Introduction
Mdm Deputy Speaker, while we rally as a nation around the very noble intent of “A Singapore Made for Families”, it is timely that as a nation, we too, take stock of how our families have been impacted by COVID-19, and to adjust and update the safety-nets we have to put in place for our families and the vulnerable through the Maintenance of Parents Act.
Providing More Safety Nets for the Vulnerable
Indeed, the spirit of the Maintenance of Parents Act and this amendment bill is aligned around a clear axis, and that is to create clear protective safety nets for our seniors and our vulnerable when their families fail them. I welcome the updates and amendments to the Maintenance of Parents Act, an Act which has served many vulnerable families well for the past 3 decades. Given the pressures placed on families during COVID-19 and the many parent-children “break-ups” I have witnessed in my constituency, it is timely that we look to expanding the Maintenance bill to include more downstream safety-nets for conciliation and the continued transformation of the Maintenance Act into a platform for trust and reciprocity.
As the Chinese saying goes, 相见容易相处难 – it is easy to get along when you are meet each other once in a while, but it can be hard if you have to live together. During COVID-19, I met with quite a number of troubled seniors and their family members who have found it impossible to get along. While each case was unique, the circumstances to how the situation developed to be so, ran similar invariable scripts:
Mdm L is a widow in her 70s, and she has been seeing me at MPS asking for a rental apartment from the HDB. She has 3 married children, a son and 2 daughters. She stays with her son and his family, and has very, very strained relations with her daughter-in-law who suffers from suspected OCD. In order to avoid her daughter-in-law for fear of putting her son in a difficult position, Mdm L wakes up at 3am in the morning, and is out of the house by 4am. She sits by herself at the Seniors Corner for hours until 8am, after which she leaves for her daughter’s home, to look after her 2 grandchildren. She returns home close to 10pm after her daughter-in-law returns to her room. Her children have all come to see me, and tell me that they are unable to house Mdm L for various reasons. Mdm L is stuck as her life savings – and that of her late husband’s – are invested into her son’s home, and she is unable to afford another home. Rental is her only option, but she does not qualify as her children are homeowners and have viable careers. They are technically able to look after their mother. In the meantime, as she awaits her rental appeal, Mdm L’s 3am – 4am – 8am life runs like a nightmare ground hog day.
Another resident, Mdm C, a widow in her 80s, came home one day to find that her son had changed the locks to their home, and her belongings left outside of her home. When she confronted her son about the matter, he said that his new wife could not bear living with her, and he would like her out of the home – the home which she and her late husband had bought together for their son after selling their own home. Having no place to go, and no savings, Mdm C sought refuge with her daughter, and together, they came to see me and my team at our pro-bono legal clinic service. Despite receiving advice that she should file a maintenance order against her son, Mdm C hesitated on doing so, as she felt that she could not bear the shame of putting her son through a tribunal court. Mdm C’s daughter had shared that she was unable to house her mother in the long term, and Mdm C is now on the waitlist for a HDB Rental or long-term lease apartment, and is considering putting up in a welfare home in the interim.
Like many before them, for both Mdm L and Mdm C, the 2011 expanded amendment to include a conciliation process with a trained and neutral mediator, could have been a useful step in alleviating the vulnerable situation both parties found themselves in. For Mdm L, a conciliation process could have bettered the relationship between her daughter-in-law and herself; for Mdm C, a conciliation process could have circumvented the sting of a court tribunal settlement.
Strengthening the Conciliation Process
It is heartening to note that the conciliation process has achieved a 90% resolution rate since its implementation. Given that issues typically centre around finances and housing, could we also consider the following to strengthen the conciliation process:
Conclusion
Over the years, the Maintenance Act has changed the trajectory of life for many vulnerable parents, and with the upcoming amendments, it will seek to protect an even expanded group of vulnerables.
Mdm Deputy Speaker, I support the Bill.
