Government's Plans in Our Continuing Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic

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

"That the Ministerial Statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance on the Government's Plans in Our Continuing Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic be considered by Parliament." – [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance.]

Question again proposed.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

11.33 am

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget. In Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Sir, COVID-19 has led to economic contraction all around the world and Singapore is no exception. If we do not have sufficient reserves, the $33 billion Fortitude Budget would not be possible. We have to thank the previous Governments for saving for a rainy day, progressively setting aside budget surpluses for our reserves. Because of this, we are able to come up with four Budgets totaling $93 billion to assist Singaporeans, save companies, save jobs and save lives.

The circuit breaker has just ended and every company hopes to resume operations as soon as possible. Every employer is eager for his or her employees to resume work. Every Singaporean hopes to resume their lifestyles like before, visiting their parents, shopping, and going to the park. Currently, there is no cure nor vaccine for COVID-19, so we cannot do away with the preventive measures. So then how can we deal with the new normal in the post-circuit breaker period? Will COVID-19 continue to spread in the community? What is the level of risk?

Perhaps, the testing of 39,000 pre-school staff can offer some clues. Currently, 14 pre-school staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19, which translates to an infection rate of 0.036%. Among the 14, 13 had contracted the virus previously and were no longer infectious at the point when they were confirmed as positive cases. In other words, these 13 pre-school staff were not aware that they had been infected prior to testing. Before they recovered, they could have passed the virus to others and spread it to the community while they were out and about. Fortunately, they had gone out less during the circuit breaker period and have minimised the risk of infecting others.

If we apply the testing and confirmed case numbers of the pre-school staff to the 2.4 million working citizens and Permanent Residents in Singapore, then the infection rate of 0.03% would mean that there may be 861 local residents who have been infected but are unaware about it. More importantly, among the 39,000 pre-school staff, one individual was infected recently. From the infection of pre-school staff, it is not difficult to understand why zero community infection could not be maintained in the past few weeks.

Moving forward, as we embark on the first phase of the post-circuit period, more people will leave home to work and the risk of community infection will definitely increase. I know that many SMEs would like to resume operations but I would urge everyone to be more patient.

On the other hand, our community infection rate has been relatively low. The death rate has also remained low. There are only five patients in ICU currently. Experts say that in the next one and a half years, it is not possible to eradicate COVID-19 totally from the community. Therefore, Singaporeans must remain vigilant, wash their hands frequently, wear a mask and maintain the one metre safe distance. Safe management measures at workplaces will become the new normal. If people are infected, they should be quarantined immediately, and proactive contact tracing must be conducted.

If people are able to accept this new normal and understand that COVID-19 will not disappear in a few months like SARS, I hope MTF will allow all industries to resume operations as soon as possible. This will boost consumption and save jobs. Otherwise, no matter how much support and grants are given, so long as companies cannot operate, there will still be retrenchments and insolvencies.

I believe that the Government will be flexible in this aspect. I am the advisor of the Renovation Contractors’ Associations. The Chairman of the Association, its key members and myself have held meetings with BCA several times to pave the way for resuming work. Many families’ renovation projects had to stop because of the circuit breaker measures, and they cannot wait for the project to start again. However, the requirements for resumption of renovation projects have been very stringent. Through several rounds of consultations, BCA has simplified the procedures and allowed several thousand renovation projects to resume on 2 June. I would like to thank BCA for their help.

COVID-19 has disrupted industries and sped up the pace of digital transformation. However, at markets and hawker centres, most stallholders accept cash only. After NETs was set up in 1985, Singapore soon became the leader for e-payments in Asia. However, after so many years, we have lagged behind other Asian countries in terms of e-payments. Therefore, I am happy to see the establishment of the Digital Transformation Office and that every hawker will be given a $300 monthly bonus for the next five years to encourage them to adopt cashless payments. There are also plans to recruit 1,000 digital ambassadors to help the elderly Singaporeans learn digital skills.

Last year, when organising the River Hongbao activities, we worked with NETS to encourage the food stallholders to adopt cashless payments. However, the results were lacklustre. When I visited markets, hawker centres and coffeeshops, I also received feedback on cashless payments from stallholders. Some were positive; some were negative. Therefore, I would like to make a few suggestions so that we can improve the e-payment adoption rate and the efficiency of digital ambassadors.

Some stallholders are worried about the cash flow problem, so they hope that they will be able to get the e-payments by customers several hours after the payments were made.

Stallholders currently pay cash to suppliers for materials. If this segment of the supply chain can be digitised, more stallholders may be encouraged to adopt e-payment.

There are currently 19 e-payment platforms in Singapore. I understand that the intention of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is to allow different e-payment platforms to thrive. However, this may lead to confusion and it may distract customers. I suggest that IMDA focus on one or two platforms such as PayNow and NETS. This will make e-payment easier for Singaporeans, especially the elderly.

According to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, most of the digital ambassadors recruited will be graduates from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL). These fresh graduates are familiar with technology, but they may not empathise with the fear and resistance of stallholders against e-payments. I hope that the Government will focus more on recruiting Singaporeans who may have initial reservations about technology but have learnt to use e-payment eventually. Then, they can effectively encourage stallholders to embark on digital transformation.

The Chinese say that food is the most important of all things. Only when everyone can use e-payment to buy food, can we say that our digital transformation is truly taking shape. I hope that from now onwards, stallholders who used to count cash will use the QR code as the norm.

(In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, resilience is forged through crisis. With this fourth Budget, the Government has already pumped in $93 billion to help Singaporeans and the economy. While COVID-19 has created havoc, it is clear that COVID-19 has also brought out the best in us, not just in putting the community above self-interest and abiding by the circuit breaker rules, but also in how some of us are extending a helping hand to others. There are countless examples, like those who have volunteered to help out in the frontline at the migrant worker dormitories, or those who have signed up with different charities via Giving.sg to donate money, essential items or volunteer their time.

There are also many inspiring stories in Jurong West, helping others during this difficult time.

One of our residents, Joyce Yu, did not throw up her hands in defeat when her parent's nasi lemak hawker stall suffered from a plunge in business due to COVID-19 and the circuit breaker measures. Instead, she managed to raise funds from her friends so that her parents could provide nasi lemak as free breakfast for needy families in Jurong.

As her parents also had hawker friends who were in the same situation, she slowly expanded the scheme. Today, she has raised about $20,000, not just from her friends, but also through the Giving.sg website and the Loving Hearts Multi-Service Centre in Jurong. These funds help to pay about nine workers, including her parents, to provide about 150 free breakfasts to families in Jurong every day. Grassroots volunteers also chipped in by distributing the food free of charge.

Joyce has a full-time job with YMCA but she is happy to liaise with the hawkers and raise funds. She says she wanted to come up with a scheme which is a win-win solution to support local businesses, hawkers like her mother's, while feeding vulnerable people.

Joyce is not alone. There are many similar stories like hers. We want to encourage more. We want to collect all these good deeds and inspire more to follow.

This year National Day will not have the glitter and pageantry of the huge parades like what we have had over the last 54 years. This year's National Day is our nation's 55th birthday. We want to celebrate the unsung heroes fighting the COVID-19, the everyday resilience and the sense of community on the ground which has given us a silver lining during these challenging times.

Like our pioneers in the late 1960s and 1970s that have built our nation from scratch, we will be the pioneers in winning the war over COVID-19. We are using the reserve build up by our Pioneers to fight the current crisis. But, we are also want to be the pioneers that transform our economy digitally so that our children can reap the fruits of our new digital economy. In the fight against COVID-19, I hope all Singaporeans can proudly say “count on me”.

11.46 am

Prof Lim Sun Sun (Nominated Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his unveiling of the Fortitude budget. This budget is aptly-named because it seeks to fortify support programmes that are urgently needed across all levels of an economy beleaguered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wish to focus my speech on the welcome support offered via the new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeship Programme that aims to provide 4,000 traineeships for mid-career unemployed locals. This programme is especially timely as our country goes through rapid digitalisation, now fiercely accelerated by COVID-19.

As mature workers, mid-career jobseekers are understandably anxious about the drastic confluence of digital disruptions, outmoded skills and ageism working against them. Compared to fresh graduates, their needs are more complex as many would also be from the sandwich class, juggling lifestage obligations of parenting and eldercare and so their salary expectations are naturally higher. Even though they have an established track record, they will find it harder to pivot, having honed their skills in industries that may be on the decline. And yet, with their maturity and life experience, they still have much to offer our society and ample potential to grow.

As the relevant Ministries and agencies work together to operationalise the finer details of this programme, I would like to share insights from industry leaders so that the programme can bring maximum benefit to the trainees and companies participating in this scheme.

Principally, industry leaders recommend that expectations of both sides must be carefully managed to heighten mutual understanding and satisfaction with the programme. The participating companies’ should be supported with instructive guidelines on how best to integrate and upskill their trainees. MOM should provide some flexibility and support for employers across a group of complementary companies to offer cross-training opportunities.

For example, career portal Mums@Work has successfully experimented with developing consortia of companies in related industries collaborating to collectively train returning talents so that they can be exposed to a broader swathe of skills. Trainees can thus explore multiple career paths and better identify their transferable strengths in the process.

With such innovative arrangements, companies can offer their trainees a wider range of skills upgrading opportunities and support each other without incurring prohibitive overheads.

Companies should also be upfront with their trainees about the potential for longer term job prospects or the lack thereof, and share in advance the kinds of post traineeship support they can provide. They should also be more explicit about articulating their criteria for retention if they can afford to increase their headcount. That way, the trainees will not feel like they have been led down the garden path.

Besides such substantive issues, the approach that participating companies adopt in hosting these trainees can also make or break a traineeship. There are horror stories of job attachment schemes where mature trainees must sign in daily for a visitor’s pass to enter the company, or who are supervised by very junior colleagues with no managerial experience to speak of. These socio-emotional aspects of mid-career training must be effectively addressed to ensure win-win outcomes for everyone. Above all, the scheme must accord trainees with a sense of purpose and dignity.

On their part, trainees must also pull their weight and not regard the traineeship as a paid sabbatical. They too should be provided with pointers on how they can make the most of their stints and the appropriate mind sets they should adopt to fully benefit from the programme.

Fundamentally, the traineeships should offer a combination of substantive skills and career planning competencies that will empower these mid-career jobseekers for their next career move.

In this regard, the experience of the Singapore Computer Society’s Career Compass programme offers some valuable lessons. Besides providing training in technical skills relating to growth areas such as AI, cyber security and enterprise architecture, the programme also offers career preparatory training in areas such as professional branding, resume building and interview skills.

With a careful and concerted design of SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeship offerings and actionable guidelines for participating companies and trainees, I am hopeful that this scheme can help to prepare mid-career workers for the next phase of their careers. On that optimistic note, I support the Fortitude Budget.

11.51 am

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise in support of the $33 billion Fortitude Budget. This is an unprecedented Budget but it is necessary as this is one of the worst crises to hit us in our nation’s history.

Many of my residents in Henderson-Dawson have shared with me how they and their companies have been directly assisted by the various assistance schemes and programmes announced as parts of the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets. Many are also acutely aware that we are drawing on our reserves and have expressed their worries about drawing down on our nation’s savings, especially since we do not know how long this crisis will last. It is a delicate balance between the needs of our present and our future, and the Government has had to make some very tough decisions for the good of everyone in Singapore under these trying circumstances.

The central focus of the Fortitude Budget is jobs.

I am glad to see that the various age groups of our society will continue to receive assistance. From young graduates to middle aged employees, and to older workers, all will receive help with jobseeking, job-matching and training. We are especially concerned for the sandwiched workers – those who are supporting both children and elderly parents. I urge them to take up the various assistance schemes applicable to them and come forward to request for help if they are unsure of what to do.

It is important that even as we focus on taking care of our immediate needs, we must also be mindful of our external environment and keep an eye on what is ahead of us.

In early May, Deputy Prime Minister Heng had said that, I quote, “there should be no lost generation in Singapore… we are sailing into uncharted waters, surveying the new landscape, exploring new growth and opportunities, preparing to seize them when the storm passes..."

I would like to speak a little about the young adults who will be joining or who had just joined our workforce. This is a world that seems so familiar and yet so different from the one they had grown up expecting to enter.

This generation had grown up hearing from their elders about how fortunate they have been, growing up enjoying the many benefits of a prosperous nation as compared to Singapore’s founding years. And now suddenly, within the space of a few months, the world has changed. It is so much harder for them to get jobs. The malls are closed. They cannot hang out with friends. Suddenly, we also have an entire generation of Romeos and Juliets, forbidden from meeting each other.

As this group is young, we may not be as worried as we may be for older Singaporeans. They will also receive support under the Fortitude Budget’s SGUnited Traineeship which aims to provide 21,000 traineeships for local first-time jobseekers, and there is additional support from the Hiring Incentive scheme which has been expanded to cover workers of all ages. Certainly, some of the 40,000 jobs to be created in the public and private sectors by the SGUnited Jobs initiative will be offered to this young cohort too.

However, being young and with less experience, they may face obstacles searching for jobs in a very tight labour market.

I am glad to note that MOM will take active steps to assist those who need advice and career counselling in applying for jobs and being matched with training programmes and jobs. However, for some young people, the jobs they had been preparing for may have all but disappeared and some are even at a loss about whether they should consider switching industries.Thus, the Government, together with industry and the Institutes of Higher Learning, should work even more closely together to help them navigate the job market in this challenging environment.

We must be mindful of the impact of this crisis on them for years to come and have the appropriate strategy to help them to ensure that they will not become a lost or traumatised generation. For a number of them, they are entering the adult world with “empty hands”, as their parents and family members may also face job losses or business difficulties.

My concern is that as our economy recovers in the future, this cohort’s experience and their subsequent actions would have consequences for us as a nation. Even with the use of technology and solemnisations via video link, relationships and marriages may be delayed. They may delay having children, have fewer children or none at all. In delaying procreation, the chances of having healthy children are reduced.

Our family units form the foundation of our society. Matching up young single Singaporeans may hardly be a priority now but I hope the Government will be mindful of this issue as it has wide ranging implications, including our economy’s competitiveness and national security.

As for those who have decided to take the leap, we can do more to support these new young families. There are attractive grants in place for HDB flat purchases. Nonetheless, I would like to ask the government to help them with the repayment of their HDB loans. Please consider accepting even lower deposits and smaller repayments monthly. This need not be permanent. The crisis will not last forever, in three to five years, the economy will pick up and the couples can make up for the difference later. This will also be timely as they progress in their careers, earn more and become able to afford higher mortgage payments. I also wish to appeal for higher subsidies for pregnancy check-ups, deliveries and childhood vaccinations to make procreation even more affordable.

Would MND also consider building bigger HDB flats in the future? Not only do bigger units allow families to continue living together and help to look after each other, they will also take into account that more citizens will be working and studying online from home. This will be become a permanent trend. More and more people will need a home office and increasingly, home-based learning will be part of all students’ schedule, whether during emergencies, or, regularly utilised to ensure that the system is working and that the students and teachers stay familiar with the online learning platforms. Such a change in working and learning patterns means that there is a need and demand for a bit more space, with internal dividers, for all members of a family to do their jobs and studying sustainably, without disturbing one another.

Let us support our young adults who are standing at the entrance of independence and parenthood. Encourage them to proceed to the next lap with those they love. The pandemic will pass. And throughout the way, we will help everyone to tide through these tough times together.

11.59 am

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Fortitude Budget sets aside $33 billion more to help firms and households, and to save jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a health and economic crisis that has Singapore facing the worst recession since Independence. Our Government’s response has had no precedent – unstinting and rapid support to the tune of $93 billion thus far, resulting in the largest overall Budget deficit in our nation’s history.

Including this Budget, the Government will need to draw up to $52 billion dollars from its reserves. It is indeed a blessing that Singapore should possess such a reservoir of financial resources to see us through this crisis. Many countries around the world will be burdened, burdened in the years to come with record levels of debt from the huge fiscal stimulus programmes they have had to put in place to deal with the impact from COVID-19. So, we are more fortunate.

But, Sir, there is no question that Singapore was absolutely right to tap the reserves decisively in order to help businesses, tide Singaporeans through this crisis and mitigate permanent damage to our economy. However, we should also be concerned about fiscal sustainability, especially when the outlook remains uncertain and downside risks remain significant. There is a lot of talk about what would the shape of the recovery be, but many believe that recovery will be slow and long-drawn; it may take years before we return to pre-COVID-19 conditions.

Against this backdrop, I wonder how this massive draw on our reserves will be treated. What are the obligations to pay back? To do so, would be a huge task as the amount is more than 10 times our previous draw, when we used it to deal with the Global Financial Crisis. How will this influence our tax policy in the coming years, as we work to restore public finances in an equitable manner? Will we need to dig deeper, to implement more progressive income taxes and greater wealth taxes? Will tax systems need to evolve in tandem with the rising digital economy and capture revenue earned from online transactions?

With the economic outlook remaining highly uncertain and with risks predominantly skewed to the downside, we should be very cautious when we do further draws on our reserves. I support the call to set aside a sum of $13 billion in Contingencies Funds, but, I must urge the Government to do so with utmost prudence.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses and workers unevenly. I urge Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat to adopt in the next phase, if he has to do something, a more targeted approach in future support schemes.

For example, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), payouts should only go to firms adversely impacted by the crisis. We should learn from Australia. In Australia, for their scheme, eligibility for wage support only kicks in if business turnover drops by 30% due to the pandemic; for larger companies with turnovers of over A$1 billion, their drop in turnover must be at least 50% before they can be eligible. It should not be right for firms to profit from the Government's support scheme during this crisis.

For some companies, whose bottom lines have been boosted because of JSS, they should be offered the opportunity to "pay it forward", in support of others who are less fortunate, perhaps through a "Solidarity Levy" of some sort.

Sir, this crisis will increase income inequality. Recent research at Oxford found that those earning under GBP20,000 are less able to perform work remotely, earn a smaller proportion of their previous salary and are twice as likely to lose their jobs compared to those earning GBP40,000 or more. We can draw similar parallels here in Singapore. It has been far easier for those employed by large companies and highly skilled sectors to work remotely, than for those employed by SMEs or in the retail and F&B sectors, as well as those engaged in low-paying contract work. So, we must find ways to buffer the hardship faced by these families. We should be prepared to support them with some basic level of income beyond the current provision of COVID-19 Support Grant, should their unemployment persist.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support Deputy Prime Minister's call to think urgently about how Singapore can emerge stronger. We must prepare our workforce immediately for a post-COVID-19 environment, to adapt quickly to structural changes in the economy, changed consumer habits and new ways in which countries will compete and co-operate with one another.

I also applaud Deputy Prime Minister for his bold move to launch the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, creating 100,000 opportunities in jobs, traineeships and skills training to mitigate risks associated with unemployment.

The Deputy Prime Minister has promised to "protect every worker even if we cannot protect every job". But this commitment to protect every worker should not create a false sense of security or complacency. Instead, it should encourage individuals to leverage this safety net in order to position themselves for the longer term, by critically assessing their operating environment, learn new skills, try new jobs and seize on the many schemes available to ensure that they remain relevant.

The formation of National Jobs Council as well as the Emerging Stronger Task Force are great initiatives for developing strategies to pivot ourselves to the new jobs landscape. I am also impressed with the speed by which job initiatives are being rolled out – these include the 11,000 traineeships by 1,000 organisations who have come on board so far, so quite impressive.

Our ability to coordinate, navigate and implement Whole-of-Government initiatives is truly the competitive advantage that Singapore must play to.

Amidst the doom and gloom, it is reassuring to learn that Singapore has secured $13 billion of investment commitments in just four months of this year – amongst the highest in recent years. This is a testament of the confidence that investors and businesses have in Singapore and the hard work that MTI continues to put into selling "Singapore Inc". Indeed, as social, political and geopolitical instability continue to play out elsewhere in the world, Singapore is well positioned as the much-sought-after safe harbor for business, talent, intellectual property and investments.

