Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Lastly, on rethinking the CDC Voucher Scheme. In my 2024 and the recent 2025 Budget debate speeches, I highlighted that while the CDC Vouchers Scheme has provided some support for Singaporeans amidst the high cost of living, the support rendered is broad-based, with low-income households receiving the same payout as that of a millionaire CEO. Moreover, users may face difficulties when redeeming their CDC Vouchers due to its fixed denomination and expiry dates.
In lieu of the CDC Vouchers Scheme, the Government could leverage the existing Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS), Merdeka Generation and Pioneer Generation schemes to provide discounts for cardholders at merchants, hawkers and supermarkets that currently accept CDC Vouchers. The list of participating merchants could also be expanded to include food courts within privately owned commercial properties and pharmacies located within HDB estates. The rebate provided could vary based on the colour of one’s CHAS card, with blue CHAS cardholders receiving the largest discount quantum, along with Merdeka and Pioneer Generation cardholders.
Such a programme is not new. Discounts for CHAS, Merdeka and Pioneer Generation cardholders have been offered by establishments, such as FairPrice, Unity and store holders within certain hawker centres. Under the new scheme, however, these rebates will be borne by the Government instead, in a more equitable manner.
Through this scheme, greater support will be rendered to low to middle-income households and residents compared to high net worth individuals. Furthermore, Government support could also be easily accessed by those experiencing difficulties obtaining CDC Vouchers via the appeal processes.
By expanding the CHAS, Merdeka and Pioneer Generation programme to provide discounts for daily necessities, the cost-of-living pressures faced by Singaporeans could be easily, equitably, elegantly and efficiently paid.
Mr Speaker: Ms Indranee Rajah.
The Second Minister for Finance (Ms Indranee Rajah): Thank you, Mr Chairman. Before I do my reply, I just wish to seek a clarification from Mr Louis Chua so that I can respond to his cut properly. In his cut, as I understand it, he mentioned CDC Vouchers being applicable to all. And then, he went into a scheme where you would have benefits according to CHAS.
But what I was not sure was whether he was calling for the CDC Voucher Scheme to be stopped completely, or whether he is saying that the CDC Voucher Scheme should be limited only to the low-income, because in the gist of the cut that he filed, he had said that rather than giving CDC Vouchers to all, we should return to the roots of CDC Vouchers, which was meant to support low-income families. So, I just was not sure of what Mr Chua’s position was.
The Chairman: Mr Louis Chua.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: Chairman, just to respond to Minister’s questions. Indeed, I also mentioned in the Budget speech I gave earlier that that was the evolution of the CDC Voucher Scheme. Originally, it was lower-, middle-income households. And then, we went and basically gave it to all households.
So, what I am proposing here is to make use of what we already have, in terms of the CHAS card kind of requirements, such that the scheme from hereon evolves into one focused on where we started out – be focused on the lower-, middle-income households and those who qualify for these additional subsidies.
Ms Indranee Rajah: Yes, Mr Chairman, that is what I am trying to ascertain. So, is Mr Chua saying, stop the CDC Vouchers and then move over completely to this new scheme? Or is Mr Chua saying, keep CDC Vouchers in its present form and then, in addition, have this new scheme.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: Chairman. I think that that is an option which that the Ministry can consider. Whether or not we want to go back to the original CDC Vouchers; I am not sure how exactly did the original CDC Vouchers select the Singaporeans who are eligible. But the whole idea is that this is another option in which we can go back to that sort of system, whereby the so-called CDC Vouchers are given to those who are in the lower-, middle-income households.
Ms Indranee Rajah: Mr Chairman, I am not sure that exactly answered my question but that is alright. I will deal with it when I come to the reply.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: Second, specific to Minister Indranee’s point about the CDC Vouchers, I take her point that, yes, the cost of living hits everyone. But the point that I was trying to make is that it does not hit everyone the same, which is why, if you look at the $800 worth of vouchers, to a lower-income household versus a high-income household, it is a very different percentage of their expenditure.
That is why in my gist and also in my main Budget speech yesterday, what I was saying is that we need to have a more targeted approach. An example which I have given in delivering the cut was to maybe leverage on the CHAS card scheme, because you already have the Blue CHAS card holders, Orange and Green. The different income groups, is quite nicely partitioned that way. So, that is something that we can leverage on. The question then is, would the Minister not agree that this is more in line with how the Government generally directs assistance packages?
Ms Indranee Rajah: Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Chua for his clarification. There is perhaps not that much difference really in what we are looking at.
Mr Chua’s point is that different people have different incomes, so you should give more to those who have less. I think that is the point, and that has consistently been the Government’s position. I do not understand Mr Chua to be saying, do not give the others anything, right? So, that too, is common ground, because Mr Chua is not saying, “do not give the middle-income” and “do not give the higher-income”. At least, I understand that to be the case.
So, if those are the two positions, then, when you look at it, that is what we are doing, because for the targeted assistance which we do have, you have the entire Assurance Package and you have GST Vouchers. So, the GST Vouchers, the lower-income households get more and the seniors get more; the middle-income will get, but not as much. Then, we give retirees Silver Support over and above right. And then, even for the U-Save utilities, the rental flats get more.
So, you can see that we have a slew of programmes which are targeted. But at the same time, everybody is feeling the pain of cost of living. PAP Members have spoken about it. Mr Dennis Tan spoke about it in the Cost-of-living Motion. He highlighted the middle-income. Yesterday, Mr Faisal Manap talked about the middle-income. Today, in clarification, the Leader of the Opposition also highlighted middle-income. And even the higher-income is saying they feel that things are more expensive.
So, it is necessary to also have something for everyone, because we empathise with how they feel. And therefore, you will have some things which are broad-based, like the CDC Vouchers. Essentially, we want to have both.
That said, the suggestion of using CHAS is fair enough, because, as I think Mr Chua knows, when the CDC Vouchers were originally introduced, they were pegged to CHAS as a means of targeting those who had less. But because the pain on the ground at that time was quite a lot, we wanted to help everybody and hence, CDC Vouchers were made universal. But that does not take away from the fact that we have targeted schemes. And it also does not preclude the fact that perhaps for CHAS, we can also leverage that to see how we can triangulate better.
Ministry of Finance
28 February 2025
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2577
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 