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The Workers' Party

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[h=5]The Workers' Party shared Channel NewsAsia Singapore's video.[/h]11 hrs ·




Daniel Goh 吴佩松's speech on the Women's Charter (Amendment) Bill.


"we need to include boys and young male persons under Part XI, which protects women and girls from prostitution, sexual exploitation and trafficking."
Read his full speech here: http://www.wp.sg/womens-charter-amendment-bill-speech-by-d…/















-2:14

15,862 Views




Channel NewsAsia Singapore
February 29 at 3:48pm ·


“Allowing incapacitated ex-husbands to claim maintenance from their wives is a belated concession to the principle of gender equality”: Newly sworn-in NCMP [URL="https://www.facebook.com/danpsgoh/"]Daniel Goh 吴佩松, in his first speech in ‪#‎Parliament‬. He adds that there is a need to protect boys and young males from sexual exploitation and human trafficking. http://bit.Iy/1T3Mn05



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Women’s Charter (Amendment) Bill – Speech by Daniel Goh

(Delivered in Parliament on 29 February 2016)
Towards the Family Charter

Madam Speaker, this bill takes steps to adjust the 55-year old legislation to the changing social environment affecting family life. When enacted in 1961, the Women’s Charter was a momentous and courageous legislation that swam against the tide of opinions and the traditional values of society. I would like to remind the House that the traditional values of Asian society just 60 years ago was the patriarchal treatment of women and the widespread acceptance of polygamy. The preservation of the so-called traditional family was not the original intent of the Charter. On the contrary, the Women’s Charter instituted the modern moral view of the family as a cooperative partnership between husband and wife who have equal rights as independent individuals and have equal responsibilities in caring and providing for the children.

It is a waste that the present and recent amendments are cautious reactions to rising divorce rates. These were opportunities to replicate the visionary spirit of the framers of the original Charter in using the law to shape society for the empowerment of its members. The main changes proposed by the present Bill attempt to deal with two sets of problems besetting the modern family following the principles of the original Charter. The first set concerns the better protection of the wellbeing and interests of children and follows the principle of parental responsibility. The Bill gives the courts powers to order divorcing parents to attend the Mandatory Parenting Programme, the MPP, and restates who can apply for a protection order in situations of family violence. The second set follows the principle of gender equality and makes incapacitated ex-husbands eligible for receiving maintenance from their ex-wives. The proposed changes, each on its own and on the whole, do not go far enough to plug the widening cracks and empower the modern family in increasingly trying times.

Parental Responsibility: Protecting Children
On the matter of parental responsibility and better protection of children, I would like to make four points.

Treat Children as Stakeholders
My first point is on the MPP. My worry is that divorcing parents would go through the motion of attending the MPP. To be effective, the MPP should be tailored to parenting in divorced situations targeting both custodial and non-custodial parents. It should be integrated with mandatory mediation and counselling of divorcing parents at the Child Focused Resolution Centre and should stretch across the pre-divorce and post-divorce periods.

Furthermore, the MPP and the counselling should try to involve the children as much as possible. Children should not be treated simply as passive victims whose problems could be solved by positive parenting. Article 12 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child states that we should “assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child” and that the views be “given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”. In divorcing situations, children could be and should be active stakeholders whose participation in the process could help to protect their interests and help them achieve some emotional closure.

Set Up the Commissioner for Maintenance of Families
The second point I would like to raise is that while parental courses, mediation and counselling are good soft solutions persuading couples to go through amicable divorce in the interest of their children, they do not solve the hard problem of ex-husbands defaulting on maintenance support. The 2011 amendments to the Charter giving the courts powers to impose financial counselling, community service, attachment of earnings and credit bureau recovery have only managed to cause a dent in the problem. It has been reported that the number of applications for enforcement orders on maintenance had only dropped from 1900 in 2009 to 1700 in 2013. This means thousands of children remain at serious financial risk.

Repeated stalling and refusal to pay maintenance could be the continuation of abusive relationships, specifically economic abuse to deprive other members of the family the sustenance to maintain a decent standard of living. The Charter continues to fail to recognise this as a form of family violence. Even if we allow that most ex-husbands who default on maintenance simply failed to put responsibility to their children as priority in their economic affairs, this goes against the Charter’s core principle of equal parental responsibility. Whatever it is, the children suffer and may grow resentful of their parents.

The principle of equal parental responsibility requires the law to make sure that the cost of recovery of maintenance does not reach unreasonable levels and is not laid on the single parent with custody of the children. There have been cases of mothers who have to drag their children to visit the courts many times to get their maintenance, as they cannot afford legal representation. Many families end up in economic hardship because social service organisations are unable to help as long as the maintenance order is there to be enforced. The problem is precisely enforcement.

This is not a new proposal, as women’s organisations have proposed it previously. The government can help vulnerable divorcee families to protect the interest of the children by setting up a central agency with strong enforcement powers to recover maintenance on behalf of families. These powers could include intensive debt collection, investigative surveillance, litigation, and overseas travel bans, as in the Australian example. A central agency, let’s call it the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Families, could also serve another purpose, which is to provide support to divorcee families dependent on maintenance so that they would not fall into the poverty trap while waiting for the recovery of owed maintenance. The Commissioner for the Maintenance of Families could provide means-tested advance support capped at a quantum to meet basic needs while the owed maintenance is being recovered.

Help Single Unwed Mothers Obtain Child Support
My third point concerns maintenance for single unwed parents. The Charter could also give the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Families powers to take a proactive approach in helping single unwed parents, especially the mothers, to claim child maintenance from the biological father. This is in line with the principle of parental responsibility, as the onus for raising children out of wedlock should not fall on the women while men easily avoid taking responsibility. It is also important for the protection of the children since they are the ones who suffer most and should not be punished for the mistakes of their parents. Many single unwed mothers, because of their socio-economic background or due to the difficult situation of stigmatisation and isolation they are caught in, are not aware that they could apply for child maintenance from the fathers.

