MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1982 TO 31ST MARCH, 1983

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Head Q - (cont.)

Mr Jeyaretnam: Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head Q be reduced by the whole sum in respect of Subhead QJ-02 of the Main Estimates.

My plea now this time is not for persons who think they are being wrongfully incarcerated in the drug rehabilitation centres but for the wives of Singapore citizens. I do not have to again, I hope, remind Members of this House that the right to marry a person of one's own choice is a personal right that belongs to the individual, and it finds expression in Article 16 of the Declaration of Human Rights to which we have subscribed.

Sir, before I come to talk about the general principles of this, may I give the House three examples of how the Immigration laws have been applied against the wives of Singapore citizens, i.e. Singapore men who have married women who came from outside Singapore. May I take the first case. This is a Chinese man who has been living in Singapore all his life. His parents are all Singaporeans. He happened to fall in love with a Malaysian Chinese girl working in Singapore on a work permit and she, being in Singapore for some years, was obviously contributing to the economy of the country. Her services were needed. As I said, he fell in love with this girl and both of them decided to get married. There began their problems, Sir.

They applied to the Commissioner for Employment - because that is one of the conditions in the work permit - for permission to marry. This was refused by the Commissioner for Employment and the refusal was repeated to the Registrar of Marriages who refused to register the marriage. What do they do? As the Latin maxim says Amor omnia vincit - love is not bothered by these difficulties - they went across the Causeway and got married and had their marriage registered in the Registry of Marriages in Johore, having been refused registration in Singapore. Then he found that the wife was not allowed to live in Singapore. She was sent out of Singapore and told she could not come back for three years. He made repeated appeals - I do not want to spend too long over this - to no avail. He was told, "All right. If you could get your wife sterilised, perhaps we will give her permanent residence." He complied with that and still that did not help. All that he was able to get from the Immigration Department was that the wife would be allowed to come into Singapore on social visit passes to visit him in Singapore.

This state of affairs went on, Sir, until November last year. Then he happened to be in my constituency and he came to see me. His previous appeals to his previous MP had not produced any desired result. He is now, I am glad to say, allowed to bring his wife into Singapore and the Immigration Department has agreed to allow her to stay in Singapore on six-monthly visit passes. That is one case.

There is another case of another Chinese citizen of Singapore who married a Malaysian girl but who has been living in Singapore from the age of 12. She fell in love with this man and he fell in love with her, and they decided to marry. Again they had difficulties. They were able to register the marriage in Singapore but she was not given permanent residence and their troubles really started when she found herself pregnant with the third child. She was then immediately ordered to leave Singapore and so she had to leave Singapore although the husband is a Singapore citizen and their home is Singapore, she was ordered to leave Singapore to have her baby in Malaysia.

There is yet a third case, Sir. This is the case of a man whom I mentioned in a question that I asked the Minister for National Development the last time. This is the case of a man who has been working in the Ministry of the Environment for many years. He is a Singapore citizen and he married, again, a non-citizen, but a non-citizen who has been resident here for many, many years. He has been applying for permanent residence for his wife. This has been denied. The HDB says, as I asked a question of the Minister for National Development, "No house for you or your wife because she is not a permanent resident." The Immigration Department says, "No permanent residence for your wife." So what is the man to do? As I said, his house is in danger of being demolished. The area is due for renewal and the man is at his wit's end because he says he cannot afford anything else but a single-room HDB flat. What do we do in these circumstances? Do we say that the law is this: that the law must be enforced regardless of the situation that is presented to us?

The Minister, responding to my question on this aspect some days ago, said about the recognized principle in law that wives follow their husbands. All recognized systems of law recognize this and we should recognize this in respect of our Singapore men who marry wives from outside. Why should they not be given this right? After all, I am sure that Members are aware, our Prime Minister's son married somebody from outside Singapore. This right should not be denied to anybody in Singapore. It should not just be kept as a right for a few whilst denied to the others. I know about the breach of work permit conditions. If we do not want our boys to marry anybody from outside Singapore, then there is one way out of it and that is -

The Chairman: Mr Jeyaretnam, you have 10 seconds more.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Do not bring into this country on a work permit any young unmarried girls. Tell them that they cannot come in. Tell them that Singapore men are reserved only for Singapore women. They cannot come in.