Sir, COVID-19 has changed many long-held beliefs and opened up new perspectives. I think many of us believed that Singaporeans were not attracted to care-giving jobs, so we were always going to be heavily reliant on foreign nurses and care-giving professionals. However, our response to the pandemic shone a light on the meaningful work that healthcare professionals do and held them up as the heroes that they have always been. School children wrote "thank you" notes, Prime Ministers called them out and people clapped from their balconies the world over, out of gratitude for their sacrifice. The large number of temporary positions made available to deal with COVID-19 has also provided a window of opportunity for people to try their hand at this work. I must say I am so encouraged to witnessed an emerging interest amongst young people in joining the healthcare industry and shifting attitudes towards the care-giving profession. Sir, we should seize upon this window of opportunity to accelerate this trend and attract more Singaporeans to join the healthcare profession that offers great long-term career prospects.

Lastly, COVID-19 has taught us that large-scale remote working is indeed possible. With the help of technology, employers are quickly equipping their workers with the tools they need to work from home. I myself have been surprised at how much more productive I have been, working away from the office. Facebook has begun planning for workers to work permanently from home, whilst Google has extended its work-from-home policy for the remainder of 2020.

With working remotely accepted as the new normal, we should leverage this opportunity to supercharge Singapore's growth in the Infocomm Technology sector (ICT). Many tech firms complain that they have not been able to scale their business in Singapore given our limited talent pool. With the accelerated plan to build a strong pipeline of digital and technology skills locally as announced by Minister Iswaran yesterday, companies can also supplement the local talent pool with global expertise to scale the business by extending working from home beyond our national borders. So, extend that, work from home, but beyond the national borders. Singapore companies can tap AI, data analytics, cybersecurity resources from around the world to support Singapore's development work without these tech professionals having to relocate to Singapore. Our innovations in organising work and how work should be done, can fuel our ambition to be Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.

I urge the Emerging Stronger Task Force Committee to scrutinise these and other trends emerging from this COVID-19 pandemic, so that it may inform their recommendations to prepare Singaporeans for a post-COVID era. Winston Churchill is credited with first saying, "Never let a good crisis go to waste". Singapore has certainly invested a good deal in this crisis, it is time to learn the lessons, turn challenges into opportunities and reap the rewards for a stronger, brighter tomorrow. I support the Budget.

12.12 pm

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Sir, I join many Singaporeans in thanking the Government for the Unity, Resilience, Solidarity and Fortitude Budgets. The support measures introduced will help ensure that we can all get through this pandemic and most importantly, get through it together.

I am thankful that the concerns of those on unpaid leave or reduced salaries have been addressed through expanding the COVID-19 Support Grant to help this group of Singaporeans. I am thankful we are proposing to help the SMEs with further rental waivers and allow tenants to repay their arrears through installments. I am also thankful for all the hard work by MOM, all the other Government agencies and the NGOs who have worked tirelessly to help our migrant friends. Our migrant friends have worked hard to build, clean and maintain Singapore as the shining red dot we are today. I am glad we have not left them behind and have committed to improving their living conditions. I raised all these concerns in my previous speeches and I am thankful to everyone who has taken the time to share your concerns, feedback and suggestions with me. Thank you for speaking up.

Sir, we have given a lot but as I raised in my previous speeches, there is one more thing we need to give out. We can and we need to give time. Time for working parents to spend with and look after their young children during this difficult period.

During this pandemic, many parents are feeling the stress of trying to balance work and looking after their children, especially helping their young ones with home-based learning (HBL). As Zack, a parent, shared with me, "Imagine working from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm. Reached home about 7.00 pm. Have dinner until 7.30 pm. And only having this time, 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm, to check on the kids' HBL. Kids must sleep at 9.00 pm to ensure nine hours of healthy sleep. Super tiring. Yet, we endured for the sake of our children".

Many parents are especially worried about how they will cope with alternating weeks of HBL for non-graduating students. It will be difficult for parents who are unable to work from home. Who will look after their children? Not everyone has grandparents who can help and even for those who do, they might not be able to help during this period.

Another parent shared with me, "I have two Primary school going kids. Primary 1, Primary 2. Who is available to guide them on HBL days during Phase One? Grandparents aren’t computer literate. If there isn’t any HBL plus Google meet plus video call, I will choose to deposit them at my parents house easily. If I have to take annual leave to guide their HBL, employer won’t allow."

I know Minister Ong has stated, "Schools will be prepared to extend limited care to young students on HBL but without childcare arrangements".

It will also be difficult for parents who can work from home. They are expected to meet their bosses' deadline and to be equally productive, even as they try to give their young ones attention and guide them on HBL. Do they please their employers or the children?

I know firsthand how difficult it is. For the past two months, I worked from home with three little ones who had HBL. Ella is now six years old and Katie and Poppy are three years old. You cannot leave them to do HBL on their own. It is impossible.

They have also attended many of my Zoom work meetings, climbed on my shoulders when I am clearing emails, and pulled my hands and legs, wanting me to play with them when I am drafting speeches. This happened when I was drafting this speech last Saturday.

Parents truly appreciate this opportunity to work from home. As Zyen, another parent, shared, “WFH with an infant is really no joke. Always have to work till midnight to complete the work. But I do, really cherish and appreciate. I‘ve been there when she flipped, sat up by herself and now standing with support. Gonna miss this bittersweet timing”.

Sir, more than anything, parents feel guilty that we cannot give our children the attention they need even though they are right there in front of us. I am not the only one with kids climbing on my shoulders. Amelia shared that, “My son climbs onto my shoulders while I work, too. I feel guilty for being impatient with my daughter who asks questions or wants to share something with me while I’m rushing my work”.

I know there is no easy solution, especially during these difficult times. I know employers are equally stressed. But we need to give parents some breathing space and help them balance both work and family commitments. It is good that the Government has asked employers to be more empathetic to the challenges working parents face but we need to do more than that.

We cannot leave this important issue to the discretion of the employer. The Government needs to step in to help and to mandate like how we have done so in so many areas in tackling this pandemic.

We need to remember the issue does not just stem from alternating weeks of HBL. What about parents whose children are required to stay home because they are exhibiting COVID-like symptoms? Many pre-schools rightly ask a child to go home if he or she shows a single symptom. But a lot of parents are affected because of this.

An educator in a childcare centre shared with me that, “On the ground, parents tend to negotiate with teachers if teachers were to reject children from entering schools due to respiratory symptoms with reasons that they are unable to get leave from work or no one to take care of their children”. Some parents, “would suggest to teachers to keep children at the sick bay the entire day until the parents end work”.

Let us not forget that there are also school closures due to positive COVID-19 cases, Leave of Absence or Stay-Home Notices.

As I have previously stressed, our current childcare leave entitlement is already insufficient during a regular year. Now, in the most irregular year, how can parents possibly have sufficient childcare leave?

The only option left for many parents is unpaid leave. Indeed, many parents have shared that they are doing just that. But in this business climate, parents fear losing their jobs if they continue to take unpaid leave.

To help parents, I hope we can introduce a Government-paid COVID-19-related childcare leave for parents whose children need to stay home due to COVID-19-related issues. By calling for it to be Government-paid, this would ease the financial burden for employers, whom I know are equally stressed.

Sir, this leave is critical for those who are unable to work from home. This includes parents working in essential services who perform a duty for our nation, who keep us safe. We need to make sure that they are looked after, too.

For parents who are working from home, this COVID-19-related childcare leave can help take off the pressures of balancing competing work and childcare responsibilities. They can take this leave when needed, such as helping their child catch up with HBL and their school work.

Sir, we will not be the first country to provide a COVID-19-related childcare leave. Other countries have already taken steps to help working parents facing childcare challenges as a result of this pandemic.

In the US, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act expands paid leave options for working parents who are unable to find childcare arrangements, entitling them up to 12 weeks of partially paid family leave. This includes parents working from home. Businesses whose employees take this leave pay for it through a refundable tax credit administered by the Department of Treasury.

In Canada, working parents are entitled to job-protected leave of absence for up to 16 weeks under federal law, allowing parents to attend to childcare and eldercare needs while protecting them from being fired or penalised.

In Italy, the government extended annual parental leave by 15 days for parents with children aged up to 12 years.

In Belgium, the government introduced a special parental leave for parents of children under the age of 12 where parents can take leave in the form of 1/2 or 1/5 reduction of working time. This means working half time or one day off a week, taken in any combination of weekly or monthly blocks.

Other countries have adopted a variety of measures – tax credits, protection against discriminatory firing, increase in annual leave and flexible leave. I believe some combination of these solutions would provide our working parents the support they so desperately need.

Sir, in conclusion, we cannot leave it to employers and employees to work out amicable arrangements to balance business needs with childcare needs in this difficult time. In this difficult time, the Government has to step in. We should; other countries have already done so.

I hope the Government will consider introducing a Government-paid COVID-19-related childcare leave and provide it at least until the end of Phase Two of the re-opening after the circuit breaker. Many parents are calling for this and I hope the Government will support them.

“Spend time with those you love, one of these days you will either say I wish I had or I’m glad I did.”

Let us give our working parents the time they need to spend with their children during this pandemic and let us all value the precious time we have with our loved ones. Sir, I support the Budget. Together, we will beat this virus.

12.21 pm

Ms Anthea Ong (Nominated Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, before I start, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team at MOF for their hard work in devising a fourth Budget within a space of four months. I also appreciate the sensitive consideration of naming each Budget such that we are emotionally connected to them.

"Fortitude" is an excellent name for this Budget as we dig deep into courage to face the painful effects of an unfolding economic crisis. The pain is widespread. Many have reached out to me with their stories. Witnessing this suffering has compelled me to file cuts tomorrow, so that the issues faced by struggling groups are raised to this House. Public rental households are one such group.

The number of households who have suffered complete loss of income since the beginning of April has risen sharply. Average income levels have gone into freefall. On the ground, community organisations have observed that households face mounting debt, including rent arrears. MND shared that “about 5,200 public rental households, or about 10% of all public rental households, are in rent arrears”. Around one in four such households owes more than $3,000 in rent.

As the economic impact of COVID-19 worsens, we can expect that more households residing in rental flats will struggle to pay rent. The Deputy Prime Minister said in his Ministerial Statement last week, "Our path forward will be tough, but we will journey together". So, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he could consider waiving six months’ rent for all households residing in rental flats, except for those whose rent is already covered under financial assistance from ComCare. This will provide immediate and targeted relief that goes directly to the low-income households in need.

For context, the Government is extending $334 million in rental relief for Government tenants in this Budget. A further $2 billion will offset SMEs’ rental costs.^. A similar waiver for rental flat households would cost between $16 million and $57 million, based on my rough calculation.

Mr Deputy Speaker, while acute pain is undeniable and deeply felt by both citizens and migrant workers, future shocks could be more frequent and unprecedented. The World Economic Forum has called turbulence “the new normal” in its latest Global Risks Report. I will focus on the long term in this speech.

The hard work of Singaporeans and Singapore companies, as well as prudent financial management of our Reserves, has allowed us to save up for this rainy day. It is only fiscally responsible for us to ensure that we spend the monies to build a stronger foundation for this new turbulent normal. This demands that we push boundaries and reimagine a social and economic structure that is more responsive, flexible and interconnected.

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me first outline why a re-imagination and deep transformation is the only prudent way forward. I will then discuss the considerations in our current spending and planning processes that can set us on the path towards this stronger, more sustainable and more inclusive future.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng mentioned that this Budget’s focus is to “enable our businesses and workers to adapt, transform and seize new opportunities”. Indeed, but even more so, our society and economy need a deep transformation.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown us unequivocally that human health is intrinsically linked to planetary health. Our increasing urbanisation and disruption of ecological balances increase our risks of exposure to pathogens. Last year, the Clinicians for Planetary Health initiative was launched. It committed to increase awareness of the severe public health impacts of environmental change. Therefore, it is safe to say that to safeguard our economic future, the balance of resources across people, planet and profit needs to be re-examined.

First, we can no longer look at our risk response in silo. Risks are multi-dimensional and cross-cutting, and must be addressed as such. Our healthcare system had integrated and implemented the playbook from SARS well – only 3.1% of our infections had been healthcare workers so far, compared to 41% for SARS. Yet, systemic gaps in worker welfare, specifically for migrant workers, left us unprepared for the infection levels in the dormitories. The risk assessment framework should have included the adequacy of safeguards for worker health. This would have required MOH and MOM to work together.

Second, existing societal inequities create disproportionate stresses on vulnerable communities. My previous speeches provided several examples of persons with mental health conditions, lower income households and migrant workers being disproportionately affected in terms of income loss and economic and psychological resilience. The digital divide amongst lower income families, the differently-abled and the elderly became more evident. All these could deepen social and community fault lines.

What does all this mean in terms of transformation? What society should we envision for ourselves?

I call for Singapore to move towards multi-stakeholderism. Governance-wise, this means a policy design process centred around and in collaboration with the actors with a “stake” in the outcome. Business-wise, it means considering workers, suppliers and customers equally.

Such considerations are not new. The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 to further the idea that business should serve all stakeholders. A hundred and eighty one CEOs of the Business Roundtable signed a statement last year, committing “to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders.”

Investors also value businesses that take care of its stakeholders. Workers are a major stakeholder. In April 2020, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) led by investors responsible for assets of $54 trillion called for companies to “prioritise employee safety and welfare” and “take a holistic and equitable approach to capital allocation decisions, considering the workforce”. Deputy Prime Minister Heng alluded to similar sentiments in parts of his speech.

The Government’s strategy to help Singaporeans ride through this crisis is by safeguarding jobs and income, which it is doing by supporting businesses. Across all four Budgets, around $28 billion has gone towards supporting immediate cash flow needs and overheads. This is about a third of the total Budget to date. The Government has also provided support through enabling credit access and matching investments for start-ups.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the intention to protect jobs and income to strengthen the economic position of our individuals and households. Reducing inequality would also increase resilience across our society, especially in times of hardship, so that economic buffers and important resources do not become accessible only to the privileged few.

Therefore, we must enact measures to protect individuals against employers who may be more interested in self-enrichment than in their workers’ rice bowls. Possible measures are curbs on layoffs, excessive executive compensation, and excessive use of share options in compensation structures that disproportionately align managers only to shareholders’ interests.

Government bailouts and support may reduce shareholders’ risk-bearing responsibilities. Safeguards against moral hazard can include: reducing dividends, restricting stock buybacks and requiring that any M&A activity should seek to pay back the support provided, that is, a clawback.

Measuring and reporting should be used to hold companies accountable for how they have used Government grants, therefore taxpayers’ monies. An example is the independent accountability and transparency board created by the Obama administration in 2009. It performed a crucial monitoring function by requiring any entity receiving contracts, grants, or loans to file quarterly reports.

We could adopt a similar mechanism to ensure that companies channel Government support to those for whom it is intended. Corporate reporting requirements could compel companies to demonstrate behaviours that meet broader societal and sustainability goals.

We must also use the support packages as carrots for companies to actively enhance social equity by integrating community engagement and social responsibility into business strategy, so each can be a Company of Good – a national effort I believe Deputy Prime Minister is very familiar with. This could include an obligation to judiciously use the Business and IPC Partnership Scheme or BIPs, to make in-kind donations to charities.

Lastly, promoting sustainable business models will be key to building a better and safer future. McKinsey noted in April that “not only does climate action remain critical over the next decade, but investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and the transition to a lower carbon future can drive significant near-term job creation while increasing economic and environmental resiliency.” The President of the German Parliament recently called for the stimulus plan to focus on “climate policy, digitisation and innovation”.

Subsidies and support to companies accelerating climate change should come with conditions for absolute emissions reductions that enable us to accelerate our Paris Agreement commitments. As countries grapple with what a green and healthy recovery looks like, measurement and accountability may again be instrumental for change. The Task Force of Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework should be the norm. Science-based targets should form the basis of discussions on business transformations.

Such requirements could be considered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a cornerstone of future environment risk management guidelines for our financial industry.

These safeguards will require strong political will, Mr Deputy Speaker, because they will meet with resistance. But if we want a flexible and responsive society that is able to absorb shocks and rebound from them, I believe we must recalibrate current power structures for a fairer economy that considers key stakeholders in our economic system equally. I hope Deputy Prime Minister addresses this need for safeguards and conditions in his response.

The Government is demonstrating its commitment to longer term planning through the Emerging Stronger Task Force and the Future Economy Council. I applaud the intention. However, if we are to recognise a wide range of stakeholders in our future and commit to re-imagining the way forward, changes must be made.

I am glad to hear Deputy Prime Minister note that the Task Force will partner with SME owners, industry experts and trade associations as part of Emerging Stronger and his invitation for Singaporeans to participate. I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister if there are plans to formalise this partnership and citizen participation under this Task Force. This is necessary to integrate meaningful and transparent input from all corners of society.

The current members of the Task Force represent industries that we have traditionally treated as pillars of our current economic structure, the composition does not represent the true diversity of economic players in Singapore. For example, I am surprised by the omission of SME, minority, even disability and mental health representation. Companies committed to delivering a sustainable future are also unrepresented, under-represented. So are women. I believe that if we sideline these views now, we are sabotaging our own futures and those of our children’s. Can I please ask the Deputy Prime Minister to ensure a more diverse and better representation on this Task Force to secure a truly resilient and united future for Singapore?

Unity, resilience, solidarity, fortitude. The names of the four extraordinary Budgets this year speak to our desire as a nation to overcome this crisis together and stronger. Mr Deputy Speaker, I believe that emerging stronger means placing our people front and centre of our plans for the future. Our economic structures must be realigned to put people first so that we build back better as a well-being economy post-COVID. It will take our collective imagination, courage and collaboration to walk through this crisis and emerge stronger, together. Let us start the work for that to happen today with fortitude. I support the Budget.

12.35 pm

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Deputy Speaker, I welcome the $33 billion Fortitude Budget which will be used to counter the heavy impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our country. All governments around the world are taking unprecedented measures to mitigate the damaging impact of this outbreak and save the lives and livelihoods of their people. We are similar. Fortunately, past prudence has provided us with adequate emergency funds.

We are in the midst of a brutal war, the pandemic has claimed over 370,000 lives in the world within a few months. Fortunately, we have managed to keep most of our people here safe and the death rate low. This is a challenging war against the virus. It is different from other outbreaks that we have come across so far. To my understanding, it is infectious even a person has not developed any symptoms. Asymptomatic infections have made this task of overcoming it even more challenging and difficult.

Notwithstanding, we have to soldier on under these very trying circumstances, be resilient, stay united and help one another to overcome the obstacles ahead of us. We Singaporeans need to stay focused on a sustainable approach. By and large, we understand there is a limit to the handouts we can if we do not find sustainable income that provide long term and permanent social and family safety nets. Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I am heartened by the effort to save and create jobs. I hope that more jobs can be created for the middle and senior age groups, particularly quality jobs. I am heartened by the response of our residents to the job offers, their willingness and courage in picking up new skills and adapting. I am glad that the Government has been focused on helping Singaporeans to both upskill and become equipped with new skills, to stay competitive and relevant in response to the market changes. There is a Chinese saying “When rowing a boat upstream, if one does not move forward, the boat will go backwards downstream”. Our people must persist in their efforts forward so that we can secure our place in the world.

More assistance will still need to be given to help Singaporeans, as the recovery of the world economy may not be so fast. For those who were retrenched last year and earlier, and had not been able to find jobs, they need help with job matching and retraining. This is especially for those aged above 40. In addition, some have expressed concerns that even with training, it does not necessarily lead to a job.

While the COVID-19 Support Grant (CSG) and Self-Employed Persons Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) provide welcomed relief, more salary or wage support can be given to help ease Singaporeans to upskill or reskill without having to worry about maintaining the family. I would like to suggest that we look at income matching, for example, a dollar to every two dollars earned for the 6 to 12 months, subject to a cap and overall scheme support budget of $9,000 per person under SIRS. This may be more sustainable.

Singaporeans should also adapt to tap upon technology and target not just Singapore, but the world as their market. Recently, a Singaporean actor took on a side job selling seafood for his friends on the Internet. To everyone’s surprise, including himself, he became an Internet celebrity, and companies and talent agencies from China rushed to contact him as their partner, asking him to promote all kinds of goods on the Internet. This is a very popular way of selling goods in China’s huge market today. While some of his language may be too colourful, his adaptability had created new opportunities for him. He can look forward to a very interesting new career. In Singapore, the Government has already started helping stallholders sell online and do live-streaming sales. Let us hope more business owners will try to change their operating models.

