Singapore debt levels 'among highest in Asia': Standard Chartered report, 1 July 2013

Property debts high but households have robust buffer of financial assets: Report

By Fiona Chan, The Straits Times, 3 Jul 2013

SINGAPORE households are among the most indebted in Asia relative to what they earn, according to a Standard Chartered report this week.

Households had borrowings worth 151 per cent of their annual income last year, second in the region only to Malaysia, with debt at 182 per cent of income.

This is mainly because consumers here take on large dollops of property debt, amounting to 111 per cent of household income - the highest level in the region, Stanchart said.

On the bright side, households have a robust buffer of financial assets from high savings, so their debt levels are relatively low compared to these assets, the bank added.

"We are not concerned about household solvency in Singapore," it said.

Thanks to low interest rates, the repayments that Singapore households make on loans are also among the lowest in the region as a share of income.

However, Stanchart warned that as rates rise, debt servicing may become more difficult for home owners who are over-leveraged, although current debt burdens are still manageable.

Indeed, Stanchart's data shows that the overall debt service ratio for Singapore households has been rising since 2008. But they remain moderate, with total debt repayments coming up to only 13 per cent of total household incomes, the bank said.

This is lower than in Malaysia, South Korea and Australia, although higher than in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Taiwan, which have debt service ratios between 2 and 7 per cent, it added.

But the report also highlighted the danger of the rapid increase in debt levels recently.

Singapore's housing loans grew at an annual rate of 12.1 per cent between 2000 and 2012, but picked up pace in recent years to grow at an annual rate of 15.8 per cent between 2006 and 2012.

"If the economy slows and unemployment rises, debt servicing may become difficult for people who are over-leveraged and lose their jobs," said Stanchart economist Edward Lee.

"A rise in interest rates from historically low levels could have a similar effect."

As an example, if home loan rates rise from 0.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent, the monthly repayment for a $390,000 loan for 30 years on a Housing Board flat would climb from about $1,200 to about $1,800, Mr Lee said.

Assuming average monthly incomes for the 10 per cent of households just below the middle line in Singapore stay at about $7,600, their debt service ratio for this loan will rise from 16 per cent to 24 per cent.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has recognised the risk of rising rates and last week introduced caps on total debt service ratios for property buyers. They can only take new mortgages where the total monthly repayments, including other outstanding debt obligations, do not exceed 60 per cent of their monthly income.

Singapore 'behind others' in managing waste: Waste Management Symposium 2013

Firms yet to adopt new technology that uses space and labour efficiently

By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 3 Jul 2013

SINGAPORE lags behind other developed countries when it comes to waste management, a symposium on the subject was told yesterday.

Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS) chairman Jerome Baco said the industry employs 12,000 staff and occupies 517ha but processes just 1.6 tonnes of waste per worker per day - half of Taiwan's productivity and a third of Japan's. Firms are not using new technologies, which are costly but space- and labour-efficient, he told the second Waste Management Symposium at Singapore Expo.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan also said the Republic can do "so much more" to improve its waste management record.

Speaking as guest of honour, he said the National Environment Agency and the association have been working since last November to develop new standards, training and technology for the sector.

If productivity can be lifted, then fewer workers will be needed and they can be paid more, Dr Balakrishnan said.

The lack of public participation in recycling is also a problem with household waste like plastic and food often being incinerated and going to landfill.

Each year, 803,400 tonnes of plastic waste is generated, making it fourth among the top five waste streams, after ferrous metals, construction debris and paper or cardboard, which all have higher recycling rates. Just 10 per cent of plastic is recycled, a rate that has stayed the same since 2001.

NS officer gets SAF Medal for Distinguished Act for exceptional courage at SAF Day Parade 2013

He pulled recruit, who froze during training, away from exploding grenade

By Lim Yan Liang, The Straits Times, 2 Jul 2013

A SOLDIER recruit pulled out the grenade's safety pin but accidentally released its lever. In six seconds, the bomb would explode. Alas, he froze, the explosive nestled in his palm.

