HIDDEN_HEAD I - MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [7th Allotted Day].

Column: 1543

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

** Head I - Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (cont.) - **

Resumption of Debate on Question [8th March, 2006],

"That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Estimates be reduced by $100." - [Mr Sin Boon Ann].

Question again proposed.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Chairman, I thank the Members for their speeches and ideas that they shared with us yesterday.

Mr Sin Boon Ann is absolutely right when he identifies building a cohesive and resilient society is and will be a central preoccupation for us as a nation. This is going to be work-in-progress and it is going to be for the long haul. To paraphrase Mr Sin, we must not allow resentment, jealousy and a sense of alienation to divide us even if globalisation and the free market economy increase income inequality. I believe the key pre-requisites for us remaining as one united people are, firstly, to ensure that opportunities are available to all, regardless of race or parentage, in order to maximise his or her potential; secondly, to ensure that there remains social mobility in a fair and just system; thirdly, that we will share in the fruits of success (with more provided for those who are less well off); and, lastly, perhaps just as important, that those who are more successful feel an instinctive reflex to help the rest of society. This is a multi-faceted challenge which requires a multi-pronged approach. In this context, the delivery of social assistance is just one part of a larger whole.

During last year s COS debate, my Ministry had two key themes: first, to

Column: 1544

ensure that no one is left behind so that we can all move ahead as one nation; and second, to nurture the family and community relationships that give each of us happiness, fulfilment and a sense of significance, and ultimately bind us to this place called Singapore.

I would like to refer Members to the first document in the folder that we circulated [ Copies of document circulated to hon. Members ]. The first part is entitled Key Achievements in 2005 ?, which provides a brief summary of our key initiatives and projects that we undertook last year.

The most prominent among them, obviously, was ComCare. This was launched on 28th June last year. In the six months from July to December 2005, it reached out to 51,000 families and children, and disbursed some $23.4 million. It was a tangible form of our commitment to ensure that no one would be left behind. It was also a working model of flexibility and decentralisation, highlighting particularly the role of the grassroots organisations and the expanding role of the Community Development Councils in the provision of social services.

The Committee on Ageing Issues completed its review and submitted 39 major recommendations to the Government, and you all have heard our Prime Minister say that all these recommendations have been accepted in principle. And over the course of the last few weeks, you have heard how the various Ministries are actively working on implementing these recommendations.

For people with disabilities, we increased the subsidies for assistive technology, and established a specialised Assistive Technology Centre for the Disabled. We set up a one-stop Disability Information and Resource Centre. We established two therapy hubs for seniors

Column: 1545

and the disabled so that they have access to affordable rehabilitation therapy.

Moving on to babies, we enhanced the Parenthood Package by introducing greater flexibility in the schedule for co-savings, and liberalised the use of the Baby Bonus.

We moved on to implement the recommendations that arose from an earlier youth consultation exercise. As you can see in the list and that list is not exhaustive numerous youth-related projects were conceived, led and implemented by young Singaporeans themselves.

Members will recall that we very successfully hosted the 117th session of the International Olympic Council. So it has been a busy year.

Let me refer Members now to the next document in the file, which lists the key initiatives that my Ministry will pursue in the year ahead. Our special priorities this year are to focus on the less well off; to empower and integrate seniors and the disabled into mainstream society; and to restore public confidence in charities and voluntary welfare organisations.

Mr Chairman, there are four basic principles that undergird all the programmes that you can see in there. First, we must never have a permanent, unconditional needs-based welfare system. We must not have this not because we lack sympathy but because this is the road to ruin and it is not sustainable. People who argue for a permanent unconditional needs-based welfare system are harkening back an ideology which was implemented 60 years ago, and has now reached the end of the road, and you can see that in Europe. Second, our social assistance packages will therefore be low on entitlements but high on flexibility. We need that flexibility to ensure that no one

Column: 1546

falls through the cracks in such a low entitlement system. Third, we must focus on children because they are our future. And, fourth, we will help people by empowering them to help themselves.

That is why you can see in all our programmes, for instance, in public assistance, we are so strict on eligibility criteria. Only those who really cannot work and have no family are eligible for public assistance. We want to foster this sense of self-reliance so that Singaporeans will still feel the need to strive and work hard for a better life, and for each of us to take responsibility for our own lives.

Our efforts in Workfare illustrate our approach to provide targeted and sustained assistance to those who need it, but doing so in a way which emphasises the necessity for work.

ComCare illustrates our flexibility in delivering social assistance by involving grassroots organisations, self-help groups and VWOs. Thus, we can ensure that help is provided quickly, precisely and in a targeted way, and yet has enough flexibility to make sure that when there are cases on the borderline or cases which would otherwise fall into the cracks, the system is flexible enough to address their needs.

In line with this approach, ComCare will support the Workfare package which was recommended earlier by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Low Wage Workers by augmenting social support in order for two things to occur: for parents to go out to work and for children to have a better educational environment, whether this environment is in kindergartens, childcare centres, or before-or-after school care.

We will be committing a sum of $100 million over the next two years on programmes to help needy families. As

Column: 1547

Dr Lily Neo suggested, we will adopt a family-centric model in delivering assistance. I acknowledge Dr Warren Lee s point that changing family dynamics, decreased fertility, rising singlehood and an ageing society and the very real possibility of children working overseas for extended period of time, will place our model of the family being the first line of support under strain. But the response, surely, cannot be for the state to step in to be the surrogate family. On the contrary, we need to emphasise the mutual responsibilities that each and every family member has to each other, regardless of where they are in the world. In fact, the other thing that we are going to have to study much more carefully is the role of the extended family, particularly in so far as it relates to singles.

More resources will be devoted to the younger generation to help them break out of the poverty cycle. Over the next two years, $70 million will be spent on programmes for children and youth from needy families. We expect to reach out to more than 12,000 children per year, as well as programmes which target the family as a whole. This is the surest way, the only sustainable way, to break out of the poverty trap.

Under the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS), we have increased the maximum monthly subsidy from $50 to $65 per month for children from low income families with effect from January this year. Over and above this, we will now provide a start up grant of up to $200 for needy families with young children to help them offset expenditure on items such as textbooks, school uniforms and the one-time deposit which some centres charge. If even more help is needed I think all the PAP MPs in this House know the community organisations like the PAP Community

Column: 1548

Foundation (PCF) will step in to take up the slack.

Mr Chairman, the point is I can now assure this House that there is no reason for any child not to attend pre-school. Finance is not the limiting factor. What we need is outreach and to persuade those parents to send their children to kindergartens.

We will also increase the childcare subsidy for the first and second child under the Enhanced Centre-based Financial Assistance for Childcare (CFAC) scheme. There will be new subsidy caps ranging from $200 to $300, depending on the family s household income. But let me remind Members that this quantum is over and above the $150 subsidy per child that we are already providing for working mothers whose children attend such centres.

As announced by the Prime Minister, we will also set up a $2 million Opportunity Fund which will be distributed to the self-help groups. The Opportunity Fund can be used to provide educational assistance for children from low-income families.

Next, under the Home Ownership Plus Education Scheme (HOPE), we will liberalise the eligibility criteria so that more families will be eligible. We expect that these enhancements will benefit some 1,000 families over the next three years. And I would like to remind Members of this House that each package is worth up to $100,000 per benefiting family. An Appeals Committee, chaired by my Minister of State, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, will provide flexibility in administering this scheme, especially in borderline cases.

We will also spend $30 million to help people go out to work, and to become self-reliant through the MCYS' Workfare package. We expect that this will reach

Column: 1549

2,200 families per year through these initiatives.

Let me now move on to social enterprises, a subject which was covered by Miss Penny Low and Mr Sin Boon Ann. They have quite rightly recommended exploring a larger role for social enterprises in Singapore. I agree with them. Community and charity organisations can explore ways to create sustainable business models which will do two things firstly, hopefully, generate jobs for the beneficiaries; and secondly, provide an alternative revenue stream for charities rather than to be totally dependent upon the charity dollar. We will provide seed funding for these social enterprises and we will help create a conducive environment for them to grow and flourish. If there are regulatory obstacles, we will definitely help to smooth them away.

My MOS will provide further details on all these initiatives as well as give an update on ComCare s key achievements later.

Let me now turn our attention to the issues we face as an ageing society.

Singapore will experience a fundamental demographic shift over the next 24 years. Today, 8% of our population are aged 65 and over. But by 2030, 20% or one in every five Singaporeans will fall into this category. The Report by the Committee on Ageing Issues (CAI), therefore, is very timely and it quite rightly highlights the key thrusts that we need to take now and not wait for the two decades to elapse.

Our goals are to enable seniors to lead a healthy, fulfilling and meaningful life. The CAI correctly concluded that we will need to tackle five critical aspects. These are housing, accessibility, healthcare, employment and social integration. Of the 39 recommendations that the CAI put

Column: 1550

forth, 15 have been or are in the process of being implemented as we speak. The other 24 have been accepted, in principle, by the Government and we will get to them in due course. My Ministry is responsible for 17 of these proposals. So I will certainly owe this House an update at an appropriate time. Members can refer to the Government s responses to all these recommendations at Annex 4 of our file. My colleague, Dr Maliki Osman, who is co-chair of the CAI, will go into the detailed recommendations

as well as answer questions later on. But let me briefly illustrate how the CAI s vision will shape our present and, more importantly, our future.

12.15 pm

The CAI pushed a bold plan to make Singapore an 'Accessible City' to all. Let me assure Dr Ong Seh Hong that seniors and the disabled will be able to move around the island seamlessly. And parents with young children will also gain from the changes that we will make. As I myself will be pushing a pram for my baby in a couple of months time, I can assure this House that the agencies involved will be receiving feedback directly from me too.

Our seniors will also find diverse housing options for them, with the option to monetise their assets. They will have community-based healthcare, accessible, reachable and convenient for them which is, as the Ministry of Health has illustrated, the need for better ways of working using the family physician as the primary focus of delivery. I think this is an idea which I am sure Dr Lily Neo will support.

Having said that, accessibility, housing, healthcare, whilst vital, are essentially means to an end. At the end of the day, what brings fulfilment in the lives of seniors must be the ability to age graciously and have full and active life for

Column: 1551

as long as they can do so. And we believe that seniors must be empowered to embark on pursuits which give them this sense of satisfaction and fulfilment.

In a recent Straits Times interview, Mr Chan Chee Seng, former MP for Jalan Besar and, in fact, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is the predecessor of my Ministry, said that we need to get older people to 'take control of their own lives' and involve them in seeking solutions to problems. He also urged us, the Government, to tap on the experience of this group. I think this is very, very wise advice from my predecessor. And I have decided to accept and act on his advice.

I think Mr Sin Boon Ann, Mr Ang Mong Seng and Mr Wee Siew Kim will also agree with his advice when they called for seniors, in their speeches yesterday, to have more opportunities to be more active. The CAI recommended that we set up a $10 million GO! Fund (Golden Opportunities Fund) to promote active ageing through activities run by seniors for seniors. I have decided to double this. We will put $20 million into this fund and will let the seniors conceive, organise and execute these projects.

The GO! Fund will provide seed funding for seniors as they bring these projects beyond what is in their minds and beyond just plans into actually executing them on the ground. There will be an element of co-funding because we want community ownership of the projects, and this is an essential ingredient for success and sustainability.

I see the GO! Fund also helping budding entrepreneurs, old and young, to kickstart the silver industry in recreation, leisure and third age pursuits. They may do feasibility studies or product

Column: 1552

customisation, with inputs from seniors as consultants and potential customers. If the pilot projects succeed, our seniors will benefit but, more important than that, we would have added another dimension to our economy, the silver or the golden economy.

Let me now move on to strong families. Our needs, priorities and roles would change as we move on in life. But one thing remains constant. Our family will always be our core reason for being. What we reap in our golden years really depends on what we invest in our families now.

Mr Sin Boon Ann and Dr Chong Weng Chiew have quite rightly emphasised the need for strong family and inter-generational ties. My Ministry has found that family and inter-generational relationships are still generally strong and healthy. According to the 2005 National Survey of Senior Citizens, which was commissioned by my Ministry, more than 70% of seniors interviewed still talk to their children every day and close to 70% will discuss important matters with their children. You wish it is 100%, but 70% is still quite good. The 2003 HDB Household Sample Survey showed that 64% of seniors either live in the same flat or in the same estate, or in an adjacent estate to their children. The same survey found that seniors ranked family life No. 1, in terms of personal satisfaction, out of 16 other items which included things like housing, transport and public security.

But we can do more to achieve a consistent, holistic family-centric, inter-generational approach in our policies, programmes and projects. For this reason, I full endorse the CAI s recommendation to introduce Family Passes so that the entire multi-tier family can use our sports facilities at concessionary rates. It is a simple but very concrete step that seniors should use sports facilities to keep fit but also to do

Column: 1553

so collectively with their families. So with one pass, we can achieve both aims: activities for seniors and family togetherness. And I hope other institutions and public attractions will also consider introducing such multi-tier extended Family Passes. But we will do so in all Singapore Sports Council s (SSC) facilities for a start, and this will include swimming pools, gymnasiums, badminton, tennis and squash courts.

And this ties in neatly with our commitment to ensure that all public sports facilities will be senior-friendly by 2010. I understand that the Jurong West Sports Complex already has ramps for access into the teaching pool and even the jacuzzi pools, and these are facilities which are popular, especially with our seniors.

On top of the Family Pass initiative by the SSC, the People s Association will also review all the current schemes and activities in order to promote such multi-tier family activities.

Sir, we can look forward to a bright future as Singapore ages. It will be one built upon strong families and active seniors. While we can put in place the infrastructure, policies, programmes and services, it will ultimately be up to each of us, seniors and young, to play our part to complete this picture and to ask to remain active and young in spirit, regardless of age.

Sir, let me now move on to disabilities. Our vision for an inclusive nation must certainly mean that the disabled will be integrated into the mainstream, wherever possible. This means studying, working, living, moving around us and being cared for, just like any one of us.

This is our goal. Have we arrived? The answer is not yet. But have we made progress? The answer is yes. This is the

Column: 1554

essence of Dr Warren Lee s question. Let me share with the House the significant steps that had occurred over the last few years, in addressing this need by the people with disabilities.

Over the last five years, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and my Ministry have spent close to $350 million for people with disabilities. My Ministry alone increased our budget seven-fold from $5.4 million in 1999 to $35.1 million this year. This affirms in a very tangible way our commitment to people with disabilities.

However, no single stakeholder, even the Government, will ever have sufficient resources to meet every need and everyone out there. Needs and wants are infinite. Resources are limited. We therefore need a many-helping-hands model in order to make the overall pie grow and to help the disabled. By this, I mean the Community Chest, voluntary welfare organisations and members of the public must play their part to making this come about. Families and persons with disabilities too also need to do their part and this is where they need to contribute according to their ability.

We also need to make the best use of limited resources. This means channelling them into areas where it really makes a difference to the lives of the disabled and hopefully enable as many of them to become self-reliant as possible, and we want to make sure that they will be able ultimately to contribute back to society.

But financial figures and strategies hardly begin to describe the progress that we have made with the disabled. So, let me just take you through the life course of a person with disability in Singapore.

We have today nine centres for the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC), from just three centres in 2003, today, it is nine. This

Column: 1555

will provide early intervention at therapy services for children from birth up to the age of six. Since January this year, PCF Punggol School Kindergarten has also tied up with the Autism Resource Centre to pilot a one-year pilot scheme which will take in some autistic children from the EIPIC Programme. Today, we have 18 childcare centres island-wide that care for special needs children alongside their peers. These initiatives allow children, whether they are able or disabled, to be friends with each other and to play with each other from a young age. MOE has also announced a new initiative yesterday called Project SEAL (Sustained Early Assistance for Learning). And MOE will work with 10 neighbourhood kindergartens to identify children with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia.

Now, we move on to schools. Dr Chong Weng Chiew s point was about boosting education opportunities for the disabled. In 2004, the Ministry of Education set aside $55 million a year till 2008 to enhance the educational prospects and opportunities for children with disabilities. This additional funding was to improve the quality of Special Education schools by enabling them to recruit better qualified teachers, provide training for the existing teachers and improve the curriculum. This funding is also provided to designated mainstream schools so that there will be over time a pool of dedicated staff with training in special education, and this will provide a combination of in-class support, as well as specialist intervention for children with physical disabilities and hearing impairment in mainstream schools. My Ministry also has the Community Integration Support (CIS) programme which spends over $1 million a year on this programme. To date, some 310 students have benefited from this programme. They have shown good results, integrated into schools, have full

Column: 1556

PSLE passes and indeed nine students passed their ˜O level this year. This is money well spent.

Let me move on to the second point raised by Dr Chong Weng Chiew and this touches on employment for people with disability. Our motto here is succinct: Disabled does not mean Unable. To date, 1,100 people with disabilities have engaged in sheltered workshop employment provided by VWOs. The ComCare Enterprise Fund has also committed $840,000 to seven projects which have generated employment for the disabled. Since 2003, Bizlink, a VWO co-funded by MCYS and NCSS, has helped some 760 persons with disabilities to find jobs in the open market.

Employment must be based on merit this is what the disabled want and what the disabled need. Yet, we know that there are some employers who will shy away from hiring a disabled because of fear about the costs of modifying the workplace to suit the disabled.

To address this, the WDA and MCYS will pilot a Job and Workplace Redesign Scheme for employers who hire persons with disabilities. We will fund up to $520,000 over the next two years for this scheme. The money will help defray the additional costs incurred by companies to embark on workplace modifications. It will cover job modification, such as workflows and work processes as well.

These enhancements will be capped at $100,000 per redesign project. Under this scheme, there will also be 90% funding for the actual cost of leasing or the purchase of equipment and making infrastructural modifications. And I hope the employers will make good use of this scheme, and take that additional bold step to give opportunities for people with disabilities.

Column: 1557

We will also use the $2 million Assistive Technology Fund (ATF) to further help the disabled. To answer Dr Warren Lee, $250,000 from the ATF has since benefited 126 children and adults by making assistive technology affordable to them. We have also piloted an Assistive Technology Centre (ATC) to engage in research and development, and the procurement of these devices for the disabled.

Sir, we have made progress but there is too much we can do to develop the disability sector in order to meet the needs of the disabled and help them to integrate. We need to address the critical manpower shortage through better training and greater recruitment efforts. We need to improve the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of the programmes. We need to cut waiting times, shorten the queues. And we need to strive for transparency in fee structures, standards of services and effectiveness of outcomes. There is much to be done, but I assure Members of this House that the commitment is there, increasingly the funding is there, now we only have to get ourselves organised.

My Minister of State will cover more details on ComCare.

12.30 pm

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon): Sir, I would like to thank Members for their suggestions and concern about the performance of ComCare. Mr Sin Boon Ann has asked for an update of what ComCare has achieved to date.

As my Minister mentioned earlier, ComCare has helped about 51,000 families and children since its launch in July last year, and we have spent about $23.4 million through ComCare's three pillars, namely, ComCare Self-Reliance,

Column: 1558

ComCare Grow and ComCare EnAble. The details of ComCare's achievement this year and the amount which has been spent on each of the three pillars can be found in the table which my Minister has circulated to the House earlier. Members can refer to the details and the key initiatives introduced in 2005.

I thank Members for their concern for greater community involvement and improvement of processes, especially quite a number of Members also referred to greater decentralisation and flexibility. As Mr Wee Siew Kim has rightly pointed out, decentralisation has been a key feature of the ComCare Fund. It has brought about greater flexibility in administering help to the needy and to ensure that our rules do not shut out those who are truly needy. We have also focused on decentralisation and increasing flexibility as a means of promoting greater community involvement.

A key part of this strategy is the $4 million Citizens Consultative Committee ComCare Fund, which has empowered grassroots organisations to better carry out the task of ensuring that those who are in urgent financial distress get the help they need. As at end December 2005, the CCCs have spent $1.2 million of the CCC ComCare Fund to help about 8,000 applicants.

