development of the sector. It made a number of key recommendations – improvement in organisational structures to the education system, to infrastructure and facilities as well as greater promotional efforts for the arts and culture. New and upgraded museums, the Esplanade and the new library, are among the most tangible outcomes of that study, but it is more than that. It has helped us better appreciate the importance of the arts and culture, to broaden our minds and deepen our sensitivities, to improve our overall quality of life, to contribute to a more culturally vibrant and gracious society and to strengthen our social bonds and emotional rootedness.

Over the years, we have initiated a number of plans to bring to life the vision of the ACCA. More recently, these were encapsulated under the series of Renaissance City Plans (RCP) from the year 2000. Its key strategies were directed towards the focused areas of developing distinctive content, shaping a dynamic ecosystem and growing an engaged community. The RCP contributions were felt beyond our society as it also sought to internationalise our arts and cultural activities and to explore arts business as a new growth opportunity. The RCP was supported by a number of

Sir, from time to time, a thorough re-evaluation of our strategies is useful as we aim for the next quantum leap to distinguish our arts and culture from that of other emerging global cities. With this purpose in mind, MICA, together with our partners from the private and people sectors, will embark on a major arts and culture strategic review for Singapore's cultural development. Our overall goal is for twice as many Singaporeans, from 40% to 80%, to attend and benefit from at least an arts and cultural event per year by 2025. We also want to encourage participation by Singaporeans in the arts from the current 20% to 50% over the same timeframe, and this will include learning or taking up an arts activity in their personal time or volunteering their time and their talents in support of the arts.

The main focus of this strategic review will not be on major infrastructural development although there is still some work to be done in this area. Rather, the Steering Committee will take the broad recommendations outlined in the Economic Strategies Committee report,

Let me, first, thank Ms Audrey Wong for her thoughtful comments and suggestions as to what more MICA can do to nurture and grow our artists and arts groups. I will try to address some of her points here.

I think over the years, we have grown a base of established and up and coming artists and arts groups. A number have started to gain international repute, some of them with the support of National Arts Council (NAC). Going forward, the NAC will refine its current support schemes to develop a suite of capability development tools that will be more targeted to the varying needs of artists and arts groups according to their stages of development. But we also need to look beyond the individual artists and the individual art groups to see how we can groom organisations, like professional and industry associations, and what roles these can play in developing and professionalising the sector through research, through training and collaboration, because I think it is extremely difficult for some of these groups and individuals who are already so busy on a day-to-day basis to put time aside to look at research, to look at how they can collaborate and build capacity across the industry. Ms Wong spoke about talent development and allowing room for

The NAC has invested heavily in capability development and training. In 2009, grants increased from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Eighty-three recipients in 2009 benefited from $1.6 million worth of local and overseas scholarships and bursaries, including post-graduate scholarships for continual education and training. There are also other programmes, such as the International Arts Residency scheme where our artists can hone their craft at the prestigious Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin and the Parisian theatre school, Ecole Phillippe Gaulier, amongst others.

Many past beneficiaries of these schemes – Lee Huei Min, Noorlinah Mohamed, Donna Ong and Brian Gothong Tan – have gone on to make valuable contributions and continue to do so to the Singapore arts scene. Overall, these schemes have been important in developing thought leadership, some research talent, capabilities for discourse and criticism, and raised the overall quality and professionalism of practitioners and those in supporting industries.

We also need to make sure that we have sufficient capacity in the technical and managerial spheres. To meet the need for professional arts managers, NAC partnered the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) on the Professional Conversion Programme for arts managers in the middle of 2009. NAC will build on these initial efforts and work closely with partners like the WDA, arts organisations and educational institutions to provide more opportunities for continuous

