MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS

The Ministry of Social Affairs will care for the helpless, the abandoned aged and destitutes, and protect women and children from ill-treatment and exploitation. The Ministry is working out preventive schemes to deal with these problems as well as to meet new ones resulting from the changes in life-styles, attitudes and expectations that came with rapid economic development.

Social Services

A number of social dependants, particularly those who are helpless or in need of protection, fall under the care of the Government welfare homes. Those who are physically capable of looking after themselves can, with support, be looked after by their families, charitable organisations, religious bodies and community services.

The Ministry will encourage and support efforts to care for these social dependants within the community rather than in welfare institutions.

The Aged

The increasing numbers of aged persons will be a growing concern. A significant proportion are first generation immigrants who -have no families; they have little education and few skills, so that they are in lowly paid jobs and often are prematurely unemployed. Only 50% of those who will be above 60 years of age in 1990 will have CPF savings, and almost half of them will have accumulated less than $1,000.

The number of these aged destitutes will gradually diminish. But the break-up of the extended family and the loosening bonds of filial piety, where families may abandon the responsibility for the care of their elderly parents, will add to the numbers of the ag,ed who will require extra-familial care.

The Chronic Sick

More chronic sick will seek the care of welfare services when nothing more can be done for them medically. Many will eventually seek admission to welfare homes, as their families and community welfare organisations, with their limited resources, are unable to provide for them for very long.

Existing institutions under the Ministry will be organised to admit some of the destitute chronic sick cases. In the newly opened home for destitutes at Chia Keng, extensions are planned to accommodate the aged destitute, the disabled and the helpless. A new system of institutional care for the able aged will be tried out in the Woodstock Home, where they will be encouraged to take up employment. The Home will also provide day care facilities for the aged.

Delinquent Youth

More and more ill-treated, neglected and abandoned children are coming under the care of the Social Welfare Department. There is also an increase in the number of children placed under supervision for delinquent behaviour. A large number of drug offenders are youths.

A more direct approach to handling delinquency, drug abuse and prostitution cases will be explored. A study is being made on how the young offender who can be redeemed from a life of crime may be identified, and so separated from the criminal who is too set in his bad ways. Long-term follow-up surveys of the careers of each of these persons will be required, to verify the results of the study.

Community probation volunteers have helped full-time Probation of Aftercare Officers to rehabilitate young offenders placed on probation. More community probation volunteers will be recruited at the neighbourhood level to guide and assist misguided and problem youths.

The Family and Community

An unforeseen effect of Singapore's successful housing programme is that the individual may feel isolated, despite living amongst many people. Having piped-water has made it unnecessary to gather at the village well or road-side tap; the telephone has made it unnecessary to meet with friends face to face; television and radio have brought events right into the home. With less need to socialise, there is a loss of community, only aggregations of individuals, which has been described as a "decline of congregation".

Deliberately planned and organised activities will have to be undertaken to get people out of their cocoons, to develop community spirit and pride in their nation. Recreation and sports promotion thus become significant: the Singapore Sports Council, the People's Association and other organisations which promote recreation, sports and social activities have important roles.

The pilot Family Services Centre in MacPherson Constituency has been successful. The Ministry will work with interested community service organisations and the People's Association to extend similar schemes for promoting friendship, mutual help and neighbourliness amongst families, children and aged kinsfolk.

More neighbourhood projects will be launched in housing estates. Programmes for youths and counselling services for families will be developed at neighbourhood level with volunteer help. Volunteer befriending schemes for problem youths, the lonely aged and the disabled will be expanded.

Sports

The Singapore Sports Council will continue to promote sports by organising inter-constituency competitions, mass events. youth training schemes, coaching courses, fitness programmes and sports medical services.

In 1979, two swimming pools, 15 tennis courts, 16 squash courts and one playing field will be built. Every constituency will have more sports events. To encourage water-safety consciousness, 500 participants per month will take tests for the National Survival Swimming Award at the major swimming pools. Under the Coaching Plan for 1979, there will be five courses for sports club instructors and six to eight basic coaching courses.

The Singapore Sports Council's Master Plan for 1980 to 1982 provides for an additional two multi-purpose indoor stadia, four swimming pools, 59 tennis courts, 81 squash courts and three playing fields.

The Council will also improve existing facilities. For example, the Singapore Badminton Hall will be fined with better lighting and a new sound system. There will be more Fitness Parks and Fitness Courses in areas where the population density and ease of access justify them. The tests for the National Aerobic Fitness Award will be conducted at other centres besides the National Stadium. The Council will organise training schemes for sports other than the present eight. Sports medical services and research will improve with the acquisition of more sophisticated equipment for measuring physical fitness.

Fire Services

The Singapore Fire Brigade will emphasise fire prevention and precautionary measures for high-rise bUildings. It will inspect every commercial high-rise building at least once a year. It will also conduct evacuation drills in such buildings in co-operation with their managements. The Brigade will draw up or revise fire-fighting operational manuals for each high-rise building.

The Brigade is training and equipping a special group of firemen for search and rescue work.

In 1979, work will start on a new fire station at Upper Changi Road. This station will cover the eastern sector of Singapore. The Brigade will also draw up plans for a fire station in Ang Mo Kio. Between 1980 and 1982 the Brigade plans to build another fire station at Woodlands, a fire training centre at the Alexandra Fire Station and a new Command, Communication and Control Centre.

A Fire Service Act will be introduced to facilitate the work of the Fire - Brigade in preventing and fighting fires.

The Brigade will also revise its scheme of service to attract more suitable candidates to make a career in the Fire Service.

The Emergency Ambulance Service was extended in April 1977 to cover medical emergencies in addition to accident cases. It will be improved by staffing all ambulances with trained nurses.

Muslim Affairs

The last three of the six new multi-million- dollar multi-purpose mosques under Phase I of the Mosque Building Fund Scheme will be completed: the mosque at Woodlands will be ready in December 1979, that at Bedok/Chai Chee in February 1980, and that at Ang Mo Kio in May 1980. Thereafter, the Ministry and the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) will decide on Phase II of the building programme. The programme will take into consideration the number and location of mosques and suraus affected by development in the next few years, and the demand for mosques in new towns.

The Law Revision Sub-Committee of the MUIS is reviewing the Administration of Muslim Law Act. Besides up-dating, the MUIS and the Ministry will examine the substance and language in the legislation. If necessary, the Act will be amended and some provisions redrafted for clarity.

DR AHMAD MATTAR Acting Minister for Social Affairs