New polling districts announced

From the Straits Times (Feb 18th):

A DAY after the announcement that the register of voters will be updated, the Government Gazette has now revealed that changes have been made to polling districts.

The latest change – which is to ensure that each polling district has the optimal number of voters – was set out in a 144-page notification on Wednesday in the electronic version of the Government Gazette.

In the previous three general elections, the time-lag between the release of changes to polling districts and the release of the Electoral Boundaries Report has ranged from 19 days for the 2001 election, to six months for the January 1997 election.

The general election followed after the boundaries report.

View the Government Gazette announcement here.

Singapore still the same after 23 years

One of my friends flagged on his Facebook this archived Fortune Magazine article from January 1986, the year after Singapore reported its first economic contraction in 20 years.

It’s uncanny how similar the situation is today, compared to 23 years ago. I guess we’ve changed, but not much…

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A HARD LANDING AWAITS SINGAPORE
The economy shrank in 1985 after two decades of 9% annual growth. Other Asian highfliers stalled too, but Singapore’s troubles are more than cyclical. Its high-wage policy backfired, and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s paternalism has stifled entrepreneurship.
By Lee Smith RESEARCH ASSOCIATE Hiroko Hara
January 20, 1986

(FORTUNE Magazine) – LIKE ANY GOOD FATHER, the government of Singapore knows when it’s time to back off and let the children run the business — to struggle, stumble, and with luck succeed. And like any good father, the government of Singapore finds that it’s easy to talk about letting go and tough to do it. Clearly the family business is in trouble. A financial panic temporarily closed the Singapore Stock Exchange in December. After two decades of roaring growth that averaged almost 9% a year, the economy has suddenly gone cold. The gross domestic product shrank an estimated 2% in 1985. Asia’s other little dragons — Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan — have temporarily lost their economic fire as well. Exports of TV sets, computer peripherals, and other electronic gear from all four places have suffered as the U.S. economy has slowed down. Singapore has depended heavily on oil refining and shipbuilding and repair, businesses in serious decline. Getting out of the hole will be made harder by the paternalistic rule of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, 62. To Lee’s great credit, his regime has given the 2.6 million Singaporeans the third-highest per capita income in Asia. (Brunei, which has lots of oil and few people, is No. 1, followed by Japan.) The government has no debt, and the inflation and unemployment rates both run about 4%. At the same time, Lee’s paternalism can be suffocating. At a recent Scrabble contest sponsored by a local hotel, players kept censorship guidelines in mind as they chose words. (The government forbids racial epithets, for example, lest they stir up animosity between Singapore’s Chinese, who make up three-quarters of the population, and its Malay and Indian minorities.) Singaporeans have always been smug about the tidiness of their society, especially in comparison with the boisterous, anything-goes capitalism of Hong Kong. Now some are beginning to think they are paying too high a price for domestic tranquillity. ”Hong Kong is more vibrant,” says Lee Hsien Loong, 33, son of the prime minister and his likely eventual successor (see box). For now he is a junior minister heading a committee charged with devising a new economic strategy for Singapore. ”People in Hong Kong are quick to see opportunities and quick to cut their losses,” he says. ”We don’t have quite the same crop of entrepreneurs here.” So now the government is trying to release the creative energies of the citizens so they can come up with new products and services to get the economy moving again. In March, Tony Tan Keng Yam, 45, then minister of finance, now of trade and industry, proclaimed that the private sector rather than the government should be the ”engine of economic development.” Government, which owns part or all of some 500 companies, should not get into new businesses, he said, unless private enterprise can’t or won’t. And except where its presence is essential, the government should get out of the businesses it’s already in. BY SELLING OFF COMPANIES the government might slap life into the sleepy Singapore stock market. The weakness of the nation’s capital markets limits entrepreneurship. Singapore Chinese traditionally raise cash for new ventures by putting the touch on aunts and uncles, but that kind of money is rarely enough to launch, say, a bioengineering company. The government sold 100 million shares of Singapore Airlines at $2.38 a share in November. Including some stock earlier sold to airline employees, 37% of the superbly managed carrier now is in the hands of local and foreign investors. The airline earned $69 million in fiscal 1985 on revenues of $1.4 billion. With such powerhouse companies trading on the exchange, more investors will be drawn in. That in turn should eventually produce more capital for start-up companies. Still, despite Tony Tan’s ringing rhetoric, not much else has gone on the block. Nor does the government seem ready to relinquish majority ownership of Singapore Airlines or sell some of its other leading companies. More sales apparently have been blocked for now by an argument within government. The prime minister has yet to say where he stands, though he must be at least open-minded on privatization or the idea would not have been floated. Pushing for it is a group of young ministers including Tony Tan and Lee Hsien Loong. Arguing against them are traditionalists who continue to think that government can run the economy best. ”Young politicians think that government is too big and that if a business makes money, government should get out of it,” observes the amiable P. Y. Hwang, 50, chairman of the Economic Development Board. ”But we’ve done things quite well. We hardly ever run businesses as charities. We run them as businesses.”

