PRESIDENT'S SPEECH Debate on the Address

Debate resumed.

Question again proposed.

5.02 p.m.

Mr Ong Soo Chuan: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, now that the present Government has been re-elected, it should not continue to do what it used to do in the past, that is, to pass or implement many heavy tax measures and levies within the first three years after the elections thus increasing the burden of the people affecting their livelihood. The Government should not, as it did before, continue to increase taxes and tariffs by decrees without any debate in this House, particularly where such tax and tariff increases affect the livelihood of the people.

In his speech the President said that Members of this House have "the duty to ensure that all shades of opinion out in the constituencies are vigorously voiced in Parliamentary questions and debates." This is a very categorical and precious guideline which I believe Members of this House will happily accept and implement with all earnestness.

Sir, Shyn-Tze, an ancient Chinese philosopher said that:

To know is better than not to know. To see is better than to know. To practise is better than to see. The end of learning is to practise. He who practises is a sage

By this proverb, Sir, we are told that there are many problems in the world which the common people may not understand fully. It is only those who have the experience, who have seen, and who have practised. will they be able to appreciate the problems. I do not want to be a sage nor do I claim to be a sage. Neither do my colleagues in this House. But as representatives of the people we have the duty and responsibility to reflect the views of the people. Particularly so, in this Parliament where all the MPs belong to the same Party and where the Government Whip has been lifted so that we can freely and fully reflect our views in this House.

Sir, some people hold the view that as representatives of the people we enjoy high prestige and a good life. But in my humble opinion that is a wrong concept. On the contrary, as representatives of the people, we act as the bridge of communication between the Government on the one hand and the people on the other. The Government has its policies and the people have their difficulties. Our position in between these two forces always makes us feel the pinch and the worse off. As MPs, we do not expect to be rewarded for doing this. We do not expect to be appreciated or thanked for what we do. In my many years of service to the people as a Member of the House, I can say that I understand this truth. If new Members have the attitude of expecting rewards or thanks for doing a service to the people, they will be greatly disappointed. They can also tell the people that it is not easy to be a Member of Parliament. But after the elections they would have a different view to what they had when they were fielded as candidates, because they would have realised that things are not completely within their control. To serve the people, you have to dedicate yourself to the point of making sacrifices and this, I am sure, is the experience they have gained during these past few months. Take the case of the late hon. Member for Radin Mas. He dedicated his services without any expectation of reward or thanks. During his life time the late Member for Radin Mas dedicated himself to the service of the people. Even on the last day of his life he went to his constituency to distribute ang pews to the old and needy people. This is the kind of Member of Parliament who will of course command the respect of his constituents. Now that he is dead, who will look after his family? We have to look up the Parliamentary Pensions Act to see whether our late MP is due for any entitlement under this Act. If there is no provision for such entitlement, I think an amendment Bill should be tabled in this House to ensure that an MP who has rendered his services in the interests of the people will have something provided in the Act for his family in the event of his death,

Mr Speaker, Sir, in my career as a Member of Parliament I have gone through different kinds of experience at the elections. In 1963 I tasted defeat. In 1968 and 1972 I had the experience of winning the elections by contest and in 1976 I had another round of experience of the election in which I was returned unopposed. Some people might say that I had won without effort, and the newspapers also said that we got it without effort. Regrettably, even our Petir also said that 16 MPs have been returned without effort. In other words, you got something without any effort. But I would say that 1 5 MPs at least cannot be included in this category. There is only one, perhaps the new MP, who can be said to have won without any effort.

Encik Mansor Haji Sukaimi (Kampong Kembangan): It is not his fault!

Mr Ong Soo Chuan: (In Mandarin): But the 15 old MPs cannot be classified in this category.