Second-Lieutenant Kamalasivam Shanmuganathan, 25, who was beside the recruit, told him calmly to get rid of the grenade.

"Throw. You have to throw," were the words he remembered saying. "If I used more words, I'd have just confused myself, as well as the man. I had to remain calm," he recalled yesterday.

It worked. The grenade was tossed, detonating in mid-air, as he dragged the rookie to the ground, taking cover behind a safety barrier. He sustained a shoulder injury while the recruit hurt a finger.

For his bravery, the officer yesterday received from Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen the Singapore Armed Forces Medal for Distinguished Act, which recognises individuals who show exceptional courage over regard for their personal safety.

He is only the eighth man to have received the medal, and the second NSF after 2nd Lt Kok Khew Fai in 2008, who had shielded a recruit also during a hand-grenade exercise.

The award, given out during the 3,000-strong annual SAF Day parade yesterday evening, where President Tony Tan Keng Yam was the guest of honour, is one of the highest state honours, and also puts 2nd Lt Kamalasivam in the ranks of officers who have been deployed to conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

"2nd Lt Kamalasivam has demonstrated true bravery and courage to protect his recruit and his quick action averted more serious injury to the recruit," SAF Basic Military Training Centre commander Simon Lim said at the time of the incident.

The award was the highlight of SAF Day, which also saw Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hailing the soldiers, saying in a Facebook post that they give "our people reassurance, confidence and help when most needed, such as during the recent haze."

Asean reaffirms commitment to fight haze

Senior officials directed to consolidate initiatives, propose preventive steps

By Leonard Lim, The Straits Times, 1 Jul 2013

ASEAN yesterday showed its resolve to tackle the haze that has choked the region in recent weeks, by directing its senior officials to both consolidate current initiatives and recommend steps to prevent a recurrence.

A joint communique issued after the 10 foreign ministers met here also said there would be a progress report on these efforts to top leaders at the next ASEAN summit in October.

ASEAN also reaffirmed its commitment to establish effective monitoring, rapid response and firefighting systems. It called on countries which have not ratified a 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution - Indonesia is the only one - to do so "expeditiously".

The consensus was worked out by foreign ministers from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia during an informal meeting last Saturday, and agreed to by the rest during yesterday's ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.

Last Saturday's meeting, which involved the three countries worst hit by the haze, took place at the suggestion of Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam. He said the haze paragraph in the communique focuses on "the importance of putting out the fires, of monitoring, verifying to prevent recurrences in the future".

Details have yet to be worked out but Singapore has emphasised as recently as a week ago that the long-term solution is for Indonesian farmers to adopt a more sustainable method of clearing plantations.

While it may not be possible to totally stop poor farmers from slash-and-burn practices, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Facebook that it "should be easy" to prevent commercial plantation owners from doing so next year.

"With satellite technology, new laws if necessary, and political will, smoking guns can be identified, confiscated and made to pay if they are fired," he wrote, on a day when the Pollutant Standards Index in Singapore fell to its lowest level in a fortnight.

Separately, Mr Shanmugam said Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia had also agreed on a trilateral process where officials will look at what is happening on the ground and make recommendations on the way forward. These officials could come from the foreign affairs and environment ministries, and Indonesia's forestry ministry. The group will also give an update at the Asean summit.

New SAF cyber unit to fight online threats: Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen's SAF Day 2013 interview

First of its kind in S-E Asia, it allows SAF to boost surveillance, networks

By Jermyn Chow, The Straits Times, 1 Jul 2013

AMID the growing threat of online attacks by spies and hackers, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is bringing together its cyber security experts under a new command.

Called the Cyber Defence Operations Hub, it is the first of its kind in South-east Asia, with Indonesia still working to create its own cyber defence force.

The newly formed unit allows SAF to monitor cyber threats around the clock and beef up its networks against virtual attacks.