Ms Wong is right that the sustainability of this sector requires an ecosystem, not only of artists and arts groups, education institutes and researchers, but also for-profit arts companies. These for-profit arts companies play an important role in the long-term sustainability of the sector and contribute much to other economic sectors, such as tourism, entertainment and hospitality. I will speak on the role of the Esplanade a little bit later in the reply. But just to continue with this for-profit organisations, they help provide diverse career opportunities and facilitate skills transfer between the non-profit and for-profit sectors. It is therefore important that we have an environment that is conducive to the growth of these companies. To this end, the recent tax initiative by the Finance Minister to reduce Withholding Tax will help and NAC will work with the Economic Development Board through the City Alive! initiative to better cultivate such companies and to facilitate linkages between the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Let me move on to to speak about community engagement. Dr Ong Seh Hong commented that new migrants bring with them diverse and colourful cultures, arts and traditions, that we need to remain open, that we need to have the principle of including them even as we open our doors, and that is the right thing to do because they can contribute, as he has said, significantly toward building a culturally vibrant and engaged Singapore.

Such new cultures, arts and traditions add colour and vibrancy to our society and help Singapore become a distinctive global city. Over the years, some of these migrants who are arts practitioners have integrated with the local community and enriched our local arts scene with their experience and expertise. Brian Seward is

The NAC plays an active role in promoting social cohesion, strengthening community bonds and mutual understanding of diverse cultures through the arts. Under the NAC's Arts for All programme, examples include the Arts Community Tours, which is a touring programme which brings performances and exhibitions to the various constituencies. It also puts together the District Arts Festivals, which is a collaboration between People's Association (PA), Community Development Councils (CDCs) and NAC, and this creates opportunities for interaction between communities and are showcases, on the ground, for a variety of artistic talents. We know through anecdotal accounts that some of these new migrants are already involving themselves in these arts and cultural activities at the grassroots level. NAC will continue to work with community partners to generate more opportunities for increased community participation and integration. This Arts for All programme that was launched in 2008 has so far reached out to more than 200,000 participants, many of them first-timers, through more than

cultural landscape, especially in the software aspects. initiatives like the Heritage Industry Incentive Programme, the Arts for All Community Engagement Plan and the Arts Creation Fund to grow Singapore's trove of high quality, distinctive, artistic content. All these efforts have contributed to the development and increased vibrancy of our arts and cultural sector. Today, we have a daily average of 80 arts and culture related activities, 2.5 million visitors to our national museums and 1.5 million ticketed attendance at arts events annually. The number of Singaporeans attending at least one arts event a year has increased from one in three in 2005 to two in five in 2009. And the number of Singaporeans who are learning or taking up an arts activity in their personal time or volunteering their support for the arts has doubled from just one in 10 in 2005 to two in 10 in 2009. crystallise concrete strategies and propose major initiatives to realise the vision. For example, it will recommend the place making efforts necessary to develop socially and economically vibrant cultural precincts. It will also identify concrete strategies to mould distinctive peaks of excellence that would differentiate and distinguish Singapore as a global city and chart comprehensive talent development pathways that could nurture the creative capacity of people at all levels, from casual practitioners to star talents.experimenting and risk-taking. I agree with her. The NAC launched the Arts Creation Fund in 2008 to encourage artists to forge new artistic frontiers, to engage in experimentation and risk-taking without excessive financial pressures. To date, some 20 projects by established but also young, emerging artists and writers have been supported. professional development across the arts sector. one example – he is the Founding Member and Artistic Director of I Theatre Ltd. Liu Bin is another one – he is the composer and director of Liu Bin Cultural Arts. Seward came to Singapore, I think, about 15 years ago, he used to be Head Drama Examiner of the schools in the UK, and he has been in Singapore over the last 15 years teaching drama, writing, directing. He puts together family-oriented plays that are very well received, about three to four plays each year, and he is someone who certainly has enriched the cultural scene in Singapore. Liu Bin is a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He has been in Singapore for more than 18 years already and is currently the conductor of many of the orchestras in our schools. 400 activities. I understand that drumming and ceramic workshops alone attracted 800 senior citizens. Such interactive activities help also to bring artists to the community, allowing the community on the ground a chance to appreciate their works. And so for 2010, we are continuing with this programme and some 20 arts programmes have already been planned. Our outreach to the youths is equally important and it is through avenues like Noise Singapore, which is a platform to showcase young talents. Because Noise Singapore is also a partner of Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics Games, our youths are excited to have the chance to be seen and heard by an international audience come August. Heritage institutions are yet another avenue where we reach out to local communities and connect with new migrants and residents to facilitate their integration into Singapore society. Institutions like the Malay Heritage Centre, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and the upcoming Indian Heritage Centre are important. They help showcase and promote understanding of Singapore's diverse multi-cultural heritage and present Singapore's cultural and historical links to the wider region. Building connections, integrating new residents in our midst and fostering cultural understanding between different communities will widen the common space for all and help to strengthen our Singapore identity.