There has been feedback that there are still many who have been struggling with their businesses and who have been making sacrifices for the circuit breaker to the extent that they have been lending to their companies with their pay to support cashflow. Some have appealed for the Job Support Scheme (JSS) for working directors who are also shareholders. Instead of limiting the JSS to those who earn below $100,000 a year, why not remove this income cap? After all, the JSS is capped at 75% of $4,650.

Some are concerned that their businesses may not pick up after the reopening of our economy and thus will continue to face financial difficulty. It is important to them that all their clients order can be resumed. Otherwise, such business cannot hang on much longer. Even with the salary support from the Government, many businesses cannot afford to pay the balance 25% because they have zero revenue.

While we need to prioritise safety, and indeed, being a highly interconnected hub, we can only be safe if the world is also safe, however, we cannot be closed off from the world. It will do more harm than good to “de-globalise”.

We have to be proactive, not passive, to overcome this challenge. In order to survive, we cannot afford to sit back and keep drawing upon our past reserves and assets.

For example, we could consider staycations now that our community infection rate has been controlled. We should also start thinking how we could have effective and efficient test kits to check on all inbound travellers and returnees to prevent imported cases while revitalising the aviation, tourism and MICE sectors.

Most importantly, those who have the ability should help the have-nots. Because everyone is important and we care for all. Finally, let me conclude with a limerick.

January: Complain about having to start work again

February: Panic buying of paper products

March: Causeway closed

April: Everyone stayed home

May: Resumption of work we hope

June: Worry about savings being depleted

July: Pray all will go smoothly

August: Celebrate victory

With this, I would like to conclude with my support for this Budget. Thank you.

12.45 pm

Miss Cheng Li Hui (Tampines): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Budget.

Twenty-twenty is a year to reset, regroup and relearn. What is before us, is unprecedented. It is both a health crisis and an economic crisis that affects our life, our health and how we live our lives.

But far beyond our personal spheres, the world is rapidly changing. Tensions near and far, threaten to destabilise our once predictable place in the world. Global supply chains are also changing as countries ramp up their "nationalistic" strategies. Singapore has always depended on free and open trade. We need to regroup and strategise what is next for us, what can steer our economy into the future where businesses can thrive and individuals can progress.

Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we chart our path forward, I am particularly concerned about the challenges faced by our SMEs, especially the micro-businesses in our neighbourhood and hawkers. It is encouraging that the Government has set up the Emerging Stronger Task Force to study the systemic shifts emerging out of COVID-19. Other countries are also gradually ramping up their economies as they emerge out of lockdowns. We need to swiftly identify the economic shifts and strategise the way forward. Can the Minister for Finance shed some light on the work done so far and its first findings? How can we take advantage of new opportunities and accelerate our economic rebound?

Sir, in March 2018, I spoke about how we in our 40s today will become seniors of the future who will be more tech savvy and self-sufficient. We are also likely to be able to retire later as technology allows us to work from home. This COVID-19 pandemic has also affected seniors in many ways. I would like to highlight digital transformation. Microsoft estimates that two years of digital transformation was accomplished in the last two months. Forbes estimates five years of digital transformation to occur before mid 2021. These impacts have also been felt by our seniors, many of whom now communicate with video calls using WhatsApp or Zoom – something unheard of in 2019. Some seniors are also learning to shop online. Although there are no local studies released, in 2019, 40% of seniors aged 65 and above in Germany shop online.

As we forge ahead in our new post-COVID-19 world, I anticipate far more online participation by our seniors than ever before. How can we capitalise on this digital transformation? How can we enable our seniors to be less isolated, more engaged with each other and with our society? What can we do with technology to help seniors connect with their families and friends and continue contributing to society and the economy even as they continue to earn a wage? As we protect the lives of our seniors by social distancing, we should also take care of their quality of social life by using technology.

I am heartened that the SG Digital Office will be hiring 1,000 Digital Ambassadors to help hawkers and seniors learn digital skills. It is great that the Government is reaching out to help bridge our digital divide and at the same time provide employment opportunities for our graduating cohorts of ITE, Polytechnics and Universities. I hope MCI will continue to accelerate our digitisation efforts post-COVID-19.

There is no doubt what we are experiencing is unprecedented. I hope when we look back to this period in the future, we can say we overcame COVID-19 with unity, solidarity, resilience and fortitude. Let us press on.

12.49 pm

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir I support the initiatives introduced in Deputy Prime Minister Heng's Ministerial Statement delivered in this House last week to protect Singaporeans' lives and livelihoods. He and hon Members who spoke before me, highlighted the deteriorating economic situation globally as well as in Singapore.

Against this deteriorating situation, I am heartened that Deputy Prime Minister Heng made good his promise made in this House when he was delivering the Ministerial Statement on the Resilience Budget. He said, "should it become necessary, I am prepared to propose to the President further draws on past reserves to deal with the situation."

Our past reserves has been characterised as our trump card to get out of this crisis. Indeed, it is fortunate that we can draw on our past reserves, thanks to the prudence of previous generations of Government Leaders and Singaporeans. But equally, it is fortunate that Singapore can count on two further trump cards. They are: our exceptional people, who are all united in the common goal of defeating this virus and its effects on our health and economy; and our excellent men and women of the civil service. By civil service, I also include our Statutory Boards and our uniformed Services. I wish to record my appreciation to the officers in these Government agencies who have been working tirelessly throughout this crisis.

We all know our civil service is a lean organisation. With the formulation and implementation of numerous Government budgetary programmes and measures as well as legislation passed in this House within short periods of time, these officers had to rapidly adapt and assume even more responsibilities to support Singaporeans during this turbulent period. I, like a good number of hon Members have received reply emails from Government agencies on petitions written on behalf of residents promptly, despite a spike in the numbers. Many of these replies are received well after office hours.

The Government agencies and partners dealing with applications to draw on the Government's COVID-19 support programmes do not have an easy task at all. They need to strike a balance between providing help to fellow Singaporeans, ensuring that the policy objectives of the programmes and legislation are achieved and satisfying themselves that the public resources are judiciously spent. At the same time, I am delighted to note that more and more, our Government agencies apply a degree of flexibility in assessing applications.

As an example, I recently received a note from a Senior Director of MSF who conveyed to me that MSF would administer the COVID-19 Support Grants (CSG) flexibly and not just by closely adhering to the criteria. This will ensure the policy objective of CSG of supporting lower to middle income Singaporeans who have lost their jobs, lost a significant proportion of the income or placed under no-pay leave are better served.

This is a welcome development. Our civil service is also transforming in its delivery efforts to better serve fellow Singaporeans. When we and our nation recover from this crisis, we should not forget the services of our men and women in civil service who went beyond their call of duty. In my view, it is not enough to pat them on their backs. We must follow up and provide tangible compensation to them. I made a similar call for our heroic frontline officers in my speech during the debate on the Unity Budget.

I would like to make three points in my speech on the Fortitude Budget. First, providing a permanent legal framework to help small businesses in crises, like the one we currently face. Second, encouraging the stakeholders in the charity sector to collaborate more so as to deliver more impactful programmes for Singaporeans who need help. And finally, providing more credit and cash flow assistance to middle income families.

On the first point, I am cheered by Deputy Prime Minister Heng's announcement of the Government's decision to introduce a Bill, mandating the more muscular landlords to grant rental waivers to the SME tenants whose businesses have been severely affected because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure deals with a big bugbear on the ground, given that most businesses in commercial premises have been closed for two months and are likely to be closed for at least a few more weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Heng mentioned that this was not an easy decision. He said "Government does not ordinarily intervene in contracts after they have been entered into". I appreciate the point Deputy Prime Minister Heng made.

This was the stance that was taken on behalf of the Government when I spoke on my Adjournment Motion "Power Imbalance in Contracts Involving Small Businesses" on the 5 February 2018. Then, I argued for Government intervention in form of legislation to protect small businesses to equalise their bargaining positions. I highlighted clauses in tenancy agreements that operate unfairly against tenants which are small businesses. I also drew examples of legislation being enacted in a number of advanced jurisdictions to help small businesses. The hon Senior Minister of State for Law as she then was, Ms Indranee Rajah stated as follows: "In Singapore, our underlying philosophy is that, in general, free-market principles should apply and the Government should intervene only when necessary, for example, to address systemic market failure. Even when we do so, we try as far as possible to have the right regulatory touch and avoid heavy-handed interventions that could lead to distortion or unintended consequences".

At this point in time, given the severe impact of COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses, especially in the F&B and retail industries, I think it is right for Government to intervene to protect them or else they will disappear and the employees will be stranded. As it is well-known, two-third of Singaporeans are employed by SMEs.

The question I have is on whether we should take a temporary or permanent approach in dealing with such matters. Now that the Government has recognised that there is a need for intervention to help small businesses during crises, should there not be a permanent framework that can be applied as and when the situation calls for it in the future?

To illustrate the point, let us consider the important role the Price Control Act, an act which the Deputy Speaker is very familiar with, played during the crisis. The Price Control Act or PCA was enacted in 1950 to control prices of goods and to prevent price gouging. This was engaged in 1973 to fix the price of rice when it rose as a result panic buying, in the wake of the oil crisis. It is also used in 1990 when the pork market was reportedly cornered by a few suppliers. So, this is a lever that can be used when sellers take advantage of the situation created by crises.

Between January and February 2020, hon Members will recall that there was a public outcry against unscrupulous sellers taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak to sell surgical masks, thermometers and hand sanitisers at grossly inflated prices. The Price Controller took swift action under powers vested in him under PCA by requiring the sellers to provide information on the basis for setting prices at that level and also visiting the premises. The issues were quickly resolved without the need for the Price Controller to exercise his power to fix the price of masks, thermometers and hand sanitizers. Across the Causeway, the government used powers under the equivalent of the PCA to fix the price of surgical masks.

By similarly having a permanent framework to deal with rent issues faced by the small businesses, we will be in effect making Singapore's economy more resilient. This is because the Government of the day can leverage on legislation to ensure that these small businesses will not go belly up in the face of similar crises in future. Time is of essence in such situations. Significant business disruption to such small businesses can be irreversible. There will also be the salutary signalling effect within the business community, as we saw in the case of masks sellers who self-regulated after the Price Controller launched queries into their business conduct.

I do appreciate that the shape, form and impact of crises in future may be different. The help measures may also differ from crisis to crisis. However, this need not mean that a permanent piece of legislation would lose relevance. However different the crises may be, the impact on small businesses in form of cashflow and cost will largely remain. For clarity's sake, the circumstances when Government's powers to intervene in the rental market may be triggered must also be spelt out too. The legislation may be worded broadly to provide for a wide spectrum of measures that the Government may impose to help our small businesses as we saw in the PCA example. I respectfully suggest that the Emerging Stronger Task Force of the Future Economy Council consider my proposal.

My next point concerns the support under the Fortitude Budget provided to the charity sector. In my speech during the debate on the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, I highlighted the fact that some charities, especially the smaller ones, already were facing dwindling donations. I recall the hon Member, Mr Saktiandi also made the same point. However, we differed in the approach to be taken to deal with this problem. The hon Member, Mr Saktiandi suggested that the Government support the charities; I felt chary about this suggestion because of the Budget deficit we face this year and the fact that we are drawing on past reserves.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng's approach in providing dollar-for-dollar matching addresses both concerns. It incentivises donations and the same time provides much needed support to charitable organisations in the essential service or providing the vulnerable a helping hand. In principle, I support the move.

In my respectful view, however, the dollar-for-dollar matching should be combined with an outcome driven approach so as to incentivise charity organisations to collaborate and delivery quality programmes for Singaporeans in need. Under this approach, there would be need for an analysis on the impact of the charitable programmes on the beneficiaries such that the more impactful programmes should be provided with more public funding. There should be also financial incentives for charities to collaborate, pool resources and scale up.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng had noted that many individuals and organisations have stepped up to his call to help Singaporeans in need. With the increased number of charitable funds and individuals wanting to do charity work, there is an opportunity get charitable organisations with similar ideals and objectives to work together to ensure that the dollar provided by our Government is better spent.

It may well be that our Government will have to deepen its capability to play the role of matchmaker in encouraging charitable organisations to work together. This will, in my view, accelerate the transformation of the charity sector so that it will emerge stronger from this crisis to serve Singaporeans in need.

I now turn to my final point. Our Government has taken decisive steps to ensure that banks better support individuals and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. What I fear though is that if the economy dwindles even further, more families, especially middle-income families who are not the primary targets of the care and support package, will find themselves more cash strapped. We all recognise that there is a limit to payments such as the Solidarity Payment or the Temporary Relief Fund that the Government may make. Such amounts may not be even sufficient.

Cash strapped middle income families may be living in HDB or private properties. For these asset-rich, cash-poor families, I wonder if the Government could consider nudging the financial institutions to provide hassle-free, low-interest home equity loan facilities secured by either (a) refinancing of the original mortgage facilities if the original mortgagee is a bank; or (b) by a second mortgage on their homes.

To my understanding, such options are not currently available for HDB flats. Traditionally, financial institutions are chary about being second mortgagees as, priority-wise, they rank below CPF and the first mortgagee. Also, the processing time can be long. The administration costs in terms of getting valuation and to draw up legal paperwork can be significant too.

I appreciate that this measure has to be carefully studied for its social impact because if families default on their obligations, the banks may have to foreclose on their homes. However, I think that this issue may be addressed by proper analysis and implementing safeguards on the part of banks.

Sir, my comments notwithstanding, I support the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Dennis Tan.

1.02 pm

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge disruptions to global businesses and lives of people from virtually every country in the world. We are in arguably one of the most uncertain times in the history of mankind. No single government has been able to claim from the start they know how to navigate through the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the consequences it has brought to countries, cities, societies and economies.

Our Government of 55 years since our Independence is no exception. To that, we have an unprecedented four Budgets in a short period of less than four months.

Like everywhere else, the disruptions brought on by COVID-19 have unsettled businesses, lives and governments. This is a sign of things to come in the world, where no government can claim that their past experience will provide useful relevance for the uncertain future. In this brave new world, many heads with different ideas working out consensual solutions for the common good must be preferred.

I will start on the issue of support for businesses.

In the past two months, under the circuit breaker period, businesses have received support under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), limited to 75% or up to $4,600 of every salary. Under this Fortitude Budget, for the months ahead, only selected industries such as listed in Tiers 1 and 2 of the JSS will continue to receive wage supplements of up to 75% of each worker's salary. For most businesses, they will only be receiving up to 25% of the first $4,600 of every worker's salary for the remaining payments under the JSS, and this Fortitude Budget will only bring one additional month's payment, limited to 25% of an employee's salary.

As most businesses stop receiving the 75% wage support coming out from the circuit breaker period, we may start to see a more accurate picture of businesses suffering and insolvency figures for companies rising later this year.

The Government has announced that it will provide a cash grant to offset rental costs of SME tenants and also pass a new law to ensure landlords pass on rental support from the Government. This will be welcomed as a small temporary relief of 0.64 of a month's rental for office and industrial properties and 0.8 of a month's rental for commercial properties. Unfortunately, to businesses who cannot open or operate or even for businesses who face a significant drop in their businesses at this time, it may not stave off business and cost pressures in a significant way. In effect, it will be too small an amount to save ailing businesses.

Perhaps the assistance by way of JSS and rental support could have been more targeted and not applied to businesses who may not be affected, for example, supermarkets or certain businesses in healthcare, pharmaceutical or IT sectors, just to name a few. In this way, more will be available to the businesses who need them. We should not rely on unaffected businesses to voluntarily return their payouts.

The announced support in the Fortitude Budget for digital transformation whether for purpose of boosting e-payments or the digital resilience bonus may help to promote e-payments and to allow safe management practices in COVID-19 settings. While they may assist with business continuity under unique COVID-19 operating conditions, these schemes may be less helpful in generating business or revenue in themselves.

The financing support for promising start-ups under the Fortitude Budget may help some new start-ups but are probably irrelevant to the bulk of our existing SME businesses.

Beyond the above-mentioned schemes, beyond the foreign work levy waivers and rebates announced in this Fortitude Budget, beyond the assistance from credit loans announced in previous budgets, I am concerned that many SME businesses will still require more assistance if we are to expect them to survive. What are the Government's plans to support them to tide through the months or year ahead beyond what has been announced under the Fortitude Budget?

Has the Government factored in any actual draft plans in arriving at the additional $13 billion Contingencies Funds asked for in this Fortitude Budget and if so, whether it can now share such plans with Singaporeans too?

I next move on to the challenges during the circuit breaker and the issue of letting businesses open up with less restrictions.

The circuit breaker has not been an easy period for many businesses and individuals. Some businesses are baffled why similar businesses did not always result in the same exemptions or the same manpower allocation ratios. Instructions have changed over the weeks for some businesses ranging from meal arrangements for hawkers to types of businesses allowed to be opened or types of merchandise allowed to be sold.

In the first few weeks of the circuit breaker, provision shops and minimarts in different Hougang precincts were given different directions. Some were told they were only allowed to sell food. Some were told that they were not allowed to sell mops, brooms, brushes, pails, cleaning liquids, even slippers and limited stationery. Some were allowed to sell with no restrictions. Operators were baffled as some of these items have been sold in NTUC FairPrice without restrictions. Thankfully, after the Hougang Member of Parliament sought clarifications, the authorities reached out and rectified the instructions given.

In the circuit breaker period, most businesses were required to stop operating in their premises and most employees could not work in their working premises and had to stay at home. Those who could still do some or all of their work at home were the lucky few ones as for many jobs and many businesses, telecommuting is either not an option at all or not an adequate option for a variety of reasons. Many businesses have been looking forward to the resumption of operations in their premises. Yet, it has been somewhat confusing and uncertain for many business owners whose businesses were supposedly cleared for resumption.

Minister Chan Chun Sing was reported in the media on 19 May to have said as follows, "Only those who require the use of machinery and specialised terminals or need to complete legal documentation will be able to return to their workplaces. Workers who need infrequent access to the workplace for information or materials can already do so on an existing time-based exemption... The rest of the workers will continue to work from home. This will allow more than three-quarters of our economy to resume their normal operations."

These caveats are a challenge to viable resumption for many businesses. To continue with telecommuting per se may not be a viable option for many as telecommuting may suit certain positions but not others, and viable work that is required to be carried out in the office and unsuitability for telecommuting goes beyond the over-simplified description of merely requiring "the use of machinery and specialised terminals or need to complete legal documentation", especially bearing in mind many businesses will as I have highlighted earlier see their wage support under the JSS reduced to 25% from June onwards.

Productivity is another area of concern. The Government can be less prescriptive in this area, including any current limitation in the number of workers allowed in the workplace. Let businesses take ownership in managing telecommuting and the extent of telecommuting as appropriate for each individual business and their bottom line. Where any of these employees are required to be in the office or for workers where telecommuting has limited application, the Government can leave the onus on businesses to carry out prescribed safe workplace practices, including having appropriate social distancing and safe seating arrangements, use of SafeEntry, keeping records of staff and visitors to premises, including temperature records and good cleaning practices.

Let businesses focus on recovery with more breathing space. I am sure that most businesses will understand that their business operations are subject to closure due to failure in social distancing and safe workplace arrangements or in the event of an actual infection and most will take the necessary protective steps accordingly.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, next, I would like to seek an update from the Minister for Manpower in the number of foreign workers who are still currently not allowed to leave their dormitories to go to work. Further, is the Minister able to give a projected estimation of the number of these workers who will be released back to work in each of the next two to three months?

I am asking these questions because pending a review of our labour policies in the near future – perhaps after the COVID-19 crisis, particularly on our current unhealthy level of reliance on cheap foreign labour and also the way we house them, in the meantime, we need these workers to be back helping to restart our economy and also at the end of the day, the workers do not ordinarily live and work outside of Singapore and they are part of our community.

I am also asking these questions because it touches on how confident the Government is in bringing down infection in the foreign worker dormitories to zero.

Next, I want to touch on safe connectivity with the world. Last Friday, the Government announced plans to launch "fast lane" arrangement with COVID-19 measures for essential business, official air travel between Singapore and China in early June, starting with six Chinese cities. Prior to that, the Government had also announced that there will be talks to reopen borders with New Zealand.

