Speech by MOS Teo Ser Luck During the Committee of Supply Debate Under Head V

"Supporting SMEs and Entrepreneurship"

INTRODUCTION

1.     Madam Chairperson, may I have your permission to display some slides on the LED screens later on in my speech.  Several Members have spoken on issues that affect our SMEs.  I thank them for their comments and suggestions.

SME SECTOR NEEDS TO CONTINUE TO TRANSFORM

2.     Creating a vibrant, productive and competitive SME sector is crucial to our restructuring efforts.  Restructuring has not been easy for many individual SMEs.  This is why the Government has adopted a middle-path approach in our restructuring efforts, to ensure that the pace is neither too fast nor too slow.  On the whole, we are seeing many positive signs that the SME sector is trying to transform and improve capabilities.  More SMEs are internationalising and investing in technology.  The entrepreneurship scene is also robust.  Firm formation rose from 54,000 in 2010, to 77,000 in 2014. In comparison, firm closure has held steady at between 40,000 to 42,000 in the same period.

3.     Madam Chairperson, may I now speak in Mandarin:

4.     蔡其生先生在演讲中提到了“传统行业”的问题。许多行业，特别是历史比较悠久的“传统行业”内，中小企业占了显著的比重。其中，很多是家喻户晓的老字号。它们随着新加坡的发展而成长，也是我们企业生态系统中的一个重要环节。随着经济转型，传统企业也必须与时俱进，才能有效地竞争，应对新挑战 。

5.    这些中小企业大多是家族生意，在规划接班和吸引人才方面面临一定的挑战。尽管如此，这些“传统行业”的中小企业如果能不断创新、积极寻求开拓海外的商机、加强人才管理和培训，必能继续取得增长。

6.     杨木光议员之前说了一段老虎吃人的故事。故事结尾是说一个人把鞋子脱了爬上树，躲过了老虎这一劫。但是，他不可能在树上呆一辈子。换了鞋子的人被吃掉了，这说明我们要有伸缩性，才能寻求生存的机会。但如果把故事延伸，躲在树上的人也不可能一辈子躲起来。他必须找到新的方法，从一棵树跳到另一棵树。或者，想想如何制服那只在树下等待的老虎。这需要创新、与时俱进、往前走，不能呆在那里等一辈子。因此，我们的商家和中小企业必须不断摸索和研究，研究自己的运作方式如何创新，怎样利用资讯科技将自己的传统行业转型成先进的行业。“传统行业”中有许多成功的企业。它们能够把握先机和市场定位，取得良好的发展。本土品牌老曾记就是一个很好的例子。它在1956年从一个小摊贩起家，至今成为挂牌的上市公司。目前，老曾记在本地有约 80家分店，并进军马来西亚，印尼，澳洲等海外市场。老曾记不断地推陈出新、改变其经营模式，以跟上时代的步伐。在标新局的协助下，老曾记在2013年推出“咖喱时光” (Curry Times Tingkat)的品牌。这是一家全自助服务概念的餐厅。顾客们可通过自助点餐机点餐和付款；按号码自行取餐。这种运营模式使得企业能提供更快捷的服务，而且这样的一个自助餐厅只需要5名员工，比相同规模餐馆所需的15名员工要少得多。

7.     要强化和壮大我们的中小企业，需要大家的配合与努力。政府致力于帮助各行各业提升企业的生产力及竞争力。无论是“传统行业”或新型行业，所有中小企业都能从政府所提供的广泛援助计划中受惠。有些计划也能较针对性地帮助“传统行业”的企业解决它们所面对的挑战。我稍后将会介绍这些政府计划。

8.     与此同时，商会应该扮演领头的角色，协助中小企业提高竞争力。

9.    蔡其生先生询问政府将如何辅助本地商会的发展。中小企业的规模庞大而广泛。政府机构、商会和其他合作伙伴必须齐心协力，才能有效帮助中小企业。例如，通过本地企业与协会发展计划(LEAD programme)，政府给予本地商会在企业发展项目和自身能力提升方面提供资助。

10.     规模较大的商会一般具有有效的组织单位，会员人数众多，自然更有能力推出有益于行业发展的项目。规模较小的商会则通常因为资源有限，难以提供相同的服务。

11.     为了帮助这些较小规模的商会，裕廊集团（JTC）将设立一个商团中心（Trade Association Hub）, 将个别商会汇集在同一个屋檐下。这对商会有三大好处：首先，商团中心将能够促进商会以及各行企业之间，在技能提升和开发商机方面的合作。例如蔡其生先生刚才提到的食品厂商联合会，它们就能受惠。