We have difficult responsibilities as MPs. In this House, we spend a lot of time debating the policy statement. Before we can do that, we have to study the speech and the addenda, and then to test the ground by finding out the views of the people. We spend so much time and effort to get to the ground in order to reflect their views in this House. The press also labours to carry out speeches. After all these efforts, my question is this: Do civil servants spend as much time to study the Hansard so as to find out how problems should be solved? Or how the views reflected by MPs in this House could be properly dealt with? Do they think that we come here just to make noise and to fill up a beautiful looking Hansard without any follow-up action?

Mr Speaker, Sir, in his speech the President referred to the simple truth that to get from each his best, rewards and recognition must go to those who excel in consistently high performance. There is no dispute about this simple truth. Rewards and punishment must be clear and well-defined. It is only then that the people will take the trouble of facing all difficulties and to do what they are supposed to do and be inspired with a forward-looking spirit for excellence. Rewarding according to performance is, in fact, a motivating measure for our national progress.

But, Sir, in the promotion and rewarding of civil servants, the people are often given a bad impression that civil servants have been rewarded and promoted not because of their outstanding performance but because of their outstanding merit-seeking cum profit-making. The plans and schemes proposed and submitted by such civil servants are aimed at increasing the revenue and to curry favour with the Minister and be in the good books of the Minister so as to secure a favourable assessment of their performance. In so doing, such civil servants have forgotten or overlooked the political consequences and the chain of social problems that might be caused. In the case of the working class we have the Industrial Arbitration Court to act as the tribunal to judge who is to be properly rewarded for high performance. In the case of the civil service, there is no such tribunal or proper authority to assess the performance or the merits or demerits of civil servants. We have a number of senior civil servants holding different corporate posts. According to the Straits Times of today, we can see that Temasek is the biggest holding company in Southeast Asia with a number of subsidiaries, including SIA, Keppel Shipyard, Sembawang Shipyard, etc, all with Singapore Government participation. Who is the Chairman? SIA Chairman is also the Chairman of this giant holding company, and he continues to be on the board of directors of so many other companies. How do you assess the actual performance of such a person? If you want to know his actual performance, I will deal with it in depth later on. There is a duplication of posts. The directors of the new Temasek Holdings are the directors of the other subsidiary companies under the Temasek group. Who is there to assess their performances with such a duplication of directors. You have the Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates Committee to examine public accounts, but there is no such committee with the rights or power to look into the accounts of such companies. These so-called directors have become directors without contributing a single cent to capital. They are all civil servants who have become directors without having to contribute any capital themselves, They are different from directors of private enterprises. In the case of a private enterprise, if a person wants to be the managing director or the Chairman, he has something at stake or has a vested interest whereas civil servants become directors without any vested interest. They have not contributed any capital. There is nothing at stake. How many such companies have lost their business? There is no report. Who looks into them? Nobody. Are they capable? How do we know whether or not they are capable? What about those companies that have suffered losses? We have the case of the Granite House purchased in London which lost tens of millions of dollars - public money contributed by the hard work and sweat of the people of Singapore. And now we have exonerated the director who had dealings in the Granite House affair and awarded him director-ship to a profit-making company elsewhere - chairman of Temasek Holdings. Who can say that he is capable or not capable? There is no proper accountability in the case of a State-owned company. So you have one civil servant responsible for the failure of one business at one time and now promoted to another capacity in a successful company. He is thus rewarded, but no penalty for the failure of his action. So how can you say "to each according to his worth"? Mr Speaker, Sir, there are civil servants holding several posts. Their plans and schemes for the Government are mostly profit-orientated for their own credit.

In his speech, the President also stated that "no major policy or legislation should be passed without the closest scrutiny and passed only after the most thorough debate" in this House. This again are words which we must pay heed to. However, my colleagues in the previous Parliament sittings had also reflected their grievances and levelled criticisms against some IegisIations being rushed through the House in all three Readings without adequate time for study and debate. This has been a very common occurrence. Very often we come to this House after only a glimpse of the Bill itself when it was tabled. Where have we got the time to study the Bill for a thorough debate? In a case like this, Members of Parliament cannot be blamed for not having studied the Bills and other measures. You can blame the Ministers for this. The Minister responsible for the Bill should supervise its drafting by civil servants. If the drafting was done in a hurry, there will always be omissions and flaws in the Bill. Sometimes more haste would result in more delay. There were occasions when Ministers in moving the Bills were not very clear about the legislative principles and spirit therein. So very often amendment Bills had to tabled within a few months after passing the original Bills. This is well within the knowledge and experience of many hon. Members in this House. In some cases even Ministers responsible for such Bills did not know the actual meaning of the Bills because we tell from their answers to the questions raised by Members of Parliament that the Ministers did not really know what they were saying.