Quite understandably, we cannot stay unconnected for too long and the opening up of air travel and connection with these and, indeed, other countries will be beneficial to our businesses and economy.

On the other hand, we have had recent experience of significant COVID-19 infections brought about by arriving passengers from abroad, first with the Wuhan tourists in January bringing the first recorded cases and transmissions to Singapore and then later on with some of those returning to Singapore or visitors from abroad around the period of March and April.

For the Government's plans to open up air travel in the coming months even with selected countries and pending the eventual introduction of a vaccine for COVID-19, I hope that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the reopening will not lead to a resurgence of imported COVID-19 cases.

It has been reported that passengers will not be required to serve the 14-days quarantine period and they will be required to undertake swab tests before boarding and after arrival in Singapore. If swab tests are required before boarding a flight to Singapore, how do we ensure all overseas swab test results provided are reliable? For swab tests done on arrival, how will the Government ensure that pending the outcome of the testing, there will not be any risk to any persons with whom the passengers come into contact at the airport, at their selected accommodation and also while being transported to their accommodation? Are there any restrictions on their accommodation for this initial period?

Next, on safe travel on public transport. Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced on Monday that rail and bus services will return to pre-circuit breaker levels but indicated that safe social distancing may not be possible. This is disconcerting. Besides being a potential Achilles' heel in our fight against COVID-19, it is inconsistent with social distancing efforts that were carried out previously on trains during the circuit breaker. It is also inconsistent with the stringent enforcement efforts adopted in many other situations with regards to social distancing, for which many people have been fined or given warnings for breaches and the rationale for such enforcement.

Finally, President Halimah Yacob was reported to have stated her support for this Fortitude Budget. I wonder whether the President, in arriving at her conclusion to support the draw of $31 billion from our reserves as well as the previous draws from reserves under the previous Budgets, had already been advised of the total amount of reserves Singapore has and had taken this into consideration. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Deputy Speaker, we may start to see the number of business failures going up in the next few months, leading to more job losses. After May, most businesses will receive 25% wage support and the Fortitude Budget will only increase support by one more month of such wage support. I would like to ask the Minister to extend more support to our SME businesses especially those who are struggling.

I also hope that the Government will extend more flexibility to businesses who are cleared to resume business on their premises, to manage their businesses as they see fit as long as they comply with safe distancing and other safe workplace practices as required by the Government.

As for the Government’s plans to resume airlinks with China and New Zealand, it is important to resume connection for the benefit of our economy. However, I hope the Government will take all necessary measures to ensure that we will avoid another wave of foreign imported COVID-19 infections.

As more rail and bus services are resumed in phase 1, 2 and 3, I also hope that the Government take all necessary measures for safe travel and social distancing especially during peak hours. The relaxation of social distancing in our trains since Tuesday is a huge concern. Lack of social distancing on public transport is inconsistent with the authorities’ stringent enforcement efforts in social distancing elsewhere, not to mention a potential Achilles heel in our fight against COVID-19.

Finally, President Halimah Yacob was reported to have stated her support for this Fortitude Budget. I wonder whether the President, in arriving at her conclusion to support the draw of $31 billion from our reserves as well as the previous draws from reserves under the Solidarity and Resilience Budgets, had already been advised of the total amount of reserves Singapore has and had taken this into consideration.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Terence Ho.

1.18 pm

Mr Terence Ho Wee San (Nominated Member): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team for always having arts in his heart and making arts possible and vibrant, even during this COVID-19 situation. I also want to thank the colleagues in MCCY and the National Arts Council (NAC) for their dedication and commitment to keep arts going strong. They work tirelessly to render support in this difficult period.

As at 22 May 2020, NAC has supported more than 850 artists and arts groups, funded more than 60 digitalisation projects and reached over 6.2 million online views. If we take into consideration of the other online digital programmes by the arts groups, we should reach more than 10 million online viewers as today. Singapore Chinese Orchestra's digital efforts has seen six series, more than 130 contents uploaded, and a total of more than one million viewership to-date. Singapore Symphony Orchestra's SSOPlayOn! series, the Siong Leng Musical Association and the Nam Hwa Opera have brought their art onto several social media platforms for all to enjoy. The theatre groups live-stream their performances and the Esplanade partners with SISTIC to provide pay-per-view tickets to achieve self-sustained model for online performances.

In these difficult times, we need the arts and culture to uplift our spirits. I hope the artists and arts groups can tap on the Fortitude Budget to sustain works, spread positivity and make arts as an essential for everyone in the new normalcy. They can explore and tap on the Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme, SEP Income Relief Scheme, COVID-19 Support Grant and the Arts and Culture Resilience Package (ACRP). The $55 million ACRP seeks to protect the arts and culture eco-system and will provide support and opportunities for our cultural organisations and practitioners until the end of the year, while encouraging the development of longer-term capabilities that will help the community emerge stronger after COVID-19.

I have four suggestions. One, cultivate concert virtual exposure acquired by the expanding digital consumers of arts to actual engagement. Two, capability building should revamp and remodel in the strategic marketing area to bring headcounts for the various arts form, especially for ticketed events. Three, digital culture pass to encourage pay-per-view digital concert and even purchasing of live concert tickets when we allow concert to be staged at the concert hall. Four, more can be done to commission and collaborate with the private and public sector to utilise collective resources for the arts presentation in a more effective way.

Arts are the engines of togetherness and collective sense-making. A lost in cultural eco-system would be harder to re-cultivate than to restore anything. In Mandarin, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng and his team for always having the livelihood of artists and arts group in their heart. The Government pays great attention to the arts and the cultural sector, making arts an indispensable spiritual nourishment during the outbreak.

NAC and Lianhe Zaobao worked together to launch the Zaobao Recital Series comprising four online programmes, including Chinese music, vocals, classical chamber music and literature reciting. Netizens have responded warmly to these online programmes.

The enhanced Job Support Scheme has enabled many art groups and artists to maintain their livelihood during the outbreak and continue to create artworks and surprises, so that people can continue to enjoy arts performances online. For example, Singapore Chinese Orchestra staged the Tutti Singapore percussion performance; Singapore Symphony Orchestra uploaded SSOPlayOn! series, and Singapore Chinese Music Federation gathered 30 Erhu players to present a performance called "Towards a Brighter Future" in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Singapore-China diplomatic ties. Dingyi Music Company, Siong Leng Musical Association, Nan Hwa Opera and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre have also created many online stay-home performances. They use advanced digital technologies to bring arts onto various social media platforms, so that their audiences can enjoy wonderful concerts and performances free at home. There are more than 10 million online viewership to-date.

During this period, many enthusiastic supporters are paying special attention to the vulnerable groups by giving them donations and support. This is good. I feel that freelancers in the arts and cultural sector will need our help too. The existence of our local arts and cultural community is the spirit and hope of the society. This group of people will not be the first to come to people's mind to help. Their livelihood is not easy in the first place, and made worse by the outbreak. The support they received is far from enough, and this reflects the fundamental cultural attitude of a society. In this regard, we need a wider definition of arts and broader arts recognition among our people, so that more people are willing to support and promote arts and spread its values.

I hope that artists and arts groups can make good use of the funding and grants in these difficult times, move on with fortitude and continue to innovate and create. I believe that the community will emerge stronger and more united after COVID-19. The development of arts and culture would also be different from before. We will need new engines and new concepts to create a new world. I hope we can bring online audiences to concert halls and theatres. After artists have returned to the stage, I believe they will be able to create more inspiring programmes. This is because arts can provide spiritual nourishments, lift people's mood and warm their hearts. We will definitely conquer COVID-19, start a new life accompanied by beautiful music and artistic creations, and unite as one people to march towards prosperity and progress.

I support the Fortitude Budget.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

(In English): I am in support of the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Speaker: Mr Leon Perera.

1.26 pm

Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, across the world, governments, healthcare systems, companies, societies and families have been severely tested by a microscopic virus. We will continue to be tested. We will need to meet these tests as one united people, united by our love for our country and one another

Looking back, for me, the past two months have been extraordinary, working with Party colleagues and volunteers to provide support to residents remotely, adapting corporate processes to work from home and making adjustments to family life with my two young children, aged 12 and 14, going through home-based learning.

Now, our attention turns to the process of recovery. It is appropriate that an Emerging Stronger Task Force has been formed. I agree with the remarks made by my Party Chairman Ms Sylvia Lim on the composition and work of that task force.

As a society, it is our collective responsibility to reflect, draw the right lessons and emerge stronger. After all, the world went through the cataclysm of the Spanish flu in 1918 but many lessons about preventing and controlling pandemics were not permanently and widely institutionalised after that trauma.

We have a choice. Will we emerge stronger? What can we learn from this episode for this post-circuit breaker period and the post-COVID-19 future that Singapore will emerge into?

I would like to speak about two areas – overall pandemic management and the economy.

At the start of the pandemic, the Government quickly formed a whole-of-Government task force and issued regular communications. The challenge facing this task force was gargantuan. Our knowledge of COVID-19 was imperfect and evolving. There were many moving parts. In hindsight, though, many Singaporeans, looking back on the rules and announcements issued since early April, would say that there were too many finely calibrated rules. These were often qualified or changed shortly after being announced and this led to confusion on the ground. Let me cite a few examples.

On 21 April, when the tighter circuit breaker measures were announced, the press release said outlet-based confectionery operations had to be suspended from 2359 hours on 21 April, but those selling mainly bread could continue. What followed was some confusion as those selling mainly cakes try to find out what they could do. It was clarified that they could sell their inventory of cakes but not bake new ones. Some bakeries, such as one making mainly croissants, had to clarify how the rules apply to them.

Car workshops were another example. Initially, when the circuit breaker was announced, motor workshops were told they could apply to stay open but only for emergency services. A Straits Times' report from 7 April said that motor workshop operators were confused initially by the phrase "emergency vehicle services" found in the GoBusiness COVID-19 site. Do they mean emergency vehicles like ambulances or do they mean emergency services for vehicles, one asked.

Another example, in late April it was announced that exercising and dog walking were not permitted within the common areas of condominiums. One letter writer to TODAY on the 30 April mentioned that "to access public spaces, dogs would have to traverse the common condominium grounds thus rendering the rule moot in practice." Such a rule may also have had the effect of condominium dog owners then crowding in adjacent pathways by the road, HDB or landed common areas or parks.

The intent behind these finely calibrated and frequently revised rules was good. But in hindsight, could the technocratic zeal have been tempered by an appreciation that the capacity of society to adapt to so many frequently changing rules is not unlimited, while the capacity of any civil service to issue so many detailed and finely calibrated rules in a very short time is limited.

Too frequent and unclear rules can lead to rules fatigue and cynicism towards rule compliance. Moreover, would it not have been more efficient for the exceptions and caveats to rules to have been announced at the same time as the rule. And could some rules that micro-manage what are permissible activities have been avoided in favour of making facility owners responsible for safe distancing, masking and so on?

Sir, my colleague Mr Dennis Tan has also made some suggestions on the roll-out of Phase One, with which I agree. I would add one point. The Government's approach to Phase One and beyond hinges on demarcating companies into either an essential or non-essential category for each phase. So, for example, in Phase One most retail, cinemas, bars, restaurants, event-based activities and tuition centres remain shut. This is in spite of the fact that crowds and lack of safe distancing have been anecdotally observed in a number of supermarket outlets and shopping malls under current rules, and that safe distancing is no longer mandatory on public transport.

We need to find the right balance between protecting livelihoods and protecting lives. Has the Government considered an alternative approach which is to calibrate this a little less finely and with a broader brush. This means allowing most establishments to open may be with the exception of those which pose the most extreme risk. But every establishment would be tasked to practise safe distancing, masking and other precautions. This would mean that some establishments would, perhaps, not be able to optimise capacity to economically viable levels. But should we not that choice to business owners? Some business owners may prefer to restart with reduced capacity so as to generate some cashflow, refresh connections with customers, start to rotate staff back to work for the sake of morale and skills refreshing and so on. For those industries where the risk is greater, these should be targeted for more enforcement and regular preventive COVID-19 testing.

In fact, the administration of rapid testing and swift isolation in a surgical manner, as opposed to only very severe lockdowns, has been seen as a key to Korea's success, which brings me to my next point on testing.

Sir, our current main form of testing appears to be the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RTPCR test. Some challenges of scaling up the current PCR test are that testing takes about three hours for results to be obtained. Laboratory staff operating the extractors must also wear personal protective equipment or PPE and most countries looking to exit lockdown have similar mass testing strategies – increasing demand for the same reagents and PPE.

MOH has said that coronavirus test were conducted by 13 laboratories in Singapore, the majority of which are located at public healthcare institutions such as hospitals. There are private sector industrial testing labs that offer testing of COVID-19 on surfaces, not patient swabs. It is not clear if these labs currently also offer testing of human samples since this is not advertised. It would be good to know if these industrial labs can be co-opted to help with our testing.

Given the challenges in scaling up the PCR testing method, there is a need to concurrently explore scaling up of other testing methods to be able to roll out effective mass testing. The Tony Blair Institute in the UK has called for antibody tests to be more widely used in conjunction with the PCR test, even if it is less accurate. Could such antibody tests together with the current PCR test be used to triage testing of suspected cases to take the load off the PCR testing infrastructure.

Next, Sir, a number of new schemes have been rolled out. For example, there is a $100 utilities rebate in this latest Fortitude Budget – $100. Previously, SIRS and JSS were rolled out. Before COVID-19 there were also many schemes. To cite some random examples – Workfare, Jobs Credit, Innovation Credit and SkillsFuture. Some schemes are automatically applied and money gets transferred into your bank account. That is it. Some schemes you have to apply for to get the money or support. For other schemes, the money exists in an account tagged to each citizen and you have to use it.

Sir, the more schemes we have, the more there is risk of confusion leading to under-utilisation or other side effects. Also, the more complex the whole system becomes the more resources need to go into the work of explaining, sifting through and helping people or firms to apply for these schemes. Social workers and Family Service Centres and officers at economic agencies like Enterprise Singapore, for example, would have to meet this challenge by mastering all the minutiae of the schemes and then explaining them well.

Sir, there are just too many schemes with distinct names and processes right now.

Would the Government consider a unified portal across the whole-of-Government where each citizen and company can log on, view and transact? Such a portal would show firstly, that the monies that have been credited from all schemes that automatically kick in; two, the schemes which that person or company is eligible to apply for; or where there is imperfect information where they may be eligible to apply for for those that need application with direct links to the application forms from respective Ministries, Statutory Boards and agencies; and thirdly, the money that has been credited to them in special accounts but which needs to be utilised by a certain date.

The existence of such a portal would be a first step. The next step would be to streamline the schemes and curb the tendency to launch new schemes but attempt instead to channel support into existing schemes. Sir, sometimes less is more. And in saying this, for the elderly who are less IT-savvy, arrangements need to be made to facilitate their access to such a portal.

Next, let me move to the economy. Minister Chan recently announced $13 billion in foreign direct investment commitments in the first four months of this year versus $15.2 billion for the whole of last year. This is good news indeed.

I would like to ask MTI how much of this $13 billion is fixed asset investment versus total business spending. How many jobs is this expected to be translated into? And what incentives were used to secure these investments?

It is important to continue to attract FDI and to refine and improve our strategies for doing so. But the economic challenge of developing home-grown entrepreneurship and our own world-beating companies is going to be greater than ever. World trade growth was already slowing own even before COVID-19. COVID-19 will not put in an end to FDI for sure. But it is likely to result in more competition for perhaps less FDI, as some multi-national companies or MNCs migrate some operations back home and other MNCs try to diversify to less traditional FDI destinations, responding to the imperatives of supply chain resilience, political pressures and other imperatives.

Sir, our GDP growth rate was a weak 0.7% in 2019 before COVID-19 and that 0.7% growth rate was one of the lowest rates of growth among major advanced economies in the world in that year. No doubt there are many schemes and programmes to stimulate entrepreneurship. Have these met with the desired results? Are we where we want to be?

In this House my colleagues and I have mooted a number of ideas on this front in the past. For example, setting up a fund to support ex-civil servants who want to become entrepreneurs and demonstrating more flexibility in schemes based on results.

Sir, NASA recently launched its first vehicle into space using private sector launch capacity provided by the company Space X. Uplifting our entrepreneurial sector is going to be a key national competitiveness challenge facing Singapore. I would argue for renewed soul searching and efforts on this front as an urgent priority. Mr Speaker, Sir, in Malay, please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Government's approach to Phase One and beyond hinges on the demarcation of companies into either an essential or non-essential category for each phase. This is in spite of the fact that crowds have been observed to continue visiting a number of supermarkets in shopping centres and are not really practising safe distancing under current rules. Has the Government considered an alternative approach, which is to calibrate this a little less finely, but in a broader manner instead? This means allowing most businesses to open, perhaps with the exception of those which may pose the most extreme risks. At the same time, every business should be required to practise safe distancing, the wearing of masks and all other precautions. And for those industries where the risk is greater, these should be targeted for more enforcement and regular, preventive COVID-19 testing.

(In English): Mr Speaker, Sir, has COVID-19 shown that our model of economics and politics is perfect? No. Neither is any countries'. The success achieved by other developed countries in the region against COVID-19 such as Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and New Zealand should give us pause that we, too, have things to learn.

For example, if stronger independent voices had come out to say the precautionary reusable mask wearing was okay in the early days, it may have cut down on some asymptomatic transmission.

Last year, I read an excellent book called "The Narrow Corridor" by academics Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. It uses extensive historical research spanning centuries to argue that the most successful societies are those that find the right balance between a strong, capable state and an equally strong non-state sector – meaning civil society, alternative parties and the private sector – to balance that state. The outcomes of such successful societies are able to obtain combined political stability and law and order on the one hand together with long-term innovation-driven economic development and social progress on the other hand.

And so, in conclusion, Mr Speaker, Sir, at the end of this speech, I find myself returning to a theme in my very first speech in this House given in January 2016 – the Singapore glass is half full. Singaporeans bear a major two-fold responsibility to preserve what is good about our existing system but to change what should be changed to make it better.

Mr Speaker: Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.

1.45 pm

The Minister of State for National Development (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): Thank you, Mr Speaker. “Your every day is full of sunshine. But into every life, a little rain must fall” – prose from a song by the legendary rock band, Queen.

We are living in very challenging times, with unpredictable weather ahead. They say that in every crisis, lies opportunity. Therefore, we should make the best of every opportunity available, no matter how strong the headwinds are. And this is why the Government and our tripartite partners are making every effort to create an umbrella of opportunities to weather the storm.

I will speak about how our workers and employers can tap on the opportunities and support available. We will help workers be flexible, to adapt and to widen their skills. We will also provide support for employers to make use of their downtime to upskill their workforce for transformed jobs.

The Minister for Manpower has elaborated on the strong Government support for our workers and I will focus on how fresh graduates and our mature workers can tap on opportunities.

Our fresh graduates are entering the job market amidst great uncertainty. I can personally relate to the anxiety of many of our fresh graduates who may be concerned with their job prospects. I graduated in 1999, shortly after the Asian Financial Crisis. There were few jobs and even fewer interviews. But I would like to assure our fresh graduates and their parents, compared to them, we are now more prepared and better resourced to support our fresh graduates.

Despite the current economic conditions, there are still jobs available in some areas. We will support employers to take in and groom new hires, including through sector-specific programmes such as the Company-Led Training Programme for Infocomm and Technology jobs. Some may not be able to find employment in this tough job market, and this is why we launched the SGUnited Traineeships programme.

We have more than doubled our initial goal from up to 8,000 traineeships to up to 21,000 traineeships. Our graduates can look forward to traineeships in sectors with good growth prospects such as Financial Services, Professional Services and Infocomm Technology and Media sectors.

There are familiar roles in Marketing and Finance too, and more specialised ones such as Sports Nutrition and Social Work. Graduates can check out available traineeships on MyCareersFuture.sg by searching for the hashtag #SGUnitedTraineeships.

On this note, I would like to thank the Singapore Business Federation for helping to vet and approve the large volume of traineeship proposals from companies. I would also like to acknowledge the many employers that have opened their doors to trainees. An example is Yang Kee Logistics, who will be offering traineeship opportunities in software development and food supply chain management.