Paradoxically that’s part of the problem. Because government businesses are well managed, they not only compete effectively with private enterprise, they sometimes crowd it out. Singapore’s brightest students get government scholarships, then work five years or so for government agencies or companies. Says an executive for a large multinational corporation in Singapore: ”Bright young people, and that includes bright young bureaucrats, always want to make businesses grow.”

[Read more here]

Parliament reports: More bloggers needed

On 6 Feb, I took half day leave from work to attend Parliament while the Committee of Supply (COS) debate was going on. Earlier that week, I had posted on my Facebook status: “Gerald taking leave to attend the Committee of Supply debate in Parliament this week”.

A certain NMP-cum-blogger (whom I won’t name ;-)  commented, “You’re gonna be kinda bored”.

It turned out to be quite interesting actually, though not quite as interesting as the day that this NMP and Opposition leader Low Thia Khiang were sparring with PAP MPs over the Jobs Credit Scheme.

I sat through about 5 1/2 hours of “debates” — or rather 5 hours of prepared speeches and half an hour of actual Q&A. There are lots of interesting things that happen in Parliament that do not get reported in the media. My report is here. Koh Choong Yong has his own account here, which inspired me to blog about my own informal observations.

During the COS debate, backbencher MPs (i.e., those who are not Ministers) get only 1-5 minutes to ask their questions. The Ministers get 45 minutes to 1 hour to respond! And their responses are always long speeches prepared by their civil servants, delving into the history of the policy and how wonderfully it has worked for Singapore, but usually giving short shrift to the question that the MP asked.

The more interesting parts are the Supplementary Questions that take place at the end of the debate for each Ministry. These are additional questions that the MPs can pose to the Minister in response to the answer he had given. On the day I attended, Grace Fu, the Senior Minister of State for National Development, failed to answer a question by Low Thia Khiang (WP-Hougang) about why Hougang Town Council wasn’t given ample warning before blocks of flats in Hougang were torn down. In her fluster to justify herself after Mr Low asked his Supplementary Question, Ms Fu blurted out that her ministry doesn’t even know 7 months in advance of redevelopment plans.

I’m sure this didn’t get reported in the mainstream media, and I suspect that will be expunged from the Hansard — the official Parliamentary report. But I heard it and I jotted it down immediately.

It’s also interesting to observe the behaviour of MPs. The Chinese-speaking MPs always take a full bow to the Speaker when they enter or exit, while the more “kentang” ones (i.e., those with a more Western outlook) sometimes just nod their heads.

After the mid-session break, I requested for a seat in the gallery behind the Cabinet ministers, as I was previously sitting on the other side. This was when I noticed that one minister walked in with a lot of reading material. He proceeded to read them while the MPs were making their speeches. The words on his paper were so large that those in the gallery could have probably read it with the help of a pair of binoculars. From the paragraphing, it looked like a policy paper, but it didn’t have single words stamped on the header and footer (i.e., “CONFIDENTIAL” or “SECRET”). In any case, even if I read it (which I didn’t), I couldn’t reveal it as that would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act. I think our Ministers should be a bit more discreet about displaying their reading material.

One thing I still don’t understand is how votes take place in Parliament. Typically the Speaker will pose to the Members, “All in favour say ‘aye’…all opposed say ‘nay'”. Then without anyone raising their hand, the Speaker immediately announces, “I think the ‘aye’s have it, the ‘aye’s have it.”

Huh? Maybe MPs indicate their ‘aye’ with a wink to the Speaker. Or maybe there’s some electronic voting system that I can’t see. (I didn’t see any buttons or wires.) In any case, I think it would be good if the votes of the MPs be published, so that citizens can scrutinize them for their voting records, as is done in other democracies like the US.

I hope more bloggers would take a trip down to Parliament during future sittings. There’s much more than meets the eye than what you read in the papers or watch on TV. Perhaps we should have a bloggers’ roster for Parliament sittings, so as to get maximum coverage for the benefit of all Singaporeans. ;-)

Asking Chiam to step down? Only voters should decide

Last Sunday, the Sunday Times published a report about Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong, “Recovering from stroke but Chiam is sharp and lucid”. By mainstream media standards, this was a relatively positive article about an opposition politician who has served his constituents well for over 20 years.

