NATIONAL SERVICEMEN (EMPLOYMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.15 p.m.

The Minister for Defence (Mr Lim Kim San): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Mr Speaker, Sir, direction of employment is not something new. It was introduced by Government in December 1963 to assist persons adversely affected by confrontation to obtain alternative employment. Members will agree with the principle that first priority must be given to our discharged national servicemen to fill job vacancies in the Republic, and Government has rightly given an undertaking to assist all discharged national servicemen find suitable employment in the public or private sector. This Bill is to give effect to the principle I have enunciated and to the undertaking we have given.

There is already a Job Placement Department in the Central Manpower Base in the Ministry of the Interior and Defence. It has been assisting our discharged national servicemen in finding employment suitable to the skills they have learnt and the training they have received while serving with the Singapore Armed Forces. Wherever possible, discharged national servicemen are placed in jobs relevant to their abilities, skills and experience. This is very important as, upon completion of full-rime national service, they are transferred to the Reserves which form the bulk of our Armed Forces in an emergency and, therefore, a continuity in experience and skill is necessary. I must say we have been most successful in job placement. A total of 98 per cent of those discharged in 1969 have found jobs. In fact, at times we cannot cope with the demand from employers for discharged national servicemen. I understand that most of the national servicemen who have had some technical training in the Armed Forces are offered jobs by prospective employers even before they have completed their national service. For this happy state of affairs, I must express our gratitude to the first few hundreds of discharged national servicemen who have proved to employers that they are better than average workers and are well disciplined and not afraid of hard work.

This Bill will now empower the Minister to direct by order published in Government Gazettes that specified categories of employers shall not, without the consent of the Director of Employment appointed under this Bill, engage or re-engage any employee otherwise than from among registered persons. A registered person is a person who has completed full-time national service and whose name is for the time being on the register to be kept by the Director of Employment.

Under this Bill, a register will be kept wherein particulars relating to the qualifications and skills of such discharged servicemen will be recorded. By this means, there will be made available to employers a reservoir of manpower resources consisting of a representative cross-section of our young population possessed of a variety of skills and experience from which they can draw to meet their needs.

If an employer is unable to find a suitable person from among the discharged national servicemen to fill any vacancy in his concern, he may, upon the presentation of reasonable grounds, be exempted to fill such vacancy with non-national servicemen.

Discharged national servicemen should, within seven days upon securing employment, notify the authority of this fact so that correct statistics will be maintained; otherwise, they will disqualify themselves and will not be given priority of employment.

Any employer who contravenes the provisions of any order made under the Bill will be guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, and in respect of each employee so employed in contravention thereof, by a fine not exceeding $50 for each day on which that employee is employed.

I have said we have been quite successful in finding suitable jobs for discharged national servicemen. This is because:

(1) These men have proved to be well disciplined and good workers;

(2) There are greater employment opportunities arising out of the success of our industrialization scheme; and

(3) There is close liaison between prospective employers and the Job Placement Unit of the M.I.D.

As long as employers continue to supply the M.I.D, with their job requirements and specifications, and we continue to place men in jobs as successfully as we are now doing, it is not the intention of my Ministry to bring this Bill into force immediately after it has been passed by Parliament. It will only be enforced when the necessity arises.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.20 p.m.

Dr Augustine H. H. Tan (Whampoa): Mr Speaker, Sir, I had assumed that the necessity for the introduction of the National Servicemen (Employment) Bill stems from the difficulties that the Ministry of the Interior and Defence might have experienced in placing ex-national servicemen in employment, but now the Minister apparently tells us that this is not so. The Bill will be placed on a contingency basis. The Bill assumes somehow that the required skills from the national servicemen are forthcoming, and that the employers can find from among the ranks of the ex-national servicemen the kinds of skills that they want. Similarly, the national servicemen would accept the jobs which are readily forthcoming. In that kind of situation, I do not think that compelling the employers to accept those national servicemen would amount to a very economic proposition.

I do not have any firm figures to show the extent to which the ex-national servicemen have or have not acquired the kinds of technical expertise which will put them readily in employment. It seems to me that if they have not acquired anything else other than the ability to shoot straight, then they are going to be at a disadvantage when they come out of service. Instead of, or in addition to, looking towards a Bill compelling employers to engage or re-engage only registered persons, perhaps the Minister might consider means by which more national servicemen could be given the necessary skills, either during or on completion of their national service. In addition, perhaps opportunities for further formal education might be made available by a preference in granting bursaries, scholarships and loans.

One further handicap that I feel some ex-national servicemen might experience is the lack of fluency in English. Indeed, with the foreign investment orientation of our industrialisation, I would think that people who are not fluent in English would be penalised. This problem extends beyond the immediate one of ex-national servicemen. It applies generally to graduates of non-English schools. If language is the barrier, then perhaps remedial courses in English might be conducted within the national service period and/or upon completion. If other measures are necessary, perhaps the Minister might consider the provision of subsidies to employers to provide in-plant training for ex-national servicemen.

