START OF DEBATE

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[Mr Speaker in the Chair]: **ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR
1ST APRIL, 2011 TO 31ST MARCH, 2012 **

(Paper Cmd. 1 of 2011): Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [5th Allotted Day].

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]: Head I – Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (cont.) –

Resumption of Debate on Question [7th March, 2011],

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"That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Estimates be reduced by $100." – [Mr Seah Kian Peng].

Question again proposed.

ComCare

Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang): Mr Chairman, Sir, each year, over 50,000 needy Singaporeans apply for ComCare Assistance Scheme through the five Community Development Councils (CDCs). About 90% of these applications were means-tested within four weeks. This is a drastic improvement as compared to the three months' processing time of social assistance cases in the past. Sir, the CDCs and MCYS have been working closely to redesign the work processes of the Social Assistance Services by CDCs so that timely assistance can be given to the needy. But it is important for the needy and general public to understand the workings of our social safety net.

Sir, ComCare is not about giving out financial assistance to the needy quickly. ComCare is about identifying appropriate assistance schemes which will help the needy achieve self-reliance quickly. That is why the CDC Social Assistance officers need to conduct due diligence to understand the barriers faced by needy families and encourage them to take responsibility to work towards self-reliance.

Sir, based on feedback from our officers, there are many barriers hindering the progress of needy families to be self-reliant. These include barriers to employment such as transport cost, childcare issues, low skills, illness or past criminal records.

Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: (i) Can the Ministry consider enhancing the ComCare scheme to help the chronically ill and unemployable? (ii) Can more resources be given to

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the ComCare Local Network to assist chronic cases? (iii) Can ComCare and Workfare Schemes be better aligned to help the unemployed or vulnerably employed to upgrade their skills?

Policy matter

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Mr Chairman, Sir, over the years, Singapore has implemented many well thought out policies to benefit Singaporeans. They are laudable assistance schemes which are the envy of other countries. Sir, I am referring to the safety nets like our healthcare 3Ms, especially the Medifund component, our Workfare Bonus and our Public Assistance schemes that target various groups of our society.

These schemes ensure that the vulnerable groups in our society are not deprived of medical care or livelihood due to the lack of means. These schemes showcase us as a caring nation. The Minister for Finance in his rounding-up speech, said that "social mobility is a crucial aspect of our inclusive growth model. And our merit-based system allows any Singaporean with drive, perseverance and different types of talents to succeed. We have to maximise opportunities for everyone to do well. But we have to do more. In particular, we have to do more to prevent an underclass from forming, an underclass that replicates its condition across generations."

Today, I would like MCYS to consider another safety net to further enhance the picture of a caring society. A safety net aimed at helping the children in the bottom 5% of the lowest income group. In this group, the families are extremely hard pressed at nurturing their children. Sir, they need special attention.

There must be a more deliberate and systematic programme for providing assistance to the children of these lowest income families, especially the dysfunctional

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ones. The aim is to prevent dysfunctional homes from getting worse and to ensure an environment conducive for them to bring up their children, especially if the children are still young. The pre-emptive move is to intervene and assist the children from an early stage. I would like to echo what the Finance Minister said, we have to maximise our opportunities for everyone to do well and we need this safety net to do just that.

I would like to emphasise that I am not suggesting handouts to them in this scheme. I am asking for provisions of intensive programmes to assist eligible families improve their dire circumstances. We need a deliberate and systematic programme for these families and especially for their children who should be followed-up with until after the secondary school level.

At present, MCYS does not have any system in place to identify such children early on. These vulnerable children should ideally be identified at the registration of birth when some information about them can be collated. There is also no programme to follow up on vulnerable families and to help them in the holistic way that many of them require. Our Family Service Centres are helping vulnerable cases only on ad hoc basis with short-term remedies. It is much like doctors prescribing medicines to patients without diagnosing or curing the underlying disease and definitely without hope of implementing any preventive measures.

MCYS has the following schemes for low-income families: KiFAS, CFAC, CCFA, ICCP, HSP, HOPE, SCFA, CCT, ComCare, PA and WIS. Quite a mouthful but not easily understood in application perhaps even by many of us here, let alone by the disadvantaged families. How do we then make sure that these schemes serve the purposes that are intended?

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I suggest that we give hands-on guidance, with emphasis on the well-being of the children, through designated social workers to these families so that they can better take advantage of the various assistance schemes. The aim is to tailor each families' needs to their unique situations. This may entail cajoling non-working parents, especially the mothers, to go for employment so that they are eligible for CFAC, sending their children to pre-school in the first place to enjoy KiFAS or getting both parents to go for upgrading of skills and so on.

In the earlier stages, the children may need nutritional attention and healthcare. Later, in schooling stage, assistance on educational, social and sometimes psychological needs may be required. We may also need special efforts to help the children feel welcome in school, perhaps by assigning extra counsellor or teacher attention to them. Whether providing for physical or psychological needs, may I suggest implementing a structured programme across the board in all schools so that needy children feel at home in the school environment?

May I urge the Minister for MCYS to improve the plight of the children from the lowest income families through such a permanent and constructive safety net? May I also ask the Minister whether the present HOPE scheme is serving its intended purpose and can it be improved further to increase the take-up rate? Lastly, would the Minister tell us if there is a big shortage for social workers and whether this shortage is holding back the ideal targets of MCYS?

Coordinated assistance to the needy

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower and Minister for Health (Mr Hawazi Daipi): Despite our best efforts to help low-income workers, the needy and the poor, we will always have families who struggle in life. Some may be

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destitute, some may have problems getting a job due to poor health or old age. Yet some may be families with school-going children who may get into difficulties following a family break-up. I think while we must help them to manage their problems, financial or otherwise, the primary approach for most should be to help them regain independence through employment, ensuring that their children remain schooling and solving their other problems holistically.

I am grateful that there are so many helping hands in the community to lift their lives. But I wonder if the Ministry has specific plans to improve the service level of these organisations through enhanced coordination among them. Specifically, the VWOs at the local level which can disburse such assistance directly are the Family Service Centres, and I think they have the potential to play a greater role in a coordinated way to help the needy in the community. What are the Ministry's plans to raise the service and delivery standards of the Family Service Centres as the main help points in the community? How can other local organisations like the CDC, schools, Citizens' Constultative Committee play a role to avoid duplication of help or gaps in the delivery of assistance? Who should coordinate such work in the view of the Minister? What is the Minister's assessment of the effectiveness of the ComCare Local Network so far?

Kindergarten and childcare financial assistance schemes

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, we run a programme called Back to Work in NTUC and, under that programme, what we do is to try to assist home-makers to get back to work. We have so far helped 8,500 women. One of the recurrent issues faced by the women is that it is really not worth their while to go back to

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work because the salary they earn will all be wiped out by the childcare fees that they have to pay. Therefore, it is futile for them to go to work. That is the disincentive. I truly welcome the Ministry's increase of the income ceiling for families in need from the current rate of $1,800 to $3,500. Indeed, this will be very useful.

I have three points to raise with the Minister. First, I would like to ask the Minister to remove other barriers because some others have also given me the feedback that they have to pay a deposit before they can put their child in a preschool, although they may be under KiFAS or CFAC. And that, by itself, is a disincentive because they do not have that deposit in the first place to pay the childcare operator. Secondly, could I ask the Minister to continue to make sure that childcare fees are affordable because childcare fees have been increasing quite significantly, and that is another disincentive. Whilst we increase the ceiling under KiFAS and CFAC, we should also keep a lid on childcare fees to ensure affordability. Thirdly, could I ask the Minister what is the progress in terms of building more childcare centres because the feedback from a lot of families is that they find it difficult to find a childcare place for their children?

Total fertility rate and singlehood

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Sir, much has been said about the need to give incentives to people to have babies. The debate about whether these incentives work or do not is a moot one. Detractors will say that the fact that our TFR remains low shows that the measures are not working, while proponents will say that the incentives are working because if these incentives were not present, then we would have fewer babies.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Wong shared that a key contributing

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cause to the low TFR is a lot simpler than we thought. From the year 2000 to 2010, the number of single citizens, both male and female, has been on the increase. The trends are quite clear and it is not a pretty sight and does not look like it will slow down, let alone reverse.

Sir, people are not getting married, and those who are, are getting older. Needless to say, this combination is not conducive to increasing TFR.

Even as I read that last sentence, I am conscious of how poorly it sits with the usual notions of marriage – of a matter of heart, not mind, of a matter of matches in heaven, not matchmaking on earth.

The Social Development Network (SDN) coordinates the work of dating agencies, and promotes marriages. It has classifications of activities, dating, self-enrichment, wine and dine or travel. In particular, I like the "heart" section, where you can select 1, 2, or 3. I do not know the basis of selection, but I guess, to put it bluntly, it is how much you want to get married!

Sir, I would like to encourage the SDN in its work. I would like to know what strategies SDN is deploying to combat the declining marriage rates. Should a strategic review be carried out? Finally, given that this is the key contributing factor to the low TFR, I propose that we ensure that sufficient and more resources are deployed to this front.

12.15 pm

Single parents

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to take part in this debate. Under Singapore law, single parents are treated as singles who are not eligible to purchase a Housing Board flat unless they are 35 years old and they are also given reduced children

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benefits like lesser maternity leave and no Baby Bonus.

We know that the Government is not encouraging single parents but like every developed country, Singapore has single parents and we should learn to acknowledge them. Rather have single parents who are responsible, than have problematic couples who end up in divorce and a traumatic child. Why should their children suffer the sin of their parents? Should single parents not be entitled to more benefits than normal couples when raising their children single-handedly? I am not proposing these benefits to say single parenthood is alright. I am proposing responsible parenting and proper investment in our young.

Youth

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, Sir, all of us – parents, schools, local communities and the Government – have a stake and shared responsibility to guide our young. It is painful to read of 14-year-olds engaging in prostitution or some even younger ones engaging in pre-marital sex. Worse is, some are involved in more serious crimes like gangsterism, street fights, doing the bidding of loansharks or abusing drugs and alcohol. I hope the Minister would spare no effort to get his Ministry to work with the other Ministries and VWOs, especially with schools, to address the question of juvenile delinquency and youth crime.

The recent youth gangsters on the street are warning signs that we must work harder on our youth. Their academic achievements imposed both by our education system and by us, as parents, are putting much pressures on our children. Only by working together can we identify gaps and come up with new approaches to deal with these new challenges.

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The Ministry of Education is one key Ministry that MCYS must engage as most of our youths are in the education institutes. I fully agree with the Minister for Education which said yesterday that the parents are ultimately responsible for their children. This role of responsibility cannot be surrogated. However, all our schools must play not only the main role of education but the supporting role of character building. The Minister for Education only hold the teachers and principals responsible for the education outcomes. I am afraid the Minister for MCYS would have a lot of persuasion to do.

In this regard, could the Minister share with the House whether there is any study made to better understand the changing social landscape surrounding our families and its impact on young people? Where are the weak links that should be tightened? How does his Ministry intend to tackle the problem and whether it is engaging in any dialogue with different concerned groups in the community, for example, VWOs?

I hope the Minister can share with the House what are some of the upcoming programmes, particularly those aimed at reducing youth crime. We are a small country. Every person counts. Everyone is important and special. And with joint commitment, I am confident that more than ever, Singapore will continue to nurture morally right and productive citizens.

Helping the disabled, needy and elderly

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Sir, I want to thank the MCYS Minister, his team and especially National Council of Social Services for having put focus on and adding much value to the disability community.

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Through the current Enabling Master Plan for the Disabled, which is due for renewal, many important initiatives were started. These include the non means-tested Fixed Subsidy of $300 per month for every Singaporean child undergoing early intervention; Special Needs Trust company; regular caregiver trainings; and many others. Sir, many people in the community, including the disabled and their families, are not aware of what the Enabling Master Plan is. Other than what is posted on the MCYS website when the Plan was first launched and direct updates by NCSS to the charities involved, there is little information to the disabled and the public on the good work done, the challenges and what is next in the pipeline. This has led to the perception that either nothing has been done or repeated appeals for solutions that may not be relevant. Sir, I urge MCYS to update a wider audience on a more regular basis in multiple channels so that all stakeholders are equally aware of the terrain, and they can contribute to scaling the next height together.

Sir, setting up a National Office for Disability was a key recommendation I made in the plan. As I understand, this Office currently comprises mostly senior civil servants from the different Ministries and some agencies like the NCSS. What it stands for, what it does and how it engages the disabled, the families and the VWOs on the ground, are a well-kept secret. I seek more communication and engagement by this National Office through regular and outreach channels.

Next, Sir, as the Master Plan is due for renewal, I would like to ask the Minister to consider addressing the following gaps in the next phase:

(i) Expedite basic health insurance coverage for those born with congenital diseases; and influence top insurers in the private sector to offer optional enhanced plans for those who seek more coverage;

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(ii) Extend Foreign Domestic Worker Levy (FDW) Concession for children with disabilities who are older than 12 years old. The levy concession currently applies to children under the age of 12 and the elderly above 65. The current policy assumes that the said disability miraculously disappears after age 12 and re-surfaces after age 65. I hope that the Minister will look into this;

(iii) Study the daily challenges faced by major disability groups, especially those who are poor. Expand the scope of funds, such as the Special Assistance Fund, to include, for example, interpretation services for the deaf in their pursuit of work or education. I recently held a 3-hour meeting with a young adult who is deaf. Because I do not sign, he had to come with his sign language interpreter in tow, the services of whom were charged to us at an hourly rate. That evening, this young man shared with me how he had to personally fork out $6,000 worth of interpretation fees as he pursues his ACCA accounting studies;

(iv) Increase the Norm Costs for Day Activity Centres which cater to moderately to severely disabled adults. Last year, my volunteers and I were approached to support a Day Activity Centre for such a group. The team tried all means to work out the financial model, using HDB void decks and a mixture of both local and foreign staff. We arrived at a cost of about $1,500 per client per month for a very prudent service model. However, the Government norm cost is only about $750 and subsidy is means-tested. Sir, while I agree that it will be impossible for Government to foot 100% of all social services, I think a regular review of the cost and support for more labour-intensive services should be conducted if these services are important and outsourced to other Helping Hands;

(v) On sports and inclusion. I believe that MCYS can also orchestrate more

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inclusion in the area of sports. Recently, ex-NMP Jessie Phua graciously agreed with me to broker a collaboration pact between the Bowling Association for the Disabled and the mainstream Singapore Bowling Association. As a result of these inclusion efforts, the disabled bowlers can now leverage on expertise and activities in SBA. It was inspiring for both the disabled and the non-disabled, and made Sports for All a reality, in this case.

Lastly, on productivity and innovation, the mantra in recent Budgets. Sir, I strongly feel that the People Sector must hop on the bus of our country's productivity movement. There are many useful toolkits, resources and funding programmes which are applicable even to charities, special schools, homes and centres. For example, how many leaders and staff in the People Sector have studied the very useful Productivity Calculators that SPRING has developed? There are some areas in the social services sector that calls for better mapping and study.