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Another example is the annual Singapore Heritage Festival that is organised by NHB to celebrate our nation's rich multicultural heritage. It draws Singaporeans from all walks of life, certainly including new citizens. And many have been forthcoming with their

Mr Calvin Cheng, Ms Audrey Wong and Mr Ong Seh Hong have spoken on our cultural development and its part in building up Singapore's national identity. The two are symbiotic. A nation's culture and its expression through the arts and other creative fields help shape its sense of identity and its distinctiveness. Ms Wong also asked the Government to do more in developing and furthering the appreciation of local content and expressed that this requires a more

He is right to say that we need to strike a balance and we have to send the right signals. At this stage, I believe we can be quietly confident of our cultural identity. Singapore's place in history and in the future at the heart of a thriving Asia has always been as a confluence between East and West, multi-cultural in its makeup and cosmopolitan in its outlook. As we take steps to strengthen our position as a global city, it is wise not to be too inward-looking. Our doors are open; we welcome the rest of the world as we hope that our artists, designers, models, filmmakers and others will be welcomed overseas. Singapore has a thriving publishing industry – I mentioned it in my earlier

The Esplanade, mentioned earlier, does its part in this area. Its programming focus has been to cultivate interest in Asian culture through festivals such as Huayi (Chinese festival of Arts), the Pesta Raya (Malay) and the Kalaa Utsavam (Indian) so as to strengthen our communities' sense of cultural identity. In fact, the majority of performances presented by the Esplanade are by local groups. Of ticketed performances in FY2009, 321 or 68% were by our local groups and for non-ticketed performances, about 1,500 or 81% were by own local groups.

Let me now touch on the literary arts. Powerful, incisive language brings essential truths to life. It conveys depth of meaning, passion. It resonates, it spans time and cultures and it has the capacity

SOTA is well received by both parents and students. Last year, 1,000 auditioned for 200 places in the annual intake. And admission at Secondary 1 is through the MOE Direct School Admission (DSA) process. We accept older individuals seeking to transfer from their secondary school into SOTA and they may do so after auditioning at the SOTA Talent Academy which is held every March and June. SOTA offers a six-year programme, comprising four years of school-based curriculum leading up to the International Baccalaureate (IB) in Years 5 and 6. The first cohort is expected to take their examinations in 2012. And because the IB Diploma is an internationally recognised qualification, SOTA students, upon completion of the IB, can expect to enter higher institutions of learning of their choice – be it arts conservatories to further their artistic development or universities in Singapore or abroad.

SOTA's unique proposition lies in the pedagogy which makes meaningful connections between the arts and academic subjects to provide an enriched learning and teaching experience for those who are talented in the arts. The distinctive curriculum and learning environment have attracted highly-qualified teachers with teaching and industry experience, and prominent artists, into SOTA's arts faculty as well as full-time practitioners who teach on a part-time or adjunct basis, such as Cultural Medallion recipient Lynnette Seah. In addition, SOTA has established partnerships for faculty and student exchanges, curriculum development and

