PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS DEBATE ON PRESIDENT (First Day)

Dr Chiang Hai Ding (Ulu Pandan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

`That the following Address in reply to the Speech of the President be agreed to:-

"We, the Parliament of the Republic of Singapore. express our thanks to the President for the Speech which he delivered on behalf of the Government at the opening of the First Session of this Parliament.".'

The President, in his succinct Address, presented a frank review of the main security, economic and social problems that our country will face in the next few years. He called upon Members of the House, especially those not holding office, to subject every major policy to the closest scrutiny. In this current debate we will miss the late Member for Radin Mas. He was a good friend and his was a cheerful presence in this House. Our thoughts must go to his widow and children. Our thoughts also today must go to the Member for Bukit Merah who lies stricken in hospital. Those of us who are present in the House today will surely heed the call of the President and do our duty. There is much to debate and there will be more to do afterwards.

In his Address, the President warned Singaporeans against soft options. There have been none. There can be none. Our people have paid their way, all the way. The General Elections of 1 976 demonstrate that Singaporeans are sophisticated; they reject attempts by opposition parties to beguile them with promises of "something for nothing" and "everything for less".

More Singaporeans today pay income tax than 10 years ago. In 1965 only 4% of the population paid income tax; today 8% do so. And the Singaporean is paying more as well. In 1965 he paid, in the form of income tax, property tax, estate duty, customs and excise, about l0% of his per capita income. Today, the Singaporean pays something closer to 20%. Only in this way has it been possible for Singaporeans to enjoy the quality of life that they do. It is never true that the best things in life are free. We have to work for them. Teachers do not teach our children for free. Doctors do not minister to their patients for free. The Housing and Development Board does not give away apartments. But the productivity of Singaporean and their contribution to the state coffers, make it possible for the state to subsidize, not give for free, education, medical treatment and housing.

Asian societies lay great store by proper education. Singapore is no exception. At the risk of repeating the obvious, we must guard against "over-education". In another island-economy. Taiwan, there are university graduates who do translations to earn $2.50 a day while carpenters earn $25 a day. Lest Members conclude that this is an Asian phenomenon, the "job crisis" plagues advanced economies as well. In France, universities are described as the "unemployment machine", because half the graduates in recent years cannot find jobs. From America in the northern hemisphere to Australia in the south, the story is the same. We cannot waste our limited resources to educate people who do not meet the needs of our economy. We cannot afford any waste. Of all the countries in the world. Singapore is the most dependent on imported food.

It is difficult to strike the right balance between higher standards of education so much desired by parents, and the proper type of education to provide their children with a bright future. The Ministry of Education is to be congratulated on correctly emphasising technical education which includes trade and artisan programmes conducted by the Industrial Training Board. I believe, however, that we must constantly ask ourselves whether we are doing enough to train Singapore professionals, in the banks, the insurance companies, in the fields of personnel management and the like. all of which are vital to the growth of our economy. The work of artisans must be complemented and supported by that of professionals. The strength of our economy is vital to our national resilience.

As the President noted, the Americans have departed from Vietnam and Thailand. There are new governments in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. There is only a residual and miniscule Western presence in Asia. When the Western powers depart, the political institutions they leave behind invariably go by the board. Very, very few of the countries of Asia and Africa, which became independent after World War II, have continued to work the democratic system they inherited; such a system consists of more than one political party and assumes the holding of periodic elections for the people to choose their representatives.

In Singapore, for the third time, the people have returned the PAP to all the seats in this House. Such a situation is possible in the British Parliament. It has not happened, but that is another story. It almost happened in the then Federation of Malaya. The Tunku's party, campaigning on a platform of Merdeka, won 51 of the 52 contested seats.

As Members well know, there are variations within the democratic system as described above. Countries in the Commonwealth which adopted the Westminster model will find it difficult to describe as democratic a government in which the chief executive, the President, is not elected, nor the Vice-President nor the Cabinet Ministers. This was the case in America after Watergate. Yet American writers insist that democracy in America exists and indeed flourishes. In that country, for the first 30 years after 1776, there was a loosely-structured one-party system of government. During George Washington's first presidency, all important differences of opinion were expressed within the government party, and the government party was a party of stability, dedicated to the belief that the first imperative of government in a new nation was to govern and sustain itself. Two pieces of legislation passed in 1798 are of particular interest to new nations. The Aliens and Sedition Acts gave the President the power to order out of the country any alien whom he thought dangerous to the public peace or whom he had reasonable grounds to suspect of plotting against his government. Such aliens did not have recourse to courts of law. The Sedition Act was intended to cope with citizens, or aliens, who too severely criticised the government. It was a serious offence "to publish a false or malicious writing against the Government of the United States, the President or Congress with the purpose of stirring up hatred or resistance against them."

Mr Speaker, Sir, perhaps we have more to learn from the Americans than merely their science and technology, their management skills and marketing know-how. But let us look ahead. A book on the "Limits to Growth" listed five basic factors that determine growth on this planet: population increase. agricultural production, nonrenewable resource depletion, industrial output and pollution generation. On a global scale, it is argued that unless mankind voluntarily imposes limits to growth. disaster will follow. Opposite viewpoints exist, of course. They argue that conditions in the world will become better and brighter.

Where is Singapore headed for? We do not even possess two of the factors listed which affect growth - agricultural production and non-renewable resource depletion. None of us would want to generate pollution unnecessarily. Must we inevitably reach our limits to growth? Or can we go on growing indefinitely? As a still emerging LDC (or less developed country), we have no option but to try to grow. Except population-wise. We have very finite resources. Ingenuity and technology can overcome some of the limiting factors. As we run out of land to build houses, we build high-rise apartments; and we reclaim land from the sea. As we run out of roads, we cut back on cars and we consider travelling underground. As the growth of our entrepot trade slowed down, we industrialised; and we developed banking, insurance and ancillary services to provide a living for our people.

We have overcome the limitations of our Island by linking our national economy with international and regional economies. The leadership, political and bureaucratic, have undoubtably given some thought to the long-range problems that confront our mini-state. The Ministry of Defence, for example, for which strategic planning is of the utmost importance, is considering National Service for women, as the population growth slows down because Singaporeans accept that "Two is Enough". We have done very well so far in the face of formidable odds. In the short-run, there will be difficulties, but these are not insurmountable.

But what of the long-term? Let all of us in this House, and others outside who are in the public as well as in the private sectors, give more serious and sustained consideration to our long-term development. The discussion of matters of our economic well-being leads us to what I believe to be the nub of the President's Address, which also received attention in the several Addenda of the Prime Minister, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Culture.

Singaporeans are told what we must not do as a people. We must "not abandon the cardinal precepts of our long-proven culture systems". We must not seek to model our lives on "Western mores and their contemporary life-styles". Our children will be taught not to adopt the "life-style and values of the West that are alien and pernicious to Singapore society." We are advised to "unequivocably uphold Asian precepts" and to provide our young with the "necessary cultural ballast against the erosion of traditional norms and values".

But what are these important, desirable things? The Prime Minister tells us what we ought not to be; we cannot be "a simple copying of either China, the Malaysian archipelago, or India, from whence most of our ancestors came. Nor can we be a copy of Britain." The Minister for Culture enjoins us to develop Singapore's "rich cultural heritage derived from the Malay, Chinese, Indian and western civilisations, and, through their cross-fertilization, to evolve a national identity." The Minister for Education believes that he has an action plan - "to inculcate social discipline and national identity and to imbue in pupils moral and civic values" through the subject called Education For Living. I am happy that we have begun to discuss this crucial subject.

But we have far to go before Singaporeans possess characteristics that can identify them as Singaporeans, that set us apart from others. For Singapore to thrive, we have to engender in Singaporeans an intense and passionate devotion and love for country. This cannot be legislated into existence.

As a student, I recall seeing a film based on the life of Chopin, composer, and pianist. He quit his homeland. He won fame. He enjoyed himself. He was the "constant companion" of the leading woman's libber of the age. One day, a Polish thought struck him. He was reminded that his country lay under foreign domination and that his compatriots were suffering. To bring home to Chopin the fact that he seemed to have forgotten his country, his visitor poured into his hands a little bag of earth brought from Poland. And Chopin wept as he saw and felt his native soil. He gave concerts to raise money for his country's struggle for freedom. And in so doing ruined his health and died. It is a romantic story but it is the patriotism that matters.

I was therefore saddened to hear over RTS the other night that three of our National Service officers (two of them medical doctors and one a university student) called up for National Service had shirked their responsibility. These men have no patriotism. They took all that Singapore can give them. Then they packed up and quit. They had put self above all else. These few are exceptions but they were well-instructed Singaporeans.

How do we go about inculcating patriotism? We start without some of the advantages enjoyed by other and older nations, such as a historical state with some claims to greatness, the existence of some inspiring monuments, memories of a long, heroic struggle against foreign invaders and colonizers. I do not have the answers. But the answer does not lie in the misbegotten subject Education For Living.

I believe that our children, in addition to knowing their mother tongue, must also learn the history of the countries whence their ancestors came, why they came, what they had to endure, what factors enabled them to survive, to develop and to prosper, and how they have come to found a nation - Singapore. Indeed, as a matter of deliberate policy, we have to encourage our children to identify with places and events, and especially people in Singapore. Who was Cheang Hong Lim who had a square named after him and who until recently was represented in this House? What of Hoo Ah Kay, popularly known as Whampoa, a name given to an electoral division, which was once eliminated, then resuscitated? Many Members represent constituencies named after people whose lives have meaning, interest and instruction for our young, such as Aljunied, Braddell, Kuo Chuan and Mountbatten. I must not forget MacPherson constituency represented by the Minister for Education.

When we have a shared and active knowledge of our past as a means to appreciate the contributions of the people who settled here, then we can dream of a common future. When will Singaporeans begin to have such a dream? A dream such as an American freedom-fighter had. Martin Luther King in his most famous speech, made just before he was assassinated, said,

`I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.'

Mr Speaker, Sir, in the last one dozen years we have begun to build a new Singapore, independent and sovereign. The physical landscape has changed almost beyond recognition in many parts of our island. However, our children need to possess a common hope for the future, a vision common to them all, a Singapore dream, which will inspire them, create new sensitivities and release their energies to build upon what we have already achieved. Then when our children raise their glasses to a toast Wo Kuo Wan Suay they will be pledging, "My country, will live 10,000 years".

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.00 p.m.

Mr J. F. Conceicao (Katong): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Motion of the Member for Ulu Pandan.

The results of the Elections of 1976 showed that the Government received strong support from the working classes including those who were relatively less well-off, for example, those who lived in one-room flats in HDB premises. The Ministry of Labour report of the labour force survey. 1976, indicated that 27% of employed persons received under $200 a month, while 42% received between $200-$399, and this amounts to nearly 70% of the population of employed persons. And it could not have been but that the bulk of these people and their family connections voted for us. It should therefore be the Government's right aim to continue to devote as much of its resources as possible towards improving the lot of these people.