12.    其次，较小的商会将能在行政方面或组织方面上获得大商会的协助和指点。

13.     第三，商会也可通过共用资源和设施，减低运作成本。最终，受惠的将是商会旗下的会员们，因为在商团中心里，有更多广泛的项目和计划今后可能可以开放让会员参加，非常方便。

14.     我很高兴宣布新的商团中心将座落于裕廊集团的iHub, 也就是大家所熟悉的“前裕廊镇大会堂” （Old Jurong Town Hall）。 这是新加坡在建国初期推行工业化政策的起源点。我们希望这具有历史意义的地点将能给本地企业，特别是中小企业，带来启发，继续坚持不懈地转型和提高生产力、茁壮成长。

(Translation for para 4- 14)

4.     Mr Thomas Chua asked about traditional sectors.  Many of our industry sectors, particularly the more mature, or “traditional”, ones, have a substantial base of well-established SMEs. Many of these companies have grown up with Singapore. They are household names, and are important links in our business ecosystem.  As our economy restructures, traditional companies too will need to evolve to compete effectively and face new challenges.

5.     These SMEs are often family-owned, and face particular challenges with regard to succession planning and talent attraction. Nonetheless, SMEs in such “traditional” sectors can continue to grow if they are able to build a strong talent pipeline, innovate, and proactively pursue growth through innovation and opportunities to expand overseas.

6.     Mr Yeo Guat Kwang once shared a story about a man who tried to escape from a tiger by climbing a tree. However, he is not able to stay up the tree forever. This story tells us that we need to continue to be flexible and adapt to changes in order to survive. If I can add to the story, the man cannot hide on the tree forever. Instead, he needs to find new ways - to jump from one tree to another , or think of ways to subdue the tiger. This means he needs to innovate, adapt to changes and continue to move forward. Similarly, our SMEs need to relentlessly explore and find new ways to operate, be it through using new information or technology, and transform their traditional business into a forward-looking one.   There are many successful examples of companies in “traditional” sectors that have positioned themselves well for growth.  Old Chang Kee, for instance, has become one of Singapore’s successful household brands. It grew from a single hawker stall in 1956, to become a listed company.  It now has about 80 local outlets today as well as overseas market presence in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. The company has continuously transformed its businesses to keep up with the changing times.  With the support of SPRING, Old Chang Kee launched Curry Times Tingkat brand in 2013. This is a fully self-service concept restaurant where customers order and pay for their food via a kiosk. Customers then collect their food when their number tags are called.  This allows them to run a quick service restaurant with only 5 staff, much smaller compared to the usual 15 staff required.

7.     Everyone has a role to play in strengthening our SME sector.  The government is committed to helping companies in all sectors improve their productivity and competitiveness. Our broad-based schemes are available to all SMEs, whether in traditional or new sectors, and some can directly help SMEs in traditional sectors to address the challenges they face.  I will talk about some of these schemes later in my speech.

8.     At the same time, Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) would also need to come forward to organise the industry and to raise the competitiveness of SMEs.

9.     Mr Thomas Chua asked about how the Government can support the development of Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs).  Given the size and range of the SME sector, government agencies, TACs and other partners need to work together to effectively reach out to SMEs.  For instance, through the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme, the government provides funding support to TACs for industry development projects and to upgrade their own capabilities.

10.     We recognize that larger TACs in Singapore have stronger secretariat teams, sizeable membership bases and are better able to roll out initiatives to benefit the industry.  On the other hand, there are many smaller TACs that are not able to provide similar services due to resource constraints.

11.     To help smaller TACs, JTC will be setting up a Trade Association Hub (TA Hub) to cluster different TACs under one roof. This will benefit TACs in 3 ways: Firstly, this can facilitate collaboration amongst TACs and companies across different industries, in areas such as skills upgrading and business co-creation. This is similar to Mr Thomas Chua’s example on the food manufacturing industry. They will benefit from this.

12.     Secondly, smaller TACs will be able to leverage on large TACs which can provide expertise in secretariat support and organisation needs.

13.     Thirdly, TACs can also reduce operating costs and optimise resources through the sharing of facilities and amenities. Ultimately, TAC members will benefit from the broader range of programmes which will be made available to them, and also from the improved convenience when TACs are housed together at the TA Hub.

14.     I am happy to announce that the TA Hub will be located at JTC’s iHUB, which most of us would recognise as the old Jurong Town Hall.  This is where Singapore’s early industrialisation policies took shape, in the face of the challenges we faced during our nation building years. We hope that this will serve as inspiration to our local industry, and especially our SMEs, to continue to transform and raise their productivity.

