Acknowledgement to the Chair

12.50 pm

The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, it is customary at the end of the Budget process for the Leader to give a speech, being an acknowledgement to the Chair of the House.

We have come to the end of Budget 2022 and the Committee of Supply (COS). Sir, this Budget has been both unusual and memorable for a number of reasons.

First, although we have been battling the pandemic for over two years, this is the first time that it reached the Chamber. Some Members of Parliament (MPs) were close contacts of those who were COVID-positive and took leave of absence out of an abundance of caution even. Special seating arrangements were put in place, so they could feel at ease about still attending.

A number of MPs, myself included, contracted COVID-19 and had to sit out of the proceedings for a while. The virus was not discriminatory. Members of the Ruling Party had it; Ms Sylvia Lim, Ms He Ting Ru from Workers' Party got it; Prof Hoon, a Nominated Member of Parliament got it as well. So, it reached everyone.

But I would like to thank colleagues for their care and concern and expressions of support for all those who were ill. Let me especially thank Mr Louis Ng, who gave the most encouragement and support, primarily because he wanted me to get well in time to answer his Parliamentary Questions (PQs). He did add as an afterthought that he was concerned for my health as well. Thank you, Mr Ng.

Despite this, we did not allow COVID-19 to disrupt our work: 66 speakers spoke over the two and a half days of debate on the Budget Statement; seven days COS in which 639 cuts were filed; we spent a total 73 hours debating the fiscal policy of the Government and the Ministries' Estimates of Expenditures. Approximately 130 PQs were taken in the past two weeks. This is the highest level of participation in the last five years despite the reduced number of Members of Parliament able to attend Parliament.

Second, this Budget was developed against the backdrop of climate change and climate risk which is becoming more urgent by the day.

Third, just as we were about to debate the Budget, the world changed with the situation in Ukraine, reminding us once again that independence, the right to self-determination and territorial sovereignty are precious and should never be taken for granted, and why small countries like Singapore must continue to advocate and uphold an international order that is rules based and principled.

Against this backdrop, we debated and approved one of our most transformative Budgets to date, setting ourselves on a path towards becoming a fairer, greener, more inclusive and overall, more progressive Singapore.

Let me summarise what we have done by approving this Budget.

With this Budget, we will be strengthening our business ecosystem and building stronger Singaporean enterprises. The "Singapore Global Enterprises" and the "Singapore Global Executive Programme" will help us produce companies and Singaporean talent that are globally competitive. Budget 2022 will also revitalise and support our F&B, retail and tourism sectors. We will continue to press on with our digitalisation journey, while ensuring those less comfortable with technology are not be sidelined.

This Budget affirms our support for our workers, especially low-wage workers. The Progressive Wage Model, Progressive Wage Credit Scheme and enhancement of the workfare income supplement scheme will support and uplift our lower-wage workers. This unique approach is the outcome of intensive effort between the Tripartite partners: the Labour movement, employers and Government.

We can now continue to develop a strong and skilled Singaporean workforce while enabling employers to meet genuine manpower needs by hiring foreigners with relevant skills to complement our local workforce, through the increases in the minimum qualifying salaries for work passes and the COMPASS points-based framework.

We are speeding up our transition to a greener, more sustainable society with the review of our climate plan and the setting of more ambitious goals, the increase in carbon tax, R&D into sustainability, cutting emissions, energy efficiency, renewable and clean energy and zero-waste. As this is not without trade-offs and costs, Singaporeans will be engaged in this endeavour so that we can all have a clear understanding of what it will take to achieve our green ambitions even as we move forward on them.

We have renewed and strengthened our social compact. Cost of living, inflation are very much on people's minds. Almost all Members spoke on this in one way or another. Approving the Household Support Package and other help schemes paves the way for us to help Singaporeans through this tough period. We heard assurance from the Minister for Finance during his round-up speech that the Government would "not hesitate to take further actions to protect jobs, and to help households and businesses deal with increased costs, if need be."

We have ensured we can meet and pay for the healthcare needs of our rapidly ageing population. With Healthier SG we have the blueprint for a new model of healthcare of the future, anchored on prevention as well as cure.