Two trainees will support the Logistics Integrated Transport Ecosystem project, a cloud-based platform that connects logistics industry stakeholders and multiple intermediaries. They will be able to sharpen their software development skills and gain deeper project management skills. Another trainee will be exposed to Yang Kee's new food logistics business arm as a sales support coordinator. These traineeship experiences will be meaningful and valuable, providing them skills that are in-demand and hands-on industry experience.

Traineeships help our fresh graduates to build their experience and skills. This puts the trainee in good stead to find a job, either with the host company or elsewhere in the sector. To give our trainees a further boost, employers that hire them will receive the enhanced Hiring Incentive, with salary support of 20% of monthly salary for six months, capped at $6,000 in total.

The Government will work with employers to provide as many jobs and traineeships as possible. As many opportunities are likely to come from firms in growth sectors, I encourage our graduates to keep an open mind and consider how skills acquired in school can be applied to different careers.

We are also paying close attention to our mature workers. Many of them may have been in the same occupation for a long time, and find it more challenging to make a career switch. As Mr Patrick Tay mentioned, we need to support our mid-career workers and we also need to help them access the opportunities available. How can mature workers do so?

First, do consider making the switch into a new career. I recognise that it is not easy, but you are not alone. Workforce Singapore's Professional Conversion Programmes, or PCP, have helped nearly 14,500 Singaporeans since 2016 to successfully switch to new careers. The results are encouraging. About nine in 10 remain in employment for two years after getting a job, and seven in 10 earned higher wages. Clearly, the PCP has been effective in preparing our workers for new careers.

The Government provides up to 90% of salary support and course fees subsidies to encourage employers to hire mature workers through these programmes. We are also ramping up our capacity to provide more programmes.

One example is 55-year-old Choa Wai Sim – one individual who successfully made the switch. She previously worked in a traditional sales role performing tasks such as quality control and quotation of sales. While she initially applied for a salesperson role at Aries Fresh Private Limited, she was open to take on a different role focusing on digital sales offered by Aries Fresh in March this year.

Thanks to PCP for Digital Sales Executives, Wai Sim gained digital skills which complements her sales experience. I personally found it inspiring that Wai Sim has transformed her 30 plus years of experience to take on the digital world as well. She now uses Facebook and Google Ads to generate leads and increase sales. Wai Sim is earning 30% more, compared to her previous traditional sales role. She is an encouraging role model for all of us and I would like to thank Aries Fresh for investing in our mature workers and I hope that many others would consider this too.

Second, mature jobseekers can also consider taking part in the new SGUnited Traineeships for mid-career workers, which will be named SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme. This programme will provide mid-career workers with company attachment opportunities to pick up industry-relevant skills and broaden their professional circles. This will boost their employability when the economy recovers.

We aim to provide up to 4,000 of such attachment opportunities. Compared to the SGUnited Traineeships, mid-careerists on this SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme can expect to receive a higher stipend based on their relevant experience and skills that they bring to the host company.

To encourage employers to hire mature workers who have gone through eligible programmes such as the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme, we doubled the Hiring Incentive to 40% of monthly salary for six months, capped at $12,000 in total.

Our employers play an important role in growing our economy and hiring our workers. It is important that we also guide them through this storm. Even when employers are in "survival mode", their odds of survival will improve with a more skilled and productive workforce. I would like to encourage employers to take a longer-term view and walk with their workers through these challenging times.

Different employers are affected in different ways by this unprecedented crisis. The first group of employers are those who are not so badly affected and are still growing. And we encourage these employers to consider jobseekers who may not have all the skills needed to perform the job, but can do it with some training.

To support such employers, we will be ramping up the capacity of our career conversion programmes to more than 14,000 places this year. So, taken together with the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) and the enhanced Hiring Incentive, the out-of-pocket costs of employers for hiring and training new workers are significantly reduced.

For others who are cautious about hiring, do consider the traineeship programmes. I encourage you to offer as many positions as you can. Not only will you benefit from the additional manpower to meet your business needs, you will also help trainees pick up useful skills and work experience.

The Government will also subsidise the costs of providing these traineeship opportunities by funding 80% of the traineeship stipends. Employers only need to fund the remaining 20%. Host companies can indicate their interest at the SGUnited Traineeships page on WSG's website.

Many employers may face short-term difficulties. We fully understand. Member of Parliament Patrick Tay expressed concerns about unfair practices on the ground, and I share his concerns. While it may not be easy, employers should be fair to their workers during hard times. The Government has provided significant wage support under the JSS to offset and protect local employees' wages. Employers should act responsibly and fairly. Those who put local employees on mandatory no-pay-leave or retrench them will not be entitled to the enhanced JSS pay-outs for those employees.

The updated Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment and National Wage Council's guidelines issued in end-March provides guidance on managing excess manpower responsibly. Where there is a need to reduce wages, managements should lead by example, and seek the consent of the unions and engage employees.

Employers should take the lead to help their workers reskill and support business transformation plans. Employees have often been worried about training while working. For some, it is whether they can find time to go for training without disadvantaging themselves at work. Others may find it difficult to identify relevant training to improve their career prospects.

Employers should come in to provide guidance. They are best placed to identify relevant skills required for their business transformation strategies. It is also a good opportunity to send workers who would have not otherwise have gone for training to reskill. Moreover, employers can reskill their existing workers at a low cost by tapping on Government support.

Employers can send existing workers to participate in job redesign programmes, a type of PCP to help existing employees take on new roles or redesigned job roles in the same company. Many employers think that PCPs are for workers to transit to new sectors, but there are also PCP programmes that employers can adopt in their companies. And the Government provides up to 90% salary support and course fee subsidies.

All Watches Private Limited is an employer that is reskilling their workers for enhanced job roles to support their digital transformation plans. They are ramping up its online e-commerce platform given the shift in consumer behaviour and increase in demand for e-commerce. Through WSG's Job Redesign Reskilling Programme for the Retail Industry, 11 workers are gaining relevant digital skills. For instance, their retail team leaders will gain skills to understand online and offline customer behaviour and to develop and implement offline-to-online strategies in enhanced Customer Service Leader roles.

I encourage employers to consider this option. Not only would employers keep their workers at lower cost, their workers will emerge with new and relevant skills to support their business transformation and growth.

Mr Speaker, before I conclude, let me address Mr Zainal Sapari's points on lower wage workers, particularly those in essential services.

The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the importance of the work done by our essential workers, many of whom come under the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). For the majority of them, their workloads have increased during this period, and we applaud and appreciate their efforts.

Indeed, this is an important group. MOM and our tripartite partners have been working hard to uplift this segment. To support our lower wage workers, we have recently enhanced Workfare to benefit more workers and also provided a special Workfare Special Payment (WSP) payout of $3,000 as a result of the COVID-19 situation. The first payout of $1,500 will be made in the next month, with the second payout of $1,500 in October 2020. In these times, it is imperative that we bolster support for our lower wage workers.

Mr Zainal co-chairs the tripartite committees to review and enhance the wage and skills ladders in sectors under the PWM today, so that our workers can enjoy better wages and be more productive. These efforts are complemented by the sectoral tripartite partners' implementation of the various industry transformation maps, such as in the security and environmental services sectors. These will leverage technology to raise our workers' productivity.

MOM is and will continue to give our fullest support to these important efforts.

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira said, and I quote, "the unseen engine behind global cities worldwide is a vast army of essential workers, who are frequently paid too little to live next to those they provide services to". I fully agree. As a society, we must uplift our lower wage workers and bridge inequality. I believe that our society has matured enough that we would not turn a blind eye to this group of workers, and recognise that they too, should be paid fairly for the essential work that they do. This is the right thing to do. But these efforts will not be able to come to fruition if we do not have the support of the wider community.

At the end of the day, all of us would have to contribute towards the higher pay for these workers by sharing the rise in cost of products and services.

The Progressive Wage Models (PWMs) have served us well in supporting our lower wage workers, which includes workers in essential sectors such as cleaning and security. Between 2013 and 2018, the real median monthly gross wages of full-time cleaners, security officers and landscape workers grew cumulatively by 30% or more, which is higher than the 16% for the median full-time income of resident workers. As Member Walter Theseira observed in his Budget speech in February, the PWMs have reversed formerly stagnant wage growth for lower income Singaporeans.

The vision of PWM was to create occupation, wage and skills ladders across all sectors. This will support our workers to up-skill, raise their productivity and earn higher wages. Given the positive impact of the PWMs, MOM is committed to supporting our tripartite partners' efforts to extend PWM to more sectors.

Earlier this year, we announced that the tripartite partners are extending the PWM to escalator maintenance workers. Members of the community have also voiced their support for essential workers during COVID-19. During my speech at the Committee of Supply debates in March, I painted a vision of how the PWM should be a broader movement where the community can play a part as responsible consumers, even in sectors where mandatory PWM is not possible. In this way, companies that voluntarily pay progressive wages and provide job progression pathways to their workers are recognised and rewarded by consumers who support them by purchasing their goods or services. This will in turn spur more companies to be progressive as the best way to advance their business interests. MOM will share more details when the economic climate and business conditions are more favourable.

I would like to move on and address Members' points on the vulnerability of lower-wage essential workers. Ms Jessica Tan spoke about the need to pay attention to the working conditions as businesses resumed operations, especially for the essential and frontline workers.

COVID-19 has resulted in significant disruptions to the demand and supply of outsourced services by service buyers and providers. This has in turn affected the livelihoods of workers such as cleaners and security officers.

The tripartite partners have worked closely to issue tripartite advisories to guide service buyers and providers on how all stakeholders can navigate the situation together to ensure the sustainability of these industries and protect our workers' livelihoods. These advisories guide service providers in properly remunerating their workers and urge service buyers to exercise restraint when activating penalty clauses or liquidated damages. This helps ensure that workers are paid appropriately based on their workloads and that their employers have the cashflow to pay them accordingly.

Service buyers and providers are also encouraged to reallocate manpower based on their priorities. This helps to manage the employees' workloads. Finally, employers are also urged to seize the opportunity to up-skill their workers by tapping on Government support, which will prepare them for future challenges and opportunities. By adopting these recommendations, our lower wage essential workers will be protected and employers will be able to tide through this tough period together with them.

Beyond this, we are also maintaining our efforts to uplift the well-being of our lower wage workers at work through the Workcare initiative. As I shared earlier, we will be launching a new Workcare Grant later this year to support building owners and employers to provide rest areas for outsourced workers – this, with a view to eventually legislating this requirement. Given the importance of their work, it is only right that we promote a culture of care and provide them with the respect they deserve. I would like make a call for everyone to play a part in supporting our lower wage workers and improving their well-being at work – that even small gestures can be meaningful.

The Government will always look after our lower wage workers through our social schemes. Initiatives such as Workfare supplements their wages, the Enhanced Housing Grant ensures that they have a roof under which their families can grow in stable environments and ComCare provides meaningful social support. We hope that everyone can support us in uplifting our lower wage workers and caring for them in the way they deserve.

Mr Speaker, I began my speech with how, in every crisis, lies opportunity. We must make every opportunity count. The Government is committed to supporting both our jobseekers and employers to ride out this storm and to emerge stronger. We will help jobseekers seize every available opportunity and employers are encouraged to use this period to build up a skilled workforce so that they are well-positioned for recovery. We can achieve this by working together as Singapore United.

Mr Speaker, allow me to share a few key points on the Government's support for employers and workers in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] We will support Singaporeans fully. There are many opportunities in growth sectors, so I encourage those who are seeking jobs to be flexible and willing to adapt to access these opportunities.

Currently, there are conversion programmes to help you reskill to gain employment in new areas, including the SGUnited Traineeships Programme and the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme. These programmes can help you to gain industry-relevant work experience and build professional networks.

We have also introduced measures to help businesses cope during this trying period. I urge employers to be fair and responsible to their workers. Retain your workers, and tap on Government support to help your workers upskill, and at the same time, help your company transform for the future.

Mr Speaker, I am greatly heartened to see my fellow Singaporeans and community organisations stepping up to collectively complement the Government’s efforts to help employers and workers during this difficult period. These include the wonderful efforts by our Malay/Muslim community.

Under the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce, organisations such as MENDAKI SENSE and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or SMCCI, have stepped forward to further strengthen the last-mile delivery of national support measures and lead targeted initiatives to support the Malay/Muslim community on jobs, upskilling and digitalisation for businesses.

SENSE has organised three Virtual Career Fairs which have attracted close to 12,000 visitors. More than 3,400 people have submitted job applications and the total number of applications received have exceeded 8,000 applications. To date, the CariKerja app has received over 22,000 downloads. These figures indicate a good start.

SENSE will be scaling up their outreach efforts within the community, including to mature workers, fresh graduates as well as PMET jobseekers.

For our local businesses, SMCCI, together with technology partners such as Lalamove and Shopback, has helped their members to adopt new solutions that would optimise their businesses in areas such as marketing and e-payments. SMCCI will continue its efforts to conduct more capability development seminars so that our local businesses can make the move to innovate, transform and strengthen their resilience.

We can expect structural changes to the global and Singapore economy in the long term. As announced by Minister Masagos last week, I will be leading a new workgroup, comprising MENDAKI SENSE, SMCCI, NTUC, organisations from the public sector and community partners to support our Malay/Muslim workers.

This workgroup will support the efforts of the National Jobs Council, led by Senior Minister Tharman. Collectively, we want to build on the efforts of the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce, to provide employment support for Malay/Muslim jobseekers, and to better prepare them and improve their employment prospects, by working with our partners and the Government. We will also strengthen our outreach efforts to prepare the community for the future of jobs. This includes mature workers, fresh graduates, the self-employed, and our asatizah.

We want to help our workers to upskill so that they can stay relevant and subsequently gain employment. With that, they will hopefully have better salary prospects. It is important for the Malay/Muslim community to be ready to seize any opportunities during this crisis and when the economy recovers.

Our path forward will be tough, but we will journey through it together. The Government will continue to support Singaporeans in adapting to new circumstances. With strong community support, we will work hand-in-hand to help workers and employers seize available opportunities, so that we will emerge stronger as one Singapore. Thank you.

Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh

2.12 pm

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, when I spoke on the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets in April, my speech focused on the future. What would happen after the deployment of significant reserves to support lives and livelihoods? I also spoke about how COVID-19 had exposed inequalities – how the wages of some Singaporeans working in essential services need to go up – and what opportunities the COVID-19 crisis had engendered to reimagine a better Singapore.

For this Fortitude Budget debate, which once again calls for a draw on the reserves, I will focus on three "E"s – the economy, engagement and empathy.

First, the economy. While the central focus of this Budget was jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Heng's speech was instructive in my view for the restatement of three hard truths in the coming months. First, Singapore can expect some tough times ahead. On the day the Deputy Prime Minister delivered this Budget, MTI announced a downward adjustment of our growth forecast of -1% to -4%, to -4% to -7%. Second, the Deputy Prime Minister reminded Singaporeans that life will not return to pre-COVID-19 days, with the global economy unlikely to recover quickly. Finally, the Deputy Prime Minister's speech also reminded Singaporeans, "that Government cannot carry businesses forever."

On the limit of Government being able to carry business forever, it is clear that companies and businesses will soon have to underwrite their employees' wages. This has hitherto been significantly supported by the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS).

With poor economic growth at the door, some business owners have shared with me that they have retained workers as long as they could, thanks to the JSS, even as other workers were emplaced on no-pay leave and have had to take pay cuts. As JSS expires in time, some retrenchments are inevitable.

To that end, the goal of the Government to accelerate digitalisation, up-skilling for the future and the creation of a National Jobs Council are steps in the right direction and supported by the Workers' Party. These initiatives cohere with an eye on the future and the transformation to a post-COVID-19-ready Singapore economy.

On jobs, Mr Speaker, the headline numbers vis-a-vis initiatives like the new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeships scheme of 4,000 openings may not appear large next to the size of the Singaporean workforce, but they are an important source of hope for those Singaporeans who have lost their jobs or will lose their jobs.

Today, some Singaporeans would be downcast at the thought of how to finance or how to continue financing their mortgage and other commitments, or the opportunities they can or cannot provide to their school-going children when their own paychecks have dwindled or, in other cases, evaporated.

On mid-career workers, I hope the Government considers and incentivises more companies and businesses, through either rebates or reliefs, to offer more of such traineeships and opportunities to mid-career Singaporeans, so that they can learn new skills and embark on new careers.

Mr Speaker, more than $50 billion has been committed from the Reserves to fight COVID-19 in the matter of a few short months, more than 10 times the amount drawn from the Reserves during the Global Financial Crisis about a decade ago. Unlike the Resilience Budget, I noticed the Fortitude Budget did not include a line to say that the Government would be prepared to make further draws on past Reserves to deal with COVID-19, if necessary. In this regard, the employment of the Contingencies Fund in this Budget answered the question posed during my Resilience Budget debate speech, which queried whether the next Government would have enough fiscal firepower to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 fallout.

Nonetheless, I have a few questions for the Deputy Prime Minister on this count. It would appear that this Contingencies Fund would provide the Government with a significant buffer against post-circuit breaker uncertainties. What is of interest is the decision-making process behind the allocation of this amount. How did the Government settle on it? And on what basis was it justified to the President?

After delivering the Fortitude Budget, the Deputy Prime Minister was also quoted in the media as saying that Singapore's financial position will be a lot weaker in the coming years. This is a very significant comment on Singapore's fiscal health, the implications of which have not been discussed in public in a significant way thus far. Can the Deputy Prime Minister share more details on his thinking on this matter and what can the public expect in the short and medium term over the next five to 10 years, especially with regard to recurrent taxes and the social contract between people and the state.

This brings me to my second "E" – engagement.

Mr Speaker, when the first of four Budgets this year was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 28 February, I stated in my speech during the debate that as far as the Workers' Party was concerned, politics would take a backseat for a unity of purpose in times of the COVID-19 crisis so that Singapore could single-mindedly overcome this challenge. The Workers' Party has not come in to publicly criticise the Government on its handling of an unprecedented crisis in ways that would undermine the national effort. But Singaporeans have a right to expect a thorough review and accounting on the response to this public health crisis. Some, both in and out of this House, have suggested a commission of inquiry or some other independent body to review specific aspects of the Government's response thus far. Whatever the form such a reckoning takes in future, our position, as a constructive Opposition, requires us to communicate the feelings of Singaporeans on the ground in Parliament.

As we exit the circuit breaker, there is the perception that the Government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis has certainly not included adjectives more commonly associated with the Singapore Government, such as clarity and decisiveness. For example, there is a broadly accepted view that the public should have been told early and clearly, and not through illegal recordings behind closed doors, for example, that universal masking would prove to be a challenge in view of supply constraints requiring the Government to prioritise our healthcare and other essential workers. To this end, straight talk, especially on Singapore's limitations and shortcomings in managing the crisis, did not always define official Government communication on COVID-19.

There was a perception among some Singaporeans of a public confused with many piecemeal announcements, u-turns and positions that did not gel intuitively, like limiting the number of visits to parents and grandparents to two individuals, when public transport safe distancing rules had already been lifted. Other Members have spoken about the operational frustrations of businesses, like those in construction, and I will not repeat these. This morning, the Straits Times carried a story on COVID-19 regulations comparing hair treatments that go on for hours, contrasted with directives that prohibit beauty treatments that last more than 30 minutes.

For some Singaporean businesses, at times, it felt as if no one in Government was taking ownership of how COVID-19 directives would be perceived, interpreted and understood on the ground.

Then, they were higher order trade-offs and decisions that could have turned very differently in view of numerous unknowns associated with the spread of the virus. While other countries requisitioned mask supply lines, it would appear that Singapore resisted doing so, probably with an eye on the future so that international companies would always see Singapore as a reliable place to do business.

This must have been a tough call. But rather than getting the public to speculate about these decision making trade-offs, such as whether the possible shortage of reagents to ramp up COVID-19 testing far more quickly was a problem, the public was largely left to infer positions that ought to have been unequivocally made by the Government.

For younger Singaporeans, this crisis has been educational and revealing. COVID-19 has reinforced for some Singaporeans, if not exposed for others, especially younger Singaporeans, how reliant Singapore is on foreign sources of manpower and supplies. This is something commentators online would do well to remember when they speak ill or run down our neighbours. Malaysia closed its borders before our circuit breaker, resulting in a difficult adjustment for many Singaporean companies, both public and private, reliant on foreign labour. Can we imagine the psychological impact on Singapore had Malaysia stopped food supplies like vegetables as well?

