ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE CHAIR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE CHAIR:

The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Home Affairs and Leader of the House (Mr Wong Kan Seng): Mr Speaker, Sir, on behalf of all Members, may I thank you and your Deputies for chairing the proceedings at the debates on the Budget Statement and the Committee of Supply, and ensuring that these are conducted so smoothly.

Twenty-four new elected MPs, one NCMP and 7 NMPs joined in the debates at this Committee of Supply and Budget Statement for the first time. This injection of new Members into the House also

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brings a new phase in our Parliamentary debates.

Fifty-eight MPs filed 372 amendments in this Committee of Supply. Practically all the MPs used up the time allocated to them - 18 minutes for MPs and 20 minutes for GPC Chairmen. We changed the system in 2005.

This new system has kept the number of amendments manageable, and averaging 366 cuts over the last three years. This is certainly much better than the inflationary number of cuts starting in 2001. We had 484 amendments in 2001, 518 in 2002, 707 in 2003 and 769 in 2004.

The new system has also enabled Members to focus on the key points in their speeches, some even with just a 30-second sound bite. Well done.

I know our MPs spent long hours researching the issues and preparing their speeches, particularly for those who have to speak in two languages. It was a great sweat. Some, of course, spoke more than two languages. Many spoke passionately about the issues of concern to them and their constituents. Their speeches were certainly impactful. Indeed, some Members held no punches, while others even put the points across in a very colourful way, and yet not missing the seriousness of the message. The quality of debate is very high.

Mr Speaker, Sir, Members have certainly "honed" their skills as you had wished after we changed the system. They indeed spent the time allocated to them very wisely. They have distilled the key messages in their speeches to keep within the time they asked for and were allocated. Very few had to suffer a cut by the guillotine.

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I will not be wrong if I say that my Cabinet colleagues and I will agree with me that the speeches certainly had our attention. I also believe that even if the Ministers did not fully deal with all the points or the suggestions Members have made, they would study the suggestions carefully and see what can be done and adopted.

Mr Speaker, Sir, when I was appointed Leader of the House on 25th February 1987, there were only three women MPs. Today, we have 23 women MPs - 17 elected, 1 NCMP and 5 NMPs. This is a refreshing change from the 1980s and a significant improvement.

In 1987, 45 MPs filed 367 cuts and it took almost as many days as this one. The Ministries which had the most cuts between the late 1980s and up to the recent years were National Development and Education - about five to six hours each. Today, the focus seems to have changed to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, with 36 individual cuts, and 29 MPs moving just one cut on each item.

The COS debate on MCYS lasted 5 hours and 35 minutes, compared to just 2 hours and 25 minutes when I was the Minister in the same Ministry. Maybe the issues under MCYS are closest to the hearts and minds of our MPs and to their constituents. But Members should not forget that we have other equally important issues to also debate, but these took up much less time compared to MCYS'.

Foreign policy took up just 50 minutes, while issues concerning health, economy, education, security and national development took between three and four-and-a-half hours each.

Perhaps MPs should re-examine this and see how to spread out their limited time to also focus on other issues of

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concern to Singaporeans, and Singapore's future and survival.

Sir, we have changed the Standing Orders to allow MPs to speak in two languages and that indeed has livened the debate and also enabled our MPs to reach out to their constituents who may not understand English. So I shall also try this by speaking in Mandarin.

( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] Mr Speaker, Sir, during the Budget debate, many Members have used two languages to express the people’s aspirations. Some of them required a lot of time to prepare these multi-lingual speeches. At the same time, they have also taken the opportunity to speak in their mother tongue. This has raised the understanding and knowledge of the mother tongue and Members too have a deeper understanding of the language. This is really putting into practice what they have learned. Their multi-lingual speeches were very interesting and lively and they deserve our compliments. The debating standard is high and, at the same time, to those constituents who do not know English, they will have a better appreciation and understanding of the issues raised in Parliament.

( In English ): Having been Leader for 20 years, I think it is time to change. There must be renewal too but it has taken a long time to come. So I discussed it with the Prime Minister just a few days ago. Hence, the Prime Minister has decided that Mr Mah Bow Tan, who has been Deputy Leader since 2002, will be appointed as Leader, and Dr Ng Eng Hen will be the Deputy Leader. Similarly, Sir, I know my colleague, Dr Lee Boon Yang also thinks that he has been in the same job for a long time. He has been Government Whip since 13th September 1988. He will be succeeded by Mr Lim Swee Say.

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Dr Amy Khor - I think Members know her very well - has now been given a new task as the Deputy Whip. This is in addition to - many Members may not know - Mr Inderjit Singh who is our current Deputy Whip.

All these changes will take effect from 1st April 2007.

Once again, Sir, may I thank you and your Deputies for your patience for sitting through long hours of speeches. Thank you.

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Mr Speaker: Thank you, Mr Wong. To follow my own counsel, I will keep my speech short.

Hon. Members, we have now come to the end of yet another Budget debate. This time around, as mentioned earlier by Mr Wong, we have 24 new MPs, 1 NCMP and 9 new NMPs taking part in the debate for the first time. I think they have performed well. I am encouraged indeed and refreshed by their enthusiasm. Most have taken their first time exposure to the debate in their stride and have adapted to the new COS debate format rather quickly too. This bodes well for the future of debates in this House.

We have had a good and sometimes robust debate in this House. Many new backbenchers spoke with passion and conviction, with some lightening their speeches with earthy humour. One speech, in particular, has even earned such adjectives as "colourful" and "pungent". Now, this prompted one senior backbencher to remark to me that perhaps I was getting soft in allowing such exchanges in this House! That may be so, as I also note that I had imposed fewer guillotines this year and that, too, on the usual suspects!

Hon Members, on behalf of this House, I would like to thank DPM Wong

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Kan Seng and Dr Lee Boon Yang - who are relinquishing their positions as Leader of the House and Government Whip respectively - for their sterling services to this House. They have assisted me immensely in ensuring that our sittings proceed smoothly and are in keeping with the dignity of Parliament. I would like to welcome Mr Mah Bow Tan, the incoming Leader of the House, and Mr Lim Swee Say, our new Whip and their respective deputies, Dr Ng Eng Hen and Dr Amy Khor. I am sure that the House would join me in congratulating them on their new responsibilities and I look forward to working with them.

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Before I conclude, I would also like to thank my Deputy Speakers for standing in for me as the afternoons wore on, and my Parliament staff for their hard work. I would like to end by thanking all hon. Members for their coorperation, understanding and their participation in the debate. [ Applause .]