Population White Paper: Picking up the pieces after the protests

No running away from ageing society, and the need to take steps to deal with it

By Warren Fernandez, The Sunday Times, 24 Feb 2013

The large turnout at the protest rally two Saturdays ago against the Population White Paper culminated in calls from some participants for a referendum on the issue.

Judging by the anger that has raged against the paper's proposals, the outcome of such a poll seems a no-brainer. It is as clear as day that the White Paper has gone down badly.

Congestion on the roads and trains, skyrocketing property prices, heightened competition for jobs, schools and other amenities, have all combined to make the idea of having almost two million more people added to this tiny island seem like one of those "foolhardy" or "courageous" suggestions that politicians make at their peril.

It all made me wonder how a similar proposal to boost the population might have gone down in the 1980s, when the quest for economic growth was not as unfashionable as it is today. Would the population, which then hovered around 2.5 million, have come out in support of doubling this in a few decades?

Even then, it would have been a hard sell.

One reason stems from what psychologists call the "end of history illusion".

A recent New York Times report citing a study in the journal Science noted: "When we remember our past selves, we seem quite different. We know how much our personalities and tastes have changed over the years.

"But when we look ahead, somehow we expect ourselves to stay the same... we underestimate how much we will change in the future."

The same might apply to societies. So, just as it was difficult for anyone living in the 1980s to picture the Marina Bay of today, a spaghetti network of MRT lines running across the island, or three terminals at Changi Airport, most people extrapolate from their experiences today to form a picture of what the future might be like, as if society has reached its zenith and "history" has ended.

Little wonder then that all the grand plans unveiled recently for new homes, more MRT lines, additional parks and recreation options seemed remote. At best, the proposals were plausible; at worst, just so much political pie in the sky.

S'pore's best-kept secrets: Its virtues

Time to reboot Singapore brand and showcase achievements to the world

By Parag Khanna, Published The Straits Times, 23 Feb 2013

SINCE relocating to Singapore six months ago, I've continued my travels to the Middle East, Africa, South America, Europe, the United States and elsewhere in Asia.

Unlike in the past, however, when asked where I come from and where I live, I answer "Singapore". Imagine my shock when so many people around the world respond with almost Pavlovian reflex: "Ahh, chewing gum!" Or: "Of course, caning!"

It's striking how the image of Singapore lags two decades behind the reality. While the monikers of trivial incidents are passed down over generations, many of Singapore's virtues remain its best-kept secrets.

This neglect of Singapore's brand threatens to perpetuate itself. A small handful of Yale University's liberal arts faculty seem not to know the difference between Singapore and Saudi Arabia; most of their vituperative assaults on the Yale-NUS partnership have gone unanswered.

No Singaporean has stood up and stated the obvious: Yale - or any other university - would be lucky to have an outpost in the thriving heart of Asia. These students might go back to Yale with worldly and practical perspectives that could enlighten the more myopic professors on campus.

In fact, Singapore's star is rising fast. Just last month, two Harvard professors published a set of conversational reflections on the career of the "grand master" Lee Kuan Yew - but pointing as much to what one can learn from Singapore's past as its vision for the future as the unofficial capital of Asia. Indeed, its only rival for this title, Hong Kong, has made itself practically unliveable due to political capture by mainland China and horrendous air pollution.

Meanwhile, Singapore is becoming every day more and more the "Global Asia" hub for Asians looking to invest abroad as well as Western and other multinationals seeking a greater Asian presence.

All of this hints at the emergence of a new phase in how Singapore perceives itself - and how the world could appreciate it. A visit to the Singapore Discovery Centre reminds one of the first phases of Singapore's modernisation: independence, nation-building and internationalism. What must come next is leadership.

Today, Singapore is the only truly successful post-colonial nation in the world. It is also a role model as an agile entrepot in a turbulent world economy, a smart city in an age where sustainable urbanisation is the paramount priority, and a pioneering "info-state" in an era where data plays as much a role in governance as democracy.

Singapore is not immediately replicable, but that won't stop increasing swathes of the world from trying once they see its accomplishments. It is time, therefore, to reboot Singapore's brand.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong's vow to the needy; More than $90 million in Medifund aid given out in FY 2011

Medifund scheme will be strengthened to ensure aid is available to cover medical bills

By Salma Khalik, The Sunday Times, 24 Feb 2013

No Singaporeans will be denied health care because they cannot afford it, the Government vowed yesterday.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong gave that assurance as figures for the last financial year up to March 2012 showed that Medifund, the Government endowment fund to help needy citizens cover their medical bills, paid out more than its income for the first time since it was set up in 1993.