The Chairman: Prof. Jayakumar, you have 2 1/2 minutes to answer.

Prof. Jayakumar: Sir, my answer can be given within the space of two minutes because this is a repetition of the same question which I answered fully. Let me just confine myself to the following points.

First, the Member has ventured into the realm of international law and has cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with which I am familiar, for I have taught it in my class in the University. He has referred to a provision in Article 16. Article 16 as well as all the other provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights nowhere confer a right on an alien or a foreigner, whether the wife or not, to enter into a country. The general principle of public international law is that it is a sovereign right of a country to determine admission of aliens subject only to such conditions and treaties as it may have expressly agreed to.

Secondly, he does not cite other provisions in the Universal Declaration. He does not cite, for instance, Article 29. Article 29 says:

'In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are deter- mined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and [I stress] the general welfare in a democratic society.'

This general welfare and national interest is the underpinning of our Immigration policy.

He refers to several cases. In one of the cases the wife was allowed to enter into Singapore. So I do not see how he justifies his point.

Finally, let me say that when we talk of wives of citizens, to dispel any notion that the Member for Anson raises of a draconian policy, last year there were 3,331 applications by wives for permanent residence. An overwhelming majority of 76.3% of these applications were approved.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear! 6.00 p.m.

The Chairman: It is guillotine time.

The time allotted for Head Q having expired, the following amendment was not proceeded with:

Mr Eric Cheong Yuen Chee:

(11) That the total sum to be allocated for Head 0 of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100.

The sum of $298,033,380 for Head 0 ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $17,687,000 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

Head I -

Mr Ho See Beng: ( In Mandarin): Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IA-01 Object Group 1100 of the Main Estimates.

Sir, I move this amendment for the purpose of pleading on behalf of those residents who are being evicted from Blair Plain. These 700-odd workers of PSA live in Blair Plain estate. Because the PSA wants to develop a container harbour in that locality, they were given notice to quit. Although the PSA has given adequate notice to quit, they cannot provide them with any alternative accommodation. These workers have also gone to the HDB to register for the allocation of flats. But the HDB could only register their applications. They could not give them priority for allocation of flats. The reason given was that the workers in the PSA dwellings were not evicted by the HDB. So the 700-odd families were ordered to clear out before the middle of 1983. Sir, if by that time the HDB could not allocate flats to these workers, would the PSA drive them into the roads and streets? Sir, now the PSA has been able to develop Singapore into the second largest and busiest port in the world. This has to a great extent been due to the efforts and contributions of the workers who work with the PSA. If they could not be credited with any merit, certainly they could be credited with their hard toil. Can the PSA not seek a better and more reasonable solution to this problem?

Sir, on the other hand, opposition political speculators have been stirring up these workers to rise up against the Government, and instigated them not to move away from the site whatever might be, and asked them not to cooperate with the authorities. These opposition speculators wanted to make a mountain out of a molehill on this matter in order to achieve their political, ulterior motives. Sir, if an opposition Member could tell a foreign reporter that the people of Singapore are starving now, of course, the same person could under a pretext say that the Government or the PSA has been wrong. The purpose is to create disquiet and discontent in Singapore so that Singapore will meet with economic depression and business recession, causing many people to be unemployed. The opposition may then condemn the Government as being incapable and hope to stand for elections to defeat the existing Government and be victorious themselves. Just as the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs had said, the opposition in Parliament could not do anything to help the Government govern Singapore but hope to create turmoil in Singapore so that we will go down the drain in order that they may fish in troubled waters. Therefore, if we are a good Government, it does not matter at all whether or not there is an opposition Member in Parliament.

Sir, on the question of the residence of the workers of PSA, as long as it is not solved, the executive committee of the PSA Workers' Union and myself are very worried just as much as the 700-odd families themselves. We all hope that this matter can be solved as early as possible so that the workers can work with peace of mind. That is why I have moved this amendment today, to bring up this matter in this House. Here, I would like to appeal to the HDB, through the Minister for Communications, to consider sympathetically the plight of these workers and, where possible, give them priority in the allocation of flats they have applied for before the middle of next year so as to solve their problem smoothly and satisfactorily. I would also like to persuade the residents of Blair Plain, through the public media, not to allow themselves to be misled by the opposition parties and fall into their trap and be used by them.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to speak on this subhead now so that I need not move amendment No.(2)?*

The Chairman: Yes.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Thank you, Sir. I rise to speak, first of all, in support of the observations of my good Friend, the Member for Khe Bong. I would like to ask the Hon. Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour two questions. First, I have read in the local press reports about the development of two systems called the telemetering and teleview which are supposed to provide various types of information through the television set. Would the Minister give this House some idea as to what these projects are, their present stage of development and how much these will cost the consumer?