One key area, for example, is the integration of the numerous help schemes for the chronic low-wage families to avoid cases of over- and under-serving. Sir, even Mayors and Family Service Centres who are the administrators of these schemes have voiced the need for a more efficient and effective safety net. Such a need makes this an ideal project to qualify for the Productivity and Innovation Grant funded by the National Budget.

Finally, Sir, I want to thank the Minister and his team for the good work done in the last five years and I look forward to his consideration for the gaps that I have mentioned.

People with disabilities

Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Mr Chairman, Sir, the world has

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moved on from defining disability as a medical condition. Since 2002, WHO has stated that any decrement in health resulting in any form of disability is now a universal human experience and not just a medical experience. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes respect for the inherent dignity, autonomy, independence of persons, non-discrimination and full and active participation in society.

Singapore has introduced the Enabling Masterplan 2007 to 2011 and it is due for review. It takes a slightly different stand, attributing limitations to an individual's ability to function in society as being due to medically-determined impairments rather than the way the built-up environment is designed and organised. This is the way it has come across to the public. It certainly needs review.

Does MCYS have new initiatives and policies planned to help with the integration and mainstreaming of persons with disability and will we see Singapore become a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

People with special needs

Mr Chiam See Tong: I am very grateful to my fellow colleagues for helping me out of my chair. I am sorry about delaying the proceedings.

Sir, the Government has unveiled impressive plans to upgrade several constituencies, costing millions of dollars that will improve the lives of residents. Whilst this is a good move to improve physical surroundings and the neighbourhood, what is lacking is the compassion and support for our marginalised citizens and their caregivers who are finding it hard to cope.

Our society should create an awareness that these people are shunned

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and isolated because of the stigma that is attached to the illness. Caregivers of the mentally ill do not get the recognition and vital support which they badly need and, in the end, they themselves may develop depression, leading to mental illness.

Sir, I therefore urge the Government to educate the public to create awareness on the plight of these marginalised citizens and their caregivers. More financial aid should be allocated to the support groups and the mental health institutions, eg, Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH).

12.30 pm

The Chairman: Mr Laurence Wee. You have three cuts, take them together, please.

Long waiting list for integrated childcare programme centres

Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong (Nominated Member): At this point, I thank the Minister and his team for the good progress over the past five years, and for rolling out many initiatives for the poor, needy and the disabled.

First, I declare my interest as my organisation, Presbyterian Community Services, is running the integrated childcare programme in six of our childcare centres with 10 places in each centre. The waiting list for integrated childcare programme centres may not be an issue now. However, it would be good to constantly monitor the trend, so that no eligible child will be denied a place in integrated pre-school education.

Training of integrated childcare programme teachers

Mr Chairman, Sir, teachers working with children with special needs need to equip themselves with proper knowledge, skills and competency to help each child reach

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his/her fullest potential. Teachers in integrated childcare programme centres have to attend 152 hours of training in order to be awarded the certificate in teaching pre-schoolers with special needs in integrated childcare centre (CICP) conducted by the Rainbow Centre at Margaret Drive, which is appointed by MCYS as its training coordinator.

Currently, only the NIE Diploma in Special Education and Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Advanced Diploma in Early Childhood Intervention (Special Education) are being recognised. Could more be done for the CICP's certificate course in terms of greater recognition? Perhaps, it can be considered as a form of foundation module, in view of its existing specialised training content. This could serve as a bridge or stepping stone for trainees without their pre-requisite to further their upgrading in NIE or Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

May I urge the Minister to consider granting recognition of such courses? This will ensure that teachers who undergo such courses are motivated to give their commitment and dedication to serve the children with special needs in pre-school education through further training. If such accreditation is considered, it would be of immense help to those cohorts of teachers undergoing training. Thus, it will not only increase morale, but also help to ensure and maintain service quality in the long term. We can do more to promote early intervention for children with special needs and these trained pre-school teachers are in fact the frontline people who can make the difference.

Child development credit

Mr Chairman, Sir, families with children with special needs will invariably incur greater expenses. This is especially so in the area of providing therapy and other rehabilitative measures to increase their

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children's potential with their residual abilities for better functioning. Generally, all concerned parents will go, if they can afford it, for any therapy that will hold promise of greater recovery or healing. Most parents will do anything for their children's progress. However, therapy, rehabilitation and other speciality medical care are just a few of the extra costs that parents face when raising children with special needs. Thus, the families of the disabled require more special attention and relief.

Recommendation one: may I suggest to the Minister to consider a higher quantum of Child Development Credit, as it will go a long way in helping the families to cope with the higher cost of taking care of a child with special needs? Recommendation two: may I also urge the Minister, perhaps to commission a study on the cost of raising a child with special needs in Singapore, if this has not been done before or done much earlier because the cost of living was lower? This study will be of immense value when formulating policies to help these parents financially.

In conclusion, may I reiterate that families of children with special needs require more special attention and relief.

Social workers

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman): Sir, there have been repeated calls by Members of this House on the need for more social workers to work with families facing difficulties. There are even calls for Family Service Centres to be set up in every constituency, and at least a social worker each in the constituency office. Members of this House must have come across too many of such families to make them raise their concerns in this Chamber. MCYS has responded. Remuneration packages have been improved and career progressions

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are more attractive. However, there are still fundamental issues which need to be addressed – the capabilities of social worker entrants, quality of social work training programmes, ensuring quality field supervision and putting in place the system that will sustain them within the profession.

The social workers that we need most are those who have the skills and tenacity to work in the community – go out to visit families in their homes at odd hours, handle complex cases that include multiple marriages and divorces, juvenile delinquencies and domestic violence, collaborate with grassroot volunteers and engage community partners. They must have a good grasp of social science theories, excellent interpersonal and organisational skills. Above all, the fighting spirit and readiness to work against insurmountable odds.

The challenge is that many of our budding social workers come from backgrounds that are totally distant from the families that they hope to serve. For example, they will be challenged to understand how a 23-year-old woman whose husband is in prison, and who has three young children aged between one and five years, could abandon her children leaving them with her own mother who herself is undergoing divorce. Beyond ability to work with such families directly, the social workers also need to assess the effectiveness of Government's policies in meeting the larger objective of helping these families to be self-reliant. This means that social workers are more than Mother Theresa, who will only help the poor.

They are professionals who must take an active role in engaging policy makers. The image of social workers must change and go beyond merely helping the poor and the down and out. Social workers

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impact not only the lives of the people whom they serve but also the larger systems within which these people exist. We need a system that will nurture and develop talents in the sector through an enhanced image that inspire the young to join the profession. More importantly is to ensure the quality of training programmes that produce social workers with the desired attributes and, subsequently, the quality of field supervision that will ensure longer term sustenance of these social workers in the profession.

I urge MCYS to conduct a comprehensive review of the social work profession to ensure the desired pipeline of quality social workers with the gumption to take on challenging cases and the intellectual ability to engage policy-makers in addressing community issues, and remaining in the profession for the longer term.

The Chairman: Mr Hawazi is not here. Mr Seah.

Responsible gambling and compliance

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, much has been said in this House about the impact of the IRs on ordinary Singaporeans and the need to protect them from undue influences. I have heard the messages on radio in Mandarin, depicting a man’s downfall at the gambling tables: first, borrowing from the loansharks, and then losing the love of his wife, esteem from his teenage son, and the respect of his daughter.

Sir, gamblers know all these. They know the odds, better than most of us. They know the outcomes. They would have seen their circle of friends go the same way. They know, and yet the flesh is weak. That is why we need a mixture of pre- and post-casino measures. We take measures to prevent those whose addiction is particularly great from going into the casinos and we help those who

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have already fallen prey, to dig themselves up from the hole.

Sir, the vice taxes are a great way to redistribute wealth, assuming it comes from the comfortable cushions of the very rich, and not the meagre earnings of the poor. But I think we do not yet know nor fully understand what the social impact is.

Sir, I do not want nor do I think the IRs will fail. But we need a win-win approach to ensure that even as the IRs succeed, the social costs and issues are always on top of the mind of our Government, and that the various measures do kick in.

As we have seen, with the need to reduce free buses or advertisements, there are always refined or new ideas that may be introduced to achieve this. MPs, grassroots leaders and yes, the IRs themselves, are partners in these. The IRs must do more to promote responsible gambling and it is in their interest to comply with guidelines and to work together with us.

Sir, I want to ask the Minister’s assessment of the measures in place to promote responsible gambling and making sure IRs comply with the guidelines so far. What else should be done?

Casino

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Marine Parade): Sir, Singapore was ranked the second coolest nation in the world by the lifestyle and travel section of CNN. We are just behind the samba-loving country of Brazil. This is a big step forward for this friendly red dot.

Not too long ago, Singapore was considered boring with very little to offer, in terms of night life. We have certainly transformed ourselves from a clean but boring city to a city with an endless run of activities to do and an exciting night life.

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The two casinos and other facilities at the two IRs certainly have played an important role in sprucing up the tourist image of Singapore. There is no doubt as to the economic benefits of having a casino at the two resorts. What is uncertain would be the social ills associated with the casinos at our very door step.

Studies have shown that having a casino within a 10-mile radius has a significant impact on problem gambling. I was told by an ex-gambling addict that the entrance levy of $100 is no deterrence to a gambler. There is a Chinese saying: "小财不出 , 大财不入". He is saying, "put money, get money". In other words, if you do not gamble, where is the opportunity to take in money?

Sir, we are seeing more people seeking help with their gambling problems or problems arising from their family members' gambling addictions. There are reported cases of people who lost millions of dollars in the casino. We also hear of cases of people turning to loansharks or selling their flats as a result of losses in the casino. We also had cases of thefts and cheating by the casino workers, and reports of prostitution or sex workers plying their trade in the casinos. Therefore, I seek an update from MCYS on the nature and the extent of social problems relating to gambling at the casinos following the full-operations of these two casinos in Singapore. What are the control mechanisms in place and how effective have they been so far?

Gambling

Mr Chan Soo Sen (Joo Chiat): Mr Chairman, Sir, being the third person talking about gambling, I think quite a lot of points have been brought up. I will just share by way of anecdotes. Of late, I have been taking taxis. And I hear taxi drivers talking about picking up passengers who have lost everything.

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There are passengers who plead with the taxi drivers to say they do not have the $30 needed to pay for the taxi fare. These persons have lost everything. We also hear of children who, in good faith, give money to parents and say: "you go to the IR and enjoy yourself". I do not know how the relationship would turn out in chapter two. I just want to say that all these little anecdotes show that we are already beginning to see some initial indications of gambling problems. These may be just the tip of the iceberg, and the more serious cases may soon come.

Gambling, of course, is not new in Singapore. In the past, we had regulated gambling very carefully. Strictly speaking, only bettings are allowed – we are referring to Sweep, TOTO and 4D. Such bettings will not make people lose their fortune. But one night in the casino can cause people to lose their life savings.

I personally am not sympathetic to the billionaires who lose millions. If I have a billion and lose a million, I lose only 1% of my asset. What is the big deal? I can afford to lose. But I am very concerned about the working class losing their entire life savings and CPF. All of us would get a minor fortune when we reach 55 years old. We are able to dip into our life savings and suddenly we would see a lot of money. Some said that it is when men become the most attractive – God knows what I mean [ Laughter ]. But if one is complacent, and through gambling, he can lose everything. The fact that children give parents some money to have a good time in casino shows how complacent we can be.

Mr Chairman, I want to propose that we must be more aggressive in publicising the ills of gambling. Let us take the example of smoking. Real pictures of health hazards are shown on the boxes to deter people. I would like to propose to

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the Minister to consider an annual gambling awareness month, where programmes and activities will be organised to remind people the social ills of gambling. It may be illustrated with real or anonymous cases. We can have it during the school holiday month because that is the time when people are most likely to try to have a good time. I think this should be an addition to whatever that the Minister may be replying to Dr Ong's point on mechanisms that will be put in place.

12.45 pm

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Chairman, Sir, Members of the House, I apologise for my voice, I have got a viral infection and it is not because I am campaigning prematurely.

Last year has been an eventful one for MCYS. If I can just get the first slide up [ hon. Members were shown a slide ]. On the legislative front, we enacted the International Child Abduction Bill, we also made amendments to the Women's Charter and The Charities Act, The Children and Young Persons Act, The Hindu Endowments Act and, of course, if you all remember, Mr Seah Kian Peng amended the Maintenance of Parents Act . He amended it but we have to do the work.

Beyond legislative work, we have also pushed ahead in enhancing our programmes for all Singaporeans. This next slide gives Members a flavour of some of the things we have been working on. For the needy, we refined the Public Assistance criteria as well as the means testing framework, in order to provide more subsidies for social services.

We improved the accessibility and the quality of childcare by adding 107 new childcare centres in 2010. We also launched a Child Development Network

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and we upgraded the quality of our childcare teachers. We made the early intervention programme for infants and children more afforbable. Ms Denise Phua and Mr Laurence Wee spoke about this programme. We also opened up more employment pathways for the disabled in order for them, ultimately, to integrate into the mainstream.

We raised the funding norms for social workers and we also launched the first of five new Family Service Centres. The Office of the Public Guardian began its operations last year, in order to bring the Mental Capacity Act into effect. We also continued to foster integration through the work of the National Integration Council which I chair and, of course, Singaporeans will remember, the Inaugural Youth Olympic Games in August which is now part of our national legacy.

My Ministry will continue to do more to strengthen social cohesion and support. Perhaps, I can classify our chief beneficiaries into the following five clusters. First, families in need; second, young children; third, youth, especially those at risk; then, the other vulnerable groups which include those with disabilities and also groups who may be susceptible to problem gambling.

In addition to that, we have also been looking at the social service sector as key infrastructure for our social services in order to upgrade and to uplift that sector. Let me now go into more details on families in need. Mr Seah Kian Peng asked about our efforts to help the most needy amongst us. I know I have said this many times but I will have to reiterate again our key principles, just to make sure that we do not lose sight of them. Finding work and staying in work is the key to self-reliance. And that is why the Government invests so heavily in order to help Singaporeans upgrade their skills and to get higher paying jobs. For those in lower paying jobs, we have Workfare, in order

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to boost their income from work and to make work worthwhile.

As low-income families upgrade themselves or look for jobs, there is a need, as Members have alluded to, to make sure that ComCare complements Workfare. Here, I think it may be worth reiterating and our priorities in ComCare are: first, to help people with urgent needs, immediate needs; second, to overcome the social barriers to work because ultimately we want them to get into jobs and if need be to take advantage of Workfare; and third, we must facilitate childcare arrangements because there is much concern in this House about social mobility. For social mobility, the key focus has to be on children.