support. But better than that, it provides opportunities for new citizens to join long-time residents in performing at the various hubs, and helping out at the many exhibitions and activities organised as part of the festival. As part of MICA's effort to broaden and deepen community engagement in the appreciation of the arts and culture, I am pleased to announce that beginning in June 2010, citizen and PR students will enjoy free entry to permanent exhibitions as well as discounted rates for special exhibitions in the museums under NHB. We hope that, as is the example in other countries, this will inculcate an early appreciation for heritage and make the museums more accessible to the young. Ultimately, one tangible outcome of our various outreach efforts is a more engaged community. In an engaged community, individuals and organisations will seek ways to come forward to get involved, to volunteer, to contribute. To help drive MICA's efforts in this regard, the Arts and Cultural Development Office recently launched "give2arts.sg", a cultural philanthropy portal that makes it convenient for the public to lend support to arts and culture through donations, big and small, and, in particular, for Singaporeans to volunteer in support of a range of arts and cultural programmes. And we urge more Singaporeans to come forward to do so.pervasive approach across multiple platforms. We do this by commissioning and featuring local creators and content at domestic and international platforms. International platforms are important because they spur our artists to higher standards. They build our reputation as a global arts city. For example, visual artist Ming Wong received a Special Mention award at the 53rd Venice Biennale. At the invitation of the Edinburgh Festival 2009, the Singapore Showcase, which featured many of our artists including Mr Edwin Thumboo, as mentioned by Ms Irene Ng, and a number of our arts groups, was favourably received and I think was well reported on. Our next Showcase will be in Paris in October 2010 and it will be anchored by the Peranakan exhibition at Musee du quai Branly. While our museums have begun to lend artifacts and export exhibitions in recent years, this exhibition is the first at a major western museum, showcasing the Peranakan culture of Singapore to the French audience. Building on the success of the Singapore Arts Festival 2009, we will present the 2010 Singapore Arts Festival as a "People and Creation Festival", to bring focus to the Festival as a platform for more local talents to develop and showcase new works. Among the many highlights, the 2010 Festival will feature new interpretations of seminal works by Singaporeans over the years. This will strengthen our artistic heritage and cultivate a new generation of art lovers. In particular, I should mention that Margaret Chan in Stella Kon's Emily of Emerald Hill is so far taking the lead in terms of advance ticket sales. About 50% of the tickets have already been sold. We exploit the possibility of putting on more performances but because it is a mono-drama of one-and-a-half hours, it is not easy for her to do so. But, it shows that there is a desire for us to re-visit these seminal works as well as for us to create new works that one day will also find the same resonance with our people. And this, indeed, is what the NAC and the Singapore Arts Festival will hope to do in the years to come. In the field of media, the MDA promotes and supports made-by-Singapore productions through collaborations with international agencies and broadcasters. The quality of our made-in and made-by Singapore content is evidenced by its success in engaging and entertaining audiences. I mentioned "Dinosaur Train" earlier – it is now the number one show on PBS Kids in the US. Even before the cameras started rolling, our Young Artist Award winner Boo Junfeng's feature film "Sandcastle" was signed by Fortissimo Films, a global distribution leader that helped Wong Kar-Wai to become the renowned Asian filmmaker he is today. Increasingly, our media talents are recognised both at home and abroad. Mr Calvin Cheng highlighted the important role that the print and broadcast media play in shaping our cultural identity. I do agree with him. But he also expressed concern over the excessive use of Caucasian models in our magazines and fashion shows. reply – about 8,000 titles both locally and imported ones. And these magazines have an international audience. As long as they do not breach the content standards set by MDA, it is best to let editorial judgment and business considerations determine how publications best cater to the tastes of their readers. As for the presence of more local faces at fashion shows, events like the Singapore Fashion Week are international in outlook and draw buyers from around the world. While we can encourage them to engage more local models, the international nature of the show would make it impractical that we determine a specific ratio. The truth is that we are exposed to a significant amount of western influence – books, movies, TV programmes, theatre productions, etc. Our own Singapore Idol show is more well-received and more watched locally compared to the American Idol programme. And so we have own faces but even then they sing western songs. So it is not entirely possible, I think and I know Mr Calvin Cheng is not calling for that but we must be mindful that the influences come in many subtle ways and different ways, and we should work hard to strengthen our culture to promote it both at home and abroad. The Esplanade knows that our cultural scene is enriched by a diverse mix of performances and artistes. It is increasingly a premium destination in Asia for world-class international acts as touring groups now ask to perform at the Esplanade. It also lends support to many local groups. For example, it collaborated with the Singapore Repertory Theatre to make possible their first large-scale work with the Royal Shakespeare Company's "King Lear" and "The Seagull" in 2007, followed by The Bridge Project – "The Winter's Tale" in 2009. And the latest in this series is "The Tempest" which will open in April. This initiative by the Esplanade, which has to be exercised judiciously, will help local companies shoulder the risks of presenting large international productions and give them valuable exposure to international presentation standards and expertise. Moving forward, we are committed to further strengthen the opportunities available to our artists and arts groups to draw on our cultural and artistic traditions as well as leverage the power of the written word to create works that reflect our identity. This year, the NAC will launch the Traditional Arts Plan and the Literary Arts Plan. Both will see a doubling of annual Government investment over the next five years. For traditional arts, this will amount to $23 million. We will focus our efforts to professionalise traditional arts groups and artistes, support the development of quality content, and ensure that traditional arts are accessible to the community. To support this endeavour, we intend to designate the Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre to have a greater focus on traditional arts.to move the spirit and to stir the soul. And so a strong foundation in the literary arts be it in poetry, drama, essays, novels or prose, is a powerful tool for more creative expressions in our everyday lives. For example, it is a key ingredient whether we are telling a fascinating story, composing an appealing song or writing an interesting script. The Literary Arts Plan, with $24 million to support it, aims to develop writing talents to enrich our cultural scene and give voice to our national identity. The Singapore Writer's Festival, a key platform under this Plan, will become an annual event from 2011. And I will ask the champions of the Writer's Festival to consider carefully Ms Ng's suggestion for a more suitable name to better reflect its scope and objectives, going forward. I agree with Ms Irene Ng that a holistic approach is necessary to promote the literary arts. This promotion must go hand-in-hand with a love for reading, a point that she also made very eloquently. We have regular story-telling sessions at the public libraries and outreach programmes like READ!Singapore and the 10,000 Fathers' Reading event. The new Literary Arts Plan will be a comprehensive plan to cultivate greater interest in literature among the young, promote literary arts as a key tool to strengthen creative expression, grow our pool of writers and develop a robust publishing industry. The NAC will invest in writers through differentiated and targeted capability programmes, grow intermediaries and distributors through suitable incentives and increase the profile of Singapore writers, publishers and literary works both nationally and internationally. Mr Arthur Fong, Mr Teo Ser Luck and Mr Zainudin Nordin have requested updates on our efforts to nurture young talents through the School of the Arts (SOTA). SOTA commenced the current academic year at its permanent campus at No.1 Zubir Said Drive, next to the Cathay Building. As they have pointed out, they now take in students from Years 1 to 4, a total of 586.assessment with established overseas arts institutions such as the Chicago Academy of Art (USA) and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Middle School in China.

