Mr Speaker Sir, thank you for allowing me to join in the debate. I rise in support of the Budget proposed by the Minister for Finance. In particular, many of my unionists and residents particularly applaud the budget measures focusing on older workers, disabled and needy Singaporeans. Being the Executive Secretary of the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union representing the healthcare workers of Singapore and appreciating the long term challenges of an ageing population, I thank the government for devoting significantly more resources on Healthcare and focusing on manpower development of healthcare professionals. Unlike some of the previous measures and handouts which were once-off and for a shorter period, this year’s budget saw the government entrenching many of the help schemes such as the GST vouchers to alleviate the burdens of low income families. I am particularly heartened when DPM announced the upward revision of the income limits for the MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme as this was something which I raised as a suggestion for the Minister of Education to consider just a few months ago after the opening of the 12th Parliament.
2 Notwithstanding, I have been engaging various groups of people from unionists to residents and various informal networks. Suffice to say, many agree to what I have alluded to earlier but there are areas which I feel we can do even better.
PART I - Where We Can Do Better?
3 First and foremost, many of the middle income families, mostly PMEs (also known as the sandwiched class) I spoke to remain concerned about the high and rising costs of living in Singapore. A family of four having a meal out at our local fast food restaurant will easily set them back by $30 to $40 depending on which restaurant you patronise (perhaps $20+ because of the recent round-the-clock Extra Value Meal promotion at a particular outlet).
4 There are some benefits for them in this budget but many remain not ‘poor’ enough to qualify for the various aid schemes to adequately stave off the ever increasing costs of living in Singapore. There are no signs that the costs of living is relenting anytime soon. Petrol over the pump now costs more than $2 per litre even after a Fuel Card and Credit Card discount. In Mercer’s 2011 Costs of Living Survey, Singapore has moved up three rungs to 8th globally and 3rd in Asia, just after Tokyo and Osaka. Our inflation rate continues to hover between 5% to 6% although dipping slightly below 5% in certain months. With an uncertain economic outlook, it is difficult to envisage huge increments or bonuses for many employees. For a middle income earner having to support a family of two children and elderly parents on both sides, life is challenging indeed. Due to the high costs of living, it is now even more difficult for middle income workers to plan for their retirement needs.
5 I strongly urge the Government to consider introducing programmes that will help the middle income sustain their livelihood and move their families up the social ladder i.e. enhance their social mobility. This can only come through the acquisition of new capabilities and moving up the ladder for the main breadwinners. The senior technician should move up to be an engineer or executive while an executive should be moved up to be a manager. My view is that the current productivity and skills-upgrading related programmes such as the PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) and increase in absentee payroll are too employer focused. Even though the training support for SMEs will be enhanced, I am unsure whether this will translate into skills upgrading and enhanced wages for their employees. This is particularly so as SMEs are already facing a manpower crunch in our tight labour market situation and sending workers for training may compromise manning levels. For one, I do not object to the ‘incentive’ approach in encouraging businesses to embark on training and productivity drives. Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that the top priority of any business or private enterprise is profit maximization. A business is neither a charity nor should it be expected to be a provider of jobs. To survive, a company would sometimes need to embark on painful measures. Moving forward, we would therefore need a better understanding of the existing productivity and skills upgrading schemes and areas to enhance it. We need to know how many in the middle income bracket have/will benefit from these schemes and whether they have seen a significant increase in their income as a result of these schemes.
6 The competition posed by foreign talent and threat to the jobs of local PMEs has been a concern to all PME segments. Statistics show that there has been an almost 80% increase in foreign PMEs from 63,000 in 2006 to 112,000 in 2010. In the Budget, I am glad to note that the Government will be tightening the inflow of foreign work permit holders although no specific mention of Employment Pass holders. I am aware the government has taken measures with effect 1 January this year to tighten the Employment Pass criteria and I eagerly await to hear in the upcoming months how it takes shape. I believe when we adequately control the flow and with the tight labour market situation, our employers would take an even keener interest in levelling up our local PMEs. At the same time, our young local PMEs would also have a better chance of securing employment. Currently, the unemployment rate of our young PMEs between 15 to 29 years old stands at 3.5% in 2010.
PART II - Good Areas where we can Strengthen?
7 I would now like to move on to the next part of my speech on how the measures in the Budget to help the disadvantaged segments can be augmented with market realities to make the policies more effective. Touching on the elderly, I would like to applaud the Government for taking the bold measure to restore the CPF contribution rates from 0.5% to 2.5%. This will certainly help to improve the retirement provisions for our elderly workers. Other pro-elderly measures such as the Special Employment Credit (SEC), the Silver Housing Bonus, family grant for maids, enhanced Medifund and top-ups to Medishield demonstrate a committed and holistic framework in taking care of the not-so-young.
8 Since the release of the Budget, we know that there has been feedback that the Silver Housing Bonus is not particularly attractive as most of the elderly are accustomed to their own house and selling it is really a last resort. The more critical aspects thereby lie in their ability to continue to draw an income and the medical care that they are able to receive. Our employers’ attitudes are paramount in helping our elderly sustain meaningful jobs and income. I am proud to say that NTUC has been leading the forefront in this area not just to get the employers to re-employ older workers after 62 years old but also not to cut their pay if they are doing the same work and having the same workload. For example, our restructured hospitals have taken the lead to commit to the hiring of older workers and in most instances not imposing cuts upon re-employment where same job and work responsibilities are involved. They have also embarked on many pro-older worker initiatives well before the new re-employment law kicked in this year. I worry for some other quarters including SMEs who face increasing costs pressures and I hope that employers will be enlightened not to offset the costs of the CPF rate increase through other cost-cutting measures and in a worst case scenario, cut their jobs. I believe the subvention provided by the government to them will alleviate their costs. I urge MOM and TAFEP to closely monitor the situation when the new CPF rates are effective from September 2012.