For those who are unable to work, with no means of income and either no or with very limited family support, we take care of that through the Public Assistance Scheme. We monitor the cost of living very closely and we pay particular attention to the price of basic food items. I would like at this point in time to remind Members that, in this term of Parliament, we have raised the Public Assistance rate. All the Members in this House came in here in 2006. In 2007, the Public Assistance rate for a single person was $260. Since then, I have raised it four times and today it will become $400. From $260 to $400 in one term of Parliament.

In fact, for a household with two adults and two children, they will receive a total of $1,350, which will more than cover the cost of food. I think Mr Seah Kian Peng tried to calculate for us yesterday. Internally in my Ministry, we track what we call a basket of low-cost, uncooked food every month. We regularly shop at Fairprice. I am not trying to sell a commercial but making the point that we do track these very closely because we must ensure that nobody goes hungry in Singapore.

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It is also important to understand that we must not be overly focused on the cash component. It is only one component of the total Public Assistance package. We should remind ourselves that PA recipients receive totally free medical care, they receive totally free education for their children, they receive rental subsidies, U-SAVE subsidies, as well as considerable additional support from the community.

Even as we acknowledge that, I will continue to give the assurance that we will make sure no one will be left behind. No one will go hungry. No one will go without food on the table or without a roof over their head or healthcare for yourself or education, regardless of how the cost of living increases. We have the wherewithal to ensure that for this most vulnerable group in our society.

It is also noteworthy that the Minister for Finance has made a $500 million top-up to the ComCare Endowment Fund. When I first thought of ComCare Endowment Fund, I wanted an Endowment in order to ensure that MCYS will continue to have funds available, even in a downturn. It has to be counter-cyclical because in a downturn, when all other Ministries' budgets are being cut, in fact, the Social Assistance budget may need to go up. When I first persuaded my colleagues to have a ComCare Endowment Fund, our target was only $1 billion. Now, very generously, the Minister for Finance has said, let us aim for a target of $1.5 billion and, in fact, today, it stands at $1.3 billion. I belabour this point because I want to emphasise that we have the wherewithal to look after our people even in tough times. And, therefore, I can give this assurance that our social safety net is robust and quite unique right now. Fully funded and sustainable for the long term. This is not the case in many other societies who

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pretend that they have got great social safety nets because they are going to run into intense physical pressures in the years ahead.

Let me now move on to young children. Dr Lily Neo has spoken about the need for holistic and early support to be available for children in need. I agree with her. As I said earlier, the key for social mobility is to work with the young children, in particular, their education. We had a long debate yesterday in the Ministry of Education's COS session.

Today, I want to remind Members that my Ministry has been investing considerably in early childhood education, in particular, to make sure it is affordable, of high quality and accessible to all. That is why we raised the income caps for the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) and the Centre-Based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC) in order to benefit more children. In addition to having a larger group of children eligible, we have also made adjustments in quantum. It is worth highlighting again that in this term of Parliament, the quantum of subsidies for both schemes has increased significantly. For instance, for the lowest income tier, we raised the CFAC subsidies from $300 to $340. This is over and above the universal $300 subsidy. So, in other words, this lowest income family gets $340 every month available for childcare. For KiFAS, Members of the House will be familiar that we raised it in this term of Parliament from $65 a month to $108 a month.

Mdm Halimah mentioned the need for deposits. There is a start-up grant available to ensure that even the deposit for uniforms and school text books will not be a hurdle. This allows me, again, to give that assurance that money will never be an impediment for children from low-income households accessing good quality early childhood education and, ultimately,

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education in primary and secondary school and beyond.

We need to remind people that this is available, and I agree with Members we will need to continue our outreach programmes to make sure that no parent ever keeps a child away from school simply because of worries about cash flow.

There were some queries about childcare costs rising. Mdm Halimah brought this up. I have been watching this very closely and I agree with the Member. We have noticed that some, especially private childcare centres, have taken the opportunity of the fact that we have now given more subsidies to all parents to also raise prices. Some of those price rises may be justified if it has been accompanied truly by increased standards, increased and better infrastructure or better quality teachers. But beyond that, there is a free market operating and that is why I have been pushing for this accelerated rate of an increased number of childcare centres to be established in order to promote more competition and also while we are working closely with PCF and with the NTUC's the Little Skool-House, so that there will be anchor operators functioning in the same way like FairPrice does for supermarkets and food products, to ensure that there is healthy competition and fair pricing standards available. In the years to come, I will ensure that there is even greater transparency and more information available on every childcare centre, so that parents can make informed choices.

We have also enhanced our outreach and programming for children in need. Members of the House will again be familiar that, every year, MOE gives us a list of children who have so far not been registered either in kindergarten or childcare. We and our grassroots' leaders go and knock door to door to identify who

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is missing, why are they missing, are they overseas or is there a social problem. We have also a whole range of other programmes like the Healthy Start Programme (HSP), the Intensive Case Management framework pilot and, of course, the Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) scheme to help families and their children break out of the poverty cycle.

Since we passed the International Child Abduction Act, and acceded to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction last year, my Ministry has also set up the Singapore Central Authority in order to implement our obligations under this Convention. Basically, what this means is that we will help ensure the return of children who were wrongfully removed from their state of habitual residence and this works both ways. The message to parents is: please comply with Court orders. I know it is a very emotional and difficult thing but do not breach Court orders and kidnap your own children.

Let me now move on to our plans for youths. Six years ago – actually, it is nearly seven years ago because I remember that was when I first came to MCYS – we conducted a nationwide youth consultation exercise which enabled many young Singaporeans to participate and give us ideas. The legacy of that exercise continues today with the Shine Youth Festival, the Young ChangeMakers grant, in fact, the new *Scape in Orchard Road, the Extreme Skate Park at the East Coast. These are legacies of that exercise. We believe that it is time to conduct a second youth consultation exercise. We will embark on this in the latter part of this year. I look forward to more fresh ideas from young Singaporeans.

1.00 pm

Mdm Cynthia Phua has quite rightly expressed concern about youth at risks

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and the issue of youth crime. Well, first, let us put things in perspective. Our juvenile crime rate is stable and even our recidivism rate if we include all youth offenders who have gone through either our guidance programme or probation or have had a stay in our boys' home or girls' home, in fact, 80% of them do not re-offend within three years. That is not bad.

Good progress has been made over the years to lower the school attrition and to reduce re-offending. But I agree with Members that we can do more to improve co-ordination between the different agencies and Ministries and, in particular, focus upstream, especially on the risk factors. For instance, we know that a significant number of youths, who drop out of school prematurely, will ultimately get into trouble and end up in the criminal justice system, in fact, within five years from leaving school. Once they end up in that system, there is a risk of recidivism. Although I have said our recidivism rates may not be that high but the point is, we can join the dots: school drop out, crime, entering a programme or home and then facing another possibility of re-offence.

And that is why arising from the recommendations of the Committee on the Prevention of Re-offending which was shared by the Minister of State for Education and Home Affairs, Mr Masagos, we decided to establish Central Youth Guidance Office (CYGO).

Although this office sits within MCYS, it actually is an inter-Ministry office which co-ordinates the work of MOE, MHA and MCYS. Focus-upstream, comprehensive integrated intervention and long-term follow-up. I think Members of the House will support this programme. This programme, of course, will complement what is already available – things like the

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Enhanced STEP-UP and the Streetwise programmes.

The Central Youth Guidance Office will be piloting the Youth GO! programme. We will start off first with the North-East CDC. The Mayor just happens to be in my Ministry, pure coincidence. This programme will focus especially on outreach to youths who currently are not involved in any of our programmes. We hope to engage them in meaningful activities and to bring them back into the fold of the community and we have set aside a sum of $1.2 million for this pilot project in the next two years.

We will also develop an inter-agency Youth Information System. That is to implement Members’ suggestion that we need a comprehensive and shared database so that the youths at risk and the factors for youths at risk will be shared between MOE, MHA and MCYS. This will allow us to draw, first, a composite picture of the problem as well as longitudinal data which will help inform future policy formulation.

We will continue to provide a safe and supportive environment for our youths in residential care. I am not sure how many Members of this House have actually visited the Boys’ Home and Girls’ Home. We do want to introduce a wider and more engaging range of academic, vocational and therapeutic programmes in the Boys’ Complex and the Girls’ Home in order to cater to the different needs, risk profile and aspirations of these boys and girls. We want to ensure that they are not there just for punishment but that their time with us will result in them emerging with both vocational and emotional skills so that they can grow up to be contributing, well-functioning, well-balanced adults. We will be working with the MOE, WDA and the Prisons in order to enhance the educational and vocational framework in our homes. We will also introduce a more targeted and standardised assess

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ment in order to better tailor our intervention to the needs of these youths.

In line with these changes, MCYS will spend $60 million to expand the Boys’ Complex not because I am expecting a flood of new entrants but because I want to provide a better environment for them. We will also enhance post-care support that means after discharge to follow up with them up to the age of 21 in order to help guide them and keep them on the straight and narrow path.

Yes, it is true that MCYS, MOE and MHA can do more and that we can work collaboratively, more effectively and more synergistically. I want to emphasise that we need the support of the community and, in fact, not just the VWOs but the employers as well. Today, I want to acknowledge employers and enlightened employers like Alo Car Pro, Secret Recipe, Adrenaline Events and Education and N.K. Hair Works who have helped our youths re-integrate into society and I hope we will have more enlightened employers who will come onboard and join us in this cause.

Mr Chairman, let me now turn to the disability sector. Ms Denise Phua has, as usual, made an impassioned and important speech which I have listened to carefully. Let me just deal with the specific points that Ms Denise Phua raised and then go on to the substantive ones. One of the things which Ms Phua asked for was to extend basic healthcare insurance to those born with congenital diseases. I think she is aware that MOH is reviewing this but we are not in a position to make specific announcements yet. So, watch this space.

The Member suggested that we extend the foreign domestic worker levy concession for children with disabilities who are older than 12. The Member will notice that when she was speaking I was having a side discussion with the Minister

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for Manpower. The negotiations with MOM have begun but, again, I am not in the position to make promises yet.

Sir, the Member also asked MCYS to study the daily challenges faced by major disability groups, especially those who are poor. She gave a very apt example of, for instance, a person who is deaf will depend on sign language interpretation in order to integrate or to access mainstream services and participate in mainstream life. If we think about that on a larger scale, it is what we are also trying to do with the assistive technology to ensure that whenever tools or specific services are needed, we will look at the means-tested way to help those especially who may not be able to afford the extra services or extra technology which they need. So, we will continue to work on that.

The Member has also asked MCYS to review the norm cost of the day activities centres: we will do this. I believe the Member has made some very valid points on sports and disabilities and I will say more about that later as well but, again, I agree with her. So you see, every year, I agree with almost everything that she asks for.

Let us now go on with my substantive points on disability. A few months ago, we made major announcements to ensure that every Singapore Citizen child who needs to attend the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children receives a $300 base subsidy. In addition to that, low-income families will receive an additional means-tested subsidy from the government and that amount can go up to another $600. So, it is $300 plus $600 for low-income families – $900.

In addition to that, we know that those who are most needy will also receive help from VWOs, very often the service providers themselves as well as from the Community Chest. This allows me to say, hand over heart, that for the

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low-income families with disabled children, money is not the limiting factor.

Having said that, we should also recognise that MOE recently announced that we will be extending the financial assistance scheme to special schools. My Ministry and NCSS obviously will have to do some fund-raising to help them but, again, it sends the message: if you are a low-income family, or a lower-middle income family, and you have a disabled child who needs to access education, help is available, money is not the impediment. I believe that this was a point that Mr Laurence Wee wanted reassurance, so I hope I have given Members some cause for reassurance.

Now, if we solve the money side of it, there are still other challenges. We have been pushing to increase the number of EPIC Centres. In 2007, we have 10; today, we have 13. We have increased the number of places from 1,004 to 2,000 but guess what? Once I have provided more subsidies, I increased the number of places, the demand also went up. That means we will have to work harder. Over the next four years, we intend to build another seven EPIC Centres and to further increase the capacity to 2,700 places. I am sure in due time, demand will also increase and we will have to respond accordingly. The point is, we have made a lot of progress just within this term of Parliament alone.

For older children, MOE has raised the age limit for special education to 21 so that students will be able to continue acquiring vocational skills beyond the age of 18. From this year, SPED students will also begin their vocational education from the age of 13. Now, vocational education without jobs is also a dead end. We have also been working with some very enlightened employers who have constituted the Enabling Employers

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Network. This is an alliance of private sector champions who have provided work opportunities, attachments and internships in order to provide our students from SPED schools with some real exposure to real work.

Enabling Employers Network has also launched two centres for training and integration in hospitality and call centres as part of the employment value chain framework. More than 450 disabled persons have benefited from the open-door fund which provides grants to employers for workplace redesign and apprenticeship opportunities for the disabled.

In 2008, we set up the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL), a one-stop information referral centre for persons with disability and it also administers the caregiver training grant. Mr Chiam mentioned the need to support caregivers, so there is help available for caregivers. In fact, this grant has so far benefited more than 2,000 families with disabled members.

CEL of course continues to provide public education and to advocate the inclusion of the disabled in society. We do not have a "disabled month" but we have a "Live Enabled Week" and a campaign. Although we have to make sure that we do not have an excessive proliferation of campaigns in Singapore, the point is there is attention, there is support and there are resources available.

I still remember launching the first of 10 wheelchair-accessible buses. This was in the Pasir Ris Bus Terminal in 2006 and, today, I am glad to see that we are well on our way to making all public bus services wheelchair-accessible by 2020. We will have at least two barrier-free access routes in more than 70% of all our MRT stations by the end of this year. The Town Councils have all been working very hard to upgrade our precincts with barrier-free accessibility. In sports, we have

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made sure that all Singapore Sports Council facilities meet barrier-free access requirements. The Singapore Disabilities Sports Council and our National Sports Association run various outings, activities and programmes as Ms Denise Phua has advocated for. And disabled athletes do win medals and International competitions such as the Paralympics. People like Yip Pin Xiu and Laurentia Tan are heroines and are recognised icons for Singapore. They are not disabled icons, they are national icons and we should recognise them as such.

Ms Denise Phua will also remember that she chaired a parents work group on financial security for the disabled and she echoed very eloquently the concerns that parents have about the long-term security of their children when the parents pass on. Because of Ms Phua's work and the work of her work group, if she looks back on the last few years, we have set up a Special Needs Trust company and we will be amending the CPF Act in order to implement the Special Needs Savings Scheme, and we will continue to provide advice and counselling to parents to enable them to plan for future financial security.

1.15 pm

Ms Denise Phua asked about a central office. We have a standing committee on disability which coordinates across all Ministries. It is chaired by my Permanent Secretary. I agree with Ms Phua that, perhaps, he should have taken a higher profile and communicated more with the public but I want to emphasis that there is no lack of high-level attention to this issue.

