FLOODS AND FLOOD RELIEF (Statement by the Minister for Labour and Welfare)

The Minister for Labour and Welfare (Mr Lim Yew Hock): Mr Speaker, Sir, hon. Members of this House will doubtless want me to give them a statement on the recent floods which occurred on Friday and Saturday, the 27th and 28th of January.

I am happy to be able to say that the floods this year were not so widespread or serious as in 1954. In all, about 7 inches of rain was recorded at the Meteorological Station, Singapore Airport, but 5 inches in most other places, on the two days, the 27th and 28th of January. According to records, storms such as these are not unusual at this time of the year. The Bedok resettlement and Ulu Bedok areas suffered most, and as the water rose in these areas it was found necessary on the night of Friday the 27th and the following day to evacuate some 62 families, totalling 330 adults and children. The Social Welfare Department established a relief centre at the Bedok Boys' School on Friday night, the 27th of January, where the evacuated flood victims were accommodated and given hot meals for a period of four to five days. In all, 3,600 hot meals and snacks were provided, while Government officers and voluntary officers gave medical and other assistance.

In other areas, such as Lorong Tai Seng, Geylang Serai, Jalan Eunos, Tampenis Road and one or two other small isolated areas, minor flooding took place but no families from any of these areas were evacuated, and damage was small. In view of the fact that Bedok is a resettlement area for squatters from Paya Lebar who were resettled there when work began on the Singapore Airport, Government accepted a special responsibility towards them. Government has also decided to accept a special responsibility towards the families at Ulu Bedok where the flooding this year was largely due to new drainage construction works in the vicinity. These works, I understand, will be completed soon and it is hoped that no flood damage will occur there again in the future. As regards the other areas where only minor flooding took place, Government must regard these minor elemental disturbances as the normal hazards of farming life.

Concerning Government's special attitude to the Bedok resettlement area and the Ulu Bedok area, assessment teams completed on Wednesday, 1st February, their investigation of losses sustained and, based on the findings, Government has subsequently authorised relief and rehabilitation payments to flood victims amounting to $43,001. This amount was paid out by the Social Welfare Department on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning, the 6th and 7th of February. Meanwhile, drainage constructional work, which has been in operation since the second half of November last year, is going forward and it is not expected that the Bedok resettlement area will, in the future, suffer flood damage.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I take this opportunity of paying my tribute to the Police Force and the Public Works Department -

Mr Speaker: Order, please.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Sir, I want to give some -

Mr Speaker: Order. I take it that the hon. Member is leading to a question?

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Yes.

Mr Speaker: You are. I am sorry.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Sir, let me make a good beginning and then I will come to the attack!

The Public Works Department, the Social Welfare Department and the Police Force answered my call immediately to start rescue work. However, morning tea was not served to the refugees until the next day at two o'clock. The Hon. the Minister for Communications and Works is the one I wish to attack, because I remember that in July I raised a question urging the Hon. the Minister for Communications -

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: On a point of order, Sir. Is it proper for a Liberal-Socialist to make overtures to the Labour Front-Alliance on this Floor on this particular occasion? [Interruption.]

Mr Speaker: Order. A point of order has been raised. I cannot find any point of order in that and I therefore make no ruling. Mr Lim Cher Kheng, please continue.

The Chief Minister rose -

Mr Speaker: Is it on a point of order, Mr Chief Minister?

The Chief Minister: Point of order, Sir. I would ask, Sir, whether there is no means of disciplining a person who consistently transgresses the rules of procedure of this House in order to indulge in political jibes and political sneers and political smears.

Mr Speaker: Order, please. The Standing Orders are quite adequate in that respect.

The Chief Minister: I hope he will be disciplined.

Mr Speaker: Order. Mr Lim Cher Kheng.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Fascist tendency!

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Thank you, Sir. Exactly what I want to point out is that the political manoeuvres on this -

Mr Speaker: Order. If the hon. Member is not going to ask a question, then he is completely out of order. Will he come to the question?

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: I am sorry, Sir. I would like to comment on the Government survey team which went round assessing the needs of the flood victims. I have been informed that many flood victims have been left out of consideration, especially the fire-stove makers and the flower growers. Also I wish the Hon. the Minister for Communications and Works would speed up the work of flood prevention and no more accuse the -

Mr Speaker: Order. The hon. Member is apparently not asking a question. If he asks a question, he is in order. If he does not ask a question, he is out of order.

Mr Lim Yew Hock: One question has been asked.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister for Labour and Welfare referred to flooding in one passage of his statement as "the normal hazards of farming life". I wonder if he would enlighten us further as to what he considers to be these "normal hazards"?

Mr Lim Yew Hock: I have said "minor flooding", Sir. The Member for Changi, when he referred to the work of the assessment team of the Social Welfare Department, -

Mr Speaker: Does the hon. Member want to refer to that?

Mr Lim Yew Hock: Yes, Sir.

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member can make a statement on that.

Mr Lim Yew Hock: He drew attention to the fact that, according to him, there were some victims who had been left out. If the Member will submit the facts to me, I will have them investigated.

The time being then past 12 noon of the clock, and there being no other Member wishing to speak -

Mr Speaker: I think this is an appropriate time to suspend the sitting. The sitting is therefore suspended to half-past two.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 12.18 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. Sitting resumed at 2.30 p.m.