Today, a letter in response to that article was published, titled “Chiam See Tong should call it a day”. In it, the writer wrote:

History is awash with leaders who do not know when to quit, and I hope Mr Chiam will not go this way.

This also raises the question of whether there is any parliamentary rule to retire an MP who has suffered a stroke.

The issue is not whether an MP wants to carry on working. That is for Parliament to decide.

It is not for Parliament to decide whether or not an elected MP should be forced to retire against his will, if he has committed no crime. Articles 45 and 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore lay out the grounds for disqualifications and tenure of MPs. Among the grounds for disqualification are:

  • Being of unsound mind;
  • Becoming bankrupt;
  • Being sentenced to prison for over 1 year, or fined more than $2,000;
  • Taking up citizenship in another country;
  • Resigning or being expelled from his political party;
  • Being absent from Parliament sittings for 2 consecutive months;

Article 44 states the qualifications of MPs, among which are:

  • He is able, with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of Parliament, to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read and write at least one of the following languages, that is to say, English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil;

This is the only point that could make him unqualified to stand for election at the next election. However, the Constitution does not state in Article 46 (Tenure of office of MPs) that persons who do not meet the qualifications set out in Article 44 cannot continue to serve as MPs in their current term.

In any case, Mr Chiam has demonstrated in Parliament during the Budget and Committee of Supply debate that he is able to speak, albeit rather slowly and painfully. Even if he is unable to speak due to his stroke, being able to read and write will still qualify him to run for office in future.

If he chooses to run for office again, the voters of the constituency he contests — not Parliament — should be the ones who decide his political fate.

I fail to understand what the objective of the writer’s letter is. Is it to demonstrate his sympathy for an elderly gentleman, or to have one of the three opposition MPs in Parliament removed? I don’t think Mr Chiam needs any sympathy from the writer. He has chosen to continue serving his constituents to the best of his abilities. No one is forcing him to continue serving while ill.

Regardless of one’s political affiliations, I think Chiam See Tong deserves to be greatly honoured for his years of unwaivering service to the residents of Potong Pasir, and his contributions to the cause of a responsible and respected opposition in Singapore.

(Photo from Blue Skies Communications: Chiam See Tong walks in to a standing ovation by over 1,120 guests at the ACS Founders’ Day dinner in March 2008. Click here to read my comment about ACS’ guest-of-honour invitation to Mr Chiam.)

Defence spending as a deterrent?

It was surely a question his aides had prepared him for. The Defence Minister, Teo Chee Hean, was on Thursday yet again justifying to Parliament why there was a need to increase defence spending to $11.45 billion despite the economic downturn. This makes up a quarter of government spending.

Irene Ng (PAP-Tampines) asked: “Should the Defence Ministry be having a feast, while the other ministries, and indeed the entire economy suffer from famine?”

The current policy is to spend up to 6% of GDP on defence, come what may.

In answering the MPs, the Minister gave a negative example of Canada, which cut back on defence drastically after the Cold War only to find themselves lacking tanks when their troops were deployed to the Afghan war.

However the crux of his argument was this: “A steady budget through both good and difficult economic times sends a strong signal of our resolve to defend ourselves.”

This is not the first time the government has made this argument. So I take it that this is the main reason why defence spending keeps increasing even when the country is suffering economically. It is not because the threat level has gone up, or they are revamping their “3G” army. It is purely to send a signal.

A very expensive signal indeed.

Just for the record, I am a strong supporter of a robust self-defence capability. I accept that the Defence Ministry will always take up the lion’s share of the government budget because military hardware is expensive.

But I think we should drop this policy of using our defence budget to send signals to potential adversaries. It is imprudent, untargeted and unlikely to achieve its desired results. (No, I’m not talking about the Jobs Credit Scheme.)

In fact, if we can demonstrate to our potential adversaries that even if the defence budget is cut, the SAF can still maintain the same or higher level of operational readiness, that would send an even stronger signal to them. They would know that even if they impose trade sanctions or a naval blockade on us, we are still a poison shrimp that they would not attempt to swallow.

Graciousness out of whack

I was having lunch at the Kopitiam near my office recently when I noticed hanging all over the ceiling were banners titled “Goodness Gracious Me! Please return your dirty tray”. Apparently this is a joint project by the Straits Times and Kopitiam to promote “graciousness”.