During the last elections, some opposition candidates moved hither and thither chattering about building a caring society as though this Government did not care for the people. Included among the goodies many opposition candidates were trying to sell was the offer of subsidised living. Correctly, as the Member for Ulu Pandan has pointed out, the voters refused to buy this. It is not through sentimental concepts that the quality of life of our people is best improved but that our compassion for our people should be the basis of sound, careful, determined planning and execution of policy to bring about improvements for our people.

Throughout the years since 1959 through a careful husbanding of our resources, spending has been made possible on improved provisions towards building a better society all round. Whatever the area of Government effort a Member of Parliament may find himself particularly interested in, he can assure himself of significant successes achieved in that particular area of Government activity. For example. I have been particularly interested in educational development and I have tried to make myself a little knowledgeable regarding Government's efforts in this area. There is no doubt that by any criteria. including those applied by foreign education experts. the Government's achievements in education have been impressive.

The burden of the Education Ministry, in the addendum, is the qualitative improvement of our education provision, which can only be a consequence of the Government's past practical achievements, one of which most people think has been in overcoming the problem of numbers by giving a place to every child in primary school. Certainly this has been one attainment but, in my mind, one of the outstanding achievements has been in the breakthrough, number-wise as well as in terms of the diversification of provisions, in the area of secondary schooling. In 1959, the percentage of persons of the correct age enrolled in primary schools was 88%. In 1975, this percentage rose to over 98%. In 1959, the percentage of persons of correct age enrolled in secondary schools was 19% while in 1975 the number rose to about 50%. More significantly Secondary I enrolments increased from 11.5% in 1959 to nearly 55% in 1975. namely the enrolment in Secondary I rose from about 4.000 to over 30,000. While Primary I enrolment of those persons aged 6 increased by nearly 27% between 1959 and 1975, the enrolment in Secondary I of persons aged 12 increased by more than 7 1/2 times. As secondary education was closely related to better job opportunities, does this not show how practically and realistically the Government cared?

In 1959, the then Finance Minister who is now Deputy Prime Minister showed with what dismay he viewed the problem of providing education for the increasing number of children having to attend school. The Minister said [Hansard, Vol. 11, col. 785, 25.11.59]:

`The large number of babies born every year may be a welcome testimony to the virility of the population but it Sets in Store problems of nightmarish proportions for the Finance Minister.'

Does this not display anxiety? Does this not show that the Government cared in such a way that the Government showed itself financewise firmly committed to educational development? From 1960 to the present year, allocations for education have shown continuous growth. In 1964, despite a fall in the GNP and also a fall in Government recurrent expenditure generally. educational recurrent expenditure went up 9.2% over the previous year's expenditure.

Other MPs who are interested in other fields may well record the same sense of responsible concern in other areas.

But apart from concern being expressed in policy action there are indications, throughout the various addenda of more specifically humane considerations - for example: the concern for industrial safety and health expressed in the very concrete steps that are being planned, including the establishment of an occupational safety and health institute; the thinking manifested in the intention of the Ministry of Health to lay greater emphasis on primary health care, preventive medicine and health education; the sympathy for the old expressed in the establishment of the home nursing foundation. Such measures illustrate a practical concern for people, not a sentimental indulgence in vague expressions of care.

Indeed, Sir, going through the various addenda to the President's Address, one is struck by the very tangible, material, concrete, rational, hard-headed proposals outlined. Although the addenda relate to general policy declarations, we can read about percentage growth, extension of national service to women, National Wages Council, the expansion of the domestic telephone network, and so on, including even the trite (but still particular) intention of the Ministry of Science to launch a follow-up to the Science and Industry Quiz.

However, when we stray to some areas covered by the addenda on the Education and Culture Ministries, we find that we have wandered into a rather misty, if not actually foggy environment, where the landscape has become diffused, and the configuration a little blurred.

The Ministry of Culture is concerned with evolving a national cultural identity and will organise activities to promote a better appreciation of our cultural heritage, and in the process protect our young against the erosion of traditional norms and values. Later on, Sir, when we come to the debate in the Committee of Supply, I hope we will hear from the Minister concerned, the specifics of such action as his Ministry intends to take. I remember, Sir, a bitter complaint from an official of the People's Association about what a budget official once asked. It seems that at a meeting with budget officials, the People's Association representative stated that his agency was involved in efforts to build a sense of national identity, and inculcate the right values in our people. The Treasury official was very impressed and asked the PA official how many good Singaporeans the PA had produced. Perhaps the question was a heartless one, but it indicates the difficulty of a hard assessment of this thing called "values".

Despite this difficulty, Sir, we find the addendum on the Ministry of Education declaring that great pains will be taken to ensure that pupils imbibe the tried, not simply tried and tested Asian cultural and moral values but the tried and tested Asian cultural and moral values. I shall ask the Ministry to tell me since they appear to have already identified the tried and tested virtues, what these virtues are and how they propose to teach these values.

Mr Speaker, Sir, one of the pillars of development in our society has been the success in our family planning policy. With an appropriate reduction in the growth of our population we are now able to plan for measures more effectively, measures that it would have been difficult to envisage as possible even 10 years ago, because money that we will now be able to spend on these measures would otherwise have gone on the spending of less and less money on more and more people. Yet in some ways family planning would have gone against the traditional grain. Family planning is a modern idea in the sense it is administered today. Traditional agrarian cultures (whether east or west) would extol the virtues of a large family.

To show that values may be difficult to determine. and undergo change, let us just observe what they are doing to Confucius in China today. They are calling him sage of the reactionary classes. Yesterday's Confucian stipulation of three cardinal guides, namely, that subject must be guided by sovereign, son must be guided by father, and wife must be guided by husband, has been described in Mao-thought as the authorities - political, clan and masculine authorities - that are the embodiment of the whole feudal system and ideology and the thick ropes binding the Chinese people, particularly the peasants. It is interesting to note how the Chinese today reject male chauvinism - a point that this all-male house might find worthy to note. In China again, today, the ideologues have attributed a highly sinister political motivation to the Confucian aim of Yu chiao wu /ui which was traditionally taken to mean giving education irrespective of class barriers. This has been described by Chinese communists as humbug, as they think that Confucian modes were designed to make the masses pliable instruments in the hands of the rulers.

Even when you think of literature as containing lessons, in a spate of criticism of Water Margin in 1975, Chairman Mao was noted as having pointed out that the merit of the book Water Margin lay precisely in the portrayal of capitulation - meaning, of course, capitulation to the feudal principles; and Mao pointed out that Water Margin served as a teaching material by negative example to help all the people recognise capitulationism. Even Ge un suo neng, an lao fen p'ei will change if the communist millennium is attained.

When we talk of values, therefore, let us talk of values - for what purposes, just like the Chinese in China today discuss their values in terms of the political aims and in terms of the practical condition of their society today. What is the kind of society we want to develop? Let us start with this idea that we want a society that is reasonably secure and properly educated with reasonable prospects for economic advancement. We therefore stress economic development, dissemination of modern techniques and rational attitudes with full exploitation of the mass media to disseminate those attitudes and to change traditional outlooks that stand in the path of development and in the path of modernisation. We realise the importance of industrialisation and urbanisation, the establishment of a management elite, bureaucratisation that is necessary, the espousal of analytic intelligent modes of social appraisal, the inculcation of a sense of common destiny and belonging and the inculcation of humane and loyal regard as between one citizen and another. I do not think that this is an unreasonable statement of social aim for Singapore. But whether people agree with me totally, or disagree with what I have said partially or even totally, there must be a social aim underlying the kind of values we want to give our people.

This may be illustrated by the experience of Japan. When the Japanese experienced the emergence of a modern constitutional government and the build-up of their administrative system of a modern unified state, the education system underwent changes. There emerged a two-tier structure of education in which elementary education confined to basic literacy and numeracy attached importance to ethics, moral education to foster Japanese citizens who would acquire the ethics of the family system and pledge allegiance to the family and the community. At the apex, the educational system positively adopted the modern civilisation of the West, emphasised science, developed an elite to engage in the operation of modern technology and managerial organisation.

Let me emphasise. Sir, that in their basic education, the Japanese emphasised the importance of fostering Japanese values. In our case instead of stressing Singapore references, as the Member for Ulu Pandan has recommended, we are thinking of Asian values.

`I have very serious doubts as to whether such a thing as "Asian values" really exist... It may exist as an image but it has no reality. If it has any meaning at all it is merely a convenient way of describing the heterogeneous, conflicting and complex network of beliefs, prejudices and values developed in the countries which for geographical purposes have been grouped as being in Asia'.

Sir, these are not my words, although I agree fully with them. These words constitute a quotation from a recent publication. Asian Values and Modernisation. page 95, and belong to our own Foreign Minister who goes on later to emphasise that.

`there is much in traditional values (whether Asian, Western or African) which are far more modern and more likely to give impetus to modernisation than some contemporary values.'

The point I am making is that we have to ponder and select, and the basis is what I have already referred to - relevance to Singapore's development and her people's harmonious living.

However, a further point has to be made. It is not only the children in our schools who need to be educated to values that will contribute to Singapore's development and the harmonious living of our people. The adult citizens of our Republic have to be continually exposed to the play of influences that will result in further improvement to our society.

The sooner we get rid of the idea that education is principally the responsibility of the Education Ministry, or that education takes place in a certain location, for example, schools, within a certain period in a day, viz, according to the class time-table, on certain days, that is those that are not school holidays - the sooner we get rid of this idea that education is confined to a certain place and time, the better. It is our people as a whole who need continuing education, not only those of school age. In Singapore those who are receiving education or who have recently received education are exposed to a whole weight of influence of those who have not been fortunate recipients of much schooling.

A study of the Labour Ministry's report on the labour force survey, 1976, would show that of the total number of persons over 10 years of age, 23% have received secondary education and beyond. At the same time. 23% have never attended school. The higher the age group the higher the percentage of those with little schooling or none at all. I have learnt from the Social Welfare Department that they have estimated that for 1974, among the population over 50 years. 94% had less than secondary education while 83% had no qualifications attained whatsoever.

Again, out of a total of over 910,000 economically active persons, of those under 30, 48% have received schooling up to secondary school and beyond, while only 3 1/2% have never attended school. This is our achievement. However, of those above 40, 1 5% have received schooling up to secondary level and beyond, while 45% have never attended school. In addition, of those above 40 in the economically active population, 40% have less than secondary education. This is in addition to the 45% who have never attended school. If we assume that one of our treasured Confucian values still prevails - that of the influence of the elders over younger persons - then we must reckon with the problem of the influence of the relatively unschooled over the relatively better schooled. I must make it clear that those with less formal schooling can and do certainly convey good values to our younger citizens. But the pace of change in Singapore makes it necessary for those in the older age groups to be continually exposed to such influences as will contribute to the harmonious growth of our society. And in my mind, the Education Ministry may well be the least qualified to perform this task. The Education Ministry does not even seem to be able to highlight effectively the work of its own Adult Education Board, judging by the "press" the AEB was given in the addendum on the Education Ministry.