Despite the $1.8 million shortfall, Mr Gan told The Sunday Times that the Government will continue to strengthen Medifund to ensure there is enough money to help the needy - especially the elderly.

He said: "The ability to afford medical care is understandably something that may concern our elderly. We recognise this and have tried to provide our senior citizens with more peace of mind."

This is why, he said, the ministry has "given hospitals a lot of flexibility in deciding on Medifund disbursements".

He added: "This helps to ensure that those who genuinely need help are able to receive it and will not fall through the cracks, especially our elderly."

In the last financial year, the Government put $600 million into Medifund's capital sum which now stands at over $3 billion. The money given out by Medifund is the income earned on this capital sum.

Medifund received $82.4 million in earnings in that period and gave out that amount plus $2 million to health-care institutions.

These bodies approved 518,389 applications and gave out $90.8 million to patients, up from 480,869 applications which received $78.7 million the previous year. These institutions were able to pay out more to patients, thanks to Medifund money they had not used in the past.

Diners feeling the staff crunch

The dining experience has been marred by poorer service and higher food prices brought on by the manpower crunch in the food and beverage industry

By Rebecca Lynne Tan, The Sunday Times, 24 Feb 2013

Modern Singaporean restaurant Wok & Barrel will be shutting its doors for good next Sunday.

The main reason for its closure is one that ripples through the food and beverage industry: a shortage of manpower.

Staff would routinely not show up for work at Ms Shen Tan's 50-seat restaurant in Duxton Hill.

The manpower issue, coupled with other factors such as rising costs of labour and rental, has led her to call it quits.

Last December, two of her four full-time staff resigned, leaving her with just one cook in the kitchen and another running the front of house operations. Part-time service crew who did not turn up for work did not help matters either.

To cope, she would double as cook and server almost every day, running to and from the kitchen.

Ms Tan, 40, says: "I feel bad for the customer but I can't do anything about it if someone doesn't turn up for work. I am frustrated that I can't meet diners' expectations of service."

A busy night at the restaurant can look like this: irate customers waving frantically for their orders to be taken, dirty plates waiting to be cleared and empty glasses in need of topping up.

This is a common scene at many other restaurants here.

Diners who do not understand the situation become angsty and annoyed. Some even end up leaving the restaurant because of the lack of service.

The rising costs of manpower, rental and raw ingredients are also translating to higher menu prices.

While the labour crunch is perhaps the biggest headache, businesses are also grappling with increasing rents in land-scarce Singapore and paying more for ingredients, which cost more because of increasing freight charges and scarcity brought on by natural disasters, among other factors.

Restaurants bear the majority of these costs. In some instances, about 5 to 10 per cent is passed on to consumers through price increases.

Also, the fewer the number of staff, the lower the productivity, which also means restaurants do not turn tables as quickly as they would like to.

The result is worsening dining experiences and pricier meals for customers.

Restaurants that cannot cope with the labour shortage then close as a last resort.

And Ms Tan's restaurant is not the only casualty.

Others, such as Japanese restaurant group RE&S, and the TungLok Group, which runs mostly Chinese restaurants, have had to close some of their eateries because of the lack of manpower.

TungLok Group, for example, closed its Lao Beijing outlet at Tiong Bahru Plaza last December due to a "severe manpower shortage".

Singapore's food scene is becoming increasingly vibrant, with a growing number of restaurants and food and beverage outlets here.

But restaurateurs say the industry has never seen worse times.

The lack of staff, as well as the Ministry of Manpower's tightening of foreign worker dependency ratio ceilings from 50 to 45 per cent, are making it tougher for restaurants to operate.

SMEs' association critical of WP population paper

Proposal to freeze number of foreign workers 'another blow to local SMEs'
By Toh Yong Chuan, The Straits Times, 25 Feb 2013

THE Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) has hit out strongly at the Workers' Party's (WP) population paper, calling it "another blow to the local SME community".

In a statement yesterday, ASME took issue with the WP's proposal to freeze foreign worker numbers at the present level and to grow the resident workforce by 1 per cent a year by attracting more women and older Singaporeans back to work.

The association pointed out that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have painfully accepted the Government's tightening of the number of foreign workers, "only to now hear that the WP proposes an even more drastic deceleration".

The proposals were among ideas in the WP's 38-page paper, issued on Saturday, which fleshes out the key arguments made by its Members of Parliament during the Population White Paper debate earlier this month.

On the WP's measures to boost the local labour force participation rate, the association said: "This is easier said than done as there is an element of mismatch between available jobs and workers' expectations."