Public crisis preparedness, such as a lack of understanding of emergency terminology like DORSCON also revealed gaps that need to be plugged in future. A belated explanation of Singapore having raised its DORSCON level to Orange in 2009 as a result of H1N1, ostensibly to temper panic-buying, and the jolting of memories about the existence of a rice stockpile could not overcome a distinct lack of understanding and preparedness about emergencies amongst many segments of the public. This is unlike the mindset of many Merdeka and Pioneer Generation Singaporeans who would recall emergency preparedness exercises, such as water rationing, for example.

Engaging more Singaporeans on the need to better compensate for, if not overcome, our limitations in key areas and reintroducing public emergency preparedness for psychological resilience, has been exposed by the crisis, and significant focus would need to be placed on this in future.

To that end, and critically, we must take stock of the entire economy and relook at sectors where greater self-sufficiency and buffer are required, especially essential jobs and services. Such a thorough review could potentially become a source of more job opportunities for Singaporeans, pegged at more respectable wage levels in some cases. I hope this is something the National Jobs Council can look at.

The last "E" I wish to talk about is empathy. We have experienced it in bucket loads over the last two months – a greater acknowledgement of mental health issues; warm cheers of support for healthcare frontliners from HDB flats and condominiums; more stories of Singaporeans offering the Food Panda or Grab delivery person water or a drink before he or she fulfils the next order; and the list goes on.

Singaporeans may have grumbled, but they got on with their lives in spite of the inconveniences of the circuit breaker and played their part in protecting lives and livelihoods. In addition, many younger Singaporeans have taken a great interest in those less well-off. This has been one of the seminal moments of the COVID-19 experience thus far. Volunteering to help distribute food to Singaporeans in need, volunteering to swab foreign workers, delivering laptops to families in need with school-going children, and so much more. In a crisis that this generation of Singaporeans will never forget, we saw the best of Singapore.

Mr Speaker, being able to put oneself in the shoes of the other is the very definition of empathy. And empathy is a significant source from which fortitude springs and a basis to call upon the cohesion and strength needed for Singapore to overcome challenges and odds. In response to my Resilience Budget speech and, specifically the reference to the New Deal in the US, Deputy Prime Minister Heng cautioned about localising schisms from the US where liberals support comprehensive relief and reform programmes, and conservatives oppose plans that are hostile to growth and business.

The Deputy Prime Minister would be aware that Singapore is not alien to diametrically opposed ideological perspectives and these have been present in Singapore for some time. The online discourse has, in fact, accentuated it. Another case in point is the recent response of various Chambers of Commerce on the calls made by Singaporeans to moderate the number of foreign workers in Singapore as a result of the COVID-19 experience. With many corporates and big businesses already perceived to be over-represented in our political ecology, be it through the grassroots or through their association in private-public national level committees, the Government needs to consider how it can become a better arbiter between different views, to give and encourage more space to our youths, NGOs unlinked to GLCs and trade unions, and the people sector to voice their contrarian views and perspectives.

This should be done while retaining a laser-like focus on fact-based conversations that portend a progressive future all Singaporeans can endeavour towards. To this end, we have some Singaporeans, including young ones, wondering whether we had done right by foreign workers, calling for an improvement of their living conditions, but only to be met by naysayers questioning their motives. In fact, COVID-19 has, paradoxically, vindicated a smaller group of Singaporeans who have been lobbying for improvements to foreign worker management policies for years. To that end, the Government's decision to quickly introduce guidelines for better foreign worker accommodation standards and the promotion of a more respectful culture between Singaporeans and migrant workers has been a very positive development.

In my view, Mr Speaker, we should count ourselves fortunate that we have citizens who are the loving critics amongst us, some of whom have been questioned in this very House in this term of Government. Members would recall one citizen's poems were nitpicked with a view to cast wholly negative aspersions on his character, even though that individual was not present in the House to defend himself.

Mr Speaker, when any leader or person of influence engages in what will be interpreted as dog-whistling, it sets the tone for how members of the public debate with those whose views they disagree with. If binary black-and-white perspectives are the shape of how we as a society deal with differences after COVID-19, Singapore will become an ordinary society, no different from many around the world. But nobody expects the Government to willy-nilly change its decision at the first sign of pressure and agree with a critic. Singaporeans do recognise the multitude of perspectives the Government has to take cognisance of, but it is important to recognise and not forget that citizens criticise and even organise, because they care.

Moving forward, the Government should look at opening more avenues like Parliament for citizen engagement, greater data sharing and empower other institutions like our think-tanks, and nudge the mainstream media to give alternative perspectives more voice and even provide platforms piloting change on a small scale. As we traverse the post-COVID-19 volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, we need to place more faith and promote even greater participation from Singaporeans than ever before.

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, COVID-19 has prompted many Singaporeans to ask fundamental questions about our economy and who we are as a people. As many Singaporeans will have to buckle down to take on new skills and jobs, COVID-19 has also provided an opportunity for Singaporeans to take a deeper interest in their country and their society.

This is a positive development, even as COVID-19 has hit Singapore while we contend with other pressing short and medium term issues, such as demographic shifts, technological disruption, climate change and, more ominously, the impact to our position as a global Asia hub from US-China competition and rivalry.

The economic picture may be bleak today and, for some, a moment of anguish. But as I had put forth in my response to the Resilience Budget, there are opportunities to reset some fundamental assumptions about the type of society we can endeavour and pivot towards. I use the word "pivot" because Singapore is a far more complex and varied economy and society than it was in 1965. The transition will demand everyone's participation, effort and energies.

But with the people determined and committed to the nation's recovery and success, COVID-19 is a golden opportunity for this generation to envision and build a better Singapore. Mr Speaker, I support the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Speaker: Ms Denise Phua.

2.30 pm

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Mr Speaker, Sir, four Budgets in less than four months. Kudos to the Government and especially the MOF team who stitched the Budgets together.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more disruption than one can imagine – changing lives and livelihoods as we knew them to be. Economic activities have plummeted, the depth and speed of which rival that of the Great Depression. Experts worldwide cannot agree on how long the downturn will be. There is no telling what the recovery is going to look like – V-curve, U-curve, Z-curve, a smooth bounce-back, a slow-burn recovery or worse still, a relapse.

One of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's favourite quotes during this season is by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who said this, "Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning". Indeed, change has only begun even as Singapore exits from the circuit breaker. Many people, businesses and individuals, understandably are very concerned about how this recovery will look like. I therefore seek Deputy Prime Minister and MOF's reading of the pace of recovery and what the overall strategy would look like in the best case scenario and in the worst case scenario.

I want to move next to touch on two things. One, on the small and medium enterprises or SMEs; and two, on charities, the social service sector and the disabled.

First, on the SMEs. We all know that the SMEs form an integral part of Singapore's economic landscape, embodying the spirit of entrepreneurship of our nation and employing more than two-thirds of our local workforce. I applaud the Singapore Government's and especially MTI's relentless efforts in supporting them, even before the pandemic.

SMEs with a headstart and stronger technological capabilities are likely to recover faster from the pandemic. The prognosis of the rest of the economy will be uncertain.

A survey of 48 merchant associations representing almost 500 merchants was conducted in May 2020 by the Federation of Merchant Association Singapore's heartland enterprises unit. When the merchants were asked what challenges they face in joining the e-commerce wagon, as they put it, about half of the respondents quoted these two top challenges: one, the lack of their own internal capabilities to sustain the digitalisation efforts; and two, the cost of implementation and the recurring costs of digitalisation. Capabilities and cost, not only during adoption, but also in sustaining the efforts, remain their top concerns.

So, using a simple segmentation based on one's willingness to change and two, the ability to change, there appears to be four groups of SMEs.

The first group: those who are willing and able to change. I think they will benefit most from Government schemes and they include the early adopters and the high-potential start-ups that are targeted in the Budget. How will we facilitate this group more to help them scale further and to open more doors for and with them?

Group two: those who are able to change and not willing to change. How do we convince and incentivise them so more of them will come on board?

Group three: those who are not able to change and not willing to change. I think we have no choice but to let them exit. But how will we, considering that they are also Singapore SMEs, how will we help them exit with a softer landing?

The last group, which is likely the largest, those who are willing to change but not able to change for various reasons. This is the largest group for which the strategy has to be training and coaching. Sir, it is not enough just to convert them. There is a need, a real need to make them not just "apprentices" and also "disciples" so that more of them can sustain digitalisation efforts and continue to be successful as we emerge from the crisis.

Is there some way by which we can invest and handhold them longer and deeper? Pair them perhaps with not just simply Digitalisation Ambassadors, but Digitalisation Coaches who can equip them with more and deeper operational and systemic skills and knowledge in such areas like backend stock inventory management, customer fulfilment, digital marketing skills and so forth.

And finally, for those who eventually have to cease operations but nonetheless have the acumen and energy to continue, can there be, for the SMEs, an equivalent of a "professional-conversion" scheme, just like what we have for individuals, a placement scheme, to help them seize business or job opportunities in sectors that are more in the sunrise spaces like urban farming, logistics, warehousing, healthcare, estate maintenance and so forth?

Next, I want to move from business to the charities, social service sector and the disabled.

Sir, like the SMEs in Singapore's economic landscape, many charities and social service agencies or SSAs form an integral part of Singapore's social service landscape. The services range from serving the elderly to the young, families, they operate in nursing homes, day activity centres, family service centres, early intervention to special education schools.

I thank Deputy Prime Minister Heng for acknowledging the importance of SSAs and charities as, "key partners", especially in this period. Deputy Prime Minister shared that in the years ahead, a "stronger social service sector will be even more critical".

I want to also thank Deputy Prime Minister for including the charities and SSAs in the Fortitude Budget in many schemes, such as Job Support Scheme and the Enhanced Fundraising Programme to match donations up to $250,000 per charity. These are all appreciated.

I have several suggestions for consideration by Government for this sector and for the people served by the sector.

Suggestion one: raise the cap of $250,000 in the Enhanced Fundraising Programme for larger charities. Sir, the larger charities run into tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in budget. They run community hospitals and disability centres. And fundraising provides a substantial top up to Government grants and subsidies for them. For such a time as this, fundraising is expectedly very challenging. It is hence useful for Government to consider raising the matching amount in order to incentivise more donors to invest now, rather than later or never.

Suggestion two: for this sector is to target high needs areas. There are groups with high support needs which call for more attention and resourcing so that they are not left behind. Some are the more severely disabled groups, such as beneficiaries in the autism day activity centres where we serve the more severe ones, residential homes, such as that run by St Andrew's, families with rare disorders are kids with rare disorders and multiple disabilities and lower income households sandwiched by elderly and younger disabled. Target high needs areas.

Suggestion three: can we include more blatantly, more explicitly and visibly charities and the social service sector in the transformation masterplan of Singapore? Transformation of a nation is needed – not just in the business sector but also in the not-for-profit sector. Many of the push for digitalisation, innovation and entrepreneurship in business are relevant to the people sector. The willing amongst them, like the SMEs, require not only just Digital Ambassadors but also digital coaches and partners. Charities with high potential and good track records, should be facilitated and governed with a lighter touch. Let them thrive, let them push the boundaries to greater heights and support them in their transformation.

Suggestion four: include vulnerable groups such as the disabled right at the start of planning in all of the good things: the digitalistion, jobs and skills upgrading movement, including and not limited to the exciting plans for the new National Jobs Council, SG-United Jobs and Traineeship and SkillsFuture efforts. In fact, adopt the principle of what is commonly known now as universal design and design for all, right at the start. BCA and MND have already done so in the design of buildings and the physical built environment. The same should be applied in other areas as well in the protection and creation of jobs an skills upgrading. So, that is four – include the people sector including the vulnerable, the disabled; right at the start in the planning.

And suggestion five: the last one for this group, is to start a disability chapter in the National Jobs Council. It is no secret that jobs are already hard to come by for persons with disabilities during normal times. Commissioned by MSF Minister, Mr Desmond Lee, a workgroup that is led by Minister of State Sam Tan and myself is working on the underlying factors for this issue and a report will be published by the end of the year. The COVID-19 outbreak, however, adds urgency to the challenges faced by the disability community especially in the areas of digitalisation and jobs. I therefore urge Deputy Prime Minister and Minster for Finance Heng and Senior Minister Tharman to set up a chapter in the National Jobs Council for the employability training and employment for the disabled so that they will not fall further behind.

In conclusion, Sir, on the lost, least and last in society.

Sir, this battle against our common enemy, COVID-19, can only be truly won if we include whom some in our society perceive as the lost, least and the last amongst us. Let us not give up easily on those who are willing to change but not able to change for some reasons, whether they are SMEs, social service agencies, our elderly, our disabled or others who are vulnerable in our Singapore family. They say it takes a globe to fight this pandemic. And indeed, the globe includes us and it starts with each one of us.

Once again, I quote Winston Churchill who said, "These are not dark days these are great days... we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race."

And I want to end off with a quote by our founding father of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, of whom I know Deputy Prime Minister Heng is a great fan. Mr Lee Kuan Yew said this during the post SARS period, in his experience "in any battle, the morale and the spirit of the people will decide the outcome. I never believed we would fail".

Mr Lee Kuan Yew knew at that time it was going to be tough, like climbing up the face of a cliff. But we, like he said, "must have the guts and determination to climb the face of the cliff and we will climb up the face of the cliff!" And if I might add, with fortitude and not just the hindsight vision of 20-20.

Sir, we can only be #strongertogether. I support the Fortitude Budget wholeheartedly.

Mr Speaker: Ms Yip Pin Xiu.

2.43 pm

Ms Yip Pin Xiu (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, last week when Deputy Prime Minister delivered the Fortitude Budget, I had a moment of relief, as did many Singaporeans, to hear that the Government is helping to keep jobs and giving more support to businesses that might be struggling. The relief for sectors hit hardest and businesses still unable to open is very much welcomed. It has been months of hard work by the Government. Thank you for your dedication and to Singaporeans for playing their part.

Many businesses are affected during this period, with many unsure of their future.

This COVID-19 pandemic is causing unparalleled uncertainty across many fronts. One industry that I am immersed in is the sports and fitness industry. With the reliefs, businesses may have less worries for the next month or so but with the uncertainty of when they can resume operations due to safe distancing measures, or when Singaporeans will come back to sports due to their own personal concerns of safety, it is difficult for them to plan for the future.

This industry is having a tough time. Most sports and fitness activities stopped even before the circuit breaker started as there were already other measures in place to flatten the curve at that point of time. Most gyms and studios have frozen or adjusted their memberships to retain clients, while some are conducting online classes. Planned events from competitions to fundraising events have been cancelled. All these had led to significant revenue loss across the sector.

These are businesses that keep our society healthy and resilient and the COVID-19 pandemic is putting them at a risk. Sports and fitness helps to build a stronger national identity. It improves our health, productivity, reduces medical expenses and enhances social cohesion. Sports and fitness are for people of all ages, abilities and walks of life.

More importantly, the Sports and Fitness industry is one of the industries that has a huge knock-on effect to the rest of the economy since the Sports and Fitness industry is not just about people exercising or playing games – it also involves many other sectors and businesses such as tourism, retail, events management, marketing, sports education and training, support services such as Public Relations, fundraising and so on.

I understand that we must now proceed with caution as we slowly emerge after two months of circuit breaker measures and I wholeheartedly agree with it. We do not want our efforts to go to waste. We must all still do our part.

The current JSS scheme supports businesses that are unable to resume when a circuit breaker ends, with 75% of monthly wages till August or until they open. When a Sports and Fitness industry opens. Again, it will receive 25% of Monday wages being in JSS Tier 3. However, there will be many safe distancing measures in placed. For example, only being able to have one person per swimming lane or the spacing between each individual has to be huge, hence, only accommodating six people in the studio at all times. This cut in numbers will result in a low income coming in. The Sports and Fitness industry is finding it difficult to survive. Now, as they already had to dig in the reserves for the past two months or so. Besides paying their employees who may have already taken a pay cut, there are also other expenses. If unable to cope, these schools and clubs might start closing down and it will affect our pipeline as the schools and clubs are an important pathway for our sporting performance.

Right now, what will be helpful is if we have a clearer view. When Phase Two comes, outdoor sporting facilities can open again. Sports and Fitness is a highly varied industry, with many different kinds of activities – from outdoor sports, to personal training sessions, to tennis where players stand on opposing ends of the court, to swimming, to indoor activities such as yoga and kickboxing.

There are questions that many businesses are asking – when the numbers remain low, what will the plan be? What about indoor facilities and when these facilities can start again, what will the most number of people be allowed in at any point in time? These details will help this industry be more certain and help the industry chart the path ahead.

With all the positives that this industry brings to Singaporeans, we still want to see them around after the COVID-19 pandemic so that they can continue contributing positively to the community. If we continue doing our parts to keep each other safe, we can look forward to getting back into sporting activities safely. The rest of the services associated with the Sports and Fitness industry that I had highlighted above would also be able to better plan their respective businesses and know how to react to the new norms when the time comes. We will all have to adapt to a new kind of normal, to include safe distancing measures and ensure we come out of this stronger.

We talk about digitising in times like this. However, the Sports and Fitness industry is one of the sectors that is harder to digitise, as its very essence is to get people to go out and be active, healthy and interact socially. Yes, payments can be done online, some activities can shift online but It will be hard to do things like instructions online especially for our younger, older and special population groups that require a greater level of supervision. Certain activities that require a physical medium like swimming, will also lose out, because, say for example, why would parents want their children to do land activities online for swimming classes when they can take up a land sport instead? Some businesses need more help than digitising.

For those that can find a way to digitise, the Enterprise Innovation and Capability Development Grant was announced a week ago. This grant supports businesses that can come out with innovative and smart solutions within the sport industry. We eagerly await the application instructions.

More importantly, this is also a great opportunity for the Government to take a more holistic approach in improving the entire industry and provide the infrastructural approach and guidance to help the industry grow. This could be done by taking a more inclusive approach in education and towards the sporting enterprises, to help them grow together with this economy.

More emphasis needs to be placed on sports in Singapore. Starting from our schools. We must create an environment where sports is a bigger part of the curriculum from kindergarten all the way through Junior College and Polytechnic. Sports is nowhere near the top of our priority list, but what we learn from sports will also play a big part in our education. Institutions should embrace sporting values into their own culture. When we adequately and holistically impart the fun and advantages of sport in them at a young age, it helps to translate into lifelong participation in sports.

Personally, being actively involved in sports since a young age has helped me greatly. My parents saw the value in sports. It has not only helped me physically but also mentally and emotionally. When I was younger, I was not a very good student. I did not get good grades, but after winning a gold medal at the Paralympics in Beijing, I came back and did my "O" levels. I did not hit my expectations but thankfully I managed to get into Polytechnic. Then, I thought to myself, why not use the perseverance, grit, focus and everything I learnt from swimming to apply to my studies? I was then laser focused on getting my grades up and started to do pretty well and eventually got into SMU. If not for swimming, I would not be where i am today.

When kids start participating more in sports, their families watch them play and that helps with family bonding. This leads to a more supportive family and community. Parents are our first sport coaches and they impart social and family values through play. Similarly, as we age, other important values can be imparted through sports.

For the sporting industry to be sustainable in Singapore, we must create a stronger industry with more opportunities. For our sporting culture to grow, the Sports and Fitness industry must grow too. Sport Singapore has done a commendable job with Active SG, Singapore Sports Institute, Sports Cares and more. We have amazing facilities and host world class events. We must continue our efforts and continue to improve by growing the sports industry.

As a regulator, an approach would be to work closer with the private sector to enhance capabilities, resources and business opportunities. Sports and fitness businesses are an important pillar of this industry as they bring expertise, knowledge and organised play to the table. They employ passionate Singaporeans that are constantly shaping the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. And we need them to thrive so as to achieve the outcomes I spoke about earlier.

One of the ways is to provide them access to the many facilities that we have developed over the years. We have many facilities that are largely reserved for use only by the public sector. Opening up access would create more opportunities for the industry to grow.

More importantly, to build sustainability, we also need to accelerate the growth of businesses who have great potential. For these companies, we could offer support for growth, examples include upskilling of workforce, hiring of middle aged educators who are looking for a career switch, support for programme or curriculum development and support for new market development.