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So it seems that clearing your trays in food courts is the new “in” thing for government campaigns. Never did I hear this mentioned as part of the “kindness movement” until PM Lee made it an issue during his National Day Rally speech last year. The PM had quoted an email he received from a lady on making Singapore a better place:

“Actually we should feel quite embarrassed to leave our dirty plates and dirty table for the next diner. In my mum’s house, after eating, we will clear our plates and clean the table…this is a good habit we should adopt outside the home.”

And of course soon after the words left his mouth, government agencies, government-affiliated community organisations and businesses keen to gain favour with the government lined up to promote this new and important campaign.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with promoting kindness and graciousness in Singapore. In fact, I think our lack of civic consciousness is one of the many things that makes us very Third World, despite our First World infrastructure and education.

But I think this emphasis on returning one’s trays shows a complete muddling of priorities. In fact, given the numerous areas in which we lack graciousness, I don’t even consider tray-returning as something we need to give attention to.

Firstly, should we be returning our trays? My answer is: It depends. In school canteens, army camps, company cafeterias, I think we should, because costs need to kept down. But in commercial establishments like Kopitiam and MacDonalds, I don’t think it is necessary. These establishments usually have cleaners who are hired to clear plates. If everyone (or most of us) were to clear our plates ourselves, there would be no reason to keep so many of those cleaners. And even with Jobs Credit, these workers are likely to lose their jobs (since they are mostly contract workers). In fact, at another Kopitiam near my house, the cleaner already looked very free despite most diners ignoring the tray-returning campaign banners.

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Having said that, I always make the effort to place all my bones and dirty tissues onto the plates before leaving the table, just to make their lives a bit easier.

So if we don’t focus on tray-returning, what should the Kindness Movement focus on?

Giving up seats on the MRT and buses for a start. This is likely to make a bigger impact on people who need the kindness, like the elderly and pregnant moms.

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A few months ago, I came across a bunch of NTU (or is it SMU) students, who had initiated a campaign called Project KLOE (Keep left on escalators) in MRT stations. This is a good, ground up initiative that would help commuters who are rushing to and from work.

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Ultimately, I believe most of our bad manners is a result of poor upbringing in a very self-seeking and competitive society. If we want to improve our graciousness, we have to target children and parents. When I see schoolkids happily chatting with each other on MRT seats while an old lady stands in front of them, I wonder if their parents and schools ever told them that they should give up their seat in those situations.



Welcome to my new blog home

Dear readers,

I’ve officially moved from my temporary accomodation at geraldgiam.wordpress.com to my new home at geraldgiam.sg. This is my second move in 4 months, and I apologise for redirecting you again. Rest assured I don’t intend to move again anytime soon — unless of course ISD catches up with me and I’m forced to shut down my blog or send messages from some location in Whitley Rd (just kidding…I hope)!

You’ll probably notice at least two new features of my new blog — my own domain name, and ads. While the new domain name will be shorter to type (for those who don’t believe in using bookmarks), I hope none of you folks are too bothered by the ads. Unfortunately someone has to pay for the hosting (which is no longer free), and I need to save up to buy baby powder. :)

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for all of you who regularly visit my blog and leave comments. Your readership and response always motivates me to write more, and put in more effort into each post.

This blog is still a work in progress. I very much welcome feedback on any matter related to this blog — whether it is regarding the topics I write about, my writing style, the blog’s design….anything. I want to improve it to make it a more enjoyable read for you, my readers. You can either leave a comment, or write to me directly at gerald dot giam at gmail dot com.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Hope to hear from you soon!

Best regards,

Gerald

Parliament debates HDB rental flats, upgrading, e-engagement and Gaza crisis

PARLIAMENT on Friday [6 Feb] debated the budgets of three ministries – Foreign Affairs, National Development, and Information, Communications and the Arts.

Ministry of National Development

Mr Low Thia Khiang (WP-Hougang) queried the Minister for National Development about the recent demolition of flats on Hougang Avenue 7. He lamented that the demolition took place just seven years after Hougang Town Council used its own funds to upgrade the lifts in those flats. (Hougang, being an opposition ward, is at end of the queue for the Lift Upgrading Programme [LUP]. The LUP expenses for PAP wards are typically borne by HDB with small co-payments by the local town council and residents.)

Mr Low remarked that much of the money was wasted because of the early demolition. He said that in future, HDB should inform the Town Council earlier of its redevelopment plans, lest such waste took place again.

In her initial response, Senior Minister of State (National Development) Grace Fu, skimmed over the issue. Mr Low later pressed Ms Fu for an answer, adding that HDB ought to reimburse Hougang Town Council for the money that went to waste.