These computer networks support SAF's surveillance equipment, weapons, engineering and logistics systems.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who announced this in an interview ahead of SAF Day today, said such attacks are "increasing in frequency, potency and can create great damage".

On the new command, Dr Ng said: "It allows us to have command and control structures, because when you want to respond, who responds? What is the response plan? It may cut across agencies. It may cut across different forces, different services."

Previously, cyber security experts worked independently within the army, navy and air force.

Fewer kidney transplants despite donor rule changes

179 transplants took place from 2010 to 2012, down from 225 previously

By Melissa Pang, The Straits Times, 1 Jul 2013

IN THE three years since the Government allowed the use of organs from deceased donors above 60 years of age, the number of kidney transplants here has actually gone down.

This is also despite the green light being given in 2009 to paired donations, in which a donor, whose kidney is not a match for a relative, gives it to someone else who also has a relative willing to give up a kidney.

There were 225 kidney transplants from living and deceased donors in the 2007 to 2009 period. This dropped to 179 in the period from 2010 to last year. In the last three-year period, the waiting list for a kidney grew by 45 people, bringing the total to the current 457.

Worldwide, Singapore has the second-highest incidence of kidney failure due to diabetes, increasing the need for donor organs here.

This was why the Government relaxed the Human Organ Transplant Act in 2009 and lifted the age cap for cadaveric donors.

At the time, the Health Ministry estimated that the change could lead to about 10 to 12 additional organ donors each year.

Instead, the amendment has resulted in just 12 more donors since 2009.

With the number of kidney patients expected to grow and the shrinking number of donors, hospitals have had to use other potential deceased donor pools.

Someone to appeal to our better angels

Icons like Mandela and The Lady soothe and unite rather than divide

By Zuraidah Ibrahim, The Sunday Times, 30 Jun 2013

As South Africa continues to hold vigils for its fading father figure, the rest of the world too feels a sense of impending loss.

Mr Nelson Mandela, more than any other living hero, epitomises the power of hope over adversity. His life story brushes aside the barriers of cynicism. For if he could shrug off 27 years of imprisonment by a violent, racist regime and work with his former enemies to build a united, democratic nation, what excuse could anyone else have to surrender to despair and doubt.

After his release in 1990, you could have expected to see an angry, world-weary figure. But, in 1992, when a group of Singaporean journalists accompanied Mr Lee Kuan Yew to South Africa, we were greeted instead by a man with bright, shining eyes, a ready broad smile and an infectious laugh that belied his stolen years.

Of course, Mr Mandela had his doubters, with many pessimists noting that his party had no experience in managing the economy when he went on to become president.

Who would deny, though, the historic role that Mr Mandela played in one of the most inspiring democratic revolutions of the 20th century. By choosing reconciliation over retribution, he gave post-conflict societies a template for lasting peace.

Closer to home, that template is being applied in Myanmar. Once again, a key role is being played not just by a leader of the old regime who recognises that change is inevitable - President Thein Sein, who like South Africa's F. W. De Klerk has decided to move with the times rather than be crushed by them - but also by its most high-profile victim.

Both President and former prisoner of conscience appeared before the international media earlier this month when the World Economic Forum met in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw. No prizes for guessing who the star of the show was.

Do S'porean workers deserve their wages?

By Han Fook Kwang, The Sunday Times, 30 Jun 2013

Do Singaporeans deserve the salaries they are paid?

That was the pointed question posed by a reader responding to a piece I wrote on how median wages had stagnated in recent years despite a growing economy (The Sunday Times, June 16).

He didn't think it was surprising because, to put it bluntly, that's what they deserve.

This was how he put it, which I'm quoting extensively because his perspective is worth airing even if it's painful to hear:

"Singapore's median income of $3,000 per month is fairly high if converted to local currencies of neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, India and China. Does the average Singaporean worker deserve this premium?

"Is he/she really more analytical, creative, articulate and productive than our Asian counterparts let alone those in the developed countries of Switzerland and Germany?