We have continued our educational reforms, reducing pressure and stress so our children can focus on the joy of learning – mid-year examinations for all Primary and Secondary levels will be removed by 2023 and streaming would be removed fully 2024.

We are redoubling our efforts to bridge inequality and make sure no one is left behind. Social service delivery will be improved. ComLink will be scaled up nationwide and UPLIFT expanded. There will be more opportunities for the differently abled.

We reaffirmed the importance of family – 2022 will be the year of celebrating families and strengthening support for families.

All these good things cannot come to pass without funding. To enable them to happen, we enhanced and strengthened our tax structure. We will adjust the corporate tax system to take into account BEPS. We increased the progressivity of our personal income tax. We raised wealth taxes through targeted increases in property tax and tax on luxury cars. And we increased GST with a significant package to buffer its impact and adjusted the timing.

Most Singaporeans will not feel the impact of the GST increase for many years because of the support measures we designed. By coupling GST with GSTV, we ensure that the lower income, including many retirees, will continue to pay less GST than the headline rate. We will study further support if the inflation situation worsens.

And in Parliament, the Budget process saw robust debate. The value of robust debate is that it helps to crystalise the issues and it lets people see where Members of Parliament and Parties stand. And I thought it might be helpful here if I just summarise the difference in approach between the Government and the Opposition, in particular, the Workers' Party, not to reignite the whole debate on this again. But just to summarise what the different philosophical approaches are, so that people can look at it and make their own judgements and determination.

On the Government side, the structures that we have put in place are ones we believe are fair and progressive. There is GST; yes, but will not hurt the low-income because of Permanent GST Voucher scheme, and the Assurance Package will help all Singaporean households, not just the lower-income cope with the transition, and the GST Voucher scheme provides permanent assistance.

Everyone contributes, but those who have more, contribute more. Those with less also contribute but a lesser amount and receive more in return. Keeping the tax burden manageable for all, including businesses so that there is incentive for all to work hard, do well and enjoy the benefits of their hard work even as they contribute to our revenues.

We still maintain the protection of our reserves and we use the income on our reserves equitably – 50% for this generation, 50% for the next.

The Workers' Party has a different philosophical approach. They have preferred not not to raise GST. But I do not think there is any dispute that there is a genuine and real need though to fund healthcare, going forward and that there is a need for increased revenue. To achieve additional revenue of $3.5 billion a year, the net effect of their various proposals is to tax large companies more, tax the rich or use more of the reserves. No matter which way you cut it, it boils down to those three things: tax companies more, tax the rich more, or use more of the reserves.

From our perspective, it is too early to adjust corporate taxes as it will depend on the evolving rules for BEPS 2.0. And even if we are able to collect more in corporate taxes from the revenues from BEPS 2.0, we will have to use these revenues for additional measures to enhance our overall competitiveness and ensure that we can continue to attract our fair share of investments.

On taxing the rich, there are ramifications on whether we will drive away talent and wealth, and that will be bad for Singaporeans. In reality, wealth is mobile, higher taxes on a small group of people at the top who are extremely mobile will eventually lead to higher taxes for upper middle-income or even middle-income groups.

Using more of the reserves means leaving less behind for the next generation and imposing higher taxes on them.

So, I just lay this out at the end of the day, so that people can reflect, make their own conclusions and see how they wish to view this. But I thought when all was said and done, and the dust settled after the debate, it is good just to crystallise the two different positions, so that people will have a more meaningful insight as to what the different propositions actually mean.

Next, with more Opposition Members in Parliament, it is natural that our debates will get more robust. That is par for the course. However, in this session, we are also reminded that whilst robust debate is good, it is also important that Members maintain decorum in their actions, both in and outside of the House.

The Standing Orders are there for a reason. Timelines and deadlines are also there for a reason – to enable us to conduct parliamentary business efficiently but also effectively. I, therefore, urge Members to be mindful of this, so that for future debates, we can have all the cut and thrust that we desire but, at the same time, observing all due proprieties.