Indeed, other Ministries have seemed to understand better the importance of continuing education. The Ministry of Finance has contributed significantly to educational investment through its joint training schemes, and other programmes; and we see from its addendum that it will spend more on its training centres, and that it has a programme in view to induce owners or managers of small enterprises to learn to optimise use of personnel and equipment and improve marketing capacity.

Then the Ministry of Labour has its Productivity Board which will help further in training of supervisors and junior and middle-management executives. The Ministry of Health has stated its objective of organising regular national health campaigns; I have no doubt that the Environment Ministry which as a training and education department has its own programmes of public instruction which I hope will include education in the area of anti-pollution measures. And, of course, the Ministry of Culture as we have seen has its own activities geared towards the cultural development of Singaporeans.

The foregoing indicates that we have a very efficient infrastructure, spread throughout the Government network, for public education. I think that there is one theme that this network should go all out to stress, and that is, the Singaporean has to be given example in as many ways as possible, of how he has to balance his own self-interest against the interest of the other person, for this other person represents the interest of the community.

This can be done in many tangible ways. For example, in the civil service and statutory bodies - I know they are working hard on this - efforts should be made constantly to temper action with humane consideration. It should be made clear to motorists prone to selfishness and irresponsibility that they will not get away, as they are doing in large numbers, with what we should consider unSingaporean behaviour. Those employers, managers and supervisors whose negligence or even lack of forethought has caused industrial accidents or ill-health should be given their own lessons on consideration and responsibility. At the level of organisation of neighbourhood groups in HDB and other areas, the emphasis should be on consideration and cooperation. Here the question of noise nuisance arises. Perhaps the Government could explore thoroughly the feasibility of stricter measures and legislation to combat noise pollution. Those who offend in other forms of pollution should be brought to book with despatch. In all these areas, Government agencies should set a special example. We must also remember that in national service everything must be done to instil in national servicemen a proper regard for one another.

With the improved deployment of police national servicemen to fight crime, the quality of behaviour of people towards one another should improve with the added sense of security gained. And we should not forget our old people. Many of our very old people. because many of them were foreign-born, have no relatives or few people to depend on. The burden will not be great for the State to give greater assistance to such cases, although we should stress that the old should be taken care of by their children or nearest relatives, as far as possible.

Finally, Sir,I refer to the expressed intention of Finance to introduce a new style budget. It is not clear what the details are, and I hope you are not thinking that I have made a startling jump from the question of inculcation of human values to the question of budget. Actually, Sir,I suspect that our new style budget will contain elements of what has been described as Programme, Planning, Budgeting System (PPBS). This system was at first enthusiastically adopted in the United States during the time of Lyndon Johnson who thought of this system as a modern management tool that would enable a finer life to be brought to every American at the least possible cost. The expectations were inflated. However, for whatever budget system we adopt, there will still remain the necessity for good interpersonal relations between Finance officials and officials from other ministries in order to make the system work. Here is another area where good example of Singaporeans working together may be given.

3.24 p.m.

Mr Goh Chok Tong (Marine Parade): Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully support the Motion moved by the Membei for Ulu Pandan in expressing our thanks to the President for his Address at the opening of this Parliament.

The general tenor of the President's Address and the various ministerial policy statements is that we must work even harder, keep costs in check, be vigilant, so that we may achieve a modest economic growth rate of 6-8% per annum. Few Singaporeans, if any, should dispute this and the underlying philosophy of the Government, "From each his best, to each his worth", as we in Singapore are like men in a boat rowing upstream. We have to keep on rowing just to remain stationary. To make progress we have to row with all our might. If we stop rowing we will be pushed back by the current. This is the inescapable fact of life of nations without natural resources.

The Minister for Finance in his addendum to the Presidential Address has not stated whether the 6-8% expected growth rate is real growth or growth in monetary terms. I presume it is the former. Still, it would be interesting to know what sort of inflation rate has been allowed for. The world is fearful of another bout of inflation. Inflation hits different people with different force. It may be good for the businessmen but it crushes the salaried employees and the lower income group. In reviving the vitality of our economy, it is my hope that this is being done without the orchestral accompaniment of inflation.

We also do not know whether the expected growth in the country will be export-led or generated mainly by domestic pump-priming. We know, however, that the Government will make finance for exports more easily available. This is a correct step. It is important that future growth in Singapore be export-led. Singapore has always recorded a chronic deficit in merchandise trade. This is not worrying per se as we have no natural resources and must import most of the things we need. What is worrying, however, is the continuous growth of the deficit. Our merchandise trade balance recorded, for example, a deficit of $3.0 billion in 1972. In 1975, it has doubled to over $6.0 billion. The deterioration can be partly attributed to world-wide inflation and the sharp increase in crude-oil prices. But it also signals the need to pay more attention to exports.

Overall, however, our balance of payments is healthy. It has a surplus of $700 million, for example, in 1974, though this was reduced in 1975. The strength of our international payments situation is reflected in the strength of our currency. But the strength of our balance of payments is derived mainly from the capital account, owing principally to the inflow of foreign investment and foreign funds. But we cannot always expect foreign investments to flow in in abundance. The point which I wish to make here. Mr Speaker, Sir, is that as a people we must export in order to pay for our imports. We cannot always depend on capital inflows. If Japan, which has relatively little natural resources, can have current account surpluses, so can we, provided we work hard for it. I suggest, Mr Speaker, Sir, that Government highlights the performance of our domestic exports just as we always highlight economic growth rates.

I move now to a problem associated with economic growth - job-hopping. I note that official disincentives are now being considered to discourage job-hopping. Job-hopping is not an easy problem to tackle, for whilst we should discourage job-hopping, defined simply as too many frivolous job changes in too short a time, we should not strangle genuine labour mobility. In an expanding economy with new industries being set up, labour. like all resources, must be efficiently allocated. The market mechanism, the invisible hand, generally allocates economic resources amongst competing uses effectively. The more perfect the market mechanism the better. Job-hopping is, therefore, a consequence of too rapid an economic growth more than a cause of economic ills. Let me make it clear that I am not supporting job-hopping - I am against it, but if job-hopping becomes a national disease, we should not just stop it through legislation - we should look into the cause of it.

Labour turnover should, therefore, be monitored. I am not sure that this is being done. I would like to suggest here a source for improving the timeliness. range and quality of labour statistics. As all employers have to make Central Provident Fund contributions on behalf of their employees, this is a good source for labour statistics. This source has not been sufficiently tapped and much labour force data which could be a by-product of CPF collections have to be separately collected. Admittedly, the CPF Board does not require labour statistics in the administration of its responsibilities and is therefore understandingly reluctant to incur expenditure for its own account to capture and process labour data for use in the formulation of national labour and economic policies. I suggest the Government look into the possibility of using the CPF machinery to compile salient data on labour for use in economic and manpower planning. No doubt, expenditure beyond the requirement of CPF will have to be incurred. Government should bear this extra cost, if necessary, and not let this be the reason for preserving the status quo. A Minister's judgement is no better than his information. In other words, wrong economic policies through lack of prompt and reliable data are more costly than the expenditure incurred on the collection of such nationally important statistics.

Turning now to maritime and port services, I note with surprise that the Ministry of Communications is developing new transportation technologies and facilities to "regain Singapore's position as the regional warehousing and transhipment centre". I thought we have always remained pre-eminent in our position as a regional transhipment centre. I never realized we have lost our status! But let us be even bolder and more imaginative and not stop short at being just a regional transhipment centre. We can, because of our geographical position, be an international shipping interchange or a world transhipment centre. Shipping systems have been revolutionized over the last few years with the advent of containerization. Ports can become obsolete if they do not keep up with development in ship designs. Investment in containerships exceeds investment in port facilities. With such expensive investment in ships, shipowners must maximize usage of the ships through fast turn-round and high load factors. Singapore can help shipping companies achieve this.

I shall give an example of how we can become a world transhipment centre. The Far East/Europe trade is characterized by imbalance - more cargoes move from East to West than the other way round. If sufficient shipping space is provided for the Westbound traffic, there will naturally be surplus space Eastbound. For the Australia/Singapore trade, there is a deficiency of containerizable Southbound cargoes to Australia. If handling costs in Singapore are kept low, as they could because of efficient operations, Eastbound ships in the Far East/Europe service could use their surplus space to carry Europe to Australia containers for transhipment in Singapore onto Southbound ships in the Australia/Singapore service. Trade between Mediterranean ports and Australia could similarly be transhipped in Singapore. So too could cargoes moving from Australia/New Zealand to West Asia. We should, therefore, strive to be a world transhipment centre and not just rest on our laurels as a regional warehousing and transhipment centre.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the motion of the Member for Ulu Pandan in expressing our thanks to the President for his Address.

3.35 p.m.

Mr Ang Nam Piau (Thomson): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, since taking part in democratic elections in Singapore the People's Action Party scored the highest number of votes in the last elections. The people of Singapore have not only endorsed the mandate of the PAP but they have also given us the highest percentage of votes since the implementation of parliamentary democratic system in 1955. This shows that our electorate are not only aware of the problems ahead but they also have great confidence in the PAP in view of our achievements since we took office 1 7 years ago. They have expressed confidence in the able and experienced leadership of our Party to ably solve problems, particularly in the wake of slower economic growth.

Since the people have expressed such confidence in our Government, we must not let them down. We must plan and tackle our national affairs carefully and look after the livelihood of the people effectively. In the last 17 years although our Government have good performances, there have also been inevitable shortcomings. Therefore, I hope that in the years to come we will be able to carry out our policies with circumspection and care before implementation.

Mr Speaker, Sir, having read the policy speech delivered by the President on 8th February at the opening of the First Session of this Parliament, I would say that this is a document that sums up the Government's policy over the next five years. Such guidelines are based on the experience that we have gained to deal with the current situation before us. They form a comprehensive body of policy for the Government. Of course, there are certain portions or points that call for our criticism. I am sure Members will actively take part in the debate on such matters.

For lack of time. I will be brief in my speech. I wish to bring up only two matters now for the special attention of the Government. I will bring up the other matters from time to time at subsequent sittings of this Parliament. The first matter I would like to focus attention on is the hope of our people that the Government will pay attention to the civil service so that civil servants will be able to discharge their duties and responsibilities courteously and efficiently. Civil servants are expected to be fair but firm in dealing with the public. They should not try to pass the buck from one section to another, from one officer to another, or even from one Ministry to another, as this causes great inconvenience to the public. It is also the hope of the people that civil servants who are arrogant, highhanded and corrupted will be severely punished.

The second matter I would like to bring up for special attention is the desire of the general salaried class for a proper adjustment of the income tax system, particularly an increase in the amount for personal reliefs. The current income tax law was implemented as far back as 1947. It has been in force some 30 years now, and is antiquated. Practically, there has been little or no change at all to this law. Compared to the cost of living 30 years ago, the present cost of living is a far cry from the time when this income tax law was passed. The cost of living today has risen many times over, so much so that salaried workers find it unbearable. Therefore, it is only proper that the tax system, in particular the personal relief for the working class, should be adjusted accordingly as soon as possible.