TRANSFORMING SMES THROUGH INNOVATION

15.     We will continue to grow the SME sector through 3 key strategies – innovation, collaboration, and internationalisation.  SMS Lee Yi Shyan had talked about internationalisation earlier, so I will elaborate on innovation and collaboration.

16.     In his Budget Speech, the Minister for Finance stressed that we must make innovation common and widespread in our economy. To encourage innovation among our SMEs, we have expanded broad-based schemes like the Innovation & Capability Voucher (ICV) and Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC). These schemes are designed to help as many companies as possible.  Mr Thomas Chua would be happy to note that many SMEs from the traditional sectors have benefited from these Government schemes.

17.      Ms Foo Mee Har, Mr Gan Thiam Poh and Mr Zaqy Mohamad have asked about targeted Government schemes to promote SMEs’ transformation.  We recognise that each sector and even individual companies have different challenges. Hence, we have introduced targeted schemes to focus our efforts on priority sectors, or raise productivity in specific ways unique to the company or industry.  The Capability Development, Grant (CDG), which Minister Lim had talked about earlier, is one such programme. It is tailored to the capability development needs of individual SMEs. 

18.     Let me highlight how targeted innovation through the CDG has helped our companies raise productivity.  Food manufacturing company Foodedge Gourmet, for instance, tapped on the CDG to cover 70% of the qualifying costs to build a brand new ice cream production line.  Foodedge is a food supplier to cafes, restaurants and hotels, and ice cream is one of its key products.  Since 2014, with the introduction of this technological innovation, the company has been able to introduce new products such as salted caramel almond ice cream, pistachio ice cream and locally-inspired sorberts like Soursop and Lychee.  Furthermore, Foodedge was able to increase its ice cream production capacity by 5 times while requiring less manpower, who were redeployed to other areas. This enabled the company to supply more ice cream locally and explore export opportunities to the region. 

19.     As mentioned by Minister Lim, the CDG will be enhanced by simplifying the application process for projects below $30,000. For such projects, companies do not need to submit detailed project reports. We used to require them to submit detailed forecasts in terms of the project’s value add. Now, there will now just be five easy-to-answer guiding questions to describe the projects briefly as long as they can prove how they will improve their processes and productivity. In addition, the number of fields in the simplified application form will be further reduced. For example, companies need not provide detailed projections on the impact of the project. I heard Ms Foo Mee Har’s example of Little Ferry Agencies and how it has customised its racking system and processes to make itself more efficient. I used to be from that trade and can understand the type of racking system they had. We want to encourage companies to adopt such innovations. Under the enhanced CDG that was announced this year, this type of project could also be supported. 

20.     The Government will also be extending the enhanced support level for CDG, of up to 70% of costs, for three more years until March 2018.  We will also put in more resources to scale up the teams managing the CDG to reach out to more SMEs, so that more companies can benefit from this programme. I thank Mr Inderjit Singh on his request for more resources for SPRING.  As there 180,000 SMEs, and if we want to help more SMEs improve productivity, more support will be needed.

21.     As we pursue innovation, we need to recognise that there are areas that we need to and can develop further, especially given the rapid rate at which companies in other countries are innovating.  In eCommerce for instance, there is scope for us to catch up with the likes of South Korea, China and Japan.  Internet retailing made up only 3% of total retail sales in Singapore, compared to 12% in South Korea.  

22.     With regards to what Mr Inderjit Singh had mentioned about rental costs, which I will address later, eCommerce is one way to bypass some of these cost structures.  One example is my personal experience of purchasing a specialised skipping rope in a warehouse at $24, which I thought would be less expensive due to lower rental costs. However, a friend of mine bought the same skipping rope over the Internet on a Chinese online retail site for $8, and which was delivered to his house.

23.     While our small market size poses a natural obstacle to scale, there is clearly scope to improve. The Government has taken some steps to give eCommerce a stronger push.  For instance, SPRING has worked with partners to organise workshops to educate retailers on topics like digital marketing and data analytics to help traditional retailers understand opportunities in eCommerce.  SPRING has also supported digital consumer campaigns, such as the “Great Online Shopping Festival” in February, to drive sales for participating retailers.

