Hansard, Friday, 5 June 2020

1 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Defence (a) what is the projected total cost of producing, packing and distributing the NDP funpacks to each citizen and PR household for NDP 2020; and (b) whether the Government will consider creating an option for those who would like to donate the expense required for their funpack back to the state or to charities.

2 Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Defence (a) whether essential and care items can be included in the NDP funpacks to enhance the relevance and usefulness of the funpacks during this challenging period; (b) what items in the NDP funpacks have already been produced for distribution; and (c) what happens to excess items not distributed or when households opt out of the funpacks.

3 Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Prime Minister how will Singapore's National Day commemoration and celebrations differ at the national and local levels in view of the COVID-19 measures.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the first three questions on the Order Paper are related to the National Day Parade. For Question No 3 put by Member of Parliament Ms Denise Phua, I will be answering on behalf of the Prime Minister. Can I seek your consent to take these questions together?

Yes, please.

In Singapore's relatively short history as a nation, the National Day Parade has always taken centre-stage as we celebrate each year of independence. Members in this House have attended these National Day Parades. And many of you have kindly told me after each parade that it was well done, the mood was lifted, there was a sense of togetherness as Singapore and Singaporeans.

So, I think, in turn, the National Day Parade has served our nation well – both as a rallying call for all Singaporeans to stay united but also a clear statement of our confidence and determination to succeed collectively, no matter the odds. Through thick and thin, good times or bad, it showed Singaporeans celebrating and standing firm as one people, regardless of race, language or religion. I am so used to the mask that I spoke with it; forgot to take it off! That is what COVID-19 has done to us.

How did it come about? Not all countries celebrate their national days the way that we have or put the national day parade as centre-stage.

There is a history to the National Day Parade. The first National Day Parade (NDP) in 1966 was held amid the most testing of times. But that inaugural NDP would set the example for the subsequent 54 years.

On the morning of 9 August 1966, 500,000 school children assembled in schools and sang the new national anthem, Majulah Singapura, Onward Singapore. That first NDP was held at the Padang with 21-gun salute as the President reviewed various contingents that we have become accustomed to the SAF, the Police, NTUC, uniformed youth organisations and so forth.

The military units then marched from the Padang into Chinatown, to waving crowds. Fireworks at that time, took place at the Padang and Fort Canning. It followed the Parade and it adorned the skies. At night, there was an illuminated sea dragon, 150 metres long, 12 metres tall, lit up by 12,500 bulbs. It may be prosaic to us today, but at that time, it was quite spectacular. It sailed across what is today's Marina Bay.

By all accounts, it was an extraordinary event, especially for a nation that was barely a year old. Could Singapore afford it in 1966? Could the money have been put to better use? Remember that our fledgling nation had a host of unsolved problems – high unemployment, few could afford to own homes, high drop-out rates even at Primary 6, inadequate medical care. I am just naming a few.

Why did the first NDP proceed that way? Because the unity and collective confidence for the future that it engendered among Singaporeans was priceless. It showed to the rest of the world that despite great difficulties, ours was a country that would not be beaten down, ours was a people that will rise and overcome. Without that unity and confidence, Singapore could not have survived, let alone thrived against the challenges that our founding generation faced.

Member of this House will readily recognise that subsequent National Day Parades take reference from and pay homage to that seminal NDP of 1966 – both in spirit and form.

At each National Day, as we did during the first, we are making a conscious act of the will. It is a willful event that we have said we will celebrate, whether individually or as one people, to celebrate each National Day with the same indomitable spirit, never mind the prevailing difficulties and never mind the differences among people.

As Singapore prospered over the years, that focus on survival, overcoming difficulties, even unity, may have inadvertently diminished.

We have had a good run. So, over the years, the NDP has now evolved into softer tones. It has become more individualistic, more of an affirmation of what Singapore is and what being Singaporean means to each citizen. So, you would remember the videos that we played in previous NDPs. They had resonance, Singaporeans liked them because they focused on individuals, differences among our people and yet the unity that we could form from it. That may be today's zeitgeist but we should never forget that the first NDP and the origin of that spirit remains essential for our nationhood.

When the NDP Executive Committee (Exco) revealed some details for NDP 2020, some Singaporeans felt that these celebrations were wasteful and that the same resources ought to be spent elsewhere, especially in light of the impact that COVID-19 had on our economy and jobs. We have had four Budgets, and each time, we dig into our reserves, to make sure that we protect lives and protect livelihoods and jobs.

I appreciate that point of view and agree fully with them that we ought to be prudent. The final cost figures are not yet in, but at very least, this year's NDP should be able to reduce the usual budget by a third, with savings from the cost of infrastructure that would have been built if we had held it in the usual way at the Padang or the Float @ Marina Bay.

I am all for prudence. I think Members of Parliament know me. But we should guard against the mood of despondency overcoming us or allow individual preferences to divide us. If we allow despair to prevail in our national psyche, particularly in this COVID-19 pandemic, then, I say that would be the greatest harm to the future of Singapore – much more devastating than the economic impact, the loss of jobs and businesses.

Indeed, through every troubled period of Singapore's history – whether it was the British withdrawal in 1971, the recession of 1985, the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998, SARS in 2003, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the H1N1 epidemic in 2009 – the drumbeat of the National Day Parade that Singaporeans marched to, neither faltered nor reduced in intensity. Even through those difficult years, Singaporeans chose to celebrate the National Day Parade as we have always done, and rallied together. Because of that hope and optimism, Singapore emerged stronger.

It has been five months since COVID-19 struck our nation. It is, by any account, the most severe disruption globally for at least a century. In fact, experts have to go very far back to find events that matched the equivalent magnitude of the impact. Events like World War I, the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, World War II are cited.

For tiny Singapore alone, the infections will last many more months. But the impact of disrupted lives and livelihoods will last even longer.

If at this early stage, Singaporeans lose their mettle, their inner strength and equanimity, lose their resolve, weaken their resilience, sharpen their differences, then, we are already in trouble.

This is not the Singapore that you and I know. This is not the Singapore spirit that has ensured our survival through many previous hardships. So, I say, despite the difficulties and indeed, because of the more challenging times that are ahead, we should celebrate this year's NDP as we have done before and just as our founding generation did during the first NDP. That, for us, is the most important aspect for this year's NDP.

The Exco for NDP 2020 has stayed true to its roots, but has adapted the format to reduce the risk of infection in the face of an imminent threat from COVID-19. Their concept, which Ms Denise Phua asked about, is a simple one. Not being able to hold the NDP at a central location with large crowds should not prevent Singaporeans from expressing their pride and love for Singapore and the call for unity.

NDP 2020 will be celebrated in the safety and comfort of every household in Singapore. We may be physically apart, but we want to join in spirit as one people with that same confidence and optimism and unity that the founding generation fostered despite harsher and grim circumstances.

Most elements will follow the traditions of past NDPs, but some items will be new. The morning segment will begin with the Prime Minister's National Day message. To remind us of that founding Singapore spirit of that first NDP and to gear Singapore up to face difficulties ahead, it is only right that a parade be held at the Padang. The President will be the Reviewing Officer but for a much smaller scale parade comprising only SAF and Home Team contingents. This will be telecast live. SAF helicopters carrying the Singapore flag will fly over the Padang and also make their way across the housing estates through Singapore.

When the Anthem is played at the Padang, flag-raising ceremonies around the island will take place concurrently, so that Singaporeans across the island, whether in their constituencies, camps, workplaces or elsewhere will be singing Majulah Singapura in unison.

In past NDPs that Members of this House have enjoyed, the SAF aircraft could fly only over the NDP site, whether at the Padang or the Float. With Changi Airport being one of the busiest in the world, that was all the air space and the air time that we could be allocated for NDP. We expect air travel to pick up in the months ahead and I know that MOT and CAAS are working very hard. But this year, let us turn this into an opportunity so that the SAF aircraft can fly in formation over the heartlands of Singapore, so that Singaporeans can watch it from their homes.

Mobile columns from the SAF and Home Team will also travel through various parts of the island. With them will be the frontline heroes and heroines who have shown exemplary sacrifice and courage in fighting this COVID-19 pandemic. I know that Singaporeans want to thank them personally. The NDP will be a good occasion from a safe distance for Singaporeans to cheer them on and show them their much deserved appreciation.

Instead of an NDP show with thousands of participants, there will be a boutique studio show at night, with performances by some local artistes and talents which will be broadcasted live. There will be interactive elements for Singaporeans to sing along, join in the Pledge during the show.

And as we do each year, there will be fireworks across a few sites in Singapore to cap the day's and night's events over the Singapore skyline, both in the Central Business District and the HDB heartlands. The fireworks will not be as long or spectacular as recent centralised NDPs, but I hope that it will lift the spirits of Singaporeans all across the island.

To facilitate Singaporeans joining in as one people and one nation, the NDP Exco provides what they call a "Singapore Together Pack". Mr Leon Perera and Miss Cheng Li Hui asked about this. The Exco had engaged various groups in designing this pack and has also taken in public feedback. Full details are still being worked out but let me share what I can.

Singaporeans will find the bag for the pack useful as a reusable grocery bag; it is practical, foldable into a small pouch. The designs on the bag are by local artists with disabilities and some of our Primary 5 pupils – each design an expression of their feelings for their country and fellow citizens, and their hopes for the future.

As families will be at home, there is no need for single-use water bottles, neither plastic clappers nor packaging. These have been done away with, to reduce waste. There will be items that express our collective love and wishes for Singapore like the National flag – a full-sized cloth flag, a handheld one – as well as iron-on patches for your masks, a pledge card and face tattoos. Well-wishing corporations have asked to add to the pack items to express their gratitude for what Singapore has given them, by giving back to Singaporeans. The Exco has decided to include hand sanitisers, thermometers, face masks – I think Miss Cheng asked about this – and a snack and drink from a local F&B company. Companies are also offering vouchers and we have decided to put them as an e-discount booklet. Mr Leon Perera asked about cost – the cost of each Singapore Together Pack will be around $2.40.

For every NDP, the Exco aims to be inclusive and they take in views and accommodate different interests where possible. I think this is good and forward-leaning. But let me just say this as a gentle caution. If every interest group pushes for its own agenda especially during the NDP, then our common ground to celebrate this national event shrinks. Because the Exco simply will never be able to satisfy every request adequately. What the Exco can do this year is to produce fewer Singapore Together Packs, taking into account those who have said that they do not need one. It will therefore produce packs for about 80% of households, which from prior experience should be adequate. All those who want them to celebrate our NDP together can collect them from the CCs.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic will define this generation of Singaporeans, just as the first NDP, those who attended the first NDP, the Merdeka Generation, were defined by the difficulties we had as a newly formed Singapore.

For this generation, our response will determine whether Singapore continues to thrive in the post-COVID world. As with every crisis, people have a choice to make – to overcome or be overwhelmed.

As we did at the very first NDP, I urge all Members of this House and all Singaporeans to reaffirm our unity, to reaffirm our resilience, bonded by the same vision and optimism that Singapore will prevail and overcome the challenges that this COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon us. The months ahead will be trying and the difficulties ahead will test our resolve and cohesion. Despite all of this, Singaporeans can, and Singapore will, celebrate NDP 2020 with confidence and hope for a brighter future. [Applause.]

Miss Cheng Li Hui.

I thank the Minister. I have four supplementary questions. The Minister mentioned that the total number of packs is for 80% of the households. How did the 80% come about? What was the redemption percentage for SG50 packs? Is 80% sufficient to cater to the anticipated demand? What happens to the unredeemed items?

Let me thank Miss Cheng Li Hui for her questions. Our past experiences show that 80% will be enough. It is actually less than what we produce usually. We produce usually about 90% of households, sometimes 95%, but we have taken into account those who said they do not need one. I would like to believe that they feel that we are confident enough to celebrate and to join other Singaporeans without all these facilitative things – the flag, tattoos, the iron-on and your masks. We will leave them as they wish and so we will produce 80% which should be adequate.

The difficulty that the NDP Exco had is trying to shoot a moving target. They started planning this in March. So, when they presented to me the plans, they had a number of scenarios. One scenario was – this was before circuit breaker – the normal NDP, the usual, thousands upon thousands. An interim scenario is where you can have crowds of 50 or even 500. When I saw the plans, I said "Let us dispense with Options A and B. Don't waste time about it. Let us go to Option C. Let us just assume the worst that COVID-19 will bring".

You can come out of the circuit breaker but in August, suppose something happens and we have to reimpose the circuit breaker. The mood will be down, Singaporeans will become despondent and that is the time when we say, "Come together, have this National Parade even despite your fears, come out and celebrate" – not come out literally, because you must stay at home; but come out in spirit and celebrate.

We have had two months off circuit breaker. The psychological effects are there. Some people actually like it; they find working from home more productive and they found a sweet spot. For others, there is actually fear, fear to come out, fear to join others. So, when I read notes that say why do we not be prudent, I completely agree with them. But I want to make sure that this is not despondency or fear.

If Members of Parliament, judging by the conditions, want to organise events near 9 August for your constituencies and you want us to facilitate with more bags, let me know, and if we can, we will produce more. I promise you this. Because for many heartlanders, these are physical touch points, commonalities, that when they wave the flag, it is the same flag, when they have tattoos, it is a physical token for them to latch on to. Never dismiss these symbols even though the cost is little.

So, I make this pledge to you. If you hand in your request and you know there are groups that will want it, whether it is various groups, please let MINDEF know and we will try to facilitate for more.

Mr Leon Perera.

I thank the hon Minister for his detailed explanation. I am sure we can all agree that it is important for the country to rally together to have a keynote that underlines our unity during this difficult time.

I just have two supplementary questions.

Firstly, when this funpack was announced, I did sense that many Singaporeans felt that at a time when public finances are stretched, and many citizens and micro businesses are facing a lot of difficulty and uncertainty, perhaps the resources to give a pack to every household could be diverted to those who are more in need at this particular time. The Minister has explained the plan with the funpack. But my question is, really, for something like a funpack to serve the purpose that it is intended for, consultation and buy-in from the public may be useful to understand whether most people would really want to have this and whether it would serve that purpose of banishing the despondency, raising the spirits, rallying and unifying everyone. So, learning from this experience, I wonder whether there could be a bigger role for consultation in future before a very large or elaborate logistical exercise, such as distributing packs for everyone, is undertaken. That would be my first question.

My second question is, I understand that REACH set up an online poll to solicit views of Singaporeans about the funpack. I was wondering how long this poll was up for and what the results of this poll showed, if that is available.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I am glad that the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) has agreed with me that this is an important time for us to rally together. I agree fully with him that we need to engage groups to see what for them represents a good way to celebrate our National Day Parade. But as I said in my primary answer, while the Exco needs to be open, forward-leaning, consultative, there is a balance. If every group with their individual preferences decide to use the National Day Parade to press for their differences, then I think the Exco has a very difficult task. Because it will never be able to satisfy all groups, it will never be able to be all things to all men. It will have to balance, as we do every year. In previous years, when they, even ourselves, who are conscious about climate change, want to reduce and they press for disposable water bottles, the Exco had to balance the need for elderly and children who need bottled water. The disposable water bottles are actually recyclable the Exco even looked at giving reusable water bottles, then putting water stands, whether it is at the Floating platform or the stadium or Padang, but they found it was undoable. So, they did the next best thing; instead of two small bottles, they gave one big bottle, which will reduce the amount of plastic, I presume.

It is always these choices to make between different interests. But the more important point is this: for this balance to be struck, how does each individual group want to press for its own interests? We have gone past race, religion and language, I hope – I am talking about the NDP show. But at every NDP show. I am still very careful that there must be proper representation, that even when we carry soft stories that we should represent all of Singapore. But if any interest group decides to say, "My interests are not shown. What you represent as Singapore does not show my narrower sets of preferences or who I am." If they choose to assert those differences during National Day Parade, it is what it is, it is what it will become, but it will shrink our common space.

I do not know the details of the REACH survey. If Mr Perera wants to know that, he can put it to that Ministry and I am sure that Ministry will give him a full reply.

Mr Louis Ng.

Thank you, Sir. Let me first thank the Minister for reducing the number of items in the funpack and reaching out to the green groups and listening as well. But could I ask two clarifications?

One, I do understand we are producing 80% of funpacks for the Singapore households. So, there is already a reduction but that is based, as Minister said, on estimations and based on past experience. Would it not be better to just ask Singaporeans whether they want to opt out of receiving the funpack, so that we can get a more accurate figure that will reduce the wastage?

The second clarification is what Member Cheng Li Hui asked previously, what will we be doing with the excess funpacks that are not collected?

Third, let me record my appreciation of thanks to the NDP Exco 2020. I worked with them for the last six months. As what NCMP Leon Perera has asked, we actually have been on the ground for the last six months getting feedback from the green groups and working together with them. In fact, this morning, we had another Zoom call with them to explain why we had a funpack, why we had certain items in there, and it was a very positive conversation that we had. I want to thank the NDP Exco for the forward-thinking, for really listening. It has been a privilege working with the Chairman, Brigadier-General Frederick Choo. In fact, I would suggest that the Minister make him NDP Exco Chairman in 2021 since he did not get to organise a full NDP this year, and he really has done an amazing job trying to find the middle ground and making very difficult decisions.

Let me thank Member Louis Ng for those kind comments. I had known that he had been involved and helped us for the last six months. But I chose not to cite his help in the reply to Mr Leon Perera because, it is better that Mr Ng himself said it. Otherwise, they will say, you know, whatever they will say. I thank Mr Ng for the suggestion that General Choo should be considered to be NDP 2021, in Hokkien, we say, "Ho Gai Siao" or a good recommendation. I am not sure if he would want it, but nonetheless, we will think about it.

Member Mr Ng's point was more substantial. Why not have, before each NDP, a full public consultation as I think was the point that Mr Perera made. Just for practical purposes – Members of this House lead organisations, you are in businesses or in your organisations, you should know – there is a limit beyond which analysis becomes paralysis. You want to have feedback but you have to ultimately make a decision. Because why just a funpack? I cite this but I am not suggesting you make this an issue, but in terms of carbon production, my fighter planes probably produce more. While we "rah rah" to the zoom of fighter aircraft, jet fuel is being burnt up there.

Why focus just on the funpack? It could be many other things.

So, I think there is a limit to consultation. We will be forward-leaning, we will take in views, but there is a balance to be struck.

There is a time for every activity, a season for everything under the heavens. That is the ecclesiastical injunction.

What is this year a time for? Twenty-twenty. What is this year a time for? We have been divided like never before by a little organism, barely 0.125 microns. Relatives have been separated, grandparents from their grandchildren, couples, even spouses. For the healthcare workers, some were so fearful. They were not fearful about going to work but they were so fearful that they would pass on their infections if they got infected to their families, that they chose to stay away from their families, and the hospitals facilitated and found hotel rooms for them to stay alone.