Apart from these matters, I would say that the policy speech delivered by the President is a correct one that augurs a bright future before us. Therefore, on behalf of my electorate. I would like to express my thanks to the President and also my support for the policy speech.

3.40 p.m.

Dr Lau Teik Soon (Serangoon Gardens): Mr Speaker, Sir,I rise to support most firmly the Motion of Thanks moved by the Member for Ulu Pandan.

The President in his Address has rightly emphasised that the Republic's economic and security prospects are dependent upon, among other factors, the developments and changes occurring in the international environment. Significant events are taking place in great power relationships and their policies towards various states, and these have profound implications on our national security and economic development. For example, the withdrawal of the United States from the region and the American efforts to establish official relations with Vietnam will have impact on our foreign and defence policies and on our economic relations with countries in Southeast Asia. We have, therefore, to be constantly aware of the political realities in the world and accordingly respond to them so that our national security and economic development can be maintained. The Government, under able and dynamic leadership, has pursued imaginative policies and tough measures which have been tested and in the main proven to be the most appropriate in ensuring our national security and economic growth. Such policies have been explained in the Addenda on the various Ministries to the President's Address. It is my contention that it is upon these policies that the Republic will progress and prosper in the years ahead.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Addendum on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clearly reiterated the sound and effective policy of the Government in the Republic's relations with other countries. In our contacts with the major powers, our policy is to remain non-involved in their conflicts. At the same time, we seek to avoid actions which can bring about the dominance of the region by a single great power. In the region, we seek to cooperate with our ASEAN neighbours and to effectively implement economic cooperation in accordance with the agreement reached at the Bali Summit. I firmly support all these policies. Moreover, what strikes me as a forward and bold statement is the view expressed in the Addendum that regional cooperation should not merely stop at ASEAN. Within the region, there are other states which are not members of ASEAN. Differing political and social systems can coexist and cooperate for their mutual interests. Presently there are difficulties between countries in the region, which must be prevented from escalating into open warfare. Some ways must be found so that consultations can begin among the concerned parties. I hope that the Government will endeavour to encourage the other Southeast Asian governments to cooperate in social and economic matters on a bilateral basis, and possibly, hold joint discussions on issues that affect the peace and security of Southeast Asia. I suggest that the idea of a Southeast Asian Forum be considered and hopefully convened so that all Southeast Asian governments can not only discuss matters of mutual interest but also reaffirm the general principles of peaceful coexistence. If mutual fears and suspicions can be removed through this exercise, then it would have been worthwhile indeed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, Singaporeans must constantly be aware of the threat to our national security. The President's Address mentions that the specific threat to the Republic is the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). The ultimate objective of the CPM is the overthrow of the constitutionally elected government, and their means of achieving this are through armed violence, infiltration and subversion. The struggle against the CPM and their front organizations is a continuous one because the CPM will never give up their objective to overthrow the government. Hence, all loyal citizens must do their part to prevent the communists and their united front from seizing power or subverting the people.

The recent General Elections in December 1976 have shown that there is overall acceptance of national service and the need for everyone to be involved in the defence of the country. And it is this sense of involvement that should govern our national service policy. In this connection. I support whole-heartedly the suggestion contained in the Addendum on the Ministry of Defence that national service be extended to women, for a start, on a selective basis to fill up non-combat posts. It is good that our women have a greater opportunity to play a role in the defence of our country. However, may I suggest that two other possibilities be considered to ensure adequate manpower and to economise defence expenditure. Firstly, is it not possible to fill the non-combat posts by calling up those who have been exempted or deferred on some minor medical or financial grounds? From their year of exemption or deferment, many of them in these categories should have improved their physical and financial conditions sufficiently enough to take on their responsibility which their colleagues had shouldered earlier. Secondly, is it not possible to call up those in the volunteer force to perform certain security duties and thereby release the full-time national servicemen or regulars for other roles? On this point. I hope the Ministry of Defence will review the training of volunteers in the People's Defence Force and to expand this unit which is especially useful. For where else can adults volunteer for military service in times of crises except in the People's Defence Force? If these suggestions are taken, it will be a move towards near total involvement of every man and woman in the defence of our Republic.

Mr Speaker, Sir, bearing in mind the uncertainties of the future, it is absolutely necessary to maintain political stability and guard against the forces, of violence and chaos. It saddens me to note that there are some among us who are susceptible to the propaganda and persuasion of the communists. For example, they become members of the communist united front and support the strategy of the Euro-communists. They are naive to believe that the Euro-communists are different from Asian communists; they forget that the latter had formed united fronts or coalition governments with non-communist parties but subsequently when they achieved power, they exerted totalitarian rule and removed all opposition. Those Singaporeans who support the united front commit the highest form of treachery against the nation. It is unforgiveable that they should lend support to those who seek to destroy the very society that has brought benefits to them. Such disloyal elements deserve the severest form of punishment.

The Addendum on the Ministry of Home Affairs mentions that the Ministry will continue to seek out and destroy communist underground organisations and it will neutralize those whom the communists use as united front leaders. The electorate in the recent elections have voted for the retention of the Internal Security Act which empowers the Government to detain the subversive, anti-national and disloyal elements without going through the process of a public trial. Our people recognize that such anti-national elements are merely tools of the communists and that they are a threat to the political stability of the country and their means of livelihood. Hence, they deserve to be detained. Further, I suggest that these anti-national elements be deprived of certain rights and privileges, such as housing and medical facilities which are enjoyed by our law-abiding citizens.

Mr Speaker, Sir, policies in one Ministry cannot be isolated from policies in another Ministry, especially when they affect national security. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may implement policies designed to prevent interference in our internal affairs, the Ministry of Defence may move towards total involvement of all men and women in our defence, and the Ministry of Home Affairs may prevent continuing subversion of our youths. Such policies will achieve greater effectiveness if our men and women are convinced of the need for them.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the President's Address mentions that there are the small misguided groups who fall prey to the Marxists, Trotskyites or the New Left. The Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office states that the young have only faint memories of the crises and hardships of the last 20 years and this can be a source of weakness in terms of their ability to meet the challenges ahead.

The Addendum on the Ministry of Education mentions that greater emphasis will be placed on bilingual education and on technical education. I think this is very necessary because we need to learn the science and technology of the West and to broaden our industrial base. However, in view of the security threat and the susceptibility of our youths to the pernicious values of the West and the persuasions of the New Left, the Ministry of Education should focus on these aspects of education, namely, the education of youths to maintain and develop their traditional values and, more important, to understand the crises and hardships that Singapore went through and to recognise the security threat that faces Singapore. Then they will be better geared to counteract the massive and persuasive influences of the West and the New Left.

The Addendum on the Ministry of Education states that the aim of the subject. Education for Living, is to inculcate social discipline and national identity and to imbue in pupils moral and civic values. I think this is a commendable effort, but I would suggest two modifications. Firstly, it is my belief that the target group that needs moral and civic education is the secondary and pre-University students. Presently. Education for Living is being taught to children from six to eleven years, which is the age group that needs it less because they are young enough to listen to and follow the instructions of their parents and they have less opportunities to socialise out of their school or family environments. This is the reverse in the case of the adolescents who are beginning to become independent of their parents and, more important, who are beginning to be exposed to western values through the advertisements, the cinemas and other information media. At this stage too, the values that were taught in the Education for Living lessons in the primary school could well have been forgotten. Secondly, there is presently very little historical content in Education for Living and children leave primary schools without any understanding of national history, especially of the critical periods that Singapore experienced since World War II. Without such awareness, how are they to understand the implications of certain of their actions or the dangers of communist infiltration and subversion? I suggest therefore that the Ministry of Education considers the extension of Education for Living to the secondary schools and that the historical development of Singapore, in particular. the periods of crises and hardships be included in the curriculum. Education for Living with History should be taught as a compulsory subject in the secondary schools.

Finally, Mr Speaker, Sir, it is very clear from the President's Address and in the Addendum on the various Ministries that Singapore faces uncertain economic and political conditions ahead. It is evident that all Singaporeans must make the necessary sacrifices for the sake of the country. It is axiomatic, therefore, that we are constantly guided by this precept, which has been stressed by the President. `From each his best, to each his worth'.

Mr Yeo Choo Kok (Delta): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, this Parliament is one in which the Government has got the highest votes and the biggest number of seats ever since 1955. This has come about because of the heightened political consciousness of the voters and their trust in the PAP. But this overwhelming support does not mean that Government departments can do what they like and implement measures unilaterally without a close scrutiny by Parliament. Soon after the results of the general elections were made known, the Minister for Health while commenting on the general elections said that the general elections had shown that from then on the Government would slightly change its practice to allow a wider debate on matters in the House, particularly questions relating to finance and its policy. He also quoted examples, such as the surcharge on PUB bills and the additional road tax on vehicles, which were imposed without a debate in Parliament. At this juncture when there is increasing political awareness among the voters, I hope this kind of incident will not happen again. Otherwise. Backbenchers will be deprived of the opportunity to conscientiously air the opinion of the people in this House.

The President, in his speech at the opening of this Parliament, said that "No major policy or legislation should be passed without the closest scrutiny". This would be the new direction for Government practice hereafter. I hope that all Government departments in the administration of policy will abide by this direction and give the Backbenchers sufficient data and time to study and discuss any major policy or legislation.

Sir, the Government firmly believes in the maxim "From each according to his ability, to each according to his performance." The Government should put this maxim into practice thoroughly in the fields of administration and education. To allow the phenomenon of over-rewarding vis-a-vis actual performance to continue in some semi-official organisations, including higher institutions of learning, is not only a waste of public funds but also, if not checked in time, damaging to the reputation of the Government. Should the Government give these high-salaried perfunctory people who have made no contribution the chance to exist, it will be a mockery to the maxim of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his performance."

From the Addendum on the Ministry of Defence, we come to learn that national service will very likely be extended to women. I believe that in a one-man-one-vote equal society where both sexes are equal, the women also have a similar obligation to defend the country. At present, there is no lack of women in the uniformed groups in the schools. I suggest that the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education should jointly recruit these women cadets, after leaving school, into national service or for employment therein.

Sir, the Ministry of Education does not seem to have found the correct and effective way to realise the fixed objectives. This can be seen from the unstable administration manifested by the, constant changes in curricula and directives issued every year. Educational directives issued in the morning are only to be changed in the evening, so that teachers become confused, not knowing what to follow, and it is the students who suffer eventually. According to a recent newspaper report, there has been an increase in crime among the students, including girls. If the teachers have lost their heads or direction, how can we expect them to be in a position or mood to look after the extra curricular well-being of the students? I hope the Ministry of Education will very soon be able to come out with ways and means to realise educational objectives that have been formulated.