9 One of the most innovative features of the Budget is the issuance of GST vouchers which will benefit many, particularly the lower income households. What is notable is that it will be a permanent feature in our tax system. The GST vouchers show in very tangible terms the Government’s care and concern for Singaporeans and its tenacity in wanting to alleviate their financial burden. What I would like to request is for the amount of GST vouchers in future to take into consideration the Rate of Inflation and Consumer Price Index. Many have called for GST to be exempted for basic necessities such as rice and essentials including for healthcare and education. I hope the Government to review and consider this suggestion.
10 I am pleased to note that in the Budget, there are even more measures announced to help the lower-income family and their children to cope with the rising costs of education. For starters, this is most positive news. My question is how much of the social spending we have incurred will go some way in uplifting the bottom strata as we strive to build an inclusive society. What are the benchmarks and measurements in place to ensure that we have invested in the right social programmes? How much of the increased spending is not to go into paying the costs of services which will result in little value creation for the poor? As Robert Kiyosaki, the famous financial guru, has put it- the rich will make their money work harder for them while the poor will use their finite labor and time to make the extra penny. All rich and poor will have a desire for branded goods and services; the difference is that the rich will use their investment gains to finance their luxuries while the poor will use their hard-earned money. I opine that we ought to be more outcomes based in our social spending. Targeting education and social mobility is the correct step to begin with; what we ought to follow up more closely is how we can create savings for the bottom strata and protect their nest eggs.
9．今年预算案其中最具有创意性的是政府正在计划推出消费税补助券，这项目尤其对低收入的家庭是收益不浅的。最值得注意的是它在我们的税收制度是永久性的。这消费税补助券是政府对于国人的关心和照顾，诚恳的减轻国人的经济负担。
我要向政府要求未来的消费税补助券能考虑到通货膨胀率和居民消费价格指数。许多国人希望政府能在他们的生活必需品，如米，医疗保健和教育能给与免税。我希望政府能检讨和考虑这个建议。
10．我很高兴地注意到，在财政预算案中，宣布了更多措施，以帮助低收入家庭和他们的子女，应付教育成本的上升。对于初学者来说，这是最乐观和带有鼓励性的消息。
我的问题是，我们该承担多少的社会支出才能将在某种程度上提升低收入国人与我们努力地建设一个包容性的社会阶层。目前有什么基准和测量，以确保我们投资在正确的社会计划与项目呢？有多少的开支增加，对于低收入家庭在服务上有所帮助的？
如著名金融大师，罗伯特清崎(Robert Kiyosaki)，所说的富有的人会将用财富为他们赚更多的钱，而贫穷的人将利用其剩下有限的能力和时间来多赚额外的金钱来过日子。所有富有的和贫穷的人都会想拥有有品牌的商品和服务，不同的是，富有的人会用自己投资所赚来的收益来资助他们的奢侈品，而贫穷的人会用他们所赚来的血汗钱来购买。我认为我们应该有更多有效力的社会支出。针对教育和社会的流动性是正确的开始，我们应该更紧密地关注的是我们如何能够创造储蓄给我们低收入的家庭国人和保护他们的财富。
PART III- Other Matters
11 In the last part of my speech, I would like to cover two areas that were not featured in the Budget speech. They are on building a family and managing social integration.
12 On building a family, while there will be higher provisions in the Budget set aside for Baby Bonus in anticipation of a Dragon Year, I would like to question on the overall approach of our pro-creation policies. We all know that men and women are getting married at a later age and thus starting a family at a later age. The challenge is that our strong work ethos (out of financial need) is getting in the way of developing a balanced and happy family life. Greater attention needs to be devoted to how the social and work environment can be geared towards providing better support. Even when people do get hitched, the huge financial costs of a house and wedding are pushing our people either into debt or cold feet, whichever may come first. In the final hurdle, the affordability of having a child today will set anyone thinking. To further exacerbate, the jobs of working mothers are also at stake. On Monday 27 Feb 2012, TODAY carried a report of a lady being terminated after she discovered she was pregnant and informed her bosses. On wrongful dismissal complaints filed by pregnant women which had increased by 33% to 112 cases in 2011, more than nine in 10 of the women who filed complaints last year were sacked during pregnancy. Furthermore, women (particularly PMEs) who leave the workforce for extended periods to look after their child or children also find it extremely difficult to return to their previous occupations.
13 On managing social integration, I am concerned about the current spat that is happening between Mainland Chinese and Hong Kongers. If we are not careful, the same social tensions can have a spillover effect in Singapore. Since foreigners will be at about a third of our workforce, what can we do to ensure that both locals and foreigners have a healthy knowledge and respect of each other’s behaviour, social and cultural practices? What are the relevant programmes in place and how have we invested in them?
14 Sir, in supporting the Budget, I would like us to overcome the challenges set before us in making Singapore an inclusive society for all, so that not only we find meaning in what we do but also provide the support to those who fall through the cracks. The principles behind which this budget is rolled out has shown the government’s commitment to build a more inclusive society and to better the lives of Singaporeans. More importantly, many of the measures embarked on are to prepare Singapore and Singaporeans for the longer term. I believe and support the move in growing the entire cake for all to have more and not merely altercating over who gets how many slices, how much topping or which part of the marzipan.
On that note, I support the budget.