Let me now move to what else we are going do. The Enabling Masterplan – the current one – will end soon and let me give the assurance that we will review it and we will have another masterplan from 2012 to 2016. Although we should not

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prejudge the outcome of that review, a couple of aspects I felt we should start focusing our minds on are: one, there is empirical evidence that there is an increasing number of pre-schoolers who are diagnosed with learning difficulties, with speech and language disorders. Our vision is that these children should stay in the mainstream and that they should be assisted by appropriate services in order to keep them in the mainstream. As suggested by Mr Laurence Wee, we will enhance the ability of pre-school teachers – this is in mainstream childcare centres and kindergartens – to diagnose potential disabilities and to either provide or recommend the additional intervention which they need.

The second area of emphasis I was going to recommend to the Committee was to look at adult disability. This is something people like Ms Denise Phua and even my good friend, Dr Lee Wei Ling, have been campaigning for for a very long time. We recognise that with better healthcare and better community support, people with disability will also live longer. Increased life expectancy applies across the board. That also then means that there will be challenges and especially in a future where we envisage smaller family sizes and a rapidly ageing population. Consequently, we will be developing a new day activity centre for person with intellectual disabilities and I will take up Mr Laurence Wee's suggestion that we review norm cost as well. We will also build a new home for the disabled by 2013. We will commission a study to project the future demand for disability homes in the next 15 years. The next two decades are going to be critical because of the extremely fast pace of ageing and we will make sure that that plan does not exclude the disabled.

The $1 billion Community Silver Trust is also another big boost for this sector because it enables us to now work and support VWOs who are planning to

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provide innovative new services for elderly, disabled persons. I expect that we will see new ideas, new models of group homes, new concepts of community-based care facilities as well as the piloting of new technologies which, hopefully, can improve care and also, dare I say, lower costs. It will be a challenge.

The Enabling Masterplan has allowed us to make much progress over the last five years. We are not perfect. I do not think we have arrived 100%. There were 31 recommendations and we have acted on every single one of them. At this point, I really want to thank the advocates. Ms Phua is in this House but there are many advocates outside this House who have passionately, diligently year after year pushed us to do more, given us new ideas, raised and mobilised support from the community. And, therefore, I would also be in a position to inform Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef that we will accede to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and we will do so by next year. While we are doing so not because that is the be-all-and-end-all, but because we actually have done a lot and there has never been so many opportunities for the disabled to participate in the mainstream of our society.

Can I now move to the social services sector? The office of the Commissioner of Charities was set up within my Ministry in 2006 and we established the people sector-led Charity Council the year after. Together, these two institutions have strengthened the standards of governance in our charities through a balanced regulatory framework that facilitates both the good work of the charities as well as given the public the confidence to donate, and knowing that the money will be properly stewarded and properly spent. Hence, in order to help the charities be more effective, the Code of Governance

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was introduced and this Code of Governance has been refined earlier this year. Beyond governance, we also continue to provide training grants for charity board members and key staff so that they can keep updated on proper ways to manage donors, to conduct fund raising and volunteer management.

The next slide* [ indicating a slide shown to hon. Members ] will show what we are spending on social services and the trend over the last three years. A couple of things I want to point out. First, is that, in fact, the total sum is more than half a billion dollars. Second thing is to note that about half of that comes from Government and the other half from the community. This is a reasonable balance when we talk about the many-helping-hands model. In fact, even in the downturn, we noticed that donation amounts, especially from individuals, continued to hold steady. With the Minister for Finance's extension of the 250% tax deduction for another five years and the introduction of the Community Silver Trust of $1 billion, I am confident that Singaporeans would continue to be generous and I think the VWOs should continue to be confident that the next five years, in fact, the next decade, will be a decade of growth for them.

I also want to share a short anecdote because I do not want people to think this is all about money. The Compassion Fund has a programme called "Share a Meal". This basically raises funds for students whose family has suddenly lost a main breadwinner. One day, when the VWO was opening the cans – most of it were coins because you are raising funds by the students – they found two pieces of folded green paper. It was not a $5 note. When they unfolded it, they found out that a seven-year-old boy had actually put in his own meal coupons into the tin. He put in his own meal coupons because he is from a disadvantaged family, he was

*Cols. 4291-4292.

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given the coupons to spend for himself to buy food, he sacrificed his food in order to share with others. Of course, the boy did not know that the coupons are only valid in his own canteen but the point is the motivation, the heart behind that act of giving by this little seven-year-old boy from a disadvantaged family. I think this is a very heartwarming story, a true story, and it is a timely reminder to us that philanthropy is not just about opening wallets but, in the words of the social worker who shared this story with me, it is also about opening hearts. We need to make sure that even as we improve our processes and build infrastructure and provide more money, never, never lose sight of the heart and the need to open hearts.

Dr Maliki and Dr Lily Neo have asked for plans to address the supply, development and retention of social workers. First, the SIM University and Nanyang Polytechnic are now running programmes at both degree and diploma levels in order to enhance the supply of trained social service professionals. We also give subsidies, scholarships and training awards to help in-service personnel attain social work qualifications. In addition, we provide training and upgrading opportunities for social workers through the Professional Leadership Development Scheme.

Second, we enhanced the image and professionalism of social workers because we now have formal accreditation. As of January this year, 835 social workers and practitioners have been accredited. We also have the Outstanding Social Worker Award which is given every year by the President to recognise special social workers who are role models to others.

Third, we have raised the funding norms for social workers regularly and, in the last five years, our funding for VWOs – the employers of this group of professionals – has increased by up to

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27%, including a 14% increase last year. A recent survey by NCSS suggests that almost all the VWOs surveyed have increased their salaries or intend to do so shortly.

Our focus this year is to continue to strengthen the professional and leadership capabilities of social workers. We are also glad to receive the $20 million hongbao from the Minister for Finance and he has told me specifically to use this money to enhance the professionalism of social workers. It is not going to buy equipment or to buy hardware but to work on the software. We will use this to support social workers who want to develop and further their careers either to become specialists or, for the more senior ones, to become supervisors. Ultimately, I hope to see more leaders – leaders not chosen by me but peer-selected leaders – who are role models, who are repositories of wisdom and experience, who can lead the profession. One of the key legacies which I want to leave behind is to put the social work profession on a high and stable pedestal – you are professionals, you are key people who fix hearts and fix relationships and you deserve the remuneration, the resources and the recognition that, perhaps, for a long time we have under-delivered. I hope social workers will agree with me that we have made considerable progress, we will continue to push forward.

Let me now move on to Family Service Centres (FSCs). We are going to build more Family Service Centres and we are going to elevate their standards. I announced last year that we will build five new FSCs by 2013, bringing the total number to 41, and the first three will be at Chai Chee, Telok Blangah and Tampines. The FSC at Chai Chee has already begun operations. The centre at Telok Blangah will be ready by end of the year. For the third new FSC at Tampines, we have invited agencies to submit proposals and I believe there is keen

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interest to run this centre. The two remaining FSCs will be in Admiralty and Punggol, and they should be ready by 2012 and 2013 respectively.

I feel a need to respond to Dr Lily Neo's point. I am not sure whether I misheard her, but I want to give the Member the assurance that FSCs are not like doctors dispensing pills without making a diagnosis. Let us give them the recognition and credit that they are due. They are professional social workers, they are properly trained, as highly motivated as doctors although not as well paid as doctors, doing their best to fix problems. When you are dealing with social work problems, it is not just a person, it is the family. Even when you are dealing with a family, often it is a community. There is a very, very heavy burden on the social workers. I would hesitate to criticise social workers. My response is to provide more resources for more support so that social workers can fulfil the already heavy and onerous tasks which are on their shoulders. I think the Member would agree with me on that point.

In response to Mr Seah Kian Peng's question on welfare homes, my Ministry will build a new welfare home and we should target this to be ready by 2014. Our current welfare homes are not full yet, but I want to ensure that we always have some slack, so that gives the assurance that our social safety net has sufficient flexibility to deal with fluctuations and volatility in economic cycles.

Let me end with some words on problem gambling. I totally agree with the three Members that we must not normalise gambling in Singapore. We must not make it fashionable. We must not make it a badge of honour. We should continue to assign it the vice that it is. It is a human weakness. It is not a

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means of getting a living. It is not a means of getting rich.

Members have raised questions on the adequacy of our social safeguards. We actually do have a comprehensive system which is unmatched anywhere in the world. If I can reiterate: a ban on minors; a casino entry levy; the casino exclusion orders which currently exclude, I think about 33,000 people; disallowing gambling on credit; and, having strict advertising and promotion rules.

The casino operators by now know me well and they know that we are quite prepared to act decisively and abruptly, if need be, in order to stop them from targeting the domestic market, whether it is trying to advertise or to increase accessibility by shuttle bus services or casino promotions during the Seventh Month or publicity of winners on their websites. I have a good functional relationship with the operators so when we speak or discuss things, things usually happen. I do not want to be complacent but I do not want Members to run away with the idea that this thing has gone out of control. We are watching very, very closely and, if need be, we will strengthen measures further.

1.30 pm

Let me just conclude by saying if we look at this term of Parliament, we have invested considerably in the social services sector. We have brought together resources. We have professionalised people. We have uplifted standards of governance in organisations in order to address the diverse needs in our society. But our journey does not stop here. We have committed to building an inclusive society in Singapore – one that is cohesive, actively engaged and takes responsibility for looking after our weakest and our most vulnerable.

At the same time, we must not lose our core values – self-reliance, family responsibility, hard work, community support. These are key foundations of our

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society. These values have propelled us from third world to first. An article that was published in The Australian last week, and I believe it has been carried in today's Straits Times , "Proof of welfare's multiple failings" written by an aboriginal Australian, I believe, social worker. He reminded Australia, "Don't look at the US or look at UK, within this region, look to Singapore as an example". Let me just quote from his article, he says, "The sacrifices, the thrift, the hard work, the determination were all part of a national undertaking." I believe and I am sure Members of this House will agree so long as we stay true to these values, the collective will of our people gives us strength, gives us the competitive edge to deal with the challenges ahead, to succeed and to succeed gloriously and, at the same time, to be inclusive and to uplift the weakest and the most vulnerable members of our society.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon): ( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] I would like to thank my parliamentary colleagues for their recognition of our work at MCYS in the past five years. The aim of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports is to develop Singapore as the best home for starting families and nurturing children. I would like to thank Mr Seah Kian Peng for giving me the opportunity to do some publicity for the Social Development Network (SDN). We had announced this last year that their website is www.lovebyte.org.sg. Mr Seah is correct to say that the main reason for Singapore’s falling birth rate is that people are not getting married. To identify the problem is not difficult. However, how can we influence the personal decision of Singaporeans? SDN has four main strategies.

According to a survey conducted in 2009, around 80% of young Singaporeans still want to get married, so we

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have hope. First, we will start from young singles. SDN will target young Singaporeans by organising talks and courses in universities, polytechnics, junior colleges and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to improve the relationship skills of students and impart family values to them. Such talks and courses are already available in 83% of institutes of higher education.

Secondly, SDN will collaborate with more partners, for example, Singapore Sports Council, Sentosa Development Corporation, SAFRA and others. According to feedback from Members of Parliament and officers from our Ministry, we should also strengthen collaboration with employers. We hope employers from private organisations and companies, public sector organisations and quasi-Government organisations will help our workers by taking on the role of "matchmakers", and encouraging singles to socialise.

SDN’s third strategy is to develop the private dating sector, through the Partner Connection Fund and the SDNTrust accreditation scheme, so that our dating services industry will become more professional. As of last month, there are 10 dating agencies and 15 practitioners accredited under the scheme.

Finally, SDN has also launched various public education initiatives and publicity campaigns, through platforms such as radio talk shows, the SDN publication "Duet" and SDN website in order to create more public awareness about singles’ issues.

Last year, SDN and partnering organisations organised around 1,000 activities for over 31,000 single individuals. Since 2008, we have provided an additional $4 million every year for five years to fund SDN activities and

*Cols. 4295-4306.

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operations. I believe our colleague, Mr Seah, is also very pro-family. I hope his NTUC FairPrice will also collaborate with us more.

However, the root cause of the decreasing marriage rate is that social norms and individual preferences have changed. According to a survey that we did last year, young Singaporeans cite a few reasons for delaying marriage. Firstly, they want to work hard to achieve financial stability. Secondly, they want to have a successful career. In addition, they said that they have no time and cannot find a suitable partner. Hence, the work of helping singles cannot be done by a few institutions alone. More importantly, we should work on addressing individuals’ perspectives. In the past, we believed that we must start a family and establish a career, that among the most unfilial behaviour, not bearing any offspring is the worst. Nowadays, the younger generation may not accept this way of thinking. Hence, through individuals, families, schools, public opinion, public awareness and mass media, we should show more concern towards our young people. In the past, if you did not get married, it was a concern for the entire family and community. They would help introduce potential partners. Today, we assume that young people have their own way of handling these things. But I think we should not give up this responsibility.

Let me also take this opportunity to show Members the new Registry of Marriages. The newly-upgraded Registry of Marriages is quite nicely done up. Our budget was $7 million, but we only used $4 million. Now, we also want to partner with the private sector to explore the possibility of allowing solemnisations in the evenings. This will allow couples to register their marriages after getting off from work, so that they can get married in a more romantic ambience.

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The Government’s policy is to encourage family formation. We believe that the family is the best environment for children to grow up in. Therefore, we encourage Singaporeans to have children within the context of marriage, by giving the Baby Bonus and other incentives. Nevertheless, I would like to assure Mr Chiam See Tong, Dr Lam Pin Min and Ms Indranee Rajah that besides these incentive schemes, children born to unwed parents also enjoy various subsidies just like other children, such as childcare, medical and education subsidies.

Let me elaborate on the resources we have invested in the development of young children. Just a while ago, our Minister mentioned three strategies in early childhood development, the first being to establish more childcare centres. As of January this year, we have established 171 new childcare centres since 2008. Currently, we have a total of 888 childcare centres, providing 79,000 places. Compared to 2008, this is an increase of 26%.

We will implement more measures to improve the standard of childcare services, especially the standards of teachers. In the past three years, we have trained an additional 1,700 childcare teachers, so that they have at least a professional diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education. In addition, the turnover rate of childcare teachers has also dropped from 23% to 15%. As more and more new childcare centres start operations, our Ministry will also invest $15 million in the next three years to attract more good quality teachers to join the childcare industry. To attract talent, we will provide 840 scholarships and awards for Early Childhood Education courses in the next three years.

To recognise the contributions of childcare teachers and to retain them, we will work with industry players to put in

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place good employment practices, to recognise employers who have outstanding human resources and employee management practices, and to facilitate them to share their experiences with the industry.

More importantly, we need professional development in the childcare sector. In order to promote the professional development of teachers, we will be launching a Continuing Professional Development Framework for childcare teachers. To promote this Framework, we will subsidise approved courses, conduct consultations with industry players and provide related support.