Never a time have we been so physically divided. Never a time have we been so psychologically affected. And I say this to you not to frighten you, but the months ahead will be harder. This is not a time to show up our divisions. It does not mean we do not ask for feedback. But this is maybe a time, in gentle tones, to put aside some of our differences and come together.

Mr Louis Ng, you have some more clarifications?

Sorry, Sir, there really is just a remaining concern which is what will we do with the excess packs? I think I understand we might be donating them or giving them to some other groups. But many are asking what are we doing with the excess funpacks that are not collected.

I do not know that there will be excess packs. As I said, the mood may change. Let us all hope, maybe come August – given the wonderful job that my colleagues at the Multi-Ministry Task Force have done and Singaporeans taking necessary precautions – that actually come August, there will be a mood to come out of this and people want these packs because they want to join in the celebrations.

But if they are excess bags, 80% is less than what we have usually produced – there will be no shortage of avenues to distribute to, say, to certain homes or institutions, so they would not be wasted.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh, next question.

The following question stood in the name of Mr Gan Thiam Poh –

4 To ask the Prime Minister (a) what is the total number of people who have downloaded the TraceTogether app; (b) what is the percentage of each gender for those who have downloaded the app; (c) what are the age groups; and (d) whether the Government will consider further incentives and measures to encourage more subscriptions including from those who are not technically savvy or inclined.

5 Mr Vikram Nair asked the Prime Minister whether the download and activation of the TraceTogether app should be made mandatory for everyone in Singapore who possesses a mobile phone.

Question No 4, please.

Let me recap for Members what TraceTogether does. TraceTogether is basically a contact tracing app which uses your phone's Bluetooth function to detect other phones nearby. It keeps a record of other TraceTogether users whom you happen to be in close contact with. It encrypts and stores this data on your own handphone. If, in the unlikely event, you turn out to be positive or diagnosed with COVID-19, this data is then uploaded to MOH, and the contact tracing teams in MOH use this to quickly identify, isolate patients, quarantine people who may be at risk or have been infected by you and can transmit the disease onwards.

Today, TraceTogether has been downloaded on a voluntary basis by 1.5 million users. The number of downloads, particularly given that it is voluntary, is encouraging. Unfortunately, the app does not appear to work as well on iOS or Apple devices as the iOS operating system suspends Bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background. We have had repeated discussions both at the technical and policy level with Apple, but we have not yet been able to find a satisfactory solution.

Because TraceTogether does not work equally well across all smart phones, we have decided, therefore, at this point in time, not to mandate the compulsory use of TraceTogether. Instead, we are developing and will soon roll out a portable wearable device that will achieve the same objective as TraceTogether, but will not depend on possession of a smart phone. If this portable device works, we may then distribute it to everyone in Singapore. I believe this will be more inclusive and it will ensure that all of us will be protected.

Notwithstanding the limitations of coverage today, the data from TraceTogether has already been a very helpful additional tool for our contact tracers, especially when it is used in combination with other data sources. In some cases, it has improved the contact tracing process by automatically generating a preliminary list of close contacts for quarantine, and thereby it reduces the time taken to isolate these contacts and prevents them from spreading the disease more extensively.

I would like to emphasise that contact tracing remains a professional skill that is ultimately dependent on human judgement. Technology is an enabler; it is not a replacement for human judgement.

We thank those who have voluntarily downloaded the app to date and we urge more to download the app. We have also just upgraded the app to register the NRIC or FIN of the user, in addition to the user's mobile number, so that we can more quickly establish the link between the identity of the confirmed cases and their close contacts.

To Mr Gan Thiam Poh's question, we do not, at this point in time, have the breakdown of the downloads by gender or age, because such data is not currently collected by the app.

Yesterday, we issued a written response to Mr Murali Pillai who had asked about the confidentiality of the data, and I think it is worth me reiterating that again, that the data is stored only on your own phone in the first instance and accessed by MOH only if the individual tests positive for COVID-19. This data is only used for contact tracing. There are safeguards, including encryption, in place to protect this from malicious hackers. The data that is older than 25 days will be automatically deleted from your phone. If the close contact data is required for contact tracing, only a small group of authorised officers in MOH will have access to it. All the public sector data protection rules will also apply.

I need to emphasise again that quick and accurate contact tracing is a necessity. In fact, it has become all the more essential now that we are emerging from the circuit breaker. Because if you think about it, if everyone is at home, in fact, the need for contact tracing is minimal. But now that we have more people moving about, going to work, there will be more occasions when more people will have more close interactions with each other. Therefore, the collection and use of this data for contact tracing becomes even more essential. It will speed up the isolation of close contacts and reduce the risk of them spreading COVID-19 to their loved ones, family members, friends, colleagues and the community at large.

If we can reduce the incidence of clusters by better and faster contact tracing, then we can avoid having to re-introduce restrictive circuit breaker measures in the future. So, I hope all members of the public will work with us to achieve this.

Minister, can I take it that you are answering Question Nos 4 and 5?

Yes, with your consent, please.

The following question stood in the name of Miss Cheng Li Hui –

6 To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether there are coordinated efforts between the career centres of Institutes of Higher Learnings and agencies such as Enterprise Singapore to connect graduates with enterprises to provide employment opportunities; (b) how can graduates be further supported in their endeavour to secure employment and also further their academic pursuits and retraining to better equip them for the post-COVID economy; and (c) how can internship opportunities play a role for graduates during this challenging period.

Fresh graduates are entering the job market at an exceptional time. Many will face challenges in securing a job. The Institutes of Higher Learning or IHLs, together with various Government agencies, will provide whatever support we can to all graduates entering the workforce.

First, they will give graduates peace of mind during their job search, so MOE has suspended the repayment and interest for all study loans, for one year.

Second, the IHLs, namely the Autonomous Universities, Polytechnics and ITE – each have a significant network of companies and employers. They have been leveraging them to provide internships and Work-Study programmes.

Employers in general are facing difficulties due to COVID-19. But many are still prepared to hire and others who do not have job vacancies may be prepared to offer traineeships. IHLs are committed to trying their best to help our graduating students. They will contribute to the pool of about 100,000 opportunities under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package that the National Jobs Council is overseeing and building up.

To ensure that graduates have access to these jobs and opportunities, the IHL Career Centres will continue to provide career guidance and assistance, labour market information and organise career fairs. The Career Centres have stepped up the intensity of their efforts this year, including using online outreach and counselling tools to support graduates remotely.

For graduates who decide to delay their entry into the job market, the IHLs will support them to learn new skills and knowledge. IHLs will offer their graduates a few Continuing Education and Training (CET) modules free of charge and we are in the process of speaking to the IHLs, structuring all these modules into a continuous programme and with credentials at the end of it. In that way, graduates can take up this programme and delay their entry into the labour market while doing something very meaningful. Graduates can also enrol for further studies, including Advance Diplomas, Specialist Diplomas and graduate certification programmes.

The Member also asked about internships. This has become a challenge as many internships have been disrupted due to COVID-19 and our circuit breaker measures to curb community spread. IHLs are working hard to identify alternatives so as to mitigate any impact on learning outcomes and graduation timings. If rescheduling the internship is not possible, IHLs will offer substitutes, such as working on industry-related projects and taking additional modules.

COVID-19 will be a defining moment in our graduates’ lives, especially this batch of graduates. I urge our graduates to rise to the occasion and use this crisis to bring out the best of their generation. The Government will support them as closely as possible as they enter the next phase of their life’s journey.

7 Assoc Prof Walter Theseira asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) what has been the framework for Government's procurement of goods and services to address the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) what proportion of such contracts, by dollar value, have been issued through the standard Government procurement system on GeBIZ; (c) what are the considerations when issuing contracts otherwise; and (d) what steps are taken to ensure that all enterprises can participate in such procurement opportunities so as to ensure provision at competitive prices and quality.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the Government procurement framework calls for open sourcing through the GeBIZ platform as the default approach. However, the use of limited tenders or direct contracting is permitted under specific conditions, such as to protect public health, or for reasons of national security. These practices are aligned with international standards laid out in the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Government Procurement.

To address the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation and avoid further worsening of the public health situation, Government agencies had to obtain necessary goods and services as quickly as possible. While the default approach continues to be open sourcing via GeBIZ, the urgency meant that, in some cases, it was not practical to do so. For such instances, the procedures under Emergency Procurement allow Government agencies to directly contract with suppliers who have the necessary expertise and resources, instead of going through open sourcing. For example, as we needed to quickly source for and fit out premises to house at-risk persons, and also secure essential medical supplies, the agencies concerned established direct contracts with the suppliers outside GeBIZ who were best able to meet the requirements within the shortest timeframe possible.

Similar Emergency Procurement practices are also adopted in other jurisdictions. For example, in Australia, the European Union, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, government agencies may directly award a contract without the need for open competition under emergency situations, such as the COVID-19 crisis.

The proportion of COVID-19 related procurement by dollar value through GeBIZ as compared with other modes is not yet available, as such procurement is still on-going. Agencies will continue to use the most appropriate approach that best balances urgency of need and value-for-money in our efforts to protect public health and cater for the social and economic needs of Singaporeans and businesses. As the situation improves and there is less time urgency, a larger proportion of procurement will be carried out through the default process of open sourcing via GeBIZ.

Regardless of the procurement approach taken, Government agencies are required to ensure proper evaluation is done and necessary approvals are sought. In the event that direct contracting is used, Government agencies are still expected to assess that the quotes from the suppliers are reasonable, by comparing against prevailing market benchmarks and taking into account the time constraints and world-wide market situation. As with all procurements, transactions done during this period are subject to audit and compliance reviews by relevant authorities.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Second Minister for the reply. I think we all know, one advantage of having procurement in GeBIZ is that it is automatically transparent. And this is very important to parties in the market because they can get some information about what is available and what market prices might even be and so on. Will the Government be able to commit to publishing at least some summary information of what has been done and what has been issued for Government procurement relating to COVID-19 needs some time soon so that players in the market can update themselves and understand better how they can best respond and provide more competitive services and goods to the Government in this crisis?

I thank the Member for his clarification. The truth of the matter is that if we all knew exactly when the virus decides to stop and when COVID-19 will stop, then we will be able to give a specific timeline on all the things we wish to do. But as we know, there is a possibility of second outbreaks, there is a possibility that it may not go the course we wish, in which event, Emergency Procurement will have to continue to take place.

So, the assurance that I can give is that best practices will be followed. As I have said earlier, we will make sure that the agencies still take proper evaluations and that they seek the necessary approvals, that they compare against the prevailing market benchmarks. And it is important to remember that all this is still subject to audit and compliance reviews. So, the framework for disclosure that we have in place will be complied with in due course. But if the question is whether we can do this very soon, the answer is I am afraid that the nature of this virus and the situation are such that it is not possible to say definitively one way or another.

8 Mr Leon Perera asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether the Government is involved in, or prescribes any rules for, loans being given by Temasek Holdings, GIC or their subsidiary companies to large corporations or other kinds of entities; (b) if so, how much of these loans are made to companies which Temasek Holdings or GIC has existing investments in compared to other entities which they do not have existing investments in; and (c) whether the President's concurrence is required for the extension of loans by GIC or Temasek Holdings that are above a certain proportion of their total assets.

GIC and Temasek invest using a variety of instruments, including equity and debt. There is a range of debt instruments, including bonds and loans, with different structures, such as a mezzanine or preferred instrument, depending on the capital structure of the investee company.

GIC and Temasek can and do provide loans, where the loans are provided in the investment context. However, they do not provide the same loans as banks or finance companies do, that is to say, they do not provide mortgage loans or working capital loans which banks provide.

The Government does not direct GIC’s and Temasek’s individual investment decisions, including decisions as to whether, when or in whom to invest in a loan. The President’s concurrence is not needed for investment decisions by GIC or Temasek. Instead, the Government holds the Boards of GIC and Temasek accountable for their overall performance. The Government ensures that GIC and Temasek have competent Boards, and such appointments are subject to the President’s concurrence.

Mr Leon Perera.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I have just one supplementary question. This question is in the context of our sovereign wealth funds when they provide a rescue package, be it through loans or other instruments, to help to support the viability of some companies but not others. That sometimes creates a question among some members of the public and they ask how are these decisions made that certain companies obtain this kind of support and other companies do not.

So, as a general principle, given that these are public funds, is there any way that the public can have some transparency about the thinking behind these probably quite significant decisions which may continue to happen as this crisis winds its way forward?

I thank the Member for his question. The way the Member has phrased the question, which is when they provide a rescue package to support viability, that is a wrong assumption. The parameters are, as I have laid out before, GIC and Temasek primarily invest, and they invest our Reserves, and their mandate is to act within their investment policies to get the returns that they can, that we are then able to use in various ways, as we have seen.

So, they operate in the context of investment. They do not do business the way banks do, or other kinds of entities who may look to do rescuing just in the context of rescuing. As I have explained before, they do it in the investment context, and that is very well known. The framework within which they operate is well known. The commercial principles – and these are all commercial decisions – these are decisions that are taken by their professionals which are employed by GIC and Temasek. So, there is actually no difference with what they actually do, or loans made in the investment context.

9 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether a tender was waived for the construction of all Government Quarantine Facilities (GQF), Community Recovery Facilities (CRF) and Community Care Facilities (CCF); (b) if so, whether this was due to time constraint or other reasons; (c) whether all such construction works were planned to be cost recovery or below cost engagements; (d) what price reasonableness test was applied; (e) whether attempts were made to explore whether other event and exhibition construction firms were able and keen to undertake the engagement; and (f) whether further requisitions of GQFs, CRFs and CCFs are necessary and whether the engagements will be done on a cost recovery or below cost basis.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the Government has responded swiftly to put in place a range of facilities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. For Government Quarantine Facilities (GQFs) as well as dedicated facilities for Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements, we have made use of the capacity in existing Government chalets and hotels. In the case of hotels, we benchmarked the quotes provided by the hotel operators and negotiated for competitive rates, taking into account the prevailing market conditions.

For Community Care Facilities (CCFs) and Community Recovery Facilities (CRFs), apart from using ready live-in accommodation like army camps and students’ residences, we also had to prepare new facilities in a very short time. We, therefore, moved quickly to fit out the Changi Exhibition Centre, the Singapore Expo, Big Box, the former ITE site at Ang Mo Kio, vacant factories and Tanjong Pagar terminal with beds and partitions and, in some cases, tentages, to quickly house the patients. And we now know from experience that I think we did all these not a moment too soon because we were able to get the capacity in place to look after quite a large number of infected patients without overwhelming our healthcare system.

The contracting of hotels and the construction of fit-out works were undertaken under Emergency Procurement, as my colleague Second Minister Indranee has highlighted earlier. This is provided for under the Government Procurement Rules, where urgent purchases have to be made in a pandemic outbreak and there is insufficient time to follow the normal procurement rules. The Emergency Procurement procedure allows for tenders to be waived and for contracts to be directly awarded to vendors with the necessary experience, expertise and resources to get the job done within a short period of time.

Notwithstanding the waiver of tender under such Emergency Procurement, all the agencies recognise the need for accountability in the use of public funds. All decisions for the setting up of CCFs and CRFs are, therefore, approved by the Multi Ministry Taskforce. The agencies will ensure that the quotes from the commercial partners are reasonable by comparing against market benchmarks, they will scrutinise the invoices and ensure that the works meet the standards required by the Government before processing the payments. In some cases, we have been able to get private sector companies to support the projects on a cost-recovery basis as part of their contributions to the community.

The Government will continue to partner different stakeholders, including private sector companies, to ensure an effective whole-of-society response to COVID-19, while maintaining a prudent and disciplined approach in the use of public funds.

Mr Pritam Singh.

I thank the Minister for his reply and also the reply from Second Minister for Finance earlier on to Assoc Prof Walter Theseira's question. They were quite helpful for members of the public to understand what emergency procurement is about, including the answer given by the Second Minister for Finance on audit, which explained that it is not as if audit has been done away with.

My question is on non-emergency procurement, going forward, with regard to perhaps quarantine facilities, stay-at-home facilities, whether the Task Force – as alluded to by the Second Minister for Finance – is considering more open tender processes, so Singaporean companies, other companies can participate, in light of the economic situation.

Mr Deputy Speaker, as I had explained earlier, we had to rely on emergency procurement given the nature of the pandemic, given the time urgency that we were at and the need to activate our facilities very quickly.

Certainly, looking forward, if the situation were to stabilise and the conditions permit, agencies will consider going beyond emergency procurement to get more quotes or even to go through contracting via GeBIZ. And this would apply not just for the setting up of facilities, but for a whole range of contracting requirements that the Task Force require. But I think first and foremost, let us focus on the mission and the mission is not over, the fight is still on. So, we will do whatever is necessary to get the job done and to deal with the virus.

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Just to follow up on the questions which have been raised. I think the public understands completely that during emergency procurement, there is a need to get these goods and services delivered quickly by trusted suppliers. But given that the emergency procurement rules or situation may continue for quite some time, what can the Government do to try to broaden the number of vendors out there who could be eligible for providing goods and services under the emergency procurement rules?

For example, will it be possible to take a bit of time for the agencies to look at the landscape, the firms out there and to review the list of companies on this emergency procurement list? I think that would be very important to not only give us a good price and quality of goods and services, but also to assure enterprises that they will be able to help out and participate, and also, help their bottom line out a bit.

Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Member for the question which is related to what Mr Singh had asked earlier too. I would say that even under the scenario of emergency procurement today, agencies do not immediately go with one vendor. So, the various agencies that are looking at all sorts of contracting procurement requirements do already today engage a few vendors – whether it is for are M&E works, whether it is for consultancy services and then they get the quotes. Even though it is not required under emergency procurement, they could have gone directly. They have already done that. They check the different quotations and then they go with a supplier. So, a range of different suppliers are already being used under today's scenario and that situation will continue.

Assoc Prof Walter, next question.

10 Assoc Prof Walter Theseira asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether there have been any benefits to the environment and wildlife from reducing the frequency of green verge maintenance along public roads and paths during the COVID-19 circuit breaker period; and (b) whether reduced maintenance frequencies can be permanently implemented to save public expenditure, reduce foreign manpower needs and to improve biodiversity.

Mr Deputy Speaker, even before the circuit breaker period, NParks has been implementing naturalistic planting along some green verges along public roads and paths. These Nature Ways use multi-tiered planting of native trees, shrubs and ground cover to replicate the natural structures of forests. They make paths cooler and more comfortable for users, and facilitate the movement of birds and butterflies between green spaces. These measures have benefited the environment and biodiversity, and reduced the frequency of greenery maintenance needed. NParks will continue to identify more sites to be curated and managed as naturalistic landscapes, and implement more Nature Ways.

But even in such settings, there will still be a need for regular maintenance, especially for public health and safety reasons. For example, tall grass may conceal discarded litter, making dengue control operations more difficult. They also pose a fire risk during prolonged periods of dry weather. Hence, NParks will gradually scale up maintenance along green verges as the circuit reaker measures are eased.