"My experience and that of many of my friends and colleagues who have tried recruiting Singaporeans in this income bracket does not bear this out.

"For a start, many local graduates... have a hard time conversing in good English... Because of this, they generally tend to be poor communicators and lack the confidence to interact in group situations.

"The other weak area is reasoning and critical thinking skills... Many Singaporeans looked great on paper but had great difficulty with case interviews where one needs to think on one's feet.

"The problem is further exacerbated by every local's dream to work in an office job in a nice central location. So, unlike in Australia or the US where people try to pursue their passion and maximise their inherent skills be it as a teacher, welder or nurse, here even someone who has trouble stringing together two sentences sees himself as a marketing manager in a multinational corporation (MNC).

"Singapore is not a developed country in the sense of Japan or Germany or Switzerland where the average worker is well-trained and of high quality...

"The German engineer is behind scores of world-class SMEs that populate various small towns across Germany. Ditto for Japan and Switzerland... The SME boss in Woodlands and Bukit Batok is not competing with SMEs in the US and Japan but with those in China and Vietnam.

"Singapore's high GDP is not because of high-quality local workers and companies but because of the more than 7,000 MNCs that use this as a hub to produce world- class products and services. This crucial difference needs to be kept in mind."

Ouch! That's how I felt, like having cold water splashed after being slapped hard in the face.

The truth hurts especially when it's conveyed by a foreigner who has had more than 10 years' experience working here and is now a citizen.

He isn't alone in making these points.

Govt exploring options for fairer hiring practices

At dialogue, it seeks participants' views on measures used elsewhere for hiring locals, foreigners

By Andrea Ong, The Sunday Times, 30 Jun 2013

A national conversation session yesterday shed light on the options the Government is exploring to get employers to give Singaporeans fair consideration for jobs.

Some 40 participants - including employers and employees from various sectors - were asked for their views on practices in three economies even as Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin promised changes to the current system.

These changes will seek to address concerns that foreigners are being preferred over Singaporeans for jobs.

At yesterday's session on jobs, facilitators gave presentations on measures used by the United Kingdom, the United States and Hong Kong in three specific areas: demonstrating efforts to recruit locals for jobs, giving justifications for hiring foreigners and showing that locals have not been displaced.

A good number of participants plumped for Hong Kong's practice of requiring employers to give reasons for recruiting a foreigner to fill a vacancy, and the US practice of employers declaring that they have taken steps in "good faith" to recruit locals.

But participants were also divided on the effectiveness of such moves. Some were in favour of having concrete laws to protect Singaporeans while others noted that employers may find a way around the system or that overly rigid rules might affect companies' competitiveness.

In his wrap-up speech, Mr Tan said: "Many of these countries go through some hoops and hurdles. It looks good on paper but does it completely eradicate things? No, it doesn't. But should we leave it completely open as we are today? I would say no. We need to do something."

More living to 100 years old in Singapore

Access to medical care extending twilight years but quality of life is a worry for some

By Theresa Tan, The Sunday Times, 30 Jun 2013

The centenarian club used to be really exclusive, but its membership has ballooned in the past two decades.

From just 71 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 100 and older in 1990, the country counted an estimated 900 centenarians as of June last year, according to latest data from the Department of Statistics.

In the past decade alone, their ranks almost quadrupled from 232 in 2000, the department's spokesman told The Sunday Times.

The surge comes as the World Health Organisation ranked Singapore as having the world's fourth longest life expectancy last month.

Japan, Switzerland and San Marino all tied for the top spot, with an average life span of 83 years in 2011, compared to 82 years for Singapore.

Experts on ageing interviewed described the jump in the number of centenarians as dramatic.

They attributed this to medical advances in treating diseases and prolonging life. Singaporeans generally can afford good medical and other types of care, adding to their years of life.

Sociologist Angelique Chan said: "We may be keeping more people alive past 100, but what is their quality of life?"

