leaderopposition

COS 2021: National Research Foundation

Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): The National Research Foundation is responsible for directing a huge amount of Government spending. The Research Innovation and Enterprise RIE 2025 Plan announced in December 2020 plans for investments of $25 billion between 2021 and 2025. In other countries, we do hear anecdotally how government-supported R&D initiatives help seed IP toContinue reading “COS 2021: National Research Foundation”

COS 2021: Case for an Independent Fiscal Council

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Chairman, fiscal councils are agencies staffed by professional civil servants which evaluate policy proposals to provide budgetary implications. To-date, there almost 40 fiscal councils worldwide concentrated among advanced economies. Some are comparatively older. The Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis dates back to just after the end of theContinue reading “COS 2021: Case for an Independent Fiscal Council”

COS 2021: Option for PIN-only Bank Cards

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Hougang): Mr Chairperson, there has been a concerted effort to educate and encourage all seniors to go digital. While such projects, like Seniors Go Digital and Hawkers Go Digital, are highly commendable, there must be the awareness of the gap between the availability of technology and the people using it. ContactlessContinue reading “COS 2021: Option for PIN-only Bank Cards”

Parliament: Budget 2021 Speech

Introduction Mr Speaker, as in recent years, Budget 2021 reflects not just the Government’s priorities for this financial year, but the Government’s medium-term direction as well. In my view, many schemes in the Budget are a continuation of a strategic agenda laid out in previous years, or are jigsaw pieces of a longer-term plan fleshedContinue reading “Parliament: Budget 2021 Speech”

NUMBER OF PIRACY INCIDENTS IN STRAITS OF SINGAPORE IN 2020

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport (a) in 2020, what is the number of piracy incidents in the Straits of Singapore; (b) how does this compare with the frequency of piracy incidents over the past three years; and (c) what efforts are underway to ensure that there will be a reduction of suchContinue reading “NUMBER OF PIRACY INCIDENTS IN STRAITS OF SINGAPORE IN 2020”

PROPORTION OF OUTSOURCED WORKERS IN HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State. I have one question. Does the Ministry make it a requirement for service providers to extend work injury compensation to outsourced healthcare workers? Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, can I just clarify if the Member is asking about compensation by the hospitalsContinue reading “PROPORTION OF OUTSOURCED WORKERS IN HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS”

PROGRESS OF NATION-WIDE COVID-19 VACCINATION PROGRAMME

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the update. Two questions. The first, pertaining to the certification of the Moderna and Sinovac vaccines, does the Senior Minister of State have any update on those timelines? The second question is picking up from Mr Alex Yam’s first supplementary question: is theContinue reading “PROGRESS OF NATION-WIDE COVID-19 VACCINATION PROGRAMME”

TRACKING OF POLICE’S PERFORMANCE IN INVESTIGATING AND SOLVING CRIMES INVOLVING ONLINE SCAMS

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how does the Police track its performance in investigating and solving crimes involving online scams; and (b) in cases where bank accounts of recipients of scam monies have been frozen by the authorities in Singapore, what are the impediments to expeditiously returning victims’ monies. Mr K Shanmugam: TheContinue reading “TRACKING OF POLICE’S PERFORMANCE IN INVESTIGATING AND SOLVING CRIMES INVOLVING ONLINE SCAMS”

EARLY MAIL-IN BALLOTS FROM OVERSEAS VOTERS TO ENSURE OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS’ PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Prime Minister whether the Government can consider early mail-in ballots from overseas voters to ensure that overseas Singaporeans are also able to participate in elections. Mr Chan Chun Sing (for the Prime Minister): Overseas Singaporeans are already able to participate in our elections via voting at overseas polling stations. There areContinue reading “EARLY MAIL-IN BALLOTS FROM OVERSEAS VOTERS TO ENSURE OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS’ PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS”

CLARIFICATION BY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (TRACETOGETHER)

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I did not expect Minister to issue this statement at this current point in time, but I think it behoves me to ask some questions. I thank Minister for acknowledging that the CPC was not really in his contemplation when that statement was made. I think Minister hasContinue reading “CLARIFICATION BY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (TRACETOGETHER)”