Additional Support Measures in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Order read for Resumption of Debate on Question [26 March 2020],

"That the Ministerial Statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance on Additional Support Measures in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic be considered by Parliament." − [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance]

Question again proposed.

2.36 pm

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mr Speaker, Sir, it has been more than two months since the first case of COVID-19 hit Singapore. Since then, almost on a daily basis, we hear of grim updates of worsening situations about the number of cases spiking up, more lockdowns and restrictions around us, around the world, and economies and markets in a near meltdown state. More than one million people around the world have now been infected with the virus.

In Singapore, we have progressively stepped up measures – restricting travels, raised to DORSCON Orange, working from home, safety distancing and others – the latest being the stepped-up measures to apply a one-month circuit breaker to quell the recent sharp rises in cases.

The next one month will be critical in our fight. The health and well-being of Singaporeans must come first. Hence, the necessary and painful further measures added on, which would understandably impact our lives and also further disrupt businesses.

Sir, our economy is being hit on both ends – external and the domestic front, and also in both the supply and the demand side of the value chain. I fear the worst is yet to come, with more businesses at risk of failing and more jobs at risk of being lost.

We must do our best to stem this economic contraction, if not, slow that economic shrinkage.

The latest MTI forecast downgraded Singapore's GDP growth to -4% to -1%. In other words, 2020 will be a year of recession.

GDP growth essentially is computed by aggregating the outputs in consumption or C, I for investment or I, the trade export less import or X minus I, and finally, Government spending or G.

Given the still deteriorating situation, the unprecedented restrictive measures as well as uncertainties ahead, we can expect consumption, investments and exports to decrease sharply, contracting the overall GDP. This is a given. The only component that can shore up the economy now is G – Government spending.

And since February, we have seen the Government introducing three heavy doses of Budget support measures, including today's announcement of further expansions of measures to prop up the GDP.

We have to utilise a combination of both the current reserves from this term of Government and a draw from the past reserves to fund the various packages. Having this financial strength and capacity to inject massive spending into the economy in this time of need, yet without straining our fiscal balance sheet, is most reassuring. It instills confidence and puts us in good stead to continue attracting investments and trade.

It also reassures Singaporeans that the Government has the financial capacity to fight the COVID outbreak and take care of Singaporeans so that our people are not in a state of fear, which could otherwise result in further cut back in consumption and other social consequences.

Also, importantly, our strong accumulated past reserves guarantee us the resource to stabilise and rebuild our economy and thereafter, engineer new growth areas again when the crisis is over.

Thanks to the decades of careful financial management, today, we are able to deal with this crisis in a position of financial strength.

I have been in the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Finance and Trade and Industry since I became a Member of Parliament in 2006. The reason I choose to serve in this GPC is because I truly believe that financial prudence and discipline will safeguard Singapore, and I want to do my part in Parliament to uphold this key foundational principle. The GPC for Finance must be the guardian of financial prudence and discipline.

To me, financial prudence and discipline are not just ideological beliefs but real and necessary adherence so as to ensure our continuing existence as a country.

Over the years of Budget debates and speaking about financial prudence in this House, I often do get critiques or even ridicules from some quarters that say that I am too conservative in my views and that the Government is already building too much buffer in our financial management.

I actually think it is always good to err on the safe side when it comes to the country's finances. Even if we did indeed over-save, the investment returns of our excess savings will still be ploughed back to fund the current Budget through our Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC). In Singapore's context, we actually need a higher factor of safety financially, so to speak, just so that we have the financial capacity to rebuild and restore our entire economy again should a catastrophic event happen in Singapore.

Sir, the three Budget Packages, though announced in short successions, mirrored the fast escalating COVID-19 situation that we face.

Of course, the key focus must be still to save livelihoods and to support businesses. I am very glad that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has further expanded the Job Support Scheme to cover 75% of all workers in Singapore for the first $4,600 of their monthly salary and the payout will be made in April – as soon as next week, if they have PayNow and Giro.

I think that this is important. The direct cash wage subsidies are still the most practical way to save jobs and to help companies with their cash flow problems. It has worked for us before during the financial crisis and helped us save jobs. Given the deteriorating situation, the timeliness of the assistance packages and the measures becomes more crucial. We need to have it sooner rather than later, as has been expressed in the Resilience Budget as well as today's Solidarity Budget.

The substantially increased support to the most badly affected sectors like aviation and tourism in the Resilience Package are most necessary to help save jobs as they are really being directly hit by the impact of COVID-19. Although, very sadly, some workers may inevitably be laid off or see their incomes significantly reduced.

To help those who lost their jobs or have seen significant drops in income due to COVID-19, the COVID-19 Support Grant (CSG) is introduced. The CSG provides cash grant of $800 a month for three months for lower and middle income Singaporeans who lost their jobs due to the virus.

As the scheme can only be ready for application from May 2020 onwards, those who need immediate assistance in April can apply for the Temporary Relief Fund (TRF). Kudos to the Government for going that extra mile to ensure that assistance is paid out in the month of April.

I have been following Minister Desmond Lee's Facebook page very closely in the last one week. He has given very reassuring and timely updates on how Singaporeans can apply for the TRF and thereafter, the COVID-19 Support Grant, among the many schemes.

I am also heartened that MSF has agreed to be flexible and to be sympathetic in approving the applications and also to expedite the $500 payout, such as by using PayNow.

Just at my Community Centre alone, we have received more than 1,500 TRF applications in the last one week. Many of residents have been badly impacted by the crisis in the last two months and are in need of immediate relief.

Sir, with the recessionary environment that we are in now, it is unlikely that we can see net positive job creation from the business sectors in the coming months. Therefore, the visible hand of the Government or G will have to come in again, and I am glad we are committing to creating 10,000 jobs, primarily in the public sector over the next one year under the SGUnited Jobs Initiative. With most workplaces shut down and distancing measures in place, I hope that the job placement efforts would not be severely curtailed and I hope that the agencies continue to work on helping workers find jobs.

I am also glad that the Government has not forgotten the self-employed Singaporeans who are also badly affected by the crisis and has extended assistance them, and as of today, we have extended the package as well. The Self-Employment Person Income Relief Scheme is a good start. It is always difficult to devise a new scheme from scratch and all in a short span of time. Self-employed persons come from a wide range of circumstances, and hence whatever is the criteria set, there will be some who do not meet the criteria or fall through the gaps.

I must say I received the most queries on this scheme from my residents since the scheme was announcement on 26 March. While I am glad the scheme has been further improved and enhanced, I hope that MOF and MOM can continue to fine-tune this scheme with the aim to include more self-employed Singaporeans who are in need of the assistance.

Sir, to help businesses overcome the immediate challenges, all three Budget packages address the three concerns foremost in the minds – cash flow, costs and credit. In particular, cash flow is the most critical and immediate concern. The various cash flow support assistance whether is via the JSS, Wage Credit Scheme or the deferment of income tax payments can help ease the pain.

I appreciate that MOF is now doing their best to flow the payouts to companies sooner, as soon as in the month of April. I hope the MOF can also fast-track the later tranches of the JSS earlier, if possible to July and August instead of paying the final tranches in October. The sectors that are severely affected like aviation and tourism would badly need the cash assistance sooner rather later.

Sir, on the availability of credit, the Finance Minister also enhanced the various financing schemes as well as introduced the new Temporary Bridging Loan Programme for companies in the tourism sector. Of significance is also the $20 billion loan capital set aside to catalyse the private sector loan capital to support promising companies with strong capabilities. Such public-private partnership to avail credit can have a multiplying effect and move the needle in providing risk capital which can be used to develop opportunistic and new-to-economy capabilities. Having such forward-looking investments, even during a crisis, bodes well when the recovery does come. I hope more details can be shared.

I will conclude with a few questions for the Deputy Prime Minister.

Firstly, we have taken extraordinary measures to deal with the extraordinary crisis, in the process setting new precedence, new benchmarks for references. Therefore, it is also important in this debate that we articulate and establish the basis and the justification of our strong actions and also the proportionality of it. So, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he can set out the basis and rationale for our fiscal responses so far, and how is this crisis different from past crises?

The Government has implemented a series of measures since January and many Singaporeans are trying hard to adapt, to adjust to the new restrictions and measures. There are still plenty of uncertainties ahead. The outbreak may actually get worse before it gets better. And there is no certainty how long this will take. Financial assistance aside, how could we help Singaporeans cope with this crisis better, especially with the circuit breaker we put in place and enforced? How can we help Singapore cope and respond better to this crisis?

We now have the Unity Budget, the Resilient Budget and the Solidarity Budget. There may well be further Budget packages depending on how the COVID-19 situation develops, but I believe we will eventually have a Victory Budget in time to come where we position ourselves for a strong recovery and to emerge stronger. So, I would like to hear from the Deputy Prime Minister how he sees Singapore emerging from this crisis once the storm passes. Sir, with that, I support all three Budgets.

2.51 pm

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the Additional Support Measures in response to COVID-19.

As we speak, the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve rapidly in Singapore and in every country around the world. The impact of COVID-19 on individuals and businesses is unprecedented. In just a short span of 10 weeks since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Singapore, all our lives have changed dramatically. How we work, interact, eat and even greet each other has changed. Even standing-in-line has required us to practise safe distancing.

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the various measures across countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is causing severe economic impact on businesses as channels for the demand for goods and services as well as supply chains have been disrupted and individuals have suffered loss of income, and for some, even their jobs. The Supplementary or Resilience Budget and now the Solidarity Budget are much needed as the individual lives, families, communities and businesses are hurting.

The primary focus of the Resilience Budget and the Solidarity Budget is the health and safety of every Singaporean and protecting livelihoods, supporting viable businesses, manage the immediate challenges of cash flow, cost and credit given the drastic and sudden impact on business demand and supply. While helping our people and business deal with immediate pain, I am glad that the Resilience Budget does also invest in ensuring that Singapore stays resilient and emerges stronger.

The $15.1 billion which Deputy Prime Minister Heng had outlined out of the $48 billion Resilience Budget for the Job Support Scheme (JSS) and now with the additional enhanced Job Support Scheme with the Solidarity Budget will pay 25% of monthly wages for every Singaporean worker in employment, capped at an income level of $4,600, for nine months until the end of 2020.

Given the sharp drop in business demand and the disruptions to supply chains, the challenge is that businesses may not be able to afford to continue at the same capacity and cost and hence will and may still have some of the jobs impacted and retrenchments may not be avoidable for some of their workers.

Can the Deputy Prime Minister also share how we ensure that businesses get this wage support will continue to hire these workers? What support will be given to workers if retrenchment is still inevitable? The Temporary Relief Fund as well as the COVID-Support Grant which provide three months of partial income support would go some way to help those whose income has been impacted or jobs have been lost. But as the Deputy Prime Minister has pointed out, the key is helping people keep their jobs so that livelihoods are not impacted.

How do we help people find jobs,especially in today's environment as businesses are shrinking and jobs are going away? As it is likely that the COVID-19 situation will continue for some time, what is crucial is that the economy does not come to a standstill.

It is timely that the Resilience package and the Solidarity Budget are providing training and income support for also the self-employed persons (SEPs) as they too have been impacted quite severely.

For the Self-Employed Persons Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) and the COVID-19 Support Grant (CSG), while means testing is necessary for their eligibility, I do hope that even with the enhanced eligibility criteria so-called the increase of the annual value of eligibility criteria for the household type, I do hope that there will still be flexibility in cases where self-employed persons do need help in qualifying for this support.

Ultimately, though, we must still work together to keep the economy going. While we are fortunate to have strong past reserves that we can draw on to provide the needed relief as well as to prepare workers and businesses for the recovery, unless there is business and economic growth, over the long term, this will not be sustainable. Therefore, we should all pull together to work to contain this spread so that we can shorten the period and return to normalcy as soon as possible, although the timeline looks like it is going to drag on.

MOM’s call and measures to support people to work from home and now with the latest circuit breakers, most people will be working from home except for those in essential services. There could be, however, individuals and some companies that may not have the resource or be enabled to do so, as they do not have access to capabilities to telecommute. What help can be extended to both individuals and businesses to help them with this transition and to enable them to work effectively from home?

For the worker, even if he or she is resourced to work from home, because all of use are working from home on a mass scale, a family’s resources may not be sufficient to meet the needs of everyone all at once. As an example, the family may have a notebook, but now that all family members are working from home, they will all be vying for the same resource at the same time. The other consideration would be how conducive the environment at home is for everyone. Just imagine several adults at a home teleconferencing at the same time and then having children trying to do their home-based learning also at the same time in a small space. All these will add stress to any home environment.

While funding is important and necessary, given how quickly things are changing, it takes more than funding and policy to ensure that Singaporeans impacted get the support needed. Equally important is having the right capability and the process to pull together resources to ensure that needs can be met.

To illustrate the point, there are people who because they are either vulnerable or have family circumstances that make it difficult for them to get essential services they need. How do we ensure that products and services can reach them? With the surge of demand also for essential services, even if people have the ability to get online for those services, it may be very difficult because now online orders are also overwhelmed. Providing these services is quite a challenge. So, how can we provide a way to broker and get resources better connected so that both businesses and individuals who need these services will be able to access them in a timely manner? For example, could we have a portal for people to be able to know what needs are, to sign up and to be able to be activated if their resources or their capabilities are required.

I am personally concerned for the overall well-being of Singaporeans caused by the anxiety of the COVID-19 outbreak and infection. Added to this is the stress brought about with safe distancing. We are social beings and interaction and relationships are important to us.

To some extent, I do see a silver lining as technology today – while it cannot completely substitute a face-to-face interaction – has allowed us to continue to engage despite the need for safe distancing. Video-calls and teleconferencing have allowed people to continue to "see" each other as well as to "work with each other" across different locations.

Just last weekend, while we had to avoid large group meetings to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19, I was glad that I was still able to brief almost 70 of our volunteers at the same time, using digital technology to be able to ensure that we were able to distribute the re-usable masks over the weekend.

So, while it is painful, this crisis is also accelerating the need for and driving transformation and change at all levels. Individuals and businesses are adopting and adapting to digital technologies and platforms to help them address current constraints and circumstances.

With COVID-19, many Singaporeans now have experienced and have first-hand understanding of the impact of Singapore’s dependency of imports for our food supply. Many Singaporeans are now aware of and appreciate the importance of Singapore’s target of producing 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030.

Beyond investing in research and technology to achieve productivity in farming and unlocking physical land for farming, we must also mobilise Singaporeans, both young and old, to develop our local talent to understand urban food production processes and business models to accelerate our efforts to achieve our ambitious target. This is an excellent unifying platform to rally Singaporeans for a resilient Singapore.

How and when COVID-19 will end is not clear. What is clear is that beyond the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets which are much needed, it will take each and every one of us, as well as businesses and the Government to work together in this fight against COVID-19. I support the Budget.

3.01 pm

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, the COVID-19 outbreak has ground the world economy to a halt and put many health systems all over the globe under significant strain. The Singapore Government has responded in a timely manner and has sought to contain the spread of the virus locally. Its actions have mitigated and kept the situation largely under control. Years of preparation, exercises and training in the healthcare realm, in particular, have borne fruit. However, a second phase of infections marked by, first, returning Singaporeans and now – by the increased community spread of the disease – has proved more challenging and difficult to manage.

Our workers fighting in the trenches and workers supporting the fight – from nurses to cleaners, from GP doctors to infectious disease specialists, from medical researchers to delivery persons, and those Singaporeans driving our people to hospitals and quarantine facilities – are our heroes. We should not forget our public officers, too. From civil servants and teachers to those guarding our borders and public spaces, namely, our men and women in uniform, we must honour them for trying to allow Singaporeans to live our lives as normally as possible while keeping us safe. The same goes for every Singaporean involved in this fight. Thank you for your efforts and for the hard work.

With the world economy practically shut down, the Government – like many others around the world over the last two to three weeks – has responded swiftly with financial support for its citizenry. To that end, it is mind-boggling that this House is debating a supplementary Budget that draws on the reserves just about one month after we have approved the annual Budget which included a first package of COVID-19 support measures. It was a Budget which Deputy Prime Minister Heng, with some pride announced, did not draw down past reserves. And since then, yet another package of measures in the shape of the Solidarity Budget has also been introduced. The situation has, indeed, turned quickly.

Sir, these supplementary Budgets are anything but supplementary. For the moment, they are a comprehensive response that will save businesses and jobs and help lower and middle income households tide over the difficult short-term effects of the global economic shutdown. It is good that the assistance quantum and timeframes for the various schemes are calibrated according to the different degrees of vulnerability faced by the target groups. For example, heavily impacted industries crucial for our open economy receive higher co-funding under the Jobs Support Scheme until the end of 2020. Self-employed Singaporeans, who are amongst the worst impacted by this crisis, receive nine months of assistance.

I acknowledge the support to a group of workers – private-hire bus drivers for whom some specific support and relief was announced by the Resilience Budget. Such measures do play an important part in mitigating cost-of-living concerns. I also wish to acknowledge the diligence of public officers, such as those at Enterprise SG, who have sought to engage financial institutions and banks to withhold the repossession of vehicles that our workers need for their livelihood. The challenge of much of this work – seeking the cooperation of large enterprises and businesses to exercise goodwill can be back-breaking and easily underestimated.

Nonetheless, Sir, it is very likely that some businesses will close, more workers will lose their jobs, and many Singaporeans will face or are already facing pay cuts. As Deputy Prime Minister Heng said, the economic effects of the pandemic are likely to be long lasting.

The financial assistance measures in the Resilience Budget, in the main, will be effective for three to nine months. The questions I have are for the longer term. I am of the view that this is rightly called a Resilience Budget, because resilience is about being able to take a hit and recovering to continue like before. But if the pandemic is likely to take at least one year to be resolved, how long would the economic effects last? What is the Government’s assessment of future scenarios?

This gives much food for thought, not just on questions the Workers’ Party asked in the past, such as the size and usage of our reserves. These questions will come to the fore again, and I am grateful for the many Singaporeans who have called for the Workers’ Party to keep pressing for a greater discussion of Singapore’s reserves. This remains an eminently reasonable call and embodies the spirit of SG Together with our people seeking information and taking ownership of our society and collective future.

Sir, we are already experiencing the prospects of a recession in Singapore, and the world is facing a prolonged recession. A bifurcation of the world between the US and China that this House was warned about may well accelerate as the world remembers the supply chain effects of COVID-19 on their economies. Separately, consumption in the US and Europe, which drive the world economy to a large extent, has dwindled and many remain hopeful for the pandemic to reach its peak and ease off quickly. The rest of the developing world are in a lockdown mode.

I believe this mighty storm that we are experiencing is not just something we need to keep safe from by staying at home. The storm shakes up the very structure of our open economy and threatens its foundation, especially our hub status. Looking ahead, it could derail and damage our aspiration to be a Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.

NUS Business School Professor Lawrence Loh wrote in a recent commentary that the Resilience Budget is like the New Deal implemented by President Franklin D Roosevelt to rebuild the American economy and society during the Great Depression. The New Deal took more than six years and secured the US as a welfare state with a strong federal government and a perennial national debt problem. The comparison with the New Deal is nonetheless thought-provoking.

Indeed, the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets have the features of a New Deal for Singapore. Through the Resilience Budget, we now have a taxpayer-funded unemployment insurance, income support for lower income families, food vouchers for the poor, and protection for the self-employed – albeit temporary.

Given the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy and society, will these schemes represent a new normal, akin to a multi-year New Deal to help Singaporeans cope and bounce back from economic hardship? For Singaporeans who will continue to see disruption and technology reduce their job prospects, can we expect continued support for them in the nine months after this package expires, particularly for training and wage support, for example? If so, what considerations would determine the Government’s thinking on this matter?

To this end, Sir, COVID-19 has thrown up some useful lessons, like all crises do. For example, the implications of a COVID-19 type pandemic must have implications on our population and economic plans and strategies. COVID-19 has also exposed sectors of the economy that could perhaps be manned by more Singaporean workers in future for better resilience and national outcomes. A thorough review of what a living wage in Singapore ought to be for Singaporeans who man our critical infrastructure and keep the country’s heart beating would also be appropriate and timely, the same way strengthening our food security and critical supply chains are.

And what about our army of cleaners, both local and foreign, and the local SMEs and cleaning companies that operate in this space? Singapore owes them a debt of gratitude in this difficult period and it is time our workers who keep Singapore clean are paid far more respectable wages, with Singaporeans ready to play their part, too. I do not think many of us truly appreciate how much more work they are doing trying to keep our HDB estates clean while continuing to clear garbage and bulky items, and keeping to their daily routines. But that is not all. It is the respect all of us must extend to them and all those who earn an honest living that matters so much in shaping the type of progressive society we aspire to be. Only then can we say we are a people who leave no one behind.

After Singapore defeats COVID-19 – and defeat it we will – let us turn our attention, more acutely than ever, back on the Singaporean worker and their families, the reality of inequality and job competition. How can we improve their lot? How can they be better protected and not hamstrung by the insecurity to raise a family in the socio-economic context of Singapore? Sir, the answers to these objectives, I firmly believe, will not erode the Singaporean work ethic but enhance it and enhance our solidarity as Singaporeans.

And, of course, the disturbing news many of us read this morning in The Straits Times on the living conditions of some foreign workers is a stain on Singapore and Singaporeans. And unless we act decisively in the days, months and years ahead, this stain will not go away and it will eat at our collective conscience, damaging our sense of national unity and solidarity.

Sir, a parallel question I have is the timing of the COVID-19 crisis on our fiscal policy and annual Budget exercises. We are nearing the end of the term of Government, and the accumulated surpluses have come in handy to meet public needs. Even so, we are now needing to draw on the reserves, and I support this.

But if resilience is going to be a longer term issue lasting perhaps even up to five years, and a major restructuring of the economy and society is required, how is the Government going to balance the Budget in the next term of Government? Would we need to adopt belt-tightening austerity measures to balance the Budget? Can we afford to tighten the belt? And do we need to adopt a different stance towards the reserves, debt financing and deficits?

All these considerations are going to affect the lives of Singaporeans and our political system as well. A PAP Government with a fresh five-year mandate given by Singaporeans before the next annual Budget will face an unprecedented problem in recent memory. The initial period of the term of Government would require extra fiscal prudence and it will also mean less fiscal firepower to deal with the mighty storm of the pandemic and its aftermath. A government drawing on the reserves in its first year of the new term is unprecedented, but this may be the case if we are looking at additional support in the coming months.

Mr Speaker, Sir, rather than focus on the timing of the General Elections, I think public debate will be better focused on the choices before us: whether the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are the shape of a New Deal for Singapore; a new social compact for Singapore; how are we going to renew, rebuild and reinvigorate our economy and society after the storm has passed and the dust settles.

To conclude, Mr Speaker, in 1971, in a speech to his grassroots leaders, the late Foreign Minister S Rajaratnam spoke of a Democracy of Deeds, where our actions ought to speak louder than our words. Mr Rajaratnam was wise enough to share with his grassroots leaders that he was not saying that a one-party Parliament was a good thing. In this likely prolonged state of economic recession, Parliament will have to focus on a Democracy of Needs. Today, we are witnessing the threats of a pandemic to both livelihood and life itself. So, we must question its long-term impacts on the economic and even psycho-social needs of our citizens. Tomorrow, after we defeat COVID-19 – and defeat it we will – we must address the long-term needs of our people in a sustainable and equitable manner. To this end, our reserves and the prospect of taxes should continue to be robustly debated and considered in a detailed manner. The Workers’ Party will play its role in these debates, which is not just a function of talk, but a key purpose of this House – to determine what is best for this country we call home and our fellow Singaporeans. Sir, I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

3.14 pm

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, Sir, the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly a shock to everyone. This is the global catastrophe of our times. Singapore and the rest of the world were so different just four months ago. Today, the world – or rather, more correctly, humanity – is facing the biggest challenge of our generation. Today, the world is so interconnected with all countries so interdependent on one another for free flow of services, goods and resources. COVID-19 is not just another rainy day.

It is also not just another thunderstorm, which was just described by Mr Pritam Singh. But it is like an Ice Age descending upon the world, suddenly freezing everything in its way – all transportation, human movements and activities. The impact is not just medical but we can see a larger social and economic and fallout, as the Ice Age recedes later. We can expect a tsunami of flood waters to follow.

Nature has its unique ways to handle external shocks. We should learn from nature. During the seasonal change from autumn to winter, many animals and plants have adapted and developed coping mechanisms. Many animals such rodents and polar bears go into hibernation mode during winter. Hibernation functions to conserve energy when sufficient food is not available and when external conditions are hash and unfavourable. The animals are able to lower their metabolic rate, lower their temperature, slow down breathing and heart rate to conserve energy. Hibernation may last for weeks or months. During this COVID global crisis, how I wish Singapore can just go into a hibernation mode and emerge only later when the global contagion is over.

