"The tax portal from [the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)] pulls data from multiple sources to fill in the taxpayer's income deductions and reliefs and computes their taxable income after just a few clicks," said Workers' Party Member of Parliament (MP) Gerald Giam, highlighting the relative ease of utilising technical expertise.

The same technical expertise could also be used to disburse social assistance to individuals and families in need, Giam suggested in his parliamentary speech outlining his proposed improvements to how Singapore cares for vulnerable members of society.

"It has been said that the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members," Giam said, expressing hopes that progress in uplifting the standard of living in Singapore could be taken to "the next level".

Giam's speech highlighted concerns from four segments of society: those with disabilities, those going through means testing, those dealing with the cost of healthcare, and migrant workers.

People with disabilities

"People with disabilities (or PWDs) are not a homogenous group or a diverse community," Giam said, as he put forward the following proposals:

• Add vibro-tactile buttons at traffic signals, which vibrate when it is safe to walk. This is needed as many traffic junctions do not have an audible pedestrian signal which makes chirping noises indicating that pedestrians can cross, Giam said. He added that the audible signals, even when available, are turned off in the evenings to avoid disturbing nearby residents.
• Educate employers and the general public, to clear misconceptions about PWDs in the workplace, which will complement government initiatives such as Enabling Employment Credit scheme and the provision of an assistive technology fund.
• Introduce anti-discrimination legislation to tackle employment discrimination against PWDs, as Giam related the experience of PWDs who met job requirements, only to be rejected by their prospective employers

Means testing

Means testing is often used to determine eligibility for social assistance in Singapore based on factors such as applicants' income level and employment status, which Giam said was currently done in a "painfully low-tech way".

He said that the current means testing process "often requires too much paperwork and imposes an undue burden on the very people, they are trying to help".

Giam proposed a centralised system that would keep track of individuals' disabilities, which various government agencies could use.

He also said that the current system used by IRAS demonstrated that such technical capability does already exist.

Giam expressed his hopes that means testing would go paperless, and "presence-less", making reference to an earlier speech by fellow Aljunied GRC MP Leon Perera, who had called attention to the many time-consuming and "excruciatingly embarrassing" steps in the process of applying for government aid.

This, Giam said, would allow "deserving citizens" to receive appropriate help more quickly and conveniently, and prevent a situation where they might "fall through the cracks, just because they have difficulty gathering and submitting the necessary documents".

Cost of healthcare

Giam also spoke about the concerns of those facing "the burden of healthcare expenses", in the context of "chronic diseases... imposing an increasing burden on our aging population".

Giam suggested:

• An expansion of the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP), which currently allows MediSave funds to be used for treatment of 20 chronic diseases. Giam said that it should cover all chronic conditions.
• Removing annual withdrawal limits for MediSave for those over 60 who had "sufficient balances".

"These two changes can be rolled out first at polyclinics and restructured hospitals, where tight procedures are already in place to ensure that only medically-necessary treatment is prescribed," he said.

Migrant worker welfare

Finally, Giam spoke on the topic of migrant workers' welfare.

He said:

"These are some of the most disadvantaged, yet invisible members of our society. They are neither voters nor Singaporeans, but they are part of the Singapore community, and their interests must be protected too, as is befitting a developed country like ours."

Giam said that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) should step up "enforcement and intelligence gathering", in light of the fact that workers are often unable or unwilling to file complaints.

This was because "there's often no paper trail" as proof of offences, while "workers risk losing their jobs and being sent home" if they are found to have made complaints, Giam said.

He also proposed the creation of a jobs portal where employers could list available jobs, which would allow workers to bypass intermediaries such as agents, and therefore help them to avoid agent fees.

Giam said that this would also help to "correct some of the power imbalance that currently exists".

Response by Tan See Leng

Tan See Leng, Minister in the Prime Minister's office, as well as Second Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, rose to offer a clarification on the Ministry of Manpower's steps to ensure that employment agencies are not exploiting migrant workers by charging high fees, and to take care of migrant workers' welfare.

"The system itself is not perfect, but we're doing the best we can, and we continue to improve. It continues to be a work in progress," Tan said.

Tan said that there was a distinction between employment agencies based in Singapore, which are subject to "very stringent regulation" here, and those based in the home countries of migrant workers.

The latter category of companies lies outside of Singapore's jurisdiction, Tan said, adding that "we have repeatedly engaged embassy officials" from countries where such agencies operated, to highlight the need to work together so as to blacklist certain errant players.

Tan also highlighted changes in regulations, allowing workers to change employers without requiring prior approval, so that they did not need to return to their home countries in order to reapply to work in Singapore.

He also expressed thanks to non-governmental organisations working with MOM and providing their feedback.

Tan ended off by thanking Giam for raising the topic, and said, "if you have more ideas, this is constructive feedback, we would welcome them as well. So, thank you very much."

Reply by Giam

Giam then clarified that the initial point he wanted to raise did not concern employment agencies overseas, but rather, the ones who were involved when workers were moving from one job to the next.

He said:

"What I'm arguing for is more transparency, not on the part of the government, but more transparency such that the workers will be able to find a job — possibly on their own — without seeing a need to go to pay somebody to find them another job."

Giam urged more empathy for the position of migrant workers, who "don't have a means to just hop on to MyCareersFuture and find a job", saying that more transparency about available jobs would allow them to switch jobs without relying on an intermediary.

Top image by Nigel Chua and via Gerald Giam on Facebook

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