Mr Speaker, Sir, there are also examples to show that within two or three months of a Bill being passed in this House an Amendment Bill was brought in again to look after a certain interest or deficiencies. All these are illustrations to show that when Bills are passed without a thorough debate or scrutiny, the blame cannot be entirely put on Members of this House. The Ministers have also a certain measure of responsibiltiy for all this.

Mr Speaker, Sir, on the reference to the Polytechnic and other tertiary institutions as hotbeds or targets of recruitment for the Communist Party, this is something that we must be vigilant about. We learn from experience that it is only when dissatisfaction exists that it can be made use of as a tool against the Government or the people. According to my understanding, the reasons for dissatisfaction among students of the Polytechnic and other institutions of higher learning are that some students are pessimistic and uncertain about their future employment opportunities and are dissatisfied with the existing conditions. Thus they lend themselves to manipulation. Take Nanyang University, for example. It is still fresh in our memory that from the late 1950s up to the early 1 960s Nanyang University was infiltrated by the communists. Nanyang University was then still under the old system. There was a feeling of dissatisfaction among the students then and the situation was exploited by the communists. The students were made use of for all kinds of agitation. Thus, Nanyang University was in a state of turmoil and unable to make any headway. To remove all the root causes leading to the dissatisfaction, negative prevention is not the basic solution The fundamental solution lies in the removal of the root causes of the dissatisfaction. We must resolve the students' problem of employment opportunities. Students are also dissatisfied with their status quo. We must look for a proper diagnosis before administering medicine. Although the Government has accorded equal treatment to Nanyang University and the University of Singapore, frankly speaking. Nanyang University needs a Vice-Chancellor with drive and some efficient senior executives of high academic standing in order to raise academic standards. It should open its door to students of different races in keeping with our national policy so that Nanyang University may develop to the same level as the University of Singapore. Ideally, where the University of Singapore does not want to conduct certain courses they can be conducted at Nanyang University and vice-versa. There must be cooperation between the two universities and no duplication which will cause wastage. In this way the feeling of dissatisfaction can be eliminated psychologically, wastage of manpower will be avoided and the graduates will also not have a sense of uncertainty about employment outlet. The academic standards of the university will also be improved and its prestige enhanced internationally.

Mr Speaker, Sir, for several years I did not have a chance to speak for my constituents. This is the time for all the one hundred flowers to bloom. Now we are also allowed free expression in this House. I would like to say something and do something for my own rural constituency, (In English) This is the first time. I had no chance before.

(In Mandarin) In the Nee Soon constituency 80% of the votes came from the rural areas. I am not as fortunate as the other Members of Parliament who have the HLJDC or HDB flat dwellers to support them. My constituents in Nee Soon have not had the opportunity to enjoy public facilities available in other constituencies. They only enjoy limited facilities provided by the Urban and Rural Services Committee. Many of my voters who live in the rural areas are not served by metalled roads. Their houses or villages are not accessible to vehicular traffic. The funds provided by URSC for the development of the constituency are not sufficient, particularly in respect of road development. Up to date. I have received requests in hand which need at least $1 million to develop roads over the next five years. The amount allocated each year is quite limited, and I can anticipate many roads cannot be completed by then. How are we to satisfy the rural voters in their demands? How are we to express our appreciation for the 72.4% votes which had been cast in our favour as an expression of the confidence that they have in us? If this rate of progress is continued, in my own constituency, even if I can carry on for the next ten years - they would not be able to complete the construction of the roads with the meagre sum provided. It is my hope that the Ministry of Finance will allocate more funds for road construction in the rural areas. This is also in keeping with what the Prime Minister had said after the elections - that we must look after the needs of the people in the poorer areas. This is the time for such care to be given. If it is not possible to allocate more funds to the URSC for the development of the rural areas, then perhaps the Minister for National Development could study the question that for any request for more than $100,000 provision for road construction, whether the work -an be done by the PWD direct instead of going through the URSC.