Sir, we need to find ways to hibernate our economy, conserve our energy during this viral long winter period so that we can all emerge alive and well later on. When this winter gives way to spring – as it would ultimately – then we are ready to take off and rebuild our economy and our lives again.

During this period, what are the main worries on most peoples' minds? We are worried for our safety and health. We are worried about how the containment measures will disrupt our lives and livelihoods. How our jobs are being affected, how are we going to pay for our daily bills, our mortgages, loans, insurance premiums, utility bills, service and conservancy fees and food? And for many employers, they are facing the largest and biggest challenge with revenue plunging sharply and their supply chains disrupted. With both supply and demand evaporating suddenly in a short duration of two months, many viable and good businesses may not survive this winter.

I applaud the Government for the quick rescue actions to help the individuals and the businesses with the Unity and Resilient and now the Solidarity Budgets. These are targeted to address many of the these concerns. We are immensely grateful to our Pioneers and Merdeka Generations for diligently building up our national reserves which now serves as our hibernation, emergency and survival fuel. As this is an unprecedented times, I would like to present a few suggestions to Deputy Prime Minister and our Government to consider.

Yes, I am not asking us to dip into our CPF, but I would like to ask the Government to consider whether is it possible to temporarily cease both employer and employee CPF contributions.

To reduce the manpower cost of the employers and to increase the monthly take home pay of our salaried workers, can we temporarily stop CPF contributions for the next three to six months? This will also include stopping the mandatory MediSave contributions of self-employed persons (SEPs) including taxi drivers and many others. Together with the enhanced Job Support Scheme, this will further cushion our employers from manpower cost. For the employees and SEPs, it will ease their cash flow.

I understand the importance and significance of our CPF as it serves as our retirement nest eggs. But this is an unprecedented time. Even the Government has to dip into our national reserves to tie us through this crisis. We can always save again when the crisis is over and when spring is back.

Two, one of the major concerns of stopping CPF contributions is the payment of the HDB housing loans, which many depends on. Just like the recent announcements for deferment of housing loans under MAS and the banks, and the announcement in the Budget regarding deferment of study loans repayments, can HDB consider deferring all HDB mortgages repayment for the next three to six months? In addition, I hope this deferment can be interest free so that HDB mortgagees loans repayment period need not be lengthened too much.

If HDB can grant such an interest free deferment, then CPF Board will be at the losing end. So, I would like to suggest the CPF Board to consider a freeze in interest payment to all CPF accounts for the same period.

Last of all, bringing forward the S&CC rebates as well as U Save.

To further ease the households expenses, Government has announced 1.5 to 3.5 months of S&CC rebates and U Save in Budget 2020. I would suggest these rebates be brought forward to the next three months instead of spacing out throughout the year. This will certainly help many HDB households to ease their cash flow.

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister and also all the Ministers who are leading the COVID-19 task force for their tireless work to overcome this severe winter. Our hearts go to all those who have been severely affected by this virus. And our prayers and thanks also go to our healthcare workers and other support agencies staff. To those whose jobs are on the line, we stand with you and we are here with you. We are fighting a war; this is worse than a guerrilla war. The enemy is invisible but not invincible.

Only by staying together, following the Government's guidelines on social distancing, exercise personal hygiene and stay at home, complying with quarantine orders, then we can overcome this long winter together faster and emerge stronger as a nation. Everyone of us is on the frontline now and we must play our part. Our founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had once spoken about Singaporeans as people with physical and spiritual ruggedness. This is the time that we prove him right. We will prevail. Yes! Mr Speaker, I support the Motion.

3.21 pm

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Mr Speaker, Sir, Deputy Prime Minister Heng has announced three rounds of Budget measures in three months to help Singaporeans overcome COVID-19. These measures have made a huge difference in assuring Singaporeans that our Government is taking take care of all of us.

In living with COVID-19, as individuals and businesses, we all have to make huge changes which are often uncomfortable and unprecedented. But even as we make these huge changes overnight – and these are changes which would in better times have taken months or years of study and discussion, the devil is always in the details.

Let me give one example which I am personally involved with. Before I carry on my speech, I will like to declare my interest as the CEO of ComfortDelGro Taxi business. Minister Khaw Boon Wan recently announced that taxi and private-hire car drivers can now help to make grocery and food deliveries. This is a classic solution of killing two birds with one stone, addressing the ramped-up demand for grocery and food deliveries, and giving our affected drivers an alternative source of income.

As the taxi Head, I am all for the idea. We have 10,000 taxis and 25,000 cabbies who are experiencing a deep drop in their income from the lack of passengers. Cabbies' income will continue to drop even we have waived their taxi rental completely for the next 28 days. Thus, I am open to all ways that can help our cabbies survive. However, the puzzle pieces do not automatically click into place.

One much overlooked barrier is parking fee. For example, cabbies making food deliveries need to park the car in a carpark, wait for the food to be ready which take some time, and drive to a destination which might also charge parking fees. The key difference between car drivers and delivery people using bicycles or motorcycles, is the parking fees, and the need to find carpark slots which may be unavailable or very far away.

The issue of parking is quite small still as compared to other issues, but I would still like to appeal to HDB to waive the parking charges for delivery vehicles in this trying period.

I would like to address the next more important issue. Many of my residents, friends and colleagues are complaining that they cannot find a slot for the online grocery companies to deliver their groceries in a timely manner. Many think that these online firms cannot cope with their delivery schedules due to the lack of delivery vehicles. Thus, urging me to send 10,000 taxis to the rescue. This is so that they can get their groceries ordered online to be delivered on time.

Things are not so simple, however. There is a market failure. Maybe it is time for Government intervention. As industries are thrown into states of ramped-up demand versus no demand, there are other situations where "perfect matches" might exist. Coming back to the topic of online grocery shopping. I understand that the long waiting time, of up to a week or two, may not necessarily be due to the lack of delivery personnel, but the lack of people to pick and pack the groceries. We probably need thousands of them.

Can we find labour? What about the people in the tourism industry that are without jobs due to almost zero tourist arrival? Can they be given the opportunity to step up and earn some money? We understand that MOM has already allowed workers, especially those employed in sectors which are badly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, to take on other jobs while they are on paid leave or unpaid leave, including airport ground handling staff, hotel chambermaid, waiter and waitress and so on. We need e2i and other job agencies, to leverage on existing job portals so that down-and-out Singaporeans can refer to and sign up for temporary jobs which are currently in huge demand.

COVID-19 is forcing us to make rapid changes. This need for swift changes can be seen in a good light.

For example, COVID-19 is accelerating digital transformation and completely overturning the way things may have been done, things which might have taken a far longer period to change otherwise. Many people, for instance, have to work from home, which bosses might not have liked in the past including myself but there is no choice now. If a blend of home and office work becomes a more accepted norm, this will improve work-life balance and also traffic congestion in the long run, including easing the public transport on the train or the bus.

This also presents an opportunity for the Government to spend wisely. Not only as a fiscal stimulus to keep the economy going or put money in citizen's pockets, now $600, but to build up Singapore's future capabilities.

One of these major areas is in digitisation, which has become critical at a time when the only thing that could link us when you are at home for the next one month to the outside world, is our Internet connection.

Take home-based learning. The learning curve is extremely steep and drastic, yes, but thousands of teachers all over Singapore have no choice but to teach onscreen. This goes beyond school teachers to those who give tuition, teach musical instruments, even corporate trainers. We urge them to organise themselves to learn different online learning platforms so that they can use these to survive and perhaps with a nudge from the Government with some funding. They need these digital skills now, and they can use these skills even after the COVID-19 threat is over.

Similarly, our fellow Singaporeans selling food at the hawker centres or eating places have to adapt to a new reality come tomorrow, 7 April. To better survive, they need to establish an online presence so they can sell to Singapore residents who order through platforms like of Food Panda and others. Likewise, for the cashless movement. Physical dollars and coins are not the cleanest items to carry around and now is the time to accelerate our cashless push.

The other is in food supplies. The vulnerability of Singapore's food supplies has never been clearer. While we have always diversified our food supplies, to obtain food from as many countries as possible, but COVID-19 is affecting every country. And while I hope another COVID-19 will not happen for the next century, it would be wise for us to think of how to invest in homegrown food.

We could encourage the growth of urban farming, the creation of farm plots around office buildings which staff can use to grow vegetables for not just for own consumption, but also for the mental well-being. This is what I have observed in my recent trip to Israel late last year. We have to put deep thoughts into making urban farming scalable and sustainable. In Mandarin, please, Mr Speaker.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] These are extraordinary times as we fight the COVID-19 outbreak. Take washing hands, for example. These days, we wash our hands often to reduce the chance of infection. After the outbreak, this habit will make us healthier.

Similarly, our hawkers are not used to selling food online. But after 7 April, they must learn to use online platforms to sell food to make up for the loss of no dining-in. Before, people like to use cash in the form of notes and coins that are good conduits for bacteria. Therefore, we have to popularise cashless transactions as much as possible. In the old days, to change a habit may take years, but now, we must change within a few months. If we do not change, we will not survive.

It is often said that a crisis also presents opportunities. This COVID-19 outbreak will eventually pass. As long as we stay united with the Government during the outbreak, learn digital technology and embrace the digital economy, the sky will become bluer after the rain.

(In English): In the long battle against COVID-19, it is not just a whole-of-Government effort that matter; it is a whole-of-nation effort. This is wartime. This is not a war against another human race but a war against an invisible virus. In war time, we must do what we may not like, change in the way we never thought we would, and do whatever we can to help everyone survive. Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

3.31 pm

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, to say that the COVID-19 outbreak has been a curve ball for the world must be the understatement of the century. In a span of two months, the viral outbreak has seen countries, rich and poor, scrambling to come to terms with understanding the health impacts of the disease and how to effectively contain its spread.

Social distancing measures have upturned economic and social activity. Today, 6 April, is a milestone in Singapore as most businesses prepare to shutter their premises in line with Government directives, something that has not happened in my lifetime.

What is enough to deal with the impacts of the virus? At one level, the health consequences on most people are manageable, with serious consequences falling on mainly the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. As such, it was recently pointed out by Harvard Prof Michael Sandel that one could theoretically make a choice that economic and social activity should be kept up as only a minority of people would become seriously ill. However, he warns that making that choice would be a purely utilitarian calculation that is detrimental to the common good, as there is a moral dimension that is immutable. We are all members of society and the key question is: "What do we owe one another?"

There is also the concern that the healthcare system should not be overwhelmed. With our own rising caseload from local transmissions, I agree that the circuit breaker directive announced last Friday is necessary.

To ease the economic pain caused by COVID-19, G20 leaders have agreed that governments should utilise available tools to minimise the economic and social impact. To this end, many governments have announced support packages to help businesses and households. The Resilience Budget before this House had a price tag of $48 billion. Together with the first package announced in the Unity Budget in February, the total of about $55 billion amounts to about 11% of our GDP. This is within the GDP range of the packages previously announced by some other governments. I also note the further support measures just announced in the Solidarity Budget, which bring the total package to about 12% of GDP.

As mentioned by Workers' Party Secretary-General Mr Pritam Singh earlier, we will vote in support of the proposed Government measures. That said, we have some questions about how the sums add up and whether some of the monies will go towards achieving their intended purposes. We are also concerned that large corporations who receive taxpayer help do not engage in irresponsible behaviour once recovery resumes. My other colleagues will speak on some of these aspects.

My speech today will focus on seeking some clarifications on the measures to soothe employment and income disruptions.

First, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS). In the Resilience Budget, the Government announced wage support for local employees to cover nine months of wages. This is to be paid to the employers, set at a base support level of 25%, with 50% support for food services and 75% for aviation and tourism-related sectors.

There have been calls for the Government to widen the definitions of qualifying businesses in the various sectors as each sector has an eco-system of suppliers of goods and services that will rise and fall with the industry.

As an example, the industry for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) is listed in the Budget for enhanced wage support at 75% but only for operators of purpose-built MICE venues. However, it was pointed out in a Business Times article on 3 April that contractors who provided MICE-specific products and services to those venues, would only get the 25% base level wage support. Such an anomaly should be reviewed as each industry has a supply chain and eco-system that will be similarly impacted. The situation is even more acute with the circuit-breaker policy in place.

It would also be opportune for the Government to clarify how the JSS will directly benefit workers since the wage offsets are paid to employers rather than to the employees. Deputy Prime Minister Heng has urged employers who receive the JSS to hold on to their workers. However, prior to the Resilience Budget, many employers had already initiated their own cost management schemes by asking employees to take salary cuts. For instance, some airline staff have been asked to go on no-pay leave for varying periods. With airlines now getting 75% wage offset from the taxpayer, is there any obligation on employers to review these no-pay leave arrangements reached earlier, to see if they are still justified after the wage offsets?

To take another example, retail shops have had minimal sales and some employers have asked staff to work reduced hours and accept pay cuts. Over the weekend, after the circuit-breaker policy was announced, employers in non-essential services have told staff that their job situation was not assured.

To be sure, employers without revenue have to make tough choices and I understand that. To that end, I note that Deputy Prime Minister Heng's speech included a hope that those who receive support will use the resources wisely and responsibly, and that the Government will not hesitate to take action against any abuse. In the context of the Jobs Support Scheme, could the Minister clarify what would constitute abuse by an employer?

Next, I move on to assisting retrenched and unemployed workers. To assist retrenched and unemployed workers, the Resilience Budget offers the Temporary Relief Fund and the COVID-19 Support Grant. The Temporary Relief Fund has been announced to be a one-time $500 cash payout in the month of April while the COVID-19 Support Grant gives three months of support at $800 per month for three months. The intention behind these measures is to put cash into the hands of households where jobs have disappeared, and I agree with that.

I have a clarification on these schemes. It is stated that to qualify for the payments, the job loss must be due to COVID-19. Does the applicant have to prove the causal connection between COVID-19 and the job loss? For instance, take an employee of a company which had been incurring losses even before COVID-19 broke. If he is terminated by the company now, will his application for assistance be rejected because it is arguable that his job loss was not caused by the virus outbreak? If that is the case, it would seem very harsh as it is going to be very difficult for him to find a new job in the current environment.

Sir, in early March, I met a man who was in his 40s wearing the ubiquitous bright green t-shirt of GrabFood delivery workers. I assumed he had been doing such assignments for some time and asked him how it was going. To my surprise, he said that he had just started with Grab that very day and narrated the turbulence he faced since the start of the year. In January, he was working as a restaurant manager but, due to poor business, the restaurant had to close. He then tried switching to be a mini-bus driver but due to the lack of tourists, he had to abandon that idea. To make matters worse, his wife had concurrently lost her job, too, as she worked in the travel industry. And to top it off, they have two children aged 14 and 12 to raise.

This family's experience is, unfortunately, becoming more common and affecting more industries. For instance, we know of a tentage contractor who has recently had to fold as there have been no temple dinners for months.

Mr Speaker, there is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked economic havoc globally and governments need extraordinary measures to cushion citizens through it. We will support the Government's proposed measures and I look forward to the Government's clarifications on the queries I have raised about the Jobs Support Scheme and the measures to assist displaced workers.

Finally, as we enter into a month of circuit breaker and possibly beyond, we shall surely miss the time spent together with our extended families, friends, colleagues and others we hold dear. This is also a time for reflection and appreciating what we may have taken for granted all this while.

3.41 pm

Mr Ong Teng Koon (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Mr Speaker, these past few months have been surreal. It feels as though we are living in a science fiction film, and not a particularly believable one. Globally, the first 100,000 cases of COVID took three months to be discovered. The next 100,000 cases – one month, and then it was one week. Now, we are adding more than 100,000 cases in a single day.

We are fighting a war, not a conventional war but, nonetheless, a war. This might be the biggest crisis the world has ever faced in modern times. It is global, it is unrelenting. It knows no borders nor nationalities nor social classes, none of the traditional lines that divide society.

The Government has rolled out two unprecedented Supplementary Budgets – the Resilience Budget and the Solidarity Budget. The central theme running through these two Budgets is the need to protect our people, people who have been financially devastated by this crisis. It also sends a very powerful message of the need to prevent inequality to be a societal fault line.

We seem to inhabit parallel universes. Rich parents are clamouring for schools to be shut in order to protect their children while poor parents are appealing for schools to be open, because they cannot stay at home. For them, no job means no food. They cannot work from home or WFH, as the new acronym goes.

Either way, the Government is holding a very difficult line. It has to decide to protect lives or to protect livelihoods. It is truly an unenviable task trying to balance such conflicting goals. But the role of the Government, especially in a crisis, is to hold the fabric of society together. Failure to do so will result in voter rebellion. Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Central, French Revolution; the pitchforks are just one crisis away.

Our fates are linked. We are one Singapore. We must help each other. Self-serving behaviour will only make the crisis much more dangerous than it needs to be. The neighbour who chooses to go out, not because he needs to but because he wants to, represents a failure of our society to inculcate the right values.

Mr Speaker, this pandemic has shown us that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, care-givers, utility workers, cleaners, delivery workers – these are the real heroes; not the management consultant nor the investment banker nor the high-powered lawyer who earn millions of dollars.

A market-based economy has its limitations. It can fail and it can fail spectacularly. And, today, it has done so once again.

Mr Speaker, perhaps, it is time we think of how to reward our true heroes with their real worth, instead of what companies say they are worth. In my mind, there is only one entity that can act as the buyer and seller of last resort for goods and services, and that is the Government. When the challenge is truly existential, only the state can offer a solution that is impactful and equitable for everyone.

As a buyer of last resort, the state, the Government needs make sure that businesses stay afloat and workers have jobs. When hotels are running at 20% occupancy, the Government can step in and utilise their beds as quarantine facilities. When the store owner is facing bankruptcy, the Government can step in and offer rental rebates and other reliefs. When the delivery worker, the gig worker, the restaurant staff cannot make a living by working from home, the Government can step in and offer unemployment benefits.

As a seller of last resort, the Government needs to continue to make sustained investment in our infrastructure and strategic industries, especially in public utilities and essential services – health, water, food, electricity, masks and even weapons for our national defence – because this pandemic has shown that our survival is too important to be left to the invisible hand of the market. It needs the strong hand of the Government.

Having a buffer for productive resources in our strategic industries might be inefficient, but it is not a cost. It is simply the premium we pay for insurance because one day – such as today – when we need to ramp up the productive capacities of our strategic industries, there would be no price too high for us to pay.

But, while the case might be strong for us to strengthen our domestic supply chain, we cannot turn out backs on globalisation and free trade. This pandemic will change the rules of international engagement. It will increase nationalism and experts have predicted a retreat from globalisation. It will increase anti-immigration sentiments. It will shift power from West to East.

Already, we have seen countries banning the exports of masks, a Singapore student getting beaten up in London, China exercising its soft power by delivering aid to Western countries in a total reversal of roles.

But, paradoxically, this pandemic has also shown that the world is a global village. We all got sick together and, to overcome this, we all must stick together. We need to continue to participate in international forums, especially the World Health Organization, because that remains critical for us to find a vaccine in order to defeat the virus.

Singapore must also use this opportunity to enhance our strategic position. We have shown the world that we can lead in many ways. We have first-class contact tracing protocols. Our engineers have put together the world's first contact tracing app, TraceTogether. We have a high level of trust between the Government and the people. And we must continue to allow the world to be confident that we can be relevant and contribute to the international society of states. Because all of us know that, if we are not at the table, we are on the table.

Mr Speaker, this pandemic has shown the importance of trust in our public institutions and in our Government. Tough choices need to be made and everyone has to make sacrifices in order to preserve our way of life. But they need to know that these decisions are made based on science and fact, not politics nor personal advantage. Because to solve big problems, we need big trust between the people and the Government. Not opportunism, not populism, not ideologies, not slogans. Trust depends on telling the truth. For the Government to retain the public's trust, it cannot distort facts nor try to manipulate the public with misleading headlines, as we have seen in many countries – so-called "first world countries" – trying to do this and they are suffering the consequences of it. This must not happen here.

The way that the Government has pulled out all the stops and mobilised society in such a way that makes me proud to call myself a Singaporean. I am proud of our Prime Minister, our Deputy Prime Minister, our Ministers, our public servants, our frontline workers and all manners of Singaporeans who have stepped up to be counted. We need leadership at this critical juncture and I am proud to say that our Government has unequivocally provided this.

But it is not the time to pat ourselves on the back. Because, like a goalkeeper, who can make 20 great saves but he makes a single error and lets in a single goal and people will suffer. And in this case, the price for error of judgement is death. So, we got to keep our eyes on the ball and continue to have the courage and conviction to make the right call.

Mr Speaker, politics is a serious business. The leaders that we elect can mean life and death for our people. Some nations and their leaders have reacted decisively by recognising the initial signs of danger. Others have prevaricated and brought disaster upon their citizens.

Mr Speaker, this crisis and this pandemic will inspire a generation of young people to come forward to serve the community and to serve humanity because there is no greater calling than the calling of public service. It is, indeed, a privilege and an honour to be of service to one's nation and one's people. I urge all Singaporeans to come forward and join the fight of our lifetime.

To quote my immensely courageous and respected friend and mentor, Mr Lim Swee Say, "Singapore together, Majullah forever". Mr Speaker, I wish our fine nation a thousand more years of unity, resilience, solidarity, peace, prosperity and good health. I support the Budget. [Applause.]

3.54 pm

Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, I rise in support of this Budget. The situation in relation to COVID-19 is a rapidly evolving one. We get daily reports of the numbers of cases being detected, both in Singapore and around the world. Even if we take a snapshot of the situation each time we debated this Budget, we see a different world.

When the original Budget Statement was announced in February and debated in March, Singapore had just over 100 cases. However, at least locally, we looked like we have turned a corner. At the time when I made my speech, there were more people making recoveries and only a small number of additional cases. At the same time, the situation in China appeared to be getting under control.

And at that time, there was the beginning of cases starting in other parts of the world and there were some concerns that we may have a second wave. The Budget provided for what seemed to be a very generous provision of $6.4 billion to deal with the impact of COVID-19.

Barely a few weeks later, the world had changed. There was a surge of cases all around the world and the second wave of COVID-19 became very real as the numbers of locally transmitted cases began to rise. This led to additional restrictive measures being implemented to prevent the spread and a further Resilience Budget being announced on 26 March 2020 to help mitigate the impact of these further measures.

The additional restrictions, already felt serious at that time, included the closing of bars and nightclubs, prohibiting large gatherings of more than 250 people, and many religious gatherings were also called off around that time. Safe distancing measures were also put into place, workplaces were required to implement Business Continuity Plans – all of these were intended to help us carry on with life.

Although the Resilience Budget was only two weeks ago, the latest restrictive measures, the circuit breakers that have been announced, made even those measures seem like indulgent luxuries. Now, with the latest measures, we will no longer be able to eat out or gather for any reasons outside of work. The only exception to this are those providing essential services. For the rest of us, the message is clear: stay home as much as possible. That is the best contribution that we can make.

In my own family, my wife, my daughter and I are all going to be at home together for a long time. But I think this is the message that we all have to understand and live with. It is going to be a different world for us, but only for one month, if we do things right.

All these strict controls and measures mean that the social norms will change as well. It will no longer be socially acceptable to meet up with friends outside of work and even meeting extended family members is not encouraged. So, what this means is we have to find new ways to connect with people who are close and dear to us.

Most Singaporeans fully understand the need for these measures. On Sunday, I walked around to just talk to a few of the hawkers in our area to find out how many of them would be operating. And most of them said they would continue to operate but probably for shorter hours. So, please, continue to get your daily necessities that you need from them. The markets and supermarkets will remain open, so there is no need for panic buying, but please make fewer trips and just go there to buy what you need and then go back.

One of the things that I think we all have to be conscious about is that the situation is, indeed, very serious. Just yesterday, there were a 120 new cases, the majority being locally transmitted. Yet, new clusters were found in workers' dormitories. So, there is yet another flank that has opened up. Our contact tracing teams are working incredibly hard. And while there is community spread, this is not yet widespread. The circuit breaker is our last chance to prevent going where many other countries have gone. So, there is a little bit of pain for all of us to put up with in the month ahead.

And in that respect, I think the Solidarity Budget is welcome. But it also tells us the steep price we have to pay for these measures. It is just under $6 billion and a further addition to the Budget and this is the price we pay for going on circuit breaker mode for one month. If things turn the corner, then we may face a better future after that. If not, especially if people do not take the circuit breaker measures seriously, then we may end up in a much more dire situation and maybe even deeper drawdowns may have to be made.

Like many colleagues, I also dropped by the community centres where the temporary relief schemes were being administered and spoke to the residents there to find out how they were coping, and these were many of the people who have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. These include Grab and taxi drivers, retail assistants and promoters, workers in the entertainment industry and food and beverage industry. Many, particularly the vulnerable ones who were not on full-time contracts, had their hours or working times reduced.