Another matter is air pollution which is increasing. With urban renewal and an increase in the number of high-rise flats, factories everywhere and growing congestion in public transport more and more obnoxious gases are emitted which are harmful to health. In the city in particular, the high-rise buildings and flats that line the roads and streets prevent the dispersion of obnoxious gases emitted by buses and other transport vehicles. If this situation persists it will undesirably affect the health of flat dwellers in the city area. In other major metropolis such as Tokyo and Los Angeles, the danger to human health posed by this kind of air pollution has reached disquieting proportions. Just as the Addendum on the Ministry of Environment concludes, "If air pollution is not checked early, its effects, may be irreversible." So I hope the Ministry concerned will take early measures to check pollution.

One of the much treasured traditional virtues is that one should on all accounts live by one's hands, The Social Welfare Department and the units in charge of hawkers should be reminded of this virtue. This virtue should not be damaged by their restrictions imposed on the over-sixties. In Singapore where the standard of medical services is good, the opportunity and the ability to make a living do not necessarily stop at 60. Therefore, people of 60 years of age should not necessarily be prohibited from hawking and encouraged to live on welfare aid. We should judge hawkers on their individual merits and support those who are able enough to be hawkers. It has been reported that the Social Welfare Department is planning to provide interest-free loans to assist those who need help to operate small businesses. This is a good start.

The President pointed out in his speech that "we should not seek to model our lives on Western social mores and their contemporary life-styles." This is a very correct and clear directive. I hope the Government in every field of its administration will try its best to keep and maintain those good but non-Western lifestyles, and endeavour to preserve, within the spirit and bounds of the law, oriental colours that would not obstruct our progress.

4.07 p.m.

Encik Mansor Haji Sukaimi (Kampong Kembangan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I stand today in this House with a very sad heart because at this very moment a very close colleague of mine, a good teacher, a good guide, is having his last rites at the crematoria, and I pray that God will bless the soul of the late Mr N. Govindasamy. I was with him only last Friday, talking about what we would speak in Parliament. He gave me hints on how I should address you, Sir; how I should speak in this House, what possible issues we could discuss; and today I have missed his company.

I am sadder still to know, Sir, that a very close friend of mine who was with me in the People's Defence Force for over three years, Mr Lim Guan Hoo, is battling for his life in the hospital. The latest I heard was that he is in a very critical condition. I do hope that he is in the best of condition and really hope that I will have better news of him after this Session.

May I say that I wish to associate myself with the Motion moved by the hon. Member for Ulu Pandan to thank the President for his speech. My colleagues who spoke before me have very aptly touched on nearly every important aspect of the President's speech and I wish to associate myself also with their views. The President's speech together with the addenda from the Ministers have given all of us a succinct, frank, and a good statement of fundamentals, policies which decide all other policies upon which our Government will decide our life, will provide the things that we think Singapore should be given and generally to aim for a better life for the whole of Singapore.

From the Addenda, it is clear that nearly every important technological aspect of development has been covered adequately. There was also emphasis that the Government's role is definitely to serve the people and in the interest of the Republic. I am glad to note that in the President's speech and also the speech of the Prime Minister that there was very strong recognition on yet another important aspect of development, that is, the human dimensions of development. The President has stressed the importance of strengthening the Asian precepts which have given strength to our cultures, to make use of it and in importing other values or technologies from overseas, we should be highly selective.

The Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office also emphasised the need for strengthening the character of the Government, the character of our people. I note and I share the concern of the Member for Katong when he averred that it is not easy to say what really are the Asian values which we need, which are the more important ones. So with this feeling of similar doubt, I venture to cautiously suggest one or two things, not that I know what Asian values are, what the good ones are, but merely to bring out these points because of my own family upbringing, my experience as a child, my experience as a schoolboy, my experience as a youth.

The first I have learnt is to respect the elders. Even when I was a child, I was taught what respect to elders means. Well, Sir, you will see, it is not only in the Malay culture but also in the Chinese. Indian and other great cultures of the orient - that respect for the elders is one of the fundamental precepts of life. This has become the basis of the stability of the family, of the community. And if we are to extend this very concept of respect to the realm of organisation, we can see how very applicable the concept is. I have met colleagues who have finished their university education and come back with very good degrees and they have shown themselves to be extremely competent. They know the things that they are supposed to handle. But somehow or other there seems to be a very acute lack of this idea of respect. I do not really expect our youth to kow-tow to everybody. But it is extremely important in the context of group activity in an organisation that there must be some semblance of recognition of authority, the responsibility of somebody not only to take charge of individual persons under the organisation but the overall programmes which cannot be done merely by one person but together with the members of the organisation in a corporate activity.

I also feel the value of humility. Very often when I meet friends from the West, they seem to be skeptical when we talk about humility. They seem to associate humility with weakness. On the contrary, my experience in life, as I said, as a member in my family, in school and also in the civil service where I had the privilege of serving for 10 years, I found that there is tremendous strength in humility because it is through this value that you are better able to get the corporate action of the people who are in your organisation, people who are with you and who are to work with you for the common objective, because if you do not show respect, if you do not give a chance to your colleagues to render their best, then I see that all the acquired technology of each member of the organisation will go to waste.

In connection with this, I also wish to touch upon a point which was mentioned by the Member for Marine Parade concerning job-hopping. It is so very easy for us to accuse or to blame the young for being over-ambitious or being impatient. There are indeed cases where the graduate expects so much from his first job or expects so much to be promoted within three years to superscale grade or to the salary bracket of the $2,000 or $3,000 range. But this phenomenon of job-hopping, as the Member for Marine Parade rightly stated, is a very complex matter. While there are instances where the individual may be at fault we must never forget that a person leaves a job not merely because he is looking for greener pastures but he would have a reason to find that the place in which he worked was a place which did not give any meaningful service to him, a place where there is no proper accord or proper respect for the views that he may hold, or a place which does not give opportunity to render his best or to make use of his acquired expertise. So long as we ignore the deficiency in management and keep on blaming the youth for job-hopping, then I feel that we are only looking at one side of the problem of job-hopping. I therefore would like to stress that the problem of job-hopping is indeed a very complex one. While we educate, if necessary reprimand, our youth, we must also look into the deficiency of management, the deficiency in the attitude of supervisors in how they handle the young workers, and see whether they have adequately prepared and conditioned and helped the new workers to gradually develop loyalties and abiding commitments to the organisation to which they have been appointed.

There were also a number of issues which were mentioned in the Addendum to the President's speech. This has also been mentioned by the previous speaker and this concerns the national service for women. I cannot give any definite views because the Addendum from the Minister of Defence has not given very adequate arguments as to why it is now necessary to resort to extending national service to women. I am sure there must be reasons and I am sure the details will be discussed in the debates which will be held subsequently. For the moment I only wish to say that women have a special asset and the greatest asset is their feminity. So while we do have the daily parades and weapon training, I really urge that the programme of national service for women should be done to ensure that feminity among our women is not destroyed.

With regard to the community service, I have seen and read the Addendum from the Minister for Culture and Science and Technology on the intention of the People's Association to undertake more dynamic community service through its various institutions, particularly the community centres. I have for the past two months been working very closely with the community centres in my constituency, and I find that there is an inadequate service which will ensure that participation in community service is not only confined to the poorer class. From the way the community centres have been managed, I find that it has not given sufficient consideration on the need to attract, to call, to invite, to bring forward more professional people to participate in the community centres. There is a large number of professional people in our country, and if the community centres continue to conduct themselves merely by relying on the lower income group, or conducting its programmes and ignoring the potential of the professionals and the middle income group, then I think we are deliberately depriving ourselves of the tremendous expertise which exists amongst our professionals. I therefore urge the Minister for Culture to seriously consider programmes of attracting more integration and greater participation not only from the lower income group but also from the professionals and the higher income group.

4.21 p.m.

Mr S. Dhanabalan (Kallang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to fully support the Motion moved by the Member for Ulu Pandan to thank the President for his speech in which he outlined the policy of the Government.

The President has very aptly drawn attention to the special responsibility of Members in a one-party Parliament which we now have by the free choice of the people. We have been reminded that on matters presented in this House we must be heard to express the doubts, problems and reservations that the ordinary citizen may have about any policy or legislation, so that during the course of the debate doubts may be cleared, reservations properly answered, and genuine problems which may have been overlooked by the Executive, dealt with by suitable amendment to the policy or legislation.

Sir, in some ways, it is easier to field the questions and criticisms of an opposition than for Members, who belong to the same party as the Government, to consider a subject before this House very objectively and to identify and articulate those aspects which may be troubling the people. While we must not shirk from openly supporting unpopular measures that are needed, we should not consider that there is any special virtue in a measure because it is unpopular. The Executive and the Administration may' run into various problems in the course of implementing a policy. It is a great temptation to make things easier for themselves by proposing either changes in the law or new laws when they run into such problems. We have to be alert to any move that would unwittingly legalise inequities or make genuine problems into legal non-problems. I am quite aware, Sir, that fixed ideas of democratic processes and checks and balances can paralyse the implementation of policies which, though painful in the short run, are nevertheless needed in the long term and wider interests of the nation. But there is a danger that we may swing to the other extreme and consider that all obstacles to swift and easy implementation of a policy as a nuisance to be got rid of by legislation.

Sir,I am not a lawyer but I can see an example of this in the proposal to deal with the problem of inconsiderate driving by drivers of buses and lorries. Most, if not all of us, have been at one time or other, subjected to the intimidatory driving of those who handle buses and lorries and by the careless attitude of such drivers to the safety of other road users. We agree that it must be dealt with. But we also know of the acrobatic attempts of the drivers of what is probably the smallest vehicle on the road, that is, the motor-cycle and the scooter. I am not suggesting that all motor-cyclists and scooterists are daredevil riders. The majority of them probably take to the road every day with great fear and trepidation because they know that they will come off worse in any accident. But there is a significant enough proportion of such riders who think that they are playing a game to see who is chicken when they are on the road to make them quite a cause of quite a few accidents. This whole problem should be tackled by a combination of education, more thorough enforcement of traffic regulations, improvement of the methods of investigating traffic accidents and severe punishment for those found guilty. To put the onus of proof on the driver of the larger vehicle to prove himself innocent in any accident seems to me to be a legislative over-kill.

The President has also reminded us that economic prospects in the next few years are full of uncertainties and that we cannot expect the same high growth rate as in the past. We have to identify every economic activity that offers scope for growth and implement such policies that will promote such activities.

It is encouraging to note that the Finance Ministry is considering changes in the tax system that will promote international trade relating to the warehousing and sale of capital goods and equipment. We have used tax incentives very effectively to channel investment into Manufacturing and to encourage the growth of Singapore as an international financial centre and as a flag-of-convenience for ships. The use of tax incentives to strengthen and diversify the traditional entrepot trade should now receive attention. Taxation is an important determinant in the choice of a place as a Centre to conduct international trade. Such trade may or may not involve the physical movement of goods through Singapore. In the former case the benefits in terms of activity in Singapore will be greater. But even in the latter type of activity where Singapore merely serves as a point to collate, execute and maintain records of trade that does not come through Singapore at all is still of substantial benefit to us. We need therefore not only to maintain and improve the infrastructure to enable such international trade to be handled efficiently but we also need to re-examine our tax system.