We also wanted to improve processes so that people in need get assistance more quickly. I am pleased to update Mr Sin Boon Ann that the CDCs, which administer our nation-wide assistance schemes, have improved on their processing of social assistance applications. I would like to thank the People's Association, CDCs, the Mayors, VWOs, all the Advisors of the CCCs, and the grassroots leaders, for helping to shorten the process. 82% of applications are now being processed within six weeks, compared to the 73% announced at last year s Committee of Supply. The

Column: 1559

improvement in response time was possible because of improvements in work flow and processes.

Mr Sin Boon Ann and Dr Lily Neo have suggested that there should be a central register for the needy, so that effective assistance can be given to them. In fact, the ComCare Database was launched last October for this purpose. The Database gives the case workers a better understanding of the client s needs, so that he is better able to assess what is the appropriate assistance for the client, and provide assistance more promptly. At present, the ComCare Database is used by all the CDCs, CCCs, and Family Service Centres, MUIS, Yayasan Mendaki and the Association of Muslim Professionals. For the next phase, MCYS plans to bring on board other Government agencies, such as MOE and MOH, the self-help groups, and relevant voluntary welfare organisations, to improve on the database.

Dr Lily Neo has also asked if our social assistance schemes can be consolidated so that they are more comprehensible. Mr Wee Siew Kim has also expressed concern for those cases that may still fall through the cracks, and which would need multiple agencies to address their issues. Our ComCare system works on the basis that a person in need does not have to know about all the schemes available to help him. There is a multitude of help available, from Government, as well as community-based organisations. It is the case worker s job to identify the appropriate intervention and, if necessary, coordinate help, for a needy family. There is no "wrong door". All that a needy Singaporean has to do is to go to his CDC, CCC or Family Service Centre to get the right help.

Can this system help those with multiple needs adequately? This is an

Column: 1560

important question that Dr Lily Neo has posed. Such families need specialised help, which is best provided by different agencies. The CDCs are already working with multiple Government agencies and social service providers, such as the Family Service Centres. However, we acknowledge that more can be done. For this coming year, we will build up CDC and FSC capabilities, and improve information and referral systems, so that those who are genuinely in need will be given the necessary assistance in a timely and coordinated way. No one should fall through the cracks.

Dr Lily Neo is also concerned about the consolidation of the various schemes. I am pleased to inform Dr Lily Neo that my Ministry has done a review and we have rationalised the number of assistance schemes from 51, which was reported at last year's Committee of Supply, to 27. I have asked the Clerk of Parliament to hand out a list of these 27 schemes [ Copies of list distributed to hon. Members ]. For example, the CDCs have consolidated 20 of their local schemes and programmes into three.

At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the immense contribution of our core of social workers. Dr Lily Neo is also concerned about the number of social workers. Without the social workers' passion and compassion, we would not be able to deliver many of our social services. There are currently about 380 social workers, 85% of whom are trained social workers with at least a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work. Although stretched at times, our pool of dedicated social workers has served our needy and troubled families well. Going forward, we intend to grow our core of social workers so that we can provide even better coverage. My Ministry has been working with the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI) and the National Council of Social Services to introduce new schemes to train more social workers and to promote

Column: 1561

social service sector careers. Our VWOs can also tap on the $30 million VWO Capability Fund to send social workers for professional development training. I am sure that Members note that we also give scholarships to undergraduates at the universities to study social work.

Dr Lily Neo and Mr Sin Boon Ann have asked whether school social workers can be provided to help and follow-up on potential school dropouts to prevent them from dropping out of school. This is already being done. We currently have in place the School social work To Empower Pupils to Utilise their Potential (STEP-UP) programme, which was launched in 2004. It provides at-risk students in primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions and their families with assistance from school social workers. It aims to reduce anti-social behaviour and keep potential drop-outs in school. 113 schools are currently on STEP-UP, and we intend to increase this to 150 schools by 2008. We will be increasing funding for STEP-UP from the current maximum amount of $15,000 to $37,500 per school for each of the first two years, and from $10,000 to $25,000 per school for each of the remaining three years. MCYS recognises that support for youth-at-risk requires multiple agencies to work together, and STEP-UP complements other initiatives, such as MOE s Full-Time School Counsellor scheme. MCYS also works closely with the Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime on youth-at-risk matters.

But youths who have dropped out of school will also be provided with help and support. We want to chart out various alternative pathways for them to find a niche where they can excel. The Out-of-School Youth (OSY) Development Scheme has provided close to $1 million worth of funding support for 2005 and 2006 to help set up and administer 10 programmes which have reached out to more than 450 OSYs. The programmes develop youth in various areas personal

Column: 1562

development, life-skills, career planning and work-skills training.

Finally, Dr Lily Neo has asked that integrated assistance be provided for young poor families to enable upward mobility amongst those from the lower economic and social strata. This is the objective of the HOPE scheme. HOPE is short for Home Ownership Plus Education. It is a targeted, voluntary incentive scheme to encourage low-income families to upgrade their skills and keep their families small. This enables them to focus their limited resources on providing for and educating their children. Every eligible HOPE family can receive up to $100,000 worth of benefits over their lifetime.

With effect from 1st April this year, we are introducing enhancements to the HOPE scheme to extend its reach. Previously, only low-income households, where both parents have two GCE O-levels and below could come onto the scheme. We will now include households where both parents do not have post-secondary education. We will also include families where at least one parent has post-secondary education qualifications, maybe a diploma or even a degree holder, but neither spouse earns more than $1,000 a month, and the wife is between 30 and 35 years old.

My Ministry will also step up its outreach to the HOPE target group. As my Minister mentioned, I will also be chairing an appeals board to consider families that marginally fail the eligibility criteria, so that no deserving family will miss out on being on HOPE.

I am sure Members know that ComCare also works together with MOM and WDA to support the Work Support Programme. All Work Support participants will get help in finding a job, as well as assistance with their living and other expenses. Work Support families with

Column: 1563

children will get an added subsidy of about $50 a month for childcare and about $40 a month for student care. This is over and above the subsidies for non-Work Support families. Thus, a Work Support family with one child in student-care and one in childcare can benefit from almost $1,100 worth of additional subsidies over the course of a year. This will make it easier for low-income or unemployed parents to go out to work to support their families. All Work Support families with children will also receive case management services.

We have also put in place a training grant of $2,000 a year to help the more needy Work Support families to upgrade their skills and increase their earning potential. This will provide the family with another opportunity to pull itself out of the poverty trap.

Mr Chairman, Sir, going forward, as suggested by Mr Sin Boon Ann, we intend to reach out to more organisations, including those which have not yet been involved in ComCare, such as more companies, cooperatives, foundations, grassroots organisations and various social associations. In time, we hope to see a new social assistance landscape, one with a ComCare community of organisations that harnesses their resources and expertise to help the needy.

Let me now turn to social enterprises. One excellent way that social organisations and companies can help the needy is through social enterprises. Social enterprises are businesses with a social mission. They can give jobs to people who find it difficult to find employment on their own, they can help change a donation-dependent charity into one which does not have to rely solely on handouts from the public in order to survive, ie, the VWO can also set up a

Column: 1564

social enterprise to have some constant income.

Miss Penny Low has asked for an update on the status of social enterprises in Singapore. I am pleased to note that social enterprises are increasingly gaining prominence in Singapore. This year, the inaugural Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award saw 17 nominations. Major VWOs, such as YMCA, Teen Challenge, MINDS and the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, have either set up or are in the process of setting up social enterprises. NUS and SMU are both running modules on social entrepreneurship to help equip and spur the emergence of social entrepreneurs.

The CEF, which I have mentioned earlier, is the cornerstone of our efforts to help social enterprises. Since 2003, the Ministry has supported 51 social enterprises, with a total commitment of about $5.1 million in start-up funding support. Any social enterprise will qualify for the CEF so long as it has a clear social mission and a viable business model. MCYS evaluates CEF applications based on whether the proposed social enterprise has a clear social mission and a viable business model. We have helped both for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, such as Bridge Learning, a for-profit business that helps provide early intervention for children with learning disability, and Simei Frame and Rejoice Printing, a not-for-profit company that employs psychiatric patients.

We recognise that it is necessary to go beyond funding. That is why we are looking into creating a total supporting framework for social enterprises. The Social Innovation Park (SIP)

founded by Miss Penny Low is part of our strategy. It will incubate social entrepreneurs and help them build solid foundations and sustainable business models. SIP will help social enterprises with developing and implementing business plans, marketing,

Column: 1565

training, mentoring and networking. SIP will also help the local social entrepreneurs to develop links with the international network of social entrepreneurs.

12.45 pm

Mr Sin Boon Ann also suggested that grassroots organisations be empowered to start business initiatives to benefit residents, by employing the residents or helping them to start their own business. In fact, the CEF can help to start-up or scale-up social enterprises that aim to nurture micro-entrepreneurs. I am pleased to note that a number of grassroots organisations have tapped on the CEF for their projects, the latest being a Community Kitchen Project by Al-Iman Mosque, in partnership with Bukit Panjang CCC. Even my Parliamentary Secretary has one grassroots organisation entering the social enterprise project to help the women to do sewing and so on. I urge Members to make more enquiries and discuss with my officers on this. MCYS will also work with the relevant agencies to review and expand schemes such as South East CDC's car-washing scheme.

Finally, we understand that a seamless approach in negotiating and complying with regulations is important to a keen social entrepreneur or micro-entrepreneur. To achieve this, MCYS will develop a mechanism to facilitate the establishment of social enterprises, and work closely with Government agencies through the Pro-Enterprise Panel to review the rules and regulations that may be obstacles to the development of social enterprises.

Sir, the ComCare Fund, together with CDCs, PA, the Mayors, VWOs and the grassroots organisations, has so far helped about 51,000 families and children. We are very happy that the PM, during his Budget speech, announced the topping-up of the ComCare Fund by $100 million in the coming year and it is most welcome.

Column: 1566

Our theme for the coming year will be collaboration and community. We will draw organisations from different sectors together into the cause of ComCare: CDCs, voluntary welfare organisations, foundations, grassroots organisations, companies, cooperatives and so on. Together, we will be able to make Singapore a place where the community, not just the Government, helps its own people. We will then truly become a caring society with fair opportunities for all.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman): Sir, my Minister has painted the broad strokes of the ageing scene in Singapore, with a vision of promise, opportunities and empowerment. But the picture will only be complete if each of us plays our part too. My Minister had also earlier distributed Annex 4 which updates the House on the Government's response to the CAI. Let me now provide the response of my Ministry to the recommendations.

We share Mr Sin Boon Ann's and Mr Wee Siew Kim's sentiments that seniors have a wealth of experience we can tap on. MCYS agrees with CAI's recommendations that NVPC work with partners to promote volunteering opportunities for seniors.

Among residents aged 65 to 74 years, those with at least secondary education are projected to increase from 14% in 2005 to 63% in 2030. Future seniors will thus increasingly seek lifelong learning as noted by Mr Ang Mong Seng in his query about Universities of the Third Age. Our local educational institutions have the capability to provide such courses. For instance, the Centre for Lifelong Learning at NUS Extension provides courses such as languages, history and culture to adult learners, including seniors. In the

Column: 1567

community, we have also seen efforts such as the Young at Heart (usually known as YAH!) Community College started by the Marine Parade FSC. We can encourage more of such initiatives.

We must also remove barriers to prevent seniors' involvement in society. Currently, our libraries are physically senior-friendly. But we need to go beyond the hardware. Therefore, the National Library Board will provide more large print books and audio-visual materials that appeal to seniors. I am sure Dr Chong Weng Chiew will agree that this is what we mean by being customer-centric.

Mr Ang Mong Seng has asked for more daycare centres (DCCs) to be built. Today, there is spare capacity in the daycare centres with an overall utilisation rate of 87%. Instead of building more daycare centres, MOH and MCYS will work together to allow integrated models of daycare centres and day rehabilitation centres (DRCs) to evolve based on market-driven needs, and achieve better service for clients and possibly lower costs. As far as locating them in the CCs is concerned, as suggested by Mr Ang Mong Seng, we will certainly consider them as an option in our planning process.

There is also a segment of seniors who are vulnerable. My Ministry has worked closely with the HDB on its "Project to Improve the Living Conditions of the Elderly", whereby HDB undertakes to make the rental blocks more elder-friendly. Each unit of the one-room rental flats in selected blocks is also installed with an Alert Alarm System manned by Seniors Activity Centre (SAC) or Neighbourhood Link (NL). The services provided by the Senior Activity Centre or Neighbourhood Link are similar to the one in Israel mentioned by Dr Lee. SAC and NL staff develop rapport with the seniors

Column: 1568

in their neighbourhood and do keep tabs on them where appropriate. For example, if a senior who usually drops by at an SAC for lunch is late or does not turn up, the SAC staff would go to the respective flat and check on the particular elderly. We will study the Israel model, as Dr Lee mentioned, to see how ours can be fine-tuned to serve the same purpose.

I share the concerns of Dr Lee and Dr Chong Weng Chiew over seniors living alone. In 2003, only 9% of married residents aged 55 years and above stay with their married children, as compared to 14% in 1998, although more are staying in close proximity to their married children. In addition, 13% of residents aged 55 and above with children have at least one of their children staying overseas. This is globalisation at work. We are likely to see more such transnational families in the future.

Sir, I also share Dr Chong Weng Chiew's concern about dementia. According to the 2004 National Mental Health Survey, 6% of our seniors aged 65 and above are afflicted with dementia. Currently, MOH has more than 4,000 nursing home beds, of which almost 500 are dementia-specific beds. There are other generic homes which also provide facilities for dementia patients. We will monitor the situation and respond accordingly.

Sir, we have a network of community-based services to support seniors and their caregivers. Currently, the Befriending Services extend to almost 2,000 seniors. There are also 19 Senior Activities Centres (SACs), 20 Neighbourhood Links (NLs), nine Home Help providers serving more than 1,000 seniors island-wide. There are also Home Medical and Home Nursing services for the homebound-seniors.

We encourage members of the public to refer any lonely and vulnerable senior

Column: 1569

to the relevant services. The public can also call the Seniors Helpline, which is very easy to remember, 1800-5555555, if they need more information.

I would like now to touch on supporting the families in caring for the elderly. While I have highlighted how we have and will continue to use community resources to assist the vulnerable citizens, let us be clear that neither the State nor the community can ever be a satisfactory surrogate caregiver. Dr Warren Lee and Mr Wee Siew Kim have raised the issue of strained familial relationship between seniors and their children. If so, it may seem logical and sensible to turn to the State and other institutions as there are other institutional forms of support. But should we? This could seriously weaken our social fabric because history has proven that no other institution can truly replace the family. Challenging as it may be, we must instead continue to increase our effort to strengthen the family even as it faces new stresses and concerns.

There are various tax reliefs for families with their seniors or disabled members, and financial support for young families to defray costs of raising children. The financial support has been designed not as reliefs for full-time individual caregivers as suggested by Dr Tan Sze Wee, but to help families as a unit. Families then have the flexibility to decide on the most suitable care arrangement for all their members.

Over and above financial support, my Ministry has piloted three pilot Care Coordinators last year in Toa Payoh, Geylang and Bukit Ho Swee to align local caregiver support services. This year, MCYS will set up a caregiver centre by June to meet the caregiver needs of the seniors and the disabled as well.

It will provide services and spearheading support groups. It will also conduct research and carry out public education. Dr Tan Sze Wee and Dr Chong Weng Chiew will be

Column: 1570

pleased to note that the family members who are full-time caregivers will benefit from such initiatives.

Since July 2002, my Ministry has also funded more than 200 proposals on inter-generational bonding programmes from over 100 organisations, reaching out to more than 140,000 persons.

However, with more singles amongst seniors and seniors whose children are overseas, it is important to build deep blood ties not only across the traditional children-parents-grandparents axiom, but also in the extended family. Increasingly, our public education efforts must emphasise this while in time, our policies should encourage adult siblings and their families to pool their resources together as an extended family.

With the right policies and programmes in place and continued support from the family and the community, our seniors will find opportunities, meaning and fulfilment in their golden years.

Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines): I would like to thank the Minister of State for the reply and for stating the Government's stand on supporting social enterprise. I am also glad to know that the Government is looking at amending regulations and rules to facilitate the setting up of social enterprises.

What I would like to ask the Minister of State is whether or not the Government is prepared to relook at some of the rules of tender in order to assist social enterprises. By this, I mean if a social enterprise were to tender for a public site, would Government be prepared to amend the rules of tender to give them an easier passage to acquiring the rights to the use of the site. One of the biggest elements of costs is land cost, and it is surely the greatest hindrance in the setting up of business in Singapore.

Column: 1571

The second question which I would like to ask for clarification is in relation to the statement by MOS earlier about processing of applications being made within six weeks. What I would like to know is whether or not the six weeks include the time when money is dispensed to those who apply for ComCare assistance. Their application may be processed by six weeks but the time the money gets to the needy may take more than six weeks.

The Minister of State also mentioned earlier that there are 51,000 cases that were assisted by the ComCare Fund. What I would like to know is what percentage of those 51,000 cases were actually helped by way of being able to return to being self-reliant as a result of the ComCare assistance.

1.00 pm

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Let me first handle the question of land cost. Social enterprises are meant to be viable businesses in their own right. So I want to emphasise that there must be a level playing field. We cannot give social enterprises rent-free or subsidised rental, and for them to compete unfairly against the SMEs and other legitimate businesses. I am acutely aware as the Minister-in-charge of Entrepreneurship that we must have a level playing field. So, there cannot be special arrangements like that which would confer an unfair advantage. However, we can give some help in terms of networking, seeking approvals from authorities and providing some seed fundings. But, I just want to make the point that it must be fair competition.

The second point on whether the six weeks include the processing time or the disbursement of money, I think this is a moving target. Our objective is to make it as responsive and as expedient as

Column: 1572

possible. But, having said that, let me remind him that one of the key features of ComCare was to give flexibility to the CCCs, the grassroots organisations on the ground, to provide urgent, short-term interim help, and they do not need to wait for the CDC to finish processing the application before they receive help.

I do not have the figures on the 51,000. We will revert to him on that later on.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Sir, two clarifications. On my first clarification, may I ask the Minister whether he will appoint social workers to each family in need to hand-hold them on their various difficulties?

My second clarification is on the various assistance schemes available and announced earlier by the Minister. How does the Minister ensure easy accessibility of the various assistance schemes to those in need? Could the Minister address my concern that, very often, those in need are not aware of all the various assistance or how to access them? How then does he ensure that we do not fail to deliver all the assistance packages to those in need due to the inadequacy of our implementation, especially now, in fact, our delivery systems through CDCs, CCCs and Family Social Services are deficient in outreach and follow-ups?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Those are valuable clarifications. In an ideal world, where you have unlimited social workers, you can assign one social worker for every person or every family that needs assistance. I have said, during my earlier speech, that there is still a lack of social workers and what we will focus on is to expand the pipeline and training facilities, as well as recruiting more social workers.

As that improves, maybe, at some point, we may reach the stage where each family will know which social worker

Column: 1573

is assigned for him specifically. But right now, on the ground, the main therapy point for families are the Family Service Centres. They are scattered throughout the island, and each family in need should be able to make contact, on a regular basis, with that particular Family Service Centre.

The other point on ease of access, we have a many-helping-hands model. So, today, the person can go and see Mr Chiam, Mr Seetoh Yi Pin, the CCC Chairman, the self-help groups, Family Service Centres. There is a whole host of agencies out there. We had to think through this, whether we should have a multiplicity of agencies or just a single portal where, whenever one needs help, just call one number or go to one agency. We have decided to adopt a many-helping-hands approach, many open doors, but no wrong door, policy, which means you can make contact with whoever you are most comfortable with.