All of them were clearly in pain. One of the things that struck me was that, under their pain, were resilience and gratitude. They understood the measures were necessary and were grateful for the help provided to ride through the storm. In these times of great crisis, we sometimes see the best in people. One of our local hawkers in the Admiralty area, Ah Lock, told me he intended to stay open and to provide free meals for needy residents. This was both to help those in need as well as to keep his workers employed. It is definitely not going to be rosy for him financially, but he feels that this is the right thing to do.

Another person who has actually come out in an extraordinary way was my local provision shop owner in the Vista Point Market. At that time when DORSCON Orange was announced and many places were running out of rice, he carried on with an initiative to give out about 2,000 kg of brown rice to those who needed it. This was an initiative that he came up with before COVID-19 and which he carried through.

And it is little efforts like this that show the common humanity in all of us that no matter what we are running through, there is still something we can do for other people.

In many of the efforts that have come forward to distribute masks, volunteers have come forward to help, the hand sanitiser distribution likewise. And every time we asked for help, people come forward to help.

Now, as we go forward, the next biggest help we need to ask from everyone is to stay at home, look after your health and look after the health of your loved ones.

The Budget provides support for many of the most difficult pain points we will face in this coming month. Employers were concerned about wages to be paid to their workers. There is going to be substantial support for that, particularly for the large base of workers. Businesses were concerned about rentals. There is going to be support for that as well. So, the main aim of the Government is to cushion the financial and economic impact in the next month for a very large part of the country. And if we all do our part, this will, hopefully, not be too long drawn. Mr Speaker, a few words in Tamil.

(In Tamil): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] This is probably one of the most difficult challenges we have faced as a country since our Independence. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we have had to take measures that will make many parts of our economy ground to a halt.

For those of you working in areas like aviation, tourism, food and beverage or driving Grab or taxis, you will likely have seen your income drop significantly. If you have not sought help already, do drop by your Community Centres where the assistance schemes are being administered for those economically impacted by these measures. Likewise, do let your family and friends who have been affected know as well.

You will also realise that the latest outbreak has taken place in workers’ dormitories and some 20,000 workers have now been quarantined. For those whose businesses may be affected by the crunch in workers, please understand that measures are being taken to keep the workers in dormitories safe as well.

The next one month will be difficult, both economically and emotionally for all of us. Many of us will feel the economic pinch, either directly or indirectly, as work is disrupted on a large scale. Our children are going to be at home as well, and many parents will feel the challenge of having to assist with home-based learning for their children while they themselves try to work from home as well. At the same time, we will not be able to visit extended family members who do not live with us. Indeed, personally, my family will also be going through all of this.

However, we must understand that if we all do our part and get this right, the pain may be temporary and, after one month, we may be able to ease the restrictions a little. On the other hand, if it gets worse, our country may have no choice but to move towards a total lockdown like many other countries have if the spread of the disease becomes widespread. For this to work, we must all do our part.

4.05 pm

Mr Douglas Foo (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, please allow me to declare my interest as Chairman of Sakae Holdings Limited, President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Vice-President of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

I rise to affirm my support for the recently delivered Singapore Supplementary Budget Statement 2020 and to provide a response from the manufacturing and business community.

The general sentiment from the manufacturing and business community is largely one of relief and pleasant surprise. Before Deputy Prime Minister Heng's announcement on 26 March 2020, I recall The Straits Times carrying an article on 22 March 2020, with the prediction of several financial institutions that the stimulus package "might be in the region of $15 billion".

That the measures announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng on 26 March 2020 were expected to be more than three times that estimate at about $48 billion, have left many in no doubt that this Government is prepared to stand together with its citizens in times of difficulty, especially with today's Solidarity Budget of even more enhanced support measures.

Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may quote unedited in a mix of English and Mandarin from one of our members in SMF: "Regarding yesterday's budget, first time it gave me an impactful feeling that Singapore Government reserves are solid. No doubt, our cost of manufacturing here is high. However, it set a precedent for existing businesses and potential MNC investors that, in times of crisis, Singapore Government is willing to stretch its hands and walk through the crisis with us. 感恩政府的借助，关关难过，关关过 ." I believe that after today, he will be very comforted that his trust is really well-placed.

In this regard, following the lead of the Government, as one of the larger local Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs), the SMF will continue to stand united and work with our other TACs and Government agencies to provide assistance for our businesses through the current challenging times.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I will now seek to provide further feedback on the business stabilising measures, the continued need to build capabilities in the current challenging climate and, finally, to call for the increased use of the tripartite partnership to position our workforce and industries for the next upturn.

Only three months have passed from the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Singapore. Many Members have spoken about that. However, it probably feels way longer than that to most Singaporeans. The way of life, as many knew before, has been disrupted. For example, we see more alcohol everywhere today than rice available for sale in supermarkets. The former, of course, in hand sanitisers and, the latter, due to the irrational panic buying sentiments of some.

Unprecedented in both scale and depth, this second round or third round of stimulus measures demonstrates a calculated, prudent and progressive approach by the Government to address the wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 outbreak which is widespread globally.

Apart from the targeted support to the different industries most directly affected by the current global pandemic, the Supplementary Budget sets out broad-based support for businesses and reflects an understanding by the Government of the difficulties that companies are facing on the ground. The 3Cs of cost, cash and credit, indeed, represent the most immediate challenges many businesses face.

The Supplementary Budget expands and deepens a wide range of instruments to provide support for businesses, with a focus on tax and wage support to assist with these three Cs. Although there were no specific measures for the manufacturing sector, the support measures cut across all businesses and the manufacturing sector will, therefore, benefit from the same.

As a TAC, we are committed to helping our members gain access to this support framework. However, in fulfilling this role of "connector", I have received some feedback which I hope the Government can take into consideration.

Firstly, the cost of foreign worker levies still weighs heavily in the minds of employers. There are some additional measures in today's Solidarity Budget. So, can the Government please consider reducing or waiving the cost of such, during these times so as to allow for even more manoeuvrability for our SMEs during the difficult times ahead?

Secondly, while assistance is given to taxi drivers and private car hires, can there be consideration for those generally employed as drivers in manufacturing firms with their own logistics fleet? Can such firms also be given some assistance in the form of road tax relief or even diesel tax relief from the reduced use of such vehicles in these difficult times?

Thirdly, while our members appreciate the measures in improving the working capital loans, our members have also provided feedback that financial institutions have turned them away as they have been unable to find shareholders who are below 60 years old to act as guarantors.

Mr Speaker, Sir, while the above are undoubtedly the concern of many on the ground, on the other hand, I have been actively reminding our members that it is important for businesses to continue to use resources carefully and work hand-in-hand with their employees and the Government during this critical period.

I take and share the unwavering stand that the support rendered in the Supplementary Budget cannot be taken for granted, and businesses cannot just sit around and wait for Government assistance. It is, therefore, essential that companies and businesses relook their business models, train and upskill their workers and look to digitalisation as the new norm for doing business.

It is, therefore, more crucial than ever for businesses to develop capabilities to be future-ready. If our businesses had been further along the digitalisation curve prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the current transition to remote work arrangements and moving business operations into the online space would be less painful and probably better executed.

The economy and business landscape after we emerge from this crisis will be vastly different. In the here-and-now, to limit physical interaction, we are faced with the reality of a leaner physical workforce and the necessity for many business operations and processes to take place in a virtual environment.

The Supplementary Budget includes the expanding of the SMEs Go Digital – Digital Project Management Services programme to include more solutions for business continuity and expanded support under the Enterprise Development Grant and Productivity Solutions Grant. At this point, we need to leap towards these solutions to accelerate the capability building process to be future-ready.

Companies have to realise with increasing urgency that digitalisation is no longer just a want or a good-to-have. It is now a necessity, and business owners must snap out of the haze of apathy and really use this opportunity for change.

Next, I move on to the final part of my speech – Singapore's strong labour tripartite partnership. In particular, I would like to focus on two aspects of this partnership.

Firstly, how each stakeholder in this partnership has a role to play and how reciprocity must be encouraged from one party to the other; and, secondly, how this partnership can be a viable flexible companion to the rigidity of law.

The Government has taken the extraordinary move in this Supplementary Budget to tap into our reserves. We are very fortunate that our current Government is efficient and one that takes a consultative attitude. However, it is also not by chance that most of our factories are able to continue running and that we are able to go about with our lives with relative normalcy despite this "perfect storm". As a community, we have worked hard for this.

In this spirit of reciprocity of good intent and measures, it is only right that a reciprocal commitment is required on the part of businesses to strive to retain as many jobs as possible, plan ahead for the economic rebound and ensure that this drawdown from the reserves, accumulated over decades of a sound and prudent financial policy, are well accounted for by this generation of Singaporeans to the next.

However, from the US-China trade conflict to the civil unrests in Hong Kong and now COVID-19, employers have had to bravely plod through these overlapping hurricanes which have since merged into one perfect storm. Employers not only have to deal with the numerous ongoing demands of the business, take care of employee welfare and livelihood, but employers, too, have families and dependants to account to.

I would, therefore, like to sound a call to employees and to worker unions that when COVID-19 blows over and this dust has settled, do not forget the employer that has fought hard and made sacrifices for you to keep your job or the employer that has sent you for training to increase your knowledge and keep you updated in the evolving workforce. Stay and help your employer. The spirit of reciprocity also applies to employees.

Mr Speaker, Sir, it is, indeed, laudable that, here in Singapore, we can speak of the Government, employers and employees in the soft languages of cooperation, reciprocity, respect and so on. Quite apart from the rigidity of laws and regulations, the existing relations within the tripartite partnership can be utilised to prod and cajole employers to pass on relief measures to employees, especially with the critical aim of retaining jobs and upskilling the workforce.

The benefits of voluntary buy-in are many. Better understanding of policy leads to less resistance and people willing to go beyond the minimum standards that law mandates. More importantly, it is in this difficult time that morale is not further beaten down by what can easily be perceived as draconian measures.

For clarity, I am not saying that the use of law and penalties is not required but there should be greater engagement through the tripartite partnership which can run complementary to legal provisions and reduce the necessity of the use of penal deterrence.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, the Supplementary Budget 2020, with its wide-ranging measures and size on the enhanced support measures for resilience and solidarity, comes with the grateful backing of the business community. I firmly support the Supplementary Budget Statement 2020.

Mr Speaker: Mr Khaw Boon Wan.

4.16 pm

The Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): Sir, when I took on the MOT portfolio in 2015, my team and I had to deal with the frequent MRT breakdowns. We focused on that and we improved MRT and bus services. We also pushed hard for a car-lite Singapore, rolling out major extensions to the MRT network and cycling paths. We also worked hard to enhance Singapore as an air and sea hub.

Last December, my family got me to take a short break. My third grandchild was born on my birthday in December the year before and the family gave us a joint birthday celebration in Melbourne. While there, I reflected with some satisfaction how everything was coming along nicely. Tuas mega port, Terminal 5 (T5) and several MRT projects were on track.

Then, all of a sudden, hell broke loose! How the world changed in four short months. COVID-19 is spreading around the globe. Half the world is under lockdown. Here in Singapore, we are seeing community spread and we have to apply a circuit breaker.

COVID-19 is destroying both lives and livelihoods. As countries try to protect lives through isolating them, the global economy grinds to a standstill. The impact on Changi air hub is severe. Changi Airport is deserted. Airlines, ground handlers, airport shops and restaurants have all experienced a sharp fall in business. Their workers have seen huge pay cuts. I met them often, face to face, at the airport, over the weeks. As the virus grew into a global pandemic, I saw increasing fear in their eyes. The last time I experienced this was during SARS. This time, it is even more serious.

The Government is responding robustly. For aviation, we will help the companies so that they can retain their workers. They will get substantial cash grants to cover the bulk of their local workers' payroll. We are providing other cost relief through generous rebates, deferments and rental relief.

The Government will also waive the Airport Development Levy (ADL) until the end of March next year.

The Changi community knows it is not business as usual – far from it. The companies are reviewing their operations to reduce cash burn. For example, Changi Airport has four terminals. Right now, one terminal is enough to handle the current volume of demand. We can close down one or two terminals. But we must think about post-pandemic recovery. While full recovery this year is unlikely, partial recovery next year is probable. We must be ready to lead and to ride the recovery when it happens.

After much deliberation, we have decided to suspend operations at Terminal 2 (T2) for 18 months from 1 May next month. We will save on running costs for the airport operator, retail tenants, airlines and ground handlers. Importantly, it also allows us to speed up the current upgrading works at T2 and shorten the project time by up to one year.

With the suspension of T2 operations, we will reallocate airlines across the remaining terminals. Singapore Airlines (SIA) will consolidate its operations in Terminal 3 (T3). Other airlines will also be affected. We will ensure sufficient capacity for all airlines to grow when passenger traffic recovers.

In managing this crisis, we are mindful that global connectivity is of fundamental importance to Singapore. It links us to the rest of the world. It defines us as a global city and indeed, as a people. Domestically, the Changi air hub is crucial to Singapore's role as a business, manufacturing and research and development (R&D) hub. In this eco-system, SIA is the anchor. If it were to collapse, it will undermine our ability to recover from the crisis. Many Singaporeans depend on Changi Airport for a living.

That is why we took swift action to support the air hub to prevent the loss of strategic capabilities and our hard-earned position as a reliable air hub. Prompt action by Temasek to back SIA's fundraising efforts and the Government's Resilience Budget have been viewed positively by many industry analysts. Their conclusion is that SIA "looks well positioned to emerge from the coronavirus crisis as an industry leader".

Meanwhile, SIA, SilkAir, Scoot and their crew have not been sitting idle. They are actively engaged in our national battle against COVID-19.

First, they continue to mount around 40 return passenger flights a week to ASEAN capitals and the economic hubs in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US. They take precautionary measures to protect the crew. For short haul flights, the crew do not leave the plane during turnaround. For long haul flights, the crew stay at airport hotels during the layover and do not leave their rooms. On board flights, the serving crew wear masks and minimise contact with passengers. That was how we were able to evacuate two batches of Singaporeans from Wuhan in February. That was also how we flew our students back from the UK and the US last month.

Second, in addition to its passenger flights and freighter services, SIA is deploying some of its passenger aircraft to carry only cargo. Together, these services fly in essential goods amidst the global supply disruptions, such as medical supplies, food and other useful cargoes.

Third, their crew are volunteering to help, using their skills in many useful ways. To-date, about 800 crew and ground staff from our aviation companies including SIA have come forward to help out at our hospitals as care ambassadors, at Social Service Offices (SSOs) to help process applications for social support and at NTUC as customer service associates. Many more are coming forward.

I came across one WhatsApp text from an SIA stewardess: "I am a flight attendant. I am writing to volunteer. Now that I no longer have flights to operate, I thought it would be best if I could render some kind of help to the community. Apart from queue management, temperature taking and other tasks, I can also help the elderly and other individuals who require assistance." I find that a touching message!

Apart from aviation, the pandemic has also affected taxi, Grab and Gojek drivers. Their incomes have plunged. As one taxi driver put it starkly, "There's no work. I cannot live like this."

I met some of them when they came to apply for the Temporary Relief Fund. Many have experienced SARS but unlike SARS, they know a speedy recovery is unlikely this time round.

Mr Lim Jit Poh chaired ComfortDelGro during SARS. He saw the hardship coming as soon as the outbreak worsened in February. His many suggestions to me helped us shape the Point-to-Point Support Package and ComfortDelGro contributed more than its share. When we suggested the Transport Ambassador scheme to help taxi drivers earn extra allowance, ComfortDelGro chipped in readily. SMRT too.

Meanwhile, we accept the fall in demand for buses and trains. It means that Singaporeans are staying at home more and doing what they need to do around their immediate neighbourhood. This is not the time to use our public transport to get to the other side of Singapore for your favourite hawker dish. When the Minister for Transport has to suspend ERP, COE and discourage the use of public transport, you know the situation is serious. With the circuit breaker measures, we can now enforce safe distancing on public transport. And we are deploying transport ambassadors to remind commuters of these measures.

To tackle the pandemic, countries must work together. Critically, trade flows must continue. It does not make sense for traditional food exporters to ban exports. It only hurts their farmers as their harvests rot in the field. It is critical to keep global supply chains intact so that goods can get to countries and the people who need them.

Unlike others, we kept our sea port open throughout this crisis and we are committed to keeping it open. From my office, I can see Pasir Panjang Terminal. It is busy with cargo activities. We had put in place precautionary measures to ensure a safe working environment for our staff and our crew. With this, our port continues to service the world and at the same time, safeguard our essential supplies.

Nearer home, with bilateral cooperation, our land link with Johor remains open for essential goods despite the Movement Control Order (MCO). We thank the many countries that have worked with us to ensure that trade flows continue during this difficult time.

Working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep Singapore moving and connected are our transport workers – our train and bus captains, taxi and private hire car drivers, seafarers, shore-based staff, pilots, cabin crew, airport ground staff. They are our unsung heroes. I would like to convey my deepest appreciation to them.

I am also heartened by how our transport operators, the National Trade Workers Union (NTWU) and LTA, had rallied together to stand by our bus captains from Malaysia when the MCO was suddenly imposed. Our bus operators worked through the night, got the drivers checked into accommodation and updated their duty rosters to replace those drivers who stayed back in Johor. And the next day, our bus services functioned normally. Our amazing One Transport family came together to support their colleagues in their hour of need and ensured the continuity of our public bus service.

Nobody knows how long the pandemic will last, but recover, we will. It will, however, not be a simple return to status quo ante. For instance, supply chain resilience will become even more important. So, expect more local production to improve resilience. This will have implications for Singapore's transshipment hub. As global trade flows shift, we must still secure and strengthen our role as a major node in global supply chains. The efficiency and connectivity of our sea port and airport will become even more critical.

Just as 9/11 changed aviation security forever, expect COVID-19 to impact air travel and airport operations. This will have implications for our T5 planning and timeline. I strongly believe air travel growth will return, although a quick rebound is unlikely. Fortunately, T5 was designed to be modular so that its construction can be scaled up or down as necessary.

Meanwhile, we have to revive air transport links. This will be crucial to reviving the global economy and trade flows, and rebuilding people to people exchanges. When the situation improves, we will see how to bring the relevant stakeholders to work on sustainable recovery. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have a leading role to play and we will support them.

We will need to develop new global rules and guidelines to take into account the lessons learnt from the pandemic. We also have to think about how to enhance capability across all regions because the connectivity network is only as strong as its weakest link.

Sir, we have much to do to prepare Singapore for recovery. The transport sector plays a crucial role in the survival and prosperity of Singapore. For me, during this crisis, I will focus on three areas: (a) keeping our air and sea ports operational so that we continue to play our pivotal role in the global supply chain. Even in crisis mode, we must work to enhance our reputation as among the most reliable hubs in the world; (b) protecting the health of our transport workers and ensuring the safety of the commuters; and (c) enlisting the help of every Singaporean to get us through this difficult time to emerge stronger than before. This will strengthen our social bonds as one people.

The coming months will be very challenging and hard for all of us. But the world is not coming to an end. Better times will surely return.

Last month, my fourth grandchild was born. [Applause.] Thank you. With the circuit breaker in place, my wife and I cannot get near him. And you know how difficult that is. My daughters are not visiting us like before. Fortunately, we have two grandkids staying with us. Yesterday, when my wife was about to pick up some items from the neighbourhood sundry shop, I heard my granddaughter yelling out her instruction: “Remember to wear your mask; if there is a crowd, stand one metre apart; ask Auntie Frances to do the same!” Frances is our domestic helper. Obviously, her teachers have taught her well. She is in Primary 2.

COVID-19 will pass. Over my 42 years in Government service, I have seen how Singaporeans came together to confront and overcome a crisis. Many years from now, I am sure our children and our grandchildren will look back at 2020 as our finest moment – when Singaporeans will again come together to defeat COVID-19 and emerge stronger. [Applause.]

4.33 pm

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all before I start my speech, I would like to say a big thank you to Prime Minister Lee, Deputy Prime Minister Heng, Cabinet Ministers for coming up with decisive and quick actions over the past few months and past few weeks.

But most importantly, as I go around my estate in Toa Payoh, I think we should also give a lot of thanks to our resilient Singaporeans.

The day before Singaporeans were informed to actually maintain social distancing, the day after when I passed by seeing Singaporeans actually maintaining the gap at hawker centres, highlighted how resilient our Singaporeans and citizens are. And I think most importantly we need to thank our Singaporeans for being resilient and for riding through this fight against this COVID.

So, once again, thank you, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Heng and team for rolling out the Resilience Budget.

Just about a month ago, we were debating about the annual Budget. Since then, the COVID-19 situation around the world and in Singapore has seen some very rapid developments. In spite of that, our Government has maintained a level-headed response to comprehensively manage the situation, winning the admiration of national bodies and citizens from around the world. Now, in a highly reassuring move for all, a Supplementary Budget has been introduced to enhance help for businesses and individuals in this prolonged war against the COVID-19, and today we have the Solidarity Budget. Besides saving jobs and healthcare help, the focus on resilience and making sure we emerge from this crisis stronger for Singapore is also key.

Since then, further details on the measures to support Singaporeans affected by COVID-19 has come out such as the Temporary Relief Fund, COVID-19 Support Grant, the Self Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) and Workfare Special Payment. These have been timely just as Singaporeans are increasingly being affected by the crisis.

I have a few questions, clarifications and suggestions as a follow-up to the Supplementary Budget and hope the Deputy Prime Minister would consider them. They are for three segments, namely companies and workers, vulnerable residents and Singaporeans in general.

First, for companies and their workers. My first broad question is, given our unprecedented measures, what is the nature of this current crisis we are having now which is unprecedented and how different it is from past crises Singapore has faced. The Government has implemented an elevated set of safe distancing measures as a circuit breaker. The negative impact on the economy and jobs will be significant. Some analysts and economists estimate the shutting down of non-essential services for a month could cost from about $5 to $10 billion or 2% of GDP. Non-essential services cover roughly about 30% of GDP, including a large proportion of sectors such as retail, gaming, construction of residential and office projects, hospitality and business services. Some transactions like these can be deferred or shifted forward like property purchase or purchase of a washing machine or online laptop or clothing. Some transactions cannot be and will represent a permanent loss – a Michelin dining experience, yoga class or hotel stay. Some business services can be operated from home and still function despite a lockdown. Some businesses have already seen a sharp drop such as hotels, even before the additional measures.

So, it is possible that non-essential services cover about a third of total employment more than their share of GDP. This is because many of the sectors such as retail, F&B and construction are more labour-intensive than essential services such as financial services or electronics manufacturing. So, roughly 1.3 million workers may be in cold storage for a month albeit productive, possibly, out of the 3.78 million employed at end of 2019.

The question to the Deputy Prime Minister is, the short-circuit measures may affect businesses and thus unemployment rates or jobs if it is prolonged and would have been even larger without any Government financial support. Is this going to be a deeper recession than even during the Asian Financial Crisis or the Global Financial Crisis? And whether we need further financial measures to actually enhance or support the economy.

The Job Support Scheme (JSS) is a crucial part of the Budget, as I go on to my next question on workers, to help employees stay employed, and to help employers retain their trusted employees. Sir, I am pleased hear just now when the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that the Government is enhance the JSS under Resilience and Solidarity Budget to have employers pay 25% and now up to 75% for all local employees in April. The question I have is, can we have this higher tier wage support extended to the retail sector beyond April. The impact of the Enhanced Property Tax Rebate is quite small relative to the JSS and then landlords may not pass the savings to retail tenants.

I am glad that the total amount of rental waivers has been increased to $334 million to tide over eligible properties for three months. But if we are still in a recession by the fourth quarter of the year, a third relief package and an extension of rental waiver will be necessary. Can the Government provide further waiver if the situation necessitates it?

I also note that JSS has been extended to cover nine months, up from three months previously. In my Budget response, I shared my concerns on the duration of which eligible employers will receive the pay-out. So, I am also pleased when the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned just now that enhancements will be brought forward to April, earlier, and it will be delivered as fast as possible. But with the new enhancements what will be done to ensure the employees will get the grant short support in the shortest duration possible?

The other measure that the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned earlier was the Foreign Worker Levy. Firms do get a rebate of $650 for each of the work permit or S Pass holders. So, I am pleased that the foreign worker level will be waived in the month of April. However, we expect the COVID-19 situation to persist for for possibly over a year and these sectors are significant key node of the Singapore economy. Right now priority should be helping businesses stay afloat. We cannot let them adversely be affected by creative destruction. So, will the Government consider extending the waiver beyond April if we manage to get out of the circuit-breaker period.

Next, if we step back, and take a more macro view of our measures to help the economy. In other countries facing major economic disruptions due to city or nationwide lockdowns, speculations are flying over whether governments would nationalise or bail out some of their key private services and businesses. In our circumstance, we are blessed to have reserves and well managed sovereign institutions such as Temasek, GIC and Statutory Boards such as MAS. However, no matter how large the size of our reserves, it is still limited and we need to optimise its usage. Broadly, my question is conceptually, how and when does the Singapore Government decide to bail out a particular company? Would it be based on the national security angle and the number of jobs they provide? It would be useful to share the broader factors that are taken into consideration in a transparent manner.