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Sir, in conclusion, let me reiterate that MICA is committed to nurturing our talent and ensuring the sustainability and vibrancy of our cultural landscape. We will work closely with the arts community, the private and people sectors in the upcoming Arts and Culture Strategic Review. This will prepare Singapore to make that quantum leap towards the next phase of cultural development, and become a leading global city and endearing home for Singaporeans.

New media literacy and cyber wellness

Sir, the media landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift today. Traditional media like radio and television have been with us for decades while the newspaper has been around for centuries. We have a fairly good idea of what they are, what they do and how to react to the content. Even more importantly, in the case of Singapore, the Government has laid the foundation and is maintaining the system for a responsible and credible mainstream media scene.

Today, the new media is vastly different. Their content spans an enormously wide spectrum from highly desirable to highly undesirable. No one, who wants to play the role as a custodian of morality and norms, be it parents, teachers, regulators or the Government, is able to control the content on new media to any significant extent. The media consumers today, who are used to the safe and calm waters of mainstream media, have only themselves to depend

As we look back on the way in which we rolled out ICT in Singapore, we can see that we have paid much more attention to spreading the use of the technology, that is, functional media literacy. There is relatively very little done on how to use the technology judiciously, that is, developing critical new media literacy. The first attempt to introduce new media critical literacy was made via the Parents Advisory Group for the Internet (PAGi), nearly 20 years after the first national plan was announced to harness information technology. PAGi was also focused on prevention. However, we need to move beyond prevention and prohibition to navigation and immunisation.

