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ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
1. Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) if the lagoons at Sentosa are safe for swimming; and (b) if so, why do they have the highest record of six drownings in the same location in the last 13 months.
The Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mr Speaker, Sir, Sentosa Development Corporation takes the safety of beach-goers very seriously. SDC has a team of trained and certified lifeguards manning the beaches from
Of the five drowning incidents last year and the most recent incident in January on Sentosa, two of the victims were suspected to have consumed alcohol. In all these incidents, the victim strayed outside the roped-in areas designated for swimming. These roped-in areas are marked by a string of floats and two flags on the beach, and are closely supervised by lifeguards.
SDC deeply regrets the loss of lives in the drowning incidents. SDC has stepped up its efforts to raise public awareness of beach and water safety. In March 2005, SDC launched a campaign using posters and brochures to educate beach-goers of safety guidelines. Lifeguards also share water safety tips with beach-goers during their regular patrols.
SDC's efforts alone will not be enough. To improve beach safety, the public has to play its part too and take precautions for their personal safety. Sentosa's beaches are not enclosed lagoons but part of the open sea. In this environment, swimmers will be exposed to the natural tidal, wave and wind conditions, as well as to marine creatures. This is not peculiar to Sentosa. Hence, beach-goers at Sentosa are strongly advised to exercise the same level of caution as they would in the open sea.
I wish to reassure Members that SDC will continue to monitor the situation and review the current beach safety measures to ensure that Sentosa's beaches remain safe to beach-goers.
Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, the Minister has actually not answered my question on whether it is safe for swimming, because if it is safe for swimming, there would not have been so many drownings in such a short time. Experts have said - it was reported in the newspapers - that the gradient and the coral reef actually sink in at the roped in area, and it becomes a danger zone for the beach-goers. Parents of young boys know that it is not a safe place for swimming.
Mr Speaker: What is your question, Mr Chia?
Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Is it actually safe for swimming? The Ministry should do a thorough research into the gradient of the lagoons to ensure that it is safe for swimming.
Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Mr Speaker, as I mentioned in my reply just now, the Sentosa Development Corporation regularly reviews the beach gradient to make sure that it remains safe for beach-goers to go to. The lagoons are part of the open sea and are subject to the various tidal wave conditions. So, when people swim at the Sentosa beaches, they must realise that they are actually swimming in the open sea.
In Singapore, there is an average of 40-50 drowning incidents along our coastline. Sentosa beaches are part of this coastline. Beach-goers should take all precautions when they are swimming in the open sea.
2. Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts if he will consider adopting, as an action item for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the International Telecommunications Union, a common emergency telephone number throughout APEC and the world respectively.
The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Balaji Sadasivan) (for the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts): Mr Speaker, Sir, the development of emergency telephone numbers has not been internationally coordinated. Historically, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is the United Nations specialised agency for telecommunications, left the assignment of emergency numbers to national administrations. As a result, each country decides on its emergency number to facilitate public access to emergency services. For example, the European Union has adopted "112" as its emergency number, while the
In 1998, with the growth of mobile technology, a public-private sector initiative, comprising standards organisations and mobile phone companies from all over the world formed the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The aim was to cooperate for the production of a complete set of globally applicable technical specifications for the 3rd Generation Mobile systems. One of the technical specifications that came out of this initiative was the use of "112" as an international emergency number for GSM mobile phone networks. This means that GSM mobile phone users who make calls to "112" will have their calls redirected to the local emergency telephone number, if one exists in the country they are in. This is valuable for foreign travellers, who may not know the local emergency number.
In the longer term, a single global emergency number is desirable. Hence, the ITU is now studying the feasibility of a single global emergency number based on an initiative proposed by
Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang (Nominated Member): Sir, I thank the Hon. Minister for the comprehensive reply. I have two supplementary questions. We are a country which is very open. We are trying to promote tourism. We are very open to international trade and investments. We have very many foreign visitors, both vacationers and businessmen. First, can Singapore take the lead in implementing the "112"? There is no need to wait for the rest of the world to catch up. Let us implement it first for all our fixed-line calls and non-GSM mobile. It is just a matter of call forwarding. It should not be that difficult. So, can we take the lead in this and we will actually get the most benefits as an open country?