Mr Speaker, I would like to conclude by thanking everyone who has contributed to Budget 2022. Let me begin by thanking Members of this House for their strong support and active participation in the Budget and COS debates. It has been a tiring but rewarding two weeks.

The Budget was the product of strong input from Singaporeans from all walks of life; we engaged widely, took in feedback. It reflects our citizens' needs, aspirations and does its best to address their concerns.

I would also like to express my gratitude to all of the public servants who have been working so hard on this, on top of their regular work. Many have had to learn on the job, some have taken on additional "COVID-fighting" roles over the past two years or so and then have had to deal with Budget. It has been a tiring time for them but they soldier on, because when they signed up for Public Service, they knew they also signed up to serve, even at personal cost in terms of family time and rest.

I would also like to thank the Deputy Leader for covering for me in my absence.

On behalf of the House, I would like to thank you, Mr Speaker, and your deputies for presiding over the proceedings with patience and forbearance. We are also grateful to the Clerk of Parliament, the Parliament Secretariat, the staff, the interpreters and translators, all of whom have been working in overdrive these last few weeks. May we show our appreciation for them. [Applause.]

1.04 pm

Mr Speaker: This is my fifth Budget. Actually, there were more Budgets if you count the multiple Budgets that we had in 2020. But as a wrap-up speech, this is my fifth one.

It is very challenging. Every year, the night before, or two nights before, barely any sleep because you are trying to distil the last one and a half to two weeks’ worth of discussions, discourse, and all the work done into a “Too Long Didn’t Read” (TLDR) version. It is really difficult. People often say, “Government communications cannot make it! Why is it so complicated? Why can’t you keep it simple?”

I can tell you that Government is trying. But the reality is this: when you are in the business of making things work, when you are in the business of actually having to do the real work and the heavy lifting, the details do matter. It is not quite so straightforward.

You cannot just virtue signal. You cannot just bandy about ideas. It is very different when you have to carry them out.

I remember a few years ago, when Chee Meng was Minister for Education, and I, as a parent, as all of us as parents would have a lot of issues about MOE, said “Eh, why is your MOE policy like that?”. Then, I remember Chee Meng replied to me, “Why don’t we switch jobs. You can come and change the policy”.

Suddenly, everything took on a very different hue. I think we all know that. It is easy to critique and it is important for us to critique. It is easy to toss out ideas. But when we actually have to bear the responsibility of translating those ideas, views and opinions into reality, it looks very, very different.

So, in the same way, I would say that it is very difficult to distil everything down into a meme or a TikTok clip. And I would not be able to do that.

Trade-offs are needed; things take time. As we all know, are we able to satisfy every need and want? We can’t. Many of you here who work, you have your own organisation, whether you are the leader of your political party or your company, school – we know that we are not always able to do that. But we endeavour to do our best. So, it is not easy.

The Budget and COS process is very involved. It can be quite colourful. This year, we had blue and yellow featuring, red and white, and of course, green! I do not know whether Minister Grace Fu is wearing green today. She had been wearing green almost every day.

And it can get quite technical as well. But not to worry. I am not going to repeat all that. I am not going to "BEPS" you until you "COMPASS", or "TRECS" you with "JOY" or "HEIDI".

But what I will do is to take a step back. We have been going through all the details, the technical and all the different things that are required in the Budget to make things happen. I would like to take a few steps back and perhaps survey the woods and not just look at the trees, the weeds, the bushes, important as they be to the whole eco-system, and to consider the world that we are living in.

And really three main themes: the world we live in, the worries and uncertainties that we are grappling with now; the post-truth world that we live in; and the world that we live in in terms of the bigger stories, noting that all of us zoom into the individual stories that we share. It is important, sometimes, to be able to also zoom out and look at the bigger picture and the bigger story.

Firstly, the world we live – the worries and uncertainties.

