Lowering the voting age, protecting elderly from scams: What you missed in Parliament

Singapore's current voting age of 21 is discriminatory, Workers' Party chair Sylvia Lim told Parliament on Tuesday (April 18).

Speaking on day two of the debate on the President's Address, Lim (Aljunied GRC) shared that "ageism can be directed towards the young".

"When we require male Singaporeans to serve National Service at 18 years but only permit them to vote at 21, this is a form of age-based discrimination," the 58-year-old Member of Parliament (MP) said.

Lim also cautioned against pigeonholing young people's issues into a handful of areas by only engaging them on "woke" issues such as climate change or discrimination.

"That would be a big turnoff and a disservice to our young," she added.

Responding to Lim's suggestion to lower the voting age during the recent Committee of Supply debates in February, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing said that a number of countries have done so to increase voter turnout and for "perceived political advantage".

Adding that Singapore does not face such issues, Chan said: "Some of [these countries] regretted doing so when the political outcomes were not as they had expected, although they would not say so publicly for political reasons.

"Others were not clear if this had led to a better government."

While Parliament yesterday covered topics on social mobility and better political discourse, here are three other things that you might have missed.

1. Supporting seniors who want to work longer

Singapore's ageing population means productive longevity is an absolute necessity, said MP Yip Hon Weng yesterday.

Yip (PAP-Yio Chu Kang) shared ways to encourage seniors to achieve this.

"We must support our seniors to work longer for those who want to, are healthy enough and still have the passion to do so," he said, adding that the government should take the lead on creating quality jobs for them and introducing more flexible work options.

Yip also suggested how seniors can stay active by doing volunteer work, and on professionalising caregiving as a career to meet growing demand.

In his speech, Yip also said Singaporeans must reframe the concept of ageing.

Ageing is not a problem but an opportunity, he said, adding that seniors should not be seen as liabilities.

"They are assets who can continue to contribute to society," he said.

2. Redefining Singapore's brand of meritocracy

Singapore's meritocracy has been central to Singapore's social compact, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament.

While it has allowed people to progress through their abilities, rather than birth rights, family connections or inherited wealth, the system here is not perfect, he added.

Describing how the government will move towards a system of "continuous meritocracy", Chan said that no single test or point in time should determine the rest of one's life.

These included using examination results, grade point averages, or whether they hold a degree or diploma.

Chan said: "As society matures, those who have succeeded under the previous and existing metric will tend to want to perpetuate the same set of yardsticks, sometimes to preserve their personal interests and comfort.

"Sometimes, they just assume that what has worked well will continue to work in a different future, and don't think of alternatives that society may need going forward."

Defining success using a single, static and narrow metric can cause society to stagnate and become irrelevant, he added.

"People develop at different paces and demonstrate different abilities at different times,” he said.

“We must ensure that there is porosity in the ways that people can earn their spurs, contribute throughout life, and allow them to bounce back from setback."

3. Protecting the elderly from scams

Better support and compensation should be in place to support those who lose their life savings to scams, MP ​​Christopher de Souza said.

De Souza (PAP-Holland-Bukit Timah) shared how when the elderly are scammed, the loss is often at least six figures - close to their retirement savings.

"The compensation offered by the bank is insufficient for them to retire with. That would leave many of them having to find more work," he added.

De Souza also suggested solutions on "raising a bulwark" with banking security systems.

These include spotting suspicious patterns in consecutive transactions and a "kill switch" which can be activated by the bank if it detects multiple and suspicious outflows of monies from citizens' accounts.

"I have seen bank statements of residents with multiple outflows of monies just under the transaction limit each time. This should raise alarm bells."

ALSO READ: MPs propose compulsory pre-school education, official poverty line and unemployment support

chingshijie@asiaone.com