Mdm Halimah was concerned about whether parents can afford the preschool fees for their children. I believe Mdm Halimah will be happy to see that while she suggested that we raise the salary ceiling for subsidy from $1,800 to $2,500, the Government and Finance Minister have been very generous, they have raised the salary ceiling to $3,500. As quality improves, childcare fees are also on the uptrend. Just a while ago, the Minister mentioned that we must find an equilibrium, and encourage NTUC and PCF childcare centres to play a more important role. Nevertheless, no child will be deprived of the opportunity of having a preschool education because of financial difficulties. These are issues that Dr Lily Neo and Mdm Cynthia Phua are concerned about.

Currently, regardless of their family background, we provide each child with a monthly childcare subsidy of $300. For CFAC, the maximum amount of subsidy is $340. In other words, the total amount of subsidy given by the Government to low-income families is up to $640 a month. Hence, based on childcare fees of $700, parents need only pay $60.

For kindergartens, we have similarly raised the income eligibility ceiling for

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KiFAS from $1,800 a month to $3,500 a month. From 1st April 2011, families with household income of less than $1,500 can receive KiFAS subsidy of up to $108. Let us look at this chart*. [ Slide shown to hon. Members ]. For childcare centres charging $700, low-income families pay $60. For kindergartens charging $110, they pay $2.

1.45 pm

Looking back, we have done quite a good job, and this is because of the encouragement from Members. Families of the lowest income bracket of $1,500 only pay $2 for kindergarten. Hence, children from needy families should not be unable to enrol in childcare centres and kindergartens because they cannot afford the fees. More importantly, parents should take the responsibility to enquire from community centres, or during the Meet-the-People sessions, or call ComCare Call at 1800-222-0000 to enquire about details of the various ComCare schemes. Let us not have a situation where our children are unable to go to pre-school, just because as parents we are unaware of this information.

Mdm Halimah also voiced concerns that besides childcare fees, low-income families could not afford registration fees, school bags, textbooks, etc. In actual fact, for needy families on CFAC, we provide a one-off start-up grant of up to $1,000. Under KiFAS, needy families can also get a similar one-off start-up grant of up to $200. They can use the money to buy textbooks, uniforms and pay the registration fees.

These new measures will benefit 24,000 children, that is twice the current number of 12,280 beneficiaries. We will cover up to almost the 40th percentile of households. This additional investment will cost $10.3 million a year, and increase Government’s annual spending

*Cols. 4293-4294.

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on fee assistance for preschool education to $35.6 million.

Besides children, I would like to talk about assistance for the genuinely needy families. Our Ministry takes a holistic approach in our assistance schemes. Firstly, ComCare addresses the immediate and urgent needs of families, such as problems with housing and physical illness, by providing immediate and timely assistance through the CCC ComCare Fund. Funding is adequate in this area. Secondly, as Dr Lily Neo mentioned, ComCare should provide more comprehensive assistance. We do this through a family-based intervention approach to address the social barriers that families face in getting employment. For example, families unable to work for the time being due to illness can receive assistance from the ComCare Transitions Scheme. Thirdly, for those people suffering from long-term illnesses, and where their children have limited income, we provide assistance through the Public Assistance Scheme. In recent years, we have made several changes after taking in feedback from Mayors and Members of Parliament. In the past, only the elderly without family support could qualify for the Public Assistance (PA) Scheme. Now, we have made changes: If their children’s income is less than $1,000, we will also provide assistance. Following feedback from the Mayors, we have also allowed those who are receiving CPF payouts of less than the PA amount and who meet other criteria for PA, to receive a cash grant on top of their CPF payouts.

In the past five years, we have implemented many policies and schemes for needy families and also enhanced existing programmes. Dr Teo Ho Pin and Mr Hawazi Daipi also talked about how we can improve the ComCare Local Network (CLN). We hope that CLN will continue to expand and deepen its reach.

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In terms of expansion, we have established links with many organisations. I am glad to report that there are now about 1,100 such agencies working together, which represents a significant increase of 500 from a year ago. These include Family Service Centres, social service organisations, schools and town councils, etc.

In terms of deepening our reach, besides expanding the network, we can also provide more in-depth assistance. Some of the Mayors and CDCs have already taken the CLN to another level. For example, North-East Community Development Council has gone down to establish links at the constituency level between CDC officers and other help agencies and community partners through its "Proactive Ground Engagement Programme." Our approach is flexible. Currently, we provide $800,000 to CDCs for manpower resource support to drive the CLNs. In the past few years, ComCare has disbursed over $200 million to help low-income families, 160,000 individuals and families have benefited. I hope families with difficulties will not hesitate to call the ComCare Call for assistance. Just a while ago, the Minister also mentioned that many countries, including the United Kingdom and USA, are cutting their budgets. In Singapore, we are very fortunate not to have reduced but to have increased the budget. Initially, the Prime Minister had announced that the target amount in ComCare Fund was $1 billion. However, we have now raised the target to $1.5 billion. The current amount will also be increased from $800 million to $1.3 billion – a total increase of $500 million. However, having more resources does not equate to careless spending. The fundamental objective of this Budget, as all Members are aware, is to promote inclusive growth. To achieve this goal, boosting incomes through employment and increasing productivity are the long-term solutions. According to newspaper reports, we see that there are other

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countries which hail Singapore as an example, and they are seeking to study our system. However, there will be some families that cannot keep pace – those with physical and psychological problems – and we will help them, especially children and old folks with disability. In the past, 2,929 families received help under the Public Assistance Scheme, and an additional 2,400 families also received help under the ComCare Transition Scheme. In total, 5,329 families have benefited.

From 1st April this year, the amount of Public Assistance for singles will be increased to $400. For those with children, we will provide additional assistance of up to $150 per child, which is $20 more than the current amount of $130.

Let me illustrate. From April this year, a single person will receive $565 in direct benefits, and may receive an additional estimated $880 in housing subsidies and free medical treatment from the Government. With other forms of assistance received from the community, such as hongbaos , he can receive up to a total of $1,700 in direct and indirect assistance.

Lastly, in conclusion, I would like to mention something that my colleague, Mr Teo Ser Luck, had shared with me. He said, "My family was poor, but we didn’t know it since no one told us and we never felt it." Recently, when I visited some old folks, an old lady told me that she just lost her job and her daughter was jobless as well. When I offered her financial assistance, she immediately replied, "No, no, what I want is some help in finding a job, I still have a bit of savings." From this example, we can see that Singaporeans have the self-reliant spirit, determination and aspirations to carve a better life for themselves. However, for those who are really in need and who cannot find jobs, we will help them. Ultimately, our

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ComCare Fund must adopt a more balanced approach to make Singapore a home that is filled with warmth and kindness, vibrant and productive.

Sports facilities master plan

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, promoting sports for all is important for the Government as a healthy nation means a leaner health budget and sports is a great way to bond people. I would like to first ask what are the Ministry's plans to promote a sporting culture in Singapore.

Availability and access to sports facilities can be improved – it will allow more residents to be more active on the sporting front. Some years ago, I brought my children and nephews to play football in a nearby stadium on Sunday mornings. All went well for a couple of weeks. After that, the supervisor of the stadium came to tell me we cannot play on the pitch. So I said, "Okay. We will play by the side, off the pitch." That was also not allowed. He told me we could play, but I had to book the entire pitch to do so. It did not make any sense since there were no other competing users on the pitch at the time. In addition, we did not need the whole pitch. There were only seven of us!

Sir, today, the sports activities and programmes organised by the Community Sports Clubs (CSCs) are often held at the CCs, common spaces and facilities in the neighbourhoods, tapping on the community infrastructures, to make sporting opportunities available closer to home. However, the free sports facilities in the community for organising large-scale community sports events and ongoing programmes are limited. Logically, we should tap on the schools and Sports Council facilities for organising such events but there are rental charges which many sports clubs cannot afford to pay.

To expand outreach through community sports, availability of free sports facilities

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would enable and encourage the CSCs to organise more such sports activities to engage the residents. It would be helpful for SSC and MOE to review their charges for rental of schools fields and sports facilities by the CSCs and GROs under the SSC-MOE Dual Scheme and SSC sports facilities.

Finally, I would also like to ask the Minister to give an update on the facilities master plan under this year's Budget.

The Chairman: Mr Wee Siew Kim is not here. Er Lee Bee Wah.

Improve National Service

Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Chairman, Sir, in recent years, our national athletes have done us proud in various arenas, both on an international and regional scale. This is an encouraging sign that the various projects designed to promote sporting excellence has slowly but surely paid off. If we continue to take an active stand on nurturing our athletes, a gold medal in the Olympics will not be a mere hope.

2.00 pm

Recently, I have been studying statistics on the performances of our athletes in the last three Asian and Commonwealth Games. Out of a total of 74 gold medals won from 2002 to 2010, our men won 34 while our women athletes won 40 gold medals. Our male athletes are certainly not inferior to their female counterparts in Singapore or, for that matter, their male counterparts in other countries. Many of them have proven themselves to be excellent sportsmen from a young age, representing their schools on the national level and the nation on the international level in competitive sports, from secondary school right up to junior college. So what is the

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reason why they are not able to carry out such performance at senior level? Parents of male athletes have very often told me that National Service is a severe disruption to their progress. I do not know if any studies have been done in this respect. If this notion about National Service is true, then we should re-examine our policy.

In competitive sports, for athletes to retain their fitness level and dexterity requires constant rigorous training, almost on a daily basis. When the athletes go for National Service, their training regime is interrupted. While National Service training is no doubt rigorous and helps in maintaining fitness levels, it is a different type of training regime that does not promote further progress in their respective sports. Two years without training or interrupted training can lead to a significant dip in fitness and skills. By the time the athlete is ready to resume his sporting career, much more effort is required. He has to get into shape and to re-adjust to a new training regime. His competitors would have established new records and applied new techniques. Thus, our athletes would have to work doubly hard. I guess, by then, a lot of them would have lost interest as well. As such, if we want to be a sporting nation, we would need to look at our current policy and see how to help sportsmen pursue sporting excellence. I propose that MCYS work with MINDEF to provide flexibility to national athletes in serving National Service.

National athletes should be allowed to defer their National Service to a later age, let us say, 30 years old, if they choose to pursue sporting excellence. To give further encouragement, if they achieved a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games, or any medal in the Olympics, they be exempted from National Service. Athletes can thus make a choice to do National Service as usual or defer their National Service and pursue

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sporting excellence. If they are indeed passionate about sports, and I believe many of our athletes are, they would want to give their all to get that gold medal. Competing for the nation's honour requires plenty of sacrifices on the athlete's part. They have to undergo daily rigorous training, lead a stringent lifestyle and spend weeks away from their family and loved ones for competition seasons. All these sacrifices are already akin to serving National Service for our country.

From 2002 to 2010, only 15 male gold medallists were below 30 years old – that is, less than two per year. The number is very small and I think it is worth exploring and implementing.

Foreign sports talent

Mr Calvin Cheng (Nominated Member): The foreign talent sports scheme has borne results in the last few years, especially in swimming and table tennis. The question is whether this scheme has achieved its aim. If the aim is to win medals for Singapore, then, without a doubt, this scheme has been successful. However, this cannot be the ultimate aim of sports. Sports is not like GDP growth, where a rational objective benchmark can be used to gauge success; sports is about tribalism, it is about fostering national pride, patriotism and a sense of national unity. This should thus be the ultimate benchmark by which success should be measured, and not merely the medal tally. Glory is not a number on a table, but a feeling of passion that burns in the heart.

Sir, it is true that our foreign-born athletes are citizens. It is true that they have a strong desire to win and they have given up their homelands to come here. These are all perfectly good reasons why when they win medals Singaporeans should be proud. However, one cannot reason people into a feeling of pride. This is not the same as the rational justifications for having foreign talent

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contribute to our economy. If one does not feel the sense of burning patriotism, even if we win multiple gold medals, then our sporting achievement would have failed regardless.

Sir, allow me to play the devil's advocate. If our foreign sports talents fail to ignite the flames of national sporting pride regardless of the number of medals that they have won, should we re-examine the raison d'etre of the scheme itself? If our sporting officials, our MPs, even our Prime Minister, have to keep telling people why they should rally behind our foreign-born sports talents and be proud when they win medals, has the point not already been lost?

Regardless, we already have foreign-born sports people here. Reasoning to the people by pointing out our dearth of local sporting talent may not convince. Even the very act of winning a medal itself may not work. Rather, let us appeal to the feelings and emotions of citizens by telling the stories of our foreign-born sports people. Show the people how they are very much Singaporean like us, eating at kopitiams and hawker centres, speaking the occasional "lah" and "lor", living as our neighbours in our communities. After all, sports is about tribalism, and if we never accept them into our tribe, we will never feel that their victories are also ours.

Sporting pride and national pride in the end are not rational. Sometimes, it may be better to be a proud loser, rather than a glory-seeking winner that spends his way to victory. As a long-suffering Liverpool fan, I should know.

The Chairman: Ms Josceline Yeo, you have two cuts, take both of them, please.

Ms Joscelin Yeo (Nominated Member): Sir, when a friend of mine joined the national team, many on the team were foreign sports talents (FSTs) who had

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been given Singapore citizenship to allow them to compete for this country. My friend, excited about the opportunity for her to up her game by having better sparring partners and people she could learn and glean from, was instead greeted with hostility and unkind words. She was ostracised by her teammates and was often told to pick up after them. Comments such as, "You think you're so good, you're never going to make it" were an everyday affair. Her desire to go for training began to dwindle, simply because she wanted to avoid the constant verbal abuse and the hostile environment. She began to doubt her abilities and often thought of quitting. She is still growing and needs someone to provide guidance and to simply encourage her on.

I have been there before and I understand what she is facing. In sport, you will face many types of challenges that cause you to become more resilient and to grow. This is a journey that she cannot avoid if she wants to succeed. However, what disturbed me was how she was treated by the FSTs and the unpleasant environment that they created for her. I began to question the objective of having FSTs in Singapore.

In their efforts to develop young local talent, some NSAs have put in criteria such as those who are selected for the youth team or development teams must be a Singapore citizen. Yet, there is not much translation of these young local talents into the national team. Are we dedicating enough resources to helping them develop?

On 22nd February this year, the Singapore Sports Council announced that they were going to increase funding to youth development programmes and teams. But money is only one factor. What about resources such as high-level coaches, entry into international

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competitions and full sports science and medicine support?

Sir, I would like to highlight a sport that committed to raising local talent as a long-term solution. The Singapore Sailing Federation believed that to produce champions and win medals was not about having a large population but, rather, a large critical mass of participants in the sport. They began to build a structure to systematically garner critical mass, and train and track the progress of sailors at every level. They were transparent about their selection criteria and invested in sending their sailors to competitions to expose and develop them to their fullest potential. They were patient, knowing that this system was not a quick fix to winning medals for Singapore, but that it was going to take about 10 years for them to get there. They brought in foreign talent into their coaching and adminstration staff with the priority of building and developing local talent into medal-winning champions. Slowly but surely, they have been successful in their plan.