In the Nee Soon area, more than half the number of shops have been affected by road development and have to be resettled elsewhere. The remaining shops cannot meet the requirements of the people there, The Government has no plan or intention to build more shops or shopping centres in Nee Soon for replacement, as in the case of Thomson constituency. It is therefore my hope that the Government will be flexible enough in formulating policies and in implementing them, that is to say, where there is vacant private land available by the side of public roads, shops may be allowed to be erected there.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in road construction development, there is one thing we cannot accept, that is a wrong assessment of the width of the road. As a result of such wrong assessment by civil servants responsible for the project, more land and shops have been acquired than necessary. This was discovered after construction work had actually begun. As a result the land by the road upon which the shops have been acquired is still in the possession of the Government. Now the shopkeepers or shop-owners have to apply to the Government or to tender for the use of their shop premises and land. This is an example of a lack of proper planning which becomes obvious after the completion of the project. But the people who are affected suffer at the lack of proper planning. So when we talk about rewards for high performance and so on, the civil servants responsible can tell the Minister that they have completed the project and hope to get some promotion which is obtained at the expense of a lot of people as in this case.

Furthermore, Sir, in the north-eastern part of Nee Soon constituency, in the Simpang area, certain land has been under acquisition or redesignated for industrial purposes, giving rise to resettlement problems. Of course, the Government has its fixed policy in regard to the compensations that may be given to the farmers. Farmers in this area have been encouraged and influenced by the experimental farm of the Primary Production Department to grow orchids and rear tropical fish as an occupation. The Government does not have a fixed policy on compensation in this respect. So I hope that when resettlement is underway, the Primary Production Department or the Ministry of National Development can think out some suitable measures to help the people affected by resettlement.

Sir, I do not want to deal with the hawker problem as other Members have already touched on this matter. But I must emphasise that all the matters that I have brought up should receive the proper attention of the Government, as the Prime Minister has said after the elections that we must give greater attention to the livelihood of the poorer groups of our people or people who had been neglected in the past.

5.35 p.m.

Dr Augustine H. H. Tan (Whampoa): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Motion in the name of the Member for Ulu Pandan.

One of my friends was complaining the other day that he has to earn $1 in order to spend 50c, as he is in the 50% income tax bracket. He did not seem to realise that he is one of the fortunate few at the top of the income ladder and that in 1975, 141,485 out of 638,432 or 22% of the CPF contributors earned below $200 per month in wages. Many of these workers have families to support. Imagine. Sir, the plight of a widow in her forties, who is illiterate and has three or four children still in school. She qualifies only to be a sweeper or cleaner, earning no more than $200 per month. Out of this amount, $26 goes to the HDB for the cheapest one-room emergency-type flat, $30 or so goes to the PUB; the rest of the paltry wage must sustain a family of four or five.

Sir, I am happy, therefore, to read the Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office that Government is committed to help the most needy. May I venture some suggestions? First of all, the Hawkers' Department should be less stingy in issuing hawkers' licences, particularly to widows, old people and people who are unfit for other work. Apparently, there is a 5% provision for hardship cases but, in practice, very few actual hardship cases are granted licences as the rules laid down are too rigid and nobody knows how the 5% rule is really interpreted.

My second suggestion is that, when revisions are necessary in respect of health, education and rental charges, we should bear in mind the plight of the low-income people. A $2 charge means nothing to a Permanent Secretary or Deputy Secretary, but it means a lot to the poor.

