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The Workers' Party

Re: WP Doing Nothing?


[h=5]Yee Jenn Jong, JJ (余振忠)[/h]In 6 years’ time, Singapore will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ founding of modern Singapore. Next to the parliament house stands a statue of Raffles, with the inscription “On this historic site, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first landed in Singapore on 28th January 1819 and with genius and perception changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a great seaport and modern metropolis."

Singaporeans have had genius and perception in the past to overcome and grow stronger with each great challenge. Today, Singapore is at another crossroad, already a great seaport and modern metropolis but in need of a new model to move forward. We will need to search deep inside ourselves, build up the Singapore core, both in the population and in the workforce and have confidence to take ourselves forward in this 21st century.
 
Re: WP Doing Nothing?


[h=5]Yee Jenn Jong, JJ (余振忠)[/h]
Whatever the reasons for giving absolute priority to parent volunteers and community leaders over others, this arrangement would benefit only popular schools. I rather see volunteerism as true volunteerism rather than a business transaction. That way, the effects of what volunteers can do will be more sincere and lasting.


Tales of parent volunteers in schools
yeejj.wordpress.com
I was impressed with what I saw this week at a neighbourhood primary school in Pasir Ris. It is a typical neighbourhood school, not the ones that parents would do all sort of things to try to get


 

[h=5]The Workers' Party[/h]Workers' Party continues our weekly Hammer Outreach at East Coast GRC.

488333_634968389853081_1949137145_n.jpg
 

[h=5]Daniel PS Goh[/h]Very interesting survey in the UK using three types of capital to measure class -- economic capital (wealth and income), social capital (networks and connections), cultural capital (knowledge and skills).


Very interesting survey in the UK using three types of capital to measure class -- economic capital (wealth and income), social capital (networks and connections), cultural capital (knowledge and skills).

Is Singapore also seeing the same diversification of the classic working-middle-upper class society?

Implications for policy are plenty. For one, government workfare programmes cannot just focus on getting people jobs and supplementing incomes. Social capital and cultural capital matter too.



UK 'now has seven social classes'
[url]www.bbc.co.uk
The largest-ever survey of social class, conducted by the BBC, suggests there are now seven social classes in the UK.


[/URL]
 

[h=5]Daniel PS Goh[/h]Attended my first temple dinner in Punggol East yesterday with volunteers. Mr and Mrs Low took the place of Li Lian, who unfortunately couldn't make it. Mr Low was in his element chatting with old friends, many from Hougang who moved to Seng Kang, and greeting new ones.

Not long after we sat down, Dr Koh Poh Koon and his grassroots volunteers came in and sat at the table diagonally next to us. Before we know it, Mr Low went to the table to greet them and shake their hands. We were too engrossed in our chit-chatting and only realized it when the dinner crowd erupted in approving applause. Amy, who sat next to me, and I wondered whether we should take photos to post on FB, but we concluded it won't fit Mr Low's quiet, low profile style.

Dr Koh and friends reciprocated in the nicest way possible, coming to our table to shake our hands. A bit paiseh, as we didn't follow Mr Low to go shake their hands. But then if we did, it would seem as though we are big shots or trying to do some kind of power play. I don't know, by some unconscious cultural norm, it seems appropriate that the other side responds by the whole table coming over, but not for us to go over first time round. Dr Koh posted the exchange of pleasantries on his FB: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...130.1073741825.586323901393634&type=1&theater

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We had a lot of fun chatting, laughing and getting to know each other outside of the grassroots work setting. Here's a photo of Johnny, Mr Low and me after dinner.


528484_508112925918122_1097897101_n.jpg



Attended my first temple dinner in Punggol East yesterday with volunteers. Mr and Mrs Low took the place of Li Lian, who unfortunately couldn't make it. Mr Low was in his element chatting with old friends, many from Hougang who moved to Seng Kang, and greeting new ones.

Not long after we sat down, Dr Koh Poh Koon and his grassroots volunteers came in and sat at the table diagonally next to us. Before we know it, Mr Low went to the table to greet them and shake their hands. We were too engrossed in our chit-chatting and only realized it when the dinner crowd erupted in approving applause. Amy, who sat next to me, and I wondered whether we should take photos to post on FB, but we concluded it won't fit Mr Low's quiet, low profile style.