Talking about costs, may I refer the Hon. Minister to the Memorandum on the Budget, at page 7, just below Table V, where it states.

'Stringent control has been exercised on increases in recurrent expenditure so that more funds can be made available for development projects.'

Sir, in my amendment under Subhead (A-01 Object Group 3310, there are three items under "Other transfers:- (1) Dental subsidy, (2) Staff recreation and welfare expenses and (3) Skills Development Fund contribution." Of course, I am not quarrelling with him on the Skills Development Fund contribution. But I notice that the other two new items can also be found under the same subheads of the other Heads of Expenditure. I hope in his answer he will no doubt cover the other Ministries as well. What is the reason for these provisions? Can the amount of, say, $200 for dental subsidy be sufficient under the General Administration? With regard to Staff recreation and welfare expenses, there is a provision of $39,100. I would be grateful if the Minister could kindly elaborate on these three points.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to speak on this amendment moved by the hon. Member for Khe Bong?

The Chairman: Yes.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Thank you, Sir. I was very pleased to hear the appeal of the hon. Member for Khe Bong to the Minister for Communications to solve the problems faced by the residents in Blair Plain. They happened to be in my constituency and I know about their problem. I regret that the hon. Member for Khe Bong took it upon himself to deliver, at the same time, an unwarranted attack on what I am trying to do for the residents of Blair Plain. May I assure him and this House that I am not trying to stir trouble or incite the workers against the PSA. Please let us not make any mistake about that. But I would lend my appeal to the appeal of the Member for Khe Bong to the Minister.

These workers were provided with these quarters some years ago because of their employment with the PSA [Interruption]. Not all of them. I have seen their tenancy agreements and they are not for a limited period. The agreements talk about their employment with the PSA. I have, therefore, put it across to the PSA Property Manager when I saw him, and in a letter to him (I am going to follow it up with another letter) saying that these are service quarters provided by an employer for his employees and that there is an obligation on the part of the PSA, as the employer - because of this agreement providing them with these quarters - to provide them with alternative accommodation, and that this obligation must be faced squarely by the PSA and the PSA must take it upon itself to try and house these Blair Plain residents. At the moment, the residents are not getting enough support from the PSA in their efforts to find alternative accommodation if they move from these quarters occupied by them in Blair Plain.

I would suggest to the Minister that the PSA or his Ministry should take this matter up quite seriously with the HDB and see that the HDB, as the provider of public housing in Singapore, houses these workers who are being asked to leave Blair Plain quarters provided by the PSA and that they be housed as close to the port as possible. It is no good asking them to move out to Woodlands or Changi if they are working three shifts at the port. They tell me that when they come out of work at 12 o'clock midnight, there is very little transport available for them, and they must live nearby. This is all that I am trying to do, trying to put forward the views and the needs of the residents of Blair Plain to the PSA.

I hope the Minister will look into this problem and see what his Ministry can do to alleviate this problem. Let me assure the Minister that I am not there to create trouble or unrest among the workers. That is the last thing I want. Thank you. 6.15 p.m.

The Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour (Mr Ong Teng Cheong): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I deal with the questions raised by the Member for Punggol first? The Member for Punggol asked about telemetering and teleview. The Telecoms telemetering project involves a centralized computer utilizing the telephone network to measure and record PUB consumption levels of gas, electricity and water automatically. The concept is this. A black box will be installed in the home. One end of the black box will be connected to the telephone network while the other end will be connected to modified PUB meters for water, electricity and gas. The consumption levels of gas, electricity and water in a home will be read and stored in the black box. The centralized computer will then be able to read the PUB meters as and when required without having to send meter readers to the home. The telephone network is normally under-utilized at certain times of the day, for example, between midnight and 5 a.m. in the morning. The computer will be programmed to read the PUB meters of homes at these hours to minimize the inconvenience to telephone users. The PUB meters can be read as often as required instead of the present two-month interval. The meters are read automatically. So no more problems with meter readers. Complaints of excessive charges can also be more speedily handled and mistakes, if any, quickly rectified.