Second, can we do our utmost in the international forum, not just wait for ITU? We can press this in ASEAN, APEC and many other forums where we can move this forward, and then bring this to fruition. As an open economy which depends on trade, investments and tourism, we stand to benefit the most. We should take the lead here.
Dr Balaji Sadasivan: Sir, we support an international emergency number. We will certainly work in international fora to try and adopt one single number for the whole world.
With regard to the Member's first suggestion, we will look into it.
3. Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts whether Government Ministries and agencies will make services available on alternative Internet browsers, in view of the relative insecurity of Internet Explorer.
Dr Balaji Sadasivan (for the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts): Mr Speaker, Sir, Prof. Png asked whether Government online services could be made available on Internet browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer.
There are more than 1,600 Government e-services online today, which were developed over the last six years. To ensure that these e-services are accessible by users using alternative browsers, the Government Ministries and agencies have, as far as possible, avoided using browser-specific features in the development of their e-services. As a result, the majority of these services are accessible on a range of browsers.
However, it would neither be feasible nor cost-effective to mandate that all these 1,600 e-services inter-operate with all alternative browsers given the wide range of choices available. Instead, the Government Ministries and agencies strive to ensure that e-services can be delivered to as wide a population as possible, by making sure that they work well with the most commonly used browser. Since 2002, Microsoft Internet Explorer has been and still is the most popular browser with more than two-thirds of the global market share.
We have noted an increase in the percentage of Internet users using alternative browsers. We will continue to monitor this trend and ensure that Government e-services continue to be accessible by the vast majority of our users.
Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang: Sir, would the Hon. Minister please consider coordinating with the regulatory agencies, such as MAS, to persuade our banking and financial institutions to offer their services on browsers other than Internet Explorer? As the Hon. Minister has just observed, one-third of the users are not using Internet Explorer. I would like to stress that Internet Explorer has been documented to be a much less secure browser than other alternatives. So it behoves us in the interest of our population to encourage our banking, healthcare and other sectors where security is important, to make their services available on something other than Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Dr Balaji Sadasivan: The world of browsers is a dynamic world. The companies that develop browsers are constantly updating their browser systems. So it is a question of keeping up with the changes in the industry. At the same time, we encourage our Government services as well as the private sector to offer their e-services on as many browsers as possible. The situation is not too bad. Currently, the commonest browser is Internet Explorer with about 66% of the market. The next most commonly used browser is Firefox which has 25% of users, and Mozilla is 3.1%. The other browsers combined is about 2%.
If we take Firefox and test it with the various Government agencies, it works on ACRA, CPF, HDB, IRAS, LTA, MINDEF, MOF, MOM, NLB, ROM and URA services. We have not done an extensive test on all the possible e-services available. But the vast majority of e-services can be accessed by Firefox. We will continue to encourage all providers of e-services to keep up with the changes in the Internet world.
4. Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Senior Minister (a) what is the number of personal loans and credit facilities in the market that have a minimum annual income requirement of between $18,000 and $30,000, such as ezyCash; (b) how many of these personal loans and credit facilities are governed by the Banking Act; and (c) in the last two years, how many cases of bankruptcy have resulted from borrowers of such facilities being unable to pay their loans.
The Minister for Education (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam) (for the Senior Minister): Mr Speaker, Sir, financial institutions regulated by the MAS can only grant unsecured credit facilities to individuals earning a minimum annual income of $30,000. However, apart from these regulated financial institutions, moneylenders also grant loans. They are either licensed or granted exemptions under the Moneylenders Act. While moneylenders are not required by law or regulation to grant loans only to borrowers who have a certain minimum income, they will assess the borrower's credit worthiness before deciding whether to grant a loan and what the loan amount should be. Some of these moneylenders only lend to borrowers with a certain minimum income. For example, GE Money which provides the ezyCash facility that Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim refers to requires its borrowers to have a minimum income of $19,200 per annum.