NParks will also continue to encourage productivity in the greenery maintenance sector. Such work is increasingly being mechanised and innovative technologies are being applied to reduce the need for manual labour.

11 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the total number of business closures and formations since the start of the circuit breaker period; (b) what is the sectoral breakdown of those most affected to the least affected; (c) what is the Ministry's outlook on the business cessation trend and sectoral implications for the remainder of 2020 even as the global and domestic economies gradually open up.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in April 2020, around 3,800 business entities were formed. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was almost a third lower than the average of 5,500 recorded over the same period between 2015 and 2019. Most sectors saw a fall in the formation of new business entities during this period.

The cessation of business entities numbered around 3,800 in April, which was comparable to the average of 3,700 recorded over the same month in the past five years.

For the rest of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a severe impact on many sectors of our economy. Outward-oriented sectors such as wholesale trade will be adversely affected by the global economic slowdown, while the air transport and tourism sectors will continue to be badly affected by travel restrictions. Sectors such as retail and food services will also be adversely impacted by reduced demand from tourists and local consumers. On the other hand, there are sectors which continue to grow, such as biomedical manufacturing and the information and communications sector.

Against this backdrop, MTI expects the formation of new business entities to remain subdued, while cessation numbers could see an uptick in the coming months.

Sir, it is not possible to avoid firm closure and retrenchments. These happened even before COVID-19, but with COVID-19, we must expect the situation to worsen and these numbers to go up. We will help every worker. Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is chairing the National Jobs Council. The council aims to support close to 100,000 jobseekers through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. This includes initiatives to expand job opportunities in both the public and private sectors, provide a range of traineeships for jobseekers to gain industry-relevant experience and build professional networks, as well as increase training capacity to enable jobseekers to upgrade their skills.

This is a very challenging task. There is no certainty that we will succeed in creating all the jobs and opportunities in adifficult economic environment. But we will do our best. We will rally together. We will bring on board all tripartite partners. We will support one another and spare no effort to achieve our goals. And we will overcome this crisis as one united Team Singapore.

I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Chee for the detailed answer. I just have one supplementary question. In relation to his answer, with MTI and EDB's announcement that from January to April, there is an investment commitment of about $13 billion coming to Singapore. In terms of job creation, going forward, and also those investment commitments beyond April to end of 2020 and possibly early first half of 2021, can Senior Minister of State share a bit more about whether the trajectory of investment commitments will continue to be positive and in which sectors in particular, going forward?

Sir, I thank Mr Saktiandi for his supplementary question. Minister Chan Chun Sing shared earlier this week that the investment commitments that EDB has managed to attract amounted to $13 billion and this will create thousands of jobs. We are heartened that investors continue to have confidence in Singapore and that is very important because we do need to create jobs from a range of different sources – public sector, but also private sector.

As to how well we can continue to attract investments, I think a key factor is how well we respond to this crisis as a country. If we can demonstrate resilience, fortitude, we can show unity, we are able to overcome this crisis together as one united Team Singapore, we are able to rally our tripartite partners to work closely together, I think we can inspire confidence and we can attract investments. We can demonstrate that Singapore has the capabilities and the resilience to overcome this crisis. That is very important – how we respond to this crisis together.

We continue to have to remain as an attractive business hub because it is not just about retaining our current capabilities and companies but also attracting new ones. I shared earlier in my main reply that there will be some sectors that will show a decline and some sectors will show growth. How we navigate in this new COVID-19 environment, how we are able to adapt, how quickly and how flexible we can be to adjust to attract new growth sectors – agri-tech, biomedical, e-commerce, financial sector, infocomm and technology – those are the areas which we have to work together to be able to grow the pie so that there is more to go around; better jobs, more jobs, more opportunities.

Next, question. Mr Seah Kian Peng.

The following question stood in the name of Mr Seah Kian Peng –

12 To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the assessment of industries in the post-COVID-19 era, specifically which are those that the business community and workforce should pivot to and position themselves going forward.

Question No 12, please.

Mr Deputy Speaker, COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis with impact extending far beyond that of public health. It will change the global economy and social norms in far more significant ways than past crises. We will likely remain in a COVID-19 environment for some time; and even when the pandemic recedes, life would not return to what it used to be.

Trade flows will be affected by the reconfiguration of supply chains. Some countries will respond by home-shoring certain production, while others will strengthen their inter-dependence with other economies and diversify their supply chains. How people travel will also change in ways more significant than after 9/11. Companies will need to transform their business models and operations. Manufacturers will have to redesign their "just-in-time" production to balance between achieving efficiency and resilience. The pace of digitalisation will accelerate and play a more fundamental role in the way we work, live and play.

As a small and open economy, Singapore’s response cannot be to turn inward. We need to find our new relevance to the world. Even as we cope with the immediate challenges, there will be new opportunities where we can seize, we can leverage on our strengths and we can ride on the key shifts brought about by the pandemic. While some of these developments are still playing out, and there is still some uncertainty in terms of how the new landscape will look like, there are a few areas our businesses and workers should start to re-position ourselves for.

First, changing consumption preferences, coupled with a rising middle class in Asia, will drive new demand. While the pandemic is still evolving, some changes, including those that started even before COVID-19, have become evident, such as a renewed emphasis on health and an increased focus on sustainability. If this continues, it will benefit industries such as healthcare, online retail and financial services – just to name a few. We will have the opportunity to enhance our value proposition in these areas to capture the growth in demand.

As Asia continues to grow, we must also work together with our neighbours to capture new opportunities. For example, in the agri-food industry, we are building up our local food production capabilities and also working with neighbouring countries such as Brunei, to grow this as an exportable sector that can strengthen food security and create good jobs for our peoples.

Second, global supply chains will be reconfigured as businesses seek to balance efficiency and resilience. This started before COVID-19, and we can expect the pace to accelerate. As companies shift their production lines, our manufacturing and logistics industries should position themselves to serve new demand and participate in new supply chains that are formed. We must continue to compete on our strengths such as trust, quality and connectivity. These have become even more important to investors and customers in the new environment. This is where our biomedical and precision engineering industries can play to our advantage by leveraging sophisticated technologies and the trust and quality that have been associated with Singapore. Our trusted brand name is an asset in this environment. If we can move fast to capture the opportunities created by these shifts, Singapore will be in a stronger position when recovery comes.

Third, the digital economy will take on greater salience than before and we must be prepared to seize the opportunities it brings. The pandemic has compelled businesses in all industries to turn to technology-enabled platforms for safe operations and business continuity. Besides shoring up a strong demand for digital solutions in the ICT sector, the quickened pace of technology adoption across industries has also transformed business models – especially for traditionally brick-and-mortar industries such as retail and food services – and it has enabled these businesses to access wider markets and consumer segments than before. For essential services such as healthcare, the rise of tele-medicine also provides an opportunity for the industry to redefine service quality and access markets beyond Singapore. Businesses will need to pivot towards the digital economy, and the Government will continue to extend strong support to help our enterprises to transform their business models and to train our workers in new skills to prepare them for this digital economy.

Sir, as a country, Singapore has time and again reinvented ourselves to be relevant to the world. We can recover from this crisis and we will grow again. Global competition will be intense. The road ahead will not be easy, but we will walk this journey together.

The key is to remain united and support one another to transform ourselves to seize new opportunities. We need to strengthen Singapore’s attractiveness as a hub for business and investments and remain open to global trade and talent to benefit from Asia’s growth. How well we recover will depend on our adaptability as a country, as businesses and also as individuals.

We start from solid foundations – a trusted brand name and rule of law, a cohesive and hardworking people, a strong tripartite partnership and excellent connectivity with the rest of the world. With these strong fundamentals, I am confident that Singapore will survive the crisis and we can emerge stronger.

13 Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) how have national data usage volume and pattern changed since the onset of COVID-19; (b) whether our digital infrastructure is currently adequate; (c) whether there are new plans to enhance our digital infrastructure post-COVID-19; and (d) how will the potential resultant increase in carbon emissions be mitigated.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the volume of data traffic remains within each operator’s network capacity, with a healthy buffer of at least 30%.

This is despite the fact that since the onset of COVID-19, our telecom operators have seen an increase in data usage volume due to telecommuting and home-based learning – as updated to this House by Minister S Iswaran last month. Singapore's digital infrastructure remains adequate for our needs.

Given the growing reliance on telecom services, we are also looking into measures to strengthen the security and resilience of our networks, and minimise the risk of outages. Therefore, MCI and IMDA are working with our telecom operators to enhance our telecom infrastructure. This includes further increasing network buffers to keep pace with future demands and investing early in 5G networks.

Today, telecom operators, as part of network and service resilience requirements, must provide adequate redundancy, back-ups and diversity arrangements within their networks. But outages still occur even with robust measures in place. IMDA takes a very serious view of such network disruptions and is investigating the causes of the outages by StarHub, M1 and MyRepublic. Where necessary, IMDA will take enforcement action against any operator found liable for causing an outage or failing to restore services quickly.

In addition, we are studying alternative means to enhance back-ups in our networks so that consumers can continue to have connectivity during outages; as well as how telecom operators can enhance their capabilities to quickly identify and rectify the causes of disruption. These will be essential to the overall resilience of our digital infrastructure, and quality of service rendered to customers.

We aim to enhance our digital infrastructure in a sustainable manner that takes into consideration the energy and carbon footprint generated. IMDA is working with EDB to ensure that data centre investments in Singapore are energy efficient. The Government remains committed to our goals under the Paris Agreement.

14 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry will consider doing a one-time COVID-19 swab test for VWO staff looking after our elderly; and (b) if so, whether it will be done in phases so as not to overstretch medical resources.

COVID-19 testing complements the existing precautionary measures in place for eldercare services, such as strict infection control, safe distancing and visitor restrictions. We have thus embarked on surveillance testing for staff of eldercare services to protect the seniors as they are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.

This surveillance testing in eldercare services will be conducted in phases. Given that seniors living in residential care homes are at higher risks, we prioritised and completed swab tests for about 10,500 staff of residential care homes in May 2020. Test results for staff were all negative save for one staff member from Ren Ci Nursing Home @ Ang Mo Kio, which we have announced earlier. In June 2020, we will progressively test staff of other eldercare services in operation, including those working at day care centres. These initial sweeps will help guide our approach for future testing.

Ms Joan Pereira.

I thank the Senior Minister of State. I have one supplementary question. As we reopen our SACs in due time, I would like to ask MOH if it would provide training and training resources to all our VWOs to help them train their staff, provide them with the necessary resources so that they can observe good and better hygiene habits as we really need to protect our elderly and the staff looking after them, especially when the SACs open.

I thank the Member for her question. Indeed, the SACs may resume on-site activities gradually in Phase One. Before resuming on-site activities, SACs are required to undergo a readiness assessment and propose plans on infection prevention and control, and safe distancing measures. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) will also conduct spot checks to ensure that these measures are implemented. Prior to this, AIC has also conducted several webinars to inform providers of the necessary infection prevention and control measures and provided them with resource kits.

As at 5 June, 27 SACs have opened.

15 Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Health after the lifting of the circuit breaker on 1 June (a) what measures will remain for visitation of residents living in nursing homes; (b) whether swab tests will be conducted for seniors and staff in day care centres; and (c) which phase will senior activity centres be classified under for resumption of their operations.

Can Senior Minister of State answer within three minutes?

Seniors are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection as they develop more severe symptoms if infected. We have thus taken a more cautious approach to the resumption of senior-centric activities when the circuit breaker ended.

In Phase One, on-site activities that can be done individually, like craftwork, reading and gardening, will gradually resume at Senior Activity Centres, with restrictions on the activity duration and the total number of persons per session. Given that nursing home residents are generally more frail, face-to-face visits will continue to be suspended to keep the risk of infection low. Nursing homes will continue to facilitate interactions between seniors and their loved ones via phone and video calls. Nursing homes can also allow face-to-face visits in exceptional circumstances, such as when the patient is critically ill. We will progressively resume more activities across different settings when the situation improves.

We conduct surveillance testing for the eldercare sector, to complement existing precautionary measures such as safe distancing, visitor restrictions and infection control. We prioritised swab tests for staff and clients at residential care homes in May and in June, we will progressively test staff of other eldercare services in operation, including those working at day-care centres.

Order. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 16-28 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix.]

[(proc text) First Reading. (proc text)]

Mr Deputy Speaker, I have a Certificate of Urgency signed by the President in respect of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment) Bill, to be laid upon the Table.

[(proc text) Certificate of Urgency signed by the President in respect of the Bill, laid upon the Table by the Senior Minister of State for Law. (proc text)]

The Certificate is in order. Senior Minister of State, please proceed.

Mr Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Minister for Law, I beg to to introduce a Bill intituled "An Act to amend the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020."

[(proc text) Bill read the First time. (proc text)]

Mr Deputy Speaker, copies of the Bill have been provided to the Clerk, who will distribute it to Members now. [Handouts were distributed to hon Members.]

Senior Minister of State, Mr Edwin Tong, second reading when?

Today, Sir, after the conclusion of proceedings on the Second Supplementary Supply (FY 2020) Bill.

So be it. Order. Leader.

Mr Deputy Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move a Motion that the Debate on Deputy Prime Minister's Ministerial Statement be taken now.

This will allow the House to resume its Debate on the Ministerial Statement on the Government's plans in the continuing fight against COVID-19 given on 26 May and conclude on its consideration, before the House proceeds to vote on the sums contained in the Second Supplementary Estimates for FY20/21 and the Second Supplementary Supply Bill.

As Members are aware, the Second Supplementary Estimates and the Bill reflect the necessary funds required for the multi-Ministry plans and programmes outlined in the Ministerial Statement which are subject to Parliament's approval.

I give my consent. Does the Leader of the House have the general assent of Members present to so move?

[(proc text) Hon Members indicated assent. (proc text)]

[(proc text) With the consent of Mr Deputy Speaker and the general assent of Members present, question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]

[(proc text) Resolved, that, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, the proceedings on item 3 on the Order Paper for today be taken now. – [Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien]. (proc text)]

Order. The Clerk will now proceed to read the orders of the day.

[(proc text) Order read for Resumption of Debate on Question [26 May 2020], (proc text)]

[(proc text) "That the Ministerial Statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance on the Government's Plans in Our Continuing Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic be considered by Parliament." – [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance.] (proc text)]

[(proc text) Question again proposed. (proc text)]

Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget. In Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Sir, COVID-19 has led to economic contraction all around the world and Singapore is no exception. If we do not have sufficient reserves, the $33 billion Fortitude Budget would not be possible. We have to thank the previous Governments for saving for a rainy day, progressively setting aside budget surpluses for our reserves. Because of this, we are able to come up with four Budgets totaling $93 billion to assist Singaporeans, save companies, save jobs and save lives.

The circuit breaker has just ended and every company hopes to resume operations as soon as possible. Every employer is eager for his or her employees to resume work. Every Singaporean hopes to resume their lifestyles like before, visiting their parents, shopping, and going to the park. Currently, there is no cure nor vaccine for COVID-19, so we cannot do away with the preventive measures. So then how can we deal with the new normal in the post-circuit breaker period? Will COVID-19 continue to spread in the community? What is the level of risk?

Perhaps, the testing of 39,000 pre-school staff can offer some clues. Currently, 14 pre-school staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19, which translates to an infection rate of 0.036%. Among the 14, 13 had contracted the virus previously and were no longer infectious at the point when they were confirmed as positive cases. In other words, these 13 pre-school staff were not aware that they had been infected prior to testing. Before they recovered, they could have passed the virus to others and spread it to the community while they were out and about. Fortunately, they had gone out less during the circuit breaker period and have minimised the risk of infecting others.

If we apply the testing and confirmed case numbers of the pre-school staff to the 2.4 million working citizens and Permanent Residents in Singapore, then the infection rate of 0.03% would mean that there may be 861 local residents who have been infected but are unaware about it. More importantly, among the 39,000 pre-school staff, one individual was infected recently. From the infection of pre-school staff, it is not difficult to understand why zero community infection could not be maintained in the past few weeks.

Moving forward, as we embark on the first phase of the post-circuit period, more people will leave home to work and the risk of community infection will definitely increase. I know that many SMEs would like to resume operations but I would urge everyone to be more patient.

On the other hand, our community infection rate has been relatively low. The death rate has also remained low. There are only five patients in ICU currently. Experts say that in the next one and a half years, it is not possible to eradicate COVID-19 totally from the community. Therefore, Singaporeans must remain vigilant, wash their hands frequently, wear a mask and maintain the one metre safe distance. Safe management measures at workplaces will become the new normal. If people are infected, they should be quarantined immediately, and proactive contact tracing must be conducted.

If people are able to accept this new normal and understand that COVID-19 will not disappear in a few months like SARS, I hope MTF will allow all industries to resume operations as soon as possible. This will boost consumption and save jobs. Otherwise, no matter how much support and grants are given, so long as companies cannot operate, there will still be retrenchments and insolvencies.

I believe that the Government will be flexible in this aspect. I am the advisor of the Renovation Contractors’ Associations. The Chairman of the Association, its key members and myself have held meetings with BCA several times to pave the way for resuming work. Many families’ renovation projects had to stop because of the circuit breaker measures, and they cannot wait for the project to start again. However, the requirements for resumption of renovation projects have been very stringent. Through several rounds of consultations, BCA has simplified the procedures and allowed several thousand renovation projects to resume on 2 June. I would like to thank BCA for their help.

COVID-19 has disrupted industries and sped up the pace of digital transformation. However, at markets and hawker centres, most stallholders accept cash only. After NETs was set up in 1985, Singapore soon became the leader for e-payments in Asia. However, after so many years, we have lagged behind other Asian countries in terms of e-payments. Therefore, I am happy to see the establishment of the Digital Transformation Office and that every hawker will be given a $300 monthly bonus for the next five years to encourage them to adopt cashless payments. There are also plans to recruit 1,000 digital ambassadors to help the elderly Singaporeans learn digital skills.

Last year, when organising the River Hongbao activities, we worked with NETS to encourage the food stallholders to adopt cashless payments. However, the results were lacklustre. When I visited markets, hawker centres and coffeeshops, I also received feedback on cashless payments from stallholders. Some were positive; some were negative. Therefore, I would like to make a few suggestions so that we can improve the e-payment adoption rate and the efficiency of digital ambassadors.

Some stallholders are worried about the cash flow problem, so they hope that they will be able to get the e-payments by customers several hours after the payments were made.

Stallholders currently pay cash to suppliers for materials. If this segment of the supply chain can be digitised, more stallholders may be encouraged to adopt e-payment.

There are currently 19 e-payment platforms in Singapore. I understand that the intention of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is to allow different e-payment platforms to thrive. However, this may lead to confusion and it may distract customers. I suggest that IMDA focus on one or two platforms such as PayNow and NETS. This will make e-payment easier for Singaporeans, especially the elderly.