We cannot escape the onslaught of undesirable material. We should not pretend that we can control it or give the signal to our citizens that the State can and is controlling it.

New media critical literacy should become part of our school curriculum. In addition, parents should be guided on how to navigate through and negotiate with undesirable material. New media critical literacy is also not confined to coping with pornographic material.

There are all kinds of undesirable materials including hate speech and subversive speech. There is also a huge amount of unreliable information, both misinformation and disinformation.

A recent example of malicious disinformation was the blog post claiming that Minister Mentor Lee had suffered a serious heart attack. People of course knew immediately that was groundless when photos of the Minister Mentor in London were published in the papers a few days later. Examples of misinformation include emails circulating urban

An equally important aspect about new media is their interactivity – something that was virtually non-existent in the old media. This is what makes new media consumers "prosumers" – they produce as well as consume content.

This interactivity takes place in all forms and it is from the judicious use of the interactivity that we can gain the full benefits of the new media. It requires new skill sets and a new approach to media use.

New media literacy should not be aimed only at the children or youth but also at the adults. The digital divide actually exists more among the adults than between adults and the young.

From an e-governance point of view, adult literacy is even more important as the Government would like to engage our citizens through its e-facilities in a variety of ways. Likewise, the citizen too would like to make use of these e-facilities to maximise interaction with the State. Thus, there is mutual benefit in developing new media literacy in the whole population.

Hence, I would like the Minister to elaborate on the plans to promote greater new media literacy among the population and how we can equip our people of today to prepare for new media for tomorrow.

on when navigating and riding on the new media wave.legends like how you can cook an egg by placing it between two cell phones and that ATM PIN numbers keyed in reverse notifies the Police. And then there are also financial scams, bank account phishing, sexual grooming of children and intrusion of privacy of personal information.

Addiction to computer gaming

Mr Chairman, Sir, spending too much time on the computer that is not related to school work or studies has been shown to affect the

Singapore is probably one of the most wired countries in the world. Computer literacy for our children begins as early as Primary 1. In fact, I visited a school a few years ago where the school has in its curriculum to teach kids as young as Primary 4 to be competent in basic web design.

Our intention of exposing our children at a young age in school to make them comfortable with computers is part of our knowledge-based economy. But, Sir, the downside of early introduction to computer work is that our younger people spend too much time on the computer. A survey showed that one in five teenagers spend up to 40 hours on the computer a week and this is near the average work hours per week for many adults and I wonder whether these children or these teenagers do find enough time left over for study or for some time outside for vitamin D.

The school grades are often not the only downside to gaming addiction as many youths lose touch with other aspects of their routine. Many are so preoccupied that they are late for school, commit truancy, miss examinations and eventually drop out of school. Youths who spend huge amount of time engrossed in their computer often also have problems relating to their parents. This communication problem is worse if they are from single-parent homes. It is a time bomb of a problem if left unattended.

Sir, I am delighted to note that the Government has set up the Inter-Ministry Cyber Wellness Steering Committee. I am equally happy to note that the Government is co-funding projects between the Government agencies and people-private sector organisations to organise programmes to deal with this

grades of our children. This is a fact shown by both our own local newspaper survey as well as many overseas studies.issue. I ask MICA for an update on the collaboration between the Government agencies and the private sector on cyber wellness for our youths. What are the learning points so far? I have also read with concern from the press release that this initiative is not covering an area of youth cyber addiction. I must stress that this is an area of concern in helping youths deal with the addiction. I therefore ask MICA if helping youth computer addiction is deliberately left out and, if yes, why.

Censorship Review Committee

Mr Chairman, Sir, in September last year, the Censorship Review Committee (CRC) was set up to conduct a mid-term review of content issues in broadcast, films, videos, publications, audio materials, the arts and new media. I would expect that new media will be the area posing the greatest challenge.

The reach of the Internet is a plus. Now cellphones offer Internet access as well, at relatively affordable prices. Therefore, even school children can access the Internet easily, anytime, anywhere. However, our young children may lack the maturity and judgment sense to discriminate good content from misleading or even harmful content.