If the worry is that helping single unwed parents will cause the moral hazard of promoting more children born out of wedlock, then the government should know that studies have shown that enforcing child support for single unwed mothers, when coupled with widespread education and publicity, can reduce the rate of non-marital pregnancies. Enforcing men’s parental responsibility has the knock on effect on making men responsible in their overall behaviour towards women.

Empowering Authorised Persons and Police to Apply for Protection Orders
My fourth point concerns the tackling of family violence. Is there any evidence that the “Many Helping Hands” approach has helped to reduce family violence? It seems that spousal violence, which makes up the majority of family violence cases, is taking place earlier in the first 5 years of marriage rather than in the seventh to tenth year of marriage. Family violence remains a pernicious problem. The government’s approach is to strengthen the touch-points that help identify family violence so that early intervention through counselling can be achieved. It is said that the legal route is not the best solution, so the courts and applications for the Personal Protection Order (PPO) should be the last resort. Notwithstanding this, access to the legal route is an important insurance to give victims a strong sense of security as well as provide an assured deterrence against repeated abuse. This bill merely restates the persons who can apply for PPOs, which remains severely limited to the very victims of violence or the persons responsible for the victims if they are below the age of 21 years. However, women and mothers responsible for children being abused are often trapped in precarious positions of recurring violence. They often experience helplessness and cannot act to protect themselves and their families.

We need to expand the range of persons empowered to apply for PPOs. Family members, relatives, and friends who are explicitly authorised by victims are in a good position to know when violence takes place and should be empowered to apply for PPOs. Doctors are also an important touch-point. Right now, the onus is on victims to tell doctors about abuse and request a report for possible PPO application. By the time the violence results in physical injury, it is at the critical stage.

Doctors should be empowered to report cases to the police and draw up medical reports without request. In many jurisdictions, mandatory reporting by doctors to law enforcement has helped to mitigate family violence. Other than the victims of abuse, children witnessing family violence are the worst affected. Most of them would try to intervene and a survey shows 10% called the police. We need to protect the children and tweak the “Many Helping Hands” approach to allow children to become a trip-wire for early intervention. Last and definitely not least, like in many jurisdictions, the police, to whom social workers, doctors, victims and children of victims turn to as the trusted investigative and enforcement agency, should be empowered to apply for protection orders.

Gender Equality: Safeguarding Families
Allowing incapacitated ex-husbands to claim maintenance from their wives is a belated concession to the principle of gender equality. The call to allow ex-husbands to apply for maintenance was first raised in 1996. The government rejected it on grounds of tradition, that it is the duty of husband to maintain the wife. The same call was rejected six years ago on account that society is not ready for gender equality when it comes to maintenance. This is a double irony since the Women’s Charter was enacted regardless of whether traditional polygamous society was ready for the modern nuclear family. Gender equality was enshrined in the Charter despite tradition or the readiness of society.

Gender equality in 1961 meant giving women equal rights in marriage. Thus, the division of matrimonial assets must be made in “just and equitable” proportions giving due credit to non-financial contributions to marriage. Realising this principle of gender equality today means doing two things. Men should be given full rights to being eligible for maintenance. We should allow the courts to make gender-neutral decisions regarding asset division and maintenance based on discernments of financial and non-financial contribution to the matrimonial household and potential earning power. Second, the law should factor in opportunity cost in lost earnings due to being a homemaker in the determination of maintenance, especially given that men and women have full access to the labour market.

In the same spirit of gender equality, but also because this is the hard reality today, we need to include boys and young male persons under Part XI, which protects women and girls from prostitution, sexual exploitation and trafficking. This Part is even more out-dated than the Women’s Charter as it reflects the old colonial Women and Girls’ Protection Ordinance. The world in the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] Century has changed, and as scandals regarding the sexual grooming and sexual trafficking of boys indicate, we need to update this Part urgently. In fact, Part XI is an anomaly and its inclusion in the Charter conflates prostitution and sexual exploitation with the family. I believe this Part is best taken out and its provisions integrated with the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act and the Penal Code.

Consolidate for the Family Charter
Once Part XI is removed, and the principles of parental responsibility and gender equality re-affirmed, future revisions of the Women’s Charter provides us with the opportunity to do something progressive and leading the times, shaping society for the better like what the Charter did in 1961. There have been calls for the Women’s Charter and all other legislations dealing with the family, including the Children and Young Persons Act, to be combined into a landmark piece called The Family Charter. I support this proposal. This is not just for the rationalisation of the law, but it will serve two important purposes.

First, this government has reiterated that its ideology and policy is to protect, preserve and promote the modern nuclear family as the bedrock of our society. We should continue to do so. Nowhere else in the law is the modern family so well and morally defined as in the Women’s Charter, as equal cooperative partnership with independent rights and parental responsibility, which has paved the way for families to thrive for 50 years now. It is time to rename the Charter to enshrine even more visibly the ideology of safeguarding families.

Second, the renaming does not just give symbolic effect to the moral view of the family, the Family Charter will form the basis with which we institutionalise the family further in the era of ageing, globalisation and consumption culture where the norm of non-marital unions and mixed family forms become increasingly prevalent. It will be the basis for positive legislation to empower children, men and women to lead healthy family lives if they so desire. It will signal to society that families are here to stay and that the government is committed to protecting the vulnerable, especially when it comes to our children, to ensure they do not suffer our failures.