Assoc. Prof. Ong has also asked about the number of personal loans and credit facilities in the market that have a minimum annual income requirement of between $18,000 and $30,000. The Government does not have data on the income limits that each moneylender subjects its borrowers to.
As I mentioned, moneylenders are not required by law to impose minimum income requirements, unlike financial institutions regulated by the MAS. The Government places the focus of its rules on financial institutions as these are the largest lenders, unlike moneylenders which are generally small operations granting small value loans. Nonetheless, with the emergence of larger moneylenders like GE Money, the Government is looking into establishing a consistent regulatory regime for personal loans granted by financial institutions and moneylenders.
Assoc. Prof. Ong also asked about the number of bankruptcy cases that were due to the inability to repay loans. In the last two years, about 2,000 to 3,000 people across all income groups - closer to 2,000 - were adjudged to be bankrupts each year for reasons to do with excessive use of credit.
5. Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether Singapore has any plans (i) for a directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) similar to that of the European Parliament Direction 2002/96/EC on WEEE; (ii) to prevent WEEE, promote the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of such waste so as to reduce disposal; and (iii) to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life-cycle of electrical and electronic equipment.
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee) (for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources): Sir, the European Community's Directive 2002/96/EC requires EU member countries to introduce laws in their respective countries by 13th August 2004 which mandate that producers of electrical and electronic equipment must collect, reuse, recycle and dispose of such equipment when it goes into the waste stream. Under the Directive, EU member countries require producers of electrical and electronic equipment to put in place measures for the separate collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) by 13th August 2005 at their own cost. The Directive also sets a target of collecting, on average, at least 4 kg per person per year of WEEE from households by 31st December 2006.
Many EU countries have not been able to meet the deadlines set in the Directive. Measures for the separate collection of WEEE have not been implemented in some EU countries. A few have yet to introduce legislation to implement the Directive. Singapore should, therefore, Sir, follow these developments very closely and evaluate the effectiveness of introducing a similar Directive prematurely.
There is no problem with the disposal of WEEE in Singapore currently. Why? Because most used electrical and electronic equipment in Singapore are sold to second-hand goods traders or what we call the karang guni men or women, while some are donated to charitable organisations, which is increasingly the case. In addition, companies such as Hewlett Packard, Canon, Dell and Nokia have put in place schemes to take back used electrical and electronic equipment from their customers for recycling. Why? Because they are valuable products. The equipment collected are either refurbished for reuse or sent to recycling facilities locally or overseas. As a result, there is hardly any electrical and electronic equipment found in the waste disposed of at the four incineration plants and Semakau landfill in Singapore.
My Ministry will monitor the situation and study the practices in other countries of recycling WEEE. The National Environment Agency (NEA) will also continue to work with producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment to raise awareness and share best practices of WEEE management.
6. Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Education if the Ministry has been giving out scholarships to students from China for any other purpose or for other courses of study, besides the teaching scholarships for Chinese teachers.
The Minister of State for Education (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, the Ministry of Education used to offer teaching scholarships to students from China for the purpose of recruiting Chinese Language teachers. However, from 2002, the scheme was discontinued as the PRC's National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban) has been providing MOE with good quality PRC graduates to teach in our schools. MOE does not currently offer any scholarships to students from China. We support the efforts of our universities and the corporate sector to do so, as part of Singapore's efforts to build up its talent pool.
Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, in the case of a newspaper report of a China student, Zhang Wei, who was offered by MOE to come to Singapore to study computer science and then he subsequently failed and hanged around in the campus - to cut the story short - why was he offered a scholarship by MOE to study computer science in Singapore, since there is no scholarship given?
