ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE CHAIR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE CHAIR:

The Leader of the House (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise, on behalf of hon. Members, to thank you and your Deputies for so ably conducting the proceedings during this year's Budget debate. We sat here for nine days and over the last nine days, a total of 62 MPs filed some 401 cuts, with 49 MPs using the full 18 or 20 minutes allotted either to MPs or GPC Chairmen respectively. Unfortunately, not all of them were in the Chamber to speak on these cuts, but more on that later.

The number of cuts had increased slightly from last year's 372 cuts, but this is a far cry from the heady days of 2003 and 2004 when we had more than 700 cuts. This demonstrates clearly that the new system that was introduced in 2005 has worked. It has kept inflation in the number of cuts in check, and has also encouraged MPs to keep their speeches short, sharp and focused. As a result, the quality of the debate has been high. There were many good speeches and

Column: 2469

some outstanding ones, both from the front as well as the backbenchers.

There were unfortunately a few that went on a bit too long and here, I must confess, on hindsight, that I am one of the guilty parties. I will try and learn from this. But the highlight of this year's debate was undoubtedly the clarification time. This was the most lively part of the proceedings with both front and backbenchers at their most natural and, often times, most eloquent and witty. And this is what a good debate needs.

I must express my appreciation to you, Sir, for being not only forbearing but also flexible in your administration of the guillotine and allowing clarifications to be raised freely and letting the debate run on when the subject matter was interesting and the exchanges hot, all the while keeping an eagle eye on the clock. I also wish to commend you for being flexible in adjusting the guillotine times every day. I know this means more administrative work, and I want to thank the Clerk of Parliament and her staff for this. But it has meant that Ministers and MPs have been able to adjust their schedules more accurately and manage their time better.

We should continue to finetune our system and remain flexible. The main objective is to have a good debate, enough time for MPs and office holders to engage in meaningful debate so that the people can have their views heard and clarified, yet keeping it productive so that we can get on with our work. This means having to sit beyond the scheduled time of 7.00 pm on some days. I must apologise to Members for making you missed your evening appointments or being late for your Meet-the-People Sessions. But the good news is that, as a result of this dynamic scheduling, we have been able to finish the debate one day ahead of schedule without any

Column: 2470

Member having to miss any of his or her cut.

Now, allow me to give some words of advice to Members. First, please watch your time management. Members should not try to deliver a 3-minute speech in one minute, or file 1/2-minute cuts, and I counted three 1/2-minute cuts, unless all they want to do is ask the question without going into the history of the question. Remember, if the Minister cannot understand you, he cannot give you a reply. Second, please remember that if you have filed a cut, you should make the effort to be present in the Chamber to move your cut. Unless there are exceptional circumstances for your absence, such as illness, it not only deprives the House of your valuable inputs to the debate, but it is also extremely disruptive.

On this note, Sir, may I thank you once again and, through you, your Deputies and the parliamentary staff, including the Clerks, the Interpreters, the Reporters and the Librarians for their support, assistance and cooperation.

Mr Speaker: I would like to thank the Leader of the House for his kind words. Hon. Members, we have come to the end of the Budget debate for FY 2008/09. And we have completed it ahead of time, something we did not expect at the beginning. Now, this is rather reminiscent of our national Budget for the last FY where we actually anticipated a deficit, but ended up with a surplus! But this is a happy problem, because, as mentioned earlier by the Leader, this has enabled us to have more time for clarifications and engagement.

As usual, I have had to remind a few MPs – the "regulars" – to keep to their guillotine times. It would do well for us to heed the Leader's advice earlier on the length of your speeches. I must say that the new MPs did well, both in the delivery

Column: 2471

and substance of their speeches, and most even succeeded in keeping their cuts well within their times. Six of them apparently made history when they were summarily volunteered, in this House, by the Chairman of the GPC for Defence to do extra IPPT, to demonstrate that MPs, too, had a role to play in enhancing the physical fitness of our armed forces!

I had asked a close friend of mine for an honest assessment of the performance of our MPs in this debate. His frank answer was: "It is like mineral water – some sparkling, others still!" But whatever our choice of beverage, I do think that we have had a good debate. I agree with the Leader that the quality of debate was indeed high. There was a readiness to question and probe, and there were indeed several robust exchanges to liven up the debate. This bodes well for our Parliament.

So it leaves me now to thank several people in this House: Mr Mah Bow Tan, the Leader of the House, and his deputy, Dr Ng Eng Hen; Mr Lim Swee Say, the

Column: 2472

Whip and his deputies, Dr Amy Khor and Mr Inderjit Singh, for ensuring the smooth running of the sittings, and, of course, my Deputy Speakers, Mr Matthias Yao and Ms Indranee Rajah for sharing my responsibilities, especially nearing the twilight hours. I would also like to thank the Clerk of Parliament, her assistants and other Parliament staff for all the planning, preparations and support given during the sitting. But I must reserve my special appreciation to all hon. Members, for attending the sittings, for their cooperation, for participating in the debate, and, not least of all, for putting up with me. Thank you! [ Applause. ]