Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Singapore’s foreign policy towards the US and China has been one where we have reiterated that we do not wish to choose sides and want to retain the ability to make choices for ourselves. Our Prime Minister has even implored both Beijing and Washington to stabilise the US-China relationship andContinue reading “COS 2021: Relationship with US and China”
Category Archives: MPs
COS 2021: Myanmar Coup
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Thank you. Mr Chairman, Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan recently responded to questions on the situation in Myanmar. Following the coup by the Tatmadaw. He stated that an escalation of the situation will have serious consequences for both Myanmar and the region. Indeed, reports that developments remain highly fluid contraryContinue reading “COS 2021: Myanmar Coup”
COS 2021: Scams Involving Bank Customers
Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Chairman, Sir, it has been heart-wrenching for us in this House to see our residents being scammed of their hard-earned monies. Many are elderly and have little avenue to earn money lost. As Singapore moves towards widespread adoption of digital payments, the risks are heightened. As the money scammed are usuallyContinue reading “COS 2021: Scams Involving Bank Customers”
COS 2021: Corruption in Singapore
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, a Straits Times article in December last year provided a snapshot into the state of corruption in Singapore today. One of the opening lines was, and I quote, “Many people are heedless of the corruption that exists in squeaky clean Singapore, but graft remains prevalent.” Over the last three toContinue reading “COS 2021: Corruption in Singapore”
COS 2021: Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty Remission for Married Couples
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Chairman, with a 9% increase in private residential volumes in 2020 despite the absence of foreign buyers and despite COVID-19, the Singaporean aspirations of upgrading from public to private property is stronger than ever. Aspirations for better housing is particularly pertinent for residents aged 35 and below, with 73% aspiringContinue reading “COS 2021: Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty Remission for Married Couples”
COS 2021: SGX Sustainability Reporting
Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, the MAS-regulated Singapore Stock Exchange currently has a “comply and explain” policy on sustainability reporting for its listed companies, which was first announced in 2016. It presents a range of internationally accepted standards which companies are encouraged to choose and follow, but are not mandatory. This has resulted inContinue reading “COS 2021: SGX Sustainability Reporting”
COS 2021: Sovereign Wealth Funds and Green Investments
Mr Leon Perera: Mr Chairman, I am heartened by the growing passion and quality of debate inside and outside this House regarding our climate challenges. Our sovereign wealth funds as global players should rightfully play a leading role in the effort to decarbonise. We could kickstart this by having our Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) adopt theContinue reading “COS 2021: Sovereign Wealth Funds and Green Investments”
COS 2021: Reserves Draw-downs
Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, the reserves consist of various classes of assets held by Temasek, GIC and the MAS, if we are to exclude land banks. During typical economic crises some asset value such as equities may fall on the whole. This is fairly typical. If a result draw-down is financed by liquidating assetsContinue reading “COS 2021: Reserves Draw-downs”
COS 2021: Performance of Sovereign Wealth Funds
Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, Temasek and GIC, no doubt compare their performance against various global market indices and other standards of performance internally. It would be useful for these Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) to publish these comparisons in the analysis for the reasons for better assessment of their performance. In fact, it wouldContinue reading “COS 2021: Performance of Sovereign Wealth Funds”
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”
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 