Associate Professor Ng Tze Pin said that most centenarians will face some health problems and have difficulties with daily activities, such as walking, feeding and going to the toilet themselves.

The coordinator of the Gerontology Research Programme at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine added that more than half will also suffer from dementia.

The latest data showed that two in three centenarians are women.

Braving rain, haze and snubs to sell tissue

Many peddlers are unable to get proper jobs due to old age, health

By Lim Min Zhang And Debbie Lee, The Straits Times, 28 Jun 2013

TISSUE peddler Chia Chong Yong, 75, wears a Santa Claus hat and adorns his motorised wheelchair with sprays of artificial cherry blossoms and a Singapore flag.

"I like to decorate it nicely, so it's more eye-catching," he said. He was born without a right leg and has been selling tissue paper outside Tiong Bahru MRT station for five years. He also uses an old-fashioned bicycle horn to chase "competitors" away.



Unlicensed hawking is illegal in Singapore. The National Environment Agency (NEA), though, acknowledges that there are some among the illegal hawkers who are genuinely needy.

It works with the relevant authorities to help such cases, said an NEA spokesman. From 2004 until now, the agency has issued 390 licences for peddlers, of which 11 are for tissue-paper sellers.

Mr Chia was the only licensed peddler out of 12 The Straits Times found at hawker centres, near MRT stations and other busy spots. He has been accepted as part of the Singapore scene for many years, though many of his peers are often ignored and sometimes even shunned.

Some are itinerant sellers while others peddle their wares at one spot. Most brave rain, haze and other occupational hazards.

Tracing the history of Chinese immigrants: Lee Khoon Choy

Book tells the story of how they helped shape the socio-political landscape of S-E Asia

By Leong Weng Kam, The Sunday Times, 30 Jun 2013

Back in the 1930s when Lee Khoon Choy was a seven-year-old enrolled in Primary 1 at St Mark's School in Butterworth, he was puzzled why the Peranakans (descendants of Chinese immigrants who married local Malay or Indian women) could not speak, read or write Chinese even though they followed many Chinese customs and cultural practices.

He would have become one of them, he says, if not for a quick switch from the Catholic school to the Chinese-medium Yeok Keow School there - much against his father's wishes.

"I didn't know why, but I just felt very uncomfortable with the environment at St Mark's where Chinese wasn't taught," he says.

The former senior minister of state and retired diplomat, an old guard of the People's Action Party (PAP), remembers that his late father Lee Kim Fook, then a wealthy rubber plantation owner and philanthropist in Penang, chased him out of the house with a broom for leaving St Mark's, the school which most well-to-do Chinese families wanted their children to attend.

"My father, a former Customs officer for the British colonial government, sent me and all my other siblings - 11 brothers and five sisters - to English-medium schools because he believed that our futures depended on our mastery of the English language, not Chinese," says Mr Lee, now 89. A full-time author, he has been writing both in English and Chinese since retiring from politics in 1984, and as a business consultant a few years ago.

His tiff with his father was resolved after the Chinese school's principal spoke up for him, and the elder Mr Lee, who incidentally was also the school management board chairman, later gave his blessings.

"But I became the black sheep of the family as all my other siblings never learnt Chinese," says Mr Lee.

He went on to the prestigious Chung Ling High School in Penang before becoming a journalist - first with Sin Chew Jit Poh in Malaysia in 1946, and in the newspaper's Singapore office in 1949.

He left journalism in 1959, when he was a reporter with The Straits Times, and contested successfully in the general election that same year as a PAP candidate. The party won by a landslide to form the government.

He believes that his switch to a Chinese-medium school helped sow the seeds for what has become his 11th and latest book: Golden Dragon And Purple Phoenix.

It traces the history of Chinese immigrants in 10 South-east Asian countries, including Singapore, and tells of how they intermingled, integrated and assimilated into their respective local communities and helped shape the region's socio-political landscape today.