Conclusion
Madam Speaker, we like to tell our children to emulate the bold and progressive spirit of our pioneer political leaders. The Women’s Charter is a testament to that spirit, but it is in need of a bold revision that would do justice to its core principles of gender equality and parental responsibility. The measures in this Bill try to do this, which is reason for me to support it, but they do not go far enough.

There is no reason not to be bold. Treat children as stakeholders in the divorcing process, set up a central agency to help single-parent families collect maintenance, help single unwed mothers obtain child support to reduce poverty and wedlock pregnancies, tackle family violence by empowering the police and persons who can help the victims to apply for protection orders, allow all ex-husbands to apply for maintenance and let the courts decide on gender-neutral grounds, and consolidate the legislation as the Family Charter to establish a firm foundation for families to thrive into the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] Century.

The year 2021 will mark the 60[SUP]th[/SUP] year of the enactment of the Charter. A bold revision will revive and honour the core principles of the Charter. This Bill paves the way for the revision. All that is needed now is the courageous spirit.

http://www.wp.sg/womens-charter-amendment-bill-speech-by-daniel-goh/
 
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[h=5]Chen Show Mao[/h]16 hrs ·


The integrity of small things. Weights and measures may concern very fine distinctions -- but they affect our everyday lives as consumers and we place our trust in their integrity, which we often take for granted. I believe in the importance of small things. Following recent publicity, I asked what the government does to ensure that supermarkets and grocery shops maintain accurately calibrated weighing machines. My parliamentary questions for this week's sitting were not reached by the end of question time and I received a written answer as a result. The answer indicates that here, as in some other areas, the government conducts inspections of weighing machines with the help of outsourced enforcement services. I would have liked to learn in this context what steps the government takes to supervise and check on the work of its contractors in the public interest.

 
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[h=5]The Workers' Party shared Daniel Goh 吴佩松's post.[/h]7 hrs ·



"To ask the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) whether school counsellors are or should be required to conduct psychological assessments of suicide risks of students being investigated by the police and whether school counsellors should be required to be present when students are being interviewed by the police on school premises." Daniel Goh 吴佩松




Daniel Goh 吴佩松8 hrs ·



The Ministerial Statements on the suicide of Benjamin Lim, delivered in Parliament on 2nd March, answered many of the parliamentary questions that were put to the Ministers for Home Affairs and Education by PAP MPs and my WP colleague, Dennis Tan.


I asked a question during the clarification time after the statements, which Acting Minister Ng Chee Meng could not answer on the spot, and he asked that I file it as a parliamentary question. Thus I did, for oral answer, for the 14th March sitting:


To ask the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) whether school counsellors are or should be required to conduct psychological assessments of suicide risks of students being investigated by the police and whether school counsellors should be required to be present when students are being interviewed by the police on school premises.




 
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The Workers' Party

1 hr ·


Leon Perera, on the possibilities of solar power generation.
Read his Adjournment Motion here: http://www.wp.sg/adjournment-motion-on-growing-new-industr…/





[h=1]Adjournment Motion on ‘Growing New Industries that Promise Economic and Non-Economic Benefits’ – Speech by Leon Perera[/h]
(Delivered in Parliament on 1 March 2016)


Madam Speaker, as a nation, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to think long-term, and our willingness to defy conventional wisdom about our limitations.


Water is a prime example. In the 1990s, few thought we could make progress towards self-sufficiency in water supply. Two decades on, Singapore has made progress towards this goal and in the process also built up an economically relevant water-related technology sector.


We can turn necessity into opportunity. We can do what is needed for security, and turn it into exportable know-how.


Singapore faces two other limitations which can likewise be turned into opportunities – food and energy, both of which are largely imported.


Underground Indoor Farming
First, I shall speak on indoor farming, which is a growing form of urban farming where crops are grown in a highly controlled environment, protected from the elements. In indoor farming, environmental factors such as the exposure to light, water, humidity, and the temperature are carefully calibrated to create an optimal environment for crops to grow.


In 2013, Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific opened a major indoor vegetable farm in Singapore in one of its factory buildings which illustrates these techniques. Panasonic started with 10 types of vegetables in its 248m[SUP]2[/SUP] facility. By March 2017, Panasonic aims to increase the number of crop varieties to 30 and supply 5% of local vegetable production, up from the 0.015% in July 2014. This is not an insignificant target given that all local farms currently produce only 8% of all the vegetables consumed in Singapore. While Panasonic’s crops are currently grown in a soil-based environment as opposed to soilless methods that have been gaining popularity, the company is looking into R&D to boost yield, including vertical farming which utilizes vertically stacked racks for space optimization.
Vertical indoor farming is not completely new in Singapore. In fact, the government has collaborated with local company Sky Greens to develop a low carbon footprint vertical farming system. Sky Greens began its commercial operations in 2012 and was able to produce 800kg of vegetables daily in 2015. Madam Speaker, with more investment in R&D, there is every reason to believe that the current price difference between indoor farmed produce and conventionally farmed produce will fall over time.


We are still some distance away from the scale of production seen in other countries where more land is readily available – the world’s largest indoor farm in Japan spans 25,000 square feet and produces 7.7 million heads of lettuce a year. However the government has acknowledged the potential of the sector. To this end, the government announced the launch of a $63 million Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF) in end-2014 that replaced the Food Fund Scheme.


However, according to the Ministry for National Development, only $0.69 million of the $63 million has been disbursed in the year since the launch of the APF. According to a government statement in October 2015, this $0.69 million (or less) had been shared among 20 local farms owned by 17 companies. It is unclear how much of the Fund was disbursed to local enterprises.