Telecoms has almost completed the development of the telemetering project and there are plans to implement a field trial involving about 100 households sometime in the middle of this year. The field trial is expected to last about a year and, on its completion, a study will then be made to look into the feasibility of introducing the service on an island-wide basis. It is the intention of Telecoms to produce this black box as cheaply as possible, hopefully around $30 to $70 per unit. But it has not yet been decided whether Telecoms, the PUB or the consumer would bear part or all the cost of the black box, the modification cost of existing PUB meters and associated labour and material cost.

The Member also asked about the teleview system which he has read in the newspapers. It is basically intended to enable members of the public to gain access to information stored in the central computer. The information could include stock and share prices, entertainment and travel schedules, educational information, news and weather reports and shopping guides, etc. The system also consists of a black box with a key tag, like the one we see on a home computer. One end of the black box is connected to the input terminal of the television set, while the second or the other end is connected to the telephone network via the telephone line. The subscriber thereby gains access to computer through the telephone line. The computer then sends information through the air by broadcasting techniques and the required information is then displayed over the television screen.

Telecoms is finalizing plans to jointly develop the teleview system with an overseas partner. The development is expected to take about one and a half to two years to complete. A trial service is scheduled for 1984. Depending on the results of the trial service, Telecoms hopes to begin implementation of the teleview system on an island-wide basis in 1986 or 1987. Telecoms plans to produce the black box for about $50 per unit, hopefully, It has not yet decided whether to make the customer pay for this or whether to make it available to the public free of charge. We will have to wait until the study is completed in two years' time.

The Member for Punggol also raised a query on Object Group 3310 of the Main Estimates regarding the staff recreation and welfare expenses. I presume the hon. Member for Punggol wants to know why funds are provided for dental subsidy and staff recreation and welfare expenses this year, when none was provided last year. He is very sharp. The dental subsidy is meant to subsidize dental costs of civil servants going to Government dental clinics. Previously, this was reflected in the estimates for the Finance Ministry which has now decided to decentralize such expenses to individual Ministries and departments. A sum of $39,100 has been provided for staff recreation and welfare expenses this year. This is based on $1 per month for each employee in the Ministry of Communications. Staff welfare committees comprising both senior and junior officers have been set up in each of the departments to make use of this fund to organize group activities that would promote team spirit and boost morale of staff members.

The fund will also be used to improve facilities and brighten up the working environment. While I agree that stringent control must be exercised over recurrent expenditure, this should not be done at the expense of the morale of the civil servants. After all, it is the civil servant who ensures that development and other projects are implemented successfully. To do so, he must be adequately motivated and money spent for this purpose is money well-spent. We will continue to exercise stringent control over recurrent expenditure by saving manpower, by simplifying work procedures, by looking into computerization and mechanization and by productivity improvements.

Sir, I now turn to the points raised by the Member for Khe Bong and Member for Anson regarding the resettlement problems of Blair Plain residents. I am as concerned as they are regarding the interest of the residents of Blair Plain. The Blair Plain residents are on monthly tenancies. They accepted the temporary nature of their accommodation when they signed the tenancy agreement. They are fully aware that they may have to move out of their flats on one calendar month's notice. Such temporary arrangement cannot be regarded as permanent for these tenants.

Since 1970, the Singapore Port Workers' Union and the PSA had advised the residents of Blair Plain to register for purchase of their own HDB flats. Those who had heeded the advice would have obtained homes of their own by now. When the PSA decided that Blair Plain flats had to be demolished by 1983 to make way for port development, all affected PSA employees were given two years' advance notice in June 1981 to find their own alternative accommodation. The non-PSA employees were given one year's advance notice.

I am sorry that, much as we would like, the PSA cannot provide alternative accommodation for these tenants after 1983. Neither can the PSA expect the HDB to accord resettlement priorities to all its Blair Plain tenants. The HDB has its own guidelines on allocating flats to ensure fairness to all its flat applicants. I am only able to say at this stage, Sir, that the PSA is in the midst of negotiating with the HDB to see to what extent the HDB is in a position or is able to help residents of Blair Plain. I am not able to tell any more at this stage. He will have to wait until the outcome of the presentations made, both by the Singapore Port Workers' Union and the PSA. 6.30 p.m.