Next for individuals and small businesses hit by the COVID-19 impact, there are a few issues I would like to suggest and seek clarification.

First, in terms of relaxing macro-prudential measures temporarily to help small business and individuals. Under the Enhanced Temporary Bridging Loan programme, the Government will shoulder 80% of default risk and now 90% re-sharing until March 2021. This, hopefully, will help access to credit. The latest MAS and financial institutions support measures such as deferring of repayment for residential property loans and lower interest on personal unsecured credit is largely welcome.

However, according to the statistics from MAS, housing and bridging loans have been declining since May 2019. Yet outstanding pawnshop loans have picked up by 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, the fastest pace since the year before in 2018. The concern is that under current crisis and with the above trend continuing, people may be resorting to alternative forms of credit, including the more expensive and higher interest rate loans from money lenders and even loan sharks. Even though interest rates have fallen, access to bank credit remains tight because of TDSR and prudential measures.

So, I urge the Government to conduct a further review on the macro-prudential measures and consider easing on macro-prudential measures in totality, especially the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) and Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits. The intention is to relax access to cheaper loans and credit from banks for sole proprietors and small SMEs, which often rely on personal credit and cash flow to keep their businesses running.

With self-employed workers losing their gigs, as well as job losses and wage cuts all round, many will see the TDSR curbing their eligibility for loans. The monetary policy transmission channel is broken from easier monetary policy. When you cannot borrow, it will be difficult for monetary policy to work. Consumers cannot access credit because of TDSR and prudential measures. Companies cannot access credit because banks will be wary of defaults – even with the enhanced risk co-sharing scheme that supports eligible SME loans and the other above support measures. I am also concerned that some parties and individuals may take advantage of the current crisis to make super normal borrowing rates, and I urge the Government to be on the watch for evidence of such behaviour.

Next, I have a question on CPF contribution rates. Recently, a resident asked me if it is true that CPF contribution requirement from employers has been reduced. Her employer said it is a cost-saving measure to help businesses. Of course, I told her it was not, and to speak to me or MOM if her boss denies her full CPF payment. However, this brings to mind that in times like this, some businesses may resort to illegal measures to cut their losses. It is fortunate that this resident sought clarification. Some others would have believed and accepted it, especially with so many jobs on the line now. I am sure any employer who resorts to cheating their employees out of their CPF will be duly punished. But I hope the Government will consider the soft approach and help out companies with genuine difficulties.

The third segment I have and the final one is on building food, social and psychological resilience as we position ourselves for recovery. One broad question I have the Deputy Prime Minister is how can Singapore citizens and the whole country emerge stronger once the dust has settled. One example is how we can become stronger in terms of food resilience.

COVID-19 has also emphasised the importance of having resilient supplies of food and other essential items. Indeed, it is good to know that Singapore is building up our national stockpile of health supplies, including masks and hand sanitisers, so that we will continue to be well-stocked and we have in place a robust, multi-pronged strategy, to ensure that we continue to have a stable supply of safe food. And we are strengthening our food resilience for the long term. But instead of a 30 by 30 vision, can we aim to produce 50% or more of our nutritional needs by 2030, up from less than 10% today?

While the supply of food is functioning well in most countries and Singapore at present, problems could start to be seen within weeks and intensify over the following two months as key fruits and vegetables come into season. These types of produce often have short ripening times and are highly perishable and need skilled pickers to work quickly and at the right time.

In addition, as governments impose lockdowns in countries across the world, recruiting seasonal workers will become impossible unless measures are taken to ensure vital workers can still move around, while preventing the virus from spreading.

In these challenging times, the poor and vulnerable are the hardest hit. Charities have reported receiving less donations, as in times of an impending economic crisis, people have understandably tightened their purse strings. Manpower too has become hard to come by due to COVID-19. I would like to request for more financial aid to organisations serving the orphanages, nursing homes, disabled and homeless. Social workers too will be overwhelmed with the new schemes and with more people seeking help in these times. I hope the whole process can be streamlined so that eligible parties need not be put through a long wait for help.

In conclusion, I have heard so much feedback from both Singaporeans and foreigners that in a pandemic crisis like this, Singapore is the best place to be. Because we have an excellent healthcare system, a Government who cares for the citizens and great people who are going above and beyond to keep our country safe. I am proud to be Singaporean and this crisis makes me feel prouder and more patriotic than ever.

I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets and I pledge to do my best for my fellow citizens so that we can all get through this crisis together.

Mr Speaker: Minister Ng Chee Meng.

4.47 pm

The Minister, Prime Minister's Office (Mr Ng Chee Meng): Mr Speaker, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has announced a robust Supplementary Budget to meet the challenges of COVID-19. These challenges are fast evolving, not only in the world but also in Singapore.

In many ways, we have managed the impact of the first wave of COVID-19. But the second wave has come upon us and the Government has taken more measures to combat the spread.

Protecting lives is of utmost importance and urgency. But this can clash painfully with sustaining livelihoods. It is a difficult and delicate balance.

I have spoken to many on the ground – Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), workers from all walks of life and freelancers. All of them are struggling.

The new circuit breaker measures, while protecting lives, will only make things harder for them. But all of them tell me that while things are difficult, they appreciate what the Singapore Government and Singaporeans are doing together. And I am sure many will also appreciate the extra help that Deputy Prime Minister announced today, on top of the two Budgets, especially the enhanced Job Support Scheme of up to 75% subsidy. I am also personally reassured that the Government is prepared to do more if and when necessary. They know that these circumstances are challenging, and they are willing to do their part.

However, they want me to help them relay one key feedback. They would like to see an increase in the speed of Government assistance.

The Government has pushed out a lot of budgetary help over the past weeks. Money is on the table. The key now is to put this help directly into the pockets of ordinary workers and Singaporeans.

The economic impact of COVID-19, as many in this House have said, is unprecedented and the situation has escalated faster than any of us expected. Through this, we must remain agile and adaptable in responding to the increasing challenges.

Over the last few days, I saw many queuing up for the Temporary Relief Fund – over 3,000 in my division. For many, it is the first time that they are applying for aid, not something they ever thought they would have to do. They tell me they are more than willing to work to support their families. But now, many of them have little choice. And the worry in their voices was frankly heart-breaking. So, I am glad to hear Deputy Prime Minister say today that this money provided for in the different Budgets will be paid out quickly. This will help the ground significantly.

Our financial muscle today in Singapore is not insignificant – thanks to the foresight of our founding leaders. The Government is rolling out other cash support for the months ahead, such as the COVID-19 Support Grant and the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme, or SIRS. Though the support is generous, some freelancers and self-employed have told me they are worried. Why? Because they do not meet the criteria for SIRS. So, again, I am happy to hear a broadening of criteria for these people where the Annual Value (AV) is raised from $13,000 to $21,000.

I have also spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Heng and Mrs Josephine Teo, our Manpower Minister, to see how we can help this group of self-employed and freelancers. NTUC will step up to administer the applications and appeals for SIRS. We will try our very best to push for inclusion and make this process as straightforward as possible. I know that many freelancers and self-employed are going through hard times and as such, we, in NTUC and the Labour Movement will work to facilitate appeals starting no later than 20 April. We will do our best in this aspect.

But I also hope more will apply for the NTUC Care Fund for COVID-19 in the interim. While this is not a large amount, $200-$300, but every little bit counts. And we, in the Labour Movement, want to chip in and help out our fellow workers and put cash directly into workers' and freelancers' hands.

More than cash, we must help Singaporeans with their jobs. Earning a decent wage is crucial for survival and paying bills.

The Government is helping companies to stay liquid and keep their workers. But again, if I may just reinforce my feedback, this help must be pushed out quickly, as the revenue has dried up for many companies.

As Labour Chief, I have vested interests in companies' survival and success because our workers can only succeed when companies succeed and do well.

NTUC, therefore, has been engaging CEOs to understand their concerns and see how we in NTUC and the Labour Movement can assist, whether it is about cutting costs to save jobs, accessing Government assistance or job matching their excess workers through our Job Security Council.

I also recently spoke to leaders in the local aviation and aerospace sectors to see how they are and see what we can do together. I found the conversations insightful.

Despite the aviation and aerospace sectors suffering huge losses, the CEOs are trying their best to keep their workers. For example, as Minister Khaw has also mentioned, cabin crew from SIA are being trained and redeployed for meaningful work as SG Care and Safe Distancing Ambassadors. This means they can earn some income and, at the same time, help in our national COVID-19 efforts.

Also, despite these difficult times, the CEOs are keeping an eye on the future. They are making use of Government support to send their workers for training so that when the upturn eventually comes, our air sectors will be poised and ready for those new opportunities.

I hope other employers do their part too, because their actions will greatly impact how Singapore emerges from this crisis. Companies must keep their workers employed and make use of the support to send workers for training.

In whatever ways NTUC can help, we want to do so. Our objectives across the tripartite partners are the same: sustain our companies; sustaining our jobs and securing our future. Mr Speaker, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] This year's Budget was first boosted and further enhanced. This is unprecedented. It shows the Government's resolute determination to help our people and businesses tide over these difficult times.

In my conversations with residents, workers, union leaders and employers, they all said that this Budget can help them. However, they hope that the measures will be implemented earlier – relief and subsidies be disbursed sooner. As the Chinese proverb says, “distant water cannot help to put out a fire close at hand”.

In NTUC, we have also stepped up our efforts to help employers and workers understand the various schemes introduced by the Government and, more importantly, help them benefit from the schemes as soon as possible.

The income of self-employed persons was greatly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of them are not eligible for the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS). I have discussed this with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Manpower Minister Josephine Teo. From 20 April, NTUC will help the self-employed persons who are not eligible for SIRS to appeal to the Government so that they can benefit from this scheme as well.

Both NTUC and the Government share the same goal – the support packages must sustain our companies, sustain our jobs and secure our future. In these difficult times, I believe that if we stay united, with concerted efforts to overcome all challenges, we will be able to ride this out together and move towards a brighter future.

(In English): Mr Speaker, let me conclude. I spoke to a tour guide recently. She thanked me profusely for all the different assistance given to her, whether Government or NTUC. But in this conversation, what caught my attention was the story she told about her daughter. She told me her daughter had just returned from overseas. Her daughter saw the big difference between Singapore's way of dealing with COVID-19 through a whole-of-nation approach in tackling the crisis versus what she experienced overseas. She saw the help that was given to her mother. She saw how Singaporeans came together to help one another. She says now she realised what it means to be Singaporean and that she is proud to be Singaporean – coming from a 20-something year old who, I believe, has matured tremendously over the last four months.

Mr Speaker, this is a value-shaping moment for Singapore. COVID-19 is one of the biggest challenges we have faced to date. The Government, the Labour Movement and employers are working with Singaporeans, to overcome this together.

Let us show who we are, that we are a resilient nation, that we respond to facts, we trust our Government and importantly, we have compassion for our neighbours. Mr Speaker, we are prepared for this fight and we will pull through this crisis together. I support the Budget. [Applause.]

Mr Speaker: Mr Seah Kian Peng.

4.59 pm

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Mr Speaker, Sir, let me declare my interest as the Group CEO of both NTUC Enterprise and NTUC Fairprice Group.

First, I would like to assure everyone in the House and Singaporeans outside, that our warehouses are quite full. We have rice, canned food, toilet paper, cooking oil, instant noodles. We have fruits and vegetable. We have meats – fresh and frozen.

Yes, prices of certain items have gone up in recent weeks due to higher demand worldwide, increases in production costs, increases in shipping/freight charges and so on. But be assured that we will continue to do our best to moderate these price increases and make it affordable to all.

In March last year, 2019, we had announced we would freeze the prices of the top 100 Fairprice Housebrand essential products for 15 months regardless of changes in supply and external factors. This price guarantee could not be more timely under the current situation.

Ordinarily, I would not have made such a promotional statement. But these are not ordinary times and we are not an ordinary people.

We are a hard Government. In good times, some critics here call us stingy. We are a House known for discipline, fiscal prudence, saving for rainy days.

At NTUC Enterprise, we too have to marshal our capital resources to ensure our entities – from NTUC Income, to Mercatus, to the FairPrice Group, to NTUC First Campus, to our NTUC Learning Hub, to our NTUC Health – that we are able to withstand the shocks and disruptions caused to our businesses.

As a group, we provide jobs to over 21,000 people and we serve over two million people everyday. We have a strong local core and close to 80% of our team are Singaporeans.

We have Malaysian colleagues who form slightly over half of our non-local workforce. We have staff from other nationalities as well and, as what NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng just said, every worker matters. Every one of my colleagues plays a part to keep our many essential services running smoothly – our childcare centres, our nursing homes, our senior care centres, our food courts, our malls, our supermarkets, our online platforms and so on.

And in a different but equally important function, our NTUC Learning Hub is pivoting towards being a digital learning hub and they have been busy working closely with employers and unions to train thousands of workers, digital where possible, so that when our economy recovers, workers, both local and foreign, and companies will be all ready from the word go.

There is no them and no us. We are inter-connected and we are interdependent – manpower, skills, supply lines. Supply lines are especially vital now. Our teams have been working as part of our diversification strategy to ensure our supply chains remain strong.

Singapore has a 30/30 vision – to have 30% of our food consumption coming from local sources by year 2030. We have been working on this for many years and we are proud to support local produce and local companies.

The things we do to support this philosophy – giving off-take contracts to local producers, holding local fairs such as the Annual Tasty Singapore Fair to promote local produce and products by local firms, our a manpower policy that employs as many Singaporeans as possible.

So, while we think and plan global, we act, we support and we grow local.

There are also more older workers in our NTUC group, especially at the FairPrice group. The demographics of our workforce and our policies are skewed towards mature staff. More than 50% of our workforce is more than 50 years old. I am one of them. I am quite a few years more than 50 years old. And majority are female. We also have a large pool of permanent part-timers which suits their lifestyle. We keep retraining and re-skilling all.

If there ever has been any doubt about the resilience of older, mature workers, the past few months have laid these to rest.

I am proud and I am glad that our mature workforce came through very well during this period. They have been very calm, steady, resilient and working tireless. And they work well with our younger team members and so together, the team becomes stronger. The young with energy, creativity and stamina; the older with experience, patience and acumen.

I see parallels with how our 4G leaders are coming up and showing their leadership mettle whilst being supported by the senior, more experienced leaders. Again, together, we have a better team at the helm to take us through this global crisis.

Turning to our Government leadership – they have stayed calm, they have listened to feedback, they have been bold, thinking out of the box, thinking measures for both short and long term, and they have been decisive. During such times, there were, I am sure, many difficult and tough decisions to make and, for sure, some unpopular ones. But I know the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, the Cabinet and most certainly, the Ministerial task force, they have all been guided by their true north – what is good for the country and our people.

If I can draw a parallel, a difficult and unpopular decision that I had to make as the group CEO of FairPrice was the one that concerned the imposition of purchasing restrictions. No one likes to be told that there are some things money cannot buy.

But at end of the day, I was guided by my true north, which is to ensure as many people can have access to their food supplies for the key categories. And yes, in this case, there are some things money cannot buy – fairness, a sense that we are in this together and a trust that we are doing the right thing.

We can only take these decisions if we have supportive and understanding stakeholders – in my case, my board of directors, the public, the staff, my business partners, customers. In the case of the Government, this would be the Cabinet, residents, citizens and tripartite partners comprising employers, unions and the Government.

These are not built overnight. If there is no trust, none of this can be done. Yes, we all need to tighten our belts, grit our teeth and learn to adapt. As they say in Hokkien – no fish, shrimp also can. And if need be, can we make do with porridge, with salted fish or vegetables? No issue with me. As a Hokkien – can I make do with porridge? Porridge with salted vegetables or salted fish – I am fine with anything.

Over the last two months, our supermarket staff in the frontline have been working hard, serving customers. They too are tired, they too are anxious, but they have to maintain a professional front, facing all kinds of customers. A big majority is very understanding and polite, but there are some who do not make the effort to be civil or reasonable. There is this very small group of people who turn into terrible versions of themselves when confronted with crises.

Just this morning, during our priority shopping hour for Pioneer Generation members, for pregnant women, for people with disabilities. Again, we will have one or two of these people who will make a lot of noise. But we stand firm.

What you do not see are also the staff serving behind, in the "backline" – as my chairman Bobby Chin describes them. They are working hard to secure our supplies and making more deliveries. Indeed, I am extremely grateful to all our staff, frontline and backline, as well as our business partners and the public for their understanding and support.

For sure, there are some areas we could have done better, some where we took a wrong step, but learn we did and we strive to be better going forward. Likewise, I am sure our Government and our leaders probably had such experiences too, but hey, we all have perfect vision after the event.

Having said that, my team and I have also received numerous notes, cards of appreciation – from the public, from customers, unions, business leaders, school teachers, school children. These all serve to encourage us. We are in this together and this is what is required for us to overcome the crisis.

Over this period, we have had to press the button and call on many friends for help. And when the button is pressed, our colleagues from the headquarters as well as staff across the group all responded and helped out – anytime, over the weekends – doing replenishment, picking, packing and what have you. From our leadership team to the administrative staff, from our board of directors to our union leaders. SG United is not a mere slogan.

We even had many members from the public and former colleagues stepping forward to call me and say, hey, if we needed them, just call them. This is the SG United spirit. I see this manifested and being played out throughout all parts of Singapore. Lines are being blurred.

Public and private businesses rallying and appreciating our healthcare workers, our security and immigration officers, our cleaners, our workers that keep our transport systems running and others such as the many volunteers who helped make the distribution of face masks and sanitisers for all Singaporeans.

There are many things that money can buy. The Supplementary Resilience and Solidarity Budget at $53 billion is an enormous package to help individuals, families and businesses alike. People know this but what makes it really extraordinary is that it is financed by our reserves. How can a small country with no oil, nothing valuable to sell, accumulate these reserves?

We do not make light of money because we know it buys a lot. It helps us to pay for the salaries of workers. It helps us to save jobs, to help pay for the healthcare of the sick, to offset the living expenses and so on. It will set us up to be better and stronger.

But we know, better than most, what money cannot buy. Unity, resilience, solidarity and most of all, a shared history and a shared future.

So, on behalf of all of us at NTUC, NTUC Enterprise and NTUC FairPrice Group, as well as my residents at Braddell Heights and Marine Parade GRC, I am happy and I am very proud to support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

Mr Speaker: I was listening very carefully to Mr Seah when he described what he had in warehouse. I think we are very assured except that I noticed he did not mention toilet paper. You did? Okay. Anyway, so I thought we will take a break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 5.30 pm. Order, order.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 5.10 pm until 5.30 pm.

Sitting resumed at 5.30 pm.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Additional Support Measures in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

(Debate on Ministerial Statement)

Debate resumed.

Debate resumed.

Mr Speaker: Mr Henry Kwek.

Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry (Nee Soon): Mr Speaker, Sir, it is inspiring how Singaporeans are coming together to meet the crisis of our generation. I am also heartened to see the decisive use of our reserves to deliver on the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets. Like many in this Chamber, I have received a tsunami of feedback. With that in mind, I would like to make a few points.

One, at this critical stage, we must enforce safe distancing vigorously and our people must urge one another on, to do so. The virus cannot work by itself. It needs people to walk around to transmit, to spread. Therefore, we must find a way to persuade one another that staying at home saves lives.

We must also be mindful that no amount of Government spending is sufficient to save our livelihoods if we lose the fight against the virus.

Two, we must create more short-term jobs for Singaporeans. Our Resilience Budget has created some temporary jobs, which is a very solid move. But if the economic front continues to deteroriate, we can consider doing more and take a leaf from the US government in the 1930s. Then-US President Roosevelt introduced the Work Progress Administration (WPA) to create jobs for Americans, as part of the New Deal.

WPA projects were designed to be manpower intensive, which means that the wages formed the vast majority of the project cost. The WPA were also beneficiaries to US in the long run and they were not designed or geared to compete with the private sector.

Therefore, in a similar way, can we explore tapping on the unemployed professionals and management talent to help every Ministry identify processes to streamline, digitise and perhaps, even transform? We can pilot this immediately.

There is already a fair number of unemployed professionals and management talent out there. Some of them are too qualified to take on many of the new temporary jobs out there. We can sign them up for short contracts, perhaps six to 12 months. To save time, the Government can outsource the management and hiring of these people to the private sector HR companies. The Government does not need to match their private sector pay. Even $2,000 or $3,000 a month will suffice.

I believe many Singaporeans want to actively contribute to Singapore, rather than to wait on the sidelines for the economy to recover. Their private sector experience make them ideal to contribute to the Government's transformation, to help the Government build even stronger bridges to the private and the public sector. We can create a real and lasting advantage for Singapore and emerge stronger. And if the pilot succeeds and if structural unemployment emerges, we can scale this up in perhaps three to six months' time.

Three, we can explore more ways to help our tertiary education students gain relevant skills.

The current situation is very tough for our current and future graduates. While we can create short-term internships and training for some, others want to continue developing skills in critical demand. Even amidst the challenges, there are still some skillsets that are very much in demand: AI, data-science, programming and electrical engineering.

I hope that MOE can challenge our Universities to create opportunities for our students to gain these skillsets in the shortest time, at the lowest cost. One possibility is to get non-technical, especially business graduates, to do a one-year advance diploma or a minor in AI, data-science and programming.

Naturally, it will be difficult to scale up the faculty strength quickly. One way is to consider the Emeritus model, which partners with Ivy League universities to offer online programmes from specialist certificates to masters programmes. These courses now cost around US$3,500 to US$5,000 a year. Perhaps you can consider subsidies to make this more affordable and more immediate to our tertiary students.

Also, perhaps you can consider getting our Polytechnics and Universities to temporarily relax criteria to shift majors, do double-degree or do a master’s degree, so that mechanical or civil engineers can switch or double in electrical engineering, data science or computer science. Some of our Universities are already allowing for such flexibilities but it would be ideal if more can be done.

We can also consider a quick and temporary expansion of our SkillsFuture effort. In this downturn, there is a fair number of private sector trainers or professionals with skillsets that provide valuable training, but are currently not certified to teach SkillsFuture courses. The Government can consider partnering with a few reputable training providers, who can bring in these talents on board to train other Singaporeans.

Four, we should gather Singapore's leading minds to path-find the road ahead. If the pandemic does not globally peak by the middle of this year, the impact to the world could be truly profound. The world is moving in a non-linear way. It may be too complex for any individual groups of professionals, experts or policy-makers to sense-make. Therefore, Singapore can consider creating a task force, a group of 30, perhaps be led by both of our Senior Ministers. It can comprise of our most brilliant and experienced experts, leaders and scientists. We can apply scenario planning, develop multi-disciplinary insights, to decipher how the world could unfold and, therefore, provide advice and perspective to our Government and national leaders.

Some of the issues they can consider include how will the world order change? How will US-China, US-Europe relations evolve? Will Europe EU stay intact? What is the monetary effect of a prolonged and massive debt-raising by developed countries? How will that affect the asset allocation and investment strategies of our national reserves? And what happens to the ASEAN growth story, especially if developing countries are not able to cope with COVID-19 and cannot raise debt to deal with the economic fall-out?

If multi-lateralism continues to decline, can we form deeper cooperation with capable, trusted and stable middle powers like Australia, Israel, and Japan, to meet long-term challenges on the food, medical and defence fronts?

If the world face a prolonged U-shape or L-shape scenario, should we review our NIRC framework and revisit our long-term infrastructure investment plans?

How will our industry structure change after this? Can we benefit from the likely decoupling of the global supply chain?

Are there things we can proactively do to mitigate the downsides, for example, through localising the workforce of certain industries to deal with rising structural unemployment?

Lastly, will COVID-19 make it more difficult for the world to meet the challenges of climate change? And therefore, must we accelerate our efforts or even do more to forestall or mitigate climate change?

Having insights to these questions at the very quickest moments will help Singapore stay nimble amidst unparalleled uncertainty.

My last point is this. I hope the Government can consider expanding and putting some discretion for the Jobs Support Programme. I would like to declare that I am the advisor to the Federation Merchant Association, the trade association that helps SMEs, including heartland enterprises.

For micro-SME owners, because they practise the concept of "leaders eat last", some take limited salary and get the bulk of their income through directors' fees. Many of these micro-SME leaders have less than five employees and, therefore, actually, they are both workers and shareholders at the same time.

Can the Government consider giving job support on a discretionary basis to some of them if their income is largely limited to directors’ fees? Of course, the job support amount must follow similar salary caps as per the other workers.

In conclusion, despite this being an unparalleled global situation, there are still many things within our control. Singapore can and must come together to meet the challenges and emerge stronger. This must and this will be Singapore's finest moment. With that, I stand in full support of all three Budgets.