Another approach is to take a more inclusionary path in organising the Sports and Fitness industry. SportSG as a regulator has done a fantastic job with its various initiatives to get people to participate in sports. However, the impact may be greater and faster, if we allow the Sports and Fitness industry operators to help in this process. One of the ways we could do this is to allow the Sports and Fitness industry to fill in the gaps and allow them to grow, rather than to take a one size fits all approach. In the long run, we will have a more vibrant, sustainable sporting Singapore.

Mr Speaker, the next group of people that I will be speaking for, are some people that tend to be left behind because they have more specific circumstances and needs that you might not think about unless you were in their shoes. In this period of time, how many Singaporeans have thought about how somebody who is blind and living alone while observing safe distancing measures is coping? If a student with muscular dystrophy needs an oxygen tank with a breathing mask and their teacher asks them to put on a face mask or shield, which would mean that they have to take the oxygen tank off, so that the teacher does not get into trouble for not observing the measures. How would this affect the student and their family?

In times like this, it is especially crucial to look out for those who may be struggling more than others. I recognise that SGEnable and Social Service Agency partners are helping people with special needs and the vulnerable in the community. I see the C.A.R.E initiative by Mediacorp Enable Fund aiming to help people with disabilities and their care-givers ride out the COVID-19 pandemic as the impact on this community has been, in their words "disproportionately huge". This fund is driven by public donations and we greatly appreciate that. Together, we can all continue playing a part to ensure no one falls through the cracks.

The lack of information to certain disability groups in Singapore is counter-productive to the effort in combating the COVID-19 outbreak. The right to information is crucial for ensuring public awareness, trust and fighting misinformation.

We have to ensure that public health information and communication is accessible on all important media publications. It would be ideal if a Singapore Sign Language interpreter is present for all live, recorded events and communications. This includes national addresses, press briefings and live social media. I am happy to see that the Budget speech last week included Singapore Sign Language and live notes. Over the weekend, I was watching a live panel discussion on social media – Get Active TV that featured Minister Fu and SportSG. They too had a Singapore Sign Language interpreter and live notes. I am very heartened at this great development and hopefully this can continue on all other updates and media during this time and beyond. We look forward to a time when all media comes with live Singapore Sign Language interpretation. This is important because that is the first language for many people who are deaf.

We need public materials that can be converted into "Easy Read" format so that they can be accessible for people with cognitive impairment. We need to develop accessible written information products by using appropriate document formats with structured headings, large print, braille versions and formats for people who are deafblind or visually impaired. The images we put out out there have to be inclusive and enable the independence of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). For example, the current level of safe entry QR code tends to be placed a bit too high. A consideration could be to place it at varying easy to reach heights as we have done so with many lift buttons.

Next, supermarkets have done a great job at dealing with the increased demand and restocking of shelves. The priority shopping hour for vulnerable groups is a great start and we hope that persons with all disabilities can access this, including those with invisible disabilities. Some PWDs find it difficult to go to supermarkets because they are staying at home due to having compromised immune systems. Hence, other than a priority shopping hour, introducing priority delivery slots will also help. Many PWDs are finding it hard to get deliveries. This may be a combination of there not being enough slots as well as the accessibility of websites not being optimal.

Other than food, access to medical prescriptions and other health care supplies are highly essential as well. Existing volunteer networks can be activated to help deliver these supplies. If possible, doctors should be able to see their at-risk patients online for check ups because they are afraid of going to hospitals to get exposed yet they do need to see the doctor for their regular check up.

Besides medications, some disabilities require more home care and physiotherapy services. These services cannot be stopped as it will bring detrimental results mentally and physically to PWDs and their family. In some cases, not getting their physiotherapy will result in irreversible loss of muscle or contracture which will permanently impact their quality of life. In just two weeks' time, they would have permanently lost quite a bit of function.

Employment of persons with disabilities remains relatively low in Singapore and for those that are employed, not all are fortunate enough to be able to execute their work from home. The main issues for PWDs working from home are whether their employers can adequately physically and financially provide the assistive devices and technology they may need to work at home. Many themselves are not able to do so because of their socio-economic challenges.

For PWDs whose job scope used to be done predominantly face-to-face, the added need for technology to be able to potentially do the work online would mean increased spending. While there is an existing Assistive Technology Fund for Persons with Disabilities, it is a reimbursement fund tied to means testing and the reimbursement can also take up to three weeks which may not be a feasible option for those who are struggling financially. Schemes such as NEU PC to provide laptops to students from low-income families are welcome. However, assistive technology and aids are usually more expensive to purchase. This translates to a loss of income and opportunities to retrain or learn new skills.

Socially, the lack of access to IT equipment can mean missing out on opportunities to maintain or grow connections with friends and families. This can in turn negatively impact those with psycho-social disabilities, increasing mental stress and straining existing coping mechanisms.

As we are encouraged to work from home or have home-based learning, what assistance is being provided to ensure that the assistive technology is available in all homes for persons with disabilities? Many of them face socio-economic challenges and may not be able to afford IT equipment, assistive aids and broadband to help them better cope with life in this period of time.

Persons with disabilities who had jobs that cannot be done online or had difficulties finding employment before the COVID-19 pandemic are even more concerned that they will not be able to return to work or get a job. They are also concerned about the accessibility or inclusivity of job training and retraining programmes.

The financial assistance provided by the Temporary Relief fund, COVID-19 Support Grant and other schemes such as SIRS are greatly appreciated.

Those with disabilities already often have higher healthcare and personal care costs and these costs are likely to increase as alternative or emergency arrangements are made during the circuit breaker or the phases after that. In addition, some PWDs rely on informal and temporary work arrangements and as such, do not strictly fit into the eligibility requirements of SIRS.

Taking that into consideration, can the Government consider extending the amount that is given and the duration of the relief for persons with disabilities or increasing the eligibility to those with higher household incomes?

Lastly, it is important to have a disability touch point for the COVID-19 response. Having a touch point within the Government or related agencies where persons with disabilities, their care-givers and organisations can feedback on the accessibility of COVID-19 response information and measures is key. We need a fast response as a delay might cause harm to some individuals in special situations. This touch point ensures that there is two-way communication about the COVID-19 response and we can identify the gaps quickly and share best practices. The best way to find out what people need is to ask them.

In this pandemic, we have to look out for all so that we can truly be an inclusive and united Singapore. I support the Budget.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chee Hong Tat, I believe you have a clarification.

3.03 pm

The Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Chee Hong Tat): Mr Speaker, I would like to clarify a point that Mr Pritam Singh made in his speech earlier regarding public communication on the use of masks.

Sir, since late January this year, during the initial period when the virus first emerged in Singapore and even before the virus was called COVID-19, the Government had already started explaining publicly our position on masks. We explained to the public that there were supply constraints globally and some economies have in fact banned the export of masks. We then called on Singaporeans that we have to use masks appropriately. Please do not hoard so that we will have enough supplies, especially for those groups that need them most.

Sir, what I have just said are based on media reports and information that can be found in the public domain.

Sir, this Government has always been open and transparent with Singaporeans in our explanation and in our communications. When there is new information, there is new evidence, we would likewise adopt an open and transparent manner in our communications because we know that is important in our collective fight against this pandemic.

Mr Speaker: Mr Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for that clarification. In that vein, can I ask the Senior Minister of State, with regard to the decision earlier this week to stop usage of face shields except for certain classes of individuals, how was that decision originally taken to allow for face shields and then, a u-turn made thereafter to limit it to specific classes? How did that information change from the health experts I imagine that the Government has access to?

Mr Chee Hong Tat: Mr Speaker, I think the Multi-Ministry Task Force or MTF has explained why there was a change in the advisory on the use of face shields. This is as Mr Singh himself alluded to – based on the advice from medical professionals.

Mr Pritam Singh: I understand that, Senior Minister of State. Can I ask what were the reasons given by those experts for that change?

Mr Chee Hong Tat: Mr Speaker, I am not a doctor, so I am not equipped to provide the medical reasons to answer Mr Singh's question in detail —

Mr Speaker: Mr Gan would like to elaborate.

Mr Chee Hong Tat: But I think the MTF and the medical professionals have provided the explanation. It is about safety. It is about protecting everybody's health and safety.

Mr Speaker: Minister Gan Kim Yong.

The Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Mr Speaker, perhaps I could assist in explaining the rationale behind that. As we move into Phase One of our opening, we will see increased interaction within the community, among people. And therefore, we will have to make sure that additional safeguards are put in place. Given that face shields do not provide a full coverage of your face, your nose and your mouth because there are gaps between the shield and your face, it poses certain risks.

These risks are less of a concern during the circuit breaker period when most people are asked to stay home. Therefore, we allowed face shields to be used. But when we open up the community and the economy, we expect more interaction and therefore, we need to enhance the protection where possible. Therefore, we encouraged people to use the full-face mask instead of a face shield.

But we still allow face shields to be used in specific situations where mask-wearing is not practical. One example which we gave was during teaching. Teachers need to make sure that their teaching is clearly heard and it is important for them to see and to interact with the children. We have therefore allowed face shields to be used for teaching. But in other circumstances, we will require a mask to be used.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chee.

Mr Chee Hong Tat: Mr Speaker, Sir, I just want to reiterate the reason for my clarification in the first place was to highlight that the Government has been open and transparent in our communications on the use of masks since the beginning – since the late January period when the virus first emerged in Singapore. I think that is really my key point – that we have publicly explained that and these are all in the public domain.

Mr Speaker: Mr Darryl David.

3.10 pm

Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Speaker, Sir, the measures introduced in our four Budgets thus far have been designed to provide short-term measures and immediate relief to save businesses and preserve livelihoods and jobs, as well as to accelerate the long-term transformation of Singapore's socio-economic framework and foundations, so that we, as a country, can emerge stronger from this crisis.

While there has been a comprehensive range of schemes and measures rolled out, I would like to focus on a few key areas in my speech.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the Government take bold, unprecedented steps to help our businesses stay afloat. As most of us know, two of the biggest overheads that businesses must manage are manpower costs and rent. To support manpower cost and to save jobs, the Government has introduced the Jobs Support Scheme and either waived or provided rebates on manpower levies.

To help companies manage rental cost, the Government first introduced several measures such as rebate on property tax and waiver of rental for tenants of Government properties.

More significantly, this is now being reinforced with proposed legislation to mandate commercial landlords to grant rental waivers to their SME tenants who have suffered a reduction in businesses due to COVID-19. This is rare in Singapore's context as the Government does not usually engage in direct intervention of the market, especially in private business arrangements. But this is not a common crisis and this uncommon step of intervening demonstrates the commitment of the Government to help SMEs weather through the storm.

I am in firm support of this and while this is a positive boost for SME tenants, there is also the possibility that a significant number of smaller landlords could themselves be small companies or even individual owners who are dependent on this rental income to meet their income needs and financial commitments. Waiving the rental income for their tenants might thus result in them being deprived of revenue or even being slapped with penalties from financial institutions because they are unable to service their loans.

What help and support would the Government be able to provide smaller landlords in such situations? And if these smaller landlords are unable to fulfill their financial obligations, would the Government be able to intervene to mandate that financial institutions perhaps could suspend loan repayments until this group of landlords are able to start collecting their rental income?

I would like to move on now, Mr Speaker, Sir, to helping workers and those who have lost their jobs.

Despite all the measures that we have put in place to support companies through COVID-19, not all companies will survive the downturn and the global economic slowdown. Retrenchment is thus imminently unavoidable. It is heartening to know that one of the major thrusts of the main and supplementary Budgets is to preserve jobs and a new National Jobs Council will be set up to look at job creation and the deep skilling of workers.

COVID-19 has transformed the way we think about work. In many countries, what was traditionally known as "3D jobs" – dirty, dangerous and demeaning – are now considered as important services that keep countries going, that keep communities going. Frontline jobs that were not given much attention in the past are now being recognised as being operationally essential.

Singapore is no exception. COVID-19, indeed, has created some jobs that were unheard of prior to the pandemic. In January this year, we would have no clue what a Safe Distancing Ambassador, a test swabber, a swab assistant or a temperature taker was. But they have now entered the lexicon of our everyday use – in terms of the language that we use. Indeed, as reported in the media this week, we will soon have Digital Ambassadors to help hawkers and senior citizens to learn digital skills.

These jobs were clearly created out of the need to manage the challenges of COVID-19 and also help provide part-time employment to those who were made redundant by the crisis. In the mid term, certain jobs like Safe Distancing Ambassadors will continue to be relevant but in the long run, some of these jobs could be less necessary as we internalise the need to practise safe distancing, when a vaccine for COVID-19 becomes available or as we level up on the digital front.

To ensure that this precious workforce does not become redundant when these semi-permanent positions are no longer required, how can we future-proof the career paths of currently employed Singaporeans and to help our people retrain, up-skill and continue to pivot and shapeshift, as it were, to stay relevant as we respond to the new normal.

I sincerely hope that this is something that the National Jobs Council will need to consider as it balances short-term national needs with the long-term prospects for our people.

The next topic, Mr Speaker, Sir, is on digitalisation and education.

In the early days of COVID-19, there was a meme circulating that the virus was more effective than CEOs and CTOs in pushing for digital transformation. This meme turned out to be quite prophetic and in the past few months, we have seen companies accelerating digital implementation and making remote work platforms mainstream in somewhat record time.

The same could be said about our schools. Since the start of the circuit breaker, school-going children across all age groups have adopted home-based learning. It was reported that more than 96% of students are participating in it. On the one hand, this figure is encouraging as it shows that our children have adapted well to learning on digital channels. Yet, on the other hand, it was reported that MOE had to loan out thousands of computing devices and internet dongles to families. These figures suggest that there is a gap in accessibility to digital learning.

It is heartening to know that MOE intends to accelerate the ownership of digital learning devices for all Secondary school children from their initial date of 2028.

However, I would like to clarify if there are similar plans to accelerate the ownership of these devices for children from other levels of study – so not just Secondary school students and above, but perhaps for Primary school students. And more critically, if there are, will this device be purchased off-the-shelf and supplied by different tech companies or will it be a proprietary device uniquely designed and manufactured by MOE for our schools and for our school children?

I am strongly advocating for the latter, Mr Speaker. In addition to have the opportunity for Singapore businesses to benefit from both hardware production and software development, the benefits to our children will be myriad.

With more control over the design and functionality of this device, this all-in-one custom-designed learning device could function as a lap-top, a tablet, an e-text book, and a communication tool. A veritable digital "Swiss-Army Education Knife" of sorts.

The ownership of this multi-function device might also eliminate the need for piles of back-breaking, physical textbooks year after year after year. Going to school in the future could be as easy as just bringing along this device and all forms of learning and work submission can be done digitally on a unified platform. Quite literally, we are putting the world in the hands of our school children. The software could be customised and adapted to suit the pace of learning for different children while also providing personal insights to how each student engages and interacts along the learning journey.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I envisage the schools of the future to be one where students would do everything off this device. The operating system of this device could function like an enhanced version of the MOE's present Student Learning System (SLS) and would allow for more coordinated and unified communication and work planning. This would meet the twin goals of being environmentally friendly while also taking a huge step towards being a digital smart nation.

We could tier the ownership cost of the device depending on varying household incomes, with the aim that no school-going child should be deprived of their own personal learning device. No school-going child should be deprived of their own personal learning device. This would give our children, especially those from lower income background, a sense of pride and ownership that they have their own personal device that will allow them to navigate the same digital and virtual education landscapes as their peers. The deliberately neutral branding also encourages status equality, not to mention standard software and hardware upgrades that will leave no child lacking.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I know that this might seem like an audaciously ambitious idea, but aiming high and overachieving is something that Singapore has always done. So, I urge the MOE to give this idea a serious thought and I look forward to the day that not only can we ensure that every student – every student is provided with their own personal Smart Learning device, but we can take pride that this device was designed and produced by our MOE, specially for our children. Singapore could very well be the first nation in the world to achieve our vision of "smart learning."

Mr Speaker, Sir, 2020 will no doubt go down in memory as one of the most volatile years the world, and Singapore, has experienced. Yet in every crisis, lie opportunities to innovate and transform and the past 100 days have certainly seen our companies and schools doing just that, as they have experimented and innovated with new methods of doing business and conducting lessons.

As Singaporeans, we are a resilient people. And we can be masters of our own destiny and forge our own uniquely Singaporean path through this crisis. With the Government playing a pivotal role and strengthening its commitment to the people, I am certain that we will emerge as a stronger and more cohesive society after COVID-19. I thus conclude my speech in firm support of the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Speaker: Minister Desmond Lee.

3.20 pm

The Second Minister for National Development (Mr Desmond Lee): Mr Speaker, Sir, COVID-19 has disrupted all sectors of the economy including construction. During the circuit breaker period, most construction work was suspended. Post-circuit breaker, contractors are anxious to resume work quickly. Many have paid for material or are leasing equipment which are now sitting idle and since contractors are typically paid based on progress payments, no work means no payment; and we understand then anxiety.

While we want to resume construction activity quickly, it is equally important that we do so safely. The vast majority of our COVID-19 cases have been amongst construction workers. So, we do not want to restart hastily as a new case could easily cause another outbreak or new cluster among construction workers either on a construction site or in the dormitories.

Such a resurgence of infection would not only endanger the health of our workers and the wider community, but also bring the construction industry to a halt to get. This is not in anyone's interest. It is in our common interest for construction work to resume in a phased and controlled manner.

We had the first tranche of projects which could not be left idle for long because of safety reasons. These have been allowed to restart from 2 June. Beyond this list of projects if firms have cleared workers and have put in place necessary safe management measures, firms can submit their applications to BCA and once approved they will be able to resume their projects.

On the Government end, my colleagues have been working hard on multiple fronts to allow construction activities to resume faster.

First, the inter-agency Task Force has been systematically and progressively clearing workers living in dormitories to ensure they are well so that they can return to work. Many contractors have shared with us their frustration about not knowing what is going on in the dormitories, as workers have been moved around several times during these few months. They would also like to know in advance when their workers can be tested and cleared for work so they can make plans for the projects to resume. They have asked for more information and updates on the dormitories' clearance situation.

Members would recognise the scale and complexity of the Task Force operations as there are 43 purpose-built dormitories and more than a 1,000 factory converted dormitories and construction temporary quarters housing more than 300,000 workers and the outbreak situation each dormitory is different.

Earlier this week, MOM announced the first batch of 60 cleared dormitories. And another 111 are due to be cleared in the coming weeks. We will provide more regular updates to our industry, including a rolling forecast of the dormitory clearance schedule to help employers and their clients plan ahead.

For workers living in the community, we have also set aside testing capacity to test construction workers regularly to ensure the health and safety and that of the wider community. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah has shared concerns of contractors with the latest MOM announcement on foreign worker levy rebates. We understand the concerns. Government's intention was to enable workers to be temporarily seconded to other firms to optimise manpower distribution, so that more projects can restart sooner.

However, firms have given feedback about this. For example, some of them may require their workers for their own projects that are about to start and cannot second their workers to other projects. MOM and BCA will review this and we will work with them and the industry to find better ways to achieve this optimisation for the benefit of the entire sector.

Next, on foreign worker accommodation. Er Dr Lee asked about the new requirements for existing factory converted dormitories and construction temporary quarters. Let me clarify that these requirements are not compulsory. We have piloted the new space norms for new quick build dormitories that will be put up by the end of the year and we have been working with industry associations to make sure these requirements are practical, even as we seek to achieve safety and will be prepared to consider further inputs.

So far, we have approved more than 20 requests from contractors who wish to build new CTQs or FCDs for their workers and will continue to facilitate such requests where possible. We have received feedback that the COVID-19 restart criteria for construction are stringent. Let me try to explain why we need to be careful.

There is a project with a single owner on a single site with all workers staying on site. The workers have not left the site since end March, even before circuit breaker. Full attention was given to protection and safety by all levels of management, such as ensuring proper segregation among workers, including not allowing workers from different levels of the dormitories to mix.

Yet that project had an infection prevalence rate of close to 30% amongst its workers. I share this example which was shared with me to show how infectious disease is and how difficult it can be to prevent spreading from a single case to affecting many more who live and work together. So, imagine how much more challenging in might be for projects with workers living in different accommodation or having to move between different sites, as is the case with many projects with main contractors and several layers of sub-contractors and specialist contractors. But we understand the concerns of companies and will work closely with the industry associations at firms to look at the requirements to ensure that they are practically implementable.