I believe that there is much more that can be done to encourage local firms to excel in this field. We should recall that it is a high-tech, knowledge-intensive activity that requires the integration of many different types of expertise. Singapore as a developed country with limited land and high population density, offers a good test bed. If economic development agencies adopted a proactive approach of grooming local SMEs to develop leading-edge technology and know-how in indoor farming, Singapore could be producing an even higher share of our consumption needs.


The Workers’ Party would also like to propose that the government go beyond what is currently being done in urban farming, and develop some of our underground space into large-scale indoor vertical farms.


It was reported in 2013 that the government was exploring various uses of underground space. The then Minister for National Development Mr Khaw Boon Wan suggested that “we can try to push the boundary of usage [of underground spaces] – to experiment, to learn and to evolve practical innovative solutions – so as to prepare for the future.” We believe that large-scale indoor vertical farming should be given due consideration for the use of our underground space in Singapore.


The world’s first underground farm opened in mid-2015 in the heart of London, in a WWII air raid shelter 33m under the ground. In London where space comes at a premium, an enterprising firm has found an innovative and sustainable way to grow crops and deliver them to restaurants in under four hours.
The benefits of underground vertical farming are :-



  1. Food security. Underground indoor farming promises to protect our food supply from catastrophic events, security threats, crop disease and so on. As for affordability, new technologies have enabled higher crop yields for indoor farming. Sky Greens has been able to produce at least 10 times more yield per unit of land area versus conventional methods and the world’s biggest indoor farm in Japan has claimed to be 100 times more productive than traditional farms.
  2. The amount of water used in indoor vertical farming has been found to be substantially lower due to the layout of the racks and the implementation of water recycling features built into the system. The underground farm in London uses 70% less water than traditional farming. Indoor farming also reduces shrinkage during transportation. The much-shorter journey from the farm to the marketplace also means that the crops remain fresh for longer periods after they reach our shelves.
  3. Developing Expertise and IP. Singapore is well-positioned to become a global leader in the field of underground urban agriculture. Our local enterprises can be nurtured to not only operate indoor farms effectively but also to cultivate expertise in installation, implementation, and management of similar facilities in high-density urban environments.
With more investment and governmental promotion efforts, we can develop a sizeable indoor vertical farming sector, not to completely replace imported food – that is not practicable in the short-term – but to mitigate our dependence on imported food and harness economic benefits from a new exportable sector.


Solar Power Generation
Next I would like to speak of another such sector – renewable energy and in particular solar power generation.


Solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is the most relevant renewable energy technology for Singapore, given our equatorial location and lack of feasibility for other renewable energy sources, such as biomass, wind, tidal, hydro-electric or geothermal.


Countries are finding that shifting towards renewable energy enhances energy security and economic stability in the face of volatile global oil prices. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of technologies such as solar PV technology are continuing to improve rapidly. The cost of solar panels has come down by a factor of five in the past six years and is expected to halve in the next 20 years. The solar power sector has grown by over 10% a year for the better part of a decade and is now worth over $3 trillion.


Domestically, solar power would help to build up industrial capacity and create good jobs within the entire supply chain, from maintenance to operations and research and development. In particular, there is an opportunity for Singapore to develop leadership in the deployment of solar power generation in dense urban environments. This know-how could be exported by our SMEs.


As early as 2007, ‘cleantech’ was identified as a key economic growth area by the government, which led to EDB’s Clean Energy Initiative. In recent years, EMA has also introduced a number of enhancements to the regulatory framework governing the interaction of intermittent renewable sources with Singapore’s electricity grid.


However, spending on solar power is dwarfed by current public spending on fossil-fuels. It is no doubt necessary to invest in and upgrade our infrastructure for oil and natural gas in the short-to-medium term. However there is room to invest more on solar energy in several ways.


Firstly, more can be done to exhaust opportunities for rooftop solar panel deployment. In this regard we are fortunate that most housing in Singapore is public housing, which facilitates this goal. In October 2014, HDB began awarding the zero-dollar solar leasing tender, meaning that the full cost of solar PV systems are borne by the PV developers. In June 2015, HDB called the first consolidated tender under the SolarNova programme for 220MWp (which is a small fraction of the estimated 6GWp of solar capacity available) of solar panels at some 5,500 HDB blocks. We can be more aggressive here. Our goal should be to put solar panels on every HDB building roof by 2030.


Secondly, more should be done to study and exploit opportunities in unorthodox solar panel deployment, such as on water bodies. The PUB has been looking into building solar panels on the Tengeh reservoir and Choa Chu Kang waterworks. One that is being built in the UK is reported to cost about 3.5 million pounds (about S$7 mil) and will generate around 3 MW. The UK deployment covers an area about half the size of Bedok reservoir, which is one of our smaller reservoirs. Solar panel deployments across all our reservoirs, and also some available parts of our territorial waters outside of established sea lanes, could contribute significantly to energy production. Japan has floating solar panels in Hyogo prefecture and is now working on building the world’s biggest floating solar farm in Chiba prefecture by 2018.


Madam Speaker, these measures by themselves will not enable us to replace fossil fuels in the for-seeable future. But they will tilt the balance towards greater energy security, lower carbon footprint and exportable economic opportunities for Singapore-based firms, in the same way that Singapore firms have cultivated expertise in urban master-planning and industrial park design and management.


Above all, there is a need for us to examine the facts and then set a stretch target for what percentage of energy consumption should be achieved by solar by say 2030.