It cited as an example mismatches in the construction and food and beverage sectors, whereby vacancies are shunned by locals because they want higher pay and more comfortable working conditions.

The association said that abrupt changes in reducing the foreign workers quota have already caused many SMEs to relocate or close down, resulting in a loss of income and jobs for Singaporeans.

Should more SMEs fail, it warned, the overall quality of life in Singapore may dip as well.

WP’s Population Policy Paper detrimental to businesses: SBF

Channel NewsAsia, 23 Feb 2013

CEO of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Ho Meng Kit said the proposal in Workers' Party's Population Policy Paper to keep foreign workforce constant and to rely on a one per cent growth in resident workforce has broken no new ground.

Mr Ho said the federation's position remains that a freeze in the growth of foreign workforce will be detrimental to businesses.

He added that it is too risky to bet that improvement in Labour Force Participation Rate will offset the real need for more foreign workers in some domestically oriented sectors such as construction where demand is growing.

Mr Ho said in the 2012/2013 SBF National Business Survey of a thousand of its members, mostly SMEs, 14 per cent of those surveyed said that they are considering relocating out of Singapore, as a result of the government's policy to tighten foreign workers in 2012.

As for manufacturing companies, the proportion is 28 per cent.

Mr Ho said the Workers' Party's proposal tightens foreign workforce further and this could have serious impact on jobs and the well-being of Singaporeans.

WP releases own population paper

Counterproposal puts focus on raising total fertility rate and resident labour force participation rate

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 24 Feb 2013

The Workers' Party (WP) yesterday issued its population paper as a counterproposal to the Government's.

It criticised what it called the Population White Paper's model of immigration-driven growth, and said that the focus should instead be on raising the total fertility rate (TFR) and the resident labour force participation rate.

The 38-page document, titled A Dynamic Population For A Sustainable Singapore, fleshes out points made by the nine WP MPs during this month's parliamentary debate on the White Paper, which they also voted against.

WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang said in a statement that the party hoped the paper "will enable Singaporeans to better understand the rationale and computations behind WP's proposals".

The paper argues that the best way to maintain a Singaporean core is by raising fertility rather than relying on new citizens. The WP has proposed taking in 10,000 new citizens a year compared to the Government's 15,000 to 25,000.

It believes that in granting citizenship, priority should be given to non-citizen spouses of Singaporeans. Its figure of 10,000 new citizens a year is based on a trend of more such marriages, which numbered more than 9,000 in 2011.

CDCs to create platforms to integrate existing and new citizens

By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia, 23 Feb 2013

Singapore's Community Development Councils (CDCs) plan to create platforms for new and existing citizens to come together to forge friendships.

The aim is also for them to have a better appreciation and understanding of one another.

In an interview with Channel NewsAsia, Dr Amy Khor, who is the Coordinating Mayor of the five CDCs, said one way will be to create interest groups that all would be keen to take part in.

The topic of integration has been in the air recently, especially during the debate on the White Paper on Population.

Sharing some of his experiences, North West CDC Mayor, Dr Teo Ho Pin said interest groups have been a successful way to integrate existing and new citizens.

Dr Teo said: "A very good example is brisk walking. The spin-off from there is once you provide a platform, a sustainable platform, where people can come together on a regular basis they will develop friendships and there will be bonding."

Central Singapore CDC Mayor Sam Tan added that Singaporeans have been forthcoming in welcoming their new friends. 

Mr Tan said: "Singaporeans actually are very generous and warm at heart, although some of us may not be expressive in expressing our warmth toward new comers and foreigners. But if you have time and when people work together on a certain meaningful project, you actually discover a lot of Singaporeans are actually kind hearted and they can be quite warm to other people."

From covert vigilantism to communal vigilance

By Carol Soon, Published The Straits Times, 23 Feb 2013

THE recent tragic deaths of two young brothers involved in a road accident in Tampines triggered an avalanche of online responses, which is to be expected these days. The responses ranged from deep sympathy for the boys and their family to outrageous claims and accusations. Sadly too, graphic photos of the victims were thoughtlessly circulated.

The insensitivity and callousness of some online outbursts led to an immediate response - voicing opprobrium - from the Prime Minister, several MPs, academics and the public.

Although new technologies and social media give voice to the voiceless and help "level" the communication landscape, the ugly side of the Internet rears up whenever complete lack of civility and decorum occur online. What is more, people can be uncivil anonymously, without bearing any responsibilities that go with such actions.