According to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, most of the digital ambassadors recruited will be graduates from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL). These fresh graduates are familiar with technology, but they may not empathise with the fear and resistance of stallholders against e-payments. I hope that the Government will focus more on recruiting Singaporeans who may have initial reservations about technology but have learnt to use e-payment eventually. Then, they can effectively encourage stallholders to embark on digital transformation.

The Chinese say that food is the most important of all things. Only when everyone can use e-payment to buy food, can we say that our digital transformation is truly taking shape. I hope that from now onwards, stallholders who used to count cash will use the QR code as the norm.

(In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, resilience is forged through crisis. With this fourth Budget, the Government has already pumped in $93 billion to help Singaporeans and the economy. While COVID-19 has created havoc, it is clear that COVID-19 has also brought out the best in us, not just in putting the community above self-interest and abiding by the circuit breaker rules, but also in how some of us are extending a helping hand to others. There are countless examples, like those who have volunteered to help out in the frontline at the migrant worker dormitories, or those who have signed up with different charities via Giving.sg to donate money, essential items or volunteer their time.

There are also many inspiring stories in Jurong West, helping others during this difficult time.

One of our residents, Joyce Yu, did not throw up her hands in defeat when her parent's nasi lemak hawker stall suffered from a plunge in business due to COVID-19 and the circuit breaker measures. Instead, she managed to raise funds from her friends so that her parents could provide nasi lemak as free breakfast for needy families in Jurong.

As her parents also had hawker friends who were in the same situation, she slowly expanded the scheme. Today, she has raised about $20,000, not just from her friends, but also through the Giving.sg website and the Loving Hearts Multi-Service Centre in Jurong. These funds help to pay about nine workers, including her parents, to provide about 150 free breakfasts to families in Jurong every day. Grassroots volunteers also chipped in by distributing the food free of charge.

Joyce has a full-time job with YMCA but she is happy to liaise with the hawkers and raise funds. She says she wanted to come up with a scheme which is a win-win solution to support local businesses, hawkers like her mother's, while feeding vulnerable people.

Joyce is not alone. There are many similar stories like hers. We want to encourage more. We want to collect all these good deeds and inspire more to follow.

This year National Day will not have the glitter and pageantry of the huge parades like what we have had over the last 54 years. This year's National Day is our nation's 55th birthday. We want to celebrate the unsung heroes fighting the COVID-19, the everyday resilience and the sense of community on the ground which has given us a silver lining during these challenging times.

Like our pioneers in the late 1960s and 1970s that have built our nation from scratch, we will be the pioneers in winning the war over COVID-19. We are using the reserve build up by our Pioneers to fight the current crisis. But, we are also want to be the pioneers that transform our economy digitally so that our children can reap the fruits of our new digital economy. In the fight against COVID-19, I hope all Singaporeans can proudly say “count on me”.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his unveiling of the Fortitude budget. This budget is aptly-named because it seeks to fortify support programmes that are urgently needed across all levels of an economy beleaguered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wish to focus my speech on the welcome support offered via the new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeship Programme that aims to provide 4,000 traineeships for mid-career unemployed locals. This programme is especially timely as our country goes through rapid digitalisation, now fiercely accelerated by COVID-19.

As mature workers, mid-career jobseekers are understandably anxious about the drastic confluence of digital disruptions, outmoded skills and ageism working against them. Compared to fresh graduates, their needs are more complex as many would also be from the sandwich class, juggling lifestage obligations of parenting and eldercare and so their salary expectations are naturally higher. Even though they have an established track record, they will find it harder to pivot, having honed their skills in industries that may be on the decline. And yet, with their maturity and life experience, they still have much to offer our society and ample potential to grow.

As the relevant Ministries and agencies work together to operationalise the finer details of this programme, I would like to share insights from industry leaders so that the programme can bring maximum benefit to the trainees and companies participating in this scheme.

Principally, industry leaders recommend that expectations of both sides must be carefully managed to heighten mutual understanding and satisfaction with the programme. The participating companies’ should be supported with instructive guidelines on how best to integrate and upskill their trainees. MOM should provide some flexibility and support for employers across a group of complementary companies to offer cross-training opportunities.

For example, career portal Mums@Work has successfully experimented with developing consortia of companies in related industries collaborating to collectively train returning talents so that they can be exposed to a broader swathe of skills. Trainees can thus explore multiple career paths and better identify their transferable strengths in the process.

With such innovative arrangements, companies can offer their trainees a wider range of skills upgrading opportunities and support each other without incurring prohibitive overheads.

Companies should also be upfront with their trainees about the potential for longer term job prospects or the lack thereof, and share in advance the kinds of post traineeship support they can provide. They should also be more explicit about articulating their criteria for retention if they can afford to increase their headcount. That way, the trainees will not feel like they have been led down the garden path.

Besides such substantive issues, the approach that participating companies adopt in hosting these trainees can also make or break a traineeship. There are horror stories of job attachment schemes where mature trainees must sign in daily for a visitor’s pass to enter the company, or who are supervised by very junior colleagues with no managerial experience to speak of. These socio-emotional aspects of mid-career training must be effectively addressed to ensure win-win outcomes for everyone. Above all, the scheme must accord trainees with a sense of purpose and dignity.

On their part, trainees must also pull their weight and not regard the traineeship as a paid sabbatical. They too should be provided with pointers on how they can make the most of their stints and the appropriate mind sets they should adopt to fully benefit from the programme.

Fundamentally, the traineeships should offer a combination of substantive skills and career planning competencies that will empower these mid-career jobseekers for their next career move.

In this regard, the experience of the Singapore Computer Society’s Career Compass programme offers some valuable lessons. Besides providing training in technical skills relating to growth areas such as AI, cyber security and enterprise architecture, the programme also offers career preparatory training in areas such as professional branding, resume building and interview skills.

With a careful and concerted design of SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeship offerings and actionable guidelines for participating companies and trainees, I am hopeful that this scheme can help to prepare mid-career workers for the next phase of their careers. On that optimistic note, I support the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise in support of the $33 billion Fortitude Budget. This is an unprecedented Budget but it is necessary as this is one of the worst crises to hit us in our nation’s history.

Many of my residents in Henderson-Dawson have shared with me how they and their companies have been directly assisted by the various assistance schemes and programmes announced as parts of the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets. Many are also acutely aware that we are drawing on our reserves and have expressed their worries about drawing down on our nation’s savings, especially since we do not know how long this crisis will last. It is a delicate balance between the needs of our present and our future, and the Government has had to make some very tough decisions for the good of everyone in Singapore under these trying circumstances.

The central focus of the Fortitude Budget is jobs.

I am glad to see that the various age groups of our society will continue to receive assistance. From young graduates to middle aged employees, and to older workers, all will receive help with jobseeking, job-matching and training. We are especially concerned for the sandwiched workers – those who are supporting both children and elderly parents. I urge them to take up the various assistance schemes applicable to them and come forward to request for help if they are unsure of what to do.

It is important that even as we focus on taking care of our immediate needs, we must also be mindful of our external environment and keep an eye on what is ahead of us.

In early May, Deputy Prime Minister Heng had said that, I quote, “there should be no lost generation in Singapore… we are sailing into uncharted waters, surveying the new landscape, exploring new growth and opportunities, preparing to seize them when the storm passes..."

I would like to speak a little about the young adults who will be joining or who had just joined our workforce. This is a world that seems so familiar and yet so different from the one they had grown up expecting to enter.

This generation had grown up hearing from their elders about how fortunate they have been, growing up enjoying the many benefits of a prosperous nation as compared to Singapore’s founding years. And now suddenly, within the space of a few months, the world has changed. It is so much harder for them to get jobs. The malls are closed. They cannot hang out with friends. Suddenly, we also have an entire generation of Romeos and Juliets, forbidden from meeting each other.

As this group is young, we may not be as worried as we may be for older Singaporeans. They will also receive support under the Fortitude Budget’s SGUnited Traineeship which aims to provide 21,000 traineeships for local first-time jobseekers, and there is additional support from the Hiring Incentive scheme which has been expanded to cover workers of all ages. Certainly, some of the 40,000 jobs to be created in the public and private sectors by the SGUnited Jobs initiative will be offered to this young cohort too.

However, being young and with less experience, they may face obstacles searching for jobs in a very tight labour market.

I am glad to note that MOM will take active steps to assist those who need advice and career counselling in applying for jobs and being matched with training programmes and jobs. However, for some young people, the jobs they had been preparing for may have all but disappeared and some are even at a loss about whether they should consider switching industries.Thus, the Government, together with industry and the Institutes of Higher Learning, should work even more closely together to help them navigate the job market in this challenging environment.

We must be mindful of the impact of this crisis on them for years to come and have the appropriate strategy to help them to ensure that they will not become a lost or traumatised generation. For a number of them, they are entering the adult world with “empty hands”, as their parents and family members may also face job losses or business difficulties.

My concern is that as our economy recovers in the future, this cohort’s experience and their subsequent actions would have consequences for us as a nation. Even with the use of technology and solemnisations via video link, relationships and marriages may be delayed. They may delay having children, have fewer children or none at all. In delaying procreation, the chances of having healthy children are reduced.

Our family units form the foundation of our society. Matching up young single Singaporeans may hardly be a priority now but I hope the Government will be mindful of this issue as it has wide ranging implications, including our economy’s competitiveness and national security.

As for those who have decided to take the leap, we can do more to support these new young families. There are attractive grants in place for HDB flat purchases. Nonetheless, I would like to ask the government to help them with the repayment of their HDB loans. Please consider accepting even lower deposits and smaller repayments monthly. This need not be permanent. The crisis will not last forever, in three to five years, the economy will pick up and the couples can make up for the difference later. This will also be timely as they progress in their careers, earn more and become able to afford higher mortgage payments. I also wish to appeal for higher subsidies for pregnancy check-ups, deliveries and childhood vaccinations to make procreation even more affordable.

Would MND also consider building bigger HDB flats in the future? Not only do bigger units allow families to continue living together and help to look after each other, they will also take into account that more citizens will be working and studying online from home. This will be become a permanent trend. More and more people will need a home office and increasingly, home-based learning will be part of all students’ schedule, whether during emergencies, or, regularly utilised to ensure that the system is working and that the students and teachers stay familiar with the online learning platforms. Such a change in working and learning patterns means that there is a need and demand for a bit more space, with internal dividers, for all members of a family to do their jobs and studying sustainably, without disturbing one another.

Let us support our young adults who are standing at the entrance of independence and parenthood. Encourage them to proceed to the next lap with those they love. The pandemic will pass. And throughout the way, we will help everyone to tide through these tough times together.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Fortitude Budget sets aside $33 billion more to help firms and households, and to save jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a health and economic crisis that has Singapore facing the worst recession since Independence. Our Government’s response has had no precedent – unstinting and rapid support to the tune of $93 billion thus far, resulting in the largest overall Budget deficit in our nation’s history.

Including this Budget, the Government will need to draw up to $52 billion dollars from its reserves. It is indeed a blessing that Singapore should possess such a reservoir of financial resources to see us through this crisis. Many countries around the world will be burdened, burdened in the years to come with record levels of debt from the huge fiscal stimulus programmes they have had to put in place to deal with the impact from COVID-19. So, we are more fortunate.

But, Sir, there is no question that Singapore was absolutely right to tap the reserves decisively in order to help businesses, tide Singaporeans through this crisis and mitigate permanent damage to our economy. However, we should also be concerned about fiscal sustainability, especially when the outlook remains uncertain and downside risks remain significant. There is a lot of talk about what would the shape of the recovery be, but many believe that recovery will be slow and long-drawn; it may take years before we return to pre-COVID-19 conditions.

Against this backdrop, I wonder how this massive draw on our reserves will be treated. What are the obligations to pay back? To do so, would be a huge task as the amount is more than 10 times our previous draw, when we used it to deal with the Global Financial Crisis. How will this influence our tax policy in the coming years, as we work to restore public finances in an equitable manner? Will we need to dig deeper, to implement more progressive income taxes and greater wealth taxes? Will tax systems need to evolve in tandem with the rising digital economy and capture revenue earned from online transactions?

With the economic outlook remaining highly uncertain and with risks predominantly skewed to the downside, we should be very cautious when we do further draws on our reserves. I support the call to set aside a sum of $13 billion in Contingencies Funds, but, I must urge the Government to do so with utmost prudence.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses and workers unevenly. I urge Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat to adopt in the next phase, if he has to do something, a more targeted approach in future support schemes.

For example, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), payouts should only go to firms adversely impacted by the crisis. We should learn from Australia. In Australia, for their scheme, eligibility for wage support only kicks in if business turnover drops by 30% due to the pandemic; for larger companies with turnovers of over A$1 billion, their drop in turnover must be at least 50% before they can be eligible. It should not be right for firms to profit from the Government's support scheme during this crisis.

For some companies, whose bottom lines have been boosted because of JSS, they should be offered the opportunity to "pay it forward", in support of others who are less fortunate, perhaps through a "Solidarity Levy" of some sort.

Sir, this crisis will increase income inequality. Recent research at Oxford found that those earning under GBP20,000 are less able to perform work remotely, earn a smaller proportion of their previous salary and are twice as likely to lose their jobs compared to those earning GBP40,000 or more. We can draw similar parallels here in Singapore. It has been far easier for those employed by large companies and highly skilled sectors to work remotely, than for those employed by SMEs or in the retail and F&B sectors, as well as those engaged in low-paying contract work. So, we must find ways to buffer the hardship faced by these families. We should be prepared to support them with some basic level of income beyond the current provision of COVID-19 Support Grant, should their unemployment persist.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support Deputy Prime Minister's call to think urgently about how Singapore can emerge stronger. We must prepare our workforce immediately for a post-COVID-19 environment, to adapt quickly to structural changes in the economy, changed consumer habits and new ways in which countries will compete and co-operate with one another.

I also applaud Deputy Prime Minister for his bold move to launch the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, creating 100,000 opportunities in jobs, traineeships and skills training to mitigate risks associated with unemployment.

The Deputy Prime Minister has promised to "protect every worker even if we cannot protect every job". But this commitment to protect every worker should not create a false sense of security or complacency. Instead, it should encourage individuals to leverage this safety net in order to position themselves for the longer term, by critically assessing their operating environment, learn new skills, try new jobs and seize on the many schemes available to ensure that they remain relevant.

The formation of National Jobs Council as well as the Emerging Stronger Task Force are great initiatives for developing strategies to pivot ourselves to the new jobs landscape. I am also impressed with the speed by which job initiatives are being rolled out – these include the 11,000 traineeships by 1,000 organisations who have come on board so far, so quite impressive.

Our ability to coordinate, navigate and implement Whole-of-Government initiatives is truly the competitive advantage that Singapore must play to.

Amidst the doom and gloom, it is reassuring to learn that Singapore has secured $13 billion of investment commitments in just four months of this year – amongst the highest in recent years. This is a testament of the confidence that investors and businesses have in Singapore and the hard work that MTI continues to put into selling "Singapore Inc". Indeed, as social, political and geopolitical instability continue to play out elsewhere in the world, Singapore is well positioned as the much-sought-after safe harbor for business, talent, intellectual property and investments.

Sir, COVID-19 has changed many long-held beliefs and opened up new perspectives. I think many of us believed that Singaporeans were not attracted to care-giving jobs, so we were always going to be heavily reliant on foreign nurses and care-giving professionals. However, our response to the pandemic shone a light on the meaningful work that healthcare professionals do and held them up as the heroes that they have always been. School children wrote "thank you" notes, Prime Ministers called them out and people clapped from their balconies the world over, out of gratitude for their sacrifice. The large number of temporary positions made available to deal with COVID-19 has also provided a window of opportunity for people to try their hand at this work. I must say I am so encouraged to witnessed an emerging interest amongst young people in joining the healthcare industry and shifting attitudes towards the care-giving profession. Sir, we should seize upon this window of opportunity to accelerate this trend and attract more Singaporeans to join the healthcare profession that offers great long-term career prospects.

Lastly, COVID-19 has taught us that large-scale remote working is indeed possible. With the help of technology, employers are quickly equipping their workers with the tools they need to work from home. I myself have been surprised at how much more productive I have been, working away from the office. Facebook has begun planning for workers to work permanently from home, whilst Google has extended its work-from-home policy for the remainder of 2020.

With working remotely accepted as the new normal, we should leverage this opportunity to supercharge Singapore's growth in the Infocomm Technology sector (ICT). Many tech firms complain that they have not been able to scale their business in Singapore given our limited talent pool. With the accelerated plan to build a strong pipeline of digital and technology skills locally as announced by Minister Iswaran yesterday, companies can also supplement the local talent pool with global expertise to scale the business by extending working from home beyond our national borders. So, extend that, work from home, but beyond the national borders. Singapore companies can tap AI, data analytics, cybersecurity resources from around the world to support Singapore's development work without these tech professionals having to relocate to Singapore. Our innovations in organising work and how work should be done, can fuel our ambition to be Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.

I urge the Emerging Stronger Task Force Committee to scrutinise these and other trends emerging from this COVID-19 pandemic, so that it may inform their recommendations to prepare Singaporeans for a post-COVID era. Winston Churchill is credited with first saying, "Never let a good crisis go to waste". Singapore has certainly invested a good deal in this crisis, it is time to learn the lessons, turn challenges into opportunities and reap the rewards for a stronger, brighter tomorrow. I support the Budget.

Sir, I join many Singaporeans in thanking the Government for the Unity, Resilience, Solidarity and Fortitude Budgets. The support measures introduced will help ensure that we can all get through this pandemic and most importantly, get through it together.

I am thankful that the concerns of those on unpaid leave or reduced salaries have been addressed through expanding the COVID-19 Support Grant to help this group of Singaporeans. I am thankful we are proposing to help the SMEs with further rental waivers and allow tenants to repay their arrears through installments. I am also thankful for all the hard work by MOM, all the other Government agencies and the NGOs who have worked tirelessly to help our migrant friends. Our migrant friends have worked hard to build, clean and maintain Singapore as the shining red dot we are today. I am glad we have not left them behind and have committed to improving their living conditions. I raised all these concerns in my previous speeches and I am thankful to everyone who has taken the time to share your concerns, feedback and suggestions with me. Thank you for speaking up.

Sir, we have given a lot but as I raised in my previous speeches, there is one more thing we need to give out. We can and we need to give time. Time for working parents to spend with and look after their young children during this difficult period.

During this pandemic, many parents are feeling the stress of trying to balance work and looking after their children, especially helping their young ones with home-based learning (HBL). As Zack, a parent, shared with me, "Imagine working from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm. Reached home about 7.00 pm. Have dinner until 7.30 pm. And only having this time, 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm, to check on the kids' HBL. Kids must sleep at 9.00 pm to ensure nine hours of healthy sleep. Super tiring. Yet, we endured for the sake of our children".

Many parents are especially worried about how they will cope with alternating weeks of HBL for non-graduating students. It will be difficult for parents who are unable to work from home. Who will look after their children? Not everyone has grandparents who can help and even for those who do, they might not be able to help during this period.