According to a recent paper by the Clean Energy Committee of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore[1] a conservative projection suggests that the capacity available for solar generation in Singapore is actually 17% of electricity demand in 2025, far above the expected 7% that would be achieved by 2025 without government intervention. A recent study by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) suggested that solar PV could contribute as much as 20% to the overall electricity mix by 2050 but that figure could be pushed to 30% under an accelerated scenario[2]. We suggest that a study be undertaken to assess what can be a feasible target for solar power as a share of total electricity generation by 2030, under both conservative and stretch scenarios, so that Parliament can debate how much should be invested, where and towards what goals in developing solar power generation in Singapore.
In short, we suggest a more aggressive approach to better exploit rooftop and water-borne opportunities for solar power generation, together with investments in R&D in areas such as electricity storage.


Madam Speaker, in conclusion, we hope that these suggestions will lead to more fact-finding on the part of the relevant government agencies, working with academia and the private sector, so as to develop these two sectors as engines for economic and non-economic benefits for Singapore.


We are at our best when apply ourselves to overcoming our natural limitations.

[1] A case for sustainability: Accelerating the adoption of Renewable Energy in Singapore. (2014). White Paper by the Clean Energy Committee of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore.


[2] Singapore Economic Development Board and Energy Market Authority, Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Roadmap for Singapore (A Summary) (Singapore: Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, 2013).
 
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[h=5][URL="https://www.facebook.com/ChenShowMao/?fref=nf"]Chen Show Mao[/h]
Apprentice. The mastery of small things is a big plank in the government's plans for Singapore's economic future. Raising the pay of Singaporean workers would in the long run have to depend on increasing our productivity. If we hope to drive productivity growth through the deepening of skills, it would need to be sustained over most of our working lives (since we hope to stay employed, and at higher wages!) Small and medium enterprises (SME's) employ 70% of Singaporean workers, and need help with the incentives and the means to invest in growing the human capital of their employees for the long term, given limited company resources and expected employee turnover. Can our government policy help replicate the successful collaboration between firms and schools, as well as among firms, to develop skills for entire industries, as the Swiss and Germans have fostered over centuries through their system of guilds and apprenticeships? In this light, I asked what the take-up rates are of the schemes aimed at encouraging SMEs to hire fresh graduates and interns, such as the SME Talent Program and the Skillsfuture Earn and Learn Program. My parliamentary questions for this week's sitting were not reached by the end of question time and I received a written answer as a result. The answer indicates that in 2015, 192 SME's participated in the former program and approximately 30 participated in the latter, which was started in April 2015. Happily, the government expects SME participation in the programs to grow, which would be our hope as well. Given the room for improvement, will the government consider creating and publicisiing a web portal for all such SME apprenticeship and hiring schemes (regardless of which agency administers them) where interested SMEs can post openings for the schemes and corporate information for potential applicants to review, ask questions and indicate interest online? Not so much for matchmaking, which should really be supervised and can pick up from here, but more for easy sharing of information to promote first looks and dates. ‪#‎SME‬ ‪#‎workers‬ ‪#‎buildtomorrowsg‬









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[h=5][URL="https://www.facebook.com/dennistanlipfong/?fref=nf"]Dennis Tan Lip Fong 陈立峰[/h]THE PAST WEEK IN PARLIAMENT - 29 FEB-1 MARCH 2016

The past week in Parliament I had filed questions for both the Minister for Home Affairs and for the Acting Minister of Education (Schools) on issues relating to protocols for minors who are subject to police interview or investigation and the Ministers had responded by way of ministerial statements last Monday. Some information relating to the Benjamin Lim case was disclosed in the course of the ministerial statements but I look forward to the outcome of the Coroner’s enquiry/investigation and the outcome of the reviews of the protocols for the treatment of minors during police interview and investigation.


I also spoke on the CPF Amendment Bill in Mandarin. I reproduce my Chinese speech below as well as an English translation. In short, I welcomed various changes which brought greater flexibility for CPF members and also asked for clarifications on certain aspects of the bill.


While I welcomed the enhanced insurance coverage to the Home Protection Scheme (HPS) and the increased scenarios which may entitle insured members to make a claim under the scheme, I felt that the increased scenarios are still quite limited. I also asked the minister to consider how to help those who do not qualify for the HPS coverage because of existing illnesses. The minister said that the HPS scheme was not compulsory. I had it checked again and still do not think that is the case.
My Chinese speech translated to English :


Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the proposed amendments to the bill in respect of the Home Protection Scheme (HPS). The HPS is a mortgage-reducing insurance that protects members and their families against losing their homes in the event of death or permanent incapacity before their housing loans are paid up. It is compulsory for any HDB home owner who is using his or her CPF savings to pay the monthly housing loan instalments for his or her HDB flat. The Scheme does not cover private residential properties, executive condominiums (ECs) or privatised Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) flats. Buyers can only opt out of the Scheme if they have taken a similar mortgage-reducing insurance policy.


The Bill seeks to enhance insurance coverage under the HPS. Under the proposed amendments, a CPF member who is insured under the Scheme will now be allowed to make a claim under the Scheme for terminal illness and total permanent disability, even though the member is not incapacitated from ever continuing in any employment. If this is a substantial change, it will represent a departure from the existing ruling under the current Act and it will be a welcomed change as it may provide more flexibility for members who are caught in different situations. I note that the same change is also effected in the same bill for the Dependents’ Protection Insurance Scheme.


However, it seems to me from a plain reading of the amendment bill that the only situations where a member can make a claim under the Scheme for terminal illness and total permanent disability, even though the member is not incapacitated from ever continuing in any employment are if (1) the member is suffering from terminal illness and is said by a registered medical practitioner to be expected to result in death within 12 months or (2) the member has suffered total or permanent disability of less than two eyes, two limbs or one eye and one limb. The scenarios seem rather limited. May the minister please clarify whether this is what the Bill intended? Does the Bill provide for any other situation and where is this provided in the Bill?


