Singapore Government PRESS RELEASE Media Division, Ministry of Information & The Arts, 36th Storey. PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 0511. Tel 2799794/5 Embargoed Until After Delivery Please Check Against Delivery SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER IN PARLIAMENT ON TUESDAY. 18 JAN 94 Review of 1993 I look back on 1993 with some satisfaction. Our economy grew strongly. It was the best performance since 1988. 2 We also put in place policies which will sustain our robust growth - going regional, tax reform through the GST, autonomous schools, health care reform, and raising retirement age to 60. 3 We introduced practical schemes to increase Singaporeans' assets - upgrading HDB flats, selling HDB shops to create a new class of commercial property owners, the CPF Share Top-up Scheme, selling Singapore Telecom Group 'A' shares to make Singapore a nation of share-owners. 4 The upgrading of HDB flats and sale of HDB shops are one-off programmes: the recipients benefit only once, although the programmes will be stretched out over a number of years. In contrast, the CPF Share Top-up Scheme and the sale of shares of privatised statutory boards will benefit Singaporeans each time the economy does exceptionally well, and each time we privatise another statutory board. 5 We will periodically top-up Singaporeans' CPF accounts, provided we enjoy good growth and exceptional budget surplus. This will achieve two objectives: one, increase the assets of Singaporeans, and two, bring home the message that our individual prosperity is linked to the collective prosperity of the nation. If all of us work together to increase the wealth of the country, a portion of it will be redistributed to the people in the form of CPF Top-up or shares sold at a discount. This way, Singaporeans will understand, in a most vivid way, the linkage between their personal contribution and the country's collective performance - because better national performance brings dividends for each and every one of us. 4 Strengthening Cabinet 6 I have one big regret for 1993 - the loss of many good men from Cabinet: the late Dr Tay Eng Soon, Ahmad Mattar, Ong Teng Cheong, Dhanabalan. And later this year, Yeo Ning Hong and Ker Sin Tze. Their departure from Cabinet, along with Tony Tan's, has left a gaping hole in Cabinet. 7 My priority is to build up the younger Ministers quickly. They will be tested and stretched, groomed and developed. They will take on more responsibilities and in many instances, double ministries. Singaporeans who think that Ministers are overpaid should bear this in mind. We do not appoint Ministers just to fill vacancies. We appoint them only when we think they can carry their own weight, and pay, as Ministers. And when they take on two Ministries, they do not get double pay. The savings go to the government. 8 We all know George Yeo's qualities. He is an ideas man, a conceptualizer, an effective communicator. He looks at problems from a fresh perspective, and has built up MITA from scratch into an influential ministry. But MITA's line responsibilities do not include many painful policies, like COEs or medical cost increases. Now that George Yeo is in charge of the Health Ministry, in addition to MITA, he will have to show that he can implement unpopular policies, persuade Singaporeans to accept bitter medicine, and be tough enough to absorb and counter public criticism. He has already started, with yesterday's Ministerial statement on Medishield Plus and CO-PAY ASSIST. 9 George knows why I sent him to the Health Ministry. He accepted the challenge. 10 Lim Hng Kiang in a way is a contrast of George Yeo. He is a very effective nuts and bolts man, quick, impatient and decisive. He does not share George's keen interest in history and abstract ideas. His posting to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will give him a new dimension. 11 Teo Chee Hean is a cross of George Yeo and Lim Hng Kiang. He has impressed with his chairmanship of the Committee To Promote Overseas Enterprise. Come July, he will help Lee Boon Yang in the Ministry of Defence. After he has proven himself, which I think he will, I hope to appoint him to succeed Lee Boon Yang as Minister for Defence. 3 12 Abdullah Tarmugi has moved quickly, quietly and confidently to fill the vacuum in the Malay leadership. He is reaching out to the Malay grassroots leaders, and unifying the different factions to work for the common good of the Malay community. But he has to show that he can both run a Ministry as well as lead the Malays before he is made a Minister. 13 I believe Lim Hng Kiang, Teo Chee Hean and Abdullah Tarmugi have the potential to be Ministers. 14 Barring unforeseen circumstances, like ill health, the present Cabinet members will realise Vision 1999 for Singapore, and see it into the 21st Century. u 15 But we will still need to find 3 or 4 new Ministers before the next GE. We need to lighten the load of those Ministers with dual ministries as well as to prepare a new crop who can take over from the older Ministers in the 21st Century. This is a national priority, not just a task for the PAP. For if we fail to find and induct the best to serve in politics, Singapore leadership will lack the strength and experience to face the challenges in the new Century. MPs in NTUC 16 There is another group of leaders whose political contribution should be better recognised. Their contribution to Singaporeans' prosperity has been largely unnoticed and grossly unappreciated. They are the union leaders and MPs in the NTUC. Without them, we would not have a union movement which seeks first to co-operate instead of rushing to confront, which pursues productivity instead of merely demanding more pay, which re-trains workers instead of rejecting the introduction of machines, computers and modernization. They form a bridge between Government which looks long term, and workers whose concerns are short term. Their task is not a simple one: they have to persuade workers that policies are correct, and at the same time persuade Government to modify policies to suit the rank and file. Of necessity, much of their work is not made public, as such public airing can unnecessarily poison the industrial relations atmosphere. Because the public is unaware of the bridging work they do, they remain largely unappreciated. 17 Like the Government, NTUC too is facing difficulties in recruiting good men into their leadership ranks. Hence, the need for the Government to parachute 4 in MPs from time to time. These MPs need to be paid a fair market wage and be rewarded for their contribution. Certainly, they will have to be paid what they would earn outside NTUC. 18 I intend to recognise the importance of the labour MPs by bringing some of them into Government from time to time. This is different from the practice of seconding Ministers to run the NTUC at the unions' request. It is for those who have decided to make a career in NTUC and who in our view can also contribute as a Parliamentary Secretary, Minister of State or Minister. When circumstances permit, we will also ask those whom we intend for political office to serve first in NTUC, so as to sharpen their feel for the ground. 19 I started this scheme with Lim Boon Heng, followed by Goh Chee Wee. Chee Wee will return to NTUC after a while. When he goes back, others like Othman Haron Eusofe will be taken into Government, on a rotational basis. The aim is not to appoint every labour MP into government office, nor to let them hold ministerial title when they return to NTUC. Otherwise, NTUC will be saturated with Government office-holders. It is to broaden the experience of the NTUC MPs who can contribute in Government, and benchmark their public status. 20 To recruit and retain the services of MPs in the labour movement, NTUC must pay them their market worth, just as we are doing for civil servants and Ministers. Otherwise, NTUC will not have the leadership to advance workers' interests along constructive line. 21 At the same time, NTUC must also find ways to accord due recognition to other union leaders who rise from the rank and file, or who join as professionals. Together with the labour MPs, they are responsible for making the industrial relations system work. Formula for Minister's Salaries 22 Senior Minister has re-opened the subject on Ministers' salaries. Personally, I find it distasteful to discuss how much ministers are worth and how they should be paid. 23 After my speech on the salary revision for civil servants and Ministers on 3 Dec 93, Senior Minister rang me up. He apologised for not being in Parliament to show support. He had misjudged the time when I would speak. He added that he would choose an appropriate occasion to 5 show that he endorsed the policy to pay Ministers near market wages. 24 He showed me the draft of his speech. I agreed with his suggestion of finding a formula to fix and revise Ministers' pay. I do not know at this stage what the best formula will be. But there is merit in having the formula published, openly debated in Parliament, and adopted for the long term. Then Ministers' pay can vary with market conditions without our having to re-argue the need and rationale for a revision every few years.