Parliamentary Snapshots (21 July 08)

July 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Parliament

Look at security lapses in perspective: Shanmugam

Second Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament on Monday 21 July that while steps will be taken to deal with recent security lapses, something else is also needed: Perspective.

Mr K. Shanmugam, making his maiden speech as a minister, painted a picture of the complex climate the Home Team is working in and urged Singaporeans to see the lapses in this context.

‘Our officers must not be made to become risk-averse and avoid making judgements for fear of being wrong’, said Shanmugam (ST Online Article, 21 July)

The minister said the officers who make mistakes or who are liable must be taken to task. But he cautioned against over-reacting, saying ‘We have to ensure that in our judgement there [is] fairness, a sense of proportion and justice, and adherence to established due processes.’

EDITOR’s COMMENT: Since K. Shanmugam has professed that perspective is needed, then why was the majority of the blame for Mas Selamat’s escape pinned on junior officers? Surely the highly unfortunate series of coincidences that took place and the lapses committed on the day of the escape shows that the event cannot be pinned entirely on human error on the part of subordinates who are supposed to merely follow orders and directives.

In my opinion, a clear and unbiased perspective will reveal that culpability should be traced all the way to the top, to DPM Wong Kan Seng himself, who in his 14 year stint as Minister of Home Affairs, has allowed complacency to seep into the operational culture of ISD.

Keeping gridlock-free roads vital to vibrant economy: Transport Minister Raymond Lim

Keeping Singapore’s roads smooth-flowing is vital to a vibrant and productive economy, said Transport Minister Raymond Lim on Monday in Parliament.

Raymond Lim used this argument to justify why it would not be be prudent to freeze the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges — even in these times of escalating fuel prices and rising cost of living — as this does not mean that the motorists will incur no costs.

‘The costs are there except that it is hidden in the form of time lost and extra fuel consumed being stuck in traffic,’ Raymond Lim said in Parliament when replying to questions from two MPs who had asked for a freeze in ERP charges until of cost of living for the average Singaporean has stabilised and deferrment of more ERP gantries in view of the rising fuel prices. (ST Online Article, 21 July)

‘At a time of economic stress, it is important that we ensure that our economy remains vibrant and productive. One critical way to ensure this is to act decisively to prevent our roads from being gridlocked.’

Mr Lim said freezing ERP changes will lead to further traffic build-up on the roads.

EDITOR’s COMMENT: I will leave readers to decide for themselves the merits or lack thereof of Raymond Lim’s points.

Singapore plans new measures to boost birth rate

The Government is working on a slew of new measures aimed at boosting the city-state’s flagging birth rate, include more financial support for parents and policies to encourage a pro-family environment in the workplace, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said in parliament.

Singapore has observed the policies of industrialised countries such as Sweden and Denmark, which are enjoying high fertility rates with the introduction of generous social benefits, but will not be completely employing the same measures, he said.

‘The Nordic countries in particular have generous family benefits to support couples in having and raising children… they have provided some useful learning points,’ said Mr Wong. (ST Online Article, 21 July)

‘If we are to offer a same level of social subsidies as in the Nordic countries, we will have to raise our taxes very significantly,’ he said.

Mr Wong said Singapore will ‘have to decide what works for us based on what we can afford and our local context.’

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Comments

4 Comments on Parliamentary Snapshots (21 July 08)

Pondefecator on Mon, 21st Jul 2008 11:44 pm

Ah! parliament in full song again with the newest member singing in perfect pitch.

“Our officers must not be made to become risk- averse and avoid making judgements for fear of being wrong”.

Please correct my rudimentary understanding of the written word. Does “must not be made to” mean prior to the Mas Selamat case, home team officers are not as said “risk-averse and avoid making judgements for fear of being wrong”?

According to MHA’s account of the escape,did not the Gurkha guards upon sensing that something is not quite right, first approached an operative who then went looking for a supervisor and only then was some real work done and as it turned out a wee bit on the side of being too late.

So the million dollar question. What comes first? The chicken or the egg?

The last time I checked, Singapore is still just a small island masquerading as a nation. PERSPECTIVE.

“Complex climate”. How complex is it to keep an individual under lock and key. This entity had kept one for nearly thirty years without incident.

And they want the people to have more children.

Gary Teoh on Tue, 22nd Jul 2008 10:38 am

They want Swede Way of living, I can tell you it will never happen in LKY’s life, he is still dreaming of Swede dream from 1959 until 2008. Almost 50 years, he said: two is enough, his son said : three is better, I say No Way !!!

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 22 Jul 2008 on Tue, 22nd Jul 2008 11:17 am

[...] 21 Jul 2008 – Sgpolitics.net: Look at security lapses in perspective: Shanmugam – Siew Kum Hong: Speech on “Security Lapses and Public Confidence”: 21 July 2008 – [...]

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 30 on Sat, 26th Jul 2008 11:50 am

[...] 21 Jul 2008 – Sgpolitics.net: Look at security lapses in perspective: Shanmugam – Siew Kum Hong: Speech on “Security Lapses and Public Confidence”: 21 July 2008 – [...]

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