The present income tax rates are certainly not conducive to attracting those international operations that neither buy nor sell in Singapore. The establishment of a Fiscal Policy Implementation Committee to consider how best the tax system can be adjusted to encourage these activities is most welcome.

Sir, if I may be allowed, I would like to make a suggestion regarding the role in this Committee of those who are directly in charge of collecting taxes. I do not think I am saying anything new when I say that tax collectors are notoriously conservative when it comes to tax incentives. Any lowering or exemption of tax is looked upon as an immediate tax loss. The tax man would rather maintain 40% tax in his books and collect 40% of zero than lower the tax to 10% and collect 10% of something positive. This single-minded approach is understandable and even admirable if we are merely considering the narrow aim of collecting the maximum tax from existing activities. But in the wider context of achieving economic growth, it is a hindrance. I would therefore suggest that those who are directly in charge of tax collection have as little to do with the formulation of tax incentives whose primary purpose is not to immediately maximise tax collections but to increase the tax base so that even with lower tax rates on specific activities more tax can be collected as a whole to finance public services.

May I now turn, Sir, to the Addendum on the Ministry of National Development. It is heartening to note that efforts will continue to be made to provide parks and open spaces. The many landscaped parks that are being provided in the Housing and Development Board estates and elsewhere is testimony that those who plan our low cost housing are keenly aware of the need to provide green lungs to the people living in high-rise flats. Many children who live in such high-rise flats, especially the one-room flats, need space where they can run or kick a ball about. It would therefore be most appreciated if, in addition to landscaped gardens, more open fields are provided within easy access of the children. The small patches of ground, often cemented for easy maintenance that we find between blocks, do serve a purpose but they are not sufficient. There are many school fields in the HDB estates that can serve as playing fields for the children living in flats, but I am afraid there are always vandals and anti-social elements who cause problems when they gain access to school buildings and the properties within it. If a method of fencing-off the school field from the school buildings can be implemented it will provide much needed open space for children in flats to play in.

In the Addendum on the Ministry of Labour, Sir, we find stated the paradoxical situation where we have citizens registered with the Employment Service to secure employment, while at the same time work permits have to be issued to large numbers of foreign workers to work in Singapore. It is true that many Singaporeans, especially the young ones, are becoming very choosy about the type of jobs that they are prepared to do. The Ministry of Labour should be fully supported in its attempts to encourage Singaporeans to work in those industries which they now avoid. I find that a good number of job seekers are those who are past retirement age but who are still quite healthy. They do not have any savings, and either they do not have children or they have children who are not able to support them. Such people find it difficult to find productive employment. This, I think, is going to be an increasing problem in the future and a serious attempt must be made to find a solution. Perhaps certain light jobs in the public and private sectors should be reserved for such people.

On the subject of work permits, Sir, I can see the absolute need to control the entry of foreign workers through such a system. But I find it difficult to see the necessity to impose the requirement of a work permit on permanent residents in Singapore. Many of these permanent residents are not citizens of other countries and they cannot go off to another country. They are a part of the local population whom we cannot wish away. It would therefore seem to be in our interest to encourage and make it easy for them to earn a livelihood instead of being a burden to their relatives. Although work permits are quite freely issued to permanent residents, it may take up to a month to obtain a work permit. Moreover, small companies are just not prepared to go through the process of applying for work permits for such permanent residents. The administrative time and effort spent by the Ministry of Labour in dealing with such applications can be better spent on other matters if work permits for permanent residents are waived.

Mr Speaker: I think it would be a good time to take the Suspension now. I suspend this Sitting and will take the Chair again at 5.00 p.m.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 4.36 p.m. until 5.00 p.m. Sitting resumed at 5.00 p.m.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Debate resumed.

Question again proposed.

Mr Chin Harn Tong (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, in his Address at the opening of Parliament, the President touched on the course of events likely to affect Singapore over the next few years. In response to such events he went on to state that the Government of Singapore will respect the renewed mandates from the people of Singapore as a vote of confidence in the will and determination of the Government to take action, if necessary, for the common good. It is a correct and desirable policy to be adopted by any self-respecting government. As the President states, we have to formulate our way of life, taking what is best and fitting it into the Singapore context.

But in our concern to do what is best for Singapore and for the people of Singapore, there is always the danger that we may overlook the legitimate interest, welfare or hope of a small section of the people. Such oversight may not be deliberately intended but the effect to the people concerned is the same, regardless of whether the oversight is deliberate or unintended.

In the Addendum to the Presidential Address, it is stated that the Ministry of National Development will plan and work towards better housing with improved, social and recreational facilities, better infrastructure and public amenities in pleasant and gracious environment in the next five years. It is also stated that it is important to create new parks and open spaces for a large number of people living in high-rise flats. I have nothing but good to say of the plans of the Ministry of National Development to improve and beautify the various housing estates and to expand and enlarge the various recreational facilities for the enjoyment of all Singaporeans. The Government is very much to be commended for its awareness of the need to improve and beautify the living conditions of a large number of Singaporeans and of its determination to proceed with all its projects, despite the heavy costs.

But I am not sure whether the Government is fully aware of the dissatisfaction of those persons living in the older housing estates, such as those in the Aljunied Constituency. Their dissatisfaction is with their flats, which are smaller and less attractive than similar types of flats in the newer housing estates. They are also dissatisfied with the environment of their flats, because in the older housing estates there are hardly any recreational facilities for the residents and, particularly, their children. It is a fact that the children have either to play in dark and dirty corridors, much to the irritation of the residents, or they have to play in the car parks and on the streets, much to the anxiety of their respective parents. I hope the Government will look into the matter and allocate some of its funds to improving the living conditions of the residents in the older housing estates.

I also note from the Addendum that the volume of housing and public projects would not only be maintained but increased during the next few years. These projects are to be undertaken by the Housing and Development Board. Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Public Works Department. No one would question the necessity or the usefulness of these various projects to Singapore. But I am concerned that in the implementation of these various projects, sometimes unnecessary inconvenience or sufferings are caused to those persons whose homes have to make way for these projects. Whenever a new housing estate or new roadway is planned, there are bound to be persons living on the land on which the housing estate or the new roadway is to be sited. This is so because Singapore is a compact and densely populated island with hardly any undeveloped or uninhabited area. It is the price of development and progress that must be paid. But my point is whether in planning a new housing estate or new roadway, the Government gives due consideration to the consequent change in the character of the neighbourhood concerned. There are usual grievances of projects being planned and then scrapped, with the result that a number of persons are unnecessarily evicted from their homes, sometimes years ahead of the actual implementation of the project. There is certainly cause for grievance among those persons who are chased out of their homes without any apparent justification. But I am more concerned with the destruction of old buildings to make way for the so-called redevelopment projects.

I understand and appreciate that the Government has previously taken steps to preserve buildings of historical importance or architectural significance. But such historic monuments are very few and, apart from that, they by themselves do not influence the character of the neighbourhood. I have in mind certain sections of Singapore where shop-houses or older residential houses, each of which may individually have not much historical or architectural significance, but which collectively have a unique and charming character. If Singapore is to retain its separate identity it is important to preserve the distinctive image of Singapore in relation to the other cities of the world. Huge slabs of glass and concrete structures may be impressive to behold but they can be found in any other cities of the world. I hope that it is not too late for the Government to consider seriously preserving old buildings which form part of Singapore's past and which lend to Singapore a charming and distinctive image. If such old, stronger buildings can be preserved they should be preserved not only for the sake of tourists but also for the sake of future Singaporeans.

Then in the Addendum relating to the Ministry of Labour, it is stated that the Ministry will continue to work with the unions and employers to contribute to economic growth. I have no doubts about the determination or desire of the Ministry to promote tripartite cooperation on the basis of economic prosperity for Singapore. The initiative and the leadership shown by the Ministry on industrial safety and health and in the promotion of productivity are ample proof of the good intention and sincerity of the Ministry. Similarly, I am convinced that the workers under the disciplined and enlightened leadership of the NTUC will do their part in any scheme of tripartite cooperation promoted by the Government of Singapore. But I am not so sure that the employers are doing their part to make a tripartite cooperation a meaningful and successful effort. No doubt the employers or their representatives at various tripartite bodies pay lip service to the concept of tripartite cooperation and are free with their criticism of the faults of others, particularly workers for allegedly not doing their part in tripartite cooperation. But there are employers while not openly criticising tripartite cooperation, are doing their best to make tripartite cooperation a farce in their own factories or offices. In the area of industrial health and safety we read in the papers often of accidents happening and of workers being killed. Quite a number of these accidents and deaths could be avoided if the employers have implemented the concept of consultation with workers concerning industrial health and safety and take the necessary steps to safeguard the life of workers and to prevent the occurrence of accidents. I hope the Government will review the contributions of employers towards tripartite cooperation and, if necessary, take some action against employers who fail to implement any scheme of tripartite cooperation in their own factories or offices.

5.11 p.m.

Dr Ow Chin Hock (Leng Kee): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Motion of Thanks to the President for his Address, as moved by the hon. Member for Ulu Pandan.

At the very outset the President has warned us that the security and economic prospects are not as good as those in 1972. On the economic front, there are two external factors which affect the performance of our economy: first, the recovery rate of the American, Japanese and EEC economies and, second, the magnitude and timing of the oil price increase.

Statistics show that the economic recovery of these major industrial countries are not as rapid as originally expected. Furthermore, the recent increase of oil price by 5 to 10% would further slow down the already sluggish economic recovery. As a result, our exports to these countries will decline and the investment flow from these countries into our economy will also slow down. With the increase in oil price, the cost of providing public utilities, transportation services and manufacturing of commodities which use oil-related products as inputs will also rise. These will no doubt adversely affect the competitive edge of our exports and raise our cost of living.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in the midst of this grim situation, however, there are certain hopeful developments in the international scene. Firstly, the United States President has announced his economic plan; he has proposed to inject US$30 billion into the American economy so as to cut the unemployment rate and to stimulate economic recovery. Secondly, there are renewed efforts by the United Nations, the United States. West Germany and France to seek a peace settlement in the Middle East. If the break-through could be achieved this year, oil embargo and substantial oil price increase could be avoided. Thirdly, with the change in Japanese attitude, a trade war between Japan and the EEC countries probably will be averted, at least temporarily.

Coming back to our region, our Government's effort in promoting greater economic cooperation among ASEAN countries has made further progress. Following the visit of our Prime Minister, bilateral tariff accords have been reached with the Philippines and Thailand. Admittedly, given the present volume and commodity composition of our trade with these two countries, the economic benefits will not be very substantial. Nevertheless, this is another big step towards a greater cooperation in the region of ASEAN. This progress, together with the result of our general elections, would enhance the confidence of the potential investors on the economic prospect of our Republic and this region.