Having said that, whoever makes the first contact needs to be able to access all the other agencies which can provide assistance. This requires their integration, collaboration and coordination at the backend communications, referrals from, say, the CDC to the Family Service Centre, if the person needs, say, psychiatric help at IMH, if he needs medical help and needs to be referred to the relevant polyclinic or hospital. So a lot of work we are doing now is backend processing. The long-term objective is to make it as seamless and as accessible as possible for people who need help. But for people in today's situation, I would say, just go and see your grassroots adviser. That person will be able to put you in touch with the relevant help agencies.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, first I would like to applaud the MCYS and the Minister for increasing subsidies for child support, childcare subsidies, infant-care

Column: 1574

subsidies and student-care subsidies. I think those are really good initiatives and good moves. However, I am disappointed that these enhanced subsidies will only apply to the first two children. I had asked, and I would like to ask, for some flexibility in terms of these subsidies to be extended to more than just two children. Even if it cannot be extended to all the children, at least to the third child. Would the Minister not agree with me that it would be better for the mother to go to work even if she has three, four or five children? At least, in terms of the Workfare initiative that we are trying to put in place, that would set a very good role model for the children, as well as the whole family, that there is initiative on her part to stand on her own two feet to help the family.

Would the Minister not agree with me also that if children of this family, because they do not get assistance in terms of higher childcare subsidies for the other children, the mother cannot go back to work? Would the Minister not agree that, later on, if the children become low wage workers, the Government will continue to have to put in a lot more money to upskill them, reskill them, provide further social support, and in that way we then have a new generation of low-wage workers? Would the Minister not agree with me that it would be better ---

The Chairman: Mdm Halimah, your clarification is too long.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: Just one more point, Sir. Would it not be more effective to extend more assistance now than later?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mdm Halimah always asks penetrating and worthwhile questions. I will make time for her, any time.

What we are trying to do for families with low wage workers, as far as my

Column: 1575

Ministry is concerned, there are three objectives. First, as she has said quite rightly, is to get both parents out to work. Second, to get the children to school, kindergarten or pre-school. But let us not forget the third objective, which is to right-size the family. So, in crafting all our assistance packages, we have to strike the right balance between providing more assistance and yet not contradict the other signal, which is to right-size the family. However, fortunately for us, even for families who come from low wage background, the vast majority have two children. And the vast majority of families will be assisted by the packages which we have constructed for them. Even if they are not eligible for enhanced childcare, they are still eligible for all the other assistance: for kindergarten, for before-and-after-school care. The real message then to these families who are low wage and yet have very large families must be, "Please constrain your family size. You have to take some responsibility. Therefore, in a sense, even pay some small penalty for having a large family, because the size of your family is your choice and your responsibility." So we have to strike this balance.

Miss Penny Low: I would like to thank the Minister and MOS for their support of the social enterprise and, in particular, the Social Innovation Park. I would also like to thank MCYS for their very keen support.

Following that, Sir, I would like to seek some clarifications and also support Mr Sin Boon Ann's call for a better arrangement for social enterprise, especially not-for-profit social enterprise, in terms of the land rent. An example, just to clarify what I was asking, is that I understand that the push-carts for the less-able or the unemployed or the aged workers, even though these are not-for-profit, they were asked to pay commercial

Column: 1576

rental rates whenever they are being set up for a day or more. I am wondering if this would indeed encourage more not-for-profit social enterprises to be set up since they have to compete, I would say, with quite a degree of difficulty, with the commercial organisations. Would there be a model along the type of zero phase or fusionpolis sort of infrastructural set-up that could be considered to help some of these not-for-profit social enterprises?

In addition, I would like to seek some clarification from the Minister on what sort of infrastructure and networking event might be organised to help promote social entrepreneurship in Singapore. Would it be something like the Blue Sky event that brings together the funders, the doers and the thinkers to network, socialise and create both scope and depth for social entrepreneurship in Singapore?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Let me deal with her second suggestion first. I think it is a very good idea, and we will certainly look for opportunities to create networking events for people who are interested in social enterprises.

I come back to her first point, and I am afraid I will have to give her the same answer. All businesses, small and large, social or otherwise, for-profit or not-for-profit, have to compete on a level playing field. It would be unfair and would cause unnecessary distortion to our economy if we were to do otherwise. If the problem is really that our rentals are too high, then let us see whether overall, with more innovative policies, shorter leases or other schemes, how we can lower the hurdle. But when we lower the hurdle, it must be lowered for all enterprises. Let us not be distracted from our objective, which is to create an entrepreneurial and enterprising Singapore for everyone, not just for those who say they have a social mission. It must be fair for all players, all businesses, in Singapore.

Column: 1577

Mr Cedric Foo Chee Keng (West Coast): Sir, a point of clarification on the Opportunity Fund for self-help groups. Sir, I see many bright young children in my work as an MP at MPS. However, their potential cannot be fully realised because some of them come from dysfunctional families or disadvantaged backgrounds. In that regard, at our constituency, we have raised some funds to set up a Pioneer Learning Club where we offer, at a nominal fee, to such children enrichment programmes in English and Mathematics. I wonder if MCYS would support such initiatives by matching the amount of funds that the grassroots organisations could raise for such purposes under the $2 million Opportunity Fund.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: The $2 million is meant to be distributed to the self-help groups who will have to raise funds on a co-funding basis in order to be eligible for this. Let me think through the proposal which the Member has put up, where the grassroots organisations themselves build up these enrichment funds. I would not be able to promise him, but I would say this is something which we want to encourage, but let me work out the financing and administrative details.

Dr Loo Choon Yong (Nominated Member): Sir, I am happy to note that we have many schemes to help the physically disabled, to get them jobs and to give them financial assistance. But I know that there are many who are mentally disabled and there are many families with children who have very severe learning disabilities or behavioural problems. I wonder what sort of schemes, arrangements or facilities we have for these families. Often, I see a couple giving up good jobs out of their love for their child, boy or girl, who cannot go to normal school, cannot function as they get older, cannot get jobs, and so on. Occasionally, the newspaper will report that the parents are so exasperated,

Column: 1578

because it is very difficult to give this kind of care at home, that they even just chain up the child. I think they need professional help. They also need our community to rally around and say, "This is a very difficult problem and that you need expertise and facilities and resources to handle." I wonder how much we have done and whether we can do more because this is a more difficult problem than physical disability.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: We do not discriminate between physical and non-physical disability. Anything which prevents a child from participating fully in life would be defined as a disability. Having said that, the approach must necessarily be the same, which is, early diagnosis, if necessary, where it makes a difference, early intervention, attempts to integrate the child to mainstream education, attempts to optimise job opportunities for this child when he grows up. As I have explained earlier in my speech, we are making efforts in that.

The other area which we are also examining is the long-term financial security of a disabled person when his parents have passed away. I think this is something which weighs very heavily on the minds of parents. We are studying this issue. So in answer to him, yes, these are all things which we recognise and have to be done, but it cannot be done overnight. Overall, it will require resources and there are only three sources of funding for people with disability. The money can come from the public through taxes, which is what every Government-subsidy dollar represents. It can come from public generosity, which is why the Community Chest and many VWOs raise funds from people. And the third source must be the parents themselves. We need to strike the right balance between these three sources of funds,

and then organise a system so that these resources are spent optimally, where it really makes a difference, and then as many children as

Column: 1579

possible with disabilities will get a chance to realise that potential, integrate into society and, ultimately, contribute back to society.

The Chairman: I hope Members will agree with me that clarifications are meant to be just that, and not an opportunity to make long speeches. Mr Wee.

Mr Wee Siew Kim (Ang Mo Kio): Yes, Mr Chairman. I would just like to make a clarification on the reply given by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. I am fully behind the pro-family policy, but I would like to state that all I am asking for is that at every MPS, I see an average of at least two parents who are having difficulties staying at home. Now that we have such instruments like the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents, all I am asking is how to sharpen that instrument but, in the meantime, fix the problem first, because we have these displaced parents.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, I totally agree with Mr Wee that we have to take a look at the immediate, intermediate as well as the long-term solution to the problem. For the immediate, we want to try and help families deal with the situation even before they have to go to the Tribunal. There are support services in the community the Minister mentioned about the Family Service Centres, for example.

Sir, family situations are very dynamic. It could be the result of changing expectations and changing aspirations by the different generations. I think what we want to try to put across is the message that when family problems begin to brew, do not wait, seek help early so that the problems can be addressed early. Should it come to a point where it is difficult, then there are other infrastructures in

Column: 1580

place. But the point we are trying to make is on the long-term upstream work, which is to try and make sure that we help families understand the changing needs of the elderly/senior population. There are stresses that are involved in caring for them too. And the elderly should also understand the stresses that younger family members experience. So when they both understand the issues that each other face, these families are in a better position to negotiate spaces, expectations, and so on and so forth. In that sense, we want to do upstream work to make sure that families continue to be strengthened expand the definition of "family", which includes the extended family, rather than looking at individual families, because families are getting smaller. At the same time, for the cases that Mr Wee mentioned, and those that really need immediate help, we will try to help them as much as we can. But I think if we look at it from the larger perspective, let us continue to strengthen the families, and make sure that families continue to be the backbone of our society, and not allow family values to deteriorate to the point that the State has to come and become surrogate caregivers.

The Chairman: Yes, Mr Chan, a brief last clarification, please.

Mr Alexander Chan Meng Wah (Nominated Member): Sir, I think the Committee on Ageing Issues has offered many good suggestions. But, looking at them, I think many of the suggestions have to do with changes to hard infrastructure. Clearly, those are absolutely necessary. My question has to do with ageism. I think the issue is also one of attitude. I am just wondering whether the Ministry will work with the media agencies which seem, as a systematic process, to report age in most of the reports that they put out.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, certainly, the issue of ageism is one that

Column: 1581

is faced by an ageing society. The Committee on Ageing Issues (CAI), despite having put forth its recommendations, has made recommendations of its first year of work. It has not completed its work. It will continue to address all issues related to an ageing society. And attitudes of society are very important whether they are related to the aged, disabled or other groups. We must continue to educate members of the public to be more inclusive and receptive, and to welcome diversity, as it were. So I assure the Member that the CAI will continue to do its work and address all the issues that will surface, as we try to meet the needs of an ageing population.

Transparency and Accountability of Charities and Societies

Mr Sin Boon Ann: Sir, the NFK saga throws light on the need for stronger governance on charities and IPCs. Indeed, following the NKF fiasco, the Government appointed an Inter-Ministry Committee to study the issue of governance and accountability of charities and IPCs and, at the same time, to strengthen the regulatory framework in order to raise the level of public trust and confidence in the charity sector.

The IMC completed its report recently which was submitted to the Government. The key thrust of the report s recommendation centred on the areas of: (a) regulatory framework; (b) governance, financial and fund-raising regulations; and (c) facilitating the work of charities and IPCs.

In essence, the report focused mainly on strengthening the regulations relating to public fund-raising and the regulation of IPCs and large charities with total annual income of $10 million or more. It did not, unfortunately, substantially tighten existing regulations on charities that do not have that kind of annual income and that

Column: 1582

are not IPCs or institutions of public character.

Sir, I would say that it is unfortunate because charities in this category at present do not have an adequate framework that addresses the issue of accountability and transparency, even to its members, not to mention members of the public. At the moment, members of these charities have limited involvement in decision making. How these members may be involved is largely left to the discretion of the existing management committee; and the accounts may often not be rigorously prepared as they should have been. While members meetings may be called to elect new office bearers, if at all, these meetings may be dominated by controlling members with vested interest and the ordinary members are none the wiser as to how their money is spent.

It does seem strange to me that while private limited companies are tightly regulated by the Companies Act, which sets out a clear regime to protect the members interest, the same does not apply to charities. It is not uncommon that within some of these charities, large sums of money are given by members. Yet, often, there is very little accountability and transparency as to how this money is spent.

In the light of the above, I would like to ask the Minister whether the Government would now consider strengthening the regulatory framework for these smaller charities to protect the interest of members who may be called upon, from time to time, to donate money.

Additionally, I would also like to ask the Minister, now that the IMC report has been submitted, whether the Government would consider adopting the proposals of the IMC in its entirety.

Column: 1583

Charity and Voluntary Welfare Organisations

Dr Loo Choon Yong: Sir, the Courage Fund was set up on 11th April 2003, as a fund raising effort to provide relief to SARS' victims and healthcare workers. In its last published financial statement up to 31st December 2004, it had more than $18 million in donors' funds unexpended.

Over the last year, it has allocated funds for various purposes, such as the Courage Fund Visiting Professorship for Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Courage Fund Bursary Awards for Nurses and Allied Health professionals, Endowment Fund for Healthcare Humanity Awards. These may be worthwhile alternative uses of the donated funds. But I wonder if they are beyond the contemplation of the donors when they so generously and spontaneously donated the monies to the Courage Fund when we were struck by SARS in 2003.

I was relieved when I discovered that there was the usual omnibus clause that the Fund was also established to "promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of healthcare workers in Singapore and, in particular, the advancement of education, the protection of health and the relief of poverty, distress and sickness." However, members of the public and donors to the Fund could understandably be upset and unhappy. They may feel that these other uses of the Fund have not been in accordance with the spirit of the Courage Fund.

Sir, the Council on Governance of IPC recommended in May 2005 that "IPCs and their fund raisers shall be accountable to their donors for the donations received." One of the clauses, clause 4.1 recommended that "IPCs shall ensure that the funds and donations are used in accordance with donors' intentions and the specific purpose as communicated when soliciting for donations."

Column: 1584

Sir, the IMC on Regulation of Charities reiterated this and said that fund raisers and people involved when soliciting for donations must be accountable. In the circumstances, may I suggest that the Courage Fund communicate with its donors through letters and press advertisements its intention to use the donations for purposes not directly related to helping SARS' victims and their dependants. These donors should be given a chance to consent to these alternative uses or redirect their donations to another charity or even to have their donations refunded.

The Chairman: Dr Loo, your time has ended. Mr Wee Siew Kim.

Mr Wee Siew Kim: Sir, many charities and VWOs proudly advertise that they are members of the National Council of Social Service on their websites and publicity material. The NCSS logo adds an aura of authenticity and is perceived to be a sign of endorsement from NCSS. The support from NCSS is important to the public. Members of the public usually assume that such charities are under the direct purview of NCSS and feel that they can trust the administration of NCSS to ensure that these charities are run well. No doubt, this perception helps to open their wallets more readily to donate their money for good causes. However, while some of these organisations carry an NCSS' endorsement, they are not under NCSS' direct purview and there is no guarantee of how well they are run. Hence, may I ask if the NCSS plans to tighten up how their logo is used by these institutions and to ensure that there is continual compliance of sorts in order that they continue to carry the endorsement?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, there are three stakeholders in the charity scene the charities themselves, the donating public and the regulators. And there are three key attributes that must govern the

Column: 1585

triangular relationship public trust, good governance and self-regulation.

Charities have to win the trust of the public before they can get any support from the public, particularly when funds are involved, and they can achieve this trust by best being transparent and being accountable, as Dr Loo has mentioned. Charities will also need to have active boards in order to ensure good governance, and all board members must know what is expected of them and they must actually supervise.

Let us move on to the public. The public has to go beyond just blindly making a donation. What is needed is informed giving, which means you know where your money is going, how it is going to be used, who is going to be deciding on the use of that money. And we also need the public to be involved, either as a volunteer and, even better still, serve on the board, because a lot of charities are really desperately short of good and able people willing to spend time and effort and, if I may add, reputational risk to serve on the boards of these charities.

The third player is the regulator. The key point here is that the regulator must not be overly interventionist. Because if we did so, then that charity would be just another extension of the civil service, just another Government department providing yet another Government service out of taxpayers' dollars. That is not why we have a vibrant voluntary sector.

I agree with Mr Sin Boon Ann that this review of our charity regulatory scene has been overdue, and I think last year's NKF incident merely highlighted that.

The Inter-Ministry Committee on the Regulation of Charities was established in October last year, and it had all these considerations in mind when members drawn from various sectors sat down to

Column: 1586

consider how best to alter the regulatory landscape. The IMC submitted its final report on 2nd March 2006 after a public consultation process. The Members of the House can refer to the handout which contains a brief summary of the regulatory arrangements that will occur after that, as well as the details of the recommendations.

We have accepted its report in total. The Government will, therefore, make the necessary legislative amendments to transfer the Charities Act as well as the office of Commissioner of Charities to my Ministry before the end of this year. We will appoint a full-time senior public officer as the Commissioner, and we will provide him/her with the necessary staff resources in order to get the job done.

As recommended by the IMC, we will also establish a charity council. This council will be drawn from people

who are within the charity sector as well as from the regulatory agencies but, more importantly, it will be chaired by a people sector person. That is because we want this council to be the icon of self-regulation. This council will advise the Commissioner of Charities on matters relating to good governance and self-regulation because we want to keep this concept of self-regulation paramount.

1.30 pm

The Government also accepts the IMC s recommendations for additional regulations on governance, financial disclosures and fund-raising. These regulations, together with those which were proposed earlier by the Council on Governance of IPCs, will be implemented with effect from 1st July this year. And Members may also be aware that certain regulations apply, not only to IPCs, but also the charities as well.

We support the IMC s proposal to set up a Charity Portal. This will make it

Column: 1587

more convenient for charities to register, submit their reports, as well as to submit applications for fund-raising permits.

Mr Wee Siew Kim has brought up an important point regarding membership of NCSS. NCSS is stringent in its evaluation of membership applications. This process will include examining the constitution of the VWOs, its mission, objectives, leadership, annual reports, accounts, programmes and services that it has been providing, not just at the point of application, but for the preceding years before that. If NCSS is satisfied that this is a bona fide and responsible VWO that deserves support, then it accepts it into membership. Because NCSS is, after all, a members organisation.

Once it is accepted by NCSS, this VWO must meet certain governance standards laid down by NCSS. And if it does not, or it contravenes it, then various measures can be taken against it, for instance, suspension of its IPC status, or even termination of membership.

But having said that, I think there also has to be a balance between how interventionist you want NCSS to be in the matters and the detailed operations of its member VWOs. We have to strike the right balance, and I would like to remind the House that the other half of this balance, I believe, must still come from the donating public. Again, I ask the public to be informed of who you are giving to, the causes you are supporting and to be involved. If we can get this balance right between public involvement in VWOs and a light, sensible and rational regulatory environment, then we will have healthy and vibrant VWOs achieving that mission.

Dr Loo Choon Yong has brought up the issue of the Courage Fund, which is not under my Ministry, and I do not know

Column: 1588

the details of it, but suffice to say that it will be subject to the same rules and regulations that apply to any fund. And I think the same principles of transparency and accountability should apply. If any person who has donated to the Courage Fund feels that in any way the money has not been used in accordance with his wishes, he should get in touch with the leadership. I know of at least one person in the community who has communicated directly with the board managing the Courage Fund. Again, while I am not privy to the details, I think they had a very fruitful and useful discussion.

The key point is transparency, accountability and open communication. At the end of the day, we are just trying to make this society better. We are trying to appeal to each other s philanthropy. And whilst there may be a few black sheep who really spoil the scene, we must not lose the vitality, spontaneity, generosity and responsibility that really are at the heart of volunteerism.

Dr Loo Choon Yong: I thank the Minister for the clarification. But I also want to share with the House about an organisation like Medecins Frontieres in Europe. They actually received a lot of money for tsunami victims but when they realised they could not actually use it, they returned the money to the donors. I think that is really an exemplary behaviour. I hope that the people responsible for the Courage Fund will do something in line with the principles outlined by the Minister.