Sir, I am not against foreign sporting talents. However, I do not believe that we should be relying solely on them for immediate results. I believe that we can have a foreign talent pool but that we need to work even harder and dedicate more time, effort and resources to nurture local talent. I would like to ask the Minister:

(1) What is the objective of bringing in Foreign Sporting Talents?

(2) Of the resources that are allocated to grooming the elite level athletes in each sport, how much of those resources are going towards developing and supporting the FSTs and how much are going towards developing local talent?

(3) In each sport that brings in FSTs, can the Minister inform us on what is the

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ratio of FSTs to local talents on their national teams and if the Minister will consider putting a cap on the ratio of FSTs to local talents on each national team to force NSAs to be more active in raising local talents?

(4) In each sport that brings in FSTs, how many local talents have progressed to the national team in the last five years and 10 years?

(5) And, lastly, is there a difference between the amount of money a FST and a local national athlete receives? If so, what is the difference?

Sports administration

Sir, my next cut is on sports administration.

Recently, there was a report of 10 national team members who were told to either drop to second tier and become sparring partners or to leave the sport at the national level. There was seemingly no consideration for the lives of the persons involved. Only just one or two years ago, they were invited to give up school and go full time in the sport with an allowance and full support. Now, with just one week’s notice, they were given the option to become a sparring partner or to leave. Why put them up on a pedestal and offer them financial support if only to suddenly drop them down to tier two later and without much warning? What led to this decision? Was money the issue? Were they given fair and ample opportunities to prove and improve themselves?

Sports administrators have always complained about how hard it is to get local athletes to consider becoming full-time athletes. Yet, this national sport association (NSA) dropped 10 dedicated youth. With such behaviour, how does one expect parents to want to allow their children to take sports further than just at

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CCA level when there is such uncertainty of their future path in sports?

Sir, to bring up the level of sports in Singapore requires the effort of many: administrators, coaches, and, of course, the athletes themselves. Athletes must be dedicated, committed and show progress. Coaches have to have the adequate abilities and skills to bring their charges up to the next level of excellence. Administrators, even though are the least seen, play one of the biggest roles. Their role is a visionary one, which entails putting in the progressive structures and systems from the developmental stage to the national level, setting and casting the vision for the NSA and facilitating all details involved. Apart from setting the stage, they also need to ensure that coaches and athletes alike are doing their part to make the other pieces of the puzzle gel. They make decisions on the development of the athlete, the amount of exposure the athlete has to high-level competition and the amount of financial support the athlete is to receive. These are key areas that affect how far an athlete can go apart from their own potential.

Given that sports administrators play such a huge role in the progress of Singapore sports and its athletes, I would like to ask the Minister what recourse action is there when we see NSAs making decisions that do not sync with the commitment to develop and nurture sporting talent. Secondly, will his Ministry get involved in the decision-making process when a NSA plans to drop national athletes? And, thirdly, will the Ministry help athletes mediate with their NSA should they feel that they have not been treated fairly or that the NSA has not kept up their end of the commitment?

Singapore soccer

Ms Sylvia Lim (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, Singapore's shock exit in

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the group stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup in Hanoi in December led to much public outcry about what was ailing Singapore soccer. One sign that Singapore soccer is ailing is how we have plummeted in the FIFA world rankings over the years. From a 75th position in 1993, our national soccer team dropped to 101 in the year 2000 and now we are ranked 142nd. That is a drop of 67 places since 1993.

While the Lions did not perform up to expectations in Hanoi, the focus quickly turned on the local S-League and dwindling interest from sponsors and Singaporeans. We all know that the health of the local league has a direct impact on the standard of the national team as the local league should uncover talents to feed into the national team. After more than 10 years of relative mediocrity in the S-League, some of our brightest national players have left to join the Indonesian soccer leagues on much better terms. Should the exodus continue, it will become more challenging to cobble together a national team of our best players to represent Singapore.

Recent decision such as the sacking of the entire national team and overhauling the S-League suggests some management issues. What led to such a crisis point? Is the Government satisfied that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) had managed the team and the League competently?

Singaporeans want local soccer to succeed. The recent announcement by the Singapore Sports Council to increase funding to the FAS for its Talent Development Programme by 50% offers hope for the future. In the meantime, the FAS has announced a strategic plan for 2010-2015, aimed at taking Singapore football "to the next level". As 2010 was not a good year, it would be important to

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get clarification on what the next level really means.

2.15 pm

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mr Teo Ser Luck): Sir, sports is a unifying force. It builds strong social capital. It strengthens our sense of national pride. We have seen how all Singaporeans came together to cheer for our athletes in the Youth Olympic Games. So, I agree with the Member, Mr Calvin Cheng, that sports is tribalism at work. It can and should bring the national tribe together. We are what we are today, even in the area of sports, because we were open to talent and gave fair opportunities based on the principle of meritocracy.

Ms Joscelin Yeo and Mr Calvin Cheng believe that foreign sports talents are given additional support at the expense of local-born athletes. But being a national athlete, Ms Joscelin Yeo should know that all talented and committed national athletes are given strong support to help them attain their full potential, whether they are local or foreign-born. An athlete's original place of birth has no bearing on the level of support he or she receives. In fact, there are only 33 foreign-born athletes out of the 994 athletes in the national squads. They are small in number, but these foreign-born athletes have helped to raise standards by providing valuable training, sparring and competition opportunities for our local-born talents.

That said, my Ministry places considerable emphasis on grooming local talent through our youth sports development programme. A testament to this is the Singapore Sports School and its students such as Daren Choy who won us a gold medal in sailing at the Asian Youth Games 2009 and Isabelle Li who won us a silver medal in table tennis at the

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Singapore Youth Olympic Games. More recently, Isabelle's seventh career singles title at the Italian Junior and Cadet Open under-18 girls' final proves that we do have local young talent. We have invested almost $80 million over the last five years in the Sports School and will invest a further $20 million for financial year 2011. We place great emphasis on youth development in our annual funding support to National Sports Associations (NSAs) as well as many of the other additional funding that we give to the NSAs.

Recently, Pele – probably everybody would know him, he is a soccer legend, one of the best soccer players in the world – came to Singapore and made a speech. There was a quote that I thought was memorable. He said, "It's up to the athletes themselves." He could become the best because he went into any soccer field feeling that he was not the best, and he always had to prove himself – every single time, every single game. I think that is the attitude that we need from our athletes – to go into the pitch, into the field, into playing the game, knowing that they are not best and they have to continue to work hard. The foreign-born athletes come here as sparring partners and they are here to raise standards and help them to improve.

We continue to place emphasis on our own local-born athletes because they bear the hopes of our nation when they don our colours and represent us and we should identify and support them, share their wins and losses. It is not about winning medals, it is about uniting to root for Team Singapore. I am glad that both Mr Calvin Cheng and Ms Joscelin Yeo share with me that passion is what it takes in sports. And I share the joy of Mr Calvin Cheng as a Liverpool fan over their 3-1 victory over Manchester United.

Besides sporting excellence, we also recognise the social capital and nation building value of sports. To this end, we

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will continue to build a strong sporting culture amongst our people. As part of this environment, we provide affordable and accessible facilities to cater to different sporting lifestyles and aspirations, so that all Singaporeans can participate.

Mr Seah Kian Peng had asked about sports facilities to promote a sporting culture and wellness. I am pleased to inform the House that MCYS and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) are working on the Sports Facilities Master Plan to optimise the landscape of sports and recreation facilities for the next 20 years. This aim is to support Singapore's sporting objectives of sports excellence, high participation and a vibrant sports industry. Mr Seah should continue to play by the side of the field, which I do as well and bringing the kids together, please continue to do that. I am not sure why someone stopped him. I would have done the same because I have been doing it every week. So, we encourage more of such sporting activities, even along the side.

There will be three tiers of sports facilities to meet various needs. At Tier 1, we need to create an ecosystem at the Kallang Sports City around major events, sports industry, elite athletes and community participation. There will be world-class facilities capable of hosting major and international events, with the Singapore Sports Hub as a premier venue for sports and lifestyle events. There will also be a vibrant sports business community with sports lifestyle and entertainment zones, flagship and concept stores, and research and development centres. Upcoming facilities will also include a tennis academy and a centre court that can host top-tier international professional tennis tour events.

The second tier (Tier 2) consists of regional integrated town hubs that are one-stop sports and lifestyle destinations offering a spectrum of activities and

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services for the convenience of the community. By 2015, the first regional town hub will be ready in Tampines. Spearheaded by the People's Association, the Tampines Town Hub will include a performing arts theatre, a Community Club, a library, food and beverage outlets and a variety of recreational facilities, such as astro-turf football pitches, badminton and tennis courts, gymnasium and dance hall. More of such hubs are expected to be located island-wide to reach out to a larger community.

At Tier 3, there will be an integrated and comprehensive network of community and lifestyle sports facilities distributed across Singapore to bring sports and wellness to the doorsteps of Singaporeans. The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the People's Association (PA) continue to work to provide relevant and upgraded facilities within each neighbourhood. These sports facilities, especially those that are more than 20 years old, will be rejuvenated, upgraded and redeveloped to keep them relevant, safe and to meet the changing needs of the community. Where possible, sports and community facilities are co-located or integrated with food and beverage (F&B) outlets and other facilities to provide more choices and convenience for residents. Some examples of Tier 3 facilities include Senja-Cashew Community Club and Sports and Recreation Complex (SRC) in Bukit Panjang, Anchorvale CC and SRC in Sengkang and the upcoming Kampong Chai Chee CC and SRC in Bedok.

In partnership with the Ministry of Education, SSC will expand the dual-use scheme to open more school fields and indoor sports halls for public use outside school hours. Currently, there are 135 school fields and 45 indoor sports halls available for public use on weekends. Moving forward, an additional 30 to 50 school sports facilities will be opened in

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the next two to three years to cater to the sporting and recreational needs of residents. I hear the Member's view that the rates may have to be reviewed. We will continue to monitor and look at the rates to see whether they are affordable. We want to make sure that sports facilities continue to be accessible to the residents.

Apart from these sports facilities, other spaces such as parks, fitness centres, basketball and futsal courts are available. Over the years, PA has also been actively promoting healthy lifestyle and community bonding through their activities.

There are also several new efforts to grow our sporting culture, which can be traced back to the recommendations of the Sporting Culture Committee which I chaired in 2007. The Singapore National Games is one initiative that will be coming up soon. It will be held once in every two years and will be opened to Singaporeans representing their community and informal clubs. Members of Parliament can form their own clubs and we can all join the Singapore National Games as well. The first games will be held in 2012, with 10 sports to be played. We estimate 6,000 participants at the inaugural games. The People's Association recently revamped its Inter-Constituency Games and renamed it as Community Games to make it more community-centric. These community games will serve as the pre-qualifier to the Singapore National Games. So start training and start getting ready for Community Games to qualify for the Singapore National Games. Through the Community Games and the Singapore National Games, we hope to catalyse the formation of more sports interest groups in the community, help residents to build friendships and bond.

Another idea from the Sporting Culture Committee was the Satellite Centres for Sports Development. MCYS, SSC, MOE,

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the NSAs and all private organisations are collaborating to set up these centres to promote the growth of community sports and sports club. Young people, who want to learn about certain sports that the schools do not offer, can go to these centres to learn and continue to be trained in these sports. There will be seven centres for basketball, badminton, sailing, wrestling, archery, hockey and equestrian which have all been in operation since July/August 2010. Another 11 will be rolled out in Financial Year 2011.

There are many stakeholders from the public, private and people sector involved in the development of sports. I share the Member, Ms Joscelin Yeo's desire for Singapore to become a more sporting nation. The NSAs are the governing bodies of the respective sports. Their leadership are elected into office. This ground-up process is an important feature of the sporting landscape where dedicated volunteers chart the direction of and contribute to the development of their chosen sports. The Government funds the NSAs through an annual grant, called the Annual NSA Grant Exercise (ANGE). Through ANGE, the Government's policy and priorities in sports are communicated through and achieved through the NSA programmes. The ANGE funding is targeted at nurturing sports development and sporting talents by supporting the NSAs in their programmes to assist their athletes to attain sporting success and to promote their sports.

In recent years, MCYS has been increasing the emphasis on youth development to nurture our young sporting talents. I share the view that the Singapore Sailing Federation has done a great job. They have a system in the schools and within their NSA to build the pipeline up for young talents to be groomed and to inject young blood into the national team.

Sir, we have also increased our funding for youth development in team sports

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because we believe team sports can bond the nation, build team spirit and ensure people-to-people interaction and character development. Team sports, such as football and water polo, also get an in increase in funding because these sports resonates strongly with and help bond the community.

The Government does not interfere with the governance of the sports. We leave it to the fraternity to elect their own office bearers to govern. But we do take a careful view of what the association does because it will affect the annual funding. If the fraternity has cause for concern and mediation is needed, there is always the alternate dispute resolution for sports that is available to handle such cases. Mediation can be done through SSC under the department called Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for Sports. They can approach ADR officers to help them. Several cases have been resolved through that channel.

In 2010, we introduced multi-year planning and funding model to provide NSAs with greater stability and continuity in core aspects of sports development. We did this because we were trying to encourage the NSAs to have a long-term view to training and developing sporting talents. It is to develop the system, not just to import talents, so that no matter where the talents come from, they have a chance for success. And this platform is built and it must be long term. As Ms Joscelin Yeo would know, to be a champion athlete, it takes years of development. Even if you have talent, you have to work hard. There must be a process and an environment to groom the talent to become champions. I am happy to note that this year, the multi-year planning has been adopted by most of the NSAs that recevied our funding, and most of them did a three-year planning. We are quite happy to fund them over the three years, like football, over five years.

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Sir, increasingly, NSAs will be funded according to Olympic cycle, over four years instead of the current yearly funding. We are not going into yearly funding anymore. We encourage them to obtain charities status to qualify for charity funding and tax exemption. Also, it strengthens the governance system.

Finally, NSAs can also tap on shared services provided by SSC to relieve themselves for generic administrative services so that they can focus more on sports development.

2.30 pm

Next, let me address Er Lee Bee Wah's question on how National Service can be improved to accommodate male athletes. National Service is an universal obligation for all Singaporean males to ensure Singapore's national security. Having said that, MCYS and MINDEF have consolidated efforts to minimise the impact of NS on the sporting development of our top male athletes and their preparation for major competitions. Members know that there is a SAF sportsman scheme that allows athletes with medal potential time off and full-pay unrecorded leave during their full-time NS to train and participate in major competitions.