Mr Chan Soo Sen: The scholarships are probably offered by one of our Government-linked companies (GLCs). We do have some Government-linked companies that offer scholarships to PRC students.
Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Clarification, Sir. The newspaper carried a report that the China student, Zhang Wei, was offered a MOE scholarship, not a GLC scholarship.
Mr Chan Soo Sen: I did not know the Member wanted to ask specifically about the Zhang Wei's case. We can check on it. But our understanding is that the scholarship could not have come from the Ministry of Education. As I have said, the Ministry of Education's role in this scholarship is a supportive one. For example, we work with the Ministry of Education in the PRC to effect the agreement. Our education secretary in our embassy in Beijing liaises with the universities and the Ministries to link up the selection panel from the GLCs as well as the institutions.
Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, I thank the Minister of State for clarifying that the MOE did not give out any scholarship for any student other than to Singaporeans.
7. Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang asked the Minister for Health whether Government Ministries and agencies will use less carpets in their buildings as carpets may be less healthy than other materials such as linoleum in our tropical climate.
The Minister for Health (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): Mr Speaker, Sir, Prof. Png asked if my Ministry would discourage the use of carpets in public buildings. Mr Speaker, Sir, if we do, you will have problem extending red carpet treatment to your counterparts.
Presumably, Prof. Png thinks that carpets are unhealthy materials which may be sources of chemical or biological agents, resulting in human allergies or irritations or other ill-health effects. But to-date, studies have not found any conclusive proof to implicate the use of carpets as a source of ill-health. After all, carpets are made of the same materials you find in most clothing. They are commonly found indoors and they have been in use for many years. The main issue is proper maintenance. As with all furnishings and fixtures, regular and proper cleaning of the carpets is essential for good hygiene.
As there is no evidence to implicate carpets as a health hazard, my Ministry has no ground to issue any health advisory against their use. Whether carpets or other materials should be used in a particular building will therefore depend on other factors, such as cost and aesthetics.
Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang: May I ask the Hon. Minister if Singapore has done a study of the use of carpets in our tropical climate or is the Ministry relying on studies done in temperate countries where the climate and environmental conditions may be different, and the hazards may be different?
Secondly, may I ask the Minister whether he would pay particular attention to the use of carpeting in hospitals. I notice on my most recent visit to a Government hospital that linoleum is now being replaced by carpeting. I am wondering whether that is customer service really, or they have considered the impact on health.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Sir, the experts in Ministry of Health assured me that there have been local studies periodically done indeed by NUS as well as the former Environment Ministry. The current Environment Minister may have an interest in this area too. As for hospitals, in fact, this is an interesting subject. Many years ago, when I was new to hospital administration, I made it a point to visit many hospitals. I must have visited about 100 hospitals all over the place and was struck by the extensive use of carpets in US, for example. I got to meet many people, not just doctors, nurses, microbiologists, infection control people, but also housekeepers and people who have a special interest in this area. And I got to learn a lot about this subject.
Two things struck me. First, the floor maintenance of hospitals - because hospital is such an unhealthy place - is a science by itself, it is a specialised subject, and you need intensive knowledge and study into this area, coupled with scientific studies and research. In the US, for example, there are firms who specialise in hospital maintenance and nothing else. After extensive discussions with them, I decided on two things at that point in time: one, how little we know about other things - that in hospital administration, it is not just doctoring and nursing care but there are a lot of non-clinical areas where expertise is needed. That was when I decided firmly that we should outsource non-clinical activities to specialists. When I became the CEO for NUH, we were the first hospital that outsourced non-clinical activities, including hospital maintenance.
Secondly, we need to upgrade our standard of maintenance of hospitals in Singapore. So I persuaded the specialist firms in US to explore Southeast Asian market, including Singapore. And I am glad that at least one of them decided to come to Singapore and after many years, they are still around. I think along the way, hospital maintenance today is quite different from 20 years ago. So I think we have made some contribution in this area.