Mr Ho See Beng (in Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Anson said just now that he did not incite the workers of PSA to create trouble. I am not surprised at all at his denial. Even in circumstances when he had no opportunity, he would still try his best to smear the Singapore Government such as telling foreign correspondents that the people in Singapore are starving. With the PSA workers being evicted, would he not seize this as an opportunity to deliver a blow on the Government? I do not believe him. Of course, I know he would deny it. Two weeks ago (it was on a Sunday) he went to Blair Plain and convened a meeting. We sent our workers there to listen. He told the workers that all of them who were forced to leave the place and wanted his help could come with their identity cards to see him. He would help them. But the Port workers were wise. They did not see him. Only three or four non-citizens went to see him. Nevertheless I do not believe what he said. For this reason, we will still have to be very careful at all times about his activities.

As regards what the Minister said just now, we hope that we can have an amicable settlement by the middle of next year.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, can I ask the Minister one small point concerning telemetering? The Minister mentioned that this telemeter could automatically read the consumption of water, gas and electricity. May I ask him what is the degree of accuracy of such reading because he mentioned that this prob(em of quarrelling with the PUB over meter-reading would then be resolved. I must ask him to inform this House how accurate is this telemeter.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Sir, I am sorry, but I must again ask for your indulgence to say a little bit. I am sorry that the Member for Khe Bong has used this amendment to attack me in this House.

Let us get everything clear because I have got nothing to hide about these things. This meeting two Sundays ago was at the request of people who came to see me at my Meet-the-People sessions. I met them at the void deck. If the Member for Khe Bong would like to know who attended, I have got a list, and it is not just two or three non-citizens. I have got their addresses and their identity card numbers. Would he like to inspect them?

Mr Ho See Beng: I will be glad if the Member for Anson could supply me the names.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: Sir, the telemetering project, when implemented, is expected to reduce the number of complaints over the accuracy of PUB charges. It is not possible to eliminate the complaints altogether. As I mentioned earlier, since PUB meters through the telemetering will be read more frequently, excess consumption can be detected quickly and faulty meters and leaks in the water, gas and electricity supplies can thereby be quickly rectified. The accuracy of the reading would depend on the meter and not on telemetering.

Sir, coming back to Blair Plain again, I would only want to take this opportunity to explain that the flats in which the Blair Plain residents are occupying are not service quarters of PSA. They are flats on monthly tenancies. They are different from service quarters, such as nurses' quarters or quarters belonging to factories provided for the workers within the premises of the company. Even if they are service quarters, there is no company in the world that provides life-long housing or accommodation for their employees. I do not think anyone here in Singapore, including the Member for Anson, provide quarters for their staff. Even in Japan where they practise life-long employment, no life-long housing is provided. If Members have watched the television programme three days ago on the 17th March, on Japanese company welfarism of the Nissan Com- pany, the car manufacturers, they will notice that housing is provided for the employees up to a maximum period of seven years, and then they must move out. If they have difficulties, the company will help them financially with low interest loans.

I only wish to say to the Members for Khe Bong and Anson that I am not able to tell them at this stage how HDB is in a position to help them, and I would advise all the tenants, whether they are PSA employees or non-PSA employees, to find their own flat as soon as possible and move out before trouble befalls on them.

Mr Ho See Beng: Sir, in view of the Minister's reply which is not a total rejection of my appeal, let us cross the bridge when we come to it, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Mr S. Chandra Das (Chong Boon): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IA-01 of the Main Estimates*.

Sir, the Minister for Communications recently announced some reductions in telephone and telex rates charged by the Telecommunication Authority of Singa pore. The Minister stated that the reductions were in line with the Telecoms philosophy of sharing cost-savings with its consumers whenever they are available either through increased productivity, technological progress or economies of scale. These reductions are highly commendable. In fact, I am very happy to note that the TAS is the only statutory body which has improved its services and reduced its charges at the same time. Many other statutory boards could do well to follow this example.

More important, this move is very timely. It will enhance the Republic's competitiveness as a telecommunications centre. Telecommunications is the key to our Republic's development into an international financial, trading, shipping, civil aviation as well as a warehousing centre. In short, this move will lower the operational costs of companies, especially offshore service companies and export-oriented firms in Singapore.