24.     In addition, SPRING, IDA and other agencies are working with industry partners to develop a common platform to facilitate eCommerce activities across various online marketplaces.  This platform will include integrated warehouse functions, inventory management solutions and order fulfilment capability.  This will benefit SMEs which want to adopt eCommerce, but are unable to afford the initial outlay.  In addition, by streamlining the logistics chain, participating SMEs can reduce the time taken to process and manage orders by up to an estimated 45%.

25.     The reality is that competition will only get stiffer – from newcomers who are starting to differentiate themselves, and from existing companies that have already begun to transform.  The Government will continue to support our SMEs, but I also urge our SMEs to stay committed to the journey of innovation and raising productivity.

PROMOTING COLLABORATION AMONG SMES AND OTHER PARTNERS

26.     Collaboration is the third key strategy to grow the SME sector. Collaboration helps our SMEs build track records, pool resources, share best practices and create new business opportunities.

27.     Minister Lim had earlier mentioned how SMEs can collaborate with large organisations and benefit from the PACT programme.  Let me update that SPRING, under the PACT programme, has over a short period facilitated 85 projects and benefited 570 SMEs. We want to continue to encourage SMEs to collaborate with one another.  SMEs can come together for business opportunities, and also pool their resources to keep costs down.

28.     The Collaborative Industry Projects (CIP) Programme has been a key initiative to promote the adoption of shared services among SMEs.  For this, we will need the TACs to take the lead and bring projects together. Through the CIP, SPRING works with industry players and partners such as TACs to drive mass adoption of innovative and productivity-raising solutions tailored to the specific industries. To-date, we have 15 projects that have benefited 240 SMEs, and we expect more to come on as there already other TACs who are planning shared services for their members.

29.     SPRING is currently working with its partners on a number of projects, 2 of which will be rolled out very soon.  One of them is the eCommerce project which I had mentioned earlier. 

30.     The second project is a platform for shared HR services.  Together with industry partners, SPRING will be setting up a

common pool of HR solution providers, which micro enterprises and SMEs can tap on for HR systems and services.  Participating SMEs can benefit by outsourcing their administrative HR activities, so that they can focus their limited manpower on their core functions.

31.     Both projects are open for enrolment starting from 1 April 2015, and we are targeting to enrol 50 companies each.  I encourage our SMEs to come on board these two CIP projects.

SUPPORTING HUMAN RESOURCES OF SMES

31.     Ms Foo Mee Har also asked what more Government can do to help companies appeal to the hearts of their workers and motivate them.  Fostering a positive workplace culture and increasing employee engagement is a key concern for the National Productivity Council (NPC). 

32.     To improve employee engagement, we need to raise the quality of leadership and management within our companies, especially SMEs. Research has also shown that well-run companies are more productive. In this regard, many SMEs have tapped on grants like the ICV and CDG to raise their HR capabilities.  With the CDG being simplified, I believe SMEs, especially the micro-SMEs will be able to approach the business advisors SME Centres for help. They do not need to remember any of the schemes and they just need to approach the Centres who will refer them to relevant schemes.

33.     In addition, helping SMEs attract talent is also crucial.  As Mr Thomas Chua had mentioned, this is important to the renewal of our traditional companies.  The SME Talent Programme (STP) was introduced to address SME’s need for talent, by matching promising students from ITEs, Polytechnics and Universities to some of our growing SMEs.

34.     I am pleased to share with you that this programme has gained traction over the past 2 years.  7 TAC partners are now on-board. Since the programme launch in Jun 2013, there have been 530 internship matches and more than 450 job matches to 240 companies.  For instance, through the programme, Keystone Cable was matched with 4 candidates who will be groomed to play key roles in its business operations and to drive the company’s overseas expansion. To me, this is a win-win situation where promising students are given a head-start in their careers, while SMEs have the option of tapping on a pipeline of talent.

35.     Government schemes are available for all SMEs to tap on. But companies must take the lead and strengthen management. They must recognise their workers’ skills, value and train workers. As mentioned by SMS, the SkillsFuture Council (SFC) will promote continuous learning and skills mastery, to support workers as they improve their productivity. We look forward to SMEs’ support of the SFC’s work.

IMPROVING EXISTING GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO SUPPORT SMES

36.     One key plank in our outreach efforts is the SME Workgroup (SME WG), which I have chaired since 2013. Many of our MPs are also in this workgroup.

37.     Members of the SME WG, together with representatives from government agencies such as MOM and IRAS, have been conducting dialogue sessions with SMEs to understand their challenges and concerns.  We also share with the community about Government policies and how these can be helpful to SMEs.  As part of our outreach efforts, we established a network of 10 SME centres in 2013 and added 2 more in 2014, where Business Advisors are on hand to advise SMEs how they can improve productivity or business capabilities. To date, the SME WG and the SME Centres have collectively reached out to over 60,000 SMEs.