Fertility Rate

Dr Tan Sze Wee (Nominated Member): Sir, the Baby Bonus Scheme, which was first introduced in April 2001 and further enhanced in August 2004, supports the parents' decision to have more children by helping to lighten the financial cost of raising children. The Baby Bonus Scheme is a laudable one. Yet, many couples are

Column: 1589

remaining childless due to factors, such as personal choice, stress, or inability to conceive.

Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if the Ministry will review the plans to boost the total fertility rate, as the rates have not improved significantly in the last two years, even after the introduction of the new Baby Bonus Scheme.

Infants

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, I had raised this idea before in the Baby Bonus debate and the recent Budget debate. I deem it important to raise it again here.

The Government has a budget allocated for centre-based infant and childcare subsidy to help working families. And I thanked the Minister previously for agreeing to review my idea to extend the subsidies to home-based infant and childcare.

I just want to reinforce my message with a quote from Ms Jenny Phang, published in yesterday's Today that "grandmothers play an important role, especially when mothers work". We need to reinforce the "many helping hands" approach to raise good well-care for children. The Government can help by extending childcare subsidies to home-based care, and help strengthen the families. This is especially urgent in view of fast spreading diseases like bird flu, mad cow, hand, foot and mouth, etc, that spread easily among children in a close cluster.

Sir, our modern Singapore working families are under severe stress from breaking up and the role and presence of grandparent's support cannot be denied. I just want to ask the Minister when will the review be completed, so that the childcare subsidies can be extended to

Column: 1590

greatly encourage home-based and grandparent's care.

Community Heritage Organisations

Dr Warren Lee (Sembawang): Sir, there are 300 clan associations, approximately 200 of them belonging to a single umbrella for Chinese clan associations. They have played a significant role in the development of Singapore, especially for early immigrants, who faced hard times, financial assistance, job placement, building communal facilities, dispute resolution, scholarships and self-help projects that these early clan associations contributed to their members. I believe now they can still help us to maintain our cultural heritage and our sense of rootedness to Singapore. How can we assure that clan associations renew and reinvent themselves and continue to play a significant role in our nation building?

Community Engagement

Miss Penny Low: Sir, in a globalised and knowledge economy, Singapore has responded by in-depth study of competitiveness and restructured both our education system and economy to ensure our survival. What is lacking obviously, however, is the impact of these changes on our society and how will social compact evolve, especially with citizen mobility? Has there been any serious research into what made Singapore tick? A 1999 IPS survey on national pride ranked Singapore on par with older nations, like USA. But the question is whether that is enough to persuade able citizens to continue to keep their Singapore passports and the less able to also feel emotionally tied to the nation. If we cannot control the purse strings, we must certainly do more to tighten the heart strings of Singaporeans through community engagement.

Column: 1591

The People s Association s efforts at rebranding its image, while commendable, must entrench its roots in the people as a civic organisation that reaches out to all citizens regardless of race, language or religion, rich or poor, high-class or low-class, male or female, hip or not hip. If the budget allocation to PA remains the same and millions of dollars are to be spent on engaging consultants and big brand names, does it then mean that there will be less resources left for additional headcounts to cope with the nature and aspirations of grassroots leaders (GRLs) and residents? Do we also understand that even the landscape for GRLs is shifting towards a more transient system of involvement as more Singaporeans travel more frequently overseas for work? This means that the permanence of the constituency office or People s Association in engaging and steering the community becomes even more crucial. Should not more resources be deployed to cope with the changing landscape of community leaders and engagement?

Also, to support Dr Warren Lee s point on clan associations, they have a renewed role today. They help to preserve our cultural heritage, build bridges with our ancestral land and create a larger society. How does the Government recognise and encourage the key role of these organisations?

Racial and Religious Harmony

Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, initially, I was not planning on speaking. But when I saw Mr Low Thia Khiang, I was triggered and I thought I need to say something about racial harmony. In the manifesto that the Workers Party released, they seem to give the signal that all is well and good in Singapore. But as a member of a minority community, I feel that all is still not well and we have to be very careful about how we handle racial

Column: 1592

and religious issues, particularly at the policy level.

As I was growing up, I did see racial integration happening at quite a good rate. But in the 80s, when we implemented a few policies like the Speak Mandarin Campaign, SAP schools, or the ethnic self-help groups, we tended to highlight the differences that we have among races, and I think the process has slowed down since then. Therefore, we really need to focus more on what we want to do in trying to strengthen the racial bonding of our communities.

I understand there are always all policy tradeoffs that we have to contend with when we implement policies like the Speak Mandarin Campaign. There is a good reason for it, but then the tradeoff is that it affects the feelings of the other communities. When I go out and have a conversation with a group of people, and when someone breaks out and starts speaking in Mandarin so that I did not understand what they are saying, these are the effects of the tradeoffs that we have to contend with. Another policy example, our children in SAP schools may not have the privilege of mixing with children of other races. In fact, not only in SAP schools, I can give examples of schools where the principals actually segregate children according to the type of languages that they do. I have one particular example of a school who had 13 Indian children all placed in one class, in a cohort of about eight classes. When someone made noise and questioned this, the principal then decided to redistribute these Indian children into other classes so that the Chinese and the Indian students had a chance to mix.

I think we have some way to go, and we have to make policy choices that will help us strengthen our racial integration.

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, with the stresses of work,

Column: 1593

globalisation and rapid technological advances, are we beginning to see cracks in our society? Why do I ask this question? It is because of the present unhealthy development and tell-tale signs, be it in the cyber space or employment-related, that we are slowly but surely beginning to see emerging in Singapore a multiracial society. Sir, I ask again: is our social cohesion and community bonding strong enough to withstand severe strains and challenges that may come? What are we doing to further enhance this precious commodity that we call racial harmony?

In the present context and the atmosphere that we live in, the issue of racial harmony and basic things, such as making friends, fostering good and binding relationships with people of different races and backgrounds, is furthest in one s mind. It is thus worthwhile for us to be reminded. Let us not kid ourselves in thinking that we have arrived, and everything is fine, and the peace and stability that we have will last forever, and nothing needs to be done anymore. It would be tragic and sad if all this crumbles before our own eyes due to the slightest mistake, and we realise too late that, as a people, we have failed to do our part.

We have a unique and culturally rich people. We should celebrate differences among the various racial groups. Given the chance, these can be our greatest strength. Today, many confuse unity with uniformity to be similar and the same and must be like everyone else. Is this a fair and realistic expectation? Right from the very beginning, we have always been a colourful society. I believe that the key word here is "respect". Respect for the others does not mean having to conform to their beliefs, systems or practices, but a greater sensitivity and acceptance of these differences. So I would like to thank all the organisations and individuals who have put in a lot of efforts, like PA and CDCs. May I ask the Government to

Column: 1594

give them more resources and support to do their good work?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Sir, I would like to thank the hon. Members for their concerns and comments on family, the community and racial harmony.

Sir, we want Singapore to be a great place for families. This requires that we put in place proper policies, programmes and infrastructure to encourage family formation, resilient families and cultivate a pro-family environment. But, first, let me say, in response to Dr Tan Sze Wee, that it is premature to conclude whether our marriage and procreation incentives have been successful, as it has been less than two years since it was introduced. Encouraging families to have babies requires time, even with an attractive policy and incentive package. Raising TFR cannot depend on this package alone. It requires a total environment conducive to families. This includes values and mindset changes. Businesses, employers, schools, families and individuals have a role to play in this area.

Gestation, values and mindset change take time. But the Government is working to facilitate such a change through multi-agency initiatives, such as we work with MOM's work-life programmes,

the introduction of family life ambassadors and family life champions in corporations, institutes of higher learning and the community, etc. It is not and cannot be the sole responsibility of the Government. We have to adopt a three-piece approach, eg, by involving the public, private and people sectors, in recognising the importance of family.

1.45 pm

The next step in our vision to make Singapore a great place for families is to improve the social infrastructure, to promote an even more pro-family environment. This will include a pro-family or family-friendly business

Column: 1595

environment. A study conducted by my Ministry found that, in the retail sector, businesses that are family-friendly enjoy 5%-10% more sales among parents with young children. Family-friendly F&B outlets enjoy about 15% more sales. However, it is currently an untapped niche for the survey. We are also relieved that only 25% of businesses in the retail sector and about 30% in the F&B sector are deemed family-friendly.

To kick-start these programmes, a people sector task force called the Strategic Business Alliance will work with businesses in the retail sector, F&B, entertainment and shopping malls, to promote the implementation of pro-family business initiatives. I am happy to announce that there are today 1,500 companies participating. I think more companies will sign up. So, I would like to assure Dr Tan that, besides the Marriage and Procreation Package, we also need to draw in MOM to create a more work-life balanced environment, as well as to encourage the living environment, eg, the shopping malls, etc, to be more pro-family, and we hope to see better results.

Sir, in recognition of the importance of the family and also to encourage and empower the people and family, a National Family Council will be formed to promote the building of resilient families. Some Members may recall that the idea of a council was first mooted by hon. Member Mdm Halimah Yacob and recommended by the Remaking Singapore Committee. The council will consist of individuals from the private and people sectors. It will consult the public and provide feedback to the Government on family policy, family education programmes, research and services. This council will be chaired by the people sector. Further details of the council will be announced later.

Column: 1596

Sir, let me now touch on childcare subsidy. Mr Steve Chia asked if the Government would consider extending childcare subsidy to home-based infant and childcare. I can understand his concern, to extend this to the grandparents. But the childcare subsidy was introduced in 1983 to encourage mothers to remain in or join the workforce. So it was not meant to be a child allowance, nor is it a scheme to subsidise domestic caregivers. It is about giving women the choice to work, even if there was no one else at home able to look after the child. Mr Steve Chia mentioned that the Ministry said that it was reviewing. We are still reviewing this policy.

Sir, let me now turn to our communities. Besides our families, our communities play an important role in nurturing our young and cultivating in them the right values and perspectives. I agree with hon. Members Dr Warren Lee and Miss Penny Low on the important role which community heritage organisations, such as clan associations and ethnic-based organisations, play in preserving our ethnic cultures and traditions.

The Government recognises the importance of preserving one s culture and heritage. While we want to grow the common space shared by all Singaporeans, the Government also recognises the significant value in preserving and promoting our respective ethnic heritage and cultures. At the core, it is our culture, traditions and heritage that help define what we are, and provide the moral and cultural compass, as we aim to keep pace with the rapid changes in a globalised world.

I am sure Members are aware that a lot of clan associations, even the Malay Heritage Centre and schools, etc, try to promote inter-religious harmony and exchange of various cultures. The Government recognises that it, too, has a role to play to support the good work and

Column: 1597

growth of our community heritage organisations. In this regard, I am pleased to announce that a sum of $3 million will be set aside over two years to promote such initiatives. This will be given as a matching grant for community heritage organisations to tap on to fund new programmes or activities that would promote their community s traditions, heritage and language, as well as leadership development or organisational renewal. These organisations can look forward to receiving up to $100,000 or 50% of the total cost, whichever is lower, per approved programme or activity. My Minister has appointed me to chair, and my colleague, MOS Mr Chan Soo Sen, to co-chair the panel to oversee the grant.

Sir, Mr Inderjit Singh has raised concerns on whether our policies, such as the support we intend to give to community heritage organisations I just mentioned, could reinforce racial identities and become barriers to integration. Mr Zainudin Nordin has also raised important questions on racial and religious harmony.

Our philosophy of "unity in diversity" has worked well for us. As Mr Zainudin has pointed out, it is not fair or realistic to expect everyone to be the same. I agree totally with him. I also agree with him that moving away from a "colourful" society will be equivalent to losing our uniqueness. We are not a melting pot; we are more like a salad with distinct, tasty ingredients. So, we recognise that there are differences, but we work at understanding and appreciating the differences and create opportunities to collaborate with one another. We must grow the common space for all Singaporeans, but yet ensure that each community can retain its own cultural identity and heritage. In fact, having a good and sound understanding of one s own cultural identity places one in a better position to appreciate the diverse

Column: 1598

culture and heritage that we are blessed with in Singapore. Quite a number of foreigners, when they come to Singapore, really admire us that we are different but yet we have a common space and respect each other.

Self-help groups are but one example where we have harnessed the benefit of this "diversity". We have programmes and schemes at the national level that seek to uplift Singaporeans, regardless of their race. However, self-help groups complement these programmes in helping their respective communities to deal with specific challenges, given their better understanding of their respective communities background and needs. This has proven to be a very effective strategy in reaching out to the target groups.

In addition, self-help groups do not just raise funds from within their communities. On the contrary, they work closely with donors and volunteers across all segments of the community. A case in point is the Education Trust Fund that was initiated by the Malay MPs and administered by Yayasan Mendaki. It enjoys strong support from many non-Malay organisations, such as the Lee Foundation, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Metta Welfare Services. Members may also be aware that there is a Self-Help Group Coordinating Council which helps to facilitate cooperation and collaboration in areas where we can find synergy. So there are many examples.

The Government creates various platforms in our schools - hon. Member Mr Inderjit Singh is concerned about schools - to inculcate from young an appreciation of cultural diversity and to value commonalities that we share as Singaporeans. Social studies, civics and moral education, National Education, and co-curricular activities provide opportunities to learn and appreciate one

Column: 1599

another s culture and heritage, and for bonding among students of different races. For example, for a term, all Primary 3 students in Admiralty Primary School and Nanyang Girls' High School learn Malay as well as Malay food cooking, costume, etc.

We introduced the Speak Mandarin Campaign when dialects were more commonly spoken in Chinese homes. Today, we also have committees and programmes promoting Malay, Tamil and even good spoken English. We believe that a good command of mother tongue languages will help in preserving our cultural diversity and heritage. However, they should not be a barrier to enlarging the common space among us. Singaporeans are encouraged to appreciate the diversity of our different communities, while also being sensitive and mindful of our multiracial environment.

I agree with Mr Inderjit Singh that all races have an equal role to play in bringing about greater integration, as the consequences of a divisive society will be borne equally by all as well. We believe that the challenges we went through together, eg, SARS, have brought us closer together as a nation. But racial integration is something that we need to keep working on, and work hard at it. The Government will partner the people sector to provide opportunities for cross-cultural exposure and exchanges that allow different groups to foster ties and establish trust.

I would like to inform hon. Members that surveys on the Social Attitudes of Singaporeans have consistently shown that nine out of 10 Singaporeans are optimistic of our current and future race and religious group relations. However, as Dr Tan Boon Wan had rightly mentioned during the Budget debate, we must continue to build on the strong

Column: 1600

foundation that we have already laid for good communal relations.

Sir, Mr Zainudin Nordin asked what we are doing to further enhance racial harmony. Last month, the Prime Minister launched the Community Engagement Programme (CEP). For the religious and VWO cluster that my Ministry facilitates, many leaders at the CEP workshop felt it was timely that a platform has been created for community leaders to come together to discuss issues related to social cohesion at this point of relative calm, and not when we have a problem to deal with.

To support the Community Engagement Programme, the Inter-Racial Confidence Circles (IRCCs) will continue to widen and deepen the linkages between the different communities in each constituency, intensify their efforts to include more leaders and groups and ensure better representation of the races and religious institutions in the IRCC network. So, all of us, as advisers, also need to do more in this area.

Sir, let me conclude by reiterating that the CEP provides a new platform for engagement across various segments of our society. But at the same time, we need to continue building on the efforts at various levels, ie, community, grassroots, and schools, among others, for Singaporeans from all backgrounds to interact and engage one another, and to build on our understanding and trust in each other. And in this endeavour, every Singaporean has an important part to play.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, would extending this policy not encourage more women to go and find work and look for work with greater confidence and assurance that their children would be better cared for and brought up by people that they can really trust? And when will the review be finally completed? It has

Column: 1601

been over one year since I last talked about it and was told that it was being reviewed.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, my Minister of State has already explained that this is not a childcare allowance. This was a subsidy with a specific objective, ie, to enable women, who have no domestic support, to go out to work. If a lady already has a mother or some other domestic support or arrangement which will enable her to go out to work, this is not meant to pay an allowance for that. So, as far as a review is concerned, as of now, after one year, I am still not convinced that this is the way to go.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, I am very happy to hear the MOS explain about the intensifying efforts to promote racial harmony and the Community Engagement Programme. May I know how will this translate into more resources and support for organisations like PA and the CDCs, especially if we want to do more? I believe that if we stick to the policy of cutting budgets and manpower, it will have an impact on their efforts to promote racial harmony.

2.00 pm

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: MOS Mr Chan Soo Sen will be explaining to him in more detail about the activities of the People's Association.

On racial harmony, like I mentioned to him, we have this new platform, CEP, which is under the Chairmanship of our DPM, Mr Wong Kan Seng. I am sure there will be more resources together with the community, the grassroots, the clan associations and the religious groups. If we put all the people sector resources together and with our Government support, I am sure we can do more. I think funding is not a key problem. The key problem is we need to identify more grassroots leaders, community leaders

Column: 1602

and also organisations to come forward to help us to promote this area.

I am sure he also knows that the IRCCs have done a good job. I understand that various community clubs and religious groups like, for instance, the Buddhist Lodge, the Hindu Endowment Board and the Malay groups organise various festivals together. Even this year, I understand that they are going to do a bigger one. They are also helping each other to raise funds for the different religious groups. This year, the Buddhist Lodge raised about $1.5 million for the Hindu temple at Sengkang. In the people sector, there are a lot of resources, and it is for us to find the leadership and network to work together and find some more meaningful and different programmes at different levels.

Youths

Mr Sin Boon Ann: Sir, the older generation of Singaporeans have carved a strong sense of responsibility and identity towards our nation, because their spirit, resolve and ties with their fellow men were strengthened in various crises in the early days of Singapore the fight for independence, racial riots and economic uncertainties.

For the post-65 generation, they have experienced nothing but stability and independence as a result of our economic success. They have never really had to consider issues larger than themselves. Hence, it is not surprising that their interest seems to be heavily skewed towards personal success, with seemingly little interest in national issues.

The youths of today, therefore, sing and dance to a different beat compared to the earlier generation. Not that this is necessarily bad, but it does signal the prospect of communication difficulty between two generations because of

Column: 1603

differences in their life s experience. Nothing can be more stark than the discovery I had sometime back when I learned that our National Education Programme is not as well received as it should be by our students. If this is true, it is rather disconcerting.

We need to continue to engage our youths of today for two principal reasons. Firstly, we need to pass on to them our values that represent the wisdom that has been distilled from the generations which have gone before us and, secondly, we need to listen and understand the youths of today in order that our policies may be aligned and in tune with their aspirations, outcomes and concerns.

In this regard, I know that MCYS has taken several initiatives in the past year to address the concerns of engaging our youths. I would like to ask the Minister the following questions:

(a) whether the Government could provide an update on existing and new youth initiatives undertaken by MCYS;

(b) how will the Government intend to provide additional opportunities for our youths to be involved in contributing to society; how is the provision of youth community space in town or elsewhere coming along?

(c) what new initiatives does MCYS have in store for our youths in the coming year?

Miss Penny Low: Sir, there has been a steady rise of youth-related crimes and delinquency in the past year. This is accompanied by more youths hanging out in 24-hour commercial establishments and hang-out spots.

While the MHA has responded by imposing curfew checks on youths, my

Column: 1604

sense is that these checks are at best treating the problem at its surface. Youths can always find an alternative hang-out or hiding place. Hence, the real challenge is on youth engagement. Obviously, for those who are still in school, they need to be continuously engaged so that they will not fall into delinquency. More efforts should be put into preventing them from being led astray. For the out-of-school youths, perhaps more efforts could be channelled to continually engage them via community space and job incentives to provide a listening ear, shoulders to cry on, or even just a space for expression.

However, more such spaces, especially within the heartland neighbourhood, should be built as part of a comprehensive infrastructure to facilitate youth engagement. After all, not too long ago, an article published in the Straits Times pointed to strong youth preference for hanging out in the neighbourhood to central location. Hang-outs in neighbourhood commercial establishments is another such testimony. Hence, while the Skate Park is to be built by 2008 and it will provide a central venue for youth expression, there is need for a more wide-ranging infrastructure.