To promote industrial growth and to attract foreign investment, apart from maintaining political stability, we must also hold down cost of production. It is reassuring to note from the Addendum to the Presidential Address that "we shall watch carefully against too high Government charges for industry such as for port services and rates for electricity and water." More important, we must be able to prevent excessive increase in labour costs and to promote productivity increase. Wage increase must be orderly and related to increase in productivity. Though trade union and management have endorsed the productivity-gearing principle, nothing concrete has come out. There are many practical problems of implementing such a scheme, particularly in the service sector. However, this is the best way that wages could increase without damaging our competitiveness in the international market. As a start, a practical way is, wherever possible and whenever applicable, to encourage adoption of productivity incentive schemes at the plant level in Singapore.

Mr Speaker, Sir, allow me now to turn to the security problem. The communists will continue to be the main threat to Singapore's internal security. The Government must continue to crack down on communist underground and front organisations. In the struggle with communists, there is no room for compromise. The hard-core communists must be severely dealt with. However, students and youths who have been misled and misguided into supporting the communists should probably be treated more leniently. They should be given a chance to turn over a new leaf. Their involvement should be regarded as one aspect of the youth problems in Singapore. Another aspect is drug addiction which is like a cancer in our society undermining the will, the morale and the working capacity of the younger generation.

Generally, Sir, youths are less satisfied with the status quo. They are rebellious and rather impatient. In a highly competitive society like ours, some are frustrated in the process. This is quite inevitable. Those who are weak in will power and who try to escape, from reality would resort to drugs as an easy way out. Those who are more strong-headed and idealistic would turn against the present social order and try to change it. Youths of the latter category are the prime target of recruitment for the communists.

In the Addendum to the Presidential Address, it was projected that by 1980, there will be some 810,000 persons or 33.8% of our population in the age group of 15-29 years old. This is a serious problem. We should not allow drug addiction and Communist infiltration to spread, particularly in view of the fact that we are heading for difficult times. Severe punishment of drug pushers, exposure of misled student leaders, and rehabilitation of drug addicts are all necessary steps to contain the spread. However, these alone are not enough. They must be supplemented by coordinated efforts on other fronts to educate the youths and their parents, to instil in them national values and to absorb their energy and free time in some other positive fields. It may be necessary, therefore to establish an organisation to coordinate these efforts and programmes to probe into the youth problems and to recommend proper solutions.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I have also taken note of the President's Address that the vote of confidence of our people places on all the Members of Parliament the duty to ensure that all shades of opinion out in the constituencies are vigorously voiced in Parliamentary questions and debates. Sir, as a new MP, it will be presumptuous on my part to claim that I know exactly the feelings and opinions of my people in Leng Kee Constituency. However, through my frequent contacts with them during the Elections and in the last two months, I sense that while these people endorse the major policies ranging from national defence to our foreign policies, and have full confidence in our political leaders in charting the path for them into the future, many of them are unhappy about certain policies which affect their daily lives and the manner in which these policies are introduced and implemented. There are many such examples that could be raised in this Parliament. For the present. I just want to concentrate on one example, that is, the PUB surcharge. Personally. I reject the notion of providing public utilities free or with subsidies. However, Sir, may I submit to you that although most of our people are more prepared to accept the increase in electricity rates due to the increase in fuel price, it is difficult to convince them that a surcharge, which is not part of the cost, should be introduced in the first place. I think this Parliament should reconsider whether the PUB surcharge should be continued.

5.22 p.m.

Mr Ngeow Pack Hua (Boon Lay): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to congratulate you for having been elected as Speaker of this House I also wish to support the Member for Ulu Pandan in his Motion to thank the President for his speech on the 8th February on behalf of the Government.

Sir, the People's Action Party once again swept all the seats in this House at the last elections. There is no other country in this world which has been able to win all the seats at one single election. Since the people of Singapore have made this great choice, it is for us to prove in the next few years that we will not let them down. The confidence of the people in us gives us an additional burden. Therefore, I support the statement from the President that no major policy or legislation should be passed without thorough debate in this House. As Backbenchers, we must also rise to speak the minds and the views of the people. In my view, these two must be related. Although Backbenchers have their duty to air the views of the people, the Ministers must also accept such airing of the views and such views.

I would now like to add my views on the maxim stated by the President: "From each his best; To each his worth." In particular, I would like to relate my view on the wage policy in the light of this maxim. The President said:

`My government holds firm to this simple truth: that to get from each his best, rewards and recognition must go to those who excel in consistently high performance'

I want to tie this up with the addendum to the Presidential Address on the Ministry of Finance. It says:

`We shall seek, through the National Wages Council, single annual wage increases which reward workers who produce more:

This again is to be tied up with the addendum on the Ministry of Labour in similar light. It states:

... that future wage increases have to be orderly and related to higher productivity and economic growth Fringe benefits which have escalated in recent years must not be extended in range or quantum Those which are bizarre or not conducive to economic progress will have to be discontinued. The National Wages Council will examine the question of the full offsetting of its wage guidelines against all forms of increases of remuneration. It will also consider whether employees who job-hop should be granted the full wage increase recommended Rationalisation of fringe benefits will also be looked into by the Council. At the plant level, employers will be encouraged to implement productivity incentive schemes to ensure greater efforts on the workers' part and reward for such additional performance."

Mr Speaker, Sir, although I am not from the unions, I have been an employee for more than 10 years and I know the problems of the workers. So we have similar views. All the time we hear the appeal to the workers to tighten their belts and there is conflict in this regard. On the one hand, the workers are condemned for being lazy. On the other hand, we hear people say that our achievements have been due to the hard work of our workers, So we do not have a consistent stand on this matter and workers are quite at a loss. There is no dispute that we should uphold the principle of productivity geared, with wage increase. But what is productivity? What are the norms of productivity? How is productivity to be measured? The NWC made its recommendations last year without any categorical definition for "productivity". There is no concrete proposal for implementing this principle. We have been talking about productivity for years and years but this has become a very abstract term. So unless we can lay down some form of guidelines, there will be abuse and the workers will suffer as a result of this abuse. We therefore suggest that the NWC should review the question of productivity very carefully and make concrete proposals. I feel that the determination of productivity and the incentive therefor should not be determined by the management alone. Parliament should also debate on what is productivity and what kinds of rewards are to be given to workers. It is only after a debate that the rationalisation can be effected through the NWC.

Sir, now I would like to touch on fringe benefits. Again, there is a lack of definition of "fringe benefit" or rationalisation. Before we rationalise or define "fringe benefits", there is a possibility for abuse or dispute. So since we want to learn from the Japanese, we must also emulate them on the bonus system because this is a system that acts as an incentive for the Japanese workers to work harder. Before we have a proper profit-sharing system, I think the bonus system is a good system. It is a kind of an incentive scheme, particularly in the Chinese business community where wages are low. And it is only through bonus as an incentive that productivity and performance can be improved.

Mr Speaker, Sir, "From each his best; To each his worth." There is nothing wrong in this society. The principle is right but there may be some problems in its implementation. I think the second part is more important than the first. In the first part "From each his best", it should be taken to mean that everybody is given an opportunity to do his best. In the second part "To each his worth", what is a person's worth? There should be a proper personnel management system in all our factories or other organisations. There should be emphasis on incentive rather than punishment. The trouble with the Chinese system which cannot be used in Singapore is that they emphasise more on penalty than on incentives. The system here is different. So we should encourage our workers to take their own initiative and reward them accordingly.

Sir, the President stated in his speech that there will be slower economic growth and so we should adjust our spending habits accordingly. In this regard I think the Government should take the lead because over the past few years people have changed in their attitude towards spending. This is because we over-emphasise the materialistic aspects of our living. For example, many discharged national servicemen have become very choosy and expect more from their employment or their jobs. So we should inculcate the proper values in our national servicemen while they are in the national service. We must correct their attitudes. It is through the process of education through the mass media that we will be able to correct this attitude. We must teach our young people that if they spend two hours in a coffee house they are spending more than a day's wage. So we must teach our people to be frugal. We must correct their attitude. If we switch on the television, we can see lots of advertisements on the Big Sweep and Toto. Everybody is urged to get rich quick. This entirely runs counter to our political philosophy.

There is another more serious problem. Sir, and that is the problem of communist threat in the years to come. Such a threat, no matter whether it comes from the Malayan Communist Party or the Euro-New Left, there is a threat, We are exposed and susceptible to their subversion. People here know what is bad about the communists but they may not realise what kind of threat is coming from Europe, particularly the non-English educated. In other words, they may not know the true meaning of the threat from this source.

It is necessary to implement the Internal Security Act on which the Government is supported in the last election. But the ISA alone will not be able to wipe out the communist threat. So we must expose the true nature of the communists by educating our people in understanding the kind of life the people are leading in a communist society. It is only when they know what kind of life they will have in a communist society that they will be able to combat the communist philosophy or ideology. We must do more through the mass media by exposing what communism really is so that our young people will know the real threat of communism.

In the Addendum on the Ministry of Education we are told that the emphasis henceforth will be on moral values and moral education. So we must do all we can to ensure that our students are imbued with Asian moral values so that they will not be influenced by contemporary Western life styles.

In the Addendum on the Ministry of Culture, it is stated that we must make every effort possible to ensure that there is no erosion of our traditional cultural values. There is no doubt that we should do these things. We must also educate our young people not to accept ideologies which are irrelevant to our society. We must also inculcate in our youth an idealism that they will not allow themselves to be used or manipulated by the communists. Both are equally important. We must have the proper spirit coupled with good moral values. We must give our young people a proper understanding of these values.

5.35 p.m.

Encik Sidek Bin Saniff (Kolam Ayer): (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Motion thanking the President for his speech delivered on 8th February 1977. In the midst of world economic uncertainty and anxiety and with the increased responsibilities of Ministers and greater expectations from Members of Parliament, two things have been stressed for all of us to think about. First, vigilance against undemocratic elements like the CPM. Second, moral values and attitudes towards life that must be inculcated in the people of Singapore. There are, I note, 41 lines in respect of the first and 66 lines in respect of the second. Both topics occupy greater space when compared to the others, and this in itself shows their great importance.

