Madam, I rise in support of the Budget 2014. The annual national Budget is not a goodie-bag exercise where everyone gets a special bonus each year. Neither is it a lucky draw, where only the lucky ones return home with a prize.

The national budgeting exercise is a strategic allocation of our precious resources to meet our short and long-term priorities. It is a tool by which the elected government carries out its duty of ensuring the sustainability, availability and affordability of essential basic services for all its people. These essential basic services are public housing, public transport, public healthcare, public education, public order and security, and sufficient economic opportunities to ensure jobs for our people.

As the demands of Singaporeans rise, it is very important to constantly go back to this core duty of government and ensure that these basic priorities are met.

It is also important for government and people to be clear about what the "must-provide" items are and what the "nice-to-have" items are.

A case in point is the recent review of MediShield Life. Madam, to me, this is a "must-provide" item. I applaud the review committee's strong proposal that all Singaporeans, including those currently uninsured, are covered for their healthcare and, especially, for their bigger hospitalisation expenses.

Healthcare is a basic essential service that must not be denied to any of our people, whatever health condition they are born with or acquired during their lifetime. It will not be right for a person, for example, born with Down's Syndrome or a person who acquired a heart condition or diabetes to be denied healthcare insurance or other medical benefits that other citizens have access to.

I, therefore, look forward to the Government's active leadership to ensure that every Singaporean has access to affordable and available public healthcare; and, at least, at the same coverage level as every other member of the Singapore family. We have done so with the very commendable Pioneer Generation Package ensuring that those who are disabled and elderly are included. But the younger ones with pre-existing conditions, whether born or acquired later in life, must be included. I urge the Government to ensure that sufficient resources are set aside each year to ensure that this basic healthcare for every Singaporean is provided.

Madam, I would like to next advocate for two other groups of Singaporeans:

(1) the local small, medium enterprise (SME) operators; and

(2) the elderly and the disabled.

On SMEs: Singapore SMEs form the backbone of our economy. They employ seven out of every 10 workers, and contribute nearly half of national GDP. Without them, not only our economy and jobs are put at risk, the energy and spirit of entrepreneurship are also at risk of being extinguished. The voices of the smaller local enterprises regarding their challenges must be heard before they snowball further.

Cost: there is the challenge of cost faced by these SMEs which is often not supported by rising consumer demands for things cheaper, better and faster. Many of the recent calls for hikes have strong rationale and should be supported. These include:

(1) Restoration of CPF contributions for the older workers;

(2) Higher progressive wages for the lower income groups;

(3) Higher vehicle and ERP charges to manage car population and avoid congestions seen in other Asian cities; and

(4) Tightening of low-skilled foreign manpower to make way for locals and, hopefully, higher productivity and value-add.

To me, Madam, one specific cost item that needs the touch of the state is clearly business rental. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) launched by institutional landlords and their need to meet the expectations of financial analysts had been adding to the mounting cost pressures of SMEs. Many of these landlords, in addition to charging a base rental, have been collecting a percentage of the sales turnover of their tenants without any ceiling whatsoever. There is also little restraint on the new rentals that are imposed upon these small business operators upon expiry of their rental leases. This is something that needs to be taken care of.

Sad will be the day when the only tenants that can afford retail space are luxury brands and those that can afford good office space who are mostly non-SME tenants.

Scale: there is also the challenge of scaling and expansion by local SMEs. Many local entrepreneurs with the product know-how do not have the mindset and the process expertise to scale and expand their business to reap economies of scale for long-term survival.

I recently came across a neighbourhood sign-maker, Mr Yeo, who is Chinese-speaking and a small enterprise operator. Mr Yeo owns a flatted factory making and delivering signboards of all sorts – road signs, building signs, paper-signs, stainless-steel signs, complete with lights, no lights, LED lightings and lights of all types.

Mr Yeo has the spirit and the drive of an entrepreneur but he runs the risk soon of a declining business due not only to mounting costs but also the lack of ability to scale and grow his business.

To assist Mr Yeo, I showed him the business model of Signarama. US-based Signarama holds the world's largest sign franchise and provides a full range of signs and graphic services to clients of all industries. Signarama earned the coveted No. 1 spot in Entrepreneur Magazine in 2014.

I asked Mr Yeo, "What is stopping you from becoming the next Signarama?" He replied in Chinese, “不是每一个人都能拿笔的”, that is, "Not all of us can hold the pen". And he needed help to scale his business while he focuses on what he does best - production and delivery.

The same can be said of many businesses which do not seem able to scale for long-term survival. These include those in F&B, cleaning services, hotels, and including even Singapore's highly admired education system of which SGMaths is now becoming a coveted offering internationally. Online, also brick-and-mortar. Helping businesses to scale to reap economics of scale in cost and multiplying their income streams is an expertise that needs to be nurtured, something that the SMEs need very badly.