Mr Speaker: I notice that the Member "arrowed" the Senior Ministers when they happen not to be in the Chamber. Mr Murali Pillai.

5.41 pm

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support both the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets. I have three points to make on the Resilience Budget.

First, sufficiency of the Budget to fight and contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Under the Unity Budget, we put aside about $800 million to support frontline agencies to fight and contain the outbreak. The bulk of this amount was earmarked for MOH. Since then, more costs have been incurred. The number of infected persons have gone up; the number of persons under quarantine and Stay-Home Notices (SHNs) are higher; contact tracing is vastly expanded; the costs of quarantining persons have gone up with the usage of hotels and other accommodation; equipment costs have also gone up.

My question is: have we put aside sufficient money to back our frontline agencies? They – I am sure all Members of the House would agree – need our full support and should be as fully resourced as possible.

The next point is on helping the charity sector. This is a point that was alluded to by the hon Member of Parliament Mr Saktiandi Supaat just now. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, it has been tough-going for charitable organisations including the mid-level and smaller Institutions of Public Character (IPCs).

I personally spoke to CEOs of two VWOS which are IPCs supporting children from displaced families as well as the aged sick respectively. They mentioned that donations have dropped significantly. This is to be expected with the rapid contraction of our economy. The VWOs, I am told, may be forced to dip into their reserves which are not as deep.

I respectfully disagree, however, with the hon Member Mr Saktiandi that more support should be given by the Government for these charities. Already, we heard from the hon Deputy Prime Minister that we are in a deficit of $44.3 billion. I think the correct approach would be for us to deal with the root issue and scale up our efforts to reach out to the "haves" in our society – the grant-makers and donors – and get them to donate more to plug the gap.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng mentioned in both his Ministerial Statements that individuals, the private sector and corporations have stepped forward. He suggested donations to be made to, inter alia, the Giving.sg platform. I am heartened to note this. In the same vein, we should consider how to better match needs of smaller-scale VWOs with the interests and contributions from potential donors.

Yesterday, I learned from a CEO of an SME that EnterpriseSG officers called him to check whether his employees who had to stand down owing to the contracting business, may be deployed in other companies that are less affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. We could adopt a similar approach and get a Government agency to help match VWOs with pressing needs with grant-makers or donors.

I wish to share the content of a resident's email that was sent to me over the weekend. His name is Mr Ang. He said and I quote, "Do you think we, Singaporeans, will be able to help by volunteering and donating part of our CPF monies to aid the Government and Singaporeans in this COVID-19 situation?" He wanted to donate part of his CPF monies! He is heartlander who wishes to be counted in helping the less fortunate during this crisis. When I read his email, it reminded me of what our President Mdm Halimah stated in her address that was read out in Parliament in 26 March 2020. She said and I quote, "In these worst of times, I am heartened to see the best of Singaporeans." I heard another example in Mr Vikram Nair's speech just now about a shopkeeper in his constituency, distributing essential food items to needy families.

We have here an opportunity to mobilise even more fellow Singaporeans to join the clarion call sounded by our President to work together as one people and support one another in this journey.

Next, I have a point on resilience. In his Ministerial Statement delivered on 26 March 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Heng stated as follows: "While we attend to the immediate and urgent tasks, we will set outsides on the long term so that Singapore comes out of this crisis stronger as a nation." I applaud Deputy Prime Minister Heng and the Government for bringing focus to the need to build resilience to face the next challenge. This was done after the SARS outbreak. Almost a generation ago, we started building up our capability in R&D. As a result, as Deputy Prime Minister mentioned, our country developed COVID-19 test kits quickly and the kits were sent to other countries. This is a source of huge pride for fellow Singaporeans that our little red dot is helping in a big way the global effort to contain the pandemic. Equally, we need to plant seeds of resilience now so that we, when the next crisis comes, which is in words of President Halimah, "inevitable", the next generation of Singaporeans can benefit from these long-term measures and deal effectively with – in the words of Deputy Prime Minister – the next generational crisis.

In this regard, I offer two suggestions. One, strengthening the Singapore Core in important operational jobs and two, engaging Singaporeans on the importance of food security. In relation to the first point, I learnt anecdotally from my residents that when Malaysia issued the Movement Control Order (MCO) last month, this created a shortage of lift maintenance technicians and prime mover drivers at the ports. This is because a significant number of them are Malaysians. These are important jobs to ensure that Singapore keeps ticking. It may be good to review this and other critical jobs to see whether the Dependency Ratio Ceilings for the relevant sectors need to be adjusted to strengthen the Singaporean Core in these jobs.

Second, Deputy Prime Minister specifically highlighted locally, the food resilience point in his Budget as an area to strengthen. I completely agree. As we all know, 90% of our food is imported. There were at least two separate occasions during the COVID-19 outbreak when supermarkets were inundated with residents wanting to buy essential food items for fear that they will dry up. We need to address this issue once and for all. If Singaporeans are assured we have sufficient food through what is grown within our stockpile and outside resources, hopefully, we will be able to avoid runs on supermarkets in the future.

The well-known 30 by 30 vision is already a stretch target as our current production level is only 10%. However, I suggest we need to aim even higher over a long-term period. I do not have sufficient information to suggest a target but I can already see potential for entrepreneurism and harnessing of technology in this arena. The hon Member Mr Ang Wei Neng made the same point. Also, there appears to be more and more natural and man-made calamities affecting global food supply chains nowadays, even putting aside COVID-19 event for the moment.

Should our target be revised? This may require a revisiting of the setting aside of 1% of our land for agriculture. I support that. What is equally important is to ingrain in our people the trade-offs involved. Our people must support local agricultural companies, which must provide good value propositions; and at the same time, our people must accept that there will be higher costs associated with this. So, this is an opportunity for our Government, particularly MEWR, to gain the support of people not just to achieve but exceed the 30 by 30 vision.

Moving on to the Solidarity Budget, I have one point to make. This is in relation to the enhancing of Temporary Bridging Loans for SMEs. I am glad to hear the Deputy Prime Minister announce plans to strengthen this aspect. Hitherto, there was some level of scepticism from some businesses on this issue. One businessmen shared with me the potential effect that he feared once the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill is passed. He said that he is a landlord and he services a mortgage through the rent from the tenant. Now, if he is not allowed to collect rent, then he would have to take out a bridging loan. According to him, the current interest is about 3.5% per annum. In the end, he fears that he, as a landlord, would take a hit, the tenants will obviously be in a difficult position as well. But the bank ultimately may not, with the 3.5%, over and above what he has to pay under the secured loan.

I welcome Deputy Prime Minister's comments on how the enhancing of the Temporary Bridging Loan would have the impact of lowering the costs for businessmen like him.

In conclusion, I wish to highlight one aspect of the Government's response to the outbreak in the international arena. In a situation that affects the entire world like a pandemic, the world must get its act together before we, however resilient we may be, because we are very open nation, can return to normalcy.

Mr Henry Kwek shared his musings on the global dynamics. Ordinarily, this would be hard for small nations like Singapore to influence. But we saw Singapore contribute to these efforts. Prime Minister Lee and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan gave important interviews that resonated worldwide. In a memorable quote, the Prime Minister said and I quote, "Under the best of circumstances, it is going to be a very difficult challenge for mankind, but the United States and Chinese are swapping insults and blaming one another for inventing the virus and letting it loose on the world. I do not think that it is going to help us solve the problem sooner."

It is both in our national interest as well as the world's, for these two giants to work together. Singapore uniquely was able to make this call. It is a true friend of both countries. I respectfully suggest that the words of Prime Minister Lee and Minister Vivian resonated better because of our exceptional people. The vast majority of fellow Singaporeans including hon Members in Opposition fully back the Government in its plans.

The fact that we back our Government has nothing to do with us being a paternalistic society; a label that foreign media has used. That assertion is an insult to right-thinking Singaporeans. In fact, it is illogical because in almost a next breath, there is an acknowledgement that the plans we put in place here are good ones.

The backing of our people is because of the trust carefully developed over the decades. Deputy Prime Minister Heng spoke about it earlier today. This is manifested in the way the Government conducted itself through the crisis, taking its duties with utmost seriousness, being completely honest, forthright and transparent and unafraid to explain the tough measures needed to save our people's lives and livelihoods.

Inevitably, there will be charlatans making false and spurious allegations and suggestions as to how they would handle such issues with knowledge gained from hindsight. Their purpose is to drive a wedge between the Government and our people and erode the trust between them. Such acts should be robustly rejected by fellow Singaporeans. Deputy Prime Minister Heng predicted that we would ride through the storm and emerge even stronger. I have no doubt that he is correct, so long as we all remain united. I support both Budgets.

Mr Speaker: Minister Josephine Teo.

5.53 pm

The Minister for Manpower (Mrs Josephine Teo): Mr Speaker, this is a surreal scene. I do not recall being in Chamber with so few Members on an important occasion of a Budget Debate. But these are very unusual times.

In 2009, when the world was reeling from the shock of the Global Financial Crisis, I was a Labour Member of Parliament on the backbench. Just days before Chinese New Year, nearly 700 workers were retrenched by a textile manufacturing company. The timing was cruel. I felt for the workers, including the union leaders who had become my friends. Miraculously, by July, there were green shoots, the first time that phrase got thrown about, and the economy started on this rather strange V-shaped recovery. No one expected it, but the Singapore economy grew by 1.9% that year. Job losses in Singapore were nowhere near the 100,000 predicted at the start of the year, even though at the peak, unemployment rose to about 5%.

Today, COVID-19 certainly appears to me to be more cruel than SARS and even the Global Financial Crisis. No one can, at this point, seriously imagine a V-shaped recovery any time soon, if at all. After all, entire cities and nations have had to make drastic changes to the way people live.

Last Friday, the Prime Minister spoke on the COVID-19 situation in Singapore. To protect all of us, we had to make the difficult decision to implement a circuit breaker. The temporary closure of most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, takes effect tomorrow. Many are asking – how will we get through the next one month? What will happen after that? No one can say for sure. But one thing we can be sure of is that we will get through this together. We will stand in solidarity with workers as well as businesses.

Let me start with MOM's top priority: protecting the livelihoods of workers. Even as we close workplaces temporarily, we want to ensure that workers can still put food on the table and meet their financial obligations. This is why Deputy Prime Minister Heng announced further enhancements to the Job Support Scheme.

Businesses providing essential services are still allowed to operate. Their workers will be paid. For workers in non-essential businesses, those who can telecommute should do so. Their employers should pay them appropriately, instead of treating this period as no-pay leave. To Ms Jessica Tan's question, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Low Yen Ling will say more about how MOM will help businesses enable employees to work from home. For those workers who are unable to work remotely, the enhanced Job Support Scheme should still help to fund the majority of their wages.

We know employers are making many adjustments, but they should also do their part. Given the generous Job Support Scheme funding, employers should aim to pass the Government support to their workers. We urge them to communicate clearly to their employees on work and pay arrangements for the next few weeks. We will also ensure that vulnerable worker segments, such as self-employed persons and lower wage workers, receive sufficient support.

As Deputy Prime Minister has announced, we will broaden the coverage for the SEP Income Relief Scheme or SIRS. First, we will include SEPs who earn a small income as employees, in addition to their main livelihood, which is self-employment, up to $2,300 per month, in terms of their earned employment income, which is the current Workfare income ceiling. Two thousand and three hundred dollars is the current Workfare income ceiling.

Second, the Annual Value threshold of SIRS will be raised from $13,000 to $21,000. This will include most condominiums outside prime areas. With the expanded criteria, about 100,000 SEPs will automatically qualify for SIRS, compared to 88,000 previously. This is a meaningful expansion. There is no need for eligible SEPs to apply. Those aged 37 and above who declared a positive net trade income, will be automatically notified and receive their first payout in end of May. For the rest of the SEPs that narrowly missed qualifying for SIRS, they can appeal and we will consider their cases. To take care of appeals, I have reached out to Secretary-General of NTUC Brother Ng Chee Meng and the Labour Movement has established links with some groups of SEPs and is already administering the SEP Training Support Scheme. I would like to thank NTUC for stepping up to help the SEPs in need.

Tomorrow, Minister of State Zaqy will share how we have enhanced the Workfare Special Payment (WSP) to strengthen support for our low-wage workers, many of whom Members of Parliament noted are critical to the provision of essential services.

The evolving COVID-19 situation also brought about uncertainty to those looking for employment in this difficult job market. I can completely understand that many are anxious. In spite of the tremendous difficulties, the Government will actively facilitate the matching of jobseekers to businesses who still have immediate vacancies during this period, be it for a new job or to land a second job to supplement their income.

I had previously highlighted the SGUnited Jobs Initiative, which will create about 10,000 jobs over the next one year in both the public and private sector. The first SGUnited Jobs initiative Virtual Career Fair is currently on-going with 5,800 vacancies available and 5,500 applicants. I am quietly relieved that we have gotten good interest from employers and we will keep building up the pool of jobs that are immediately available.

Even as we go online, WSG's Careers Connect and NTUC's e2i centres will continue to provide face-to-face service to jobseekers who are in urgent need – of course, with appropriate safe distancing measures.

Our tripartite partners are also facilitating SGUnited Jobs at the company level. Through their networks, they bring together employers with complementary manpower needs – some have excess workers, some still have shortages. It's another form of "gotong royong". Adapt and Grow programmes will continue as far as possible, so people can get back into jobs.

One particular group that weighs on my mind are recent graduates and graduating cohorts from the ITEs, from Polytechnics, from Universities and other educational institutions. This is a very tough time to be entering the job market and I recognise their worries as well as those of their parents.

I think Members will agree with me – we must find a way to help these young Singaporeans get started in their careers and not let COVID-19 derail them. This is why we are making a big effort to mobilise employers to support the SGUnited Traineeships programme. In normal years, most graduating students in Singapore can find a job within six months. But in this climate, many employers are hesitant to take on any jobseeker, let alone one with no relevant experience.

This programme aims to plug the gap. It helps graduating students, as well as recent graduates, gain valuable work experience and develop professionally. So, if you look at their resumes, one year down the road, we hope not see this gaping hole, which they cannot articulate to prospective employers what happened, although everyone would understand, but still it is time lost.

Under this programme, the Government will fund 80% of the stipend that each trainee receives, with the host company paying the remaining 20%. I think that we can imagine in such a time, the stipend may not match the usual starting salaries of graduates but it is still better to have build up some work experience so that the resume has already started building a track record. We are looking to support up to 8,000 traineeships this year. It will be rolled out from 1 June with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) as the programme manager.

So far, more than 100 companies, such as ST Logistics, Surbana Jurong, Micron, Q&M Dental and Commonwealth Capital, have committed to 1,500 positions. More are coming on board and we are working hard on it.

Mr Speaker, I spoke about support for workers. This is not all. We will also support businesses to resume operations after this circuit breaker. We must hold on to the hope, that this is "pause", not "stop". Cash flow will be the foremost concern. MOM had earlier announced that SMEs will have three additional months to make the levy payments. The Government has further decided to waive levies due in April to provide extra relief.

In addition, we will provide a one-off rebate to employers, based on past levies paid. To process the rebate and reach businesses quickly, the levy rebate will be a flat $750 per worker, based on the number of workers holding work permits and S Passes, as employers only pay levies for these workers.

In view of the levy waiver and rebate, employers of foreign work permit and S Pass holders will no longer receive the daily allowance paid to employers of quarantined workers. This supersedes the Government's earlier statement regarding the daily quarantine allowance. Let me just qualify however that, from the workers' standpoint, it is still paid hospitalisation leave, so the workers will still get paid.

I have asked my colleagues to get the levy rebate out to the businesses as soon as possible and I am glad to say that it can be done as early as 21 April 2020, which is two weeks from now. We need the employers to also sign up quickly, we will provide the details, but, in about two weeks, the levy rebate will come.

Even before the payment is made, Members of Parliament have called for more. My commitment is that we will keep monitoring and reviewing the situation. This may go on for a while, so let us stay nimble and also sustainable.

During this period, there are also many firms in need of manpower. I urge them to leverage on the SGUnited Jobs and SGUnited Traineeships to provide opportunities for our locals. They can also tap on the existing pool of foreign workers already in Singapore, especially those that currently do not have work. The SBF's Manpower Connect will help businesses manage their manpower needs and tap on local and foreign workers.

Some people have asked and will continue to ask why we are providing support for businesses that hire foreign workers. Mr Speaker, this circuit breaker is not at all usual. It will significantly impact all businesses with contractual and financial obligations, regardless of whether they employ locals or foreign workers. We are providing some support, to ensure that firms with foreign workers can also restart operations and do right by their foreign workers during this period. This does not change the fact that supporting local workers remains our top priority. The schemes I mentioned fully demonstrate this commitment. But at such a time, we must stand united with all workers, every worker matters and not draw too many lines. Sharing pain should also mean sharing the relief.

At the same time, I appeal to businesses to use this levy rebate wisely. It is to help retain your essential workforce, so that your businesses can restart or scale up again once it is possible to do so. We expect you to look after not only your local workers but also your foreign workers and to take care of their upkeep during this circuit breaker. Please demonstrate our solidarity with all our workers, both local and foreign. Remember how they have helped you and your business in good times. Do not forsake them in bad times and take care especially, of vulnerable groups.

Mr Speaker, at the start of my speech, I recounted my experience during the Global Financial Crisis and how as suddenly as it appeared, its effects wore out in quite a short time. For now, the dark clouds cast by COVID-19 seem determined to stay. But I am still hopeful, not because I have a crystal ball to tell me that all will be well soon. In fact, personally, I expect things to get much tougher before they get better.

I feel hopeful because of the amazing spirit I see in our people – from the ones who make funny videos to cheer us up, there are quite a lot of them, to the ones who rewrite pop hits that go "viral", and also the people who chipped in, do things like make hand sanitisers, sew masks, even though in their entire lives they have never even cooked. But now, they experimented with ingredients and certainly, do not like sewing.

I see businesses that go the extra mile to care for their customers and workers. Likewise, many workers have taken on a lot, a lot more work to help their employers or accepted pay cuts. If there is one thing I can say with confidence, it is this. Our economy may take a huge hit and so might jobs. But not our spirit. And never our solidarity. We are Singapore. We will overcome. And we will emerge stronger. [Applause.]

Mr Speaker: Mr Faisal Manap.

6.13 pm

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, the efforts to expand and extend assistance to the different segments of society in ensuring that every Singaporean will not be left behind and that everyone feels a sense of unity and solidarity is very much welcomed. On a global scale, we have seen extraordinary measures and steps taken by governments and citizens in managing and tackling this extraordinary calamity.

In my speech, I would like to make some proposals for the Government's consideration so that effort of strengthening our nation's unity and resilience can be more encompassing and more inclusive.

I am heartened by the steps taken by the MSF in exercising flexibility in rendering ComCare assistance. As I understand, the ComCare assistance can only rendered to one per household. However, there are many households that have more than one immediate family staying together under one roof. For example, a couple with young children could be staying with their elderly parents along with another unmarried sibling. Hence, there will be possibility of two main breadwinners or family heads within the same household being affected by COVID-19. By not limiting assistance to just one per household. It will surely benefit and lighten the burden of such deserving cases.

As many in this Chamber are aware, the application and approval processes for ComCare assistance normally takes an average of about one to one and a half months. The duration will be longer in a situation, whereby an applicant for some reason is unable to furnish a complete list of relevant documents. I would like to urge the Social Service Office (SSO) to exercise some flexibility in the necessary norms cutting short the red tape that could cause a delay in rendering the much-needed assistance to deserving applicants.

Next, I would like to urge the Government to consider extending the existing financial assistance schemes to Singaporean students whose family incomes are affected by COVID-19. Currently, the KiFAS or Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme is only available to students from low-income families while schooling in PCF kindergartens well as kindergartens administered by MOE's anchors operators.

In the past, I have made calls in this Chamber for KiPAS to be extended to all needy students who attend pre-school education centres run by Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and faith-based entities such as churches and mosques. I would like to repeat this call during this unprecedented time to extend KiFAS to all students from families whose breadwinners' incomes have been adversely affected by COVID-19.

Similarly, I would also like to suggest the same exceptions for MOE's Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS). This Scheme should also be made available to students who are attending non-public schools or education institutions which are not stipulated under MOE's list of qualified schools. I would also like both MOE and MSF to consider extending the Assistance Schemes to another group of students who are Singaporean Permanent Residents with either one parent being a Singapore and even more so for single-parent families.

Sir, still on the issue of support and assistance for students. On this note, I would like to suggest the same exception that I have mentioned earlier to cover the NEU PC Plus programme administered by the Infocomm Media Authority (IMDA). The PC Plus programme offers low-income household with the students or persons with disability the opportunity to own a brand new computer as well as have Internet connection at an affordable price. As announced by MOE, all schools will start home-based learning (HBL) from 8 April 2020 to 4 May 2020.

Sir, they are Singaporean students from affected families who are studying in non-public schools and who could benefit from this scheme during HBL. I believe we will not want to have a situation of Singaporean students who are unable to continue the school lessons because their homes do not have a computer or Internet connection.

So, I am glad to see the following statement on IMDA's website: "Together with industry and community partners, IMDA has adjusted the NEU PC Plus programme to accelerate the provisioning of the PC bundle to eligible beneficiaries, which allow them to own online, to carry out activities such as e-learning amid the COVID-19 situation." IMDA acknowledges the current pressing needs and has made the necessary adjustments to ensure continuity and non-disruption of lessons to students. I applaud IMDA's for such combination actions. Nonetheless, I would like IMDA to consider furthering their commendable efforts by allowing more than one PC to per household, which is the current practice.

Sir, there are many Singaporean households which have more than one school-going children. Imagine a low-income family with more than two school-going children but only one PC at home, it will be challenging for these students to do their online lessons as prescribed by their schools. Having said this, I do acknowledge and note the recent notable steps taken by MOE on loaning about 3,000 sets of laptops to our students.

Sir, next I would like to convey a feedback from an individual who is a private hire car driver. He shared that there are discussions among private hire car drivers on various social media platforms to request both HDB and URA to allow extension of the grace period from 10 minutes to maybe half an hour for gantry parking across Singapore. Reason cited was lesser point-to-point bookings will result in longer waiting times. Hence, private hire drivers can have some savings whilst parking at designated parking areas rather than illegally on roadsides or restricted areas that in turn could pose a risk to other road users. I hope MND can look into this particular request.

My final point is on exercising leniency and flexibility in the payment of fines. I would like to call upon the various Government agencies to consider allowing deferment of such payments or alternatively to allow instalment payments. Nonetheless, appellants need to provide proof that are they are financially affected by COVID-19. This will indeed lessen the difficulties faced by the individuals, businesses or any other entities who have been issued with fines while trying to cope with their financial struggles.

To conclude, Sir, as I mentioned in the opening part of my speech extraordinary efforts are being made worldwide to ensure that this pandemic will not result in extraordinary damage to human lives. The calls I have made in this speech are not extraordinary calls. However, they are necessary and essential. I believe the Government will consider implementing proposals I have put forth as part of our nation's continued efforts to further strengthen our unity and resilience in facing this extraordinary challenging time.

6.21 pm

Mr Terence Ho Wee San (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, firstly, my heartfelt thanks to the Government and Deputy Prime Minister Heng for the announcement of the top-up of $55 million as the Resilience Budget for the arts and culture sector to save jobs as well as to encourage arts groups to improve their skills and go digital. In times of crisis, many countries’ arts funding are the first to experience a cut. However, in Singapore, the arts and culture sector received more funding to help improve their skills and ease expenses amid the COVID-19 outbreak. I am heartened by this move and strong emphasis on our vibrant arts scene in Singapore.

I hope that the arts groups and artists can tap on the Resilience Budget to build capabilities, to be self-sustained and well prepared for the future season to come. They can explore options such as upskill and upscale digital capabilities, such as online marketing and programming to share, spread and sell arts works across the boundary. The funding can be maximised to help arts companies pick up necessary competencies in digital content strategy, search engine optimisation, online syndication and licensing. I have four proposals.

One, to digitalise arts activities and roll out a Digital Arts Festival so that this platform could be the outlet for quality arts performances. For example, IMDA‘s Stay Healthy, Go Digital campaign encourages Singaporeans to “buy online, pay online and learn online”. So why not promote “Arts online”? Inter-agencies efforts, for example, the National Arts Council (NAC) and IMDA could work together to stage a “SG United” Arts Festival online.

Two, the NAC could consider giving more support for the freelance artists and musicians in the arts community, through commissioning new works, whether arts, music or productions to help weather the storm together, and potentially attract audiences back to theatres and shows. And we hope to engage artists and arts groups in the making of the public campaign video to battle the COVID-19.