However, Mr Speaker, Sir, I am a little concerned that the reductions appear to favour only the corporate consumers rather than the average HDB dweller. The latter do not telex or make frequent overseas telephone calls. I am confident that TAS could exercise the same ingenuity as it has done for the corporate consumers, and maybe come up with some benefits for the average HDB consumer. Would the Minister wish to enlighten this House on the reasons for not passing on such cost reductions to the local consumers?

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Sir, I would like to join the hon. Member for Chong Boon in thanking the Hon. Minister and Telecoms for their exemplary move in reducing telex charges and charges for International Direct Dialling calls recently. This is the second time these charges have been reduced in recent years. And it will certainly benefit a lot of business users. It is exemplary because I hope other statutory boards, like the Public Utilities Board notably, and other companies like SBS would follow instead of thinking of increasing prices and making huge profits all the time.

Sir, there have been a lot of complaints for a long time regarding the Subscriber Trunk Dialling system. Under this system, telephone subscribers can make trunk calls by direct dialling. The problem here is that there are telephone subscribers who are billed by Telecoms for trunk calls they never make, in spite of having taken precautions such as putting a lock on the dial. However, the introduction of push-button telephone instruments has made this precaution quite difficult to exercise.

Sir, I would like to ask the Hon. Minister what steps Telecoms is taking to deal with such complaints and to eliminate wrong billing?

The Chairman: Encik Mansor is not here. Mr Ong.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: Sir, the Member for Chong Boon asked about whether Telecoms is able to reduce the domestic telephone rentals, in view of the fact that Telecoms has in recent years been gradually reducing the rates on international telephone and telex charges.

The main reasons for Telecoms being able to reduce international telephone and telex charges in recent years are the decreasing cost of using international satellite circuits and the drop in prices of electronic and computer equipment. The 42% and 33% increases in the volume of international telephone and telex traffic, respectively, in 1981 over that for 1980 have also enabled economies of scale to be realized, thereby lowering the unit cost. The existing rental for domestic telephones is only $200 per year. This rate is among the lowest in the world and it has not been increased for over 10 years, since 1971. Telecoms has been able to maintain the existing rate through its ability to purchase equipment at competitive prices as well as gains in productivity through adoption of the latest technological innovation, such as push-button telephones, stored programme control exchanges, computerized fault control centre and plug-and-socket installations, all of which have helped to reduce maintenance costs. By getting domestic telephone charges unchanged throughout the inflationary 1970s, there is, in real terms, already a reduction in domestic rentals. 6.45 p.m.

The Member for Alexandra raised a point on the problems caused by the Subscriber Trunk Dialling. Telecoms is making a serious study of the problems caused by STD and other calls being made on subscribers' telephones without their knowledge. In this study, Telecoms will consider the possibility of using electronic means of preventing STD calls from individual subscribers. At the same time. it will examine whether it will be practical to make a computer listing of all STD calls made in the same manner as for International Direct Dialling (IDD) calls. In the case of IDD calls, details of date, duration and location of the called party are recorded. We must remember that we now have 550,000 or so direct telephone lines in the network and the number is increasing rapidly.

The Member for Alexandra will be interested to know that of the estimated one million STD calls made each month Telecoms received about 240 queries. This works out to only 0.024% of total calls. When Telecoms completes the study in the next 12 to 14 months, it hopes to reduce further the already small number of telephone subscribers who claim that they are receiving bills for STD and other calls which they did not make.

Mr Chandra Das: Sir, I thank the Minister for his answer and beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Mr Rohan bin Kamis (Telok Blangah): Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head I be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead IA-02 Project 8301 of the Development Estimates.

Sir, in moving this amendment I wish to seek information and clarification from the Minister regarding the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). Almost regularly I have been receiving reports after reports on studies being done on our MRT. They come in beautifully printed glossies. Notwithstanding the money spent on these beautifully printed booklets, I am sure a substantial amount of public funds must have been spent on the studies alone.

Sir, I am aware that this is a very major undertaking and it will affect every citizen in Singapore and change their life-styles in terms of transportation as well as involving a vast amount of public funds. I know our Government is prudent when spending public funds. For this reason, therefore, would the Minister please inform the House what is the progress achieved to-date and how much more money, time and effort will have to be spent on more studies for the MRT before we decide to decide on it.