Although uncivil behaviour, propelled either by sheer ignorance or a deliberate intent to provoke, is not unique to cyberspace, the ubiquity of high-tech communication devices and high-bandwidth connections have exacerbated the reach and effects of such acts on an unanticipated scale.

Circle of Care: New pre-school scheme to help the disadvantaged

By Sandra Davie, The Straits Times, 23 Feb 2013

CHILDREN of disadvantaged families will have access to high-quality pre-schooling under a scheme that aims to close the gap between them and better-off pupils.

They will be monitored by a social worker and educational therapist as part of the Circle of Care programme, started by a local philanthropic group and a welfare organisation.

This will allow staff to identify problems and address them quickly - meaning families who need help are spared the lengthy process of dealing with various organisations and agencies.

The programme will be run at two centres operated by Care Corner, with the help of $1.8 million pledged over four years by the Lien Foundation. It aims to be up and running by next month.

At the moment, children and families who need additional help sometimes face an uphill struggle.

Problems that are often multifaceted have to be identified by a social worker or pre-school teacher. The family will then be directed to various centres run by government agencies and welfare organisations.

Care Corner chief executive officer Yap Poh Kheng said the new scheme will streamline the process by making help available at the project, which will be run in Leng Kee and Admiralty.

"Let's say a pre-school teacher notices that a child is overly anxious," he said. "She can bring in the social worker who will go and meet the families, investigate the matter further and bring together different aspects of help and care. These could range from educational therapy to nutrition, counselling and financial aid."

Lien Foundation officials said various studies show high-quality early education provides a good foundation for academic achievement later on.

27 sites ordered to stop work

Firms also fined over $350,000 after safety inspections beefed up
By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 23 Feb 2013

TWENTY-SEVEN sites were slapped with stop-work orders after workplace safety and health inspectors stepped up checks late last year.

Firms were also given fines totalling more than $350,000 by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Targeted at the construction industry, the inspections - jointly dubbed Operation Talon - covered 529 worksites run by 378 firms.

The blitz came in a year which registered several high-profile accidents, such as a scaffolding collapse at the Bugis Downtown Line site that killed two people and the tilting of an oil rig in Jurong Shipyard which injured 89 workers.

The ministry ramped up safety inspections from August last year. But so far this year, eight workers have died in work accidents, compared with seven in the same period last year.

Operation Talon dished out 1,093 fines and notices of non-compliance, or warnings, with the most common lapses involving working at heights.

Measuring cost-of-living changes: MTI replies

THE article ("Poorest households hardest hit by inflation", Feb 6) noted that if imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation (OOA) are excluded from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation for lower-income households last year would be lower than that for other groups.

However, the article also cited views that "CPI-All Items" provides a better picture of cost-of-living changes than the measure excluding imputed rentals on OOA, since rentals and mortgages are significant expenditures. Allow us to clarify.

First, rentals paid by tenants are separate from imputed rentals on OOA, and are fully reflected in both the CPI indices.

Second, imputed rentals are not a good reflection of mortgage payments. As housing market cycles and interest rate cycles can differ significantly, the trend in imputed rentals often deviates from that in mortgage payments. For example, while rental costs have increased, mortgage interest rates have remained low in recent years.

The measurement of the cost of OOA is internationally recognised as the most difficult aspect of measuring CPI.

While measuring accommodation costs of rented homes is straightforward, home owners do not pay rent and, thus, their housing consumption is unobserved.

To address this, statisticians have developed several methods to measure the cost of OOA. Each has its pros and cons.

Singapore uses market rentals of similar homes as a proxy for the costs of OOA.

However, because our rental market has seen significant fluctuations, the methodology results in a highly cyclical CPI. The fluctuations in imputed rentals do not reflect the actual expenditure of owner-occupiers, who in Singapore comprise the large majority of households.

This is why the Department of Statistics also compiles the alternate measure of "CPI less imputed rentals on OOA", which relates more directly to households' actual cash spending.

Several other countries do likewise. In Britain, the CPI excludes OOA, while the Retail Prices Index includes it. Some other European countries exclude OOA altogether from the CPI.

An alternative measure of OOA is based on mortgage payments. However, mortgage payments reflect both the investment value of a home and its consumption cost.

Separating the investment component, which is not part of the CPI, from the cost of consumption is a difficult matter, involving onerous data requirements. Few countries have chosen this approach.

We are continuing to review the measurement of OOA in the light of these considerations, including possible ways to minimise the cyclical component of imputed rentals that has no bearing on actual expenditures.

Cindy Keng (Mrs)
Director, Corporate Communications Division
Ministry of Trade and Industry

ST Forum, 23 Feb 2013