One of my good friends is Andrew Phua, a rugby player in his youth. He was also in the national team. He told me that he played his best rugby in his life during his NS time because he was exempted and was allowed to train. He would come back for duties but was still allowed to train and he played his best rugby then. There are many other examples like Justin Yew, the national sailor, who was originally scheduled for enlistment in April 2010. He was granted deferment by MINDEF until December 2010 to train full-time for and compete in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. He had already proven

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himself to be an exceptional sailor, by winning gold medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games and 2007 SEA Games. He again did Singapore proud at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games because he won a gold medal in the men's double-handed dinghy 420 sailing event. He has since enlisted in February 2011 and will no doubt continue to enjoy the support afforded by the scheme to do Singapore proud. MINDEF also considers on a case-by-case basis where athletes may delay enlistment or for deferment to prepare. I cannot speak for MINDEF on exemptions. The Member may want to raise it with MINDEF for them to consider.

Let me go to football. Soccer holds a special place in the hearts of many Singaporeans. I have been invovled in soccer in school and social level as well. I know that it resonates with many MPs as we have an MP football team ready to play charity matches. Hence, I share Ms Sylvia Lim's interest and concern for Singapore's soccer. I share her worry and concern when she saw that our team exited from the AFF Suzuki Cup. But, let us do not forget that we have also advanced to a stage where we have never advanced into the World Cup qualifying match before. I agree that the national team may not have done as well as Members like them to in 2010. The Football Association is working on a strategic plan to develop the sport. Members know the central to the plan was to develop the youths over five years, provide more opportunities for the young and talented players. The national team is going to be rebuilt.

Our youth team has the potential. Most Members probably know that the Youth Olympic football squad won a bronze medal. They beat some of the top youth teams which came from Europe. Our under-15 team won the Hong Kong Football Association International Youth Invitational Tournament this year. They won all the three matches, and the scores

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were: 3-0, 6-0 and 10-0. This was a very good score for an under 15 and 16 team. We do have some talents.

Let me urge Members to look at one of the best football teams in the world, like Barcelona Club. They have nominated three best players in the world: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. The top three best players come from the same club. What are their similarities? The three of them joined the club at the age of 11, and the other two below 10. What was available to them was not just the opportunity to join the club early but also the environment to train and play competitively and intensively at the highest level from youth. They are still playing together and they have become the best. They are still very young and in their mid-20s.

If Singapore can bring our youth footballers, not just to be trained in Singapore and grow them through this youth pipeline, but also to make it viable for them to go overseas to play in these clubs or to train and study in these clubs, maybe in the future, we can produce another Fandi Ahmad, or a quarter of Lionel Messi, or half of Xavi or three-quarters of Andres Iniesta. Put them all together, and Singapore can have a world competitve football team. But that remains a dream. Singapore has to start from scratch to develop this youth system and development. That is why we provided FAS a 15% increase in funding for this year as compared to previous years. Two and a half million dollars just for youth development. This funding will go towards supporting development programmes for the under 16, 17 and 18 teams to help them prepare for the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games. With the right investments and system in placed, most of the players will benefit and these young talent will form the nucleus of our national team in future. We have to be patient and wait a few years before football comes back up.

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The S-League is run by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Singapore Football Association (SFA). SFA has funded the S-League Club a total of $6.2 million in 2010. This year, they increase the fundings to $8.7 million, or about 40% more, through donations from the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board), and sponsorhips by private corporations, such as Yeo's and Great Eastern Life Insurance Company Limited. The Government does not provide funding to S-League directly nor do we get involved in its operation. The SFA and the S-League are looking at ways to improve the attendance rates for S-League matches. Members know that they have already engaged the services of a sports marketing agency on a pilot initiative – the Young Lions team. I can see that the spectatorship has gone up and, hopefully, it can be maintained and continues to grow. In order to have a good national football team, Singapore needs a good league and good club. We know that. That is exactly under the leadership of the Member, Mr Zainudin, who has come up with a five to six-year plan to develop youths as well as to revamp the systems for the league and club. Hopefully, this initiative will be successful and Singapore can look forward to a brighter future for football.

In the past decade, MCYS has made consistent and careful investments to grow sports in Singapore. We have achieved some success. Our senior national athletes have excelled in Asian and international competitions and done us proud with their medal tallies. Our youth athletes have showed that they could compete with the very best in the world. They showed that in the Asian Youth Games and the Youth Olympic Games. We have also grown in events like the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and OCBC Cycling event. Many runners have told me that it is getting

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more difficult to sign up for the Standard Chartered Marathon because the slots for the longest distance marathon, 42 km, are snapped up in two weeks. An event, like the Sundown Marathon, which is a 100 km event, 600 slots were snapped up in a week. People are running 100 km, more than a marathon. These events have provided Singaporeans many opportunities to get involved as spectators, volunteers, suppliers and sponsors. We do have a sports culture.

Going forward, we will continue to identify and develop our youths sporting talents as well. Through the Singapore Sports School and the planned Singapore Sports Institute, we will provide holistic support to our top sporting talents to help them realise their sporting potential without sacrificing their education and career potential. The Sports Hub is being built now. We will continue to upgrade our sports facilities to enable competition and training at a highest level and participation for families young and old. We will continue to grow our sporting culture from strength to strength, so all of us, as Singaporeans, will breathe and live sports.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mr Chairman, Sir, we have another long session over two days with wide-ranging issues ranging from cohesion, looking after the poor and disabled, gambling, vulnerable members of society, dysfunctional families, strengthening social service sector and sports. This rightly reflects the diversed work of MCYS. I just wanted to focus the last five minutes on one key theme: Singapore needs to remain an open, fair and inclusive society.

This theme pervades many of the arguments that we have had in the House over the last few days and, indeed, in MCYS. Whether the issue is about disability; differences on the basis of race,

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language, religion; differences between a wealthy and not so wealthy; differences between foreign sports talents and local sports talents; foreign talent, local talent, and so on and so forth. It is useful for us to keep this perspective in mind: decide whether Singapore needs to remain an open, fair and inclusive society. If Members agree with me and our future survival depends on us maintaining this, then, I hope Members will also agree with me that the key thing is to maintain integration, not assimilation, not uniformity and not selfish pride but to integrate all the different threads and make up Singapore society. The key thing is that it is about people and about relationships. Some sociologists call this social capital. The quality, strength and resilience of relationships in a network add value.

Two weeks ago, I had dinner with a Harvard professor, Robert Gertner. He has written extensively on social capital in America. He is now going to spend about a month or a month and half with us because he finds us of particular interest. In our dinner discussion, he said that there are two types of social capital – bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital is that which exists between people who are alike – same race, language, religion, school and political party. Bonding social capital is useful for the members of a group, sometimes we put to less useful uses when it is used to secure an unfair advantage over others. Bridging social capital refers to the networks and the relationships amongst people who are different – different languages, races, ideologists, needs and perspectives. In the case of Singapore, there is a special challenge for us to build bridging social capital. It has been so since Independence. Even our Independence was forced upon because of a pursuit of this ideal of a multi-racial, fair and justice society. Even now, 45 years later, this challenge still remains in place.

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In the case of Singapore, we have adopted an approach based on multiple layers. We have constitutional and legislative provisions. Our Constitution provides for and recognises the special position of the Malays. It also provides that all of us are equal with common laws. We have provisions like the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. We have an Act on the Maintenance of Religious Harmony. We also have policies. For instance, the Ethnic Intervention Policy administered by HDB to ensure that every estate and block is a microcosm of Singapore. They are no ghettos in Singapore.

But building a multi-racial, multi-religious, harmonious and inclusive society is not just about the constitution or laws we have passed in this House, and it is not just about policies that Ministries implement. It is also about mindsets, attitudes, norms of behaviour and relationships. It is not just relationships at the top but with relationships across the entire strata of society.

Sometimes, in Singapore and even in this House, I think we take this for granted. We do not appreciate how extraordinary we are, how special and precious what we have is. For example, I know of no other country in the world where 89% of every single mosque, church and temple is represented at a local level in the community. Members of this House will, of course, realise that I am talking about the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs). In many other countries, not even very far from here, attempts at inter-faith dialogues are fraught with danger and politics always supervenes to interfere. Here, we take it for granted.

We have apex leaders at the top of the religious organisations as well as religious leaders on the ground meeting not only us, but also meeting each other, organising joint activities and visits, expounding and explaining their different faiths to each

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other and, more important, behind the scenes, away from the glare of media, resolving problems on the ground. I say this because these are real-life examples of integration at its best, and an integration model that works.

2.45 pm

In Singapore, we have created common secular spaces whilst protecting more private religious and personal spaces. And we have to get this balance right, especially in a multi-racial country where there is a majority and there are minorities. We have to give the minorities the assurance that their identities, cultures and values, and religions are not under siege, they are free to practise and express themselves fully. This is a very crucial component. But we must, and now I am speaking from the point of view of a person from a minority group. It is just as important for minorities and especially their leaders to resist a segregationist approach. In other words, even as we assert our rights to be different, to be distinct, to pursue our own way of life, we must never do so at the expense of segregating our communities from the mainstream in life. Because if we do that, it is not the majority that will lose, it is the minority communities. I am flagging this out as an issue, but I want to end by stating that fortunately for us, we have been very blessed to have national leaders, founding fathers, who believe that a secular and fair system, in fact, provided protection of religious people and religious minorities, provided the platform for all of us to pursue our dreams and achieve our best.

At the same time, we have religious leaders who have adopted a principled and pragmatic approach to life in a small, densely populated, highly heterogeneous society. And as Singapore goes forward in the next couple of decades, with an ageing population, with globalisation and the increased challenge that poses

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opportunities, the potentially widening income gaps, and with greater immigration, all these issues are still in play.

I want to end by making this point that the foundational challenges and the foundational principles on which Singapore is constituted remain in play. In fact, we will face continued challenges in the future and it is worth our while, as Members of Parliament, as community leaders, bearing this in mind that even as we debate and argue and push for solutions, do not inadvertently shake the foundations for our survival and our continued prosperity and progress for everyone, regardless of race, language or religion.

Dr Lily Neo: Mr Chairman, I would like to have two clarifications, please. Firstly, I would like to clarify that I never criticised the Family Service Centres (FSCs) or social workers, as mentioned by the Minister earlier. In fact, I would like to commend them for their good work and dedication. I work very closely on the ground with them. At this juncture, I would like to especially thank Beyond FSC and Tanjong Pagar FSC for sending social workers to my MPS every week without fail, and I am very grateful to them. The point I was trying to make was that MCYS needs to implement special policies to specially target the lowest 5% of income families because this group has multifaceted needs involving many Ministries and even the community to get them out of their poverty trap. To prevent dysfunctional homes, we cannot delegate this work to just FSCs. That was the point I want to make, and never to criticise FSCs, please.

My second clarification: the Minister earlier said that no one will be left behind. Can we ask the Minister why is he not in agreement with me and others to give

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assistance to the lowest 5% income group, especially their children who may be left behind? Does the Minister see that the many assistance schemes he mentioned earlier are not addressing this vulnerable group's predicament? Does he not believe in the opportunity of levelling up and the chance of social mobility? If so, then I think he is contradicting the Finance Minister when he said, and I quote, "Social mobility is a crucial aspect of our inclusive growth model. We have to maximise opportunities for everyone to do well but we have to do more and, in particular, we have to do more to prevent an underclass from forming."

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I am glad that the Member is not criticising social workers and FSCs. I am glad that she recognises that some children in vulnerable families need additional assistance and, in fact, we have no disagreement on that. What I tried to explain in last three hours, and I think I have convinced the vast majority of Members in this House is that there is no question of lack of support for those who are poor, the poorest of the poor or dysfunctional families or those who are facing multifaceted problems. What I differ with her is in the solution. Perhaps, I am misreading her.

Let us go back to basics – first principles. Whose responsibility is it to look after children? Parents. I almost feel like calling for a division on that. What is the role of the family? Is it to nurture, to educate, to transmit values, to provide for education, needless to say, to provide food and opportunities for the future? It must be so. Having said that, we recognise that sometimes, and it is not anybody's fault, some people and some families will need help. Now, the key thing, when you provide help, is not to inadvertently erode the values, the behavioural patterns and the organisation of families and community that have brought us here so far. That is why that

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article from Australia, published in today's Straits Times, about an outsider looking at us, is worth reading because it reminds us not to forget that it is about thrift, sacrifice and values and getting yourself organised on the ground. And it is not just me. It is because this Government believes in it. We do not have a permanent, unconditional needs-based social safety net. The Workers' Party used to say that. They have stopped saying that. Because even they, I suspect, have refined their position on social safety net. The key thing then is when you want to provide help, there are several questions which come to your mind. First, what help is needed? What resources? Who delivers? How is it delivered? In our case, first, we want the individuals to be self-reliant if at all possible; second, families to step in to support one another; third, the community comes in; and, last, the Government as the ultimate safety net. And you will notice in my expenditure of the Ministry, I said more than half a billion dollars is going for social safety. But half of that comes from the community, and that is the way it should be.

Now, when you bring this down one level of resolution, who actually delivers help? And here let me get down to brass tacks. When you are dealing with a dysfunctional family, a battered spouse or a wayward son, apart from their parents, who are the other candidates to give advice, to cajole, to persuade, to move, to change behaviour, or to transmit values? Let me ask you this: in all honesty, is it a politician who every five years is looking for votes? Is it a paid civil servant for whom this is just one more job? Or is it people with a heart, people like Denise, who may not talk very much but do very, very much to help on the ground? Our approach, specifically in the case of FSCs, is we want the FSCs to be the frontline. Those are professional social workers with moral authority, properly trained and, yes, they do need more resources and I will provide more resources. They do need

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to be properly recognised and equipped, and I will do that. Yes, there is a need for better coordination and a clear example of coordination at local level is the ComCare Local Networks. When we first started out on this journey – in fact, it was five years ago when the Minister of State Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon said, many people said, "No, no, no, it won't work." The VWOs do not talk to the politicians because they do not want to get involved in politics. And the grassroots said, "Well, I don't know what the VWOs do. All I know is if people come to me, every week in MPS, I send them off." And it is a black hole. Then we have to triangulate between the CDCs who administer Government schemes at the local level, the VWOs who actually are doing the frontline work and the MPs who are hearing requests and petitions.

The ComCare Local Networks are now functional in all the districts. And I know in different divisions, there are different levels of detailed synergy going on. But the point is, there is information. I do know now that MPs have the phone number of the social worker in the area. They know who the social worker is. I know that social workers do meet MPs and families and there is now a greater appreciation of the fact that you need a coordinated consistent approach.

But where I will disagree with her, and perhaps I am misreading her, is the assumption that the Government is the solution. Government cannot be the solution. Government has to be part of the solution, and I spent sometime explaining this because it is key to the way we organise ourselves, not just the welfare, the social safety net, it is the key to how we organise ourselves as Singapore and the key to our success.

Sir, I am sorry for the rather robust and long explanation.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, I am very happy with the good news that

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Singapore will be a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities next year. For two years, a group of law undergraduates from the Pro Bono Law Society have been working with me and studied with me the disability legislations of many countries – in Asia, US and different developed countries. We found that in some countries, particularly those in Asia, for example, the legislations are very comprehensive but they do not translate into a lot of programmes and services.