If the Bill does not provide clearly for any other scenario, I am concerned that the Act may not be clear enough about the circumstances that may apply to the new situation where a CPF member who is insured under the Scheme will now be allowed to make a claim under the Scheme for terminal illness and total permanent disability, even though the member is not incapacitated from ever continuing in any employment. I seek the Minister’s assurance that the CPF Board will provide clear communication to CPF members for the circumstances which may apply under this proposed amendment.


The Bill also seeks to allow a non-spouse member who is a co-owner of a property to pay the premium for the HPS Scheme of the other co-owner. I welcome this change as this recognises the possibility as well as perhaps the increasing occurrence of the situation where co-owners may not be spouses. For example in the case of a flat which is owned by a man and his mother. The change will address the current anomaly in the present Act.


Mr Deputy Speaker, I refer to the amendment in clause 28(h) of the Bill whereby the Board has the right not to pay under the Scheme where a member was suffering from an illness when he joins the Scheme. May the minister clarify what would be these circumstances where the board may permit a member to join the Scheme even though the Board may be aware of the member suffering from an illness at the time of joining the Scheme?


Mr Deputy Speaker, I understand that under the current Act, people with certain pre-existing illnesses are not covered by the Act. Can the minister please confirm whether such members will still not be covered by the Scheme after the amendment? Will the minister consider allowing special form of coverage under the Scheme perhaps on a case by case basis and even on a different premium?


The Bill also provides for regulations to be made to prescribe the circumstances where the CPF Board may issue or reinstate an insurance cover or pay claims where the Board is not liable to do so under sections 36(9) or (10). May the minister please clarify the intention behind this proposed inclusion?


I also support the amendments which allows the transfer of moneys from the member’s retirement account to another member’s account for the purchase of a HDB flat.


The amendments also allow CPF members to top up their spouse’s Retirement or Special Account using money from their Retirement Account. This flexibility will benefit both the Member and his/her spouse.


I support the amendments.


Thank you.


My original Mandarin speech
副议长先生


我支持这个家居保障计划 (HPS) 修正案。 这个家居保障计划是保障公积金成员及其家属，不会因为一旦以住家作为抵押的贷款者死亡或永久性丧失工作能力时，因为没有购买贷款余额递减保险，无法继续支 付每月的分期付款而失去家园。这是个强制性的措施，适用在使用公积金储蓄来支付组屋贷款，每月必须支付分期付款的业主。不过，这个计划并不包括私人住宅， 共管公寓 (ECs) 或私有化HUDC 公寓的业主。


这个修正法案旨在加强家居保障计划的保险范围。根据提议的修订， 在该计划下投保的公积金会员， 一旦身罹绝症或永久完全伤残，即使该成员并非完全丧失能力，甚至永远不能持续从事任何职业，仍然可以在这个保险计划下索赔。这是一个重大的改变， 意味着当公积金会员遭遇到不同的情况时，修正后的法案将提供更大的索赔的灵活性，这是一个受人欢迎的改变。我也注意到这改变也同时对家眷保障保险计划 （DPS）有同样的影响。


依我的了解，根据这修正法案，公积金会员一旦身罹绝症和永久完全伤残，即使并非完全丧失能力至永远不能持续从事任何职业，即可根据以下的特别情况索赔。第 一， 公积金会员患上绝症，依据注册执业医生预期会在 12 个月内死亡。 第二， 公积金会员的两只眼睛，其中两个四肢或一只眼睛和一个肢体遭受完全或永久性残疾。不过，这类例子似乎相当罕见。请部长澄清这是否是这个修正法案的原意? 而这个法案又有否还有考虑任何其他的严重伤残情况？


如果这个修正法案没有明文规定可以适用于任何其他情况，我担心新的修正法案在实施时，公积金会员一旦身罹绝症和永久完全伤残，但并非完全丧失能力至永远不能持续从事任何职业，但由于法案中没有明确阐明，公积金会员因而可能不知道可以根据这个新的修正计划索赔。


我希望部长能保证公积金局会提供明确的说明，让人们明白这项修正后的法案可以应用在何种情况之下 。


这法案亦探讨容许共同拥有产业的业主，即使他们的关系不是配偶，也可以替对方支付家居保障计划的保费。我欢迎这个改变，因为有一些拥有共同产业的业主未必是配偶的关系。例如一间組屋的共同业主可能是儿子和母亲 。这项修正解决了法案中原本的一些缺陷。


副议长先生，修订法案第 28(h) 的条款允许如果公积金会员在加入这项保险计划时已经患有某种疾病，公积金局有权拒绝支付保险金。请部长澄清在何种情况下，公积金局会允许已患有疾病的公积金会员加入这项保险计划？


副议长先生，依据现行法案，患有某些疾病的人不能在法案下受保。 请部长确定这些人是否还是一样被排除在这项修正后的保险计划之外? 公积金局是否可考虑把这些人纳入这个保险计划之内，根据个别的案例，允许特殊形式的保险计划，或者收取不同的保险费？


法案也规定在特定的情况下，即使公积金局依第36(9) 或 (10) 节的条款无需承担保险的责任，公积金局仍然可以恢复保险的有效性或支付索赔。请部长澄清有关条文的用意。


我也支持修正案中允许会员从自己的退休户头将款项转入另一个成员的户头以作为购买建屋发展局组屋的用途。


修正案也允许公积金成员应用自己退休户头的款项填补配偶的退休户头或特别头户。这种灵活性让公积金成员和他们的配偶都受益。


我支持这些修正条文。


谢谢

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dennis-tan-ncmp.jpg


Workers’ Party’s first-time NCMP Dennis Tan is an overachieving underdog

March 5, 2016
It is true because that's a funny description.
Belmont Lay



98





Triathlete. Ex-Rafflesian. Lawyer. Overachiever. And underdog.