Another parent shared with me, "I have two Primary school going kids. Primary 1, Primary 2. Who is available to guide them on HBL days during Phase One? Grandparents aren’t computer literate. If there isn’t any HBL plus Google meet plus video call, I will choose to deposit them at my parents house easily. If I have to take annual leave to guide their HBL, employer won’t allow."

I know Minister Ong has stated, "Schools will be prepared to extend limited care to young students on HBL but without childcare arrangements".

It will also be difficult for parents who can work from home. They are expected to meet their bosses' deadline and to be equally productive, even as they try to give their young ones attention and guide them on HBL. Do they please their employers or the children?

I know firsthand how difficult it is. For the past two months, I worked from home with three little ones who had HBL. Ella is now six years old and Katie and Poppy are three years old. You cannot leave them to do HBL on their own. It is impossible.

They have also attended many of my Zoom work meetings, climbed on my shoulders when I am clearing emails, and pulled my hands and legs, wanting me to play with them when I am drafting speeches. This happened when I was drafting this speech last Saturday.

Parents truly appreciate this opportunity to work from home. As Zyen, another parent, shared, “WFH with an infant is really no joke. Always have to work till midnight to complete the work. But I do, really cherish and appreciate. I‘ve been there when she flipped, sat up by herself and now standing with support. Gonna miss this bittersweet timing”.

Sir, more than anything, parents feel guilty that we cannot give our children the attention they need even though they are right there in front of us. I am not the only one with kids climbing on my shoulders. Amelia shared that, “My son climbs onto my shoulders while I work, too. I feel guilty for being impatient with my daughter who asks questions or wants to share something with me while I’m rushing my work”.

I know there is no easy solution, especially during these difficult times. I know employers are equally stressed. But we need to give parents some breathing space and help them balance both work and family commitments. It is good that the Government has asked employers to be more empathetic to the challenges working parents face but we need to do more than that.

We cannot leave this important issue to the discretion of the employer. The Government needs to step in to help and to mandate like how we have done so in so many areas in tackling this pandemic.

We need to remember the issue does not just stem from alternating weeks of HBL. What about parents whose children are required to stay home because they are exhibiting COVID-like symptoms? Many pre-schools rightly ask a child to go home if he or she shows a single symptom. But a lot of parents are affected because of this.

An educator in a childcare centre shared with me that, “On the ground, parents tend to negotiate with teachers if teachers were to reject children from entering schools due to respiratory symptoms with reasons that they are unable to get leave from work or no one to take care of their children”. Some parents, “would suggest to teachers to keep children at the sick bay the entire day until the parents end work”.

Let us not forget that there are also school closures due to positive COVID-19 cases, Leave of Absence or Stay-Home Notices.

As I have previously stressed, our current childcare leave entitlement is already insufficient during a regular year. Now, in the most irregular year, how can parents possibly have sufficient childcare leave?

The only option left for many parents is unpaid leave. Indeed, many parents have shared that they are doing just that. But in this business climate, parents fear losing their jobs if they continue to take unpaid leave.

To help parents, I hope we can introduce a Government-paid COVID-19-related childcare leave for parents whose children need to stay home due to COVID-19-related issues. By calling for it to be Government-paid, this would ease the financial burden for employers, whom I know are equally stressed.

Sir, this leave is critical for those who are unable to work from home. This includes parents working in essential services who perform a duty for our nation, who keep us safe. We need to make sure that they are looked after, too.

For parents who are working from home, this COVID-19-related childcare leave can help take off the pressures of balancing competing work and childcare responsibilities. They can take this leave when needed, such as helping their child catch up with HBL and their school work.

Sir, we will not be the first country to provide a COVID-19-related childcare leave. Other countries have already taken steps to help working parents facing childcare challenges as a result of this pandemic.

In the US, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act expands paid leave options for working parents who are unable to find childcare arrangements, entitling them up to 12 weeks of partially paid family leave. This includes parents working from home. Businesses whose employees take this leave pay for it through a refundable tax credit administered by the Department of Treasury.

In Canada, working parents are entitled to job-protected leave of absence for up to 16 weeks under federal law, allowing parents to attend to childcare and eldercare needs while protecting them from being fired or penalised.

In Italy, the government extended annual parental leave by 15 days for parents with children aged up to 12 years.

In Belgium, the government introduced a special parental leave for parents of children under the age of 12 where parents can take leave in the form of 1/2 or 1/5 reduction of working time. This means working half time or one day off a week, taken in any combination of weekly or monthly blocks.

Other countries have adopted a variety of measures – tax credits, protection against discriminatory firing, increase in annual leave and flexible leave. I believe some combination of these solutions would provide our working parents the support they so desperately need.

Sir, in conclusion, we cannot leave it to employers and employees to work out amicable arrangements to balance business needs with childcare needs in this difficult time. In this difficult time, the Government has to step in. We should; other countries have already done so.

I hope the Government will consider introducing a Government-paid COVID-19-related childcare leave and provide it at least until the end of Phase Two of the re-opening after the circuit breaker. Many parents are calling for this and I hope the Government will support them.

“Spend time with those you love, one of these days you will either say I wish I had or I’m glad I did.”

Let us give our working parents the time they need to spend with their children during this pandemic and let us all value the precious time we have with our loved ones. Sir, I support the Budget. Together, we will beat this virus.

Mr Deputy Speaker, before I start, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team at MOF for their hard work in devising a fourth Budget within a space of four months. I also appreciate the sensitive consideration of naming each Budget such that we are emotionally connected to them.

"Fortitude" is an excellent name for this Budget as we dig deep into courage to face the painful effects of an unfolding economic crisis. The pain is widespread. Many have reached out to me with their stories. Witnessing this suffering has compelled me to file cuts tomorrow, so that the issues faced by struggling groups are raised to this House. Public rental households are one such group.

The number of households who have suffered complete loss of income since the beginning of April has risen sharply. Average income levels have gone into freefall. On the ground, community organisations have observed that households face mounting debt, including rent arrears. MND shared that “about 5,200 public rental households, or about 10% of all public rental households, are in rent arrears”. Around one in four such households owes more than $3,000 in rent.

As the economic impact of COVID-19 worsens, we can expect that more households residing in rental flats will struggle to pay rent. The Deputy Prime Minister said in his Ministerial Statement last week, "Our path forward will be tough, but we will journey together". So, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he could consider waiving six months’ rent for all households residing in rental flats, except for those whose rent is already covered under financial assistance from ComCare. This will provide immediate and targeted relief that goes directly to the low-income households in need.

For context, the Government is extending $334 million in rental relief for Government tenants in this Budget. A further $2 billion will offset SMEs’ rental costs.. A similar waiver for rental flat households would cost between $16 million and $57 million, based on my rough calculation.

Mr Deputy Speaker, while acute pain is undeniable and deeply felt by both citizens and migrant workers, future shocks could be more frequent and unprecedented. The World Economic Forum has called turbulence “the new normal” in its latest Global Risks Report. I will focus on the long term in this speech.

The hard work of Singaporeans and Singapore companies, as well as prudent financial management of our Reserves, has allowed us to save up for this rainy day. It is only fiscally responsible for us to ensure that we spend the monies to build a stronger foundation for this new turbulent normal. This demands that we push boundaries and reimagine a social and economic structure that is more responsive, flexible and interconnected.

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me first outline why a re-imagination and deep transformation is the only prudent way forward. I will then discuss the considerations in our current spending and planning processes that can set us on the path towards this stronger, more sustainable and more inclusive future.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng mentioned that this Budget’s focus is to “enable our businesses and workers to adapt, transform and seize new opportunities”. Indeed, but even more so, our society and economy need a deep transformation.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown us unequivocally that human health is intrinsically linked to planetary health. Our increasing urbanisation and disruption of ecological balances increase our risks of exposure to pathogens. Last year, the Clinicians for Planetary Health initiative was launched. It committed to increase awareness of the severe public health impacts of environmental change. Therefore, it is safe to say that to safeguard our economic future, the balance of resources across people, planet and profit needs to be re-examined.

First, we can no longer look at our risk response in silo. Risks are multi-dimensional and cross-cutting, and must be addressed as such. Our healthcare system had integrated and implemented the playbook from SARS well – only 3.1% of our infections had been healthcare workers so far, compared to 41% for SARS. Yet, systemic gaps in worker welfare, specifically for migrant workers, left us unprepared for the infection levels in the dormitories. The risk assessment framework should have included the adequacy of safeguards for worker health. This would have required MOH and MOM to work together.

Second, existing societal inequities create disproportionate stresses on vulnerable communities. My previous speeches provided several examples of persons with mental health conditions, lower income households and migrant workers being disproportionately affected in terms of income loss and economic and psychological resilience. The digital divide amongst lower income families, the differently-abled and the elderly became more evident. All these could deepen social and community fault lines.

What does all this mean in terms of transformation? What society should we envision for ourselves?

I call for Singapore to move towards multi-stakeholderism. Governance-wise, this means a policy design process centred around and in collaboration with the actors with a “stake” in the outcome. Business-wise, it means considering workers, suppliers and customers equally.

Such considerations are not new. The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 to further the idea that business should serve all stakeholders. A hundred and eighty one CEOs of the Business Roundtable signed a statement last year, committing “to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders.”

Investors also value businesses that take care of its stakeholders. Workers are a major stakeholder. In April 2020, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) led by investors responsible for assets of $54 trillion called for companies to “prioritise employee safety and welfare” and “take a holistic and equitable approach to capital allocation decisions, considering the workforce”. Deputy Prime Minister Heng alluded to similar sentiments in parts of his speech.

The Government’s strategy to help Singaporeans ride through this crisis is by safeguarding jobs and income, which it is doing by supporting businesses. Across all four Budgets, around $28 billion has gone towards supporting immediate cash flow needs and overheads. This is about a third of the total Budget to date. The Government has also provided support through enabling credit access and matching investments for start-ups.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the intention to protect jobs and income to strengthen the economic position of our individuals and households. Reducing inequality would also increase resilience across our society, especially in times of hardship, so that economic buffers and important resources do not become accessible only to the privileged few.

Therefore, we must enact measures to protect individuals against employers who may be more interested in self-enrichment than in their workers’ rice bowls. Possible measures are curbs on layoffs, excessive executive compensation, and excessive use of share options in compensation structures that disproportionately align managers only to shareholders’ interests.

Government bailouts and support may reduce shareholders’ risk-bearing responsibilities. Safeguards against moral hazard can include: reducing dividends, restricting stock buybacks and requiring that any M&A activity should seek to pay back the support provided, that is, a clawback.

Measuring and reporting should be used to hold companies accountable for how they have used Government grants, therefore taxpayers’ monies. An example is the independent accountability and transparency board created by the Obama administration in 2009. It performed a crucial monitoring function by requiring any entity receiving contracts, grants, or loans to file quarterly reports.

We could adopt a similar mechanism to ensure that companies channel Government support to those for whom it is intended. Corporate reporting requirements could compel companies to demonstrate behaviours that meet broader societal and sustainability goals.

We must also use the support packages as carrots for companies to actively enhance social equity by integrating community engagement and social responsibility into business strategy, so each can be a Company of Good – a national effort I believe Deputy Prime Minister is very familiar with. This could include an obligation to judiciously use the Business and IPC Partnership Scheme or BIPs, to make in-kind donations to charities.

Lastly, promoting sustainable business models will be key to building a better and safer future. McKinsey noted in April that “not only does climate action remain critical over the next decade, but investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and the transition to a lower carbon future can drive significant near-term job creation while increasing economic and environmental resiliency.” The President of the German Parliament recently called for the stimulus plan to focus on “climate policy, digitisation and innovation”.

Subsidies and support to companies accelerating climate change should come with conditions for absolute emissions reductions that enable us to accelerate our Paris Agreement commitments. As countries grapple with what a green and healthy recovery looks like, measurement and accountability may again be instrumental for change. The Task Force of Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework should be the norm. Science-based targets should form the basis of discussions on business transformations.

Such requirements could be considered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a cornerstone of future environment risk management guidelines for our financial industry.

These safeguards will require strong political will, Mr Deputy Speaker, because they will meet with resistance. But if we want a flexible and responsive society that is able to absorb shocks and rebound from them, I believe we must recalibrate current power structures for a fairer economy that considers key stakeholders in our economic system equally. I hope Deputy Prime Minister addresses this need for safeguards and conditions in his response.

The Government is demonstrating its commitment to longer term planning through the Emerging Stronger Task Force and the Future Economy Council. I applaud the intention. However, if we are to recognise a wide range of stakeholders in our future and commit to re-imagining the way forward, changes must be made.

I am glad to hear Deputy Prime Minister note that the Task Force will partner with SME owners, industry experts and trade associations as part of Emerging Stronger and his invitation for Singaporeans to participate. I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister if there are plans to formalise this partnership and citizen participation under this Task Force. This is necessary to integrate meaningful and transparent input from all corners of society.

The current members of the Task Force represent industries that we have traditionally treated as pillars of our current economic structure, the composition does not represent the true diversity of economic players in Singapore. For example, I am surprised by the omission of SME, minority, even disability and mental health representation. Companies committed to delivering a sustainable future are also unrepresented, under-represented. So are women. I believe that if we sideline these views now, we are sabotaging our own futures and those of our children’s. Can I please ask the Deputy Prime Minister to ensure a more diverse and better representation on this Task Force to secure a truly resilient and united future for Singapore?

Unity, resilience, solidarity, fortitude. The names of the four extraordinary Budgets this year speak to our desire as a nation to overcome this crisis together and stronger. Mr Deputy Speaker, I believe that emerging stronger means placing our people front and centre of our plans for the future. Our economic structures must be realigned to put people first so that we build back better as a well-being economy post-COVID. It will take our collective imagination, courage and collaboration to walk through this crisis and emerge stronger, together. Let us start the work for that to happen today with fortitude. I support the Budget.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I welcome the $33 billion Fortitude Budget which will be used to counter the heavy impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our country. All governments around the world are taking unprecedented measures to mitigate the damaging impact of this outbreak and save the lives and livelihoods of their people. We are similar. Fortunately, past prudence has provided us with adequate emergency funds.

We are in the midst of a brutal war, the pandemic has claimed over 370,000 lives in the world within a few months. Fortunately, we have managed to keep most of our people here safe and the death rate low. This is a challenging war against the virus. It is different from other outbreaks that we have come across so far. To my understanding, it is infectious even a person has not developed any symptoms. Asymptomatic infections have made this task of overcoming it even more challenging and difficult.

Notwithstanding, we have to soldier on under these very trying circumstances, be resilient, stay united and help one another to overcome the obstacles ahead of us. We Singaporeans need to stay focused on a sustainable approach. By and large, we understand there is a limit to the handouts we can if we do not find sustainable income that provide long term and permanent social and family safety nets. Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I am heartened by the effort to save and create jobs. I hope that more jobs can be created for the middle and senior age groups, particularly quality jobs. I am heartened by the response of our residents to the job offers, their willingness and courage in picking up new skills and adapting. I am glad that the Government has been focused on helping Singaporeans to both upskill and become equipped with new skills, to stay competitive and relevant in response to the market changes. There is a Chinese saying “When rowing a boat upstream, if one does not move forward, the boat will go backwards downstream”. Our people must persist in their efforts forward so that we can secure our place in the world.

More assistance will still need to be given to help Singaporeans, as the recovery of the world economy may not be so fast. For those who were retrenched last year and earlier, and had not been able to find jobs, they need help with job matching and retraining. This is especially for those aged above 40. In addition, some have expressed concerns that even with training, it does not necessarily lead to a job.

While the COVID-19 Support Grant (CSG) and Self-Employed Persons Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) provide welcomed relief, more salary or wage support can be given to help ease Singaporeans to upskill or reskill without having to worry about maintaining the family. I would like to suggest that we look at income matching, for example, a dollar to every two dollars earned for the 6 to 12 months, subject to a cap and overall scheme support budget of $9,000 per person under SIRS. This may be more sustainable.

Singaporeans should also adapt to tap upon technology and target not just Singapore, but the world as their market. Recently, a Singaporean actor took on a side job selling seafood for his friends on the Internet. To everyone’s surprise, including himself, he became an Internet celebrity, and companies and talent agencies from China rushed to contact him as their partner, asking him to promote all kinds of goods on the Internet. This is a very popular way of selling goods in China’s huge market today. While some of his language may be too colourful, his adaptability had created new opportunities for him. He can look forward to a very interesting new career. In Singapore, the Government has already started helping stallholders sell online and do live-streaming sales. Let us hope more business owners will try to change their operating models.

There has been feedback that there are still many who have been struggling with their businesses and who have been making sacrifices for the circuit breaker to the extent that they have been lending to their companies with their pay to support cashflow. Some have appealed for the Job Support Scheme (JSS) for working directors who are also shareholders. Instead of limiting the JSS to those who earn below $100,000 a year, why not remove this income cap? After all, the JSS is capped at 75% of $4,650.

Some are concerned that their businesses may not pick up after the reopening of our economy and thus will continue to face financial difficulty. It is important to them that all their clients order can be resumed. Otherwise, such business cannot hang on much longer. Even with the salary support from the Government, many businesses cannot afford to pay the balance 25% because they have zero revenue.

While we need to prioritise safety, and indeed, being a highly interconnected hub, we can only be safe if the world is also safe, however, we cannot be closed off from the world. It will do more harm than good to “de-globalise”.

We have to be proactive, not passive, to overcome this challenge. In order to survive, we cannot afford to sit back and keep drawing upon our past reserves and assets.

For example, we could consider staycations now that our community infection rate has been controlled. We should also start thinking how we could have effective and efficient test kits to check on all inbound travellers and returnees to prevent imported cases while revitalising the aviation, tourism and MICE sectors.

Most importantly, those who have the ability should help the have-nots. Because everyone is important and we care for all. Finally, let me conclude with a limerick.

January: Complain about having to start work again

February: Panic buying of paper products

March: Causeway closed

April: Everyone stayed home

May: Resumption of work we hope

June: Worry about savings being depleted

July: Pray all will go smoothly

August: Celebrate victory

With this, I would like to conclude with my support for this Budget. Thank you.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget.

Twenty-twenty is a year to reset, regroup and relearn. What is before us, is unprecedented. It is both a health crisis and an economic crisis that affects our life, our health and how we live our lives.

But far beyond our personal spheres, the world is rapidly changing. Tensions near and far, threaten to destabilise our once predictable place in the world. Global supply chains are also changing as countries ramp up their "nationalistic" strategies. Singapore has always depended on free and open trade. We need to regroup and strategise what is next for us, what can steer our economy into the future where businesses can thrive and individuals can progress.

Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we chart our path forward, I am particularly concerned about the challenges faced by our SMEs, especially the micro-businesses in our neighbourhood and hawkers. It is encouraging that the Government has set up the Emerging Stronger Task Force to study the systemic shifts emerging out of COVID-19. Other countries are also gradually ramping up their economies as they emerge out of lockdowns. We need to swiftly identify the economic shifts and strategise the way forward. Can the Minister for Finance shed some light on the work done so far and its first findings? How can we take advantage of new opportunities and accelerate our economic rebound?

Sir, in March 2018, I spoke about how we in our 40s today will become seniors of the future who will be more tech savvy and self-sufficient. We are also likely to be able to retire later as technology allows us to work from home. This COVID-19 pandemic has also affected seniors in many ways. I would like to highlight digital transformation. Microsoft estimates that two years of digital transformation was accomplished in the last two months. Forbes estimates five years of digital transformation to occur before mid 2021. These impacts have also been felt by our seniors, many of whom now communicate with video calls using WhatsApp or Zoom – something unheard of in 2019. Some seniors are also learning to shop online. Although there are no local studies released, in 2019, 40% of seniors aged 65 and above in Germany shop online.

As we forge ahead in our new post-COVID-19 world, I anticipate far more online participation by our seniors than ever before. How can we capitalise on this digital transformation? How can we enable our seniors to be less isolated, more engaged with each other and with our society? What can we do with technology to help seniors connect with their families and friends and continue contributing to society and the economy even as they continue to earn a wage? As we protect the lives of our seniors by social distancing, we should also take care of their quality of social life by using technology.

I am heartened that the SG Digital Office will be hiring 1,000 Digital Ambassadors to help hawkers and seniors learn digital skills. It is great that the Government is reaching out to help bridge our digital divide and at the same time provide employment opportunities for our graduating cohorts of ITE, Polytechnics and Universities. I hope MCI will continue to accelerate our digitisation efforts post-COVID-19.

There is no doubt what we are experiencing is unprecedented. I hope when we look back to this period in the future, we can say we overcame COVID-19 with unity, solidarity, resilience and fortitude. Let us press on.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir I support the initiatives introduced in Deputy Prime Minister Heng's Ministerial Statement delivered in this House last week to protect Singaporeans' lives and livelihoods. He and hon Members who spoke before me, highlighted the deteriorating economic situation globally as well as in Singapore.

Against this deteriorating situation, I am heartened that Deputy Prime Minister Heng made good his promise made in this House when he was delivering the Ministerial Statement on the Resilience Budget. He said, "should it become necessary, I am prepared to propose to the President further draws on past reserves to deal with the situation."

Our past reserves has been characterised as our trump card to get out of this crisis. Indeed, it is fortunate that we can draw on our past reserves, thanks to the prudence of previous generations of Government Leaders and Singaporeans. But equally, it is fortunate that Singapore can count on two further trump cards. They are: our exceptional people, who are all united in the common goal of defeating this virus and its effects on our health and economy; and our excellent men and women of the civil service. By civil service, I also include our Statutory Boards and our uniformed Services. I wish to record my appreciation to the officers in these Government agencies who have been working tirelessly throughout this crisis.

We all know our civil service is a lean organisation. With the formulation and implementation of numerous Government budgetary programmes and measures as well as legislation passed in this House within short periods of time, these officers had to rapidly adapt and assume even more responsibilities to support Singaporeans during this turbulent period. I, like a good number of hon Members have received reply emails from Government agencies on petitions written on behalf of residents promptly, despite a spike in the numbers. Many of these replies are received well after office hours.

The Government agencies and partners dealing with applications to draw on the Government's COVID-19 support programmes do not have an easy task at all. They need to strike a balance between providing help to fellow Singaporeans, ensuring that the policy objectives of the programmes and legislation are achieved and satisfying themselves that the public resources are judiciously spent. At the same time, I am delighted to note that more and more, our Government agencies apply a degree of flexibility in assessing applications.

As an example, I recently received a note from a Senior Director of MSF who conveyed to me that MSF would administer the COVID-19 Support Grants (CSG) flexibly and not just by closely adhering to the criteria. This will ensure the policy objective of CSG of supporting lower to middle income Singaporeans who have lost their jobs, lost a significant proportion of the income or placed under no-pay leave are better served.

This is a welcome development. Our civil service is also transforming in its delivery efforts to better serve fellow Singaporeans. When we and our nation recover from this crisis, we should not forget the services of our men and women in civil service who went beyond their call of duty. In my view, it is not enough to pat them on their backs. We must follow up and provide tangible compensation to them. I made a similar call for our heroic frontline officers in my speech during the debate on the Unity Budget.

I would like to make three points in my speech on the Fortitude Budget. First, providing a permanent legal framework to help small businesses in crises, like the one we currently face. Second, encouraging the stakeholders in the charity sector to collaborate more so as to deliver more impactful programmes for Singaporeans who need help. And finally, providing more credit and cash flow assistance to middle income families.

On the first point, I am cheered by Deputy Prime Minister Heng's announcement of the Government's decision to introduce a Bill, mandating the more muscular landlords to grant rental waivers to the SME tenants whose businesses have been severely affected because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure deals with a big bugbear on the ground, given that most businesses in commercial premises have been closed for two months and are likely to be closed for at least a few more weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Heng mentioned that this was not an easy decision. He said "Government does not ordinarily intervene in contracts after they have been entered into". I appreciate the point Deputy Prime Minister Heng made.

This was the stance that was taken on behalf of the Government when I spoke on my Adjournment Motion "Power Imbalance in Contracts Involving Small Businesses" on the 5 February 2018. Then, I argued for Government intervention in form of legislation to protect small businesses to equalise their bargaining positions. I highlighted clauses in tenancy agreements that operate unfairly against tenants which are small businesses. I also drew examples of legislation being enacted in a number of advanced jurisdictions to help small businesses. The hon Senior Minister of State for Law as she then was, Ms Indranee Rajah stated as follows: "In Singapore, our underlying philosophy is that, in general, free-market principles should apply and the Government should intervene only when necessary, for example, to address systemic market failure. Even when we do so, we try as far as possible to have the right regulatory touch and avoid heavy-handed interventions that could lead to distortion or unintended consequences".

At this point in time, given the severe impact of COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses, especially in the F&B and retail industries, I think it is right for Government to intervene to protect them or else they will disappear and the employees will be stranded. As it is well-known, two-third of Singaporeans are employed by SMEs.

The question I have is on whether we should take a temporary or permanent approach in dealing with such matters. Now that the Government has recognised that there is a need for intervention to help small businesses during crises, should there not be a permanent framework that can be applied as and when the situation calls for it in the future?

To illustrate the point, let us consider the important role the Price Control Act, an act which the Deputy Speaker is very familiar with, played during the crisis. The Price Control Act or PCA was enacted in 1950 to control prices of goods and to prevent price gouging. This was engaged in 1973 to fix the price of rice when it rose as a result panic buying, in the wake of the oil crisis. It is also used in 1990 when the pork market was reportedly cornered by a few suppliers. So, this is a lever that can be used when sellers take advantage of the situation created by crises.

Between January and February 2020, hon Members will recall that there was a public outcry against unscrupulous sellers taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak to sell surgical masks, thermometers and hand sanitisers at grossly inflated prices. The Price Controller took swift action under powers vested in him under PCA by requiring the sellers to provide information on the basis for setting prices at that level and also visiting the premises. The issues were quickly resolved without the need for the Price Controller to exercise his power to fix the price of masks, thermometers and hand sanitizers. Across the Causeway, the government used powers under the equivalent of the PCA to fix the price of surgical masks.

By similarly having a permanent framework to deal with rent issues faced by the small businesses, we will be in effect making Singapore's economy more resilient. This is because the Government of the day can leverage on legislation to ensure that these small businesses will not go belly up in the face of similar crises in future. Time is of essence in such situations. Significant business disruption to such small businesses can be irreversible. There will also be the salutary signalling effect within the business community, as we saw in the case of masks sellers who self-regulated after the Price Controller launched queries into their business conduct.

I do appreciate that the shape, form and impact of crises in future may be different. The help measures may also differ from crisis to crisis. However, this need not mean that a permanent piece of legislation would lose relevance. However different the crises may be, the impact on small businesses in form of cashflow and cost will largely remain. For clarity's sake, the circumstances when Government's powers to intervene in the rental market may be triggered must also be spelt out too. The legislation may be worded broadly to provide for a wide spectrum of measures that the Government may impose to help our small businesses as we saw in the PCA example. I respectfully suggest that the Emerging Stronger Task Force of the Future Economy Council consider my proposal.

My next point concerns the support under the Fortitude Budget provided to the charity sector. In my speech during the debate on the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, I highlighted the fact that some charities, especially the smaller ones, already were facing dwindling donations. I recall the hon Member, Mr Saktiandi also made the same point. However, we differed in the approach to be taken to deal with this problem. The hon Member, Mr Saktiandi suggested that the Government support the charities; I felt chary about this suggestion because of the Budget deficit we face this year and the fact that we are drawing on past reserves.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng's approach in providing dollar-for-dollar matching addresses both concerns. It incentivises donations and the same time provides much needed support to charitable organisations in the essential service or providing the vulnerable a helping hand. In principle, I support the move.

In my respectful view, however, the dollar-for-dollar matching should be combined with an outcome driven approach so as to incentivise charity organisations to collaborate and delivery quality programmes for Singaporeans in need. Under this approach, there would be need for an analysis on the impact of the charitable programmes on the beneficiaries such that the more impactful programmes should be provided with more public funding. There should be also financial incentives for charities to collaborate, pool resources and scale up.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng had noted that many individuals and organisations have stepped up to his call to help Singaporeans in need. With the increased number of charitable funds and individuals wanting to do charity work, there is an opportunity get charitable organisations with similar ideals and objectives to work together to ensure that the dollar provided by our Government is better spent.

It may well be that our Government will have to deepen its capability to play the role of matchmaker in encouraging charitable organisations to work together. This will, in my view, accelerate the transformation of the charity sector so that it will emerge stronger from this crisis to serve Singaporeans in need.

I now turn to my final point. Our Government has taken decisive steps to ensure that banks better support individuals and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. What I fear though is that if the economy dwindles even further, more families, especially middle-income families who are not the primary targets of the care and support package, will find themselves more cash strapped. We all recognise that there is a limit to payments such as the Solidarity Payment or the Temporary Relief Fund that the Government may make. Such amounts may not be even sufficient.

Cash strapped middle income families may be living in HDB or private properties. For these asset-rich, cash-poor families, I wonder if the Government could consider nudging the financial institutions to provide hassle-free, low-interest home equity loan facilities secured by either (a) refinancing of the original mortgage facilities if the original mortgagee is a bank; or (b) by a second mortgage on their homes.

To my understanding, such options are not currently available for HDB flats. Traditionally, financial institutions are chary about being second mortgagees as, priority-wise, they rank below CPF and the first mortgagee. Also, the processing time can be long. The administration costs in terms of getting valuation and to draw up legal paperwork can be significant too.

I appreciate that this measure has to be carefully studied for its social impact because if families default on their obligations, the banks may have to foreclose on their homes. However, I think that this issue may be addressed by proper analysis and implementing safeguards on the part of banks.

Sir, my comments notwithstanding, I support the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Dennis Tan.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge disruptions to global businesses and lives of people from virtually every country in the world. We are in arguably one of the most uncertain times in the history of mankind. No single government has been able to claim from the start they know how to navigate through the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the consequences it has brought to countries, cities, societies and economies.

Our Government of 55 years since our Independence is no exception. To that, we have an unprecedented four Budgets in a short period of less than four months.

Like everywhere else, the disruptions brought on by COVID-19 have unsettled businesses, lives and governments. This is a sign of things to come in the world, where no government can claim that their past experience will provide useful relevance for the uncertain future. In this brave new world, many heads with different ideas working out consensual solutions for the common good must be preferred.

I will start on the issue of support for businesses.

In the past two months, under the circuit breaker period, businesses have received support under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), limited to 75% or up to $4,600 of every salary. Under this Fortitude Budget, for the months ahead, only selected industries such as listed in Tiers 1 and 2 of the JSS will continue to receive wage supplements of up to 75% of each worker's salary. For most businesses, they will only be receiving up to 25% of the first $4,600 of every worker's salary for the remaining payments under the JSS, and this Fortitude Budget will only bring one additional month's payment, limited to 25% of an employee's salary.

As most businesses stop receiving the 75% wage support coming out from the circuit breaker period, we may start to see a more accurate picture of businesses suffering and insolvency figures for companies rising later this year.

The Government has announced that it will provide a cash grant to offset rental costs of SME tenants and also pass a new law to ensure landlords pass on rental support from the Government. This will be welcomed as a small temporary relief of 0.64 of a month's rental for office and industrial properties and 0.8 of a month's rental for commercial properties. Unfortunately, to businesses who cannot open or operate or even for businesses who face a significant drop in their businesses at this time, it may not stave off business and cost pressures in a significant way. In effect, it will be too small an amount to save ailing businesses.

Perhaps the assistance by way of JSS and rental support could have been more targeted and not applied to businesses who may not be affected, for example, supermarkets or certain businesses in healthcare, pharmaceutical or IT sectors, just to name a few. In this way, more will be available to the businesses who need them. We should not rely on unaffected businesses to voluntarily return their payouts.

The announced support in the Fortitude Budget for digital transformation whether for purpose of boosting e-payments or the digital resilience bonus may help to promote e-payments and to allow safe management practices in COVID-19 settings. While they may assist with business continuity under unique COVID-19 operating conditions, these schemes may be less helpful in generating business or revenue in themselves.

The financing support for promising start-ups under the Fortitude Budget may help some new start-ups but are probably irrelevant to the bulk of our existing SME businesses.

Beyond the above-mentioned schemes, beyond the foreign work levy waivers and rebates announced in this Fortitude Budget, beyond the assistance from credit loans announced in previous budgets, I am concerned that many SME businesses will still require more assistance if we are to expect them to survive. What are the Government's plans to support them to tide through the months or year ahead beyond what has been announced under the Fortitude Budget?

Has the Government factored in any actual draft plans in arriving at the additional $13 billion Contingencies Funds asked for in this Fortitude Budget and if so, whether it can now share such plans with Singaporeans too?

I next move on to the challenges during the circuit breaker and the issue of letting businesses open up with less restrictions.

The circuit breaker has not been an easy period for many businesses and individuals. Some businesses are baffled why similar businesses did not always result in the same exemptions or the same manpower allocation ratios. Instructions have changed over the weeks for some businesses ranging from meal arrangements for hawkers to types of businesses allowed to be opened or types of merchandise allowed to be sold.

In the first few weeks of the circuit breaker, provision shops and minimarts in different Hougang precincts were given different directions. Some were told they were only allowed to sell food. Some were told that they were not allowed to sell mops, brooms, brushes, pails, cleaning liquids, even slippers and limited stationery. Some were allowed to sell with no restrictions. Operators were baffled as some of these items have been sold in NTUC FairPrice without restrictions. Thankfully, after the Hougang Member of Parliament sought clarifications, the authorities reached out and rectified the instructions given.

In the circuit breaker period, most businesses were required to stop operating in their premises and most employees could not work in their working premises and had to stay at home. Those who could still do some or all of their work at home were the lucky few ones as for many jobs and many businesses, telecommuting is either not an option at all or not an adequate option for a variety of reasons. Many businesses have been looking forward to the resumption of operations in their premises. Yet, it has been somewhat confusing and uncertain for many business owners whose businesses were supposedly cleared for resumption.

Minister Chan Chun Sing was reported in the media on 19 May to have said as follows, "Only those who require the use of machinery and specialised terminals or need to complete legal documentation will be able to return to their workplaces. Workers who need infrequent access to the workplace for information or materials can already do so on an existing time-based exemption... The rest of the workers will continue to work from home. This will allow more than three-quarters of our economy to resume their normal operations."

These caveats are a challenge to viable resumption for many businesses. To continue with telecommuting per se may not be a viable option for many as telecommuting may suit certain positions but not others, and viable work that is required to be carried out in the office and unsuitability for telecommuting goes beyond the over-simplified description of merely requiring "the use of machinery and specialised terminals or need to complete legal documentation", especially bearing in mind many businesses will as I have highlighted earlier see their wage support under the JSS reduced to 25% from June onwards.

Productivity is another area of concern. The Government can be less prescriptive in this area, including any current limitation in the number of workers allowed in the workplace. Let businesses take ownership in managing telecommuting and the extent of telecommuting as appropriate for each individual business and their bottom line. Where any of these employees are required to be in the office or for workers where telecommuting has limited application, the Government can leave the onus on businesses to carry out prescribed safe workplace practices, including having appropriate social distancing and safe seating arrangements, use of SafeEntry, keeping records of staff and visitors to premises, including temperature records and good cleaning practices.

Let businesses focus on recovery with more breathing space. I am sure that most businesses will understand that their business operations are subject to closure due to failure in social distancing and safe workplace arrangements or in the event of an actual infection and most will take the necessary protective steps accordingly.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, next, I would like to seek an update from the Minister for Manpower in the number of foreign workers who are still currently not allowed to leave their dormitories to go to work. Further, is the Minister able to give a projected estimation of the number of these workers who will be released back to work in each of the next two to three months?

I am asking these questions because pending a review of our labour policies in the near future – perhaps after the COVID-19 crisis, particularly on our current unhealthy level of reliance on cheap foreign labour and also the way we house them, in the meantime, we need these workers to be back helping to restart our economy and also at the end of the day, the workers do not ordinarily live and work outside of Singapore and they are part of our community.

I am also asking these questions because it touches on how confident the Government is in bringing down infection in the foreign worker dormitories to zero.

Next, I want to touch on safe connectivity with the world. Last Friday, the Government announced plans to launch "fast lane" arrangement with COVID-19 measures for essential business, official air travel between Singapore and China in early June, starting with six Chinese cities. Prior to that, the Government had also announced that there will be talks to reopen borders with New Zealand.

Quite understandably, we cannot stay unconnected for too long and the opening up of air travel and connection with these and, indeed, other countries will be beneficial to our businesses and economy.

On the other hand, we have had recent experience of significant COVID-19 infections brought about by arriving passengers from abroad, first with the Wuhan tourists in January bringing the first recorded cases and transmissions to Singapore and then later on with some of those returning to Singapore or visitors from abroad around the period of March and April.

For the Government's plans to open up air travel in the coming months even with selected countries and pending the eventual introduction of a vaccine for COVID-19, I hope that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the reopening will not lead to a resurgence of imported COVID-19 cases.

It has been reported that passengers will not be required to serve the 14-days quarantine period and they will be required to undertake swab tests before boarding and after arrival in Singapore. If swab tests are required before boarding a flight to Singapore, how do we ensure all overseas swab test results provided are reliable? For swab tests done on arrival, how will the Government ensure that pending the outcome of the testing, there will not be any risk to any persons with whom the passengers come into contact at the airport, at their selected accommodation and also while being transported to their accommodation? Are there any restrictions on their accommodation for this initial period?