Three, the Government could consider working with Giving.sg platform to encourage audience to give more donations for the arts. The platform could configure a page for the arts community as a whole, on top of the current organisation feature. For instance, the refund from recent cancellations of arts concerts and activities could be donated to the particular arts group, or to the arts community as a whole.

Four, to create a platform portal Arts.sg to bring and consolidate all the Singaporean artists’ works on board to share and market to sell spread awareness of Singapore’s arts scene. This could be tapped on as a potential form of cultural influence and soft power. I understand that there are existing portals, such as MusicSG and Hear65, but often they struggle with maintaining audienceship and readership. I hope more support could be given to these platforms. In Mandarin, Sir.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] First, I would like to thank the Government for setting aside an additional $55 million to the arts and culture sector. In times of crisis, many countries will cut arts funding first. However, in Singapore, we actually increased it! From this, we can see that the Government attaches great importance to the arts. I hope that the arts groups and artists can make good use of the funds and turn this crisis into opportunities, be more creative and use digital technology to make miracles. At the same time, individuals should also upgrade and learn, and be prepared for the future as early as possible, so that when the time is ripe, they can realise their full potentials.

Here, I have four suggestions. IMDA can consider expanding the “Stay Healthy and Go Digital” campaign and promote the arts online. By doing this, different local arts activities can be broadcast online, and citizens can enjoy arts and spiritual inspiration. We can bring physical activities online and create a Digital Arts Festival, so that this platform can be an outlet for quality arts performances to boost morale during this difficult period.

Second, NAC can consider stepping up efforts and provide support to help freelance art workers access more job opportunities. This would include commissioning new works, recording new audio or video productions. These support packages could help arts workers weather the storm and enable them to attract audiences back to theatres and shows with better arts works, to pay back to the society after this pandemic.

Third, the Government can also work together with Giving.sg to promote arts giving. We should encourage audiences to donate ticket refunds from the cancelled events to art groups to help them tide over this difficult period so that they can produce better quality programmes in the future.

Fourth, we could create a portal Arts.sg to bring all performances, recordings, arts courses and lectures together, and tap on larger platforms, such as SG United, to broadcast, so that appreciating and learning arts can become the people's inspiration and hope during this outbreak. This could be packaged as Singapore Arts, and serve as a potential form of cultural influence and soft power for Singapore.

I believe, Sir, as long as our arts groups work together, we can definitely ride out this difficult period.

6.27 pm

Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang): Sir, we are living in extraordinary times. We are living in a world filled with anxiety now. Anxiety about our livelihood, our health, our loved ones and even our future.

Life as we know it has been disrupted and changed in unimaginable ways by the onset of the coronavirus outbreak. The livelihoods of many people have disappeared almost overnight as draconian measures are imposed on society to curb the spread of the virus and borders remain closed. No one knows when we will see the light at the end of this tunnel. I am sure we are all driving blind in the dark at times, hoping that some, if not all of the targeted measures introduced over the course of this pandemic will work somehow.

While these targeted measures are meant to slowly choke off the spread of the virus, they are also slowly killing the man in the street trying to make ends meet, working in the malls, cafés, coffee shops, and retail outlets, or driving taxis, private hire vehicles – and the list goes on. The world is certainly closing in for the man in the street with each successive round of heightened measures introduced the past few weeks.

I was at a coffee shop in Hougang when the news broke about the "no dining in" measure for eateries. I could feel a sense of despair hanging in the air there. I could sense the anxiety of the stall owners and coffee shop helpers as we spoke. Two workers were very worried for they know their jobs are on the line. They know there would be no plates to collect and dishes to wash come Tuesday morning. You could tell by the look in their eyes they were worried about what is to come – the bills to pay and the living expenses.

The urgency and quantum of this Supplementary Budget probably sums up the gravity of the situation we are in right now. By dipping into the reserves, we are probably hoping to ride out this storm. We certainly need to buy some time for things to get better down the road, for nature to take its course and hopefully for a vaccine to be developed soon to end this misery.

But by doing so, we need to ensure the use of our reserves must achieve its intended purpose. The Deputy Prime Minister had said the $17 billion from the reserves will be used to help fund measures like supporting jobs, helping the self-employed and boosting the hard-hit aviation sector. So, the use of our reserves must save jobs, first and foremost.

They should not be used to rescue corporate executives of large companies, who did little or no planning to save for a rainy day, and will continue to receive fat salaries while their companies bleed. It must also not be used to protect fat dividends and share buyback schemes for listed companies to appease their shareholders once the crisis blows over.

Thus, I would like to ask the Minister how is the Government going to ring-fence the money from our reserves to serve this purpose of saving jobs for our workers, especially for those in the aviation industry, since the sector will be receiving the lion's share of the reserves' money.

As public money will be used to co-pay a significant portion of their salaries, are there any conditions imposed on these big companies, such as they must hold off any retrenchment exercise for as long as they are receiving help from the Government? And for listed companies, will there be a temporary moratorium on the payment of the dividends or share buyback exercise, once the assistance is no longer needed?

Next, I am in support of the measure to save jobs and the livelihoods of many self-employed Singaporeans in the Supplementary Budget. One particular group of Singaporeans I wish to highlight is those who are asked or encouraged to go on no pay leave for obvious reasons. My colleague, Ms Sylvia Lim, has highlighted some of these workers earlier.

Would they be receiving any help as well as there are bills to pay and mouths to feed? These workers would include retail staff, childcare centre cooks, coffee shop helpers, office cleaners and the list goes on.

Other groups of Singaporeans that need help include those who are listed as directors or owners of their companies but they are actually one-man-operated entities – that is, self-employed.

I have a resident who runs an employment agency all by himself. The world has shut its borders. His livelihood has vanished overnight. There are also Singaporeans who are freelancers and they do not have receipts or CPF contributions to prove their livelihood status. Some may have only filed their income tax returns. Where would such Singaporeans go to seek help for cash support?

I note the additional enhancement to the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme as announced by the Deputy Prime Minister earlier, and I hope the above workers would all be covered. I hope the Minister can clarify on this matter.

Next, with the closure of non-essential workplaces and schools, I would expect utilities' usage for households to spike with Singaporeans working from home via telecommuting and students moving to full home-based learning. Affected Singaporeans struggling in this crisis will be unduly burdened by such overheads. Are the U-Save rebates adequately measured to help Singaporeans cover the impending increase in utility charges under the latest stay-at-home orders?

Finally, many affected residents I spoke to the past few days asked when can the help arrive? Some help measures will only come in May or later, but many affected Singaporeans were already struggling to make ends meet since February. I appreciate the Ministry for working at breakneck speed to roll out these measures. I am happy to note that some of these measures are being brought forward to April. Thank you.

Mr Speaker: Senior Minister of State Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman.

6.33 pm

The Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman): Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me to join in the debate.

COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge that we face in this generation. Within the short span of three months, many societies worldwide, in Europe, America, the Middle East and closer to home, in Southeast Asia, are seeing widespread transmissions, overwhelmed healthcare systems, soaring death rates and economic recession. Today, we are debating the Resilience Budget, a $48 billion Supplementary Budget just a month after the Unity Budget 2020 was announced. And we just heard the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance introduce a third Budget, the Solidarity Budget of $5.1 million.

We all know the gravity of the situation – only the second time that we are dipping into our past reserves since Independence.

While we had experience with SARS 17 years ago, the world today is a much different place. We are even more connected to the world than ever before. We have seen how the virus can spread like wild fire all over the world. We must do everything that we can to fight this virus on all fronts. Lives are at stake. Those who succumb to the virus could be a parent, a sibling, a friend, a neighbour.

When we heard of community transmission in more countries and through large-scale religious gatherings, we took swift and decisive measures. Singapore suspended all religious services regardless of faith as part of a comprehensive set of safe distancing measures in order to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. It is a huge sacrifice for all religious communities here. But we all knew it had to be done.

[Deputy Speaker (Mr Lim Biow Chuan) in the Chair]

The fight against COVID-19 and coping with its socio-economic impact requires the support of everyone. Our Malay/Muslim community has a key role to play in this national effort. We have formed the SGTeguhBersatu Task Force, or the SG Resilience in Unity Task Force, comprising representatives from the M³ agencies, Malay/Muslim organisations, NTUC as well as Government agencies. By galvanising the strengths of these organisations, we will create new and stronger partnerships to provide better support for the community in areas such as employment and up-skilling, families and students, and the religious sector. We will also strengthen the resilience of the community.

Thus, I would like to speak on what we can do together as a community. This can be summed up in three Ps, namely, the first P – preserving our religious life; secondly, having a progressive religious leadership; and thirdly, persevering together.

First, preserving our religious life.

COVID-19 has disrupted our daily lives as well as our religious lives. As Muslims, many of our social norms are highly interpersonal. We offer our hands in greeting. We pray together at mosques. In fact, we believe that our merit is multiplied when we congregate to pray in a mosque. We meet regularly in homes for religious gatherings like kenduri or doa selamat to offer prayers to family members who have passed on and strengthen our family bonds as we gather.

All these, we were told is part of our faith and our culture. It is therefore difficult to forgo such norms, but we understand and accept that safe distancing measures and the suspension of religious services are critical in the fight against COVID-19.

Changing our norms to protect ourselves and those around us does not make us any less of a Muslim or diminish our cultural identity. Not being able to perform Friday prayers during our COVID-19 battle does not mean losing our faith or religious way of life. As the Mufti said, "[the Muslim community] doing their bit to keep everyone safe is, in and of itself, one of the noblest things that we can do as Muslims" and also that "our togetherness and sense of community must remain strong in our hearts even as we have to keep physically apart".

I am heartened to see that the community, the asatizah and the mosque leaders have rallied behind the religious leadership on the very difficult decision to close our mosques. I also see people practising what has now been termed affectionately as "Salam Mufti" as an alternative to shaking hands with one another. These actions are important as they reduce the risk of community spread.

I am sure that many people are anxious to know when our mosques will reopen. Certainly, mosques hold a special place in the hearts of the Muslim community. While we cannot be sure how soon the COVID-19 situation will improve, we must do the necessary to curb COVID-19 infections in Singapore. This is to protect not just ourselves but also our loved ones, especially our seniors who are the most vulnerable. It is the morally responsible and right thing to do.

To preserve our religious life, MUIS is working with mosques to make more religious programmes available online through Muslim.sg as well as over the radio. In fact, religious programmes over Warna 94.2FM, which were originally scheduled for Ramadan, have been brought forward for the benefit of seniors in the community who might not be as internet savvy.

I commend our asatizah for stepping up to this new mode of religious guidance. Many of them had to acquire entirely new digital skills to do this. Now, more than 50 mosques have put up content online, releasing over 130 videos online since they were closed on 23 March. I hope younger family members can also assist and ensure that this online religious content reach our older generation. I also hope that the community benefits from the daytime infotainment programmes in the Malay media that help to reiterate how we can all help to stay safe and curb the spread of COVID-19.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second "P" for us is for us to have a progressive religious leadership that unites and guides the community.

Our Fatwa Committee, chaired by Mufti, has paved the way for how we can and must continue to adapt in the practice of our religion to the context and challenges that we face. We are indeed fortunate to have religious and community leaders who are open and progressive, can provide clear guidance to help the community address immediate challenges, and can rally and unite the community in times of crisis.

A progressive religious leadership is also one that is able to grapple with increasingly complex issues. For instance, our asatizah are also working with medical professionals to develop religiously and medically sound advice for our community. Last month, we formed the Malay/Muslim COVID-19 Working Group comprising asatizah and medical professionals, co-chaired by Minister Masagos Zulkifli and Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary. The Working Group members have helped to communicate the scientific and religious reasons for precautionary measures we need to take in our mosques and our social interactions, such as at weddings, and how we can all protect ourselves.

For example, Dr Norhisham Main of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital appeared alongside Mufti in an online talk show to explain the closing of mosques from the medical perspective. The Working Group is also actively discussing plans for Ramadan and how Ramadan can continue to be spiritually engaging for the community while we continue to observe safe distancing measures. MUIS will share more of these plans in due course. This collaboration between our asatizah and the medical professionals provides more holistic guidance for our community. Mr Deputy Speaker, in Malay, please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] COVID-19 has disrupted our daily as well as religious lives. We acknowledge that these changes are necessary. However, changing our social norms to protect ourselves and the people around us does not make us any less of a Muslim or diminish our cultural identity. Similarly, our inability to perform Friday prayers during our COVID-19 battle does not mean that we have lost our faith or our religious way of life. As the Mufti said, the Muslim community doing their bit to keep everyone safe is, in and of itself, one of the noblest thing that we can do as Muslims. He also said that our togetherness and sense of community must remain strong in our hearts even though we must keep apart.

Mr Speaker, during the Committee of Supply debates last month, I announced the Committee on Future Asatizah or COFA’s work, and the importance of having asatizah who can lead and guide our community through new and increasingly complex socio-religious challenges. Responding to COVID-19 is one such challenge. Our asatizah’s progressive approach has helped us examine religious traditions critically and apply them in today’s circumstances. Because of this, we were able to move decisively while others were still deliberating the way forward. Given the crisis will be long-drawn, I urge all our asatizah to rally together in continued efforts to strengthen the resilience and confidence of the community through the challenges ahead. To spearhead this in a concrete manner, MUIS, PPIS, PERGAS and the Muslim Healthcare Professionals Association (MHPA) will be working collaboratively together, as part of the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce, to develop initiatives and programmes to strengthen the psychological resilience and support the mental wellness of the community. This will help the community cope with this challenging period. More details will be shared by the Taskforce when ready.

Mr Speaker, the third “P” is Persevering Together. We acknowledge that it will take some time for us to overcome COVID-19. But, as one people, we must be ready to make adjustments to all facets of life, including our religious life. We must persevere, so that we can emerge stronger after this crisis. The livelihoods of many Singaporeans have been affected.

To support asatizah during the downturn, I am pleased to announce that MUIS has put together a comprehensive package, together with partners, as part of the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce. This package will comprise the following.

First, ensuring asatizah remain relevant and earn an income. MUIS will work with mosques and the Islamic Education Centres and Providers (IECP) to intensify efforts to ensure that asatizah remain relevant during this period. Asatizah must continue to play a critical role in guiding the community through Islamic education. To do this, mosques will conduct more online programmes and support home-based learning for aLIVE madrasahs and other Islamic learning classes. MUIS will also develop a toolkit to help IECPs move their learning online. I am glad to see that some home-based Quran teachers are already having lessons via teleconference. These efforts will ensure asatizah continue to conduct their lessons, and draw an income during this period.

Second, strengthening upskilling of our asatizah and preparing them for beyond the crisis. MUIS will be collaborating with MENDAKI SENSE to help asatizah upskill during this downtime in areas, such as IT and digital media or in counselling. We encourage asatizah to tap on the various schemes, such as the SkillsFuture Credit as well as the enhanced Self-Employed Persons (SEP) Training Support Scheme. This effort to upskill our asatizah is tied to the launch of the Career Map and Competency Framework (CCF) which I talked about during the Committee of Supply Debates last month. The CCF was recommended by COFA and will provide an overarching framework to raise the professionalism of the asatizah sector and create more career pathways and opportunities for them. MUIS will provide more details later this month.

Third, assisting asatizah affected by the downturn. Many asatizah depend on direct contributions from their students or followers for their income. MUIS will work with relevant agencies to help asatizah affected by the downturn tap on schemes in the Resilience Budget. For example, MUIS will work with NTUC, and will accept applications from freelance asatizah who do not automatically qualify for the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS). Muis will also reach out to asatizah through its partners, such as Pergas and IECPs, to raise awareness of these schemes. MUIS will guide the asatizah through the application process and facilitate any appeals from asatizah. As the Deputy Prime Minister had announced during his speech on the Solidary Budget earlier, asatizah who are eligible for SIRS support will receive three payments of $3,000 from May. MUIS will also work with MSF to guide asatizah through the Temporary Relief Fund (TRF) application process, which will provide a temporary relief of $500 for eligible asatizah who are experiencing a drop in their income due to COVID-19.

Asatizah who lose their jobs due to COVID-19 can also apply for the COVID-19 Support Grant and receive $800 a month, for three months.

At the same time, I encourage the community to continue their support for our asatizah and mosques. Our mosques are heavily dependent on donations from the community and, with the closure of mosques, the income of mosques is surely affected. As such, MUIS is developing a platform to make it easier for the community to make online donations to the mosques, including those who would like to donate on a regular basis, such as through PayLah and GIRO. The system is expected to be launched before Ramadan.

As I urge the community to play its part to continue to support our mosques, I am also glad to share that MUIS will take the lead to support mosques in the following ways.

First, in view that physical aLIVE classes will be disrupted with the closure of mosques and will be replaced by home-based learning, MUIS will extend grants to mosques to provide a 50% waiver of their aLIVE fees for two months.

MUIS will also provide grants to mosques to support mosques to adopt the enhanced COVID-19 precautionary measures, such as temperature taking, contact tracing and queue management, when mosques reopen in the future.

These measures to support mosques are expected to cost MUIS over $1 million.

I am heartened to see that some segments of the community have already stepped up to support our asatizah during this period. For example, the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (PERGAS) started the Gracious Package, a fund that provides some supplementary financial support for asatizah. During this period, eligible asatizah may receive a one-off payment of up to $400, and up to $300 per month, for the next six months. MUIS and the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce will work closely with these MMOs to ensure that our asatizah receive the support they require during this period.

In addition to the support for asatizah, our madrasahs will also do more to support students and ensure learning can be carried out smoothly even with the safe distancing measures.

Like national schools, from Wednesday, our madrasahs will also transit to home-based learning. MUIS will work with madrasahs to lend devices to madrasah students who may not have personal devices. If necessary, students may still come to the madrasahs if their parents are working in essential services. MUIS will also extend the application window for the Progress Fund Madrasah Assistance Scheme (PROMAS) to support madrasah students who may require financial assistance.

Mr Speaker, the month of Ramadan is almost upon us. Our community will have to be psychologically prepared that they may not be able to partake in community breaking of fast at mosques or perform the nightly terawih congregational prayers at the mosques as well. For many Muslims, Ramadan is not just a time to reflect and grow spiritually, but also to show care and compassion to all. We must remember these values as we safeguard our loved ones and our countrymen from the virus.

Let us be serious in implementing the precautionary measures. We use #wemustbeserious. A good number of locally transmitted cases could have been avoided if people had been more socially responsible by avoiding gatherings and crowds and staying at home when unwell. Adjust our daily routine, such as avoiding going to the market on weekends and going when it is not crowded instead and eat at home. Wear a mask and see a doctor if we are unwell. Our community must be part of the solution, not the problem. This is what we must do as a Community of Success.

(In English): This COVID-19 episode is an important opportunity for us reaffirm our fundamental values as a community and apply them to contemporary challenges, adapt and emerge stronger, both as a community and as a nation. It takes a whole-of-community effort to overcome the challenges we face today. I am confident that we can triumph.

6.56 pm

Mr Deputy Speaker: Deputy Leader, Minister Desmond Lee.

Debate resumed.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Prof Lim Sun Sun.

6.57 pm

Prof Lim Sun Sun (Nominated Member): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The saying goes that a week is a long time in politics. COVID-19 has shown us that a week is an eternity in a pandemic.

As the coronavirus continues to rage through countries worldwide, it leaves a trail of destruction – claiming lives, industries, businesses and, of course, jobs. The Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are therefore most welcome indeed and will be a tremendous source of encouragement to the many who have been adversely affected. I have, nevertheless, solicited feedback from people across multiple industry sectors to offer suggestions on how these extraordinary provisions can be further refined. Some of the ideas I raise may come across as unorthodox but may have merits so I air them here in the spirit of collective innovation. These suggestions pertain to three aspects – generating work, stimulating spending and supporting SMEs.

Like many other people, my calendar has become blissfully clear with many events postponed indefinitely, or cancelled entirely. While the Government has introduced many schemes to provide industries with cash flow during this critical period, another approach may be to generate actual work so that industries can still chug along. For example, training programmes, workshops and conferences should still proceed by migrating online, thereby allowing event organisers and trainers to maintain their business, while gaining valuable experience in digitalisation.

If the Government Ministries proceed with their original calendar of events in the coming months, training programmes and outreach campaigns, it sends a strong signal that it is business as usual, and supporting industries will also respond with creative online provisions. These events can still involve the production of conference materials that can be delivered to attendees, thereby also generating demand for additional services.

If our Government Ministries and agencies continue to commission work rather than take a "wait and see" approach, the private sector will also follow its lead and this will create opportunities for smaller businesses to earn some revenue.

Another suggestion pertains to paying for work already done. Many Government contracts have been halted with work done half way by contractors. Contractually, payments may not be due but it would be a positive gesture for the Government to see if they can pay for work already completed or reimbursement for expenses incurred by contractors. As individual departments within Ministries may not have the discretion to make such decisions independently, some high level directive on this front would be a helpful signalling effect.

The next suggestion relates to stimulating spending by consumers. With the recent lull in consumer spending and understandable dip in consumer confidence, retailers are, obviously, bleeding. The Government’s efforts to help with daily expenses in the form of one-off cash payouts and expenses for families will certainly help to ease families’ consumption needs.

Another possibility to explore is to offer shopping vouchers instead of cash. By working with retail consortia to exploit economies of scale, the vouchers can even have a value higher than their cash value. These vouchers can come with a limited validity period of perhaps three months to boost near term spending so that retailers can earn revenue sooner, and therefore, have the cash flow to retain their staff. Should the effects of the ongoing crisis persist for longer, more vouchers can be issued at a later juncture.

While this is a somewhat unorthodox suggestion, the Government is in fact no stranger to vouchers as it has previously gifted past and present National Servicemen with S$100 NS50 vouchers as part of the NS50 Recognition Package. These NS50 vouchers could be used at more than 6,000 participating outlets and services, including major grocery stores and dining chains and indeed boosted revenue for these participating companies.

Moving on to supporting SMEs, feedback from these businesses suggests that cash flow is their biggest issue. Even as they have to continue to pay rents, overheads and salaries, their revenue has either slowed to a trickle or come to a complete standstill. I am, therefore, heartened by the Deputy Prime Minister's announcement today of many new or enhanced support packages, including the Enhanced Enterprise Financing Scheme and the SME Working Capital Loan.

I would, therefore, like to echo Labour Chief Ng Chee Meng's call for the aid to come sooner.

For the SMEs that still can generate some revenue even during the pandemic, they are now faced with unanticipated expenses. Those that involve interfacing with customers such as F&B establishments are now finding that masks, sanitisers and disposable ware are a rapidly ballooning expense and need help to keep the costs of such items low. As for SMEs that are being asked to shift their services to the digital realm, they are finding that Government grants do not seem to support the cost of adopting video-conferencing solutions such as Zoom.

Additionally, Government grant audit systems need to adapt to the digital environment as well. While training sessions are now encouraged to shift online, contractors now need to provide and record a full eight hours of online interaction. However, this does not take into account the fact that online training is more effective when it adopts a mixture of approaches such as flipped learning or blended learning. A mere replication of face-to face training will not work well in digital learning. It is therefore unrealistic to use old systems to assess new modes of instruction.

Finally, I have also received feedback that many start-ups have stalled as most do not qualify for the grants that have been rolled out. They too are asking for help as they fear they will not survive this crisis, however innovative their offerings.

I hope some of these ideas can be considered and adapted to the extent that they are practicable. I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Alex Yam.

7.04 pm

Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Mr Deputy Speaker, I usually prepare my speeches well in advance but with the newly announced Solidarity Budget, I have to rewrite, so my apologies to the translators for not having sent my speeches to you.

Mr Deputy Speaker, how many people does it take to screw in a light bulb? Or in this case, how many Singaporeans does it take to reset a circuit breaker? When we were first in this House no 18 February, the lights were still on, perhaps, flickering a little bit, but nothing to be too worried about. The Deputy Prime Minister Heng, at that time, introduced the Unity Budget, much like a new starter installed into a flickering light. But we also had plans to quickly move towards LED lighting and solar panelling, to be better prepared for the future.

Yet, almost soon after, we had a power trip. The lights went out as COVID-19 cases blew out the lights. We quickly brought in a qualified electrician and a Resilience Budget on 26 March. It turned on the emergency lighting so that Singaporeans would not stumble. Soon after, we realised that the emergency lights only worked indoors. And to get help, we needed to venture out a little further. In came the Solidarity Budget that was announced today, providing Singaporeans, perhaps, with a flash light, so that we can light our way in the darkness, so that Singaporeans who may have to be at home for a month are not left without a path out when the storm passes.

We must not, however, overload our circuit, even though we hope to reset it as soon as possible. During this period, we must bite the bullet and adhere to the circuit breaker rules. We need to make sure that our collective actions add up. Just like a trip in the system, we all need to switch off before resetting the circuits, or risk tripping or worst still, shorting the entire circuit.