Sir, the youths are full of energy and idealism and far more connected to each other than we know. There is an urgent need to better channel and tap on youths to shape the future of Singapore. In this light, could the Ministry also provide a progress report on the youths creating our future initiative where youths have formed groups to realise the work streams on the future of Singapore?

I urge the Ministry to strengthen the community infrastructure to better reach out and involve youths of all shapes and sizes.

Mr Ang Mong Seng (Hong Kah): (In Mandarin) : Mr Chairman, Sir, first of all, I

Column: 1605

would like to congratulate the Singapore National Olympic Council for the excellent results achieved at last year's SEA Games held in the Philippines where we won 42 Golds and a total of 129 medals, surpassing our set targets.

This is an excellent performance that deserves our commendation. However, our ranking among the Southeast Asian nations remains in the sixth place. This is something which warrants our concern. This is because, five years later, in 2011, Singapore will be hosting the Southeast Asian Games. Then, we will need to have a breakthrough, not only in terms of gold medals and the total number of medals, but also in terms of ranking, we should aim to be at least second, if not first, in the overall ranking.

In order to attain these targets, we must start planning now to holistically train our athletes in all the SEA Games events and not just confine ourselves to the handful of sports prioritised by the Singapore Sports Council. We must work closely with the various national associations to train more outstanding national athletes so that they can shine for Singapore.

The Sports School is set up with the aim of training more outstanding sportsmen and sportswomen to compete in regional and international sports events, such as SEA Games, Asian Games and even the Olympics, and to score good results for Singapore.

At present, the Sports School provides training in only eight sports. I think this is too conservative and it is not making full use of its facilities. In order to win more medals, we should work harder on the other sports as well. We should open up the Sports School's facilities and actively provide training in more sports.

May I suggest that the Sports School extend its facilities to other sports, such

Column: 1606

as wushu and Malay martial arts to train our national players? May "a hundred flowers bloom" in the field of sports in Singapore and bring more glory to Singapore.

In addition, I would also suggest that, two to three months prior to any major international meet, the School open its facilities to our participating athletes. At present, we usually send our athletes overseas for training, and it is very costly. I urge the Singapore Sports Council to make full use of the professional equipment and conducive environment of the Sports School so that the training of our athletes would be less costly and more effective.

Dr Warren Lee: Sir, I would like ask about the nurturing of our young athletes. The Sports School is doing an admirable job but its capacity is limited. We need a larger talent pool.

Perhaps, we can recognise that for some children, going to a school well-known for academic excellence is as equally important as getting good coaching for their children's sports. How are we able to promote more models for centres of sporting excellence? Does the Sports Council have easily accessible sports medicine and physiotherapy facilities for the prevention of sporting injuries? Are we sure that our coaches use the latest and most effective coaching methods? Is the injury rate acceptable? Are we losing future champions and future combat-fit soldiers? How can we benchmark ourselves? And are our National Sports Associations able to attract good volunteers?

Sir, I have previously spoken in this House about the need to ensure that more children are given exposure to a wider range of sporting activities so that they could eventually choose one that they would really like and excel in. Now, Sir, I

Column: 1607

would like to ask about the nurturing of our young athletes.

While the Sports School is doing an admirable job in opening up opportunities for children of all backgrounds, we can actually do more to get more schools to become centres of excellence by allowing them to have decentralised coaching programmes. I hope that we can benchmark ourselves against some of the methods available in overseas countries. I hope that our NSAs can also get better volunteers and better HR practices. I hope we can minimise politicking and maximise the potential of our athletes.

Mr Chew Heng Ching (East Coast): Sir, in terms of sports facilities, we, as a nation, are certainly very well-endowed. We have many stadiums, swimming complexes, sports halls, multi-purpose fields, tennis courts, school fields and many, many more. Indeed, I must say we have more than adequate excellent sports infrastructure facilities within the island to cater to the needs of all age groups of Singaporeans.

My questions to the Minister are whether or not Singaporeans are participating actively and regularly in sports. How well-utilised are these sports facilities? What are his Ministry's plans to further facilitate Singaporeans' participation in sports as part of our overall aim to promote healthy lifestyle and to encourage Singaporeans to exercise regularly?

Mr Wee Siew Kim: Mr Chairman, sports brings all races together. For this very reason, sports development in Singapore must be encouraged. I would like to ask the Minister about how we are engaging the corporate and community sectors so that we have multiple stakeholders for the promotion of a sporting Singapore. For example,

Column: 1608

pioneering companies, which sponsor and support our sports teams and talents, ought to be showcased and recognised. This way, more companies will be motivated to come forward to support our sports teams and established talents and lead us to even greater sporting glory. This is akin to the recognition that MINDEF gives to companies that are going out of their way to support National Service. Developing sports talent is a resource-intensive activity. We need as many helping hands as we can get from the public and private sectors in order to sustain our growth in this arena.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Mr Chairman, Sir, I refer to the current fiasco concerning two national soccer players as a result of the foreign talent policy for sports, including soccer. I am referring to the Nigerian players, Dickson and Agu Casmir. Sir, I think they are too much. They came to Singapore on Social Visit Passes around 2002, attended soccer class and managed to find places at S-League clubs. Then, they were identified as potential national players, given status as Permanent Residents and became Singapore citizens to play for the national team. But after that, they wanted to leave Singapore to play overseas. And it was reported that the Football Association of Singapore paid them something like $50,000 in January 2005 just to keep them here.

Sir, since becoming citizens, they have performed badly, especially at the SEA Games last November, when they failed to score any goal despite good chances. The Singapore soccer team crushed out of the SEA Games without making it into the semi-finals. Then, in January 2006, both of them went "AWOL". Dickson missed national training in order to go to Europe to try out for European teams, and Agu signed up with another Indonesian club, collected a sign-on fee of US$20,000, changed his mind and then went to Russia, England and Canada where he

Column: 1609

spent the money. Both of them have now returned to Singapore and have been suspended from the national team for six months and one year, but I understand that FAS continues to subsidise them.

My questions are, first of all, whether we need foreign players in our national soccer team at all. Soccer is a team sport, and I understand that our local players have been doing reasonably well under the current coach. Secondly, is there a problem in the way the Foreign Sports Talent scheme for soccer is being implemented? Are the foreigners in the S-League serious about making Singapore their home or looking to us as literally a Singapore passport to elsewhere? Lastly, Sir, what judgement does FAS exercise in recommending foreign talents for citizenship?

2.15 pm

National Soccer

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Sir, the Government agreed to help put Singapore national soccer team in the World Cup Finals in 2010 but later the project was not carried through. It fizzled out. All Singapore soccer fans were, of course, disappointed.

Singapore is a first world country but, by international standing, Singapore's sports standard is still very low. We have yet to win an Olympic gold medal. New Zealand, which has about the same population as Singapore, has already won many Olympic gold medals and her athletes have even broken world records.

Why is Singapore's international sporting standard so low? I believe it is due to too much Government control in sports here. The Government should free sports. Let the sportsmen have a say and allow them to organise sports themselves. As Winston Churchill told the Americans in World War II, "Give me the weapons

Column: 1610

and we will finish the job." Will our Government allow our sportsmen to finish the job and put Singaporeans on the world sporting map?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, there are currently one million young people in Singapore aged between 15 and 35. What we hope is that all of them will have a sense of history and responsibility for the future. But we cannot just stand or sit here and expect young people to develop that automatically. I believe less is probably better in this case. My answer is to give them a stake in the community, a say in national affairs and to support them as they grow and take responsibility for the future not to dictate to them, but let them grow.

Our youths have responded. We conducted a youth consultation exercise some one-and-a-half years ago and it was chock-full of ideas, not our ideas, but ideas from young Singaporeans. We then moved on to the next stage. We said, "Well, these are your ideas, now you implement them. Form work groups, come out with specific plans and, if necessary, we help you with seed funds."

The youths responded passionately, enthusiastically and put a lot of time and efforts into their plans. We have seen a flowering of initiatives, like designing their own community spaces, webspaces and putting together an entire youth festival on their own. They have been speaking out on issues. Members of this House will notice that there is a regular two-page insert in the Straits Times called "YouthInk", in which the authors are all young people, the views expressed are genuine and passionate, and their views are being read and heard, even in this House.

The past year had shown that young Singaporeans do care about this place and about the future. They have opinions, different opinions. They have ideas and are prepared to stand up for what they

Column: 1611

believe in. And this is a very good stage for us to see youths eventually translating their ideas and thoughts into action.

Many of our youths are socially conscious and they have taken this social consciousness to actually volunteer to contribute towards their own causes. For example, our youth surveys have shown that social participation among young Singaporeans has increased from 44% to 54%. This has occurred in the last three years. In other words, today, one out of every two young Singaporeans is involved in a social or activity group. MCYS has, therefore, sought to present even more opportunities for young Singaporeans for them to contribute to the community, showcase their talents and to maximise their potential.

One crucial way, I believe, for our young people to be involved is through volunteerism. I am sure Ms Eunice Olsen will agree with me. Volunteerism compels the volunteer to look beyond his or her needs and to look and examine the needs of others. Volunteerism benefits both the person who is helped, as well as the person who is offering help. It gives the volunteer a sense of purpose and fulfilment when he sees that he can make a real difference to other people's lives. Through volunteering, one learns new skills, makes new friends, learns how to work with people in order to achieve a common, often higher, goal, and in the process, gains a new perspective of oneself and one's life.

In Singapore, the percentage of youth volunteers has increased from 17% to 25% between 2002 and 2004, that is, one out of every four youths today.

Going forward, we will adopt a three-pronged approach to increase the youth volunteerism rate. First, we will expose and give information to our youths on

Column: 1612

volunteerism and volunteer opportunities. To this end, we have set up a web portal called "Youth.sg" that would generate greater awareness and interest and, hopefully, spark greater involvement. The NVPC also has a comprehensive volunteering website, while the schools CIP programme also gives our young a first taste of helping others, albeit for an initial six hours.

Second, we will enable our youth to volunteer. We will provide platforms for them. For instance, we set up the Young ChangeMakers (YCM) scheme, which provides peer reviewed seed funding for projects conceived, initiated and run by young people. When I say "peer reviewed", it means, "I do not decide whether a project deserves funding. It is decided upon by a panel of fellow young people." Our youth festival, SHINE, has also featured community service events which our youth can participate in.

The third aspect is to empower our youth to give them leadership and decision-making roles, to give them responsibility. One example of this would be the SHINE project, where it was run and steered by the young people themselves. They decided the programme and the type of activities that would occur.

I believe that with this three-pronged approach, volunteerism will become a part of every Singaporean youth s life. We are now going to move on to expand a very successful programme which we used to call the Youth Expedition Project (YEP).

It has been a success since its inception in 2000. Over 9,000 youths have participated in some 400 community projects overseas. In 2005, after the tsunami disaster, the YEP supported 600 young Singaporeans, in 50 different teams, being sent to assist in the rebuilding efforts of affected countries. By participating in overseas projects,

Column: 1613

young Singaporeans will gain a better appreciation of their life in Singapore as well as an increased social consciousness.

When Pakistan experienced its devastating earthquake, Mercy Relief sent five mission teams consisting of 48 volunteer doctors, nurses, logisticians and general volunteers to Pakistan, treating more than 20,000 patients. I am happy to note that these teams came together spontaneously under a common cause and they used the banner of "Team Singapore". I did not impose it on them. In fact, the concept of "Team Singapore" started in the sporting arena. Yet, we had volunteers spontaneously choosing "Team Singapore", proudly putting on the Singapore flag on their sleeves, and going overseas to contribute. I look forward to more of such projects where youths will discover themselves as well as discover Singapore.

Consequently, we will invest $18 million over the next four years to expand YEP. We will encourage more ground up efforts so that YEP will remain youth-led and youth-focused. We will build an inter-connected network of youth, public and private organisations, including commercial sponsors, to support both local and overseas volunteering projects. The National Youth Council (NYC) will only serve as the secretariat for this network. We will appoint a YEP Advisory Panel, which will consist of young people themselves, representatives from youth organisations, corporate sponsors and educational institutions. We will make sure again it is chaired by a people-sector person. Sir, again, the key point here is spontaneous and genuine participation and leadership by young Singaporeans.

Last year, we had the inaugural SHINE festival. More than 100,000 young Singaporeans took part in over 60 events spanning three weeks. I suspect many Members of this House may not have participated or are aware of this, but the

Column: 1614

fact is this was big and involved young people, and conceived and led by them. The projects involved ranged from community service projects all the way to creative arts and even business enterprises. Given the infectious enthusiasm which I saw for myself at SHINE, we have decided to designate the entire month of July as a "Youth Month". So, we have gone beyond a "Youth Week". We will now designate an entire month as "Youth Month".

Miss Penny Low raised the issue of youth spaces. Yes, we have focused on the Skate Park in Orchard Road, but that is only meant to be a prototype to show how similar flowering of youth areas can develop all over the island. But, again, the point is that it must be genuine and not forced down or pre-planned for young Singaporeans.

Last year, I announced the development of a 1.2-hectare area in Orchard Road, which the young people in charge of it has decided to call scape. They chose scape because it could stand for mindscape, landscape, or any kind of scape. It was meant to be open-ended.

In order to give them even more space, I have decided to also allocate to them the piece of land on which the NYC building is standing. We also built a new Skate Park just next to the Somerset MRT station. This now gives them a 2-hectare space to use their imagination and to execute their plans on. These youth spaces, I believe, give opportunities to our young Singaporeans to be meaningfully engaged, not just to hang out and loiter "loitering" is a bad word but to actually do something constructive, openly and, therefore, find themselves and find society.

Extreme Sports used to have a bad name in Singapore. But I am glad to say that our attitudes to it have changed. It is not just the pursuit of a cheap thrill. It

Column: 1615

requires discipline, guts and calculated risk-taking, which we now recognise are important ingredients for young Singaporeans to succeed in the future.

I am pleased to announce that MCYS has been in talks with NParks and the Ministry of National Development to build an even bigger skate park at the East Coast Park. This skate park will be of international standard, complete with higher ramps and better features, that will accommodate all three disciplines of skateboarding, in-line skating and BMX. In fact, its proximity to the cable ski facility, also at the East Coast Park, and its access to the sea may ultimately one day lead to us being able to develop an Extreme Sports Zone in that area.

Our efforts will also complement the other community youth spaces around Singapore. I want to assure Miss Penny Low that we will not forget other areas. Members will know that we have opened up soccer pitches and skate parks in the HDB heartlands, in addition to dedicated youth centres run by VWOs. Taken together then, I think I can quite honestly assure young Singaporeans that they are not short of space.

Let me move on to sports. There are basically three things which we are trying to achieve in sports. First, mass participation; second, the pursuit of excellence; and, third, the development of a sustainable sports industry. This tripod itself is reinforcing. Let me go through them one after the other.

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked how well is mass participation in sports really doing in Singapore. The 2005 National Sports Participation Survey conducted by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) showed that 48% of Singaporeans exercised at least once a week compared to 38% in 2001 once a week for 30 minutes. At

Column: 1616

first, I was too pleasantly shocked by this figure. I had to ask my staff to double-check. They assured me this is true. 48% of Singaporeans exercise at least once a week!

Jogging, swimming, walking, gymnasium workouts and badminton are the five most popular sporting pursuits. What is most encouraging is that the increase in sports participation cuts across race, age and gender.

In 2005 alone, the SSC and its partners organised some 58 international sports events and close to 200 national sports events. I was told that the total participant and spectator numbers for the SSC's marquee sports events have doubled from some 63,000 in 2002 to over 126,000 last year.

To give Singaporeans more opportunities to play, Members will recall that I announced the opening up of school fields for public use last year. SSC and MOE have since opened up 59 school fields. Going forward, we will explore the feasibility of opening up even more sporting facilities in other schools. These school fields complement the other 280 vacant sites of State land that had been opened up by SLA and many of these school fields and vacant sites are located near housing estates and easily accessible to the public.

Let me now move on to sports excellence. Team Singapore gave a remarkable performance at the Southeast Asian Games in Manila. They not only brought in 42 gold medals, they also broke six SEA Games records. More important, half of our 367 athletes returned with a medal. And, even more impressive was the fact that, for more than one-third of these medalists, this was their first SEA Games. Our athletes are now gearing up for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, which will be on next week, and the

Column: 1617

Asian Games in Doha later this year. I am confident that with our good showing in the SEA Games, our athletes will be primed for even greater heights of glory. I hope all Singaporeans will give them the fullest support as they pursue sporting excellence and national glory.

To help our athletes have both a successful career and achieve sports excellence, SSC is partnering private sector companies to launch the Programme for Elite Athlete s Career (PEAC). Under this scheme, our top athletes will be placed in participating companies where they will enjoy a flexible work environment that will allow them to continue their elite sports training and participation in competitions,

and yet have a job.

2.30 pm

PEAC is a fine example of public-private sector cooperation in sports. Currently, three of our top athletes swimmers Sng Ju Wei and Theresa Goh, and bowler Rena Teng have been placed in Standard Chartered Bank under the PEAC scheme. Our athletes, today, truly have more choices, more support and better prospects than ever before.

Now, let me touch on the third list, which is sports industry. We want to make Singapore a choice location for international and regional sports federations to house their headquarters and to organise conferences and meetings here. The National Sports Associations (NSAs) will be looking forward to leveraging on their contacts in order to plug Singapore into the international sports network. The presence of sports media heavyweights, such as ESPN Star Sports and AXN-Asia, will serve as further catalyst for companies to do business in Singapore.

Mr Wee Siew Kim wanted to know how the corporate sector is being

Column: 1618

engaged in order to promote this vision. Many companies are already joining the bandwagon of sports marketing and sponsorship by aligning themselves with their own preferred sports and sporting events, eg, the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, the OSIM Triathlon, the Aviva Singapore Badminton Open and the Standard Chartered Marathon. These are fast becoming household names and entering our common lexicon.

Singapore soccer, in particular the S-League, enjoys support from a slew of corporations, including NTUC Income, Yeo s, Levi s and SMRT, to name a few.

Mr Wee is right to say that we should recognise our sporting partners. SSC does this through its annual Sporting Singapore Inspiration Awards where we honour our stakeholders individuals and corporations alike for their outstanding contributions and commitment to making sports a way of life in Singapore.

At this point, I would also like to give an update on the development of the new Sports Hub at Kallang. This is going to be the first and, probably, largest sports infrastructure project in the world, developed through a public-private partnership approach. The Sports Hub will offer many exciting opportunities in various economic sectors. These range from construction and logistics to sports tourism, retail and the media.

Just last week, a total of four submissions were received by the Sports Council in the pre-qualification exercise. Top-tier foreign and local companies and I will just share a few names as it is not an exhaustive list such as stadium architect HOK, Macquarie Bank, Alpine, SMG Entertainment, Dragages, HSBC and Woh Hup are amongst the names of the consortia, which will be participating in the bidding for the building of the Kallang Sports Hub. This will enable us to get to the next phase later on this year where

Column: 1619

shortlisted bidders will be invited to submit their detailed proposals.

Singaporeans can, therefore, look forward to a brand-new Singapore landmark on the Kallang Bay. It will be a vibrant and exciting venue with a host of sporting and recreational activities that all Singaporeans can use, can be a part of and be proud of.

Sir, I believe we have now reached the threshold where truly exciting times are ahead for the sports scene in Singapore.

