Debate on Annual Budget 2007

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget Statement delivered by the Second Finance Minister, Mr Tharman.

I would like to say a few words in Chinese.

(In Mandarin): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Sir, last year, in November, when PM announced that our GST will be raised, I felt very uncomfortable and a bit worried. In my mind, the GST will affect both the rich and the poor alike. But because of its regressive nature, it affects the poor more. I was especially concerned about the residents in our Jalan Besar GRC because we have one of the highest number of elderly and low income residents compared to the rest of Singapore.

Last week, when the Government announced this year's Budget, I was delighted that the Government's package is beneficial to our older and lower-income citizens. In last month's debate in Parliament, the Government also announced that it would review the quantum of the public assistance payments. On behalf of my older and lower-income residents, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Government and Minister.

(In English ): Sir, they say, where your treasures are, that is where your hearts are, where you most want to be. I thank the Government for allocating the "treasures" to where they are most needed. Many treasures in life cannot be bought by only money. What I wish to ask for in this Budget debate will not cost enough to create a dent in any national budget. They involve mindset changes and they may be more difficult actually to achieve. However, if achieved, they will have a direct or indirect bearing on Singapore's future to release generous budgets, such as this current one.

I would touch on a more specific issue in the COS discussions next week.But at the macro-level, I am most interested in the Minister's mention of the strategic thrust of building capability in his Budget address. Sir, the strength of Singapore is not in its wealth, its cash reserves nor its physical infrastructure. Anyone can build a better-looking IR or school building if you throw in enough money. The strength of Singapore lies in its current and future ability to create wealth.

In a way, whilst the faster-than-expected surge in the economy has helped to bring jobs and cheer, it may have limited the opportunity for us to strengthen our foundation and ability to produce wealth in the future. With full employment in sight, I am a little concerned if our workers or even the weeping retrenched middle-aged, middle-level PMETs, whom MP Chan Soo Sen mentioned yesterday, would all be hungry or bothered enough to continue to upgrade themselves and make their skills relevant to prepare for the next lull in the economic cycle.

I would like to share three strategies by which Singapore can hone and retain its future ability to create wealth. Strategy (1), tap the untapped labour pool. Strategy (2), reform the education assessment system. Strategy (3), make critical life-skills training available for all Singaporeans.

Strategy (1), tap the untapped labour pool. Singapore would not be the only country facing the labour crunch in the current upward swing of the economic cycle. Even the world's most populous economy, China, is experiencing acute talent shortage. Driven by its rapid economic growth over a relatively short period of time, China faces the same talent challenge of trying to attract and retain talent as demand for higher value-added workers outstrips supply. Even Australia, I was told, is inviting ITE-trained plumbers to emigrate there. In the next few years, the labour crunch will be one of the key factors impacting our ability to create future wealth for our country - wealth, if created, can be distributed to where we most want them to be.

At the 2007 World Economic Forum, the issue of labour shortage was discussed again. Many economies have a wealth of untapped labour pools, presenting an opportunity to gain a competitive edge for those economies which are best able to engage these untapped individuals. Unemployed or under-employed individuals, single mothers, housewives, retirees with shrinking pensions or CPF balances, other elderly workers and people with disabilities - all of them could be brought into the workforce to become fully active in the economy.

In Singapore, I was greatly encouraged when the then NTUC chief, Minister Lim Boon Heng, immediately agreed when I suggested that NTUC could develop one more "dragon boat" of employees from the special needs and disabled population. I have also shared before with many colleagues in this House about how some of the autistic youths in my school make the best latte and are some of the most disciplined part-time staff in our school cafe - Starbucks Cafe - which we run in our school because of their laser-sharp ability to focus.

Dr Lee Wei Ling, a well-known local neurologist, emailed me last week to ask if I could spread the news that, even epileptics, if given proper support, can end up as teachers. I have many elderly colleagues, like Mrs Patricia Tan, a retired Head of Department from CHIJ Secondary School, who has embarked on a second career in special education and now developing a Life Readiness Skills Curriculum for many special needs children. The strategy of carefully combing, tapping and preparing these local non-traditional sources of labour is one significant way to improve our ability to produce wealth for our future.

My second proposed strategy is a call to reform the education assessment system. Much great efforts of the Ministry of Education in recent years were directed to support PM's vision to aim for a mountain range of successes, instead of a pinnacle where only an elite few succeed in Singapore. PM said, in 2005, that the Singapore we want to have is one in which everyone has a place in it. If you are a teh tarek man, he said, you will be a great one, be the best teh tarek man you can be. In Chinese, he said, hang hang chu zhuan yuan.

To reach this vision, initiatives, such as the "Teach Less Learn More" and the revamp of the ITEs and polytechnics, have gone full swing in the education scene. However, one does not need to even eavesdrop to know that high academic scores are still considered the breakfast of champions in Singapore schools.