So, every time we leave our house during this month for purposes beyond what is essential, we are literally tripping the system again. That would put the flash light to naught, as a catastrophic failure or ground fault would blow up the circuit, and would cost us exponentially – in economic as well as human costs. That, we can ill afford.

So, the answer is, it takes all Singaporeans to reset the circuits. It takes all of us so that the drawdown from our reserves will be worthwhile, so that we do not end up bankrupting ourselves because of irresponsible actions that individuals may take.

The next point I would like to make a something that I am glad that Deputy Prime Minister Heng touched on. And that is the long-term mental health impact of this crisis. The scale of COVID-19 is unprecedented and our three Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are also unprecedented to address the impact of this virus on lives and livelihoods. Yet, we cannot ignore the long-term impact to the mental health of Singaporeans, even after the virus subsides the most recent mental health index, which is a longitudinal study in Canada, showed a dramatic 12-point drop in the overall mental health situation in Canada due to COVID-19 and the lockdown. We also know from SARS that quarantined persons exhibited a higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

With the circuit breaker announced, a mother remarked, "Before schools close, my kids had a 1% chance of contracting COVID-19. Now, we have home-based learning starting Wednesday, and us working from home, I have a 99% chance of either going crazy or suffering a stroke." But on a more serious note, many of the little comforts that we took for granted in our daily lives will not be possible in the coming months. Habits like going to our favourite coffee shop; for our elders, going down for a chat; mingling, having a beer the end of the day. All these will not be possible.

Even spiritual comforts like going to our religious institutions have not been possible for some time. Today is the beginning of Holy Week for Christians. It is the climax of the Christian year, but yet our churches are closed. And this creates a major impact on the mental health of people who see these little things as comfort in their week, in their daily lives.

Healthcare workers as well. On Friday, I shared on my social media, a correspondence that I had with a friend who works as a frontline doctor. He told me that he had never at his age considered the need to look at will, to plan ahead for his young family. But he did. He wrote it down. He was worried because he said that being on the frontline, he could see daily, the number of cases that were coming in. He could also see the patients who are not getting better or perhaps getting worse before they could get better. He could see the volume of cases. He could see his co-workers under pressure as well, having spent month after month working to combat this virus.

For him and many of the healthcare workers. This is an untold toll on them. To be watching as people grow in numbers, as the infection numbers go up, as pressures on them grow, as the number of deaths may unfortunately increase, despite the best of their efforts. This is something that we have to be conscious about. And I told him that I really hope that that will that he wrote, and perhaps, that many other healthcare professionals have decided to do so, would not be put to use anytime soon, that they would have a long and healthy life ahead of them; and he would be able to spend many more happy years with his wife as well as his young daughter.

For many of the people who have come to our Community Clubs (CCs) over the last few days to apply for the Temporary Relief Fund, I spent two days at my CC, speaking to some of them helping to process the documents as well. And a few of them looked shell-shocked. Tthey never expected to be in this situation, to feel a sense of loss to feel that there is nothing for them to look forward to daily or worrying about how they are going to feed their families. My constituency is not particularly low income but the number of people who came with large; some perhaps to try it out, but the vast majority were people from different sectors who did not expect to be so affected by this crisis. And for many of them, they had never planned for this this rainy day. So, whatever we do for them now, may be a temporary stop-gap measure. But what is more worrying is the impact on their mental health over the long term.

So, we need to do a lot more not just during this crisis so that Singaporeans have a leg-up, so that Singaporeans know that they are not forgotten, but we also have to be prepared for the long term impact that this COVID-19 crisis will have on Singapore and Singaporeans.

It will have an economic toll over the long term. It will have a toll on family life over the long term as well. And for us, we must constantly reach out to one another to assure each other that we are in this together, and only by being together, can we continue to be Singapore strong, that we can overcome.

And I hope that with the Unity, the Resilience and the Solidarity Budgets – URS – yours, yours! Your Budget will be all that we need; that we do not need to dip in once again, that we can come out of this crisis as soon as possible and reduce the impact on Singapore and Singaporeans.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Gan Thiam Poh.

7.14 pm

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): Deputy Speaker, Sir, once again, let me thank all the healthcare workers and all frontline personnel for the hard work they have done so far to keep Singapore safe for all of us. I would also like to thank all Singaporeans for working together, failing which, we would not be here today.

It is with a heavy yet grateful heart that I rise to support this Supplementary Resilience and Solidarity Budget. It has only been a few weeks since we concluded the Debate on our annual Budget Statement. In the short period since, the COVID-19 crisis has escalated and I had been hoping that the worst is over.

Around the world, hundreds of thousands of people have been infected and tens of thousands have died. This is an unprecedented global health, financial and social crisis. The world, as we knew it, has changed drastically.

Here in Singapore, in our day-to-day lives, while there have been some changes to our routines, we have not yet experienced the magnitude of the impact many other countries have. Hopefully, we will be able to continue to buy time with these supportive measures. No one knows how long or how deep the crisis will be. I am glad that Deputy Prime Minister Heng has given all of us the assurance that additional measures or the extension of announced measures will be considered should the crisis be prolonged.

Notwithstanding these uncertainties, let us strive to have our businesses to resume activities and recover as quickly as possible with all the latest additional measures in place and implemented successfully. Revenue is the lifeblood of businesses. More businesses would collapse if sales remain stagnant or decline further. We must do what we can to minimise and slow the potential domino effect.

I applaud the schemes to support our businesses but the implementation would perhaps need some Government intervention. For example, according to some stallholders and tenants, their landlords have not reduced rents for them despite these extraordinary circumstances. The new legislation to ensure that landlords pass on property tax rebates in full to their tenants would help businesses to a certain degree. On the other hand, some landlords complain that stallholders and tenants have delayed paying their rents or that they have lost rentals due to rising vacancies. Yet, they have to continue to meet their mortgage payments to the banks and finance companies. I suppose everyone has his difficulties and plight and the root of the problem is revenue loss and the resulting cashflow problems.

Retail companies, including those downstream industries supporting tourism, are requesting to increase the wage offset under the Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme for their sector from 25% to 50%, for the remaining qualifying months beyond April. Same as for food and beverage firms. Other feedback includes more lenient criteria for reduction or waiver of the foreign workers' levy for staff who are serving Leave of Absence or Stay-Home Notices beyond April; reducing the road tax for logistics companies and providing more rental assistance to JTC and HDB commercial tenants.

Gig workers, such as Grab delivery staff, need help, too. They are considered self-employed. How would the Government reach out to them and auto-include them in assistance schemes?

We would need to continue to encourage enterprises and investments and I urge the Government, its agencies and various private sector firms which may have put some projects on hold, to proceed to award contracts and carry out their plans, all of which will help to stimulate our economy and create jobs.

In the meantime, we must all do our part to boost the level of hygiene in our public areas. The public education effort has been intensive. We must heed the advice not only during this trying period but also beyond and adopt such hygienic practices as our way of life to reduce the spread of diseases. From the correct handwashing technique to utilising and disposing of tissues properly, new norms for social interactions and use of public facilities, how will the Government ensure compliance? What will be done to enhance the hygiene at the hawker centres and public toilets? How do we encourage more tray returns and get food handlers and stall holders to wear hair caps and spit-guards?

In addition, how will the Government work with property owners to ensure cleanliness, especially for food and retail establishments, hawker centres, coffeeshops and public areas? These efforts will require quickly stepping up the professionalisation of the cleaning sector with training and certification. The crisis also highlights how dependent we are on foreign workers to maintain a clean Singapore and how we need to expedite the adoption of technology to overcome the problem of limited manpower resources.

The COVID-19 crisis has also brought to the fore the urgency of ramping up our own food supply as part of a set of measures to enhance our food security. Supply chains have been disrupted and are under stress due to lockdowns and the impact of the virus on logistics staff and workers around the world. Will the Government share how much the impact has affected our food supply?

Our 30-30 vision will have to be brought forward. This is a challenging but necessary task, considering that we import 90% of our food. How will the Government do so? How can we attract more Singaporeans to this sector and what are the challenges faced by our local farms? How are we tapping on new techniques and technology to overcome our local constraints? Deputy Speaker, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Many countries around the world are currently in a state of emergency, imposing border controls, no-fly rules and local movement controls. The outbreak has dealt an unprecedented blow to the aviation, transportation, entertainment, arts, tourism, hotel and catering industries. Because of the extreme panic, the financial sector is also abnormal. Almost all assets were sold for cash. Stocks and bonds, and even gold, were sold, leading to the collapse of many companies. The collapse in oil prices has made the global economy worse.

My residents and friends around me have expressed their understanding and full support for the many measures the Government must take to prevent the epidemic, but they are equally concerned that "people starve to death before the virus is dead" (in Hokkien).

While we cannot predict how long the crisis will last, we need to remain positive, prepare for the global recovery and stay ahead of the competition. We must pay attention to the dynamics of our environment. Take a simple example. Recently, because Malaysia implemented movement control, durian merchants have difficulty picking up from their suppliers, durian prices have plummeted, and the merchants, in order to survive, turned to selling eggs instead, with excellent results. We are facing a turning point in history. The way the world works will change dramatically. Individuals, businesses and nations have to rethink the way they work, their business models and their governance policies, how to turn failures into successes, how to keep up with the times, even leaping ahead of the competition.

We must remain united and prove to the world that we Singaporeans are resilient in order to continue to attract high-quality investments to Singapore. I am confident that even during this crisis, we can create quality jobs for all Singaporeans and even as we fight this crisis, make good preparations for our future.

We also need to work with countries around the world to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the Gaza Strip, has joined forces with Israel to fight the outbreak.

Finally, I would like to borrow the famous poem "Qingming" by Tang poet Du Mu and paraphrase it to express our aspirations:

A pandemic in this time of Qing Ming;

Businesses shut down with broken hearts;

Don’t ask when this outbreak will end,

Fight together to end the pandemic, we play our parts!

7.25 pm

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in this debate on our Resilience and now Solidarity Budget, which is a much-needed and generous assistance package for many Singaporeans during this challenging time. I wish to express gratitude for the hard work put in by Prime Minister Lee, Deputy Prime Minister Heng, the Inter-Ministerial COVID-19 task force and our civil and public servants who have worked tirelessly to manage the COVID-19 situation and put in place the necessary support and assistance for Singaporeans during this difficult period.

I am heartened and moved by the extent of assistance provided in the Resilience Budget and now the Solidarity Budget – for employees, employers, business owners, the self-employed, job-seekers, the unemployed, and low-income and middle income families, among other specific segments of our society.

As the various assistance schemes and initiatives are being rolled out, Singaporeans will need to stay resilient and innovative in keeping their heads above water as the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak will continue to plague us for many more months ahead.

In my speech, I wish to speak on three matters which residents have raised with me. One, plight of the self-employed and future of the gig economy; two, employment opportunities for job-seekers and school leavers; and three, fees and loans payment.

First, on the plight of the self-employed and future of the gig economy. The Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) is very generous in helping Self Employed Persons (SEPs) over a period of nine months. This will certainly help SEPs during this difficult period. While the current SIRS scheme is useful, we should never rule out the possibility of other possible crises from happening in the future and which may put one's income-earning potential at risk once more, which is particularly more likely for SEPs.

Hence, my concern is what happens after the nine months. Will our SEPs be able to find a more permanent form of employment that will provide them with a more stable income in future? How can we encourage greater participation in the SEP Training Support Scheme and other employment assistance schemes, such as Career Trial or Attach-and-Train? Can a more targeted employment assistance be rendered to SEPs to help them secure a more permanent and stable form of employment for the future?

My other concern is regarding businesses that are severely affected because of the COVID-19 outbreak. While business owners can leverage on the Jobs Support Scheme to retain their current employees until October this year, what will happen thereafter? It will be very difficult for business owners to recoup losses incurred during this period, and they may decide to scale down their operations considerably and cut costs eventually. One of the ways in which they may decide to scale down their operations and cut costs, would be to let go of permanent hires and outsource work to freelancers or those doing gig work. This may lead to a growth of the gig economy, which may be acceptable during healthy economic growth. But during periods of crises, such as now, we will once again have income insecurity among the freelancers and those doing gig work. What more can we do to help them have better income security despite periods of crises?

Two, on employment opportunities for job-seekers and school leavers. I am reassured that the Government is looking to help job-seekers, in particular, first-time job-seekers just entering the job market. It is a very challenging time to be looking for employment, especially when you do not have sufficient work experience.

Even among my students in the University, some have shared their difficulty in securing a more permanent employment because of the current economic uncertainty. Those particularly affected are in the hospitality and tourism as well as design sectors.

While the SG United Traineeship programme will be able to provide our young people with opportunities to gain invaluable work experience, to enhance their employability and eventually land a relatively secure job, our students do question whether the few years they spent in a specific programme preparing for a job in an industry which is not able to provide employment for them has been a futile effort.

I hope that under the SG United Traineeship programme, recent University, Polytechnic and ITE graduates who are looking to gain employment in an industry that is different from the one they have been trained in, will be given recognition for their academic training and qualification as well as related work experience, and can be accorded some form of recognition for these when they are granted employment in a different sector thereafter.

Three, fee and loan payment. The freezing of all Government fees and charges for one year until 31 March 2021 is a much welcomed move. It helps to ease the financial burden for new graduates who are facing difficulty in securing employment during this period. The suspension of late payment charges on HDB mortgage arrears will help many Singaporean households better manage their tight finances during this period.

However, what about late payment charges for other fees, such as telco and utilities, where consumption is likely to increase as more Singaporeans work from home? Can they also be waived for residents for a period of six months or so?

In addition, I have residents who have written in to ask for a redirection of childcare or student care fees during the "circuit-breaker" period until 4 May 2020. Can the childcare or student care fees already paid during this period be redirected to pay for the later months when childcare or student care services are in full operations again? At this juncture, Mr Deputy Speaker, please allow me to speak in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The COVID-19 outbreak has transformed our lives. Most of us did not expect the advent of this pandemic and the resulting changes. It has impacted our income, jobs and businesses within a very short period of time. Many were also unprepared to deal with the challenges that came along with it. Among the challenges that must be addressed are related to financial issues and having enough savings to tide over this difficult economic times, especially for those who are self-employed or working freelance.

Among the initiatives and support schemes under the new Resilience Budget is the Training Support Scheme for the self-employed. Although the Government is currently providing financial support to the self-employed, the opportunity to undergo training must also be highlighted.

I hope that the self-employed or freelancers can make use of this opportunity to upgrade their skills and gain relevant knowledge and experience, which will help to improve their chance of getting permanent jobs in the future.

At the same time, the launch of the SG United Jobs initiative, which will provide about 10,000 public sector job openings, will present opportunities to those who are looking for permanent employment.

I hope that our community can make use of this time and available opportunities to enhance their skills, knowledge and experience, and plan their career wisely.

There is a Malay idiom that advises one to “do any job that is available first until something better comes along”.

(In English) Mr Deputy Speaker, the COVID-19 outbreak has changed many things and thwarted many plans that we had. In response, the Government has pulled out the stops and introduced extensive and generous assistance packages, schemes and initiatives to help Singaporeans. These will certainly help alleviate the hardships and challenges we face. But individually, we also need to start leveraging on opportunities to upgrade our skills and expertise, continue learning and re-learning, and look for opportunities so that we remain relevant.

The COVID-19 outbreak has changed many things, but it is also an opportunity for us to make some much-needed changes ourselves. In the words of Thomas Carlyle, "Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements and impossibilities: It is this that, in all things, distinguishes the strong from the weak", and I am confident we will emerge from this crisis even stronger as a nation. I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

7.34 pm

Ms Anthea Ong (Nominated Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to first thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and everyone in his team at MOF for the immense amount of work they did to make this Supplementary Budget possible within such a tight timeline.

For many of us, these first three months of 2020 have felt like a "horror suspense" movie that keeps us anxious and on the edge till the end. Except, we are not watching this movie – we are living it, and we still do not know when is the end and how it would end.

Many people – some I know and some I do not – have reached out for help as their lives are turned upside down. An acquaintance almost killed himself last Monday because he has lost all his gigs as an event emcee. A single mother of a young boy, who lives with an elderly mother, has had her salary cut by 50%. Many migrant workers struggle to pay for their daily essentials because there is no more overtime pay to make.

Sir, it is hard to fault such a generous Budget trying to avert an economic calamity and save jobs and industry – even lives. Yet, the crisis illuminates long-term cracks that we must address decisively for a good and strong rebound as a nation.

Every crisis is an opportunity to observe the cracks, rectify the causes and become more prepared for the future.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I will first spotlight the cracks in two areas. First, mental health of our people in this crisis and, second, low-income households who will bear the brunt of the crisis. I will then raise suggestions from the communities that aim to not only cushion the immediate impact of COVID-19 but also future-proof our social and psychological resilience for a more equal and united people.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this House is familiar with my call for mental health to inform our Budget and national policies. I was initially alarmed that the Resilience Budget did not allocate any funding and resources to mental healthcare, support and research for this period. I am now slightly relieved that Deputy Prime Minister Heng acknowledged the need for mental health support as part of the national response in the Solidarity Budget announced today. But I do not think we are doing enough. Allow me to elaborate.

Pandemics inflict psychological carnage. Pandemics can trigger new psychiatric symptoms even in the healthy. Safe distancing, constant fear and anxiety, the loss of loved ones, job losses, industrial failures will wear down our national psyche.

AWARE has received 33% more calls than usual on its Women’s Hotline in the last month, as social isolation measures entrap victims with their abusers. Our senior citizens are left to battle loneliness as community activities cease. A Straits Times report yesterday confirmed that some living with mental illnesses have suffered a relapse or that their conditions have worsened.

I also worry for our office-holders and civil servants who bear the weight of spearheading the fight. I read the recent news of the German State Minister’s suicide over COVID-related stress with alarm and sadness.

Now, more than ever, we must prioritise mental health support. In fact, a mental health disaster is starting in Wuhan just as the Coronavirus crisis is easing. Prime Minister Lee has said that it might take several years for COVID-19 to run its course. For us, the psychological toll has barely started.

Sir, I propose that relevant experts be appointed to join the Multi-Ministry COVID-19 Taskforce to advise the Government on mental health implications and commensurate policy interventions. This proposal has been raised by mental health experts themselves. A Budget should also be set aside without delay to implement public health experts’ recommendations on mental health to avert a further public health crisis.

I urge the Government to broadcast through all its publicity channels, practical advice on maintaining mental well-being in various COVID-related situations. The NHS Inform in Scotland dedicates an entire section of their website to this. Guidance should also be published for all employers on supporting their employees’ mental well-being.

Sir, this House will recall that I asked MOH at COS to start a national mental health hotline for distress support. I am relieved that Minister Desmond Lee announced the National CARE Hotline yesterday and he mentioned today as well. I hope it will be strategically designed and implemented to continue beyond this crisis.

I also repeat my call made at the COS that the Government consider allowing the first mental healthcare consultation for all Singaporeans to be free so as to incentivise help-seeking. We can pilot this during the crisis. We must enable quality mental healthcare and subsidise fees for individuals whose mental health has suffered due to COVID-19, especially for lower income households. More resources must also be funnelled to organisations, such as Samaritans of Singapore, AWARE and Silver Ribbon, whose free counselling services are likely to become strained in the days to come.

Last but not least, I urge the Public Services Division to provide the necessary mental health support for all our civil servants and healthcare workers through this intense period.

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me now move to the impact of the crisis on lower income households and individuals. I do not underestimate the imminent cash flow struggle that many Singaporeans face – my own friends and family are treading water. But lower income families will suffer more than most.

Adam (not his real name) is a hotel cleaner in his 50s. Because of the crisis, he has had no work since 25 March. Beyond Social Services has reported that their members who are disproportionately engaged in low-paid and precarious forms of work have suffered a sharp drop in household income, or lost their jobs altogether.

Families like Adam’s live on the edge. Even in good times, he took home about $1,600 each month. One thousand four hundred dollars went to his wife for groceries and household expenses. That amount is not always enough for them and their four young children.

Such want is normal in parts of Singapore. In 2018, about 300,000 residents earned less than $2,000 per month. Household expenses for the average Singaporean household in the lowest income quintile have consistently exceeded income for the last 10 years. Twenty-seven thousand of the poorest households in Singapore have, on average, $246 in savings per household member. Our low-wage workers have always been insecure, and this insecurity will be exacerbated in an economic crisis.

Unfortunately, the measures announced are not enough to bail out a low-income household that loses its income, especially for those with several dependants. Based on my calculations quickly, Adam will receive $7,632 through the various schemes, including the $600 Solidarity Payment that was announced today. Mr Deputy Speaker, the estimated household expenditure alone for his family for the rest of 2020 is already in excess of $13,000.

Sir, it is for such families that we must provide more assistance, more quickly, and for longer. So, I welcome the change to a longer period of assistance of at least six months from the usual one to four months for ComCare Short to Medium Term Assistance.

However, application processing times must also improve. Angie (not her real name) is a widow in her 60s who is unfit to work. For one year, she received ComCare Financial Assistance in short tranches and had to apply for renewal at the end of each tranche whilst waiting up to a month for a reply without financial support. For two whole months, she could not afford food, bus fare or essential medical treatment.

If processing times are challenging in normal times, they will reach breaking point at crunch time. More than 60,000 applications have been made for the Temporary Relief Fund (TRF) since applications opened last week. I am relieved that we are exercising flexibility and finally allowing for online applications from this week onwards.

In addition to getting help to those who need it fast, we must reduce the administrative load on our Social Service Agencies (SSAs) so that they can focus in supporting Singaporeans affected. Given these priorities, we may have to trade off the luxury of deep-diving every case to test its deservedness. For applicants, this also cuts out the need to apply in-person and prove their suffering over and over again.

With that, I would like to make two recommendations.

First, make automatic disbursement the norm. The Temporary Relief Fund and COVID-19 Support Grant could be automatically disbursed based on self-declaration or proxy indicators, such as changes in CPF contributions.

Second, make help unconditional and reduce the amount of evidence required to prove to MSF that the applicant is struggling. Instead, MSF officers could be given the power to investigate end-users whom they suspect are abusing the system.

As SSOs struggle with the crunch, families who need their ComCare assistance reviewed will be stuck in financial limbo. I propose extending the TRF and COVID-19 Support Grant (CSG) to all these families to ease their cash flow at this time. More immediate relief can also come in the form of HDB rental waivers till the end of 2020 as well as further rebates to S&CC fees.

Food security is another big concern, Mr Deputy Speaker, despite the best efforts from charities. For Singaporeans in the lowest income quintile, 49% of income is spent on food. At the same time, F&B businesses are suffering and the Resilience Budget may be insufficient to prevent the industry from going under.

Therefore, just as the Government galvanised a multi-sectoral effort with the hotels to accommodate returning Singaporeans for their 14-day self-isolation, I urge the Government to work with the F&B sector and food delivery companies to provide food to all families like Adam's and Angie's for the period of this crisis as a national response, not a fragmented approach like it is now. This has a double advantage. It ensures absolute food security for our lower income households and frees up household liquidity whilst supporting our local F&B businesses and self-employed delivery riders.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this crisis highlights the vulnerability of our rental flat communities – my final point in this speech.

The very nature of frontline work like Adam's entails a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. Adam and his family share 20 square metres of living space in a 1-room rental flat. If he is infected through work or job search, his family will not be spared. Risk of community spread is also high. Their home opens into an enclosed corridor, along which several other families live. Neighbours' children run all around.

Infection risk is simply a logical consequence of overcrowding. There is moderate to strong evidence of association between crowded housing and the risk of acquiring respiratory infectious diseases. There are at least 1,425 households where five persons or more are crammed into a 1-room flat. Many more live in 2-room flats. Such crowded living conditions create a ripe environment for infection which in turn could spread to the wider community.

The World Health Organization strongly recommends that national strategies be developed and implemented to prevent and reduce household crowding. That includes a national definition of overcrowding. Our vulnerable families should be housed in flats with features to protect public health such as ventilated corridors, rooms to enable distancing and separate elevators serving different floors.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the COVID-19 dormitory clusters should alert us to the danger of overcrowding in a pandemic. I wish to record my deep concern regarding the isolation of 20,000 of our migrant workers in these cramped facilities. This must not become the "Diamond Princess" on our shores. Alternative and more favourable living arrangements in spaces freed up from the circuit breaker measures must be urgently considered to avoid a large-scale tragedy of infected cases and mortality.

We must re-home our most vulnerable in conducive spaces. We may not be able to do that for all during this crisis but we can do it in time for the next, and our people will be more resilient for it.

"All of us are only as strong as our weakest link", said Prime Minister Lee at the Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders' Summit. Indeed, unity is strength, yet inequality is our weakest link in this fight against COVID-19 and to our future as a strong, united Singapore. The short-term measures announced in the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are essential. Our reserves are meant exactly for times like these. But we must not let a good crisis go to waste. We must boldly address the structural inequalities in wage and housing conditions that are clear and present, made more exigent by this crisis – because Adam and Angie are part of our own – as we must, too, with supporting the mental health of our people in a strategic and comprehensive manner through and beyond this crisis.