Mr Bernard Chen (Clementi): Sir, can I be permitted to speak now because my amendment* is on the same subject?

The Chairman: Yes.

Mr Bernard Chen: Sir, we were informed in the House last year that as a result of the Hansen Team's study on the MRT, another study was embarked upon to look into the possibility of an all-bus system as an alternative to the MRT.

I think those of us who have travelled abroad will note that traffic congestion in Singapore does not seem to be very serious compared to other cities in this region and also those in the industrial world. In fact, even in cities which are already served by MRTs the congestions are very much worse than those we have to face in Singapore. Apart from this, the operation of mass rapid transit has also resulted in heavy losses for almost every transit authority including Hong Kong.

The cost of constructing the MRT is becoming more and more expensive and because of the need for resources in other priority sectors, such as housing, education and so on, I wonder whether this is an appropriate time to review our decision to proceed with the Mass Rapid Transit system, especially when we bear in mind that in the next few years there will be a heavy demand on resources for construction required for the various development projects that the Government is embarking upon.

Separately, if we can devote some of the resources earmarked for the MRT, which is estimated to cost some $4 billion at 1979 prices, or if part of these resources can be diverted to improve the bus services including infrastructure, such as bus stations, terminals, rolling-stock, would it not be possible to alleviate some of the more serious traffic problems in certain areas? It is a matter of usage and the time of use is causing congestion at the moment, not so much the road capacity that we are having in Singapore. If we can extend other regulatory measures, such as the Area Licen- sing Scheme, as practised in the city area, to other areas or at other periods, we may be able to postpone the inevitability of the Mass Rapid Transit because it is a heavy investment, claiming resources which could be better put to other sectors. I believe that the bus services in Singapore have not been given the kind of attention that it deserves. Perhaps with sufficient support, the bus services could provide a service - it may not be to the satisfaction of everybody concerned - but it will be within the means that we can afford.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak under the same Subhead.

I share fully the sentiments expressed by the hon. Members for Telok Blangah and Clementi. The subject of MRT has been debated in the last few years, What I wish to point out is that, according to the Memorandum on the Budget, page 17, the MRT is described as an on-going project. In other words, the project is on. The total original cost, as stated in the Development Estimates, is $21 million. For FY 80 and FY 81, $7.5 million of public money has already been spent. Was it worth it?

An hon. Member: Yes.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: No. Because more than that was spent. My good Friend, the Member for Khe Bong, had made the remark that so much public money had been spent on all kinds of feasibility studies, and one calls it an on-going project? This year, for FY 82, this House is asked to approve $8.523 million. In other words, a rough estimate of $21 million would have been spent on feasibility studies alone, Mr Speaker, Sir. No decision has been taken so far and this is the point which I want to stress - I hope the Minister has got all the reports in hand.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: I have.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: He has. Let us hear from him on Monday whether a firm decision has been taken. I share the points made by the hon. Member for Clementi that with the $21 million already spent, we could have done other things.

Mr Sia Khoon Seong: Community centres.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Yes, community centres. At today's price, Sir, there would be at least 10 new community centres with squash courts, lawn tennis courts, indoor badminton courts as well as a nice auditorium.

An hon. Member: Coffee-shop.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: A little space set aside for a coffee-shop so that there will be some opportunity for coffee-shop talk. [Interruption]. Nothing is for free!

Mr Speaker, Sir, I can only hope that this money is well spent; I repeat, money well spent. The size of the MRT is so huge and that is why Parliament has, by statute, set up the Provisional Mass Rapid Transit Authority and allocated funds to it to make further studies from all angles, as to its cost-effectiveness, viability and so on - I am no economist and so I cannot use all the economics jargon, but I work on simple arithmetic, i.e. on dollars and cents - whether this is a right move, a good one, and most of all, whether it is in the interest of Singaporeans and Singapore. That is the key question. Of course, we must not forget that it entails losses; as pointed out rightly by my good Friend, the hon. Member for Clementi, that in running such a system, it would mean that it is bound to incur losses. If there is a loss, may the House be informed of the extent of this loss annually. If that is forthcoming, we will then debate further when we resume sitting on Monday.

The Chairman: Order. It is 7.00 p.m.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Main and Development Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 1982 to 31st March, 1983, and ask leave to sit again on Monday, 22nd March, 1982.

Mr Speaker: So be it.