A further point, perhaps worthy of consideration, is the employment of ex-national servicemen in the public sector to which this Bill is not directed. While I am sure that the Public Service Commission is co-operating fully in giving preference to ex-national servicemen, I am told that, in some cases, processing of applications by the P.S.C. takes up to three months, which is a long enough period to demoralise any ardent defender of our Republic's freedom. Perhaps steps ought to be taken to strengthen the administrative apparatus of the Public Service Commission.

In conclusion, I would like to lend my support to this Bill, because clearly our ex-national servicemen are deserving of special consideration for their service to the Republic. However, I would strongly invite the attention of the Minister for Defence to the matter of the employability of ex-national servicemen, especially those who have not been given training in specific skills, and the measures that might be taken to provide further education and English language proficiency. The combination of Ministerial exhortation, the stick provided by this Bill, and my proposed remedial carrots should be, hopefully, redeeming.

3.25 p.m.

Mr Yeo Choo Kok (Delta): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill is aimed at ensuring that our ex-national servicemen will be able to get jobs. Nobody will quarrel with this. However, I have certain comments to make on the details of this Bill, and I hope the Minister will clarify the few points I am making.

Firstly, this Bill does not compel all those national servicemen who have completed their national service to register. I would like to know whether those who have completed their national service but who have not registered according to clause 4 of the Bill will be at liberty to seek jobs. Will any person be able to employ those unregistered persons who nevertheless have completed their national service?

Secondly, there is a Labour Exchange at the Ministry of Labour where those people who want to seek jobs can register. This also includes discharged national servicemen. Under this Bill, a register will be kept by the Director of Employment wherein the qualifications of discharged national servicemen will be recorded. According to the Bill, unless there are other arrangements, employers will have to recruit persons who are registered with the Director of Employment in the first instance. Therefore, those persons who have registered with the Ministry of Labour will not have the opportunity to get jobs. I would like to know whether this Bill, after it is passed, will affect the Labour Exchange at the Ministry of Labour.

Thirdly, I would like to know whether the authorities concerned have, before drafting this Bill, considered reorganising the Labour Exchange at the Ministry of Labour in order to look after those who have completed their national service. I feel that making use of the Labour Exchange at the Ministry of Labour for employment purposes will be more suitable, because everything will be centralised. Moreover, we will save expenses which will be incurred in setting up a new Register.

Mr Speaker, Sir, all along there has been a shortage of labour. Whenever the commercial and industrial sectors want to employ persons, they have difficulty in doing so. I fear that after this Bill is passed, the commercial and industrial sectors will find it unnecessarily cumbersome to recruit workers. Should these things happen, it will be an impediment to the progress of industrialisation in our country. I hope the Minister concerned will clarify the few points that I have raised.

3.29 p.m.

Dr Chiang Hai Ding (Ulu Pandan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am happy to learn the happy state of affairs described by the Minister for Defence so that the Bill, when passed, may not need to be enforced immediately. This Bill requires employers to recruit workers from amongst the ex-national servicemen in the first instance. The Bill is before us, I believe, because many of our young men who are called up for national service, as well as their parents, feel concerned lest they lose out in the competition for jobs to those who are not similarly called, to non-citizens and to girls. This Bill demonstrates to them, in a concrete manner, that the Government fully recognises the contribution that national servicemen make, directly to our Republic's security and indirectly to our prosperity and welfare. It assures them that they do not have to stand at the back of the queue when they seek jobs in civilian life.

I am very glad to learn that employers in the private sector already realise the worth of our ex-national servicemen. It must stand to reason that in a small country such as ours, we cannot afford to waste our most valuable resource- manpower. Our Singapore Armed Forces not only impart to their men a training that promotes physical fitness, mental alertness, discipline and self-reliance, but it also improves their education and skills. The S.A.F, make men out of boys and turn out better citizens, more productive workers and potential leaders of our community.

As our young ex-national servicemen have already proved to be valuable assets to their employers, I hope that this law need not be enforced. But in the meantime, Mr Speaker, I beg to support the National Servicemen (Employment) Bill.

3.32 p.m.

Mr Teong Eng Siong: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, the main aim of this Bill is to ensure that those who have completed two years' national service will be given priority in employment. This is, in my view, a very wise measure because, as we all know, national servicemen have taken part in national service training in the national interest. They have been trained militarily in order that they can shoulder the great responsibility of protecting our country, our lives and our property. Therefore, to those who have sacrificed so much for the national interest and who have spent time and energy on military training in the defence of our country, it is only right that we should look after them when they have completed their national service.

The employers, therefore, have a part to play in this respect. If the national servicemen are sure of getting jobs after their two years' training, then members of their families will have no worry about national service. This will enable the national servicemen to concentrate more on their training. In this way, they will contribute more to national defence.