Sir, I will ask my Parliamentary Secretary to deal with some of the specific questions which have been raised on the Sports School and FAS.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, Mr Ang Mong Seng asked if the Ministry would consider increasing the number of sports offered by the Sports School. The answer, right now, is no. We will have eight sports. These eight sports are a mix of individual and team sports, because the Sports School has just started. We want to make sure that the Sports School gets a good footing, and to develop what they already have at this point in time, although I agree with Mr Ang Mong Seng that the Sports School has got good facilities for NSAs to use. We will continue to encourage the Sports School to open its doors for other NSAs to use its facilities with the objective of improving the sporting standards as well as performance of our athletes.

Dr Warren Lee asked a slew of questions with regard to nurturing young athletes, and it also relates to what Mr Chiam See Tong highlighted with regard to our plans to nurture young athletes. Sir, the SSC has plans and works very closely with the National Sports Associations on the development path of each athlete. Most NSAs have a pyramid

Column: 1620

model where they encourage large participation for their particular sports and develop into what they call the high performance operation plan for each athlete who will represent the country.

Let me just focus specifically on the issue highlighted by Mr Chiam, who also talked about our soccer team which did not do well in the SEA Games. Our soccer team did not do well. We all know that, and it was disappointing. Of course, it was disappointing, but we did very well some 11 months earlier with regard to the Tiger Cup. It is always disappointing when our team does badly. But we must also remember that when they do well, we are very happy.

Sir, the difference between the SEA Games and the Tiger Cup is that they are of two different age categories. The SEA Games soccer is for under 23 and the Tiger Cup is for older groups. As such, it is hard to say why is it they can do well and sometimes they do not do well. Some of the players are the same, but the senior players are not involved in the under 23 soccer team, which took part in the SEA Games.

The larger issue is: do we have plans to nurture young talents to make sure that they can represent Singapore and do well? The answer is yes. Every NSA has its own plans. If Mr Chiam wants to find out more, he can find out from the NSAs their plans to ensure that their athletes do well.

On Mr Chiam's point about Government's involvement resulting in poor performance of athletes, I do not quite understand his argument, because if it is true, then we would not be able to do well in the SEA Games. We only had 30 gold medals in the Vietnam SEA Games, but we won 42 gold medals in the recent Manila SEA Games.

Will we do better in major events like the Asian Games and the Olympics? I

Column: 1621

think we are showing progress. If we look at the currently ongoing Asian swimming championships, we got our first gold from Tao Li, the swimmer. This is at the Asian level. The Chinese sent their first team here. So we are progressing, we are moving and we are seeing results with regard to the plans the NSAs are pursuing. These plans are developed between the SSC and the NSAs.

Mr Low Thia Khiang wanted to know about the implications of recruiting foreign-born athletes. He highlighted the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) scheme which was introduced in 1993. Some of our most recent sporting successes were achieved with the contributions of foreign-born athletes who have committed their future to Singapore. We will continue to keep our doors open to foreign sports talents, who have the sporting skills, and the commitment to become a Singaporean and be a part of Team Singapore.

Mr Low, however, highlighted the recent case of the two footballers and asked if there was an error of judgment with regard to recruiting them, and he said that "they are too much." What happened really upset a lot of Singaporeans. It upset a lot of us. I think they disgraced us with their actions.

But let me put things in perspective. We had examined the circumstances surrounding the case the package which included the sign-on fees given to the two players that was highlighted by Mr Low as well as the media. We are satisfied that the transactions are above board. There is no wrong-doing involved with regard to the packages. In the face of very attractive offers from foreign clubs, the management team, looking after the Young Lions in the S-League, has decided on the matter. It was a commercial decision exercised professionally where market forces dictated. This is because in professional football, indeed, money is the factor not just professional football, but other professional sports also. Tiger

Column: 1622

Woods, I understand, gets over $105 million a year. So many other professional players get poached by different teams, because these are really market forces that are in place in professional sports.

FAS did this in good faith and for the good of Singapore football. Itimi and Agu were part of the victorious Tiger Cup that had captured the imagination of Singapore fans. While Singaporeans were upset with what they did, just a year ago, Singaporeans were cheering them for what they did for the Singapore team. Keeping them to play in Singapore at that time would leverage on the Tiger Cup's success and to keep fans coming to watch the S-League matches. More importantly, I think FAS wanted to keep the SEA Games squad intact as they continued their preparations for the Tiger Cup, the team already played together in 2004 in the S-League and were preparing for the December 2005 Games. Sir, every manager, putting together his squad, has to make judgments and take risks. Some decisions turn out to be good while some do not turn out that good. Some examples in other leagues are also the same. For example, I was told Djemba Djemba, who joined Manchester United failed to perform. Patrick Kluivert, who joined Newcastle United from Barcelona also failed to perform.

The Young Lions management team decided to match the foreign clubs' offers in good faith and to keep Agu and Itimi in Singapore. No one can foresee that they would not keep up with their good form during the successful Tiger Cup campaign. It was a risk, but the promise did not materialise.

Mr Low asked whether it was the right judgment. It is a matter of judgment, considering the competing offers prevailing at that time.

Sir, beyond these two cases, I think it is really the issue of the Foreign Sports

Column: 1623

Talent Scheme, which is a successful one, and I think we should continue with it. It is inevitable that there will be a handful of athletes who may not do well sometimes. But it does not mean that the scheme has failed. We have seen the effects of foreign sports talent on our local athletes. Our local athletes' performances have been raised as a result of their interaction and the competition that exist between the foreign sports talent as well as our local athletes.

Sir, what has happened really highlighted that there is scope for MCYS, SSC and our stakeholders to continue to fine tune the process through our experience, to ensure that we select our foreign sports talents carefully and that the FST scheme does not become an easy short-cut for foreigners to obtain Singapore citizenship. We will scrutinise them closer in future before considering them for PR or citizenship.

The SSC on its part has got other systems which have been put in place to ensure that the NSAs follow certain guidelines with regard to recommendations for foreign sports talents.

Crisis Assistance and Counselling

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim (Nominated Member): Sir, since 2002, an average of 260 husbands applied for personal protection orders (PPOs) against their wives every year. According to a Straits Times' report yesterday, last year, husbands made up the second largest group seeking PPOs, at 12%. This is an alarming number. The actual number of men abused each year could be much larger than 260, as it is not easy to validate abuse claims made by men, as men have been perceived to be the stronger gender in our society. Hence, many cases of men complaining of abuse might have been turned away because the investigation has been inconclusive. Men

Column: 1624

who are victims are not necessarily small, weak or henpecked. A lot of men have suffered verbal abuse, threats and even physical pain. In the case of investigation on claims of abuse, I urge that the steps taken to investigate have to be gender-specific.

Recently, there has been a rising number of suicide and tragic family incidents involving men.

(1) On 16th February this year, in a case which appears to be suicide, a man was found dead in a car at an industrial park in Yishun, and a hose was found connected from the car's exhaust pipe to its boot.

(2) On 8th February this year, in a similar suicide case, a man was found dead in his car at a multi-storey car park in Woodlands.

(3) On 25th January this year, a man apparently set fire to his flat in Tampines, with his wife and three children asleep in the flat. The man died and one of his sons is currently still warded in the hospital.

(4) On 28th December last year, in a case which appears to be suicide, a man was believed to have jumped off the platform at a MRT station just as a train pulled into the station.

(5) Last year, on 12th December, a 49-year-old man, who was due to appear in court, was found dead at his home, and he left behind several notes for his family.

(6) In one of the most tragic incidents involving an entire family on 7th March 2005, a man strangled his wife, smothered their two kids and then jumped from the window ledge of their 12th storey flat in Tampines.

Sir, distressed men in Singapore really need help. In the case in Tampines,

Column: 1625

where a man killed his entire family and committed suicide, if he had channels to turn to to seek help and receive help, a tragedy might have been prevented and lives saved. Similarly, in the case of the fire in the Tampines flat, the three innocent children could have been saved all the pain if the man had received help. There could be many more tragic cases that have gone unreported.

I agree that the Ministry has many programmes, but I feel that we need more specific counselling and crisis assistance programme for men, other than the "fathering programme". I urge the Ministry to initiate

specific crisis assistance and counselling programmes to help the men in dealing with stress-associated problems, besides fathering, such as anger, stresses from work pressures, domestic violence, etc. By helping men, we are indirectly helping the women. For example, if we can help the men to deal with anger, we can perhaps reduce domestic violence on women.

2.45 pm

There should also be a greater awareness of such crisis assistance and counselling services available to the men. I would like to propose that the Ministry promote the whole range of services available to men as a holistic package to increase awareness of men to such assistance programmes that are available.

Sir, men should be encouraged to seek help. The Ministry needs to promote the message that there is nothing wrong for men to need help and seek help ?. It is not embarrassing and not a shame to seek help. Somehow, our society is such that men are strong and are supposed to be able to solve all the problems themselves ?. The idea that there are a lot of helplines available for women is well-known to many people, but few have any idea if there are such helplines available to men.

Column: 1626

I would like to suggest that some of these efforts can start as early as secondary school level. Boys grow up to be men. If we can promote such awareness of the counselling and crisis assistance services available to men at a younger age, ie, to the boys, and instil the mindset that it is okay for the male gender to seek help, perhaps we can better instil such awareness.

Lastly, it is not about henpecked men, it is about saving lives.

Juvenile Homes

Ms Eunice Elizabeth Olsen (Nominated Member): Sir, youth arrests in the first half of last year were the highest in five years. Since 2001, the number of youngsters caught for rioting has also been rising. Now, the Police are considering 11.00 pm checks. In this context, I think we should turn our attention to juvenile homes. Their jobs have just got more important.

Why do we have juvenile homes? To rehabilitate youngsters who go astray, to reintegrate them back into society so that their past can stay in the past. The real question is: how successfully do our juvenile homes meet these objectives? I would like to ask the Minister what long-term studies there are to examine this. Information on how many residents from juvenile homes are sent back again or how many of them are sent to jail later in life are crucial for us to make that assessment. I do not recall ever seeing such data.

Fundamentally, we need to know the overall long-term impact that juvenile homes have on the youngsters in their care. I say this with some concern. A report in the The New Paper (TNP) in January highlighted the culture of bullying

Column: 1627

that exists in these homes, especially for the boys. There are things that happen that these youngsters should not have to endure. Instead of reforming a young offender, the psychological fall-out could be detrimental to the individual ” both the bullied and the bully ” and society at large. Some offenders spend up to 30 months in these homes. How much of that time was for the best for these youngsters? The answer might only be found when they leave, which is why tracking studies are important.

In the prisons, many if not most of the prisoners are repeat offenders. The situation in juvenile homes might not be dissimilar. However, as we are dealing with youngsters, I feel it is imperative that juvenile homes have a better success rate. Do they? I would like to ask how the rehabilitation programmes are assessed, what improvements have been made in recent years, and what initiatives might be in the pipeline.

For starters, I would like to see ways to further limit the amount of bullying which takes place. While there may be recourse for bullied teens to report such incidents to the staff at the homes, I think many are too scared to do so, scared of the repercussions even if they are allowed to give information anonymously. I would like to see creative ways to encourage whistle-blowing that truly protect the whistle-blowers and, ultimately, the teens who are bullied. I also hope MCYS can look into staff training specific to this problem.

Juvenile homes are the last resort for wayward teens. Even so, it must be a last resort that works. If it does not, we need to think of alternatives to these homes. Personally, I think there is a place for these homes. There are teens beyond parental control and who need to sort themselves out at such homes. These

Column: 1628

teens have not yet turned to crime and we need to make sure juvenile homes do not play the role of the unwitting entry point.

Community Development

Dr Warren Lee: Sir, how are our Community Development Councils (CDCs) doing in their task of bonding the people and encouraging a nation of active citizens? For various assistance schemes, how are they performing? What measures of performance can we use to see if they need more help in terms of helping our residents in a timely manner? How do we measure the degree of volunteerism in a community? Given that volunteers have limited time, should CDC council members focus on governance and direction or should they promote direct action and participation?

People s Association

Sir, I note that many of the staff of the People s Association are really quiet and unsung heroes. Without the secretariat's enabling role, our civil society would be the poorer because many a Singaporean volunteer would have started their volunteer career through experience gained in PA activities. The staff have many tasks. Their officers, among other things, help grassroots organisations (GROs), like the Residents Committees, Community Sports Clubs, IRCCs, CCCs and CCMCs, with secretariat functions. While upgrading courses are available for training volunteer treasurers, perhaps more manpower support could be given to our constituency office staff in their financial reporting functions and they, in turn, could help GROs make the financial reporting less of a chore while still ensuring good governance.

Next, how can we make the terms of service of PA officers more attractive so that we can attract more talent? Can we

Column: 1629

second or allow cross posting for talented young civil servants so that they can gain more ground feel and ground experience and help make better policies for our future?

The Chairman: Mr Charles Chong is not here. Mr Steve Chia, take your two cuts together.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, first, the role and the allocated budget for the People s Association are meant to create activities to serve the community. It is not for image building. If the PA failed to engage the community and get them to participate actively in their activities, then clearly PA s operating model is getting outdated and should be re-examined. No amount of money wasted on PR and image building will help increase public participation if the inherent interest is not there.

I believe the current PA had served its usefulness in the past and, looking forward, it may come a time now to reconstitute it as a people empowered organisation - rather than a top-down Government-led organisation - without all the political objectives and affiliation with the PAP Government.

The Government needs to free up the PA management, CCCs, CCMCs and RCs to freely elect their own community leaders and empower them to lead and organise their own activities and interest, without any political interference from HQ or PM s office. Sir, it is time to depoliticise the PA.

Grassroots Organisations

Next, Sir, on CCCs, CCMCs and RCs. The Director of PA, Ms Ooi, had correctly pointed out in a Straits Times' reply that PA is a Government statutory board and that no political party activities are allowed on PA s premises. However, she had confirmed, and I quote, "They (the grassroots leaders) are under no compulsion to join the PAP." In another

Column: 1630

article, it was also reported that "many grassroots leaders were excited at the prospect of taking on the Opposition at the coming general election".

Indeed, Sir, many grassroots leaders had been politicised, and recruited to become PAP members to take on the Opposition. Active political recruitment has been going on inside and outside the RC and PA s organisation and premises. Although grassroots leaders are under no compulsion to join the PAP and can opt out if they want to, Straits Times' Forum writer, Ms Yee, had correctly pointed out that "joining a grassroots organisation seems to be a sure way for one to be involved in PAP politics". She had apparently been recruited a number of times "to be a member of the PAP political party".

Sir, the PA, CCCs, CCMCs and RCs are statutory boards constituted to serve the community. Political parties should not be allowed to do recruitment inside the organisation. Politicising the RCs and CCCs, through active citizenship recruitment, drives away segments of end-users not willing to be associated with politics or the PAP. Please do not waste public funds to meet your own party s political recruitment objective.

Religious Education

Mr Othman Haron Eusofe (Marine Parade): Sir, my topic is religious education in the Muslim community. I would like to ask the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs to outline the programmes and initiatives that the Muslim Religious Council or Majlis Ugama Islam (MUIS) has or will introduce to guide the religious development of the members of the Muslim community in the context of a multi-religious, multi-cultural and inclusive Singapore. What steps have been taken by MUIS to see that religious education given to Muslims, particularly the younger generation, will be given with correct

Column: 1631

Islamic teachings, and not distorted or deviant teachings? Also, how would they be taught to be able, ready and confident to adapt to rapid changes in this complex and globalised world?

Sir, I am happy to note that MUIS has introduced the asatizah or religious teachers recognition scheme, which I understand has received strong support from religious teachers. What are the key features of the scheme? They should continue to provide opportunities for the asatizah to go for regular training programmes to upgrade their teaching ability as well as to provide them with knowledge which ensures that religious instructions remain current and relevant. MUIS must also find new ways to motivate the asatizah to do their best to develop the ability and talents of their students, not only in their religious studies but also in their other academic studies.

Sir, we have members in the community who continue to face various social problems, for example, broken marriages, divorces involving young couples, out-of-school youths, and many others. There are various causes of these problems, for example, financial, unemployment, young marriages, incomplete education, and so on. It could also stem from the lack of proper religious guidance or education. It is important that the younger members of the community are provided with opportunities to receive good religious education. In this way, we can from young inculcate in them positive values, such as self-discipline, self-reliance, a sense of responsibility, as well as a strong desire to learn and seek knowledge on a continuous basis, just to mention a few. We want to see that they are provided with assistance and proper guidance and also timely counselling when they face problems. We must assist them to be able to raise happy, cohesive and stable families, providing opportunities for their children s talent and

Column: 1632

ability to be developed to the maximum potential.

Sir, I understand also that MUIS has plans to engage the wider community to strengthen religious education and discourse. Could the Minister elaborate on what MUIS proposes to do, for example, in promoting inter-faith programmes and many others?

In conclusion, we want to see the members of the Muslim community to be not only good and pious Muslims but also exemplary and forward-looking Singaporeans, making strong contributions, and adding value to many efforts, to make Singapore more successful and to be the best home for all of us, regardless of race, culture or religion.

Mr Ahmad Khalis Bin Abdul Ghani (Hong Kah): Sir, one of the most challenging issues faced by the Muslim community in Singapore is how to fully participate in the nation s secular-based growth and life while remaining true to its faith. This challenge is made more acute against the backdrop of terrorism made in the name of religion, one consequence of which is that any move towards religiosity is more often viewed as a move towards extremism or militancy. In addition, as stated by Mr Othman before me, globalisation means that Islamic religious education has to prepare its students to manage increasing diversity, increasing complexity, the need to take multiple perspectives of problems and the premium of moving across cultural boundaries. May I ask the Minister what efforts have been made by MUIS to review Islamic religious education and development, in view of the urgent need for inter-religious harmony, not only among Singaporeans but also among communities in the world, and the demands of globalisation?

3.00 pm

Religion also plays a dominant role in the lives of Singapore Muslims.

Yet, we

Column: 1633

see, as Mr Othman noted earlier, this community faces some serious social challenges, such as ill-prepared marriages. Can the Minister explain what is the role of religious education in managing these social challenges? Has the idea of this role been shared with the asatizah (religious teachers) and community leaders? How have they responded?

While the Muslim community grapples with these issues, its approach and development must be closely observed by other Singaporeans. I think many non-Muslims appreciate the efforts by the Singapore Muslim community to be good citizens, friends and neighbours, whilst striking a meaningful balance with retaining their unique identity. Besides observing, may I ask the Minister whether there is a role for the non-Muslim public to support the efforts of the Muslim community?

Sir, we have seen that events which have a religious dimension which may happen in one part of the globe can influence inter-community sentiments elsewhere. How religion is taught here affects the Singapore Muslim community's positioning on issues and conflicts from the Middle East to Maluku, and the very recent heated debate on freedom of expression vis-a-vis respect for religious sensitivities. May I ask the Minister for his comments on the Singapore Muslim community's responses to these events? Is the community indifferent or apathetic? Or is the community's response reflective of its maturity, always having an eye for the bigger picture, the longer term good of the various peoples in this country and the world?

Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Minister for Manpower (Mr Hawazi Daipi): ( In Malay) : Mr Chairman, Sir, we know that Majlis

Column: 1634

Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) has taken steps to renew and enhance the quality of religious education in general as well as the quality and performance of full-time madrasah education. This is important, considering that our lives have changed tremendously. Likewise, with the challenges and problems that we face. All communities in the world, especially the urban community like the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore , face challenges to their changing moral values. These challenges can come from various sources - the mass media, their peers, and even the values of their parents.

In view of the challenges posed by terrorist activities around the world on inter-racial relations or relations among the followers of the different religions, there arises a need to ensure that the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore, particularly our children, receive an education which not only strengthens their Islamic faith, but also has a positive mindset on the need to strengthen relations with communities of different races and religions. I would like to ask the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, what are the new measures which have been taken to enhance part-time or non-formal religious education. What are the desired outcomes of this religious education? In my opinion, besides nurturing the foundation of faith and knowledge on the teachings of Islam, it should also assist our children in distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong; to be able to intermingle and be tolerant of their friends, including those of different races and religions; to be moderate in thinking and action, to be inquisitive and curious about things, and to love Singapore. In short, beyond the religious realm, it has to complement and complete the desired outcomes of the national education system of our nation.