Sir, on 23rd December 1976, the people of Singapore made a decision that can be taken to mean that politics is a serious business and that it requires people who are equally serious to manage it. Politics is not a game, neither is it a gambling den. The most a gambler can lose is his money, property or honour. But gambling with politics brings about a more terrible consequence. Mistakes can cause destruction to property, destruction to family and destruction to democracy, self and nation. We do not have to go far for an example. Miscalculations whereby the "weapon will injure the master" as happened in Indonesia to the PKI and the victories in East of Thailand have brought the lesson home: that infiltration and invasion or armed struggle are double edged. We can draw a lesson from this, Their victories have caused an increase in infiltration, and this means that it is necessary for us to be vigilant. In this respect we welcome the steps taken by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs to make Singapore a safe place to live in, something that is easy to come by these days.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the people have given us their mandate in 1976 with set programmes as found in the Addenda to the President's Address which include problems and steps to be taken in health and economic sectors, social and medical services, education and defence. I feel the same mandate will be given in 1981. The only difference is that in that time our voters will be more sophisticated. They will judge us on the party we join and also the candidate's credibility. This is an indication that will be an important factor two or three years after 1981, or we can even say two or three years before the 1 986 general elections. Our political chessboard will be more interesting. And the CPM and its allies will probably lay stress on these two matters - (1) the absence of the present leaders; (2) the way we go about implementing our programme. With regard to the first, the knowledge of the absence of all or some of our leaders will encourage them to prepare for 1984, a very busy year for their activities. But our dedication and sincerity will frustrate them. We can also have the situation under control if we can look after our second programme well, i.e, our approach in carrying out our tasks This will be a strengthening pillar for our people. It is not easy for someone in power to avoid feeling arrogant and proud. We must avoid these pitfalls, because if we allow this to happen Singapore as a whole will go down the pit. I feel this is an important criterion for all of us to observe. It is a time bomb of self-destruction that is set to explode. A worthwhile programme should not be carried Out in a way that would cause uneasiness among the people. If this happens the worthwhile programme will no longer have any meaning.

Mr Speaker, Sir, 72.4% of the people of Singapore at least agree that nothing in this world is for free. including air and water. Air and water have to be treated for use. Nobody now wants to drink free rain-water that comes direct from the sky. Nobody wants to keep quiet when the air around him is polluted. The people are prepared to pay they appreciate this value in life. In this regard we must see that the people do not feel that we are a profit-orientated society. If it has to be, let the profit be very minimal, particularly in sectors where we do not subsidise. Let not the people feel that they are subsidising the Government. I agree with the previous speaker who asked if it was necessary to levy a PUB surcharge of 5%. We can be proud with the profits we get or make, but not profits we make from the people. There is nothing to be proud of, and profit in this regard is meaningless. The actual word is neither proud nor profit. It is "support". We need the people's support and support must come with open heart. I am sure the people are prepared to give their support and if necessary, their sacrifice if the nation requires it. Again, in this matter the approach in carrying out our policies through the Government machinery must be looked after so that they will not only support us but are prepared to sacrifice their life and property if necessary.

Mr Speaker, in this respect, I feel that in order to safeguard our people from undesirable elements, it would be better if the Ministry of Education could review the importance of kindergartens by placing it under its wing. I feel that at one time kindergarten classes were held in order to protect our children from adverse influence. Now, after 17 years I feel that we should look into their standards and quality. If we can bring these kindergarten classes under the wing of the Ministry of Education, it will improve the method of instruction, especially we can inculcate good values, followed by Education for Living in the primary schools and Civics when they reach secondary schools. In this way I feel we have a better foundation, we can keep undesirable elements and exploitation under check for the sake of the welfare of the people of Singapore.

Sir, I feel there should be a total review of policy on citizenship. We should consider granting citizenship to those who have been holding blue identity cards for more than ten years.

Mr Speaker, if infiltration can be controlled and good programmes and right approach can be given to our people. I see no reason why Singapore should not progress further and achieve prosperity and order at all times.

5.45 p.m.

Mr Cheong Yuen Chee (Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Presidential Address is a sober review of past events and future prospects of Singapore. In brief, there is no easy short-cut to prosperity at least where Singapore is concerned. The message is clear - that all Singporeans are expected to do their share towards making Singapore a viable, independent and sovereign Republic. But I am afraid that such a message is likely to become distorted or misinterpreted by persons because of their own self-interest.

In the Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office it is stated that the average earnings of the modal group of workers have trebled since 1965 and that those who have achieved more and earned more have done so because they have worked harder or shown greater enterprise. The statement I have just quoted is correct and is in itself a testimony to the excellent performance and the creditable leadership of our Government. But such a statement is a bald statement of fact which, without proper qualification, may lend itself to misquotation out of context. While the average earnings of the modal group of workers have undoubtedly trebled since 1 965 the increase in earnings has to a considerable extent been offset by a corresponding increase in the cost of living since 1965. This is in no way meant to detract from the achievements of the Government in securing such a great increase in the earnings of the workers but the danger is that some employers may pounce upon such statement with cynical delight and use it to irritate and provoke workers who are too aware of the increased cost of living since 1965.

Similarly, the character of our pragmatic society is reflected in the statement that those who work harder or who show greater enterprise are entitled to a greater slice of the cake than those who are not prepared to work hard or as enterprisingly. Nonetheless, any statement to this effect has to be properly qualified or else it is just likely to be misquoted out of context. It is generally assumed that employers and other decision makers, because of the greater and more taxing responsibility and duty, have to work for their perks and other privileges that go with their positions. As a result of this assumption it has become fashionable in certain circles in Singapore to blame entirely the workers for any low productivity in industry or establishment. Unfortunately, it is easy to spotlight or pinpoint the incompetent or unsatisfactory performance of workers. On the other hand, it is not easy to prove or show up the inefficiency or the lack of initiative on the part of management. If an industry or establishment is not as productive as it should be, it may be due to the workers or it may as well be due to the failure of employers or management to provide suitable machinery or equipment or to devise an effective system of work and congenial working conditions.

The subject of productivity has many aspects and ramifications but emphasis in Singapore is wholly focussed on the alleged or proven failure of workers. This, in my view, is a rather distorted perception of the problem of productivity. In support of my view I call the attention of this House to a recent story in the local press of certain articles of clothing being manufactured in and exported from Singapore and then imported back into Singapore and sold at three or four times the factory price. It is less painful to ascribe the existence of such a situation to a preference of Singaporeans for foreign products. But I think this is an oversimplified explanation. The reason why Singaporeans, and for that matter all other persons, buy jeans supposedly made in USA, is not because they are made in USA but because these jeans are marketed with a continuously massive advertisement campaign in all media. I do not think the Singapore manufacturers of jeans are prepared to fork out a big outlay in a similar advertising campaign to create a brand name preference and following for their own products.

It is rather strange that we are prepared to view in a charitable light the failure of local manufacturing employers to show the kind of enterprise and initiative shown by manufacturing employers in other parts of the world, like for instance, Japan. It was not too long ago that I read in a magazine an account of the reaction of British workers to the Japanese management of a Japanese industry in England. Now British employers have become synonymous with low productivity. Yet the productivity of British workers in Japanese firms in Britain is of such a level as to even satisfy the exacting requirements of the Japanese management. It appears that one of the reasons for such sterling performance by British workers is that they have been greatly impressed by the example of the Japanese management. For one thing. Japanese managers and executives do not indulge in lunch hours of two-hour duration as their British counterparts are wont to do. Whatever perks and privileges enjoyed by the Japanese managers and executives are enjoyed outside their working hours which are not less than the working hours of the ordinary workers.

It is for this reason, Mr Speaker, Sir, that I find it hard to understand the fashionable posture in Singapore to ascribe to the workers anything that goes wrong on the industrial scene in Singapore. Thus, in the Addendum on the Ministry of Labour it is stated that the National Wages Council is to consider whether job-hopping employees should be granted the full wage increase recommended by the NWC. It is implicit in such a statement that job-hopping is a socially undesirable practice and that job-hopping employees are wholly to be blamed. With due respect to the Ministry of Labour. I think it is unfair to blame employees for being wholly responsible for the practice of job-hopping. Just as it takes two hands to clap, it also requires two parties to give rise to the practice of job-hopping.

Undoubtedly, there are workers who, as stated in the Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office, have high expectations, the desire to seek jobs in comfortable surroundings or who are even impatient to succeed financially. On the other hand, there are employers who have not the faintest idea of career development for their employees and who have no desire to accord to their employees even the minimum statutory rights. Such employers have no scruples in dismissing their employees under the pretext of reorganisation in order to prevent the employees from being unionised. Similarly, it is not an uncommon practice for employers to get rid of their employees who are on top of their respective scales under the pretext of reorganisation or redundancy. To my mind, it seems most unfair that such dismissed or retrenched workers who have been deprived of the opportunity to forge a career with the former employers are now to be deprived of their NWC increments from the new employer simply by reason of a change of employment, I hope that the Ministry and the NWC will seriously and carefully consider all the various ramifications and aspects of the problem of job-hopping before implementing any decision on the matter.

Mr Teo Chong Tee rose -

Mr Speaker: Mr Teo, you have about four minutes to make your speech.

5.56 p.m.

Mr Teo Chong Tee (Changi): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to join hon. Members of this House in supporting the Motion moved by the Member for Ulu Pandan to thank the President for his speech delivered on behalf of the Government at the Opening of the First Session of the Fourth Tuesday, 8th February, 1977.

Sir, the overwhelming mandate given by the people of Singapore for the People's Action Party to continue to govern is a clear-cut encouragement to all hon. Members in this House, particularly the new MPs including me, to strive harder in the coming years in order to maintain political, social and economic stability for our nation which has to further develop, industrialise and hopefully aim for an annual growth rate of 6-8% whilst there are uncertainties and anxieties amongst major industrial nations of the West. The effects of the increase in oil price will undoubtedly slow down our economic activities. However, with the, confidence entrusted to the enlightened leadership of the PAP Government, I am positive that our economic and social dislocation in the light of present recession will be minimised. I applaud the statement in the President's Address that the Government will exercise its authority to govern with circumspection and moderation.

Sir, the vote of confidence does impose a heavy responsibility on the Ministers to act fairly and firmly. As a new Member in this House, together with my ten new colleagues, times ahead will be just as difficult for us who will have to excel in consistently high performance in order to be awarded recognition. Likewise, the civil servants in all the ministries should enhance the quality of their service. Hard work, honesty, courtesy and helpfulness are the vital ingredients in fulfilling the objectives of efficiency in dedicating their public duties.

In the Addendum on the Ministry of Home Affairs, the President stated that drug abusers and addicts must be flushed out and isolated for a sufficiently long period to prevent them from infecting others. It is most alarming to know that the habit of drug consumption by youths in Singapore will continue to grow and infect many other innocent people. Sir, in spite of tough measures taken by the Government to control and wipe out drug trafficking and drug pushing, the traffickers and pushers are not taking the law seriously. They are still doing a very profitable business. These unlawful activities are causing a major problem to our effort in nation-building. The situation has deteriorated tremendously that the evil drug-traffickers are even tarnishing the good name of our Republic by taking advantage of our strategic geographical position to distribute drugs to many other European countries. We must find ways and means to deal with this serious problem. Surveillance work will need to be undertaken to keep an ever watchful eye on suspect drug traffickers with the objective of ultimately arresting and prosecuting them. I fully support the Government in making use of the Police. Special Constabulary and Vigilante Corps extensively to help deal with the growing menace which undoubtedly requires the public's full support and information. The public must be effectively urged and encouraged through the mass media and the cinemas to be vigilant and give their fullest cooperation in this matter.

Mr Speaker: Mr Teo, it is 6.00 o'clock now.