We certainly live in worrying and uncertain times. We are still in the grips of COVID-19 although, increasingly, we are learning to live with it. Even as we deal with the economic ramifications of this pandemic that has stricken every nation on earth and affected everyone, we are now caught in the grips of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It may seem remote, but we are all feeling the impact immediately, with petrol prices going up. We worry about inflation. Inflation was a worry even before this conflict. If the West were to suspend purchase of Russian oil and gas, what would that impact be on energy prices and on cost of living? This was a recurrent theme that many of you have raised.

We have been jittery for some time because we are living in a fast-changing world. We are living amid a Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are concerned about things changing as our children go to school and universities, and by the time they graduate, is the world going to move on, is it going to be relevant? We are concerned about the geopolitical implications of the clash between the US and China, and how we are caught up in between them. We are worried about demographic trends in Singapore – by 2030, one in four of us will be 65 and above. What does that mean? Will we lose our verve as an economy? Is that going to affect our jobs? And with that longevity, lower birth rates, the burden on healthcare costs? And we worry also about the climate and how is it going to change and affect us, and especially our children’s generation?

But if there is any consolation, it is affecting everyone on Earth. We are not spared; we are not the only ones; everyone is grappling with these issues.

The key thing is how are we able to address the concerns, both for the present and to stage ourselves for the future; and if we have the means and the ability to do that.

The world we live in is also – and many of you would be familiar with this term – a Post-Truth World, whatever that definition might be. We might have different perceptions of it. But essentially, these days, truth might seem indeterminant, malleable. After all, who determines the “truth”? Does Parliament determine the truth? Do you determine the truth? Does the Government determine the truth? Do facts and evidence matter? Or is truth determined by “Well, this is what I believe, what I feel, what I hear”, and therefore it becomes the “truth”? Is it based on whoever says it loudest? Whoever says it more passionately, eloquently, or more coolly? But that is the world we live in.

Many of us zoom in and share stories about how individuals are affected. Stories are incredibly powerful. We use stories to illustrate gaps and concerns so that we can have better policies to help. Some use stories to inspire. But some use stories to indict, to remonstrate.

So, stories are powerful. But we all know that stories can be false. Stories can be half-true. Stories can also be used out of context. And the question for us as leaders and Parliamentarians is, what do we do with these stories?

On the ground, we know how these examples could manifest itself. For example, in my area in Chai Chee, we have rental flats. You can go to a rental flat and some of you who are involved in the work will realise when you come to a flat, it is messy, a lot of stuff that is there. And the smell of stale sweat, urine. And you feel, how on earth can Singaporeans live in such abject poverty in First World Singapore? How have we failed them? How society has failed them. How Government has failed them.

But if you step next door, in the same one-room rental flat, the neighbour, it is clean, tidy. In fact, some of my residents take great pride in explaining to me how they go to Daiso and decorate their house quite nicely with whatever they buy from Daiso. You walk away with quite different impressions. Wow! You are impressed by their resilience, by their ingenuity.

We talk about the metaverse, but this is almost like a multi-verse that we live in. Same, similar facts, stories, but then we walk away with very different impressions. It depends on the context.

For those of us involved in the work, you will know that sometimes, it is because of mental health issues, because of hoarding; sometimes, because of mobility issues – the individuals are not able to upkeep the flats. Whose responsibility would it be? Individuals? Do we then not ask, where is the family in the overall scheme of things? Where are the neighbours? Where is the community? And the Government has a role to play.

But this is how stories can manifest themselves in many, many different ways. We are living in a world where we have more information than ever before. In fact, information is increasing at exponential rates. But we are not necessarily better informed. We are, like I said earlier, the TLDR generation. If it takes a few more swipes left or right, up or down, it just takes too much time, it is just too tedious.

We have so much information we don’t know how to process it. We have so much to distract us: Netflix, Minecraft, K-Drama, and some of you have been playing Wordle or Quordle, which is even worse! The list goes on and on. Many of us are better educated, more critically minded. But if we ask ourselves honestly, how many of us actually read? Or do we just scan? And because we are kind of smart and we have opinions and views about things, do we formulate those opinions very quickly? Or are we just too busy with all the different things distracting us? We go to certain commentators for their distillation of the issues of the day rather than just reading it ourselves. We have “live” broadcast of Parliament today, but how many of us actually go to the source and actually listen to what was said? Or do we listen to what is being said by others? Do we fact-check?