Mr Chairman, Sir, in the area of full-time madrasah education, I also

Column: 1635

understand that Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura has strived to enhance several areas, namely, curriculum, administration and the training of asatizah or teachers. I would like to ask what are the desired outcomes of this madrasah education system. What measures are being planned or taken to help the madrasah students have the academic foundation should they wish to further their education or move to any stage of the national education system? In other words, at the primary level, what measures are being taken to strengthen the students' foundation in English, Mathematics and Science subjects? What progress has been achieved by MUIS in coordinating the curriculum and syllabus of the six full-time madrasahs ?

Inter-faith Dialogue and Hub

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed): Bombs continue to test, if not shake, the foundations of inter-faith dialogue and understanding. The last was in India, where more than 20, mostly the innocents, were killed. That was but a part of the trail of destruction left by the mad, if not moronic, minds.

Mr Chairman, Sir, apparently, some unthinking minds have found new ways to disrupt whatever progress Muslims and non-Muslims have made in bridging understanding. After 9/11, there has been a flurry of activities where there was a need for better understanding. It reminds me of the situation of this film "Jaws". When people thought that the beach was safe to go out, suddenly, the "Jaws" struck again. Now, we have cartoons. Some jokers have resorted to cartoons that are not only not funny, but reflect the kind of warped minds some have, no matter how tempting freedom of speech or expression seems to be a cause. I do not intend to open a debate

Column: 1636

on the disrespectful cartoons. Enough has already been said by both sides of the canvas. More than enough, in fact, has been said about the very respected Prophet that makes this cartoonist and those who reproduce them a mockery or caricature of life.

I would like to remind ourselves that, in fact, in Singapore, we serve as a good example of the kind of dialogue that exists and that can continue to enhance inter-racial understanding. The Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) is a very good example. Back in 1949, more than 55 years ago, a very well-known Muslim sufi , a missionary worker by the name of Maulana Abdul Aleem Bin Siddique, established the IRO. But, unfortunately, about 20 months later, in 1950, the episode of Maria Hertogh erupted, where almost 20 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured. What went wrong? What lessons hold? Who were to blame - the Muslims, non-Muslims or circumstances? Or was it the media? Was it Islam or the Islam that was taught by some? I think these are questions which are again bugging our minds, even till today. I know, for example, that Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, ie, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, has not only been active but pro-active in encouraging inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue.

I would like to ask the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs: what is in store, in terms of activities that we are doing and intend to do, and how are we resorting to our experiences in Southeast Asia? We, in this region, serve as a very good model. We have different shades and mixes of Muslims and non-Muslims in various countries in this part of the world. We have, in Singapore, a significant minority of Muslims making up 15% in a majority Chinese, Buddhist/Taoist, non-Muslim society. In Malaysia, it is about 55% Muslims in a mix of non-Muslims, eg, Christians, Buddhist and Hindus.

Column: 1637

Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, has a very rich tradition of Hinduism and Buddhism, and the spirit of Pancasila . In Thailand, a small Muslim minority with a very large Buddhist majority. And, in the Philippines, a small Muslim minority, with a large Catholic majority. Indonesia is, of course, the largest Muslim country in the world. So they all come with very rich experiences. I forgot about Brunei. Brunei is quite unique. They call themselves "MIB" - not "Men In Black" - but "Muslim, Islam, Beraja", or "Malay, Islam and Royalty". They all come with their own experiences, and I think there is a lot to share, not only among ourselves as a region, but for the whole world.

So, how is MUIS, which is a member of Menteri Agama Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (MARBIMS), or the Ministerial Council for Religious Cooperation in this part of the world, working with MARBIMS, and what else is being done locally to promote inter-religious dialogue? How is Singapore being developed as a venue for such dialogue?

Back on the subject of IRO, I attended this gathering at the Kallang Theatre last Saturday where IRO inducted the latest organisation. The Jains are now a member of IRO, which is now constituted of 10 members. Each time I see all the nine or 10 religious leaders attending functions, doing prayers to pray for Singapore and for racial harmony in Singapore, it really gives me a very comforting feeling, that we in Singapore too has a lot to contribute.

On that note, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs to share with us the programmes and the vision for inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue in Singapore as a venue for the world.

Column: 1638

Muslim Community

Mdm Halimah Yacob: ( In Malay ): Sir, many efforts have been done to enhance the status of the Malay Muslim community in Singapore and to establish an excellent community. One important effort is to strengthen the family institution which faces many challenges. The family institution has to be assisted in planning their vision and also to improve their skills, so that these parents can guide their families more effectively. Our effectiveness in helping to establish an excellent family depends on three things:

Firstly, we need effective programmes with sufficient resources.

Secondly, we need strong prime movers within our community, which are supported by community leaders who have the commitment and integrity to continue the endeavor.

Thirdly, we need the involvement from those in the community who have strong determination and who want to see changes in their lives.

Can the Minister provide us with information on what are the new community programmes that will be drafted for families and youths to achieve the vision of an excellent family? How can we continue to engage the participation of important institutions like the Syariah Court , mass media, MUIS and other Malay/Muslim organisations in our efforts? How can we keep the community progressing in tandem with these efforts?

Minors and Sexuality

Mr Zainudin Nordin: ( In Malay ): Mr Chairman, Sir, statistics and information show us that, over the recent years, divorces and re-marriages have been increasing among the young Malay

Column: 1639

couples between the ages of 20 and 24. This trend calls for concern. Divorce, as we know, results in broken families, and is the root cause of many social problems in the community. This cannot be good for us.

As brought up in this Chamber yesterday, clearly, there is a rising trend of sexual activity among the youths in Singapore. We have to acknowledge this fact. The rise in the number of teenage pregnancies corresponds to the increasing number in minor marriages.

Mr Chairman, Sir, young couples, who are not prepared to face real-life challenges and complexities of married life, face difficulties in keeping their marriages strong. With low income, coupled with immaturity and the cost of raising children, young couples are unable to cope with the challenges and stresses of marriage life. They see divorce as an easy and the only way out of the current difficult situation.

With many youths entering marriage prematurely and indirectly causing an increase in the number of divorces and re-marriages, what can be done to prevent and at least reduce early marriages so that these social problems in the community can be reduced in future? What is the involvement and support level received from the community in the efforts to manage this problem?

The Chairman: Order. I propose to take the break now.

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

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.35 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.15 pm until 3.35 pm.

Column: 1640

Sitting resumed at 3.35 pm

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Head I (cont.) -

The Chairman: Mrs Yu-Foo, I do not think we have enough time for all the replies. But since we have time for the whole Ministry, I will allow the replies to run into the clarification time, but do be brief, please.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Yes, Sir. The hon. NMP has raised the same question twice, which my Ministry had responded on 16th May 2005 and 17th January this year. We had informed the House that the crisis and counselling programmes and services for men and women are provided by Family Service Centres (FSCs) and voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). They address the needs of families and individuals regardless of gender. So both men and women receive the same treatment.

Similar to some female victims, husbands who are abused by their wives have equal access to legal, medical and social services. The law protects family members from abuse, both male and female. This includes spouse, children (including adopted and step-children), parents and parents-in-law, siblings and any relative or disabled person whom the court regards as a family member.

My Ministry has put in place a National Family Violence Networking System to integrate the management of family violence, regardless of whether the victim is male or female. This island-wide system links Police, hospitals, social service agencies, like Family Service Centres, the courts, prison and MCYS in the web. This means that there are many

Column: 1641

contact points for the victim, whether male or female, to seek help.

If the man has experienced any form of violence, he will be advised to apply for a Personal Protection Order (PPO) from the Family Court to restrain an abuser from committing any more acts of violence against him.

We recognise that more men are coming forward to look for help. The voluntary welfare sector too has developed specific programmes for men, such as the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) and the As-Salaam Family Support Centre. For men in crisis, the Society Against Family Violence, Daybreak Family Service Centre and the Centre for PAVe (Promoting Alternatives to Violence) provide counselling and groupwork for men. We support such people sector developments.

We agree that awareness on counselling and crisis assistance programmes should start from the young. The hon. NMP will be pleased to know that in the last three years, skits on dating violence and family violence have toured secondary schools to also share with the secondary school children the importance on how to learn to control themselves and try to avoid violence. We understand that these education and preventive programmes are quite useful.

My Ministry recognises that some men prefer male social workers to help them with their problems. Given that social work is a female dominated profession, MCYS will encourage more men to take up the profession through generating awareness among youths, and scholarships.

Sir, let me say that any person in a crisis situation can call the Samaritan of Singapore (SOS) hotline, which is available 24 hours, for assistance.

Column: 1642

Counselling support and practical assistance are also offered at the 36 Family Service Centres. For men who need temporary accommodation, there are crisis shelters that they can turn to. If there is immediate danger, Police assistance can be sought.

Sir, let me come to the question asked by the NMP, Ms Olsen, about the juvenile homes. Ms Olsen asked about the success of rehabilitating youth offenders in the juvenile homes and how we manage bullying behaviour. I would like to thank her, as she herself also volunteers her service to our girls' home.

Our juvenile homes provide rehabilitation for young offenders with the ultimate aim of helping them to re-integrate into society. The rehabilitation programmes are three-pronged.

Firstly, we work with community agencies to provide counselling for the offender's parents, to improve their family relationship. After the boys or girls have spent two years in a home, when they come out, their family support is very important. The parents should support them. Secondly, we provide specialised treatment programmes that target specific offending behaviour, such as theft and violent offences. Thirdly, offenders attend educational, vocational and life-skills training to prepare them for the future. This approach has been effective. On average, in the past five years, nine out of 10 young offenders successfully completed their rehabilitation programme in the juvenile homes.

Ms Olsen is concerned about incidents of bullying in the homes. We are equally concerned. There is an average of two bullying incidents per month among 380 residents. However, every case of bullying is one too many. We take a serious view of such incidents and adopt a systematic approach to prevent them from happening. When the juvenile offenders

Column: 1643

first entered the homes, we informed them and their parents about rules in the homes, including the punishment for bullying. We have a behaviour management system to reward good behaviour and discourage misbehaviour. The majority of the juvenile offenders follow the rules and respond well to their rehabilitation programmes.

For the small minority who break the rules, we investigate each incident and enforce discipline in a firm and fair way. Those who are found to be bullying other residents will be duly punished.

The Minister of State for Education and Trade and Industry (Mr Chan Soo Sen): Mr Chairman, Sir, allow me to respond to the few questions related to the People's Association.

Dr Warren Lee asked how the CDCs are doing. I would like to say that, by all accounts, the CDCs are doing well. In 2005, the CDCs have organised about 890 programmes and activities and attracted a participation of 930,000 residents, of which 38% are from the minority races. Community development is to bring people together. From this, we have achieved the very important objective of bringing people together.

In order to make the programme more effective, the CDCs are organising more targeted and on-going programmes. We also facilitate the formation of interest groups and encourage the CDCs to work with grassroots organisations and civic organisations in order to synergise on each other's strength. The CDCs have also taken on national assistance schemes delegated by MCYS and have disbursed a total of $41.8 million to some 48,500 beneficiaries in 2005. It is not only a matter of taking over the administration of these schemes, but the grassroots leaders and the volunteers who take part

Column: 1644

personalise the services by visiting the beneficiaries, understanding their needs and tailor-make the assistance schemes to them.

The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre estimated that the national volunteerism rate is currently at about 15.2% and this is better than the 14.9% just two years ago. Dr Warren Lee also mentioned the People's Association staff, characterising them as unsung heroes. On behalf of the staff, we thank Dr Warren Lee for his compliments. Yes, we constantly review their training needs, and terms and conditions of service. We make sure that they are properly equipped and trained to face the task that they have got to undertake. We also have brought in technology to help them do the job. For example,

to help grassroots leaders, we have developed a customised Microsoft Excel template and programme which requires minimal technical accounting knowledge, and it can do accounting pretty effectively.

3.45 pm

We do appreciate the increased workload on the People's Association but let me say that, as far as the workload is concerned, when we take over certain jobs delegated to us, we always insist that with the delegation of jobs, resources must come from the delegating Ministry. So with the resources, we are able to handle the additional task. We also want to say that the People's Association is a volunteers' movement. When there are more tasks, the first reaction should not be how to increase the manpower that we have, because by just increasing the headcount of the permanent staff, it would dilute the share of volunteerism and, therefore, defeat the original objective of the People's Association.

Dr Warren Lee also suggested bringing in other talent from other services. This we do. Our Chief Executive Director, Mr

Column: 1645

Tan Boon Huat, is from the Administrative Service. One of the Directors, as well as two other General Managers of CDCs, are also seconded staff from the Administrative Service. We would really love to have more talent from other services for the reason that Dr Warren Lee mentioned. The only problem is that talent is valued by everybody. Everybody wants to keep their talent and, therefore, we only have a limited amount of secondment that has been done.

Miss Penny Low and Mr Steve Chia also mentioned about image building. I want to say that the words "image building" were not used by the People's Association. It is actually a strategic exercise to look into how we can improve our engagement with our clientele. Because we know that the population, tastes and needs are changing, we do not want to stay complacent. We want to move with the needs of the community and, therefore, from time to time, we may engage consultancy studies to advise us how to go about it. There seems to be a feeling that because we are engaging in this image building exercise we are going to spend a lot of money. Let me say that this study is costing only about $300,000 this year, which is basically a very small part of the overall PA's budget allocation. This $300,000 will help us identify strategically how we can better position ourselves to serve the community better. We feel that this is a worthwhile investment that can equip us better for tomorrow.

Mr Steve Chia also mentioned about the image of the PA; that because we are so caught up in this "PA image building exercise", we have become irrelevant. By no means. In fact, the People's Association has a mechanism that has worked well. Our grassroots leaders have been able to go to the community and residents to offer them personalised MCYS programmes. And they are really doing very well. The only thing is we

Column: 1646

recognise that we need to change, therefore, we want to find out how to change. This is not to say that we are totally lost in direction and, therefore, we do not know what to do. So, I do not think he should stretch his conclusion to the extreme.

Mr Steve Chia also mentioned the usual question by the Opposition: is the PA equal to the PAP? Why is PAP recruiting members from grassroots organisations? Let me say again, and I have been saying this every time, that the People's Association and grassroots organisations are civic organisations. They are not political organisations. The People's Association is a Government agency dedicated towards three things: social cohesion, racial harmony and communication between the Government and the people. As a Government agency, like all Government agencies, they are not political. Grassroots leaders join us as volunteers. As Singaporeans, they have their right to decide whether or not to join any political party. Some of them join the PAP, many of them do not join any political party. So there are grassroots leaders who are PAP members and there are many grassroots leaders who are not PAP members. When we are having meetings or activities in RC centres and community centres, no politics is discussed. It is basically a community and not a political event. If they want to join the PAP because they want to support the PAP, I think they have that freedom of association. I want to say, therefore, that unlike what Mr Steve Chia said, we did not use public funds towards achieving the so-called objective of the PAP in recruiting members.

The Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Sir, let me thank the various hon. Members of Parliament for their questions and allow me to respond, first, to Mr Othman Haron Eusofe, Mr Hawazi Daipi, Mr Ahmad

Column: 1647

Khalis and Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed together, as these relate to religious education curriculum, religious teacher development, and inter-faith relations.

Sir, the caricaturing of the Prophet Muhammad in some European papers and the aftermath showed that when a belief is tampered with and the key figure in the faith ridiculed, things can get out of hand, people can get hurt or even killed in the frenzy, organised or otherwise. Fortunately, here in Singapore, while the Muslims also felt hurt at the caricaturing, and do not believe in unlimited freedom of expression but see this as an expression of prejudice, we reacted calmly. And our community leaders condemned the violence by groups abroad acting in their own self-interest as that is clearly against the way of the Prophet. The Singaporeans' response was indeed a mature response. And to address Mr Ahmad Khalis question, by it, our community leaders have affirmed that while events abroad can, indeed, affect the Muslim community just like any other community, we will continue to act calmly and rationally, living the principles of our faith and our hopes and aspirations as Singapore Muslims.

Sir, credit must also go to MUIS, PERGAS, our Muslim religious and community leaders for their clear positions. Masjid Kassim, a small mosque in the east, even organised a gathering to explain why the correct response in the caricature episode would be to forgive the newspapers involved. Equally important were the reactions from other religious groups like the Buddhist Lodge, the Hindu Endowments Board, the National Council of Churches and the Catholic Church they could have stayed silent but they came out to reaffirm a commitment to mutual respect and understanding among our various religious communities. So while the issue is behind us, it offered a

Column: 1648

setting to display our common desire to forge a strong and harmonious multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore society. The Muslim community in Singapore will continue to play its part in this effort confidently.

Sir, I will address some of the initiatives that will promote inter-faith dialogue later. Allow me now to turn to the question on religious development and the role of MUIS.

Religion, Sir, is important to the lives of the Malay/Muslim community. Like their co-religionists, the Malay/Muslim community desires a community that holds dearly to their faith and yet be a part of the modern world. Religion can, and has proven, to be a positive force for development. The key is to continue to adapt and innovate in religious thinking while staying true to the faith. And, to achieve this, we need enlightened religious elite, strong institutions and a progressive religious life. Hence, I must compliment the strong desire that both our religious teachers and our mosque leaders have shown in wanting to help the Muslim community progress even further. Religious teachers are moving on from the mould of keeping to traditional religious knowledge towards gaining expertise in related and contemporary issues to further help their students and other members of the community seeking their assistance. They are playing key roles in rehabilitation, not just in the heavy responsibility some have been given to reform JI detainees, but also less publicised roles in counselling prison inmates who wish to turn over a new leaf, and troubled youth struggling with challenges of their circumstances. Mosque leaders of today are better-qualified and showing themselves well capable of running our well-equipped mosques, displaying their mettle, not just as mosque leaders but as leaders of a wider community in the neighbourhood. These developments augur well and fit

Column: 1649

well with our desire for a strong, self-reliant, confident Singapore Muslim community.

Sir, our religious education curriculum takes into consideration the changing societal needs and the multi-racial, multi-religious nature of our society. MUIS will continue to lead the effort to ensure that the religious curriculum, both full-time and part-time, continue to remain progressive and relevant to the needs of our students. MUIS will also lead efforts, together with PERGAS and other important stakeholders, such as the Religious Rehabilitation Group, to prevent any deviant person or group from undermining Islam as it is practised in Singapore.

Our religious teachers or asatizah are central in the ongoing process of strengthening our community. And MUIS is supporting two key initiatives to support our asatizah . First, the Asatizah Recognition Scheme and, second, the Asatizah Network.

The Asatizah Recognition Scheme has made available to the public a list of more than 1,000 religious teachers with their qualifications and areas of expertise. With this, the public is better informed of the wide-ranging skills and expertise available from our asatizah and helps in their decision of who to engage for their unique needs. The Asatizah Network, on the other hand, has brought together our asatizah and helped them engage and learn from each other and from experts on the many issues that concern them and the Muslim community. I am pleased that these two initiatives have received strong support from the asatizah as well as the wider Muslim community.

Going forward, MUIS will continue to build on the Asatizah Network by offering courses, seminars and conferences to develop our asatizah so that their skills and knowledge continue to remain relevant, progressive and attuned to the

Column: 1650

realities of Singapore and the opportunities and challenges from the world-at-large.