Dr Koh and friends reciprocated in the nicest way possible, coming to our table to shake our hands. A bit paiseh, as we didn't follow Mr Low to go shake their hands. But then if we did, it would seem as though we are big shots or trying to do some kind of power play. I don't know, by some unconscious cultural norm, it seems appropriate that the other side responds by the whole table coming over, but not for us to go over first time round. Dr Koh posted the exchange of pleasantries on his FB: https://www.facebook.com/<wbr>photo.php?fbid=637002272992<wbr>463&set=a.637002269659130.<wbr>1073741825.586323901393634<wbr>&type=1&theater

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We had a lot of fun chatting, laughing and getting to know each other outside of the grassroots work setting. Here's a photo of Johnny, Mr Low and me after dinner.
 
40190_149674681715790_2741543_t.jpg
[h=2]Parliamentary Questions by WP MPs - 8 April 2013 Sitting
[/h]
by The Workers' Party (Notes) on Monday, April 8, 2013 at 12:35am


At today's Parliament sitting, WP MPs will raise questions regarding regulations in property, banking and finance, transport infrastructure, student care, funding for SMEs, standards for local network operators and healthcare services, public healthcare schemes and other social concerns.


QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER



*7. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for National Development what are the average price ranges for new 3-room, 4-room, and 5-room flats within the same mature and non-mature estates twelve months before and after HDB de-linked BTO flat prices from resale market prices.


*16. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health which are the HDB towns and neighbourhood commercial centres serving HDB towns that have a below-average proportion of medical and dental clinics participating in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS); what is the Ministry's target for the proportion of private medical and dental clinics participating in CHAS by the end of this year; how will the Ministry plan to increase incentives or reduce barriers for more clinics to participate in CHAS; and what will these measures be.


*22. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Prime Minister in the past 10 years, how many times have Malaysia and Indonesia approached Singapore to provide information on their citizens who operate bank accounts out of Singapore, for tax or investigation purposes; and whether there are any suspicious and irregular bank accounts detected in the process.


*23. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance how many companies have benefitted from the Mergers and Acqusitions (M&A) Scheme since its inception in 2010; how many companies that have claimed tax allowances under this scheme are SME companies; how much M&A tax allowances have been granted; and what are the average and the median deal sizes of M&A supported by this scheme.


*25. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Transport how many sinkholes have occurred since the start of excavation works for the MRT Downtown Line; how many of these sinkholes caved in again after being filled; how many motorists or pedestrians suffered injury or had their vehicles damaged as a result of these sinkholes; whether this is a reflection of the quality of planning conducted by LTA prior to tunnelling works or such works not being carried out according to plan; and what is the Ministry doing to eliminate the occurrences of such sinkholes which can potentially cause injury or death to motorists or pedestrians.


*33. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health whether Government restructured hospitals are currently able to tap into patients' CPF or IRAS records (with their consent) to process Medifund and other applications and, if not, when will the hospital systems be enhanced to spare patients the hassle of submitting their payslips, CPF statements or tax returns.


*34. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Education what is the total number of student care places across all school-based student care centres (SSCs) that are already in operation; how many more SSCs and student care places will be available in schools over the next two years; and what are the measures that the Ministry has put in place to ensure SSCs are staffed with trained personnel.


*35. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information whether he can provide a status report on the initiatives to develop Singapore into a global Interactive Digital Media Hub, in particular the amount of funds invested since the launch of the initiative in 2006; a breakdown of the types of projects that are supported; and whether the Government is on track to achieve its targets of S$10 billion in value-add and 10,000 new jobs in the industry by 2015.


*39. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for Transport how many bus stops currently remain inaccessible to Wheelchair Accessible Buses (WAB); and what is the target date to make all bus stops accessible to WAB.


QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER


4. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry in the past three years how much loans have been approved under the Internationalisation Finance Scheme and Loan Insurance Scheme (LIS and LIS+) respectively; what is the average revenue turnover of the successful applicant companies; what is the breakdown of the industries that the successful applicant companies come from; and what is the rejection rate of such applications to the financial institutions.


5. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry how much loans have been approved over the past three years to companies under the Micro Loan Programme (MLP); what is the average interest rate for the loans; what is the breakdown of the industries that the successful applicant companies come from; and (d) what is the rejection rate for such applications to the banks.


6. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information whether the drop call rates for 2012 based on mobile operators' network traffic logs cited in IDA's Quality of Service (QoS) Standards for 3G Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Service are independently verified by IDA or third party experts.


7. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information for the past three months, what are the monthly network availability for Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Services for the three operators in Singapore; why is network availability a compliance requirement for broadband services but not for Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Services; and in view of M1's nationwide service outage on 15 January 2013 whether the Ministry will provide an estimated cost suffered by businesses and consumers as well as loss of productivity; and what can the Ministry do in the future to ensure that such disruptions do not happen.


8. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information what are the reasons that IDA's QoS Standards for 2G and 3G Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (PCMTS) include requirements for signal strength but not signal quality; and whether IDA will consider adopting the International Telecommunication Union's framework and methodology for quality telecommunication services into the QoS Standards.


9. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for National Development whether there are plans for the development of the plot of land next to Blocks 155 and 156 of Rivervale Crescent.


10. Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for National Development regarding new lifts installed under HDB's Lift Upgrading Programme what is the rate of breakdown of these lifts within the defects-liability period; whether certain models of lifts have higher breakdown rates; and whether the Ministry finds the rates of breakdown acceptable.


11. Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Government has in the last 24 months received complaints, through the Council for Estate Agencies or other channels, of real estate agents being party to brokering illegal sub-letting of HDB rental flats and, if so, what is the number of such complaints and the outcome of investigations including the actions taken.


12. Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for National Development since the formation of the Council for Estate Agencies, how many cases have been lodged with the Council on real estate agents instigating or facilitating arrangements for the sale of HDB flats to repay illegal moneylenders and what is the outcome of investigations and the actions taken.


13. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for National Development if he can provide an update on the study by AVA to determine the population of mynahs and the distribution of their roosts; and what is AVA's comprehensive plan to tackle the mynah nuisance.


14. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the cost of implementing 'home lifts' for low-rise HDB flats with few benefiting units; and what is the height restriction for such lifts.


16. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health why women who have not passed the PSLE, have no secondary education, have three or more children, or are foreigners, are not required to undergo pre-abortion counselling by a trained abortion counsellor before undergoing an abortion.


17. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health in each year from 2002 to 2012, how many abortions were carried out on or before the 12th week of pregnancy; from the 12th to the 20th week of pregnancy; from the 21st to the 24th week of pregnancy; after the 24th week of pregnancy; and on Singaporeans, PRs and foreigners.


18. Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for Health what is the current proportion and number of nurses in each of the acute care public hospitals who are of non-Singaporean nationality (other than Malaysians); whether such foreign nurses are trained to have some proficiency in either Chinese dialects, Malay or Tamil prior to deployment; and what is the attrition rate of Singaporean nurses from these public hospitals in the last 10 years.


24. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Acting Minister for Social and Family Development what are the manpower arrangements for the proposed Social Service Offices; and whether these Offices will be staffed by social-work trained officers and, if so, what is the proposed number.


25. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Acting Minister for Social and Family Development how is the scale of the increment for public assistance (PA), ranging from $50 per month for a 1-person household to $130 per month for a 4-person household, considered, tabulated and arrived at.
 
"Madam, unwed mothers face huge challenges raising their child on their own. I can only imagine how tough it must be, whenever I have to look after my kids on my own when my wife is away.

Unwed mothers have to single-handedly care for their child, take on the role of both mother and father, and hold down a job to pay the bills.

They also have to face the social stigma of being single and unmarried.

On top of all that, they are denied many of the parenthood benefits that married, divorced and widowed mothers receive. This could add to their feeling of marginalisation from society." - NCMP Gerald Giam



Speech on Child Development Co-Savings Bill – NCMP Gerald Giam
wp.sg
By Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam [Delivered in Parliament on 8 April 2013] Madam Speaker, This Bill seeks to amend the existing Child Development Co-Sa


 
"I am in general support of the rationale for the Bill. However, I wish to seek some clarifications on Clauses 17 and 18 which require designated buildings to provide emergency response plans and to have Company Emergency Response Teams. Specifically, I wish to ask what role SCDF will play to collaborate or partner with building managements to comply with the new requirements, and whether the burden being placed on fire safety managers under the new scheme is perhaps too onerous." - MP Sylvia Lim



Speech on Fire Safety (Amendment) Bill – MP Sylvia Lim
wp.sg
by MP for Aljunied GRC, Sylvia Lim [Delivered in Parliament on 8 April 2013] I am in general support of the rationale for the Bill. However, I


 

[h=5]Daniel PS Goh[/h]
Leaving Macau after an intense two-day workshop on tourist utopias. Presented on Marina Bay as a massive "liquid" urban form directing and creaming the financial, migration and tourist flows of globalization. The bay water (disciplined, dammed and deployed to hydrate guests and gardens, but still flowing) is the key physical metaphor.

The highlight of the trip was a grand dinner hosted by the chief execs of a major junket operator here. Got an inside peek into the industry, including a VIP room with jade walls at the MGM. Smiled when I saw a highroller eating luncheon meat fried egg instant noodles (chan dan min) when there were a lot of fine dining options.