Just last month, a very able mainstream secondary school principal was talking to me. He told me how disappointed he was because his students did not fare well in the GCE as in the previous year. He did not talk about the achievements of his students in other value-added areas. I know of a 16-year-old boy who failed his GCE this year in the mainstream school. He was refused by his school to stay on to try another year of GCE because, potentially, his poor results can affect the overall economic spending of the school in the next year. Come close to the season of the release of PSLE and GCE results, the conversation of almost everyone is still centred around examination scores - every other achievement, other than academic, is greeted with a polite smile, not "Congratulations!" Even when I was helping out with the Enabling Masterplan for the disabled, I was asked to highlight the excellent PSLE results my students with autism have achieved, to impress the funders of my school that they are worth the investment.

Intuitively, many of us in this House know deep in our hearts that academic scores do not necessarily make great leaders or even workers. Bob Young, founder of Red Hat, the billion-dollar Linux software company which posed a serious challenge to Microsoft, was a 'C' grader. Closer to home, one of my top performing staff, an ex-art director at Saatchi and Saatchi, Mr Victor Ong, told me how he, who is strong in design, was scoffed when he chose the design school route, instead of going to university.

Another one of my colleagues, Mr Dennis Tan, GEC 'O' level holder, single-handedly created an Enrichment Activity Unit, now offering countless many special needs children with holiday programmes. These children were previously rejected by other enrichment programme providers who think they are too much of a bother. In my book, Victor and Dennis are the talents who are doing excellent work in Singapore but do not fit the traditional definition of "success" by most Singaporeans.

When I analysed why, even with the PM's clear vision, we could not get rid of the "What's your T-score" syndrome, I think the root cause is the assessment method in our education system. As they say, what gets measured, gets done; and what gets measured and rewarded, gets done even more!

If I am drafting the Budget, I would put some money and effort intoreforming, first, the assessment system in Singapore schools and then some more efforts in reforming the minds of all Singaporeans - parents, educators and employers. Consider the merit of the practice of installing a formal "Portfolio Assessment" system, so that the potential and talent of a student is measured by a visible portfolio of not just his examination T-scores, but also his artwork, his social contribution, his homework, his conduct as a student and other talents. A more balanced portfolio assessment system will allow the development and recognition of the multiple types of intelligences and abilities in our country and enhance our future ability to produce even more wealth for future Budgets.

Strategy 3 concerns critical life skills. In my years as a consultant helping to develop leadership skills of my clients, I have often heard laments like, "How I wish I knew all these when I was young." I also hear bosses saying things like, "How I wish they taught my staff these things when they were in school." It is no accident that in some countries, their Ministry of Education is called Department or Ministry of Education and Skills, covering both formal and informal education for young and old.

Sir, there are some critical life skills or competencies that every Singaporean should acquire if they are to become more effective at work and in their personal lives. What are these skills? Many opinions on this. Richard Levin, President of Yale University, named digital literacy, collaboration skills, critical thinking skills and mentoring. Roger Merrill, a renowned life management consultant, feels that everyone must know how to be effective in four critical areas of their lives, ie, how to manage their careers so that their skills are always relevant and they never get surprised when they get retrenched or their skills get obsolete, and how to manage their careers; how to manage their money, family and other relationships.

I say, for our country to continue to generate wealth to do the things we wish to do as a people, we should think out of the box and divert some resources to provide freely available National Education for all Singaporeans, not only when they are younger. Free National Education that is beyond vocational skills and covers life skills that are to do with:

(1) Quality of our thinking;

(2) Quality of our execution; and

(3) Quality of our spirit.

Quality of our thinking

These are things like critical thinking skills in problem solving, decision-making, developing one's self-awareness, strategic planning, taking joint responsibilities for our own careers and for lifelong learning.

Quality of our execution competencies

Subjects, such as project management, execution discipline, time management, financial planning and financial management.

Quality of our spirit

Things to do with our hearts, eg, the character-building content that I guess the Minister of State Mr Lui Tuck Yew will be speaking on later on in the COS debate. Here, I am talking about educating all Singaporeans on some common decent human values, putting them into practice, and also the way that we view and treat others who are different or whom we think are inferior to us in abilities and wealth.

In conclusion, Sir, the Budget is at risk of being viewed more and more by some Singaporeans as the proverbial goodie bag and even lucky draw that they look forward to in many grassroots functions. I have met friends who switched off the TV and the radio when they heard that there is no personal income tax cut for them this year. I hope we will never get to the point where the goodie bag becomes the reason why people take notice of the Budget event. What is going to happen in a Budget year when there are less or no more goodies to be dished out? Do we all switch off our radios and TVs in disappointment and disgust with the Minister for Finance? I hope not.

To me, the annual Budget is but a manifestation of the vision and values of our country. As in the iceberg analogy, it is the top 10% that is visible, but the real foundation that holds it up is the unseen but clearly important 90% of the iceberg, ie, the vision of our future and the values that we hold dear to. Let us hold fast to the vision that the PM has painted in 2005, and I hope we do not forget that, ie, the one that allows for flourishing of a mountain range of success of people of different abilities and not just a pinnacle of only those who score academically well in studies. For, as they say, where there is no vision, the people perish.

The best way to predict the wealth in our future Budgets is to start now by developing the ability of all Singaporeans to create wealth, whether they are able or disabled.

With that, Sir, I support the Budget.