And now, one of the three new Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP) and a potential future leader of the Workers’ Party.

Dennis Tan, also known as one of the hardest working men in the opposition camp having covered every block and house in the single-member constituency of Fengshan on foot, is just getting started after walking it two times.

Tan made his debut in the 2015 General Election in Fengshan SMC, but lost to the People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate Cheryl Chan.

His relatively good showing at the polls saw him win 42.48 per cent of the votes in a Lee Kuan Yew-SG50-dominated election year.

And whoever told you politics is a journey? They lied. Politics is a gruelling, soul-sapping fight with no finish in sight.

Married but with no kids (yet), the 45-year-old was seen walking the ground around the Jalan Pari Dedap private estate near Simpang Bedok area on a Saturday evening on Feb. 20, away from the glare of the media spotlight.

The only reason I knew he was there, was because I chanced upon him two weeks after speaking to him.

This understated hardworking ethos has been a defining feature of The Workers’ Party (WP), a.k.a. Singapore’s de facto opposition party, as they have been up and running barely a month after GE2015 was over in September, even as other parties are still licking their wounds and picking their jaws from off the floor.

Besides starting walkabouts again, training new volunteers, holding a youth wing election and co-opting three new faces into its top decision-making body, the party has gone back to doing the so-called “hard and unglamorous” grassroots work.

And it’s not as if he cannot deal.

All along perceived to be overqualified for the opposition camp, Tan once made a joke about the similarities between his previous all-white RI uniform and the perennial PAP colour:

“Some people asked me why… I did not join the PAP. I often jokingly said that I decided to stop wearing my school uniform when I left Raffles.”
​
Ladies and gentlemen, first-time NCMP Dennis Tan.

1. Readers probably already know about Daniel Goh and Leon Perera. But who is Dennis Tan? What should readers know about you?

“I didn’t start out in politics in a deliberate way. I actually started out because I was asked to help Yee Jenn Jong in GE2011. A mutual friend was helping out and I lived in the then Joo Chiat SMC, so I support the Workers’ Party, and I decided, why not? I got more involved.

At this stage now, I’m expected to shoulder the responsibility as part of the party leadership.

I’m an NCMP, so technically I don’t have a constituency, strictly speaking, (laughs) but I have been working the ground in Fengshan from the end of the election.
I continue to reach out and try to get to meet, know as many residents as possible, try to find out if we can be any help, how Workers’ Party can be of relevance and of assistance to them. So that’s what I’ve been doing, even before my Parliament term started.

After the parliament term started, of course, I think the focus is to raise issues in Parliament, to debate national issues and policies.”

dennis-tan-walkabout.jpg
Source: Dennis Tan Facebook 2. Your maiden parliament speech talked about strengthening institutions. One of the things you urged the government to do was for the Civil Service to continue to be neutral. Do you have any ideas, in terms of strengthening those institutions?

“As I mentioned in my speech, I think our civil service is much respected for running the country.

I highlighted that the institutions need to be strengthened, such that regardless of who is in power in 50 years’ time, or before, the civil service must be ready to continue to contribute to the country.

The heads of the civil service will continue to run the country, regardless of which party is in power.”

3. How long did you take to prepare your maiden speech?

“The writing took a couple of hours, but I spent a lot of time thinking about what areas to talk about.

You can see the spread of topics amongst all the MPs, PAP MPs included. You can pick a theme and you can talk about it with a lot of anecdotal examples. Some of the PAP MPs also talked about their own personal experiences, so certainly picking the theme (took time).

As a lawyer, I decided to talk about certain legal issues for a start.”

4. How was your experience during the first week of Parliament? And before that the swearing-in of the parliamentarians, how do you feel? You mentioned that you brought your wife and mum.

“You read the news. (Laughs) Yeah, I brought my mum and wife. It was a very solemn occasion, quite awe-inspiring. I don’t know whether you can call it a state function, but it was effectively a solemn occasion of the state and I fully respect that.

On that day itself, I also felt the responsibility on me, being one of the two NCMPs there and one of the few WP MPs.

At that time we only had eight MPs including the NCMPs, less than 10 percent of the Parliament, so I felt that sense of responsibility on my shoulders. I expected that people would be have expectations of me and the rest of the Workers’ Party MPs.”

dennis-tan-swearing-in-wp.jpg

Source: Dennis Tan Facebook

5. Whose seat did you take?
“If I remember correctly, it was Lina Chiam’s seat — Lina was sitting in between Gerald (Giam) and JJ (Yee Jenn Jeong, ex-NCMP)
I enjoyed the day — and I hope my wife and my mum enjoyed the day too (laughs).”

6. Did your mom feel stressed for you?
“I think she does, but she won’t say that to me (laughs). She wouldn’t want to add to my pressure.

Jokes aside, she was quietly excited about the day and dressed solemnly for the occasion. We got there early, just in case, as she has mobility issues. I sought help from the Parliament staff to make arrangements for her to be picked up and seated in a convenient location to minimise the walking, and the staff has been very helpful.”

7. Given what happened in GE2015, do you think that there are higher expectations for the Workers’ Party to be more vocal and more expressive in Parliament?

“To say the least, I think the expectation is not less, if not more. Definitely not less, probably more expect us to speak up, expect us to be more vocal.”

8. From 2011 to 2015, there was an increase of one WP NCMP. Does WP MPs coordinate on topics they are focusing on, or does the party leadership leave it to the MPs to decide on the topics?

“At this moment, there is no such arrangement. We are expected to cover all important issues that affect all Singaporeans.