38.     The SME WG has provided useful feedback to the Government on various issues concerning SMEs.  As a case in point, the Government released more detailed retail and industrial rental market data earlier in January this year following feedback from the SME WG and SBF. Such information can help our retail and manufacturing SMEs make more informed decisions on setting up outlets or factories or renewing leases for their current premises. The industrial and commercial rental data are available on the website. The data can be compared and viewed on the street, cluster and floor level. We hope that the information will help the tenants and landlords in making more informed decisions and assist in their negotiations. JTC is also constantly monitoring industrial rental movements and is releasing land, where it is necessary. Ultimately, we want to encourage fair practice and believe the added rental data will be helpful.

39.     I would like to take the opportunity to thank members of the SME WG for their contributions.  Through your efforts, we have identified some of the key issues affecting SMEs today, and have taken steps to address them.  I look forward to working closely with you in 2015.

40.     Mr Inderjit Singh, Mr Thomas Chua, and Ms Denise Phua, talked about a one-stop SME agency.  The SME sector is an important part of our economy.  It is also very diverse – ranging from micro enterprises in our HDB neighourbourhoods to high tech startups to local companies which are already successfully exporting to overseas markets. SMEs have different natures of business, different skills and may be in different phases of business development.  It is not easy to have a one-stop agency, but we understand that we need to make it easier for our SMEs to have access to a “first-stop”.

41.     SPRING Singapore is the lead agency looking after the SME sector, providing the majority of government programmes and grants to support the capability development of SMEs. SPRING reaches out to every segment of the SME sector; from retailers with fewer than 10 workers, to globally competitive SMEs. SPRING also provides a range of assistance, from basic ICV to customised CDG and financing schemes. SPRING will work with other agencies to ensure that this “first-stop” is possible. Companies can access the SME Centres, which are conveniently located at the heartlands, and they will coordinate with all the other agencies.

42.     As Mr Inderjit Singh has pointed out, the current network of SME Centres have provided useful touch-points for our SMEs, which we will enhance. There are many examples of how companies have benefited from the SME Centres.  For instance, through the assistance of SME Centre@SCCCI, Skylace Enterprise was able to improve its HR and financial management capabilities by tapping on SPRING’s ICV and WDA’s Age Management Grant. This is an example of how two agencies’ schemes were facilitated by one SME Centre. 

43.     We acknowledge that more can be done to make government schemes more accessible to SMEs, and we will continue to work at addressing some of the gaps in the marketplace today. 

44.     To make grants more accessible, we will be rolling out Phase 1 of the Business Grants Portal (BGP).  This is a project involving 10 agencies – namely SPRING, IE Singapore, WDA, Design Singapore, MPA, MDA, IDA, STB, BCA and NParks. Our vision is to streamline about 20 existing business grants into 3 key areas within one portal. The three areas are – capability development, internationalisation and training.  On this portal, companies will be guided through the process and given advice on the grants which they are eligible for. This will reduce the time required to search and apply for business grants.

45.     Since the inception of ICV in 2012, more than 16,000 vouchers have been awarded. A few service providers are suspected of abusing the ICV and are under investigation.  Some have inflated project costs for SMEs in various ways to claim the vouchers.  Others have colluded with SMEs to make false claims. We are monitoring them very closely and have banned some companies. We hope that the public can help to identify such companies. 

46.     The Government takes a serious view of such abuses.

NURTURING A VIBRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM AND  BOLSTERING SUPPORT FOR INNOVATIVE START-UPS

47.     Over the years, we have put in place a vibrant ecosystem. International publications such as The Economist and the Harvard Business Review have written about our start-up and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

48.     One of the most notable developments is Block 71 and LaunchPad. There is urgency for start-ups to have a place and quickly launch themselves beyond Singapore’s shores.  Located at Ayer Rajah, Block 71 has now expanded. We have added two more blocks, to a current total of three blocks for start-ups.  There are 500 start-ups and many entrepreneurs. In order for them to go beyond our shores, as a start, “Block 71 @ San Francisco” was set up. It was opened in January 2015 to support Singapore start-ups venturing into the USA. This is a collaboration between Infocomm Investments (IIPL), NUS Enterprise, and SingTel Innov8. This is something that we encourage and we will be planning other locations as well. So Launchpad in Singapore will not be limited to one area but it will be in different parts of Singapore. The second one will be near NTU, in CleanTech Park. So these are the areas that we will be looking at. There will be a vibrant start-up ecosystem. 