I therefore agree with the position of Mr Baey that there is desirable but also very undesirable content on the Internet. We need to guard against the latter. Hence, will the Minister share with us how the CRC will act on the feedback of parents who want Internet filters, particularly filters against pornographic sites or sexual grooming, to be built into our systems given that the parents themselves are unable to police the Internet to protect their children from such sites? Also, there has been feedback

that pornography should not be shown on television or sold here, for example at bookshops or petrol kiosks, like what is seen in some countries. Will the Minister assure us that these basic parameters will not be breached?

TV programmes

Sir, I would like to point out that there are too many TV shows on food shown locally and internationally. I would suggest that the number of programmes on food be cut down and that the content of food be hygienically presented. Sometimes they even use TV stars and celebrities to endorse their food. These shows are even carried out during prime time viewing on Channel 8 and Channel U.

New and repeated Korean and Taiwanese dramas are also not spared on prime time, late night Channel U and Channel 8. Scenes like feasting, slapping, screaming, cat fights, caustic remarks, scheming, revenge and getting even with each other are shown plot after plot over 100 episodes and these are addictive and have an adverse influence on Singaporeans. I would suggest that these shows be replaced by some local Malaysian shows. By doing this, we can directly help to foster relationship and understanding between our neighbouring countries. It is also a small step towards promoting economic union between Singapore and Malaysia which I have advocated. TV shows relating to education, science, history, travel, famous people, humanitarian work and some community films should also be included.

In my opinion, too much time is given for advertisements in between shows which generates a lot of revenue for MediaCorp.

Use "Vasantham" for Indian integration

Vasantham became a dedicated

While this seems to have worked to some extent with homegrown Tamil-speaking Singaporeans, it appears that Indian PRs and new citizens are still drawn to India-based TV channels. For non-Tamil speaking Indians – both new immigrants as well as home grown Singaporeans – India-based Hindi channels such as ZEE TV and Sony Entertainment appear to be the draw.

This does not augur well for efforts to integrate the ethnic Indian community in Singapore. Vasantham can play a stronger role in engaging all ethnic Indians, especially the new immigrants.

Firstly, there should be more programmes designed to reach out to the new immigrants. This could be through themes that strike a chord, or formats, such as quiz programmes, that seem to fascinate immigrant Indians.

Secondly, Vasantham needs to proactively seek out talent amongst new immigrants. By involving some of these highly talented individuals, not only are we engaging new immigrants, it will be a shot-in-the-arm for the quality of local programming.

Thirdly, I suggest half-hour English language programming three times a week on Vasantham – these slots will carry talk shows, interview programmes and info-educational programmes that will bring non-Tamil speaking ethnic Indians into the loop. The issues discussed will be relevant to the Singapore Indian community. And this is much needed as presently there is no such common TV space to address all members of the Indian community as a whole. If we do not drive initiatives such as this, the cultural and language divides

Tamil language TV channel in late 2008. A key objective was to increase viewership and loyalty, in the wake of competition from India based channels on SCV.could deepen with the non-Tamil speaking Indians watching more India based Hindi channels and not relating to the majority Tamil speaking members of the community. This will not happen naturally – the encouragement and impetus need to come from Government.

Gracious city

Sir, Singapore aspires to be a cosmopolitan and vibrant global city. To achieve that status, we also need to be a gracious city that would be the talk of many.

Graciousness is not easily measured and quantified in economic terms but it is, nevertheless, vital as we build our social capital. What is our Government doing to continue to uplift the graciousness of Singaporeans, especially when more visitors are coming to Singapore after the opening of the two Integrated Resorts (IRs) and with the major events like Singapore F1 and the Inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010?

Sir, we know that kindness and gracious behaviour are best learned through examples. How is the project "Gracious" faring since it began last year? Is it effective? What are other new methods can we adopt to ensure that Singaporeans have endearing values?

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Sense of national identity

Sir, in Singapore’s history, even pre-Independence, we have faced many events that helped shape our sense of identity as a nation. These events have brought people together, be they struggles of a nation or celebrations of cultures that have established themselves in our nation.