It is good that we are thinking of signing the UN Convention now and not earlier because, at least, now we have the substance. My point is to ask MCYS to continue to work on the substance. I think we should worry more about the substance than the form.

3.00 pm

My second point for clarification is this: while I am very happy with the increase in the number of early intervention centres that the Minister spoke about, I just want a confirmation from the Minister that MCYS will conduct its due diligence when it starts these centres to make sure that, besides compassion, there is also competence and commitment that there are outcomes so that the children are helped and not harmed in the process.

The third point is on adult homes. I am also very happy that MCYS is looking into that. I differ a little from Dr Lee Wei Ling's view. She does not want to burden the family very much, including siblings, and would like the disabled adults to be put in homes. As such, it is her good intent to ask for more homes. However, for me, I think that if families still desire to keep on looking after their disabled adults at home, the Ministry should look at ways to support these measures, so that if families, siblings or relatives who want to keep the disabled adults at home, they

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can be given some home-based help and support. This was also brought up by Dr Lam and other MPs before in this House.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mr Chairman, I am very grateful for those three points which I totally agree with. With respect to signing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Singapore takes all its treaty and convention obligations very seriously. We are not the sort of people who sign on to something, pretend that it is being done and then not do anything. Our approach is to do everything first, and when we are sure that we can fulfil both the spirit and the letter of the Convention, that is when we sign on. That is the reason why we have delayed, in a sense, our signing on to this Convention. But I dare say that even if anyone were to audit us now, we are actually doing fairly well as far as the additional support and opportunities for people with disabilities to be integrated into the mainstream are concerned. They are not there yet but we have made progress.

The other point that I totally agree with the Member is that even as we expand the capacity, we must pay attention to quality. There will be due diligence. The Member is aware that we have a baseline study. As a doctor, what always breaks my heart is when people offer desperate parents untested, sometimes quack treatment, and prey on the parents' desperate sense of hope. We will make sure that we will continue to test everything and have an evidence-based approach through the sort of treatments which are available and certainly through the services which are subsidised by us. The Member has my assurance on that.

On the homes for disabled adults, again, I totally agree with the Member. Our model, first line, should still be for an ageing person, disability or otherwise, to age at home. And I also agree, although I

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did not refer to it in the earlier discussion, that there is a need for MOH and MCYS to sort out our mean-testing frameworks, so that we do not have adverse incentives or awkward situations where someone may actually receive higher subsidy for care in a wrong site, and there will be bureaucratic games later on. This is something which I hope in the next one year, MCYS and MOH will sort out. But I totally agree with the Member's principle which is, wherever possible, allow people to age in place. Our subsidies must not distort that principle. I will adopt the same approach for homes for adults with disabilities.

Er Lee Bee Wah: Mr Chairman, I was told that taking time off during National Service for our national athletes is very much dependent on their immediate superior. It is always quite a hassle, especially if the person is transfered from one unit to another unit and he has to appeal all over again. I would like to ask the Minister if his Ministry will take up this issue of National Service with MINDEF to come up with something that is more transparent and more assuring for our national athletes, instead of kicking the ball back to me.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: I thank the Member, Er Lee Bee Wah, for her suggestion. We do not kick the ball back and forth. Since the Member is in the table tennis association, we will play ping pong !

As Members who are advisors to national sports associations (NSAs) would know, for every single case of National Service, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) will review the case first, together the NSA, and then present and discuss it with MINDEF. But the final decision rests with MINDEF, because there are other needs and priorities within MINDEF itself which it has to consider. I think we have to respect and consider that there is the issue of national security. So, in every case, there will always be an explanation,

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whether it is exempted, rejected or approved. As Members know, I have actually cited two examples of successful athletes who played the best games of their lives during National Service. They are good examples. And I encourage Er Lee Bee Wah, in her leadership of the Singapore Table Tennis Association, to continuously make an appeal to SSC if she feels that there is a need, and we can come together to discuss each and every case on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, I have two points of clarification. The first is for the Minister. This concerns my cut on responsible gambling and compliance. I agree that it is too early to understand the full impact and the social cost. I also note that the Ministry has a slew of measures and levers to work on. What I would like to propose to the Minister to consider is for the Ministry to set a definitive timeline to undertake a comprehensive review of these various measures to see whether they are working and achieving the objectives that it sets out to do; and, if not, to come up with new measures.

My second clarification is for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck. This concerns foreign sports talent. I must say that I was quite perturbed when I heard Ms Joscelin Yeo's account of what her friend had to go through when her friend was taken into that particular team. I am not sure what sport or which NSA she referred to. But I think that that observation or account is important enough for SSC and the Ministry to look into that particular incident in greater detail, and to ensure that it is addressed head-on and that we do not allow this to occur again. I am sure it is an exception, but this needs to be addressed because we need all the talents that we have. I urge the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to take a look at it in greater detail.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I thank Mr Seah for that question. We are actually

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monitoring the effects of the casinos on our society on a monthly basis. I am still receiving reports. I know exactly how many people have gone in. I have not got to the stage of knowing exactly who, but close to it. And we are also monitoring it downstream for the impact. So I do not need to give him a timeline to say I am going to review it in one year. I am monitoring this in real time.

Let me just address the point on foreign sports talent. I totally agree with the Member. We will investigate that case and take appropriate action.

Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, first, one clarification on what the Minister said about the Workers' Party's views on social safety net. If the Minister read that paragraph – and I am recalling it from memory – what was actually put there was that we believe that there should be unconditional needs-based social safety net. And there is a sentence that follows from there, which talks about the fact that more resources may be required to investigate each case, but people in need should be helped. So I do not think the Minister should have any issue with helping people in need.

Next, I would like a clarification from Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck about Singapore soccer. I agree with him totally that we should invest long term and not expect instant results. But he did not really address the point of how we have come to this crisis point now. While we can wait for our youths to grow up and feed into our national soccer team, the question is what has been happening prior to that. Have we been somewhat neglectful in our soccer development policy that leaves us now to have a lacuna?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I thank Ms Lim for her clarification. As much as I

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look forward to seeing the refined Workers' Party position on social safety net, I think we will give them a chance to refine their definition and we can debate upon it at the appropriate juncture. But let me reiterate that we do agree that there will be people with greater needs and those needs need to be met. We are saying that we will meet those needs through a combination of family responsibility, community support and targeted Government subsidies. What I have tried to show, and I think I have been able to convince all Members, is that there is no shortage of resources. Fortunately, because we have organised our society properly, we have been successful, and this Government has been able to generate surpluses which allow me to stand here and say that we can look after those who need help. But the way we do it will be done and calibrated in such a way that it does not take away the incentive to work, the responsibility to look after your family and the community's response to help your fellow men, fellow women or children in need. On that, I think we are all universally in agreement.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, about football. If Members had watched the World Cup, before the World Cup started in South Africa, I think we were pinning hopes on some of the tier one or top-tier teams like France and Italy. I think everybody knows what happened to them in the World Cup. They were knocked out in the first round. That is surprising to some, but that is also not surprising to others in Europe. Why is that so? Because the competition and the intensity had gone up. It is the same all over the world. Football has been viewed greatly and is of top priority for most of the sports administrators in the world. More money has been pumped into this sport. So is Singapore. But we want to make sure that the investment is put in the right areas and the right aspects. So we put into youth development. We have seen how our football squad in the Youth

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Olympic Games did. There is a lot of hope. So we must now put the investment in the right place. Mayor Zainudin, who heads the Football Association of Singapore, has the will and determination to revamp the whole system, and we want to be able to support that. Disbanding the national team is just the first step, but the national team will come back. With good training and system, the best players will be selected.

Revamping the S-League is also in his plan. He will grow that League and grow all the clubs. Then we will have a better environment. SSC will support the youth development scheme, which is the entire youth development system over five years. That is why this year we give them a more than 50% increase compared to previous year, to invest in these young talents. It will take time. The other countries are coming up very well. Malaysia, as an example, has won the Suzuki Cup. But we must not give up, because there is still hope. For team sports, it always takes time. But let us not give up on the Singapore Team. I am sure we will make some headway and they will bring glory back to Singapore again.

Mr Chan Soo Sen: Mr Chairman, I believe the Minister has not responded to my proposal to have a gambling awareness month every year. If one month is considered too long, how about starting with a gambling awareness week?

3.15 pm

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I will consider it. But I must say that at Cabinet we are under pressure because we have so many campaigns. We must not overdo it or there will be campaign fatigue.

But on a more serious note, Members will realise that the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has actually

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embarked on a series of public education efforts. Some videos and advertisements have been introduced. I think they are of high quality and I am making traction on the ground. But we will continue to study the Member's proposal.

The Chairman: Mdm Cynthia, please make your clarification short. We do not have much time.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: Mr Chairman, the Minister mentioned about the cross-agency effort on youth. He mentioned three Ministries – MOE, MHA and MCYS. I would like to ask for one more, ie, MINDEF, because for male youths, if they are delinquents, they would have left school and be enlisted earlier, and they could get help from MINDEF.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, the Minister of Defence is here. Maybe I should ask him to answer, but I will take the risk of answering on his behalf. I do not think MINDEF sees the rehabilitation of wayward youths as its mission. And another point is that, according to our Enlistment Act, it is only at the age of seventeen-and-a-half years that a person can be legally obliged to enlist. Before that, sixteen-and-a-half is a voluntary enlistment. But, in any case, among the three Ministries – MHA, MCYS and MOE – there is already much that we can do. Give us some time. Let us see what impact these comprehensive and integrated approaches have on dealing with youths who might otherwise go on the wrong path.

The Chairman: Dr Neo, a short one, please.

Dr Lily Neo: Much obliged, Mr Chairman. I just want to clarify that earlier when the Minister mentioned about the self-reliance tenet, I did not stray away from the tenet in my suggestion on a safety net for the bottom 5% of the

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lowest-income families. As elaborated in my speech earlier, in fact, that was the tenet I followed, ie, giving special guidance to these families to help themselves so that they can get out of their poverty trap, and for the prevention of dysfunctional homes. And I would like to end by saying that I am very encouraged when the Minister said earlier that we are not in shortage of resources. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will reconsider giving these resources that we are not short of to these vulnerable groups that are really in need.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I agree with her clarification, and I just want to reaffirm that we do allocate more resources for people who need more help.

Ms Joscelin Yeo: Sir, I agree with Minister Balakrishnan on being open and inclusive. I have indicated that I am for foreign sporting talents (FSTs). However, I have three clarifications for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo. He gave us a ratio of FSTs to the overall number of local national athletes. Can he actually give us a ratio of FSTs to local athletes in the sports that engage foreign sporting talents and not an overall number? Secondly, will the Ministry consider putting a cap on the ratio of FSTs to local athletes to force National Sports Associations to be more active and purposeful in raising local talent? Thirdly, can he also clarify the objective of having foreign sporting talents in Singapore?

Mr Teo Ser Luck: Sir, I have said that quite a few times in my speech about the objective of having FSTs. I did reiterate it. Let me reiterate again that we are not just importing foreign sporting talents today. What we want is for the National Sports Associations to focus on developing the system, and the annual funding for the NSAs is on the programmes, not on the athletes or import of foreign talents.

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So, the NSAs focus their efforts on developing the system. And if the system and the platform are established and progressive, any talents, whether foreign-born or local-born, can be successful
if they are willing to work hard. That is exactly the sporting system that we are trying to build and the eco-system that we are trying to bring into all the NSAs. That is also the reason why the annual funding, since last year, has begun to take a longer-term view, a multi-year planning, and that is the objective.

If a sports association feels that there are some sporting talents who will be able to lift the standard of our sports and can help the entire national team to bring glory to Singapore and they can lift them up to the next level, we will not discourage that. Most importantly, the sports itself must have the training and development from youth to senior team, and there is a process that is established. That is the most important thing.

As for the FSTs, 33 out of 994 are foreign-born athletes and they are now Singapore citizens. I cannot name all the sports as I do not have all the data but there are some sports, as Members know, have foreign sporting talents and they are also public knowledge, eg, badminton and table tennis. But more importantly is what these athletes have already done – they have brought glory to Singapore, they have won world championships, they have also helped to bring up the level of competing sports standard in Singapore and internationally, and they have put us on the world map.

I understand and share the same sentiments of the Member on the specific case of her friend. And as my Minister has mentioned, we will take note of this case and we want to ensure that it is a fair selection standard and a fair selection trial. It is not just a fair selection trial but a training system that will enable and give opportunities for our athletes to be trained

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and to become champions. Most importantly, it is the mental attitude of the athletes and the commitment, sacrifice and passion that the athletes must have in order to be champions.

Mr Calvin Cheng: Sir, I have two clarifications – one for Mr Teo and one for Mrs Yu-Foo.

First, I want to thank Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo for his response. I have no doubt that FSTs compete on merit and contribute to Singapore’s sporting landscape. However, the point of sports cannot be merely to create champions but champions we can be proud of. So I hope MCYS can, on top of focusing on the medal tally, look into helping Singaporeans connect emotionlly and identify with the FSTs and accept them as part of our tribe.

Sir, I would like to respond, in Mandarin, to Mrs Yu-Foo’s Mandarin speech.

( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] Sir, I would like to respond to Mrs Yu-Foo's reply regarding singles. Although it is a good thing that the Government encourages singles to get married, I am concerned that the policy may make singlehood look like a crime. Being single is not a sin. Although Mencius said that it is most unfilial to have no children, I hope the Government considers our feelings while encouraging the singles to get married. We do not want to feel pressured.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: ( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] Sir, I would like to say that Mr Calvin Cheng must have thought deeply about what I have said. I have mentioned that 80% of singles actually wanted to get married. The responsibility of providing a social network used to be borne by the Government. Now, we

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encourage private match-making agencies to do the job.

We are only providing a platform; we are not pressuring the young. Some singles told me that they really need help. They are too busy and have no time. Some do not have the opportunity to socialise. Families, parents, employers and the social groups should all join in to provide the young people opportunities to socialise and help them fulfil their wish. Indeed, 80% of the singles do want to get married.

Mr Calvin Cheng: I agree.

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Mr Chairman, Sir, I would like to thank Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister Lim Boon Heng, Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of State Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck for their comprehensive and supportive replies to all the cuts filed by Members.

I cannot help but notice that lately, there are a lot of students coming into the Chamber. Indeed, the "A" level results were just released last week. If MCYS had a report card for this financial year and, in fact, they do, which is all here [ indicating ], I think they would have scored an "A" grade. Indeed, MCYS has its own "Grow and Share" package. "Grow" – they have done so in strengthening the community bonds. And "Share" – they have been ensuring that those who need help will be helped. But we know that MCYS' work and progress never end.

Sir, on that note, I wish to seek leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $1,775,063,600 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $57,123,400 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

*Cols. 4377-4308; 4309-4310.

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The Chairman: I propose to take the break now.

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

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.50 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.25 pm until 3.50 pm.