We are also providing training to help companies put in place safe management measures by offering a course for safe management offices or SMOs. In the month of June alone, BCA and SCAL will train close to 20,000 such officers. BCA will give priority to train SMOs for projects that are ready to start first. BCA is also ramping up capacity further through tech-enabled learning modules. So, please bear with us.

We know there is a lot of information that is being put out about COVID-19 related measures, sometimes from multiple Ministries and agencies, day after day. Given how fluid and dynamic the situation is, contractors have told us that they are sometimes confused, lost, overwhelmed.

To avoid the situation where companies do not know who to approach for information, BCA will be the point agency in Government or the one stop-shop front for all matters regarding construction restart. So, if companies have questions or concerns, whether about testing their workers or constructing new temporary quarters, they need to only approach BCA who will coordinate with other relevant agencies to make the necessary arrangements or seek the necessary approvals.

Because of the current situation, BCA has received a huge surge of calls, emails and queries, and we are ramping up our capabilities to better support our sector.

We understand that firms are very concerned about their finances during this period when the projects have yet to restart. Deputy Prime Minister announced during the Fortitude Budget speech that the construction sector will receive enhanced support under the job support scheme until August. And let me assure Er Dr Lee Bee Wah that similar to construction firms, the consultancy firms will also be eligible for the higher tier of 75% JSS support for wages paid between June and August this year.

In addition, companies whose foreign workers are not able to resume work will receive foreign worker levy waivers and rebates until July. Government has also announced rental offsets for qualifying SME tenants.

Even after construction projects restart, we recognise that firms have to bear additional costs to meet the new COVID requirements, which were not priced into the existing contracts. In the short term, the Government will help to bear the additional costs, including paying for the testing costs for workers. And in the long term, the Government will continue to support the construction industry and provide assistance to cope with the additional costs. We will share more details on the specific measures when we are ready.

We recognise the importance of the construction industry because without them, we would not have our homes, our schools, our hospitals and other services. So, we will do what we can to help as many companies as possible tide through this crisis.

And that is also why we have been working closely with our industry partners, such as a Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL), the Specialists Trade Alliance of Singapore or STARS, and the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore or REDAS, to address the many issues that the industry is facing during this period. In fact, Minister of State Zaqy and I held a video conference meeting with them just two days ago. This was our third meeting in three weeks and we will continue to do so regularly.

I would like to thank Er Dr Lee Bee Wah and Dr Teo Ho Pin for also joining us in the virtual meeting on Wednesday where there were many constructive suggestions raised. For example, SCAL had earlier provided feedback that there are some construction S Pass and work permit holders who do not live in dormitories, work only in offices and do not visit work sites. In consultation with MOH, we agreed to remove the regular testing requirement for this group of employees.

There was also feedback that a company had to approach several different agencies to obtain the necessary approval to build new temporary living quarters or to convert existing workplaces and factories into living quarters. BCA has since set up a one-stop platform to facilitate such approvals. Participants told us at these discussions which involve a number of Government agencies being brought together are useful and we will continue to coordinate closely and keep our lines of engagement with industry open.

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira spoke yesterday about our dependence on foreign workers, including in the construction sector. Let me say a few words about this.

Our efforts to raise productivity in the construction industry has been ongoing for decades. In line with the construction industry transformation map under the work of the Future Economic Council or FEC, we have indeed been working with industry to reduce our reliance on foreign workers. But this will require major structural changes to the industry and to how construction work is done. We have been pushing for greater adoption of technology, such as through design for manufacturing and assembly, building information modelling and digitisation of the sector from end to end.

This will, in turn, create higher skilled jobs, including many good jobs for Singaporeans. For example, with design for manufacturing and assembly or DFMA, we will need more production managers, quality assurance personnel and logistics and supply chain planners and automated production facilities. Even our foreign workers that take on such jobs will need to be higher skilled.

However, the construction sector will not be able to reduce our foreign worker reliance to zero as there will still be many lower skilled jobs in the sector that Singaporeans do not want to take up. We appreciate the contribution of our foreign guest workers who have come here to Singapore to make an honest living for themselves and their families and it is incumbent on us to also take care of them when they are unwell.

Sir, many firms in the construction sector, including many SMEs are very anxious about survival and about their future. Let me assure you that our main priority is to restart construction quickly but safely. We will coordinate amongst various agencies and lean forward to provide information to you and work closely with your industry associations and with you to resume construction as soon as we can and work together to transform our sector in the medium to long term.

Mr Speaker: Er Dr Lee Bee Wah.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Minister Desmond Lee and Minister of State Zaqy for coming in to bring all parties together and trying to help contractors work through the process. And I am very heartened to hear the strong support that the Minister just mentioned given to the construction industry. Thank you very much.

Mr Speaker: I thought you had a clarification. But thank you anyway. Mr Mohamed Irshad.

3.35 pm

Mr Mohamed Irshad (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, I stand here today with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am relieved that the circuit breaker has officially ended. On the other hand, with no immediate end in sight to the COVID-19 battle, I am worried about what the next few months, rather years, have in store for Singapore and Singaporeans.

I speak for my generation and those young at heart when I say that there are many questions running through our minds. Are we in a grave situation? Yes, without a doubt. Have we faced a situation like this before? No, most certainly not. Have we been in a worse situation? Yes, we have in 1965. Are we facing an existential threat? No, we are not. Do we have what it takes to get through this and emerge stronger? Yes, I strongly and wholeheartedly believe so.

Sir, what gives me this confidence is that the Singapore story is replete with instances of major crises that have in some cases shaken us to the core. From a forced Independence to the communist threat to the racial riots to recessions to multiple global financial crises to even pandemics, we have come through it all. And it was those defining moments that have always brought the best out of our people.

As we deal with the immediate issues and pressing problems facing us, I remind myself, Members of this house and my fellow Singaporeans that COVID-19 is offering us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make seismic shifts in the way we have been doing things. This shall form the crux of my speech today.

First, responsibility to the nation. Second, the future of work. Third, digital transformation and innovation.

I begin by speaking on the theme of our responsibility to the nation. As parliamentarians, we are collectively responsible for our nation's fiscal health. Mr Speaker, as I have previously mentioned in this House, one of the hallmarks of the Singapore brand is fiscal prudence pillared by accountability and responsibility. It is the reason why we are able to draw on our reserves and table an unprecedented four Budgets in four months.

Sir, during our Unity Budget debates earlier this year, several Members of this House raised questions about the continued health of our National Investment Returns Contributions (NIRC), which are now the largest contributor to the Government's coffers. In addition to COVID-19, we continue to face long-term pressures such as the geopolitical tensions between America and China, stagnating growth and more nationalist and protectionist tendencies around the world. Given that our reserves form the basis of our NIRC revenue, what is the projected revenue impact of this large drawdown? Additionally, how long do we expect this to last?

Mr Speaker, I must point out that the first and only previous instance when we had to dip into our reserves was in 2009. Then, when faced with a fast deteriorating global economic environment and the prospect of a deep and prolonged recession, the House drew down on S$4.9 billion from past reserves. And they only used S$4.9 billion. And a mere two years later, the amount drawn was returned back to the reserves in 2011. Today, Sir, we are drawing over 10 times more than what we drew in 2009. We owe it to our future generations to safeguard their future as our forefathers have done so for us. My third question thus echoes the concerns which I heard in this Chamber yesterday. Can the Deputy Prime Minister share his plans to return the money drawn back to our reserves in the years to come?

Finally, Mr Speaker, we must not be lulled into a false sense of security that our reserves are unlimited. Consequently, we cannot afford to be complacent in how the money is being spent. Even as Deputy Prime Minister has assured us that the Public Accounts Committee has been scrutinising Government's expenditure, we need to instill a mindset of "active audit" to ensure that funds channeled for the various schemes and projects are indeed being spent wisely.

Mr Speaker, this brings me to my second theme on the future of work. This crisis is an opportunity for us to re-imagine work. At various times, this House has debated the importance of improving our work-life balance and having a more sustainable way of life. Sir, this is our moment.

Our experience over the last three months has shown that being present in the office and having face-to-face meetings is not absolutely necessary for many of us. Members of this House and fellow Singaporeans will be surprised to know that the SGUnited Buka Puasa initiative involving multiple Government agencies, private companies and community organisations was conceptualised, planned and operationalised virtually, without even a single physical meeting. And I am sure there are many other such projects.

We have, within a very short period of time, adapted to working through video conferencing, private messaging, emails and even the good old fashion phone calls. To quote the CEO of a leading software firm, COVID-19 has resulted in two years of digital transformation in just two months. We need to build upon this rather than going back to old ways. It is time that we reconsider a new model for our companies. Allow me to offer some solutions and suggestions.

First, as we reopen the economy, we have to fundamentally rethink future job arrangements. I propose moving away from the traditional five-day work week to a four-day work week with the option of working from home on the fifth day and even having a flexi-hours work model. Established companies like Microsoft have demonstrated that a four-day work week can increase productivity by up to 40%. Twitter's CEO recently announced that it will allow its employees to work from home "forever". In New Zealand, a four-day work week to promote better work life balance and domestic tourism as a means to help the economy is being considered. As the Government prepares for Phase Two, we should re-evaluate our traditional model of work.

Second, I hope that after COVID-19, telecommuting will not disappear but will be a more permanent feature. As the Government prepares to work with our companies to begin the job creation process, it is incumbent on us to incentivise the creation of jobs which will allow telecommuting. In doing so, we will no longer exclude those who may be unable to work in a traditional nine-to-five environment for various reasons.

President Halimah recently said, and I quote, "Imagine how many more women with young children could remain in the workforce if they could telecommute. Imagine the kind of skills and talents among women that we could retain to benefit our society and economy. With dual income families more of a necessity today, we should make it easier for women with family obligations to work." Mr Speaker, it is not just women with care-giving duties who will benefit from this arrangement but many more.

Recently, I came across a very moving commentary by Mr Jonathan Tiong, a fourth year student from NUS. He is a disabled person who will soon be entering the workforce. Being a wheelchair user, one of the biggest obstacles he faced was travel, which he defined as the mere act of leaving his home. Unlike an able-bodied person, he cannot just get up and go wherever he wants. The logistics of transport invariably involves at least one other person for him. He shared from his personal experience that video conferencing will help disabled persons and people with disabilities to integrate better into society by allowing them to lead more active professional and social lives.

In creating openings and retaining these segments of the population in the workforce, we can then create a workforce that is not only fair to all but also ensure that we maximise our potential to the fullest. I am confident that the National Jobs Council helmed by Senior Minister Tharman will also look into this matter.

On digital transformation and innovation, since 2014, the Smart Nation initiative has been quietly transforming and enriching the lives of many Singaporeans. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019, Deputy Prime Minister stated that Singapore needs to work towards repositioning itself to becoming a Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.

As we restart our economy, the importance of the Smart Nation initiative and the words of Deputy Prime Minister cannot be more true. To ride the new wave, we need our people to be digitally enabled in every sense of the word. What this means is that in addition to the various aspects of citizenry, we need Singaporeans to not only be IT-savvy but also be responsible digital citizens or digitizens.

This pandemic has taught us how under-prepared many were for a global crisis that affected all countries. It has also brought to the forefront the need for digital acceleration and the importance of business continuity plans for businesses and organisations of all sizes. In this regard, there is a vital need for a one-stop digital acceleration centre of excellence that can provide seamless solutions for companies and organisations seeking to ride the coming wave.

Mr Speaker, a digital economy cannot be the exclusive purview of the rich. Singaporeans living in rental flats and those in the lower income brackets are disproportionately less likely to have wifi at home. In fact, in the last three months, we have seen regular media coverage about the struggles that some of these families face trying to ensure that their children can participate in home-based learning. I understand that MSF has plans to proactively reach out to these Singaporeans with a helping hand. The existing Digital Inclusion framework needs to be reinforced so that no one gets left behind causing a digital divide. I urge MCI and IMDA to redouble their efforts in distributing internet connected devices, and work to ensure that affordable wifi is available to residents living in our rental flats.

I would also like to express my support and commend MCI and IMDA for launching the Seniors Go Digital Movement. It is timely and crucial to also include our seniors in our Digitalisation journey. Beyond family, friends and the wider community, our model of constantly creating public-private partnerships should not be forgotten. Mr Speaker, I hope that MCI and IMDA will collaborate and work with various tech companies as we continue to ensure our seniors are not left behind.

On innovation, Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter said, “Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.” In my many conversations with fellow Singaporeans over the circuit breaker period, I have come to realise that many of them are embodying a key trait: adaptability through innovation. Let me illustrate this through the lens of our response to this crisis.

When we announced the circuit breaker, we had to adapt to a completely new way of life. Parents had to learn how to work from home while supervising their children in home-based learning. Teachers had to transition to teaching the entire syllabus online. Businesses had to learn how to continue operating without access to their paper documents or any in person interaction. Sir, the crisis forced us to be adaptable. No one was spared from the need to change their way of life.

Out of this disorientation came the spirit of innovation. We have innovated by adopting video conferencing tools to conduct meetings and even marriages! Our food establishments have innovated by serving their patrons without any physical interaction. Even our wet-markets were not spared. Our civil servants had to innovate as well. The SafeEntry declaration that I scanned today and the TraceTogether app which is running on my phone right now are all concrete examples of innovation driven by our teams at GovTech.

Mr Speaker, this adaptability through innovation has ensured that our country can continue to function.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest in a long list of crises that have hit the world in recent times. It has exposed our fragilities and the urgent need to rethink our way forward. The multi-faceted crisis the world is faced with did reveal itself in various ways in the last decades, continuously sending us signals on the urgent necessity to take action and embark on a transformational journey.

Throughout the history of humanity, crises have always represented critical junctures allowing mankind to take the path of innovation and positive transformation that contributed to building better societies. The COVID-19 pandemic should be no exception. We stand at the threshold of history to build a healthier, more peaceful, prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable society in Singapore.

In this regard, it behooves me to embrace the spirit of the Singapore Together Movement which has been labelled "a cornerstone" of nation building by Deputy Prime Minister as we beat the odds together. With that, I support the Budget. Majulah, Singapura. It is a privilege to serve.

Mr Speaker: Mr Vikram Nair.

3.49 pm

Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, when we started this financial year, we had a long debate over the Unity Budget, which was the largest Budget in Singapore’s history, amounting to around $105 billion. This Budget provided what seemed to be a very generous sum of $5 billion to deal with the effects of COVID-19. At this time, the number of cases in Singapore was less than 200 and the epicentre of the crisis was still very much in China, with the largest number of cases.

Within a month, the situation changed dramatically, as COVID-19 spread around the world, and became particularly rampant in Europe and the US, the number of cases in Singapore started spiking as well as we had more people return from overseas. The Government moved swiftly and Deputy Prime Minister Heng announced the Resilience Budget, which was what we needed in light of the worsening situation and the additional restrictions that the Government had to put in place to reduce the spread of the virus.

As the number of cases continued to grow with more and more Singaporeans returning home, the danger of wide community spread emerged and the Government decided to implement the circuit breaker. To tide over the circuit breaker, Deputy Prime Minister announced a third Budget, the Solidarity Budget – solidarity because most Singaporeans, apart from our essential workers, stayed at home to prevent this crisis spreading. Workplaces and schools closed and people tried to work from home while students engaged in home-based learning.

With the circuit breaker coming to an end, and with Singapore cautiously opening up, this latest Budget, is aptly named "Fortitude" and it aims to help get us moving once again in a very uncertain and volatile world. Even as we have this debate today, the world is a different place. Air travel has all but frozen. The Causeway, which used to see a little under half a million people a day cross up and down, is also quiet, allowing only vehicles with essential supplies coming through. The largest number of COVID-19 cases now is in America, which also has an added crisis as the tragic death of George Lloyd has triggered a “Black Lives Matter” with large numbers of people on the street.

The Singapore Government’s approach in this virus has been nimble. We did not create this crisis, but we have to deal with the fallout. We prioritised the saving of lives with a rigorous system of public messaging, contact tracing, quarantine and the expansion of medical resources. Although we have one of the largest numbers of cases in Asia, which is partly because we have done very aggressive testing, we have managed to keep our fatality rates low because our medical capacity is adequate to provide for all who need it.

The Ministerial Task Force has communicated regularly, acted decisively and flexibly, staying calm and always having a clear plan for the situation. This Budget, the Fortitude Budget, is the latest additional spending the Government needs and I whole-heartedly support this. Fortitude means courage in the face of adversity and that is exactly what Singapore needs to get back on its feet.

The earlier Budgets, particularly the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, helped businesses stay afloat during a time when Singapore and much of the world was frozen. Our people retained jobs even though many were staying at home and were not able to work. Those who were not so fortunate and lost jobs or income received immediate support. This helped our people have resilience and solidarity.

Now, the time has come to slowly get back on our feet and move and this Budget again provides much needed lubrication to help this process. For businesses, the three main concerns are usually payroll, rental and financing. This Budget has provisions for all three. In relation to payroll, the extension of the Jobs Support Scheme means that many employers, particularly those in troubled sectors like aviation, will continue to get significant payroll support for their staff, up to 75% through to August. Rental waivers of two to four months will be enjoyed by many businesses, the load shared between landlords and the Government. Landlords in turn can get relief from their own mortgage obligations if they need it.

Finally, for many businesses, credit is the lifeblood and the previous Budgets had provided Temporary Bridging Loan Programme and Enterprise Financing Scheme, both of which provided access to credit. These well thought through schemes mitigate the three greatest concerns businesses will have and will, hopefully, give them fortitude to get up and get back in the game.

For individuals, particularly those who have lost jobs or income, there is also significant help. The biggest concern for individuals who are out of work is "Will we get more income? And when will we get our next job?" This Budget provides for both apart from those with high incomes or higher value properties. Whether you are self-employed or an employee, if you have lost 30% or more of your income, there will be relief. In addition to this, payments to families from Care and Support packages in previous Budgets will continue and this will help households meet expenses. There is also significant investment in job creation and training opportunities, with a bold plan to create 100,000 jobs and the team is already in place headed by Senior Minister Tharman to look into this very difficult project. These are exactly what we need during these difficult times.

All this spending comes with a price tag, and in this case, we will, for the first time in our history, be dipping into our reserves to the tune of around $50 billion. This is significant, but it is also clear that this is not a decision the Government is taking lightly. Based on what we know from MOF’s public data, the reserves managed by MAS are around $400 billion and Temasek has more than $300 billion on its balance sheet. The full figure is, of course, bigger than this.

Against this backdrop, a one off draw-down of $50 billion to deal with what is probably the biggest financial crisis since our Independence is probably justified.

We must however be mindful that these reserves built up since our Independence are our “Golden Goose”, and the more we spend of the reserves, the less the net investment income will be. The last time we drew down on these reserves was during the 2008/2009 Global Financial Crisis. Back then we had a "V" shape recovery and the Government was able to pay back the draw-down within a year. I do not expect the Government to be able to do so this time. Yet, given the extraordinary situation we are in, I think this expenditure is well justified. I support this Budget. Mr Speaker, I’ll continue in Tamil.

(In Tamil): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] This is a time of unprecedented challenges for the world from COVID-19. Many of our friends in other countries are facing unprecedented hardship and suffering, including being unable to find hospital beds and treatment when they need it and watching loved ones die without being able to be with them in their final moments or attend their funerals.

In Singapore, we have faced pain too. Although we have a large number of cases, because we have managed the situation, our death rate from COVID-19 is one of the lowest in the world. Now people’s main concern is their livelihoods, and that is exactly what this Budget addresses.

For those who own businesses, there is support for payroll, relief from rental and financing available. For individuals who have lost jobs and income, there is financial assistance available as well as training to get new jobs. The aim is to help people get back on their feet and get their livelihoods back.

This Budget gives us "fortitude" to face the challenges ahead by helping to relieve the main things that cause us fear.

Mr Speaker, I support this Budget.

Mr Speaker: Order. I propose to take a break now. We will commence the Sitting again at 4.20 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.59 pm until 4.20 pm.

Sitting resumed at 4.20 pm.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]