Next, on safe travel on public transport. Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced on Monday that rail and bus services will return to pre-circuit breaker levels but indicated that safe social distancing may not be possible. This is disconcerting. Besides being a potential Achilles' heel in our fight against COVID-19, it is inconsistent with social distancing efforts that were carried out previously on trains during the circuit breaker. It is also inconsistent with the stringent enforcement efforts adopted in many other situations with regards to social distancing, for which many people have been fined or given warnings for breaches and the rationale for such enforcement.

Finally, President Halimah Yacob was reported to have stated her support for this Fortitude Budget. I wonder whether the President, in arriving at her conclusion to support the draw of $31 billion from our reserves as well as the previous draws from reserves under the previous Budgets, had already been advised of the total amount of reserves Singapore has and had taken this into consideration. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Deputy Speaker, we may start to see the number of business failures going up in the next few months, leading to more job losses. After May, most businesses will receive 25% wage support and the Fortitude Budget will only increase support by one more month of such wage support. I would like to ask the Minister to extend more support to our SME businesses especially those who are struggling.

I also hope that the Government will extend more flexibility to businesses who are cleared to resume business on their premises, to manage their businesses as they see fit as long as they comply with safe distancing and other safe workplace practices as required by the Government.

As for the Government’s plans to resume airlinks with China and New Zealand, it is important to resume connection for the benefit of our economy. However, I hope the Government will take all necessary measures to ensure that we will avoid another wave of foreign imported COVID-19 infections.

As more rail and bus services are resumed in phase 1, 2 and 3, I also hope that the Government take all necessary measures for safe travel and social distancing especially during peak hours. The relaxation of social distancing in our trains since Tuesday is a huge concern. Lack of social distancing on public transport is inconsistent with the authorities’ stringent enforcement efforts in social distancing elsewhere, not to mention a potential Achilles heel in our fight against COVID-19.

Finally, President Halimah Yacob was reported to have stated her support for this Fortitude Budget. I wonder whether the President, in arriving at her conclusion to support the draw of $31 billion from our reserves as well as the previous draws from reserves under the Solidarity and Resilience Budgets, had already been advised of the total amount of reserves Singapore has and had taken this into consideration.

Mr Terence Ho.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team for always having arts in his heart and making arts possible and vibrant, even during this COVID-19 situation. I also want to thank the colleagues in MCCY and the National Arts Council (NAC) for their dedication and commitment to keep arts going strong. They work tirelessly to render support in this difficult period.

As at 22 May 2020, NAC has supported more than 850 artists and arts groups, funded more than 60 digitalisation projects and reached over 6.2 million online views. If we take into consideration of the other online digital programmes by the arts groups, we should reach more than 10 million online viewers as today. Singapore Chinese Orchestra's digital efforts has seen six series, more than 130 contents uploaded, and a total of more than one million viewership to-date. Singapore Symphony Orchestra's SSOPlayOn! series, the Siong Leng Musical Association and the Nam Hwa Opera have brought their art onto several social media platforms for all to enjoy. The theatre groups live-stream their performances and the Esplanade partners with SISTIC to provide pay-per-view tickets to achieve self-sustained model for online performances.

In these difficult times, we need the arts and culture to uplift our spirits. I hope the artists and arts groups can tap on the Fortitude Budget to sustain works, spread positivity and make arts as an essential for everyone in the new normalcy. They can explore and tap on the Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme, SEP Income Relief Scheme, COVID-19 Support Grant and the Arts and Culture Resilience Package (ACRP). The $55 million ACRP seeks to protect the arts and culture eco-system and will provide support and opportunities for our cultural organisations and practitioners until the end of the year, while encouraging the development of longer-term capabilities that will help the community emerge stronger after COVID-19.

I have four suggestions. One, cultivate concert virtual exposure acquired by the expanding digital consumers of arts to actual engagement. Two, capability building should revamp and remodel in the strategic marketing area to bring headcounts for the various arts form, especially for ticketed events. Three, digital culture pass to encourage pay-per-view digital concert and even purchasing of live concert tickets when we allow concert to be staged at the concert hall. Four, more can be done to commission and collaborate with the private and public sector to utilise collective resources for the arts presentation in a more effective way.

Arts are the engines of togetherness and collective sense-making. A lost in cultural eco-system would be harder to re-cultivate than to restore anything. In Mandarin, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team for always having the livelihood of artists and arts group in their heart. The Government pays great attention to the arts and the cultural sector, making arts an indispensable spiritual nourishment during the outbreak.

NAC and Lianhe Zaobao worked together to launch the Zaobao Recital Series comprising four online programmes, including Chinese music, vocals, classical chamber music and literature reciting. Netizens have responded warmly to these online programmes.

The enhanced Job Support Scheme has enabled many art groups and artists to maintain their livelihood during the outbreak and continue to create artworks and surprises, so that people can continue to enjoy arts performances online. For example, Singapore Chinese Orchestra staged the Tutti Singapore percussion performance; Singapore Symphony Orchestra uploaded SSOPlayOn! series, and Singapore Chinese Music Federation gathered 30 Erhu players to present a performance called "Towards a Brighter Future" in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Singapore-China diplomatic ties. Dingyi Music Company, Siong Leng Musical Association, Nan Hwa Opera and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre have also created many online stay-home performances. They use advanced digital technologies to bring arts onto various social media platforms, so that their audiences can enjoy wonderful concerts and performances free at home. There are more than 10 million online viewership to-date.

During this period, many enthusiastic supporters are paying special attention to the vulnerable groups by giving them donations and support. This is good. I feel that freelancers in the arts and cultural sector will need our help too. The existence of our local arts and cultural community is the spirit and hope of the society. This group of people will not be the first to come to people's mind to help. Their livelihood is not easy in the first place, and made worse by the outbreak. The support they received is far from enough, and this reflects the fundamental cultural attitude of a society. In this regard, we need a wider definition of arts and broader arts recognition among our people, so that more people are willing to support and promote arts and spread its values.

I hope that artists and arts groups can make good use of the funding and grants in these difficult times, move on with fortitude and continue to innovate and create. I believe that the community will emerge stronger and more united after COVID-19. The development of arts and culture would also be different from before. We will need new engines and new concepts to create a new world. I hope we can bring online audiences to concert halls and theatres. After artists have returned to the stage, I believe they will be able to create more inspiring programmes. This is because arts can provide spiritual nourishments, lift people's mood and warm their hearts. We will definitely conquer COVID-19, start a new life accompanied by beautiful music and artistic creations, and unite as one people to march towards prosperity and progress.

I support the Fortitude Budget.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

(In English): I am in support of the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Leon Perera.

Mr Speaker, Sir, across the world, governments, healthcare systems, companies, societies and families have been severely tested by a microscopic virus. We will continue to be tested. We will need to meet these tests as one united people, united by our love for our country and one another

Looking back, for me, the past two months have been extraordinary, working with Party colleagues and volunteers to provide support to residents remotely, adapting corporate processes to work from home and making adjustments to family life with my two young children, aged 12 and 14, going through home-based learning.

Now, our attention turns to the process of recovery. It is appropriate that an Emerging Stronger Task Force has been formed. I agree with the remarks made by my Party Chairman Ms Sylvia Lim on the composition and work of that task force.

As a society, it is our collective responsibility to reflect, draw the right lessons and emerge stronger. After all, the world went through the cataclysm of the Spanish flu in 1918 but many lessons about preventing and controlling pandemics were not permanently and widely institutionalised after that trauma.

We have a choice. Will we emerge stronger? What can we learn from this episode for this post-circuit breaker period and the post-COVID-19 future that Singapore will emerge into?

I would like to speak about two areas – overall pandemic management and the economy.

At the start of the pandemic, the Government quickly formed a whole-of-Government task force and issued regular communications. The challenge facing this task force was gargantuan. Our knowledge of COVID-19 was imperfect and evolving. There were many moving parts. In hindsight, though, many Singaporeans, looking back on the rules and announcements issued since early April, would say that there were too many finely calibrated rules. These were often qualified or changed shortly after being announced and this led to confusion on the ground. Let me cite a few examples.

On 21 April, when the tighter circuit breaker measures were announced, the press release said outlet-based confectionery operations had to be suspended from 2359 hours on 21 April, but those selling mainly bread could continue. What followed was some confusion as those selling mainly cakes try to find out what they could do. It was clarified that they could sell their inventory of cakes but not bake new ones. Some bakeries, such as one making mainly croissants, had to clarify how the rules apply to them.

Car workshops were another example. Initially, when the circuit breaker was announced, motor workshops were told they could apply to stay open but only for emergency services. A Straits Times' report from 7 April said that motor workshop operators were confused initially by the phrase "emergency vehicle services" found in the GoBusiness COVID-19 site. Do they mean emergency vehicles like ambulances or do they mean emergency services for vehicles, one asked.

Another example, in late April it was announced that exercising and dog walking were not permitted within the common areas of condominiums. One letter writer to TODAY on the 30 April mentioned that "to access public spaces, dogs would have to traverse the common condominium grounds thus rendering the rule moot in practice." Such a rule may also have had the effect of condominium dog owners then crowding in adjacent pathways by the road, HDB or landed common areas or parks.

The intent behind these finely calibrated and frequently revised rules was good. But in hindsight, could the technocratic zeal have been tempered by an appreciation that the capacity of society to adapt to so many frequently changing rules is not unlimited, while the capacity of any civil service to issue so many detailed and finely calibrated rules in a very short time is limited.

Too frequent and unclear rules can lead to rules fatigue and cynicism towards rule compliance. Moreover, would it not have been more efficient for the exceptions and caveats to rules to have been announced at the same time as the rule. And could some rules that micro-manage what are permissible activities have been avoided in favour of making facility owners responsible for safe distancing, masking and so on?

Sir, my colleague Mr Dennis Tan has also made some suggestions on the roll-out of Phase One, with which I agree. I would add one point. The Government's approach to Phase One and beyond hinges on demarcating companies into either an essential or non-essential category for each phase. So, for example, in Phase One most retail, cinemas, bars, restaurants, event-based activities and tuition centres remain shut. This is in spite of the fact that crowds and lack of safe distancing have been anecdotally observed in a number of supermarket outlets and shopping malls under current rules, and that safe distancing is no longer mandatory on public transport.

We need to find the right balance between protecting livelihoods and protecting lives. Has the Government considered an alternative approach which is to calibrate this a little less finely and with a broader brush. This means allowing most establishments to open may be with the exception of those which pose the most extreme risk. But every establishment would be tasked to practise safe distancing, masking and other precautions. This would mean that some establishments would, perhaps, not be able to optimise capacity to economically viable levels. But should we not that choice to business owners? Some business owners may prefer to restart with reduced capacity so as to generate some cashflow, refresh connections with customers, start to rotate staff back to work for the sake of morale and skills refreshing and so on. For those industries where the risk is greater, these should be targeted for more enforcement and regular preventive COVID-19 testing.

In fact, the administration of rapid testing and swift isolation in a surgical manner, as opposed to only very severe lockdowns, has been seen as a key to Korea's success, which brings me to my next point on testing.

Sir, our current main form of testing appears to be the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RTPCR test. Some challenges of scaling up the current PCR test are that testing takes about three hours for results to be obtained. Laboratory staff operating the extractors must also wear personal protective equipment or PPE and most countries looking to exit lockdown have similar mass testing strategies – increasing demand for the same reagents and PPE.

MOH has said that coronavirus test were conducted by 13 laboratories in Singapore, the majority of which are located at public healthcare institutions such as hospitals. There are private sector industrial testing labs that offer testing of COVID-19 on surfaces, not patient swabs. It is not clear if these labs currently also offer testing of human samples since this is not advertised. It would be good to know if these industrial labs can be co-opted to help with our testing.

Given the challenges in scaling up the PCR testing method, there is a need to concurrently explore scaling up of other testing methods to be able to roll out effective mass testing. The Tony Blair Institute in the UK has called for antibody tests to be more widely used in conjunction with the PCR test, even if it is less accurate. Could such antibody tests together with the current PCR test be used to triage testing of suspected cases to take the load off the PCR testing infrastructure.

Next, Sir, a number of new schemes have been rolled out. For example, there is a $100 utilities rebate in this latest Fortitude Budget – $100. Previously, SIRS and JSS were rolled out. Before COVID-19 there were also many schemes. To cite some random examples – Workfare, Jobs Credit, Innovation Credit and SkillsFuture. Some schemes are automatically applied and money gets transferred into your bank account. That is it. Some schemes you have to apply for to get the money or support. For other schemes, the money exists in an account tagged to each citizen and you have to use it.

Sir, the more schemes we have, the more there is risk of confusion leading to under-utilisation or other side effects. Also, the more complex the whole system becomes the more resources need to go into the work of explaining, sifting through and helping people or firms to apply for these schemes. Social workers and Family Service Centres and officers at economic agencies like Enterprise Singapore, for example, would have to meet this challenge by mastering all the minutiae of the schemes and then explaining them well.

Sir, there are just too many schemes with distinct names and processes right now.

Would the Government consider a unified portal across the whole-of-Government where each citizen and company can log on, view and transact? Such a portal would show firstly, that the monies that have been credited from all schemes that automatically kick in; two, the schemes which that person or company is eligible to apply for; or where there is imperfect information where they may be eligible to apply for for those that need application with direct links to the application forms from respective Ministries, Statutory Boards and agencies; and thirdly, the money that has been credited to them in special accounts but which needs to be utilised by a certain date.

The existence of such a portal would be a first step. The next step would be to streamline the schemes and curb the tendency to launch new schemes but attempt instead to channel support into existing schemes. Sir, sometimes less is more. And in saying this, for the elderly who are less IT-savvy, arrangements need to be made to facilitate their access to such a portal.

Next, let me move to the economy. Minister Chan recently announced $13 billion in foreign direct investment commitments in the first four months of this year versus $15.2 billion for the whole of last year. This is good news indeed.

I would like to ask MTI how much of this $13 billion is fixed asset investment versus total business spending. How many jobs is this expected to be translated into? And what incentives were used to secure these investments?

It is important to continue to attract FDI and to refine and improve our strategies for doing so. But the economic challenge of developing home-grown entrepreneurship and our own world-beating companies is going to be greater than ever. World trade growth was already slowing own even before COVID-19. COVID-19 will not put in an end to FDI for sure. But it is likely to result in more competition for perhaps less FDI, as some multi-national companies or MNCs migrate some operations back home and other MNCs try to diversify to less traditional FDI destinations, responding to the imperatives of supply chain resilience, political pressures and other imperatives.

Sir, our GDP growth rate was a weak 0.7% in 2019 before COVID-19 and that 0.7% growth rate was one of the lowest rates of growth among major advanced economies in the world in that year. No doubt there are many schemes and programmes to stimulate entrepreneurship. Have these met with the desired results? Are we where we want to be?

In this House my colleagues and I have mooted a number of ideas on this front in the past. For example, setting up a fund to support ex-civil servants who want to become entrepreneurs and demonstrating more flexibility in schemes based on results.

Sir, NASA recently launched its first vehicle into space using private sector launch capacity provided by the company Space X. Uplifting our entrepreneurial sector is going to be a key national competitiveness challenge facing Singapore. I would argue for renewed soul searching and efforts on this front as an urgent priority. Mr Speaker, Sir, in Malay, please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Government's approach to Phase One and beyond hinges on the demarcation of companies into either an essential or non-essential category for each phase. This is in spite of the fact that crowds have been observed to continue visiting a number of supermarkets in shopping centres and are not really practising safe distancing under current rules. Has the Government considered an alternative approach, which is to calibrate this a little less finely, but in a broader manner instead? This means allowing most businesses to open, perhaps with the exception of those which may pose the most extreme risks. At the same time, every business should be required to practise safe distancing, the wearing of masks and all other precautions. And for those industries where the risk is greater, these should be targeted for more enforcement and regular, preventive COVID-19 testing.

(In English): Mr Speaker, Sir, has COVID-19 shown that our model of economics and politics is perfect? No. Neither is any countries'. The success achieved by other developed countries in the region against COVID-19 such as Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and New Zealand should give us pause that we, too, have things to learn.

For example, if stronger independent voices had come out to say the precautionary reusable mask wearing was okay in the early days, it may have cut down on some asymptomatic transmission.

Last year, I read an excellent book called "The Narrow Corridor" by academics Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. It uses extensive historical research spanning centuries to argue that the most successful societies are those that find the right balance between a strong, capable state and an equally strong non-state sector – meaning civil society, alternative parties and the private sector – to balance that state. The outcomes of such successful societies are able to obtain combined political stability and law and order on the one hand together with long-term innovation-driven economic development and social progress on the other hand.

And so, in conclusion, Mr Speaker, Sir, at the end of this speech, I find myself returning to a theme in my very first speech in this House given in January 2016 – the Singapore glass is half full. Singaporeans bear a major two-fold responsibility to preserve what is good about our existing system but to change what should be changed to make it better.

Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. “Your every day is full of sunshine. But into every life, a little rain must fall” – prose from a song by the legendary rock band, Queen.

We are living in very challenging times, with unpredictable weather ahead. They say that in every crisis, lies opportunity. Therefore, we should make the best of every opportunity available, no matter how strong the headwinds are. And this is why the Government and our tripartite partners are making every effort to create an umbrella of opportunities to weather the storm.

I will speak about how our workers and employers can tap on the opportunities and support available. We will help workers be flexible, to adapt and to widen their skills. We will also provide support for employers to make use of their downtime to upskill their workforce for transformed jobs.

The Minister for Manpower has elaborated on the strong Government support for our workers and I will focus on how fresh graduates and our mature workers can tap on opportunities.

Our fresh graduates are entering the job market amidst great uncertainty. I can personally relate to the anxiety of many of our fresh graduates who may be concerned with their job prospects. I graduated in 1999, shortly after the Asian Financial Crisis. There were few jobs and even fewer interviews. But I would like to assure our fresh graduates and their parents, compared to them, we are now more prepared and better resourced to support our fresh graduates.

Despite the current economic conditions, there are still jobs available in some areas. We will support employers to take in and groom new hires, including through sector-specific programmes such as the Company-Led Training Programme for Infocomm and Technology jobs. Some may not be able to find employment in this tough job market, and this is why we launched the SGUnited Traineeships programme.

We have more than doubled our initial goal from up to 8,000 traineeships to up to 21,000 traineeships. Our graduates can look forward to traineeships in sectors with good growth prospects such as Financial Services, Professional Services and Infocomm Technology and Media sectors.

There are familiar roles in Marketing and Finance too, and more specialised ones such as Sports Nutrition and Social Work. Graduates can check out available traineeships on MyCareersFuture.sg by searching for the hashtag #SGUnitedTraineeships.

On this note, I would like to thank the Singapore Business Federation for helping to vet and approve the large volume of traineeship proposals from companies. I would also like to acknowledge the many employers that have opened their doors to trainees. An example is Yang Kee Logistics, who will be offering traineeship opportunities in software development and food supply chain management.