Another suggestion is that the PUB should make a special effort to estimate bills for the poor fairly and accurately. An extra $10 per month in estimated charges is a big blow to a poor person; moreover, the extra estimate may require an increase in the PUB deposit, not to mention the surcharge.

I have also noticed that the HDB tends to provide more open spaces and recreational facilities nearer the three-room, four-room and five-room flats, This is certainly true in Balestier Estate. The more pressing needs of the people who live in one-room flats should be given priority.

I understand also that the HDB is planning to remodel the old one-room emergency flats to convert them into two-room units. My colleague, the Member for Kampong Chai Chee, referred to this earlier. Although this seems to be an improvement, I am wondering what will happen to the present dwellers. Their present rental of $26 per month will surely be increased. This happened to four blocks of the old emergency flats in Whampoa some three or four years ago. The people were just moved out of these flats and they had to move to more expensive flats as a result. I would therefore urge the HDB to make improvements in ventilation and lighting but without depriving residents of their cheap rental.

Mr J. F. Conceicao (Katong): No.

Dr Augustine Tan: The Member for Katong is rather concerned about this. I think he has such flats in his constituency. Well, if they do not have private toilets, then I would say instal the private toilets. But make sure that the HDB does not add on to the rental for the inclusion of the toilets. Furthermore, as I said earlier, more recreational facilities for the poor people can be provided nearby.

Sir, I would also like the HDB to reexamine its concept of family income used in its housing rules. A family income of $600 per month earned by the head of household is meaningful, but when the sum is earned by himself and three or four children, what the family has at its disposal depends on the generosity of the children and you cannot expect a young man earning $150 or $200 to contribute more than $20. $30 or at the most $50 per month to the family. A rigid application of the family income rules, therefore, imposes hardship on some people who are forced to buy instead of renting their flats or who are forced in many cases to accept bigger flats than they would wish.

Sir, I would also like to suggest that the Ministry of Social Affairs should re-examine the quantum of welfare relief payable to needy and destitute persons. An old person with no children or relatives to support them and who has no savings and is unable to work cannot possibly survive on the $40 or $50 per month given by the Social Welfare Department. For such destitute cases, Sir, there is no question of disincentives for working that higher welfare payments might bring to the able-bodied,

The Addendum on the Prime Minister's Office also states that we have achieved a more equal and more just society than it has ever been in the past. I fully agree with the observation, Sir, but I would like to ask why there is no provision of legal aid for criminal cases apart from murder cases. A poor person who is unfortunate enough to be involved in a criminal case and who cannot afford a lawyer is likely to suffer more injustice. I hope hon. Members who are in the legal profession will give some thought to this and perhaps even volunteer their legal services to the poor.

Some hon. Members: Yes.

Dr Augustine Tan: I understand, of course, that poor lawyers have got a living to make but some of them make it rather comfortably.

Sir, may I make some further reference to the HDB. Recently, some of the coffee-shop operators in my constituency were summoned for placing tables and chairs for the use of customers in the five-foot way and public concourse areas nearby. I appealed unsuccessfully to the HDB to allow them to do so as the customers clearly prefer the open air. Sir, obstruction can be prevented by careful delineation and the HDB can certainly charge additional rental for a specified number of chairs and tables placed outside the coffee-shop and proprietors can be held responsible for maintaining cleanliness and for keeping noise to a minimum. Sir, in many countries, as in Singapore, side-walk cafes are very popular. I do not see why the HDB should so unreasonably confine coffee-shop operators.

The Addendum on the Ministry of National Development states that 55% of our population is already living in HDB flats and that by 1980, two million residents are expected. Sir, I have noticed that the HDB insists on a lot of uniformity, for example, in designs of window grilles and iron-doors. Why cannot the Board allow residents some variety? I suggest that, as the vast majority of our people will eventually live in HDB flats, the housing regulations should be carefully examined to prevent the imposition of unnecessarily drab uniformity.