Like the last term, some MPs may have definitely have some preference. Yee Jenn Jong, for example liked to talk about education and business issues; Gerald liked to talk about healthcare and transport issues — as time goes on in the next couple of months I think I expect some of us may have developed certain preferences. Having said that, we are expected to cover all the issues because there’s so few of us and we don’t really have a choice.”

9. When you go for your walkabouts, do you actually hear the differences in what residents tell you before and after the GE? Do they still have similar concerns? Or do some not look you in the eye anymore?

“Actually, post-GE house visits — I continued in October after taking three to four weeks’ break.

And even then, people were still talking about the election. I took the opportunity at that time to ask people what did they think about the election, what could we do better.”

dennis-tan-walkabout-02.jpg


Source: Dennis Tan Facebook 10. Were they sympathetic?

Source: Cheryl Chan Facebook “I think it depends on who you support. In any election, not just this election, whether you win or lose there are people who vote for you and against you. For those who didn’t support (PAP’s Cheryl Chan), I’m sure there are similar reactions.

I have to give credit to some of these voters who didn’t vote for me and they were very candid to tell me why. I’m very grateful, because it’s important that I learn from that.

Of course, those who are more sympathetic were more likely to have voted for us and usually they’ll say ‘such a waste, it was quite close’. I think even those who didn’t vote for me, a lot of them said that.

It’s close to half a year on, and people still talk about it.”

11. You were a triathlete?
“I used to run and do the triathlon until a few years ago. I got injured, so I laid off racing. Now I just run for fun — I have this back injury that makes it very difficult to train hard.”

12. Do you feel that there is a difference between a triathlon and running for election?
“The similarity would be the endurance. Whether you are running a triathlon or a long endurance race, especially when you are tired, you got to tell yourself to persevere. You want to at least cross the finishing line before getting the results. Running the election in those hectic days was like that, it goes in the blur though, after the first few days.

An election isn’t about the first few days, though. It’s actually about the weeks and months before that. For me, it culminated in the election week. But actually there was the two years that Gerald (Giam) and us did our weekly house visits.”

So it’s actually like training.
“Yeah, it is. But you can’t quite train for an election. It’s more complicated than a race.”

13. Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim have built such a good rapport over the past decade. What’s next for the second-generation leadership to take over this interesting partnership? There’s probably some talk that among this batch of three new NCMPs, they are seen as potential leaders for the next-generation leadership in the Workers’ Party.

“I think it’s still too early to tell. I think Mr Low did say at some point that the candidates of East Coast GRC and Fengshan SMC represent the leadership of the future, but I think it’s still too early to tell.

In the next few years, you’ll probably see a better indication.

It’s not just us, the batch of candidates in East Coast and Fengshan, there’s also the other MPs in Aljunied, like Pritam (Singh) and Faizal (Manap). They’re both younger than me and Leon (Perera) and (Chen) Show Mao as well, although his age is more than JJ (Yee Jenn Jeong). You probably have to wait the next couple of years.”

14: Do you think someone like Low Thia Khiang is replaceable? Or do you think someone can take over his position?


Source: Workers’ Party FB “Well, very big shoes. I think Mr Low is Mr Low, we don’t know who — I don’t know what’s going to happen, the succession after Mr Low — Mr Low has a big pair of shoes for any of the next Sec-Gen candidate to fill.”

Top photo by Ng Yi Shu

Interview transcribed by Ng Yi Shu

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

https://www.facebook.com/MothershipSG/?fref=ts
 
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[h=5]Gerald Giam 严燕松 added 3 new photos — at Changi Court Condominum.[/h]2 hrs · [URL="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore/105565836144069"]Singapore ·




Leon Perera, Mohamed Fairoz Shariff and I are grateful to Changi Court condo's management committee for the opportunity to meet with residents and listen to their feedback on local and national issues. Residents raised many good suggestions on a wide range of subjects, including protection of young people, a library in Simei's East Point Mall, property taxes and job opportunities for Singaporeans. We look forward to many more such conversations with East Coast residents!


Photo credits: Leandra Chee, Yew Chuen Dios Chae

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[h=5][URL="https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.fairoz.shariff/"]Mohamed Fairoz Shariff[/h]Was with Leon Perera and Gerald Giam at Changi Court condominium this afternoon for a dialogue session with the residents.

We had very good discussions with residents on various municipal and national issues that the residents are concerned about. An issue that sparked the liveliest discussion was on the influx of foreign PMETs into Singapore and its effect on the employability of local Singaporeans. As a resident aptly pointed out, this is an issue "that concerns the stomach", that is, it may affect our ability to put food on the table for ourselves and our family members.


We also received many great suggestions from the residents on how we can help to make the condominium and its surrounding areas a more vibrant place to live in. A resident had proposed the building of a public library in the nearby Simei estate. That is certainly a suggestion that is worth exploring.


Thank you to the residents of Changi Court who had met us this afternoon. We truly appreciate all the feedback and suggestions you had shared with us. Your feedback and suggestions will help us in our efforts to build a better life for you and your fellow Singaporeans.

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[h=5][URL="https://www.facebook.com/Leon-Perera-515366291954885/?fref=nf"]Leon Perera[/h]Yesterday, we did a market walkabout at Blk 16 Bedok South followed by landed house visits, followed by a condominium dialogue session in the afternoon. We were touched to meet a few residents at the market whom we had met during house visits the week before.We had conversations about Medishield Life, the CPF, hawker centre utility bills,the case of the student Benjamin Lim and many other subjects. The stamina shown by our Workers' Party volunteers - on their feet for hours, in hawker centres and under the scorching sun - is truly humbling. They will not receive National Day medals or privileges for their pains. But, as one of our volunteers said to me, the act of volunteering itself, without prospect of reward, is the greatest privilege of all.


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