Two trainees will support the Logistics Integrated Transport Ecosystem project, a cloud-based platform that connects logistics industry stakeholders and multiple intermediaries. They will be able to sharpen their software development skills and gain deeper project management skills. Another trainee will be exposed to Yang Kee's new food logistics business arm as a sales support coordinator. These traineeship experiences will be meaningful and valuable, providing them skills that are in-demand and hands-on industry experience.

Traineeships help our fresh graduates to build their experience and skills. This puts the trainee in good stead to find a job, either with the host company or elsewhere in the sector. To give our trainees a further boost, employers that hire them will receive the enhanced Hiring Incentive, with salary support of 20% of monthly salary for six months, capped at $6,000 in total.

The Government will work with employers to provide as many jobs and traineeships as possible. As many opportunities are likely to come from firms in growth sectors, I encourage our graduates to keep an open mind and consider how skills acquired in school can be applied to different careers.

We are also paying close attention to our mature workers. Many of them may have been in the same occupation for a long time, and find it more challenging to make a career switch. As Mr Patrick Tay mentioned, we need to support our mid-career workers and we also need to help them access the opportunities available. How can mature workers do so?

First, do consider making the switch into a new career. I recognise that it is not easy, but you are not alone. Workforce Singapore's Professional Conversion Programmes, or PCP, have helped nearly 14,500 Singaporeans since 2016 to successfully switch to new careers. The results are encouraging. About nine in 10 remain in employment for two years after getting a job, and seven in 10 earned higher wages. Clearly, the PCP has been effective in preparing our workers for new careers.

The Government provides up to 90% of salary support and course fees subsidies to encourage employers to hire mature workers through these programmes. We are also ramping up our capacity to provide more programmes.

One example is 55-year-old Choa Wai Sim – one individual who successfully made the switch. She previously worked in a traditional sales role performing tasks such as quality control and quotation of sales. While she initially applied for a salesperson role at Aries Fresh Private Limited, she was open to take on a different role focusing on digital sales offered by Aries Fresh in March this year.

Thanks to PCP for Digital Sales Executives, Wai Sim gained digital skills which complements her sales experience. I personally found it inspiring that Wai Sim has transformed her 30 plus years of experience to take on the digital world as well. She now uses Facebook and Google Ads to generate leads and increase sales. Wai Sim is earning 30% more, compared to her previous traditional sales role. She is an encouraging role model for all of us and I would like to thank Aries Fresh for investing in our mature workers and I hope that many others would consider this too.

Second, mature jobseekers can also consider taking part in the new SGUnited Traineeships for mid-career workers, which will be named SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme. This programme will provide mid-career workers with company attachment opportunities to pick up industry-relevant skills and broaden their professional circles. This will boost their employability when the economy recovers.

We aim to provide up to 4,000 of such attachment opportunities. Compared to the SGUnited Traineeships, mid-careerists on this SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme can expect to receive a higher stipend based on their relevant experience and skills that they bring to the host company.

To encourage employers to hire mature workers who have gone through eligible programmes such as the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme, we doubled the Hiring Incentive to 40% of monthly salary for six months, capped at $12,000 in total.

Our employers play an important role in growing our economy and hiring our workers. It is important that we also guide them through this storm. Even when employers are in "survival mode", their odds of survival will improve with a more skilled and productive workforce. I would like to encourage employers to take a longer-term view and walk with their workers through these challenging times.

Different employers are affected in different ways by this unprecedented crisis. The first group of employers are those who are not so badly affected and are still growing. And we encourage these employers to consider jobseekers who may not have all the skills needed to perform the job, but can do it with some training.

To support such employers, we will be ramping up the capacity of our career conversion programmes to more than 14,000 places this year. So, taken together with the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) and the enhanced Hiring Incentive, the out-of-pocket costs of employers for hiring and training new workers are significantly reduced.

For others who are cautious about hiring, do consider the traineeship programmes. I encourage you to offer as many positions as you can. Not only will you benefit from the additional manpower to meet your business needs, you will also help trainees pick up useful skills and work experience.

The Government will also subsidise the costs of providing these traineeship opportunities by funding 80% of the traineeship stipends. Employers only need to fund the remaining 20%. Host companies can indicate their interest at the SGUnited Traineeships page on WSG's website.

Many employers may face short-term difficulties. We fully understand. Member of Parliament Patrick Tay expressed concerns about unfair practices on the ground, and I share his concerns. While it may not be easy, employers should be fair to their workers during hard times. The Government has provided significant wage support under the JSS to offset and protect local employees' wages. Employers should act responsibly and fairly. Those who put local employees on mandatory no-pay-leave or retrench them will not be entitled to the enhanced JSS pay-outs for those employees.

The updated Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment and National Wage Council's guidelines issued in end-March provides guidance on managing excess manpower responsibly. Where there is a need to reduce wages, managements should lead by example, and seek the consent of the unions and engage employees.

Employers should take the lead to help their workers reskill and support business transformation plans. Employees have often been worried about training while working. For some, it is whether they can find time to go for training without disadvantaging themselves at work. Others may find it difficult to identify relevant training to improve their career prospects.

Employers should come in to provide guidance. They are best placed to identify relevant skills required for their business transformation strategies. It is also a good opportunity to send workers who would have not otherwise have gone for training to reskill. Moreover, employers can reskill their existing workers at a low cost by tapping on Government support.

Employers can send existing workers to participate in job redesign programmes, a type of PCP to help existing employees take on new roles or redesigned job roles in the same company. Many employers think that PCPs are for workers to transit to new sectors, but there are also PCP programmes that employers can adopt in their companies. And the Government provides up to 90% salary support and course fee subsidies.

All Watches Private Limited is an employer that is reskilling their workers for enhanced job roles to support their digital transformation plans. They are ramping up its online e-commerce platform given the shift in consumer behaviour and increase in demand for e-commerce. Through WSG's Job Redesign Reskilling Programme for the Retail Industry, 11 workers are gaining relevant digital skills. For instance, their retail team leaders will gain skills to understand online and offline customer behaviour and to develop and implement offline-to-online strategies in enhanced Customer Service Leader roles.

I encourage employers to consider this option. Not only would employers keep their workers at lower cost, their workers will emerge with new and relevant skills to support their business transformation and growth.

Mr Speaker, before I conclude, let me address Mr Zainal Sapari's points on lower wage workers, particularly those in essential services.

The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the importance of the work done by our essential workers, many of whom come under the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). For the majority of them, their workloads have increased during this period, and we applaud and appreciate their efforts.

Indeed, this is an important group. MOM and our tripartite partners have been working hard to uplift this segment. To support our lower wage workers, we have recently enhanced Workfare to benefit more workers and also provided a special Workfare Special Payment (WSP) payout of $3,000 as a result of the COVID-19 situation. The first payout of $1,500 will be made in the next month, with the second payout of $1,500 in October 2020. In these times, it is imperative that we bolster support for our lower wage workers.

Mr Zainal co-chairs the tripartite committees to review and enhance the wage and skills ladders in sectors under the PWM today, so that our workers can enjoy better wages and be more productive. These efforts are complemented by the sectoral tripartite partners' implementation of the various industry transformation maps, such as in the security and environmental services sectors. These will leverage technology to raise our workers' productivity.

MOM is and will continue to give our fullest support to these important efforts.

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira said, and I quote, "the unseen engine behind global cities worldwide is a vast army of essential workers, who are frequently paid too little to live next to those they provide services to". I fully agree. As a society, we must uplift our lower wage workers and bridge inequality. I believe that our society has matured enough that we would not turn a blind eye to this group of workers, and recognise that they too, should be paid fairly for the essential work that they do. This is the right thing to do. But these efforts will not be able to come to fruition if we do not have the support of the wider community.

At the end of the day, all of us would have to contribute towards the higher pay for these workers by sharing the rise in cost of products and services.

The Progressive Wage Models (PWMs) have served us well in supporting our lower wage workers, which includes workers in essential sectors such as cleaning and security. Between 2013 and 2018, the real median monthly gross wages of full-time cleaners, security officers and landscape workers grew cumulatively by 30% or more, which is higher than the 16% for the median full-time income of resident workers. As Member Walter Theseira observed in his Budget speech in February, the PWMs have reversed formerly stagnant wage growth for lower income Singaporeans.

The vision of PWM was to create occupation, wage and skills ladders across all sectors. This will support our workers to up-skill, raise their productivity and earn higher wages. Given the positive impact of the PWMs, MOM is committed to supporting our tripartite partners' efforts to extend PWM to more sectors.

Earlier this year, we announced that the tripartite partners are extending the PWM to escalator maintenance workers. Members of the community have also voiced their support for essential workers during COVID-19. During my speech at the Committee of Supply debates in March, I painted a vision of how the PWM should be a broader movement where the community can play a part as responsible consumers, even in sectors where mandatory PWM is not possible. In this way, companies that voluntarily pay progressive wages and provide job progression pathways to their workers are recognised and rewarded by consumers who support them by purchasing their goods or services. This will in turn spur more companies to be progressive as the best way to advance their business interests. MOM will share more details when the economic climate and business conditions are more favourable.

I would like to move on and address Members' points on the vulnerability of lower-wage essential workers. Ms Jessica Tan spoke about the need to pay attention to the working conditions as businesses resumed operations, especially for the essential and frontline workers.

COVID-19 has resulted in significant disruptions to the demand and supply of outsourced services by service buyers and providers. This has in turn affected the livelihoods of workers such as cleaners and security officers.

The tripartite partners have worked closely to issue tripartite advisories to guide service buyers and providers on how all stakeholders can navigate the situation together to ensure the sustainability of these industries and protect our workers' livelihoods. These advisories guide service providers in properly remunerating their workers and urge service buyers to exercise restraint when activating penalty clauses or liquidated damages. This helps ensure that workers are paid appropriately based on their workloads and that their employers have the cashflow to pay them accordingly.

Service buyers and providers are also encouraged to reallocate manpower based on their priorities. This helps to manage the employees' workloads. Finally, employers are also urged to seize the opportunity to up-skill their workers by tapping on Government support, which will prepare them for future challenges and opportunities. By adopting these recommendations, our lower wage essential workers will be protected and employers will be able to tide through this tough period together with them.

Beyond this, we are also maintaining our efforts to uplift the well-being of our lower wage workers at work through the Workcare initiative. As I shared earlier, we will be launching a new Workcare Grant later this year to support building owners and employers to provide rest areas for outsourced workers – this, with a view to eventually legislating this requirement. Given the importance of their work, it is only right that we promote a culture of care and provide them with the respect they deserve. I would like make a call for everyone to play a part in supporting our lower wage workers and improving their well-being at work – that even small gestures can be meaningful.

The Government will always look after our lower wage workers through our social schemes. Initiatives such as Workfare supplements their wages, the Enhanced Housing Grant ensures that they have a roof under which their families can grow in stable environments and ComCare provides meaningful social support. We hope that everyone can support us in uplifting our lower wage workers and caring for them in the way they deserve.

Mr Speaker, I began my speech with how, in every crisis, lies opportunity. We must make every opportunity count. The Government is committed to supporting both our jobseekers and employers to ride out this storm and to emerge stronger. We will help jobseekers seize every available opportunity and employers are encouraged to use this period to build up a skilled workforce so that they are well-positioned for recovery. We can achieve this by working together as Singapore United.

Mr Speaker, allow me to share a few key points on the Government's support for employers and workers in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] We will support Singaporeans fully. There are many opportunities in growth sectors, so I encourage those who are seeking jobs to be flexible and willing to adapt to access these opportunities.

Currently, there are conversion programmes to help you reskill to gain employment in new areas, including the SGUnited Traineeships Programme and the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme. These programmes can help you to gain industry-relevant work experience and build professional networks.

We have also introduced measures to help businesses cope during this trying period. I urge employers to be fair and responsible to their workers. Retain your workers, and tap on Government support to help your workers upskill, and at the same time, help your company transform for the future.

Mr Speaker, I am greatly heartened to see my fellow Singaporeans and community organisations stepping up to collectively complement the Government’s efforts to help employers and workers during this difficult period. These include the wonderful efforts by our Malay/Muslim community.

Under the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce, organisations such as MENDAKI SENSE and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or SMCCI, have stepped forward to further strengthen the last-mile delivery of national support measures and lead targeted initiatives to support the Malay/Muslim community on jobs, upskilling and digitalisation for businesses.

SENSE has organised three Virtual Career Fairs which have attracted close to 12,000 visitors. More than 3,400 people have submitted job applications and the total number of applications received have exceeded 8,000 applications. To date, the CariKerja app has received over 22,000 downloads. These figures indicate a good start.

SENSE will be scaling up their outreach efforts within the community, including to mature workers, fresh graduates as well as PMET jobseekers.

For our local businesses, SMCCI, together with technology partners such as Lalamove and Shopback, has helped their members to adopt new solutions that would optimise their businesses in areas such as marketing and e-payments. SMCCI will continue its efforts to conduct more capability development seminars so that our local businesses can make the move to innovate, transform and strengthen their resilience.

We can expect structural changes to the global and Singapore economy in the long term. As announced by Minister Masagos last week, I will be leading a new workgroup, comprising MENDAKI SENSE, SMCCI, NTUC, organisations from the public sector and community partners to support our Malay/Muslim workers.

This workgroup will support the efforts of the National Jobs Council, led by Senior Minister Tharman. Collectively, we want to build on the efforts of the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce, to provide employment support for Malay/Muslim jobseekers, and to better prepare them and improve their employment prospects, by working with our partners and the Government. We will also strengthen our outreach efforts to prepare the community for the future of jobs. This includes mature workers, fresh graduates, the self-employed, and our asatizah.

We want to help our workers to upskill so that they can stay relevant and subsequently gain employment. With that, they will hopefully have better salary prospects. It is important for the Malay/Muslim community to be ready to seize any opportunities during this crisis and when the economy recovers.

Our path forward will be tough, but we will journey through it together. The Government will continue to support Singaporeans in adapting to new circumstances. With strong community support, we will work hand-in-hand to help workers and employers seize available opportunities, so that we will emerge stronger as one Singapore. Thank you.

Mr Pritam Singh

Mr Speaker, when I spoke on the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets in April, my speech focused on the future. What would happen after the deployment of significant reserves to support lives and livelihoods? I also spoke about how COVID-19 had exposed inequalities – how the wages of some Singaporeans working in essential services need to go up – and what opportunities the COVID-19 crisis had engendered to reimagine a better Singapore.

For this Fortitude Budget debate, which once again calls for a draw on the reserves, I will focus on three "E"s – the economy, engagement and empathy.

First, the economy. While the central focus of this Budget was jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Heng's speech was instructive in my view for the restatement of three hard truths in the coming months. First, Singapore can expect some tough times ahead. On the day the Deputy Prime Minister delivered this Budget, MTI announced a downward adjustment of our growth forecast of -1% to -4%, to -4% to -7%. Second, the Deputy Prime Minister reminded Singaporeans that life will not return to pre-COVID-19 days, with the global economy unlikely to recover quickly. Finally, the Deputy Prime Minister's speech also reminded Singaporeans, "that Government cannot carry businesses forever."

On the limit of Government being able to carry business forever, it is clear that companies and businesses will soon have to underwrite their employees' wages. This has hitherto been significantly supported by the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS).

With poor economic growth at the door, some business owners have shared with me that they have retained workers as long as they could, thanks to the JSS, even as other workers were emplaced on no-pay leave and have had to take pay cuts. As JSS expires in time, some retrenchments are inevitable.

To that end, the goal of the Government to accelerate digitalisation, up-skilling for the future and the creation of a National Jobs Council are steps in the right direction and supported by the Workers' Party. These initiatives cohere with an eye on the future and the transformation to a post-COVID-19-ready Singapore economy.

On jobs, Mr Speaker, the headline numbers vis-a-vis initiatives like the new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeships scheme of 4,000 openings may not appear large next to the size of the Singaporean workforce, but they are an important source of hope for those Singaporeans who have lost their jobs or will lose their jobs.

Today, some Singaporeans would be downcast at the thought of how to finance or how to continue financing their mortgage and other commitments, or the opportunities they can or cannot provide to their school-going children when their own paychecks have dwindled or, in other cases, evaporated.

On mid-career workers, I hope the Government considers and incentivises more companies and businesses, through either rebates or reliefs, to offer more of such traineeships and opportunities to mid-career Singaporeans, so that they can learn new skills and embark on new careers.

Mr Speaker, more than $50 billion has been committed from the Reserves to fight COVID-19 in the matter of a few short months, more than 10 times the amount drawn from the Reserves during the Global Financial Crisis about a decade ago. Unlike the Resilience Budget, I noticed the Fortitude Budget did not include a line to say that the Government would be prepared to make further draws on past Reserves to deal with COVID-19, if necessary. In this regard, the employment of the Contingencies Fund in this Budget answered the question posed during my Resilience Budget debate speech, which queried whether the next Government would have enough fiscal firepower to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 fallout.

Nonetheless, I have a few questions for the Deputy Prime Minister on this count. It would appear that this Contingencies Fund would provide the Government with a significant buffer against post-circuit breaker uncertainties. What is of interest is the decision-making process behind the allocation of this amount. How did the Government settle on it? And on what basis was it justified to the President?

After delivering the Fortitude Budget, the Deputy Prime Minister was also quoted in the media as saying that Singapore's financial position will be a lot weaker in the coming years. This is a very significant comment on Singapore's fiscal health, the implications of which have not been discussed in public in a significant way thus far. Can the Deputy Prime Minister share more details on his thinking on this matter and what can the public expect in the short and medium term over the next five to 10 years, especially with regard to recurrent taxes and the social contract between people and the state.

This brings me to my second "E" – engagement.

Mr Speaker, when the first of four Budgets this year was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 28 February, I stated in my speech during the debate that as far as the Workers' Party was concerned, politics would take a backseat for a unity of purpose in times of the COVID-19 crisis so that Singapore could single-mindedly overcome this challenge. The Workers' Party has not come in to publicly criticise the Government on its handling of an unprecedented crisis in ways that would undermine the national effort. But Singaporeans have a right to expect a thorough review and accounting on the response to this public health crisis. Some, both in and out of this House, have suggested a commission of inquiry or some other independent body to review specific aspects of the Government's response thus far. Whatever the form such a reckoning takes in future, our position, as a constructive Opposition, requires us to communicate the feelings of Singaporeans on the ground in Parliament.

As we exit the circuit breaker, there is the perception that the Government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis has certainly not included adjectives more commonly associated with the Singapore Government, such as clarity and decisiveness. For example, there is a broadly accepted view that the public should have been told early and clearly, and not through illegal recordings behind closed doors, for example, that universal masking would prove to be a challenge in view of supply constraints requiring the Government to prioritise our healthcare and other essential workers. To this end, straight talk, especially on Singapore's limitations and shortcomings in managing the crisis, did not always define official Government communication on COVID-19.