NTUC Enterprise and NTUC FairPrice Group CEO Seah Kian Peng has advocated for unity and care among Singaporeans.
Mr Seah shared his views in Parliament on 31 August 2020, in response to President Halimah Yacob’s address.
“Our unity must lie in the small things – care for each other, love for our family, fighting for the person next to you.
“In difficult times, [we need] to help, to be kind and perhaps harder than it sounds, to cut one another some slack,” he said.
Looking Out for Each Other
In the business world, Mr Seah said the same philosophy of being kind and looking out for each other applied.
He shared how NTUC social enterprises have been helping the community.
Some initiatives include Orange Aid, which will give out over $1 million in bursaries; NTUC First Campus’s Bright Horizons Fund, which will disburse $1.75 million to some 4,700 low-income children; NTUC FairPrice Foundation, which will donate over $6 million this year.
“But it is more than money which no doubt is useful and will complement the various support schemes that the Government is extending to help the many different groups of individuals.
“Beyond this, I would also call out to companies and organisations who are doing well, to also help others, especially the SMEs to do well too,” he said.
Mr Seah cited the SME Suppliers Support and Development Programme that NTUC FairPrice has in place to primarily help small local SMEs.
He also took the opportunity to ask all Singaporeans to support local firms, local producers and local products.
He said this would help the local economy, create jobs, and strengthen our local products resiliency plan.
Discretion in Civil Service
Meanwhile, Mr Seah expressed his sympathies for civil servants tasked to provide aid to needy Singaporeans.
He also noted that the rising culture of blame and moral panic in society might have led to a corresponding increase in risk aversion amongst public servants.
“If you do not make an exception for a case, you are hard-hearted and ruthless. If you do, and you are taken in by a fake application, you are a simpleton being duped and lax with public monies,” he explained on the dilemma of case officers.
Mr Seah cited a case in his constituency, where a needy resident was denied subsidy for a home as he did not meet the eligibility criteria.
“I ask for civil servants, and officers in statutory boards to be given more authority to exercise discretion,” he implored.
To exercise discretion, Mr Seah suggested for agencies and officers to liaise with volunteers and social workers to assess hard cases, so those who do fall through the cracks will receive help.
Mr Seah stated while the number of those who fall through the cracks are not prevalent, their issues might be challenging to address due to the ever-increasing number of rules on financial subsidies.
“The temptation is to construct this support by having yet more schemes, more rules. What I am arguing for is the reverse of rules - fewer rules, more discretion and kindness,” he said.