Mr Deputy Speaker, it is not what happened to us but what we choose to become because of the crisis that will define us as a Government, as a people and as individuals. If we pause and think about all that is going on, it is rather humbling to know how the tiniest of a living organism that cannot even be seen by the naked eye has such power to change us for the better by making us face our fears and flaws so that we can finally see who we are and who we are to each other.

It is up to us to choose how this horror suspense movie will end for us as a nation, because this, too, shall pass, and when it does, a more mentally resilient and equal Singapore must and will be what becomes of us.

Before I conclude, I want to thank every healthcare worker, civil servant, social worker, community practitioner, volunteer and everyone who has worked tirelessly and selflessly to support fellow Singaporeans and residents affected by COVID-19. But please do take care of your mental well-being. You must not pour from an empty cup, because the work you do is important for us, for Singapore. Sir, I support the Supplementary Budgets.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Yip Pin Xiu.

7.50 pm

Ms Yip Pin Xiu (Nominated Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Resilience Budget announced last week to help Singaporeans and businesses emerge stronger showed support for workers and households, stabilising businesses and building our resilience as a country. As we see more and more Singaporeans getting affected by the COVID-19 situation, I am heartened and thankful that the Government has devoted a war chest of $48 billion to help and support Singaporeans. This amount has increased even more with the announcement of the Solidarity Budget today.

Today, I would like to touch on three concerns arising from the people around me during this situation.

On 3 April, it was announced that to enhance safe distancing measures, Singaporeans were encouraged to stay at home and to generally avoid leaving the house. At supermarkets, it is not uncommon to find people stocking up on their food supplies despite the Government's message that there will be ample supplies. Given the surge in demand, online grocery companies are also facing difficulties in fulfilling orders.

Some have resorted to placing limits on the number of items and weight in order to cope with the demand. Taxi and private car hire drivers are allowed to make home deliveries to meet increased demand. However, even with such measures in place, these companies are often very stretched and are not able to cater to more customers when their delivery slots are full.

With more Singaporeans encouraged to stay at home, we need to find ways to increase grocery deliveries in order to take the pressure off physical supermarket outlets. When Singaporeans know that delivery slots and essential items on online supermarket platforms are available and not difficult to secure, they will be more assured, hence, alleviating the crowds at physical supermarket locations. More importantly, it will keep more Singaporeans home and safe.

The second one is with regards to public transport social distancing during school dismissal hours. With the new measures enforced, schools and Institutes of Higher Learning will be conducting full home-based learning from 8 April onwards. However, when home-based learning stops, we can consider staggering school hours even more, just like how we encourage the staggering of office hours to deal with peak hour traffic on public transports. Currently, public transport is packed with students from different schools during their commute in the morning and when school ends. This has resulted in large crowds in the trains and buses during such periods, contrary to the concept of social distancing, which the Government has been advocating. While it may not be feasible to enforce social distancing on trains, the Government can consider staggering school hours even more to reduce the number of students traveling on public transport at the same time.

Lastly, I would like to share my thoughts on sports. Sports has the ability to transcend boundaries and provide immeasurable benefits to one's well-being. Sport Singapore's core purpose is to inspire the Singapore spirit and transform Singapore through sports and they have done well thus far. Behind the scenes, there are many sports enterprises which contribute to the success of Singapore as a vibrant sporting hub. In addition, sports-related activities tend to bring in a large number of participants and spectators from around the world, boosting tourism figures.

I have heard from many sports enterprises about the issues they are facing with their businesses in this period. These include sporting event companies, mega gyms, clubs and even social clubs. These companies have been affected since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020. And with every new measure being implemented to help flatten the curve, it has been harder for these companies to continue operations given the drop in number of patrons and students of such establishments. Currently, many of them face a huge loss of revenue and to manage their bottom line, cost cutting measures were taken in order for them to stay afloat.

Rent and manpower-related issues are the largest component of expenses. Some enterprises received rent relief from their landlords. However, dealing with manpower-related expenses such as salary has been more tricky. In some instances, salaries have been cut in order to minimise the number of layoffs. Since 24 March, where the advisory was to suspend all children and youth-centric sports programmes, most companies are facing zero revenues. When the circuit breaker measures were announced, it was seen that there would be mandatory closures of many sporting establishments on 7 April. These SMEs which are considered "non-essential services" will face a larger strain on their finances.

After the circuit breaker, if the regulatory measures in the sports sector still remain the same as before the circuit breaker, many companies in this affected sector will still be facing a high loss of revenue, and in some cases, no revenue given that recovery will be a protracted process in light of these disruptions.

While the Resilience Budget provided for Job Support Scheme (JSS) support, these SMEs in this sector qualify for 25% on the first $4,600 of monthly salaries. With the Solidarity Budget, the JSS support increases to 75% for the month of April. However, most small and medium-sized sports enterprises require more support as they do not have deep pockets to sustain the business past two months in the current situation.

I hope that the Deputy Prime Minister can consider prolonging the increased JSS support past April in order to help these enterprises in this affected sector to retain their employees. With this increased support, our sports enterprises will be able to use the opportunity to focus on re-calibrating their strategies during the downtime and emerge stronger, in a better position, to bring more benefits to Singapore and Singaporeans quicker when the situation improves. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the Budgets.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Tin Pei Ling.

7.57 pm

Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson): Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Supplementary Budgets.

The Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are a very significant addition to this year's Budget. Earlier in February, Deputy Prime Minister Heng announced the Unity Budget that included $6.4 billion worth of measures to cope with COVID-19. With the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, the total amount set aside to help Singapore and Singaporeans battle COVID-19 is now $59.9 billion – almost a tenfold increase.

I am grateful that the Government swiftly and significantly increased the amount of help given.

Most of the concerns that residents raised to me at the beginning were addressed in the landmark Resilience Budget and now the Solidarity Budget as well. Cash flow was a key concern for families and businesses I encountered. At my weekly Meet-the-People Session two weeks ago, I recall meeting several self-employed residents whose incomes were drastically reduced because of COVID-19.

One such case was a man who is the sole breadwinner of his young family, working as a Grab driver. His wife is medically certified unfit for work. His children are very young, with the youngest being only five months old. He had to take a break earlier in the year after being hit by a car – it was a hit-and-run incident – and upon returning to work, he received few assignments as a result of COVID-19. Most often, he had no cash to take home. That night, he told me his children had been hungry for the entire day and were waiting for him to bring food home. Of course, we immediately went to the 24-hour FairPrice nearby, and bought them groceries and milk powder to tide through the night. We disbursed local ComCare the next day and enrolled the children in our milk powder programme.

Hence, when I hear of the cash assistance being tripled and the introduction of various schemes such as the grocery vouchers, Temporary Relief Fund and Self-Employed Income Relief Scheme, I was very happy. I know families like the one I just described will benefit from these measures. The only request that I had at that time was to have the help disbursed sooner than later, and therefore in today's Solidarity Budget, I am pleased that some of the most essential help will be delivered within this month, much sooner than expected. Thank you.

These enhanced measures, amongst others, such as the one-year waiver of Government fees and charges, and reprieve from loan repayments, will increase cash flow for them and over a more sustained period of time.

To fund these help measures, the Government will have to, for the second time in our post-Independence history, withdraw up to $17 billion from our reserves and we can expect a total fiscal deficit of about $44.3 billion in this financial year. Just to get a sense of proportion, this deficit alone is more than half of last year's total public expenditure! I must say that our Government and leaders have been very focused, single-mindedly, wholeheartedly, battling this COVID-19.

And as we thought that we have gained grounds in battling down this COVID-19, I think, all of the sudden, we realise that there is a spike in the infection cases. It is almost as if we have been working so hard to keep our house in order but because of what is happening around us, around the world, we are seeing this spike of infection. I can only imagine how demoralising it could be for our frontliners, for all the Government officials, the social workers, everyone, who have been involved in this fight. And therefore, I must express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to all of you who have worked so hard. And I feel that personally, when I see the measures being introduced, it is almost as if whenever we see a new problem appeared or a new gap that has emerged, immediately, our Government will find the resources to go and plug that gap and help Singaporeans to tide through. I feel that this sincerity is something that we can see and I hope that all Singaporeans will be able to appreciate this. This is a very extraordinary time and we must continue to stand together to render our support.

Therefore, with all of these funds put aside to help Singaporeans, I think this is a very decisive move and a much needed one.

As we battle this unprecedented crisis, I am thankful that our past and present leaders have been judicious in managing our reserves, painstakingly saving up for "storms" like this and resisted siren calls in the past to spend our reserves. Because of this, we can now confidently dip in to help Singaporeans.

Extraordinary time calls for extraordinary measures. About two months have passed since we had our first COVID-19 case and the economic consequences are already dire. We now have an extremely generous package to battle the virus. But with the pandemic expected to last for up to a year or more, I wonder how many more packages we will need and how much more might we have to dip into our reserves for.

As much as I believe it is necessary for us to draw on our reserves to help Singapore and Singaporeans get through this storm, I wonder if this is also the beginning of a long slippery slope down. Will we have enough to leave behind for our future generations? How do we moderate ourselves and is there a red line beyond which we shall not draw further from our reserves?

Essentially, how can we sustain help and at the same time, not deplete this pot of gold for our children and theirs?

In a crisis of this scale, Government's intervention is critical. But we must also not diminish the power of individuals. All of us have the power to help and contribute towards a sustainable future for the next generation.

Over the past months, we saw various ground up initiatives, such as sourcing and distributing masks and hand sanitisers to the elderly. In recent weeks, we continue to see Singaporeans coming forth to offer ideas and support. Take, for instance, when the application for Temporary Relief Fund commenced, Community Centres were overwhelmed on the first day. A call for volunteers to help with form filling and crowd management saw many responded. Similarly, we now have volunteers who have stepped forth to man the reusable mask collection centres. Others took their own initiative to collate and circulate lists of useful official websites offering critical information during this period of information explosion. This helps Singaporeans to get the right information from the right channel and in a most timely manner. Because of these big-hearted Singaporeans who volunteered, we have been able to pool community resources, close gaps and do more for those who need help.

But the potential for individuals to play a part is more than this. If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it is the opportunity for us to show our solidarity, transform our capabilities and strengthen our resilience.

Most immediately, as we approach the "circuit breaker" starting tomorrow, we should all stay home and do whatever we must to encourage our family and friends to stay home. Simply, if we do not cooperate and the spread worsens, this one month "breaker" and the pain that everyone must endure will be a wasted sacrifice. We will then have to draw from our reserves further and leave even lesser for our future generations. So, care for yourself, care for others, stay home to show our solidarity with those on the frontline.

Secondly, affected Singaporeans can make use of the downtime and Government incentives to train and upskill, so that we are ready to take on new jobs after the recovery. At the Temporary Relief Fund applications at the Community Club, I observed that a number of applicants who lost their jobs or suffer reduced work do not wish to take up skills training, despite the incentives. The hesitance is understandable as they are preoccupied with the immediate challenges and as they still harbour hopes that they can return to their jobs once this crisis "blows over". However, I would urge that we keep the "big picture" in mind. Even without this COVID-19, the advent of digital economy is certain. So, why not take this opportunity to get ourselves ready for that inevitable future?

Similarly, enterprises of all sizes can take this opportunity to transform. As companies get hit by COVID-19, many realised that they were not ready to offer their services and products online. As a result, their businesses are disrupted. Taking the enrichment education sector for example, I came across an informal survey by a fledgling platform company Beecraft. Nine out 10 of the companies in the enrichment/education sector surveyed reported low technology adoption, meaning that they have been predominantly using the traditional means of teaching. Anecdotally elsewhere, I hear of similar feedback. Amongst those surveyed, they cited financial support being most important in helping them drive their digitalisation effort. Government funding is available. Hon colleagues in this House will know of the many schemes that IMDA offers. With COVID-19, the imperative for digital transformation cannot be any clearer. Just as it is an opportunity for the IMDA to step in and catalyse the transformation, I hope companies will take this opportunity to make use of the support available and up their own game.

This is a period of great many adjustments. Government is adjusting, so are businesses and people. We are heading into the "circuit breaker" for at least a month.

I am glad that our thoughtful Government made sure that essential services will continue so that life can go on. But we also need to reduce the need for interactions and administrative load on some of our public agencies.

Based on case trends at our weekly Meet-the-People Sessions, mainly mine, could financial assistances, including ComCare and MediFund that are expiring during this "circuit breaker" period be automatically renewed for another month? Could the social visit passes and long-term visit passes of Singaporeans' foreign family members that will be expiring in this period also be automatically renewed for another month?

In essence, could Government processes that typically see high public interface be adjusted so that Singaporeans in need may have peace of mind as we all hunker down during this period?

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, the global economy is tumbling drastically. To cope with the dire economic situation, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced three Budgets within a short span of two months, namely, Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budget, totalling $59.9 billion, to help Singaporeans deal with the outbreak. This is the largest Budget since Independence, roughly 11% of our GDP. The series of packages are timely, for individuals, families, workers and businesses. We can do so because our Government has been planning for rainy days over the years, allowing us to acquire this economic capability.

Our reserves are strategic assets accumulated over a long time. Generations of Singapore leaders have been practising fiscal prudence to achieve sustainable economic growth. Although faced with political pressure, the Government has been upholding the principle of tapping on reserves only during extraordinary times. As the pandemic worsens and creates multiple external shocks, economic activities have also been affected. At this critical moment, the Government drew decisively on reserves to stimulate the economy. This is what the people need.

However, the battle against COVID-19 will be long-drawn and the unprecedented fiscal expenditure has also caused some concerns. Is there a mechanism under the current reserves safeguard framework to define how we can effectively use the reserves and the amount? On one hand, the amount must be sufficient to allow the Government to alleviate the situation; on the other hand, we must also ensure that our future generations will have enough funds to cope with future expenditures so that they are not left with nothing.

With the unexpected advent of COVID-19, we have seen many community organisations voluntarily make and distribute reusable masks for the elderly and the vulnerable. We have also seen many Singaporeans express their sincere gratitude to frontline healthcare workers, encouraging them. This demonstrates the warmth in our society and is commendable.

Besides the Government, public agencies and communities, businesses and individuals should also play their part. During this period, we must first take care of our own health and stay at home. This is the best contribution you can make to the country now. Ensuring our own health is the best we can do for our healthcare workers, allowing them to see the light at the end of the tunnel and take a breather. Taking care of our health can also reduce the need to tap on our reserves. This is being accountable to our future generations.

During this period, Singaporeans should make use of the Adapt and Grow Scheme as well as other schemes to undergo training, upgrade skills and be prepared for economic recovery. With the outbreak, businesses should also recognise the importance of digital transformation, use resources wisely and take the opportunity to transform and strengthen capabilities, and innovate continuously to stay competitive.

Over the weekend, I took a walk in the hawker centre and talked to the residents. Many of them were feeling a bit worried about the closing down of non-essential services, but they showed understanding nevertheless. I think the more difficult the situation is, the more resilient Singaporeans should be. This is a chance to demonstrate our strength. I believe as long as we are united and uphold our Singapore Spirit of solidarity, we will eventually beat this virus and emerge stronger.

(In English): Over the weekend, I was at the hawker centres in MacPherson. Many were concerned about the impending "circuit breaker". But almost everyone understood the need and agreed that we should all cooperate, bite the bullet and rough it out for this one month. Almost every conversation ended with a "加油". If we can do this together, we can overcome and emerge stronger. Singapore Together, Singapore United. 新加坡，加油！

Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Joan Pereira.

8.13 pm

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister and the MOM for broadening the criteria of allowing our self-employed persons (SEPs) earning an income as an employee to also qualify for Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS). This was the point that I had wanted to bring up and appeal and I am happy for the adjustment.

The Resilience and Solidarity Budget demonstrates the Government's determination and resolve to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on jobs and the economy as best as it can. I would like to make some suggestions based on the feedback from my residents over the course of the week.

The first is to lower the age for auto-inclusion for SIRS. Automatic payout is given to eligible SEPs aged 37 and above. Would the Government consider including SEPs aged 30 and above as well? At that age, Singaporeans would be planning for marriage or would be married with a child on the way or have at least a child to support. Some of their parents or in-laws might be retired and need their support too. Hence, allowing for auto-inclusion from 30 years old and above will greatly help to relieve the burden on affected families and also reduce the administrative workload on Government officers so that they can devote more resources to other urgent appeals.

Second, some unemployed residents hope to qualify for the COVID-19 Support Grant, which was targeted at employees who lost their jobs due to the contagion. While they had not lost their jobs earlier due to COVID-19, the crisis has definitely made their ongoing search for jobs much harder. I feel that as long as they are actively looking for jobs, whether these are permanent or part-time positions or on fixed term contracts, or are still attending training, they should be also assisted under this scheme.

Second, some unemployed residents hope to qualify for the COVID-19 Support Grant, which was targeted at employees who lost their jobs due to the contagion. While they had not lost their jobs earlier due to COVID-19, the crisis has definitely made their ongoing job search much harder. I feel that as long as they are actively looking for jobs, whether these are permanent or part-time positions or on fixed term contracts, or are still attending training, they should be also assisted under this Scheme. Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Resilience Package is to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) will help the self-employed to cope with the current difficulties.

I would like to suggest that the SIRS auto-qualifying age be reduced to 30. Those who had lost their jobs even before the outbreak also appeal to the Government to accommodate them, so that they can receive the COVID-19 Support Grant, too.

(In English): With stricter safe distancing measures and the greater vulnerability of our seniors, we would want our elderly to stay at home more. How can we ensure that our needy seniors or seniors living alone can get the help they need? How is the Government empowering VWOs to pool their resources to assist them, such as helping them to buy groceries or sending meals to them? Could we make better use of technology in this area?

I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budget and its measures to help our workers and the unemployed. There will be some who might fall through the cracks and need to be given special consideration in view of their particular circumstances. I trust that our leaders would exercise due diligence and flexibility. I support the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets.

8.17 pm

Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Allow me to begin my speech in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The COVID-19 crisis has evolved so rapidly and shaken us to the core. This situation drove our Government to act swiftly and issue new regulations and legislation to contain the spread of this outbreak. At the same time, the Government also coordinated support to assist those who are facing the fallout from this crisis.

This began with the Unity Budget which was then supplemented with the Resilience Budget. Today, Deputy Prime Minister Heng announced the Solidarity Budget. The Government also gave a commitment that there will be a sustained effort to help those facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The impact of this crisis is becoming clear and we can see many people from various job sectors being affected. Within the Malay/Muslim community, those affected include Geylang Serai bazaar entrepreneurs and the asatizah.

Many Malay/Muslim workers, families and students also face challenges arising from this crisis.

I think we need to have a targeted approach to assist the Malay/Muslim community and mobilise the resources within our community, like the Malay/Muslim bodies, to come up with holistic support. Therefore, I am heartened that the SGTeguhBersatu team was set up to ensure that the COVID-19 national assistance schemes will reach our community. I am also glad to be involved in this task force.

I see opportunities for many of our community members to go to the ground and work hand-in-hand to help everyone ride through these difficult times.

For instance, one group that I am concerned with are the young people who are about to complete their studies and enter the workforce. It is likely that they will face difficulties getting suitable jobs with good pay. Observers have said that the graduating Class of 2020 will be affected beyond the duration of this crisis. Their careers and income potential may be affected throughout their lifetime.

Therefore, there has to be sustained efforts to help them so that they can use this difficult period to continue upskilling and enhance their competitiveness. In this regard, the Government has announce the SGUnited Traineeship Programmes and the SGUnited Jobs Initiative. These efforts can help new graduates gain employment. We must also ensure that young Malay/Muslims are aware of these available opportunities and make use of them. At the same time, I feel that Malay/Muslim bodies like MENDAKI and AMP can also play their part to strengthen support for these young people, perhaps through their available programmes. MENDAKI, for instance, has the Future-Ready and mentoring programmes that can be enhanced to supplement the Government’s efforts.

In conclusion, I feel that the Government has announced many efforts to reduce the challenges that are being experienced by people from all walks of life. The Malay/Muslim community can be helped to seize available opportunities and can continue receiving support using the resources within our own community. May these efforts help us overcome any challenges that come our way together and continue to contribute to the economic recovery and development of Singapore.

(In English): Just a few days ago, I met a resident seeking some assistance as he had lost his job in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis. He seemed disheartened but not defeated, and we spoke about the various support measures available. He was the last resident I was meeting for the night and I heard a child’s voice as he walked out of my Branch. His wife and son were waiting for him outside. I walked out too and saw a familiar face saying hello to me. I had met the boy just a few weeks back when I sent some cupcakes over to his pre-school because we had cancelled the regular birthday celebrations. He was lively and happy, innocent and clearly oblivious to the challenges his parents were facing.

It hit me how much things had changed since I last met the little boy, how fast things have become a lot more challenging in just a few weeks. The issues his father is facing is not unique and I have met many residents in similar situations.

At one point, especially before the announcement of the Resilience Budget, I was feeling rather helpless because people were really struggling and I was concerned if enough is being done to help them.

The extensive $48 billion Resilience Budget therefore came as a much welcomed relief. Many felt that the measures were generous and gave much hope to different groups of people within the community. Details of the specific measures have come in and we have started to roll out some of these measures like the Temporary Relief Fund.

However, the challenges brought forth by COVID-19 is multi-faceted and the Government needs to also step in with various new legislation to make the system work. For example, the proposed new law to compel landlords to pass on property tax rebate to tenants and the proposed law to provide relief to parties with contractual obligations and have difficulties performing them because of COVID-19.

It has become even more stark, in the past few days that the worst is not over. Numbers of those infected by COVID-19 continue to rise and the Government has had to announce further measures, in particular the circuit breaker, to protect our people. This will bring many things to a standstill and cause massive disruption to our routine affairs. Construction projects cannot proceed, cases in Court would have to be postponed and more businesses and more individuals will be affected further as non-essential services have to be shut down. I am therefore heartened that the Government has announced the Solidarity Budget to augment the existing support and, in particular, to address the side effects of the circuit breaker.

There are so many aspects of life that would be affected especially in light of the recent measures, I would therefore like to ask how the Government plans to manage all the knock-on effects of the crisis. Would there be a coordinated effort to assess the challenges faced by the different sectors and come up with a recovery plan? Are there lessons we could learn from the lockdown in other countries?

Further, it is apparent that more funds would have to be injected to continue to support businesses, individuals and families affected by the disruption. Deputy Prime Minister Heng has announced that he has gotten in-principle approval from President Halimah Yacob to draw down a further $4 billion from our Reserves on top of the earlier $17 billion dollars that was approved.

I would like to ask if this will be something sustainable and what is the Government’s assessment now on our fiscal ability to weather this massive storm?

I am truly grateful for the stewardship of the Government as we navigate through these challenging, unchartered waters. I have always been so proud of being Singaporean but now more than ever, I am proud to be part of this great nation.

It has been oft said that this is the crisis for this generation. We may not have to physically go to the battlefield and pick up weapons to fight the enemy. But we have our own burden to bear and we will do this together. SGUnited is one of the taglines we have chosen to capture the spirit of togetherness. Let it not be mere lip service but an actual effort by all of us to do our part. Employers should tap on Government support like the Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme to retain their employees and let them continue to earn a living. Employees need to be understanding and help support the businesses where necessary so that there will still be a job to go to after this crisis is over. Landlords should work alongside tenants to help them retain the premises and pass on the property tax rebates to their tenants. Let us not take advantage of each other and give indulgence to each other where possible. We definitely have this compassion in us, as can be seen from the numerous ground-up initiatives by Singaporeans. I have heard of businesses and young people from different academic institutions banding together to put up a list of job and internship opportunities to help their peers who have had their overseas internships and studies cut short due to COVID-19. I have seen Facebook posts from people personally offering to cook or give food to those who may be struggling during this period, so one would never go hungry. These efforts are heartening.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought about carnage but, at the same time, also allowed for many good things to blossom. This crisis is pushing us to do all the things we know we should have been doing but have resisted for so long.

Some of us have championed flexible work arrangements and asked employers to allow for opportunities to work from home. There was much inertia but now, we are pushed to look at digital solutions and make it happen. We have spoken about wanting to make Singapore clean, educate people with better social habits, how we want to be like Japan. Now, public hygiene has come to the forefront and we have the opportunity with SGClean to make this vision a reality. For the longest time, we have wanted people to use their own containers to buy food from stalls or restaurants. Now, we have been pushed to do so more pervasively as the "tabao" option will be a common feature.

Like many Singaporeans, I am anxious and overwhelmed with all that is happening. However, I am also hopeful as I have faith in the strength of this leadership and the compassion and resilience of the people. Let us make the best of this crisis, learn the important lessons from the challenges that come our way and emerge stronger as a nation. Mr Speaker, I stand in support of the Supplementary Budgets.