49.     We have also supported start-ups by making available financing in the early stages.  For instance, the Government catalyses “smart money” through the Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme (SEEDS). Many enterprises have benefitted from SEEDS and Business Angel Scheme (BAS). This will benefit our start-ups benefit and help them go beyond the first phase of development.

50.     SEEDS and BAS have done well, having catalysed close to $340 million cumulatively from about 500 private sector investors and funds into 240 investments.

51.     We are committed to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. We will enhance SEEDS and BAS by increasing the co-investment cap to $2 million per company, and topping up the BAS scheme by $75 million to support more innovative start-ups. We will also pilot a venture debt programme to give high-growth enterprises access to an alternative financing instrument that can serve as a substitute for equity financing. 

52.     There is a window of opportunity for SMEs over the next few years where they will have an opportunity to work on some public-sector projects, which Ms Lee Bee Wah has mentioned. We believe that there should be a fair and open competition amongst all companies including SMEs but we want to make sure that there are opportunities available too.

53.     Taking into consideration the fair and open competition, we encourage SMEs to look at our Smart Nation project.  SPRING, Action Community for Entrepreneurs (ACE) and TACs will work with the Smart Nation Project Office (SNPO) to identify opportunities for our start-ups and SMEs to contribute to making Singapore a Smart Nation.  The best way for us to help our SMEs is to allow them to participate and bid in these projects. However, they also need to prove themselves and win the projects based on their own merits.

BUSINESS COSTS

54.     Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Dr Chia Shi-lu, as well as Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Mr Inderjit Singh and Mrs Lina Chiam in their earlier speeches, asked about business costs.  The increase in unit business costs (UBC) for the manufacturing sector moderated to 0.7% in 2014 from 4.1% in 2013, while the increase in unit services costs (USC) for the services sector remained at below 2% in the last two years. 

55.     I had earlier mentioned about rentals, so I will not mention this again.

56.     Furthermore, utilities costs for both the manufacturing and services sectors declined in 2014 compared to the previous year. This was due to a fall in electricity tariffs in the second half of 2014 on the back of the plunge in global oil prices. We will continue to monitor and see what can be done. For example, perhaps in a similar way to our approach on rental data. 

CUTTING RED TAPE TO PROMOTE A PRO-BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

57.     Dr Chia Shi-lu asked about how the Government will ensure that Singapore continues to be a pro-business environment.

58.     Our environment has always been a pro-business, we will continue to stay open and be receptive to feedback. One example is the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP).  The PEP is chaired by the Head of Civil Service, with the Second Permanent Secretary of MTI as Deputy Chairman.  They look at ways to streamline processes, through licence fees or a process review. 

59.     Since 2000, the PEP has accepted more than 1,000 suggestions to improve rules and regulations.

60.     Moving forward, in 2015, we will undertake more review of the costs arising from business regulatory compliance. As part of the review, we will engage companies and gather their feedback as part of their work throughout the year. 

CONSUMER PROTECTION

61.     Mr Lim Biow Chuan has raised a few issues on Consumer Protection. Promoting fair trading and consumer protection is a collective effort by the government, CASE and the industry.

62.     CASE and STB have stepped up cooperation with relevant malls to improve information to the public on retailers who are the subject of a high number of customer complaints.

63.     I know everyone is concerned about the issue at Sim Lim Square, and I would like to update that CASE has worked with Sim Lim Square’s Management Council to produce consumer alerts and advisory posters in English and Chinese. I understand that they are now placed at all the entrances, lift lobbies and even within the lifts of the mall. STB is also working with the Management Council to prepare public announcements on consumer advice in the four major languages.

64.     On a broader front, MTI will work closely with CASE to step up broader consumer education. At the same time, we want to highlight that the Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act (CPFTA) cannot be an omnibus “one-leg kick” legislation to encompass everything because it will be very messy. What we do not want is to discourage retailers from doing their business, especially the good ones.

65.     We know that errant retailers are the minority and we just need to catch them. But this is under review at the moment and we have until mid-June to put it through, make a recommendation and make the public announcement. Thank you very much for Mr Lim Biow Chuan’s concern and we also need your help and support all the way through to make sure that we can protect the consumers.   

CONCLUSION

66.      So I am confident that we can overcome all the challenges, whether it is for SMEs or consumers, as long as the government, companies and individual Singaporeans work together as one to transform our economy and position ourselves to secure opportunities in this new global economy.