Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Amendment) Bill

by NCMP Gerald Giam Mr Speaker, I welcome the amendments to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act and the Hire Purchase Act to include so-called ‘Lemon Law’ provisions. This is a progressive step to bring Singapore’s consumer protection regime up to speed with other developed countries like Japan, the US, Canada, Australia, and the EU. If executed well, the Lemon Law could help weed out... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MCYS – Pre-school support for low income families

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong A good early start to education is important to a child’s development. It is especially important for the lower income families to help the child be ready for primary schools. Schemes like the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme or KiFAS, with start-up grants and monthly fee subsidies are helpful to the low income group. However, after 8 years of KiFAS implementation... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Low Thia Khiang 阿裕尼集选区国会议员－刘程强 主席先生， 前总理李光耀去年底捐出1千万元设立“李光耀双语基金”，政府也承诺以一元对一元的方式资助，使基金最终达到一亿元。 双语基金怎么应用，在教育部作出具体宣布之前，我想提出以下两点： 第一、认清双语基金设立的核心目标，避免模糊焦点。 称为“双语基金”，反映的是希望达到的效果。但是基金设立的目的，李前总理自己也说得很清楚，是为了“让幼儿越早学习母语越好”。 所以，基金的焦点应该是“母语学习”，而不是“双语学习”、更不是“英语学习”。... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Foreign Scholarships

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong Our government awards some 1070 undergraduate scholarships each year to foreign students, with an annual value of up to $25,000 dollars each. With up to 4 cohorts of students at any time, this is a large yearly expenditure. Sir, I am not anti-foreigners. I recognise that talented foreigners can add vibrancy to our institutions. We welcome them in our universities, subject to... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Support for preschool industry

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong I state my interest as a service provider to preschool operators. However I do not run kindergartens which are beneficiaries of my proposals. MOE has earmarked $290 million to be spent on preschools over five years from last year. The objectives are to raise the quality, accessibility and affordability of pre-school education. The intent is good. This investment should spread... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Special needs in mainstream schools

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong There are some 13,000 school-going children with special needs. The larger portion or 7,600 are in mainstream schools. Therefore, we must pay attention to this group. MOE has made efforts since 2005. There is room to do more. Although there is now at least one Learning and Behavioural Support Allied Educator or AED in each primary school, AEDs handle many cases and may not... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Gifted Education Programme

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong Gifted education programme was implemented in 1984. Primary school GEP starts a child at primary 4 in one of 9 designated schools. Students are identified after nation-wide tests at primary 3. Centralised secondary school GEP was scrapped in 2008 following low take-up, after the introduction of secondary schools’ IP. I like MOE to consider scrapping centralised primary... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Integrated Programme

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong We started the Integrated Programme, or IP in 2004 to allow higher ability secondary students to skip the O levels into the A levels or its equivalent. I wish to propose an alternative IP, from primary 1 to secondary 4. The current system puts huge pressure on students, parents and teachers in primary schools to prepare for the PSLE. Various members in this House, including... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOH – Mental illness

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Low Thia Khiang Chairman Sir, 1. Mental illness is a condition that not only affects the individual and family but also the community. 2. I believe that mental illness will increasingly become an issue for Singapore in our highly competitive environment. Because of the strong stigma against mental illness, it may be difficult to ascertain the actual prevalence of mental illness... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOH – Integrated Eldercare

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Chen Show Mao Sir, The importance of delivering integrated care to our seniors is well known. This applies not just to integrating the delivery of different kinds of health care (medical, nursing, rehabilitative, mental health) BUT ALSO integrating the delivery of health care and social and other care services, including home help, day care, counseling and other services. The... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MinLaw – Regulation of Moneylenders

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Chen Show Mao Sir, Background When the Moneylenders Act was re-enacted in 2008, its stated objectives were to facilitate moneylending in the modern credit economy, and to strike a proper balance between regulating licensed moneylenders and safeguarding the interests of borrowers. In liberalising the market, many of the controls under the old Act were relaxed. Importantly,... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MinLaw – Recognition of External Degrees

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Chen Show Mao Sir, Background Currently, external law degrees are not recognized for admission to the Singapore Bar. This was based on recommendations in 1993 by the First Committee on the Supply of Lawyers, as part of broader measures to restrict the supply of lawyers and enhance the quality of legal service in Singapore. In coming to the recommendation, the committee took... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOT – Vehicle Quota System improvements

by NCMP Gerald Giam Mr Chairman, The Vehicle Quota System (VQS) exists to limit Singapore’s vehicle population growth rate. This is necessary because of Singapore’s limited land area and growing population. The VQS is managed through the issuance of a limited number of COEs each year. There are currently 5 categories of COEs — of which Categories A and B are for private cars. Category... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOT – Concession fares for disabled and for polytechnic students

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong There are many requests for more public transport concessions for the disabled and for polytechnic students. On 21 November last year, Minister Lui Tuck Yew said that the Public Transport Council was aware of the concession requests for these 2 groups, and would work with the operators to see how best these requests could be considered in future review of fares. I feel the... [Read more]

COS 2012 Debates: MOH – Pricing of Drugs by Public Hospitals

by MP for Aljunied GRC, Sylvia Lim In a Parliamentary answer on 14 February 2012, the Ministry confirmed that public hospitals operate their pharmacies as revenue centres. In other words, public hospitals mark up their drugs for sale to patients. It was stated that the typical range of mark up was between 5% to 30%, implying that the mark-up could be even higher than 30% for certain drugs. The rationale... [Read more]