Ms Fu reiterated the Government’s earlier commitment to complete the LUP by 2014. Given the time needed to complete the works, HDB would have to make their selections and announcements of contractors by 2011.

Regarding the flat demolitions, the Senior Minister of State explained that HDB regularly reviews its land use, and that her Ministry “can’t tell seven years in advance” of redevelopment plans – “not even seven months”.Mr Masagos Zulkifli (PAP-Tampines) and Mdm Ho Geok Choo (PAP-West Coast) asked the Minister about the shortage of subsidised HDB rental flats for needy residents.

Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan revealed that there were currently 4,550 applicants in the queue for subsidised rental flats. He said that “two-thirds of them have reasons not to be in the queue”. He cited examples of retirees who had no income but significant savings from the sale of their flats, yet qualified for rental flats. His ministry’s solution to this housing crunch would be to further tighten the eligibility criteria for rental flats.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (PAP-Aljunied) expressed dismay at this proposal, emphasising that in times of economic downturn, the Government “should have more love” instead of tightening the rental housing criteria for old folks. Mr Mah responded, saying that the purchase of a $90,000 two-room flat is “easily affordable” to someone earning $1,200. Continue reading “Parliament debates HDB rental flats, upgrading, e-engagement and Gaza crisis”

Trust, but verify

This is the exchange in Parliament between Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and MPs, including the Opposition leader and PAP MPs, taken from Channel NewsAsia:

“The concern arises over the way the two-key system operates. It seems the two-key system operates simultaneously at the same time. When the government key says ‘unlock’, the other key unlocks automatically,” said Low Thia Khiang, MP for Hougang.

Mr Tharman said: “This is not a ’wayang’ (show)… The point is: the President, advised by the CPA (Council of Presidential Advisers), makes an independent and careful judgement on the government’s case.”

MP for Tampines GRC, Irene Ng, said: “Can I ask the minister whether the process can be refined and improved further so that in future we can make the process more transparent — that the public knows that the institution of the President is one that is strong, and that it can exercise an independent turn of the key.”

Inderjit Singh, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said: “What’s missing is the process that the President took after he got briefed by the government. If we could get a sense of what they discussed and what process they went through to decide, then this may clear many of these questions.”

But Mr Tharman said: “I’m not sure why it is relevant. At the end of the day, this is a system that is different from Norway and Australia, where as much detail as possible is provided.

“This is a system that relies on trust in the individuals who are in charge, including those appointed to the CPA and the Elected President. Do you trust them? Have they made decisions wisely? Has the government been acting responsibly?”

———

I am deeply shocked that the Minister would say that our government’s system is one that relies on trust.

How can you have trust without transparency? The two go hand in hand. Particularly so for financial and governance matters. Is the Minister expecting Singaporeans to trust a few handpicked men with hundreds of billions of dollars of our nation’s reserves?

In my opinion, this is the most fundamental weakness in Singapore’s system of governance. Those in leadership expect — or even demand — that we trust them, without them having to demonstrate a commensurate level of transparency. It extends down to the ruling party’s philosophy that a one-party system works best for Singapore, and there is no need for an opposition to keep them accountable.

All men are fallible. Donning a white uniform does not put one above scrutiny.

My response to RAdm Lui’s remarks about “self-regulation”

TODAY newspaper asked me for my views on Senior Minister of State for Information Lui Tuck Yew’s remarks about how the local online community has not “self-regulated” regarding the Seng Han Thong affair. Here are my responses, all of which did not get published.

1) What do you think of Mr Lui’s comments, especially his comments on how the online community should be more self-regulating?

I agree in principle, but self-regulation is not something that the Govt or individual bloggers can impose. It boils down to how individual Netizens wish to portray themselves to their readers.

2) How fair do you think Mr Lui’s comments are?

I think he made some sweeping generalisations. I personally responded to some unkind comments on one blog. The Online Citizen also ran an article criticizing some Netizens for their unkind remarks. This was not highlighted by Mr Lui.

It should be noted that many of the unkind comments were directed at the Govt, not Mr Seng personally. The criticism should therefore be seen in that context.

I think it’s appropriate to ask: What about those who are pro-govt or were indignant about the unkind criticism they read online? Why didn’t they step forward to comment or blog about it? They are also part of blogosphere and have a part to play in shaping the Net culture in Singapore.

3) What do you think we can do to improve the quality of online public discussion?

I think those bloggers with a higher readership can help shape the tone of discussion. It’s not to say that they should impose anything on fellow Netizens, but they could lead by example.

As more citizens from both sides of the political spectrum join blogosphere, I believe we will naturally see more balance.

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