Mr Speaker, Sir, notwithstanding what I have said, I have certain misgivings about the administration of this Bill. With the increase of national servicemen in years to come, the task of the Director of Employment, as provided in this Bill, will be made increasingly difficult. Therefore, there is bound to be some delay in the placement of jobs for the national servicemen. So I would like the Minister concerned to exercise proper supervision over the work of this department to ensure that it is efficient and effective and that there is proper liaison between the employers and the department.

As far as I know, Mr Speaker, at the present moment there is some delay in placing a national serviceman in a job. For example, after two years' training a national serviceman should be given a job as soon as possible by the Government or through the Government. But in some cases there is a delay of two to three months. I do not know what the reason is, but there is an undeniable delay. Therefore, we should take steps to remedy the situation to ensure that there is no delay.

Another point that I wish to raise with the Minister concerned is this. There are certain national servicemen recruited from the private sector. I do not know whether they are paid according to salary scales provided in the National Service Regulations or whether they continue to draw the same salary as they have drawn in private employment. If it is the practice to pay them according to the rates of pay given in the National Service Regulations, then they are at a great disadvantage, and I would like to ask why.

In any case, Mr Speaker, this is a good Bill in principle, because it looks after the interests of our national servicemen in respect of employment. I support it

3.38 p.m.

Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, shall answer the last speaker first, i.e., the Member for Sembawang. I will appreciate it very much if he can tell me of a system whereby a national serviceman, who is discharged today, can rightaway be placed in a job tomorrow, it is inevitable that there must be some delay in placing national servicemen in jobs. Usually we have very early notification from employers of the type of skills that they require. Meanwhile we have to match the requirements of the employer with the qualifications and experience of our discharged or about to be discharged national servicemen. When that is done, we have to write to the employers and send these national servicemen for interview. At the same time, we have to ask the national servicemen whether they do want jobs, because some of them, as I have said just now, have probably been offered jobs or have found jobs on their own. All this takes time. Therefore, if we can find a system to match the skills with the requirements so that the national servicemen can be sent to the employers on the day after their discharge. I think all of us will he most grateful and very happy for the Member's advice.

On the question of whether national servicemen will be paid the same salary that they have been getting while working outside, we have our own scales of pay in the Armed Forces. In the private sector different employers have different scales of pay. And if we were to accede to the suggestion made by the Member for Sembawang - that we should pay the national servicemen the same pay that they have been getting outside -then my Paymaster will probably have to include the hundreds of salary scales in the private sector. That, I think, is not feasible.

To answer the Member for Delta - as I have said, the system is working quite well now. We are able to place 98 per cent of the ex-national servicemen who were discharged in 1969 in jobs. Also because of the shortage of labour now, it would be quite unnecessary to enforce the Bill. That is the reason why I have said that it is not the intention of this Ministry to enforce this Bill even after it has been passed by Parliament.

On the question of whether we can make use of the present Labour Exchange to do this work, I think it would not be possible for the Labour Exchange, as it is constituted at present, to work efficiently as a job placement unit, in the M.I.D, just now, because the Ministry has a complete record of national servicemen with us. Therefore, when we receive the job specifications, it is easier for us to marry them to the requisite skills among the discharged national servicemen, Otherwise we have to send the whole lot of particulars of national servicemen to the Labour Exchange where the administration is probably not so au fait with military reports. This will cause further delay, and greater annoyance to the Member for Sembawang.

Of course, the principle here is that first priority for employment is to be given to national servicemen. We all hope the day will not come when the demand for labour will drop so that those who have not done their national service will also have the opportunity to be gainfully employed. At the moment things are going on all right. We are able, as I have said, to place all our ex-national servicemen in jobs. I have already indicated that there is nothing to prevent a national serviceman from seeking a job of his own if he wants to.

For the information of Members n general, and the Member for Whampoa in particular, there is a joint M.I.D./ Technical Education Committee looking into the possibility of giving training to ex-national servicemen who have had no training in any skills whatsoever while they were in the Armed Forces. As for improving their fluency in English, in fact, in the Armed Forces at the moment a conscripted national serviceman is given 180 hours' tuition in any language he desires. But we are looking further into it. When we first started. If a serviceman was educated in English, he was given the choice to take up either Chinese or Malay. If he was Chinese educated, he was given the choice to learn English or Malay. But after having worked on it for some time, I think a better method now will be to improve the fluency of the language in which the national serviceman is educated. Let us say a boy has a Secondary III education in English. The time will be more usefully spent if he can improve his fluency in English within the 180 hours of tuition, so that when he comes out he will be more fluent in English, Mandarin, or Malay, or whatever language he is educated in.

Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill, if enforced, compels an employer to register with us, so that first priority will be given to national servicemen for employment. But at the moment in the public sector - in the Public Service Commission, the Ministry of Health, and every other Ministry - we have given first priority to national servicemen. That is covered administratively. This is a promise which we have made, and we are keeping it.

I hope I have replied to all the questions raised or the doubts that have arisen in the minds of Members.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -[Mr Lim Kim San].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.