Newly elected People's Action Party MP Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang GRC) yesterday spoke about how he, like many other Singaporean parents, dreams of building a stronger and more cohesive society for his children. He also called for more support to be given to families and vulnerable groups. Here are excerpts from his maiden speech in Parliament:
My speech is inspired by my six-year-old son and his love for Lego blocks. Each block is important. But if you don't connect them properly, then the entire structure may be unstable. To me, each Singaporean family represents that building block of our society.
These blocks may come in different shapes or colours just like our multiracial and multi-religious society. But when connected together they are stronger and more beautiful...
Supporting families is crucial given the financial and emotional stresses that they now face. The economic crisis of today may give rise to the social crisis of tomorrow.
I propose two specific areas of support: in healthcare and housing.
For many families, their common fear is to lose a job, or worse, suffer a major illness... We must continue to review how our healthcare safety nets work. But we must do this in a fiscally responsible manner.
How do we review and increase the limits for Medisave and MediShield Life to help the financial burden now?
Perhaps we can increase the limit on an interim basis at least, during this pandemic period...
Next, on housing: According to the Housing Board, from April to June this year, there has been a threefold increase of households facing financial difficulties in making their monthly mortgage payments, compared with the same period last year...
Late payment charges have been suspended until the end of this month. I would suggest that HDB considers extending this until the end of this year.
Now, besides financial help, we need to explore other ways and frameworks to ease the mental and emotional strain on families, to make it easier for family members to share the load, and ensure that families stay strong through this crisis, especially for those who may need more help...
A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. We need an ecosystem of stronger connections within our community.
I submit that we have to do two things. First, we have to work together. And then, we have to stay together. To illustrate this, I will refer to the work in ending domestic violence and working with families.
Since the circuit breaker, there is concern about the rise in domestic violence cases... However, I would caution that these are only the reported cases, the tip of the iceberg...
I'm using the term domestic violence because it encompasses more than just violence between family members. Under the current legislation, only family violence is specifically defined.
Perhaps it is time to broaden the definition beyond family to domestic violence or revisit the approach in the Family Violence Bill previously proposed in 1995.
Having said that, I'm also heartened that the inter-agency task force on domestic violence has been formed... It has connected government agencies, the judiciary and strategic community partners to address domestic violence issues.
This is an ongoing process. This consultative method is the way forward. Not everything has to be legislated. I hope the task force can look at how we can make it easier for the discreet reporting of domestic violence, in the case of elderly abuse and foreign wives...
Even after working closely together, we need to ensure that we stay together as one... We need to find ways to not only incentivise but to also take care of our community partners and volunteers, so that more will be encouraged to step forward...
We need to see beyond the lens of the beneficiary or recipient. We need to look at it from the perspective of the provider also...
None of us knows for sure how Singapore will look like after this crisis right now... If we take care of the building blocks of our society, strengthen the connections and co-create and build together, I believe we can ride through this storm - not just surviving, but thriving...
In Parliament, every word we say here is recorded forever. I urge and have full confidence that members of this House will prioritise people over polarising politics. It must be for the cause, not the applause, the intention, not attention.