Sir, the Muslim community has always wished for our young to have a firm foundational knowledge of Islam so that they are well-guided in their lives. We recognise that religious education must not only strengthen their foundation, but also help our young to make sense of the modern world, a point noted by Mr Ahmad Khalis. To cater to this need, MUIS and its partners have made good progress in rolling out interactive, age-appropriate and learner-centric part-time madrasah curriculum for the Muslim community here in Singapore. The curriculum has a strong emphasis on the application of Islamic values to daily life in Singapore. Last year, for example, MUIS piloted KidsALIVE for children between the ages of five and eight, and TeensALIVE for youngsters between the ages of 13 and 16. The programmes started at seven centres for KidsALIVE and eight centres for TeenALIVE and received strong public support. With this the programmes expanded and, as at the end of last year, 24 centres were running KidsALIVE and 26 centres running TeensALIVE, reaching out to a total of 2,700 students. It is a good start but we need to do more to reach out to the wider group of students out there. MUIS is happy that besides parents, students have also given the programmes thumbs-up.

Building on this success, I am pleased to inform the House that MUIS will be piloting two more age-specific programmes this year. They are TweensALIVE for those aged 9 to 12, and YouthALIVE catering for those aged 17 to 24. These new programmes will emphasise thematic learning and interactive delivery. The YouthALIVE programme will also seek to equip learners with the confidence to conduct self-directed learning. For example, with a sound foundation of the history and

Column: 1651

meaning of Islam, a youth will be better equipped to seek answers to questions he may have on unique issues that concern him.

Sir, what has changed in updating and revising our part-time religious curriculum is that it has been made more age-specific, contextualised, and interactive in its delivery. And this, we hope, will make it more interesting for our young Singapore Muslims to learn about Islam. What has not changed, and cannot change, are the core teachings of Islam that underpin the curriculum. Rather, we have facilitated the laying of this foundation so that our children would grow up to be confident, self-assured adults who are better able to handle the contemporary issues they encounter in the course of their daily life while remaining true to their faith. For parents or students who wish to further their religious education, the Asatizah Recognition Scheme will provide information on the asatizah that they can turn to.

Sir, let me now turn to the area of full-time religious education. I am happy to report that MUIS has completed developing a common syllabi up to Primary Four, under the Curriculum Development Project first mooted in 2001. This project aims to develop a contemporary religious education system that is relevant to Singapore s context. Five out of the six madrasahs have already confirmed their plan to use the textbooks starting at Primary One from 2008.

Sir, our madrasahs are continuing to upgrade their capabilities in their efforts to meet the needs of students. The teachers, with the support of their school management, are continuing to improve their teaching competencies.

Last year, 24 madrasah teachers graduated with Diplomas in Education after attending a programme conducted by Edith Cowan

Column: 1652

University. The senior staff in the madrasahs , comprising the principals and vice-principals, participated in the International Leaders in Education Programme (ILEP) offered by the National Institute of Education. Our madrasahs are making efforts to strengthen the delivery of English, Mathematics and Science to ensure that our students are well versed in these areas.

4.00 pm

Mr Hawazi has asked what are the improvements that we are making. We are helping our madrasah students strengthen their basis in Mathematics by offering the M-power programme through Mendaki for about 200 students. This year, we will extend the enrichment programme to include a Science programme and call it S-power, so that we can help our primary madrasah students in the basic subjects of English, Mathematics and Science.

The madrasahs have also increased the contact time for these subjects to match the exposure time set aside by the national schools for these subjects.

Sir, key changes have indeed been made to the landscape of religious development here. Equally important, I am pleased to see that our mosques are also keeping abreast of these changes. Our mosques are now staffed by able people who are adept not only in religious affairs but in administrative matters as well. Younger Muslims have also come forward to volunteer their time and expertise to the mosques. This is a welcome development that helps ensure that the mosque remains the endearing and visible symbol of our faith. It should thus rightfully represent all which is true of Islam and our identity as Singapore Muslims.

Sir, even as we strive to ensure that the religious development of our

Column: 1653

community remains relevant and current and takes into consideration the environment we are operating in, we must recognise that our community is an integral part of a wider multi-religious and racial society. As such, the values of our practice of an inclusive and progressive Islam must resonate with all in the wider Singaporean community. I learnt during my visit to the UK late last year that building deep reservoirs of goodwill and understanding across the various communities is of utmost importance. The key factor which helped in the rapid recovery of the UK society from the 7/7 bomb attacks was its strong people-to-people links, and this is manifested in their solid inter-faith networks.

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed pointed out that we need to explore greater opportunities for dialogue and work towards developing Singapore as a thriving inter-faith hub. This is indeed a good observation. Indeed, we are not starting this from scratch, as we already have good work being done by the Inter-Religious Organisation and other partnerships between the Hindu Endowments Board, Jamiyah and Singapore Buddhist Lodge. Many prominent religious leaders have their own circles of co-religious leaders. We can certainly build on this. Indeed, MUIS will take the lead in facilitating Muslim groups to work with other religious groups and strengthen our inter-faith platforms.

Looking ahead, we will also seek to involve our young people. Sir, I am not raising this as a dream or nice to have. I have met with various Malay/Muslim community leaders to discuss how the community and their organisation can take the process forward in their respective fields as part of our contribution to the Community Engagement Programme efforts. Their desire and commitment to engage further is indeed heartening.

Column: 1654

Sir, Singapore s most valuable resource has always been its people. We should be fully aware of this resource and work towards fully realising its inherent potential. As PM himself had said, the Community Engagement Programme is not a programme for specific communities it is one which involves all communities.

The recent move by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations to set up a Community Engagement Task Force reflects the desire of the Chinese community to come on board and support the push for deeper and more meaningful interactions among the various races and religions. I welcome this initiative, Sir. My hope is to see more ground-up initiatives from our various organisations in support of this critical mission and for a coordinated response from among them, so that together we can push ahead to forge more meaningful engagements and interactions.

Sir, to add further to the Muslim community commitment on this, MUIS had announced, late last year, that in its attempt to engender a more thoughtful and enlightened discourse on Islam and to build up better understanding across communities, it would be introducing a Distinguished Visitor Programme where eminent scholars and personalities, both Muslim and non-Muslims, would be invited to Singapore to meet and engage with a wide range of persons from different sectors, such as political and community leaders, academics, policy makers and administrators.

Sir, I am pleased to inform the House that Dr Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, has graciously accepted our invitation to be the Inaugural Distinguished Visitor for the Programme. MUIS will provide updates on this development at a later date.

Column: 1655

Sir, Mr Zainul has also raised a specific question on what are the ways in which we can tap the vast reservoir of goodwill and historical traditions that we have in South East Asia, and he has mentioned MARBIMS. I would like to inform the House that the last two meetings of MARBIMS were centred around the theme of explaining the correct meaning and interpretation of jihad in the South East Asian context and building progressive Muslim communities respectively. The theme papers were compiled into two books and the book on Building Progressive Muslim Communities was produced by Singapore in December last year and presented at the MARBIMS' meeting in Bandung. The book on the Correct Meaning of Jihad is currently being prepared by our Malaysian counterparts.

Sir, all of the above initiatives, ranging from reforms in religious education to inter-faith engagement, highlight a key characteristic of the Singapore Muslim community which has strenuously upheld the compatibility of living as a Muslim and Singaporean in the modern world. Sir, we will remain steadfast to our vision of an integrated and inclusive Singaporean Muslim community.

Let me now turn to the questions from hon. MPs Mdm Halimah Yacob and Mr Zainudin Nordin, which relate to the ongoing efforts to tackle family and youth social issues in the community.

Sir, while we have worked on the religious development of the community, we also focus on improving the socio-economic standing of our community. The history of our success has always been underpinned by a strong gotong-royong ? spirit. With the spirit of self-help, the Malay/Muslim community has made great strides in all areas of life in the last 40 years. However, while we have much

Column: 1656

to be proud of, some concerns do remain such as the needy and youth, and family issues like early marriages and divorce.

We need to develop new capacity to tackle these concerns, and we have made a good start. After PM had raised his concerns for the community at his last National Day Rally, 11 Malay/Muslim organisations came forward with several new projects as part of the Community Leaders Forum to tackle these challenges. This represents greater unity and commitment from the various leaders to tackle issues in a coordinated and systematic fashion. I am confident that with new partners on board, our efforts will make a greater difference.

On tackling family and youth problems, and helping needy families in the community, I am pleased to inform the House that in 2005, MUIS has disbursed $1.2 million from the zakat funds on the Empowerment Partnership Scheme and the Education and Training Support Scheme to help needy families. The less well-off amongst us have also received strong support from SENSE, a Mendaki co-operative, which has worked closely with the Workforce Development Authority to train and place unemployed members of our community. I am glad that with the support of this comprehensive framework, several Malay/Muslim families have managed to break out of a cycle of dependence.

The consolidated database of needy Muslim families, managed by MUIS, further seeks to complement the existing intervention efforts. By consolidating data from MUIS, Mendaki, AMP and Tabung Amal Aidilfitri, the system would enable efforts to study and enhance support for needy Muslim families. Greater progress can be achieved when more partners come on board. Indeed, we should be proud that our own community-initiated efforts are coming on

Column: 1657

top of the larger national ComCare assistance framework.

Sir, next, as part of an effective action plan to strengthen the institution of marriage, the Registry of Muslim Marriages, with the support of MUIS, has trained 11 Naib Kadis to be marriage mentors to young couples aged 21-25 years. The Naib Kadis are empowered to assist and guide these young couples in their initial stages of marriage. While married life can be intensely fulfilling, it is also challenging. I agree with Mr Ahmad Khalis that religion can play an important part in helping to lay a solid foundation from where our young couples can achieve marital bliss.

Sir, certain modules in the curriculum for the marriage preparation course will guide our soon-to-be married couples to take on the new roles and responsibilities that they are to assume within the framework of Islam. At the same time, equal emphasis in the marriage guidance course is on equipping our couples with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate the different phases in their marriage life and the responsibilities that come with it.

Sir, the community is receptive to availing resources and expertise outside our fold as we mount programme to strengthen our marriage institution. For example, our Syariah Court has taken the bold step to tap on the resources available beyond the community to help couples facing marital difficulties. To date, 31 social workers who are not Malay/Muslims but serving with the various FSCs and other VWOs, such as Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, have been trained to manage Malay/Muslim couples. To complement this effort, the Syariah Court has also trained 32 asatizahs , or religious teachers, to work with these social workers as resource persons to provide advice on religious matters to couples undergoing marital counselling. It

Column: 1658

is clear from these efforts that our asatizahs are solidly behind us in our mission to build strong and stable families. I am glad that with all the intervention programmes, the preliminary figures from the Syariah Court on the number of Muslim divorces registered in 2005 show stabilisation. Hopefully, with the various initiatives and programmes in place, we will see a downward trend in Muslim divorces in the coming years.

Sir, let me now turn to the issue of teen pregnancies and minor marriages. After PM raised this sensitive issue with the support of the Malay MPs in his last National Day Rally, we demonstrated our seriousness in tackling this matter by adopting a multi-pronged approach. We focused first on an upstream approach by ingraining in our teens a healthy sense of self respect and to impress upon them that marriage is a life-long partnership that comes with serious responsibilities. The second approach is to provide the necessary support to our teens who are facing personal and emotional difficulties. We wanted to provide a safety net to catch them before they get mired in even deeper problems. I am glad to see the community rallying solidly behind our efforts. The community consultation exercise we embarked on last year, led by the CLF Secretariat at Mendaki, generated over 250 ideas. Several of these have been incorporated into new or existing programmes. The community is also more aware of issues that need to be addressed. Indeed, a small-scale SPH poll among Berita Harian readers late last year revealed pre-marital sex, early marriages and divorces, as being the top three issues deserving the community s immediate attention.

Sir, more will be done to address the issues of teen sexuality and marriages involving minors. For example, Mendaki will kick off a community project on teen sexuality in July this year to spread messages to teens and parents on the

Column: 1659

importance of healthy lifestyles, as well as respecting oneself and others. In addition, Mendaki will also embark on an in-depth study to better understand issues concerning teen sexuality in the community in order to better calibrate and further improve on existing efforts.

Sir, a minority of Muslims still choose to marry at a young age

ˆ’ as noted by Mr Zainudin ˆ’ instead of completing school, upgrading themselves to enhance their employability or holding permanent jobs. This group needs to be guided before making that decision to marry young, and if marriage is the choice, they need help to build that marriage of a life time. I am happy to announce that the Registry of Muslim Marriages, together with its community partners, will be setting up dedicated centres later this year for that purpose.

Sir, let me now turn to some of the existing efforts asked by Mdm Halimah. Most of the other measures launched last year were upstream efforts, which will make the most difference in the long term, and this will continue to be our key emphasis. As part of capacity building, 20 youth workers have completed basic training in counselling and deployed at three drop-in centres, which we call as NUR drop-in centres. This year, the youth workers will attend an intermediate course and, in the meantime, community partners have identified another five youth workers to join in this effort. NURteensLINE, a dedicated teens helpline, has reported that the number of calls and SMS from youths seeking help doubled a month after its launch in December last year. We will continue to do more to increase the awareness of such channels of help.

Other existing programmes include the setting up of Family Excellence Circles (FECs) aimed at promoting the concept of

Column: 1660

learning families ?. In 2005, 15 FECs were formed by the Family Development Network, reaching out to over 600 parents and children. I am pleased to inform that for this year, with the help of partners, the number of FECs will be doubled.

4.15 pm

In addition to the various contributions of our community partners, the media has also been a crucial partner in our outreach. Suria s popular TV series "Hanyut", produced with the support of MCYS, has made a difference in encouraging parents to connect with their children. Sir, the new initiatives in 2005 have reached out close to some 200,000 people, including the youth. We will continue to improve and monitor these efforts.

So, it is encouraging to see that our efforts are already showing signs of success. Preliminary 2005 figures from the Registry of Muslim Marriages show that the number of brides and grooms who married below 21 years has dropped by about 10% and 12% respectively, compared to 2004. We hope this will be a sustained trend.

Sir, the community has done much in systematically tackling the issue of teen sexuality and minor marriages within the past year. Moving forward, 2006 is a year to further strengthen these programmes. Together with our community partners, we will consolidate our efforts and expand on what we have achieved so far.

Sir, in the past year, we have celebrated many successes in our community. Adil Hakeem topped the PSLE and Second Lieutenant Iskandar Abdullah was the top overseas cadet at the Sandhurst Military Academy. Earlier, the community celebrated a wider definition of success and promise among

Column: 1661

our youth when we presented the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award. Beyond, the numbers that appeared shining in the front are many, many more volunteers and partners who are putting aside their personal interests and devoting themselves to working together under the Community Leaders Forum, and the MUIS mosque framework so as to build capacity to handle issues in the Malay/Muslim community. Despite the tough times the community may have faced in recent years, with lower-end jobs moving out of Singapore and the glare of the media spotlight on issues here and abroad, there is greater self-confidence in the community to face whatever challenges that come before us.

The Chairman: It is time for clarifications. Ms Olsen.

Ms Eunice Elizabeth Olsen: Sir, I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. I understand the complexity of the issues when it comes to juvenile homes. In this regard, since we are always seeking out best practices, I would like to ask whether the Ministry can also learn from the best practices of juvenile homes in other countries to further enhance the juvenile rehabilitation programme and find other ways to tackle the bullying problem.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Sir, I thank Ms Olsen for her feedback. She also volunteers in our home. We can discuss this more with our staff. As I said, compared to other countries, actually the repeat offender rate is about 20%, or even 40%. In Singapore, nine out of 10 completed the rehabilitation programme, which is quite high. But the repeat offender rate is about 30%. So we will work with the Police and also the voluntary welfare organisations to support the families. The key point is that after they come out from the home, the parents should play a role to support them, and hold their hands, because if some of them

Column: 1662

go back to a broken home, I think it would be quite difficult. So we will look into the various suggestions and try our best to improve on whatever things we can do.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, the Minister of State did not explain why are the grassroots members gearing up to take on the Opposition at this coming general election, as reported in the media. Secondly, why is he still denying the fact that the grassroots organisations have been politicised in favour of the PAP? Thirdly, can he give an assurance that the grassroots leaders, if they choose to join the Opposition party, will not be asked to resign from the grassroots organisations?

Mr Chan Soo Sen: Sir, the so-called gearing up for the general election by the grassroots leaders is the press headline. The grassroots leader who said this was saying it as an individual. He did not say it on behalf of the grassroots movement. As I said, there are grassroots leaders who are PAP members, and we do not deny it. Maybe, the press did not distinguish between their different roles. So when they said it, they were expressing their own political belief, and not speaking on behalf of the grassroots movement.

The answer to his second question is that it is just not true. The PAP, or the Government, did not politicise the People s Association. The People s Association is a Government agency and in a democracy like ours, the Government agencies are never politicised. It is just like, say, Ministry of Trade and Industry, it is not politicised.

Thirdly, if a grassroots leader wants to join the Opposition, he will not be asked to resign from the service. That is true. As I said, we respect the people s own political belief. If he wants to join the Opposition and yet still wants to go on, so be it. But I thought all Opposition parties believe that the grassroots

Column: 1663

organisations, as it stands, ought to be demolished. At least, the Workers Party believes so. So I will be very surprised if some of them want to join the Opposition and yet still want to remain as grassroots leaders. It is basically, ideologically, incompatible.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, I would like to clarify that we are not saying that the grassroots organisations are to be demolished and totally removed, but rather to be depoliticised, ie, do not allow recruitment of the grassroots leaders to become party members. That is what we are asking for to be depoliticised and not to be removed.

Mr Chan Soo Sen: Sir, the grassroots movement is never politicised. So I do not know why it should be depoliticised. I cannot understand it. Secondly, as I said, if individual grassroots leader wants to join a political party, that is his wish. We leave it to him. We never force grassroots leaders to join the PAP. In fact, the majority of the grassroots leaders are not PAP members. It is only a small number that are PAP members.

The Chairman: Is it on the same issue, Mr Chia?

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Yes, it is regarding the grassroots again.

The Chairman: Let us see whether it is different from what you have asked just now.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, if the Minister of State says that the grassroots movement is not politicised, then why are the grassroots advisers and CCCs controlled by the PAP members?

Mr Chan Soo Sen: The grassroots movement is controlled by the chairman of the respective committee. The PAP

Column: 1664

member only acts as an adviser. We only offer advice when asked.

The Chairman: Any more clarifications? If there are none, Mr Sin, are you withdrawing the amendment?

Mr Sin Boon Ann: Sir, I would like to thank the Minister, the Minister of State and the Parliamentary Secretary for their very comprehensive and detailed replies to the issues raised under this head of expenditure. It is indeed heartening to know that our Government and MCYS are committed to building a cohesive and resilient society in Singapore under the various initiatives organised by the Ministry. It leaves me now the pleasant duty of asking for leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn .

The sum of $973,714,450 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $66,109,400 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

The Chairman: I shall now deal with the remaining heads of expenditure in respect of which no amendment stands on the Order Paper Supplement. In respect of the Main Estimates, they are Heads B, D, E and G. I propose to take these heads of expenditure en bloc .

Question, "That the sums stated for Heads B, D, E and G which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Main Estimates on page 14 of Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006 stand part of the Main Estimates," put and agreed to.

The Chairman: In respect of the Development Estimates, they are Heads B, D and E.

Question, "That the sums stated for Heads B, D and E which appear in the last column of

Column: 1665

the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Development Estimates on page 15 of Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006 stand part of the Development Estimates," put and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $31,040,325,410 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 2006 to 31st March, 2007 (as amended), contained in Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006," put and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $12,143,342,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 2006 to 31st March, 2007, contained in Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006," put and agreed to.

Resolutions to be reported.

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

The Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (Mr Lee Hsien Loong): Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply have come to certain resolutions.

First Resolution reported

"That the sum of $31,040,325,410 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 2006 to 31st March, 2007 (as amended), contained in Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006."

Second Resolution reported

"That the sum of $12,143,342,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 2006 to 31st March, 2007, contained in Paper Cmd. 3 of 2006."

Column: 1666

Mr Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament doth agree with the Committee on the said resolutions."

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolutions accordingly agreed to.