Sir, in the Addendum on the Ministry of the Environment, it is stated that the Ministry intends to move unlicensed hawkers into vacant stalls in existing hawker centres whether they like it or not. From my knowledge of hawker centres. Sir, vacancies persist only in those centres where business is poor. I think, therefore, that it would be unfair to move hawkers forcibly into sites which are likely to result in poor business or even losses. Instead. I would urge the Hawkers' Department and HDB to make careful studies of the sites of proposed new Hawker Centres to ensure that business will be there when they are operational. Population concentrations, easy accessibility and ample parking places are three critical factors, With regard to the proposed increases in hawker licence fees. I would urge for careful study to prevent an escalation of cost-of-living increases to workers. Moreover, not all hawker centres are equally prosperous.

Sometime last year I heard that the Hawkers' Department intends to phase out Pasar Malam sites. I think it would be a pity to phase out what has become a colourful feature of our night life. Sir, even in advanced countries, bazaars are popular and colourful events. We should not be over-anxious to establish such an orderly existence that life loses some of its colour, Furthermore, Pasar Malam allows hawkers that extra elbowroom to earn that extra margin that makes life more tolerable. Already the urbanisation and rapid development of Singapore has unsettled lives and removed some traditional means of livelihood. We should therefore make every effort to provide a little leeway for small enterprises.

Several Ministries' Addenda referred to the problems of the young, particularly the Ministries of Education, Home Affairs and Social Affairs. I think the emphasis is very necessary. I welcome, in particular, the greater efforts being expended by the Singapore Sports Council. However, I would like to recommend that Constituency Sports Clubs be given more generous funds in order to cater adequately to the needs of the young and to promote mass participation in sports. In Whampoa, for example, I have to look for $1 5,000 this year to finance the enthusiastic plans of my Sports Club.

Speaking of the needs of the young, Sir, I should also like to urge the National Library to set up more branches, at least one in every housing estate. Sir, the costs of encouraging healthy pursuits like sports and reading will bring rich dividends like reducing drug addiction and delinquency.

The aged also need increasing attention, as the Ministries of Health and Social Affairs remind us. Over the last few days, MPs and Ministers have been handing out ang pows and hampers to the aged. And I am doing so tonight. If I may say so, this is a fine gesture. However, let us also think about how some of these destitute old people are going to survive until the next distribution of ang pows. Government will have to do more for the aged. Unfortunately, this may also in the process encourage the abandonment of the aged by their children and grandchildren who simply pass the buck to the government. Nevertheless we should not allow ourselves to be deterred. At the same time we should make every effort to instil filial piety in our youth.

At least two Members, the Members for Marine Parade and Toa Payoh, spoke about the problem of job-hopping among young workers and executives. I agree substantially with both of them that we should refrain from unnecessary and even detrimental action. Job-hopping usually increases when there is more rapid economic growth. Over the last two years there seemed to be fewer complaints about it because our economic growth had slowed down. To some extent, of course, job-hopping reflects the problems of adjustment that result from lack of information about the jobs undertaken. Perhaps we should provide more counselling in schools, colleges and universities to help graduates pick the careers more suited to their temperament and attitudes and so on, instead of penalising them later for hopping from job to job.

The Ministry of Labour, in its Addendum, rightly reiterates that our workers must work harder, upgrade their skills and increase their productivity. Despite the efforts of the Labour Ministry and the National Wages Council, productivity is still not sufficiently understood as a concept and as a principle governing our livelihood. Put simply, productivity is the relation between output ,(what is produced) and input (what is used in the production process). Output can be in the form of goods such as cloth, shoes, transistors, watches, etc, or services such as typing, transport, serving in a restaurant, etc. Inputs are the labour expended by workers, machine-time and materials used in the production process. Singapore is crucially dependent on the degree of productivity of all of us who work. Since we have no natural resources, we make use of imported machines and materials and export our goods and services, earning our livelihood in the process. The process is the same, whether we are engaged in entrepot trade, manufacturing or financial and other services. It follows, therefore, that we can better our standards of living only if we become more and more productive or efficient, in other words, only if we can increase our output without increasing our input or if we can increase our output faster than we increase our input. This is meant by increasing our productivity. Hence we can see that if we increase our wages without increasing our productivity we will raise the prices for our exports of goods and services. If foreigners find other countries' goods and services to be cheaper, we shall lose out in export sales.