I was totally impressed by an online retail group which call themselves "Love Bonito" –Singapore's leading online fashion retailer with 65,000 Facebook likes, many of whom are very enthusiastic customers. Word has it that there are instances when new designs, fashion designs or promotions are announced online, and there will be a group of customers, sometimes boyfriends of their customers, hawking at the keyboard to buy, to devour the new promotion items.

Alas, there are not many businesses which can scale this way. Even for Love Bonito, taking the business global will require further expertise than what the local SME Centres and the public servants can provide.

Madam, the mystery of why many of Singapore's SMEs have not crossed the chasm to the land of milk and honey is yet to be unlocked.

I was given a brochure by a friend, printed by SPRING Singapore entitled "Quality Growth Programme for Businesses". Within it are simple English descriptions of the:

(1) Wage Credit Scheme;

(2) Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Bonus;

(3) Corporate Income Tax Rebate;

(4) Innovation and Capability Voucher;

(5) iSprint on using packaged or customised IT solutions to improve or innovate business operations; and

(6) Contact details of five SME Centres.

I believe Singapore has one of the most active governments in the world to assist its local enterprises in transforming themselves for survival in the 21st century and beyond. But the outcomes have been less than encouraging, not for lack of trying, as evidenced by the many Government assist schemes.

Beyond the current good work, I urge the Government to seriously investigate the root causes of some of these challenges that are mentioned many times on many platforms by the SMEs. I suggest a few actions for consideration:

One, analyse the root causes of the key pains of cost hikes, especially in business rental and the replacement of transport for business purposes. Consider cooling measures for especially business rental and provide alternatives to encourage promising budding SMEs.

Two, go deeper and help differently for different segments of the SME sector in order to help them scale for long-term survival. SMEs with good core product or service offerings but who are less than tech-savvy need skills and expertise that complement them. We need to find the right kind of experts to walk the journey with them – leveraging on these SMEs' core product knowledge and innovative spirit, help create needed blended physical-online business presence and, where appropriate, help them to widen their distribution channels.

SMEs led by younger and possibly more digital-savvy entrepreneurs should move beyond the popular and over-populated F&B space or cupcake-type of businesses. They can do with additional and different help. Beyond the cheques, make available easy access to expertise and counsel for them to create 21st Century's sustainable blended physical-online or purely online business models.

As in the people sector that I serve in, transforming organisations require more than the writing of cheques. We need to move to the next level of facilitation for both business and even for the not-for-profit organisation transformations.

Next, on the elderly and those with special needs. Madam, I would like to propose help to develop income streams for the vulnerable, such as the elderly and those with special needs.

Many of these vulnerable individuals may not be able to hop on the productivity wage ladder but, nonetheless, can be engaged more meaningfully through some form of work. They are capable to work, perhaps not full time, sometimes part time, but there is currently insufficient coordinated support for them. Some of them spend most of their time indulging in social activities in senior activity centres, day activity centres or at home.

In view of the tightening labour market, I propose that Government set up a team in each Government and Government-linked agency to: (1) Identify and aggregate piecemeal or full jobs or contracts that are suitable for the elderly and those with special needs. Take the extra mile, provided the quality standards of work can be met, allot extra points to ensure that work of this nature, contract of this nature go to the more vulnerable; (2) Develop incentive and recognition schemes to encourage these ministries and government-linked agencies to purposefully work with the people sector players for longer term work arrangements.

Take, for instance, the annual packing of thousands of National Day Parade's bags by our National Service men. There is no reason why this work cannot be outsourced to the disability and elderly platform and have these able-bodied, young, likely more educated men be redeployed to other areas of Total Defence.

Take, for instance, the need to archive the numerous records in our different Ministries and agencies. There is no reason why work like this cannot be specially given to folks with special needs who can be properly trained and supported. I look forward to Government's support specifically in this area.

In short, what I am proposing is: (1) MediShield Life guarantee for the younger disabled; (2) expertise to help the SMEs scale up and survive and expand; and (3) jobs and contracts for the elderly and the special needs folks in our country.

Finally, I would like to say something about our Pioneer Generation Package, this special feature of Budget 2014.

A wise man once said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also".

Budget 2014 clearly reflects where our hearts and treasures are -- the pioneers who helped us build this nation.

Many in the House have shared about their support especially for the Pioneer Generation Package. They shared their personal stories of how their parents, their grandparents, their great grandparents have contributed to our land.

My parents did not have the standing of political luminaries like our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew; neither were my parents leaders in the Army or Police; nor professionals like MP Mr Yee Jenn Jong's parents. But like many other ordinary Singaporeans of the time, they immigrated to Singapore in search of a better life. When this dream seemed threatened in the post-1965 independent Singapore, these pioneers stood by the country, they did not flee and return to their homeland; and they raised my generation and beyond.

I therefore thank the Government and especially Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Senior Minister of State and the team who, beyond words and rhetoric, did the hard work of listening to the feedback from the ground. Thank you for working out the features and thank you for working out the sums to make this package a reality. Madam, I strongly support this Budget.