That is the world we live in. You can lament all you want, you can describe it, but that is the reality.

Minister Iswaran shared from Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”. I am less cultured than he is, so I can only share from a book that I find quite telling, “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling. While some might criticise Rosling for being overly positive, my main takeaway is that, as human beings, our nature, are we sometimes not really very evidence-based? We are very much driven by emotions. That is why stories are so powerful. We have this instinct to be negative, “Oh, the world is a lot worse than it is today”. But is it really? We tend to blame, we like to generalise and so on. It distorts the way we look at things.

When we look at the combination of these different things in the world that we are living in today, it has real implications. We see around the world today, for example, the divisions and the polarisation of American society. And I believe that even the storming of Capitol Hill is arguably a physical and violent manifestation of that. BREXIT also happened on the back of a number of fraudulent claims by political leaders. It is a monumental decision. We wish them well. But there are real-life implications to how all these things play themselves out.

The important question for all of us as leaders in this Parliament, in this environment, is to realise that this playbook, sadly, actually works. Which is why you see many politicians using it. The rise of the far-right or even the far-left are examples of that. Playing the anti-foreigner card. We see that happening the world over. Race and religion is an easy game to play because it is so primordial in every society. Do we play fast and loose with the stories we use? Do we just lift “facts” from chat groups, or wherever it might be? Do we use anecdotes recounted to us without checking whether it is true? Do we verify? Or is it a case of what I believe is true and therefore, it is? Also, in this world where we are all politically correct, are we just too shy, too scared to take a stand, lest we be accused of being closed-minded, being cancelled out on social media?

It is happening around the world. This is a reality of the world – it is not going to go away. I think it is just going to get worse, if you will. But the important question both for us as Members of Parliament and Singaporeans at large is what do we do with that? And especially for us in this Chamber, how do we then carry out our roles? Do we exploit these gaps and these trends? Or do we rise above it and take a different course?

We lead only because there is trust and respect. When that erodes, we have no basis to lead. Often, the negativity and misinformation serve to do one thing. To erode trust. What happens then? Do we end up being no different from any Internet forum? That is something all of us need to decide. We need to ask ourselves, is it creeping into our own political discourse?

The last point I would like to end on is the bigger story, the world we live in. We zoom into all these individual stories and like I said, they are important, but as leaders, we must also have the ability to zoom out and sometimes remind ourselves of the larger trends.

We are here debating all these issues. But we sometimes forget all the different things that are happening around us. I would like to thank the many who are involved in Budget and COS 2022 – our Clerks, our ushers, our translators, our cleaners, every day who keep our space clean and hygienic, our security colleagues, our tea ladies who help us with our beverages, Leader, Deputy Leader, Deputy Speakers, our journalists out there who are actively reporting to try to keep everyone informed. And a very big “Thank You” to every single one of you who has made this possible.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank our public officers who continue to serve to the best of their ability, despite the challenging times. Many of them, apart from creating policies, are also at the frontlines because they need to double up, because there are other responsibilities. Dr Tan Yia Swam, Dr Wan Rizal and Dr Janil have talked about being understanding to our healthcare workers. I think it is worth reminding us to bear in mind to treat all our public officers with decency and respect. They are doing their best. No one is perfect. There will be those who fall afoul of what we would expect of them. But for the vast majority of them, they are doing their best to look after all of us. It behooves us to at least accord them that basic dignity and respect.

I remember during the debate on public housing a few days ago, I was quite struck by it. We were discussing about waiting times for HDB flats, eligibility ages, about housing in prime locations, about EIP concerns. Of course, there are areas to improve and there are concerns that we need to assuage. But I am also reminded by my many residents who come to me to tell me that they are going off, some of them getting married, forming new families, they email me, they message me. As we are talking about the different things to improve on, many of our foreign visitors, as you talk to them, are remarkably impressed about our public housing policies: 80 % of Singaporeans live in public housing; 73% – like many of my residents, they are not high-income Singaporeans, they are middle-, lower-middle Singaporeans – 73% of them service their loans with CPF, with no cash outlay. For low-income families, I have a number of rental blocks as well, we have, in total, about 4,500 families in the last five years who have gained home ownership. And another 2,200 who have booked their new flats.