This leads me on to the unfavourable world economic conditions referred to by the Ministry of Finance, Early last year, in this Chamber, I warned that economic recovery in the industrial countries might stall because of insufficient new investments. This has been clearly vindicated by events. The main reason is that the rate of technological innovations appears to have slowed down in the advanced countries, therefore leading to fewer investments. At the same time, the aging population structure in those countries has altered the pattern of demand, necessitating painful and difficult changes in production patterns because in the aftermath of the Second World War there was a big population boom all over the world, even in the advanced countries. This big population boom gave rise to a lot of demand, initially for maternity services, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, colleges, universities, teen-age fashions like 2nd generation jeans and so on and so forth. But since the early sixties, the rate of population growth in the advanced countries had declined very drastically so that the numbers of young people in some cases, have gone down not only as a proportion of population but also in absolute numbers. So those industries catering to the demands of the young suffer excess capacity.

At the same time, Sir, there are many more older people proportionately as well as absolutely in the advanced countries, and we are catching up in this respect. In America, I understand about 10% of the population are above the age of 60. This means that they would demand wheel chairs, nursing care and so on and so forth. But they lack the effective demand to buy those goods and services. So it is difficult and painful for the industries there to adjust their production patterns. Therefore, both on the supply side and the demand side, there has been these difficulties. Indeed, Sir, the studies of productivity and profitability in America have shown that both rates have declined since the early sixties. If this is true, then we are in for a period of painful adjustments which monetary and fiscal measures will do little to alleviate, In fact, my own belief is that both these policies will lead to more inflation rather than more employment. In addition, energy prices are expected to rise inexorably for the foreseeable future.

Here again, Sir, too many of us allow ourselves to be beguiled by the talk of alternative forms of energy, like solar energy, gasification of coal, thermonuclear energy, and so on and so forth, In actual fact, the alternative forms of energy are still far off in the future. Even Edward Teller, the father of the H-bomb, says that the hydrogen bomb principle as a form of energy will not be commercially practicable until the 21st century. In the meantime the known reserve of oil is being rapidly depleted. We read of new oil fields in the North Sea, in the Arctic, in China, and so on. But these are marginal fields in the sense that the costs of production are very high. What good does it do if it takes $10 per barrel to extract a barrel of oil in the Arctic circle to sell for $1 1 a barrel. In net terms we only realise $1 worth of oil. In other words, it takes energy to recover energy. So one should not be beguiled by the actual numbers which are bandied about. Right now, there is one of the severest winters in America which is highlighting the energy crisis in no uncertain terms, particularly in terms of the gas shortage. I think we should take the warning very seriously indeed here in Singapore. I note that a lot of new office buildings and shopping complexes have got central air-conditioning. Even in this very Chamber, a lot of my colleagues and myself have to put on sweaters and coats. I think we can show a good example by raising the thermostat here in this very Chamber to conserve energy. I would urge that, in designs for new buildings, natural ventilation should be provided for. I have seen some of the buildings which have got no windows whatsoever. If the air-conditioning breaks down, there is just no natural ventilation, It would be very stifling. There is a lot of wastage. A lot of common corridors and so on have got central air-conditioning. Very often they are so cold that when the number of people is not sufficient one just cannot stand the cold or one catches flu in the process.

Mr Speaker: Order. It is 6.00 p.m. now. Mr Barker.

Dr Augustine Tan: Can I have another two minutes, Sir?

The Leader of the House (Mr E. W. Barker): I am sorry to interrupt, Sir, but the Member for Whompoa can carry on his speech next Monday at 2.30 p.m.