PM donates further $350,000 from salary to three new awards

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today that he would be donating $350,000 to establish three new awards to promote community bonding, encourage Singaporeans to pursue careers in social service, and recognise young arts talent.

This is on top of the donations he has made in the past five years since 2007, following the announcement in ministerial salary adjustments.

He had then announced that he would donate to charity the increase in his salary for a period of five years.

The beneficiaries have included an education endowment fund for students who have persevered and done well, academically and non-academically, community hospitals and nursing homes, voluntary welfare organisations, and sports and cultural bodies.

Of the $350,000, $200,000 will be used to establish a Community Initiatives Fund (CIF) under the People’s Association (PA).

This will sponsor community projects initiated by the PA grassroots organisations to strengthen bonds among residents.

He said: "I hope the CIF will spur more Singaporeans to come forward to help other Singaporeans, in big ways or small, so as a build a more inclusive and united community."

The PA said the CIF will provide funding for ground-up projects that support it's mission of widening outreach and deepening engagement with residents across all backgrounds to build greater social capital.

A panel of grassroots leaders will be formed to consider and award funding to promising and worthwhile community projects put up by respective constituencies.

Another $100,000 will go towards a new Prime Minister's Social Service Award.

This is to encourage more Singaporeans to choose careers in social service. The award will complement the current scholarships awarded by the National Council of Social Service, signalling the importance of social service professionals in Singapore.

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports said that two awards, each worth $10,000, will be given each year to top scholars who have been selected to receive the Social Service Scholarship for a start.

They will go towards defraying the expenses incurred for research and project work that scholars undertake during the course of study, so that recipients can come up with more extensive and robust pieces of research and project work.

This, in turn, would boost the capability of these scholars, putting them in a good position to contribute to the sector when they ultimately join the workforce.

MCYS said recipients should display exemplary passion and drive to tackle social problems and improve the lives of the disadvantaged besides having outstanding academic achievements.

Interested parties can visit http://www.ncss.gov.sg/VWOcorner/scholarship.asp for more details.

Applications open in February every year.

Finally, a further $50,000 will be used to establish a Prime Minister's Valedictorian Award for the top student in each graduating cohort from the School of The Arts (SOTA).

The award will be given to the most outstanding student in each graduating cohort who has achieved all-round excellence in their 6 years at SOTA.

To be handed out from 2013, each awardee will receive a $1,500 cash award, a certificate and a plaque.

SOTA said awardees should demonstrate excellent academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities and contributions to community service.

PM Lee said: "We like to think of ourselves as maturing society. To be such a society, we must strike a good balance between our material and non-material goals. Our citizens must be ready to step forward to help others and serve the community, whether through voluntarism, philanthropy or social enterprises."

Govt commits $400m to assist elderly

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports will be committing $400 million over the next five years on services and programmes for the elderly.

The bulk of the money will go into transforming community and and home-based eldercare services to support ageing-in-place.

These initiatives include the setting up of integrated day facilities, developing ensuite social home-based care, greater support for caregivers and families, as well as ramping up of Seniors Activity Centres.

The ministry will be working with the Ministry of Health to develop integrated day facilities to provide basic day care for elderly who require more support.

Elderly who need help at home, such as personal hygiene, housekeeping and laundry, can look forward to receiving the necessary home services from a single trained care staff in their homes.

By 2016, the ministry hopes to benefit up to 4,000 elderly, or more than twice the number of users today.

As for caregiver support, the ministry said that they are working with the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL) to enhance caregiver training programmes.

Together with Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society and Touh Community Services as well as NTUC Eldercare, up to 10,000 caregivers are expected to be trained this year.

The number of Senior Activity Centres (SACs) are set to increase from the current 41 to 58 by 2016.

Of these, MCYS will also introduce 16 "Anchor SACs" and resource them with additional funding and social work capabilities.

This is expected to benefit some 39,000 elderly.

Govt to study ideal population size

THE Government will be reviewing its plans for developing a sustainable population, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday.

To be conducted by the National Population and Talent Division of the Prime Minister's Office, the review will examine current population goals and policies.

The division will work with other agencies, stakeholders and members of the public to discuss issues, such as the size and composition of the population, through dialogues and online channels.

Inputs from these discussions will be incorporated into a White Paper that will be released by the end of the year.

Mr Teo was responding to queries by several Members of Parliament about Singapore's ideal population size, given the country's limited land and the rapid population growth from immigration.

Mr Teo said the most critical long-term issue is to "develop a sustainable population strategy that will maintain the vitality of Singapore, strengthen our harmonious multi-ethnic society, and enable Singaporeans to achieve their life aspirations".

He hopes to develop "a shared understanding of our strategies to build a sustainable population that secures Singapore's future".

He added that one of the Government's procreation initiatives - the Child Development Account - will be enhanced.

Set up in 2001, this is a special account for each child in which parents' savings will be matched dollar for dollar by the Government, up to a cap of $6,000 to $18,000, depending on the birth order of the child.

The money can be used to pay the fees at approved institutions registered with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. They include childcare centres, kindergartens, early-intervention and special-education institutions.

Currently, the account will stay open till the end of the child's sixth year. From Jan 1 next year, this duration will be extended till the end of the child's 12th year.

From July 1 this year, the money can also be used for a broader range of approved institutions, such as licensed pharmacies, optical shops and providers of devices like hearing or visual aids.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) also proposed yesterday to make paternity leave mandatory so as to encourage marriage and parenthood.

Mr Teo said the proposal will be studied, but "perhaps not this year but in the future".

He also touched on the "twin effects" of low fertility and an ageing population.

There are now about seven working citizens, aged 15 to 64, to each citizen aged 65 and above. In contrast, there will be only 2.3 working-age citizens to each senior citizen by 2030.

Singapore will also experience "an unprecedented age shift" from now to 2030, as over 900,000 baby boomers born between 1947 and 1965 retire and become senior citizens, Mr Teo added.

Without immigration, Singapore will face the prospect of a shrinking workforce and economy, he said.