At a wake two nights ago, a senior executive shared – at first, it would seem he was griping that the sandwiched class is not getting anything and only the lower-income gets – that he works in the aviation industry and he was quite candid, that without the Government grants and assistance, he might have lost his job. Many more of his colleagues might have lost their jobs. And in many indirect ways, he has benefited too. I am glad that he acknowledged that. Many of my residents share the same, whether they are running big businesses, small businesses, many of them having jobs in management positions, they are glad that the policies that all of you have created have helped.

The employment figures speak for themselves. Our employment rate for those aged 15 and above, is 67.2% in June 2021. It is the highest on record. In January, our unemployment rate is 3.1%, and it is close to back where it was pre-COVID-19 times. Real income has moved, especially at the lower income level. With all the different steps taken, with Progressive Wage, with Workfare, it will continue to go up. You have seen the projections in terms of where those wages will go.

From a healthcare perspective, I think a lot of us will have views about how the COVID-19 situation should be run. But I guess the question we should ask ourselves is, “If we were in the position of the MTF, what would we do?”. When we have to balance life and livelihood, would it be quite so simple?

The truth is, as you take a step back, you see we have a strong trust among our people, a strong trust between our people and our healthcare authorities, which allowed us to be able to carry out our safe management measures (SMMs); which allowed us to be able to be vaccinated; which had enabled us to keep deaths low and serious illnesses at bay, by and large, and enabled us to move on to the next stage, to deal with the concerns that we have.

Schools remained open, students continued to be educated. On the social front, despite all the challenges, we look at the contributions. Many groups have stepped up to help. President’s Challenge, for example, in 2019, raised $13.2 million. In 2020, it went up to $16.1 million. Slight dip in 2021 but $15 million still. ComChest, normally, $56 million a year. FY20, it is $87 million. Giving.sg, $93.4 million in 2020, $95.6 million in 2021. And the list goes on.

Minister Lawrence Wong was asked, amid all the concerns with cost and inflation and so on, what would we do. I will just end off on this point. It is that we are in good health.

The policies that we have taken are not easy. The easiest path to take for any government of the day is to spend and keep your electorate happy. In my view, it is completely politically naïve to talk about balanced Budget, to talk about tax increases when you have reserves. I do not know what the reserves comprise. Temasek and MAS, we know. And GIC, I am not even going to ask Minister Lawrence what the amount is, but we keep it confidential for strategic reasons. But we do have a fair bit of reserves. And we have seen how that came into play in the last few years. Should the situation arise in the coming years, I have no doubt that MOF would step in and do what needs to be done. But we are only able to do that because we are healthy. We have our powder kept dry. And that is the only powder that we have. We have nothing else.

Which is why a Budget like this is important. As we deal with the present, we also need to deal with the future. As we deal with the individual needs, we also need to step back and look at the bigger picture. It is important that we do that. Be disciplined, do what we can. But all these can only be done when you have the support of the people.

And in Parliament, as we debate this, it is important that we communicate as effectively as we can, win the hearts and minds. We are not going to be able to convince everyone. Not everyone will feel that they benefit equally. But on balance, are we able to uplift lives? Are we able to make things better for Singaporeans? Are we able to make things better for Singapore, for today and for tomorrow?

I believe that we have laid the foundations for this. And I am grateful to all who have contributed to that on both sides of the House to debate the issues. It now leaves for us, as we have passed all the necessary Bills and so on, to execute it and to make it happen, to improve on it, and to build on it, so that we come back again next year and repeat the process, so that we can make the difference.

Of all the countries in the world, as we are all struggling with all the challenges that we face, I think we can be confident that we have the wherewithal to look after our people. And to look after our people well today, and for tomorrow. [Applause.]