Quite coincidental that I recently wrote the article on Singapore casinos for the Hammer. What I learned: junket industry is a "relationship" industry with razor-thin margins but high volume turnover and it is all Chinese money.

Another interesting thing I learned was the unintended consequences of Macau's policy of protecting local workers by requiring dealers to be local residents. Coupled with a poorly developed education system and tight local labour market, many locals are stuck in lower tier jobs while the higher tier jobs go to expats. Corporations don't have incentives to promote locals and locals don't have the opportunities to upgrade their skills.

Enjoyed the excellent Macanese Eurasian and Portuguese food. Stayed near the historic city square and had my favourite milk pudding. Preferred Macau island with smaller casinos surrounded by street life than the mega-mall casinos in Taipa island. At least we find local culture and life swirling around the high stakes world of bright lights.

Sculpture: Group #6 by Coke Wong, by the toilets at one wing of the MGM




 

[h=5]The Workers' Party[/h]Another Sunday, another Hammer Outreach. Thanks for all the supporters who bought the latest issue of Hammer, we have completely sold out this issue!


64154_644507892232464_492405588_n.jpg
 
[h=2]The Workers' Party Labour Day Message 2013

[/h]by The Workers' Party (Notes) on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12:02pm


Every year, Labour Day serves to remind us that the economic progress we have achieved as a nation would not have been possible without our workers’ immense contributions and sacrifices. Today, we pay a special tribute to our Singaporean workers, who are well-regarded around the world for their hard work, responsibility, knowledge and skills.


For over five decades, the Workers’ Party has given our workers a voice with which they can be empowered, protected and heard. We have pointed out that job creation and economic growth must benefit Singaporeans first. We have said that the creation of more value-added jobs which will pay our workers better should be a key outcome of a successful productivity and training effort. In Parliament, our MPs have pressed the Government to ensure that companies pay their workers fairly and adequately, prevent discrimination against Singaporeans in hiring and promotion decisions, promote better work-life balance, and better track the outcomes of training programmes to ensure that they benefit workers. We have also called on the Government to provide better employment and training opportunities for older workers, retirees and homemakers. We have emphasised the need for stronger social safety nets and to reduce the widening income inequality in Singapore.


The Workers’ Party has noted that in Budget 2013, the Government has responded more positively to our calls and the needs of Singaporean workers. It has put forward more measures to improve the standing of Singaporeans in the job market and to raise the incomes of lower-wage workers through further wage subsidies, industry upgrading and training programmes for workers. More must still be done to ease the burden of the rising cost of living and to increase the wages of our workers.


We urge businesses and employers to make full use of new measures announced in this year’s Budget to improve the efficiency of their business processes and upgrade the skills of their workers. This will enable them to move up the economic value chain, boost productivity and pay their workers more. We acknowledge the challenges small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face as our economy undergoes restructuring. We urge the Government, especially the Ministry of Manpower and economic agencies, to assist SMEs and workers through this difficult transition period.


The Workers’ Party will continue to speak up for Singaporeans and hold the Government accountable to the people in a rational, responsible and respectable manner. We are confident that the perseverance of Singaporean workers, together with the strong cooperation of the business community, will help our country to move towards a more equal and just society, and a more developed economy.


The Workers’ Party wishes all workers in Singapore a Happy Labour Day.




GERALD GIAM
CHAIR, MEDIA TEAM
THE WORKERS’ PARTY
 
[h=1]WP files adjournment motion on town councils review[/h]
[h=2]Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim has filed an adjournment motion on the town councils review. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan is expected to give a ministerial statement on the issue in Parliament next Monday.[/h]
SINGAPORE: Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim has filed an adjournment motion on the town councils review.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan is expected to give a ministerial statement on the issue in Parliament next Monday.


In a report last week, a National Development Ministry team called for a strategic review of town councils.

The team had been tasked to review the sale of software in 2010 by town councils to a PAP-owned company, Action Information Management (AIM).


While it gave the all-clear to the transaction, it also said it might be timely now for a review of the role that town councils play.

According to Ms Lim, filing such a motion will allow further discussion on the matter.


She said: "It would give us time to articulate what we think are critical aspects of the review of town councils, and in particular the transactions MND was looking at as well. This would not be conveniently facilitated under the ministerial statement procedure because they just allow MPs to make clarifications, so you can't really in that sense have time to explain the background, the context of the concerns."


Ms Lim said she believes there will be keen interest among MPs on the issue: "Certainly this is a matter of public interest, and it affects all elected MPs because we are all responsible for town council management."


- CNA/xq
 
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