Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Sengkang MP Jamus Lim have shared their views on Singapore’s Certificate of Entitlement (COE) policy, particularly regarding its impact on Singapore drivers’ access to cars.
In an exchange on Facebook on Wednesday (16 July), SM Lee concluded that the two disagreed on how best to meet people’s needs.
Source: Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore on YouTube (left) and Jamus Lim on Facebook
Mr Lee had spoken at a dialogue during the Economic Society of Singapore (ESS) annual dinner on Tuesday (15 July), in an event also attended by Dr Lim.
Asked by ESS president Euston Quah about calls for the Government to let certain groups, such as families, pay less for COE, he said road space in Singapore is scarce and “there is really no easy way” to distribute something valuable fairly and cheaply.
After all, “many good arguments” could be made for groups who need a COE more, e.g. those with kids, disabled family members, elderly family members and jobs that require delivery of supplies, meeting clients, or are in a remote location.
Source: Lee Hsien Loong on Facebook
However, it becomes “very difficult” for the Government to design a system which takes into account these factors, he said, adding:
I think if you want to design a scheme which worries about all those things, it will fail.
Thus, COE is priced at “fair market value”, with the COE tender system as the price discovery mechanism, he noted.
While he “cannot guarantee every Singaporean an affordable car”, he can guarantee affordable, convenient transportation, he also said.
Those with special needs, such as families with children, will get support like a bigger baby bonus — a way to “directly help” the group by giving them cash rather than “complicated schemes, which then end up with all kinds of contradictions and wrong incentives”.
In a Facebook post the next day, Dr Lim highlighted how Mr Lee acknowledged that there were people with “legitimate claims on an affordable vehicle”.
However, Dr Lim added that Mr Lee defaulted to an “auction mechanism” to allocate between these claims.
What was “sorely missing”, Dr Lim added, was “how those with genuine needs may not have the purchasing power to meet those needs, even if their needs may have more merit”.
Many people do not wish to have every aspect of their lives determined in a transactional way, he charged out, adding:
Society has values — about compassion, equity, respect, and loyalty — that are poorly valued by impersonal markets.
Source: Jamus Lim on Facebook
That’s why children are taught to share and why parents don’t charge their kids an hourly rate to spend time with them, he pointed out, among other examples.
He added:
There are ways that Singapore, Inc. operates that rubs many people the wrong way.
The bottom line, Dr Lim concluded, is that Singaporeans are not “mindless slaves to the prevailing structures and institutions” but can be “active participants and shapers of the future we wish to unfold” and head towards “a more empathetic and just economy and society”.
A few hours after Dr Lim’s post, Mr Lee commented that the Government has ensured everyone has access to affordable and efficient transport, though not necessarily a car.
It has also directly aided those who need more help, for example, by increasing grants to families with young children.
Such grants can help with the costs of a COE, if the families want.
This is rather than complicating the COE scheme and making it unworkable, he added, concluding:
Therefore where we disagree is not over who cares more for our fellow Singaporeans, but what is the best way to meet people’s needs and take care of them.
Dr Lim responded by agreeing with the Government’s focus on accessible public transport.
However, on direct help for groups, he said he favoured “a more targeted mechanism” that would blunt the transactional nature of the system, among other objectives.
He also clarified that he did not mean to suggest that either of them cared more for Singaporeans, adding:
The disagreement, as you state, is the manner by which this is done. And that, in turn, hinges on our differing beliefs about the behaviour of people, and the efficacy of markets.
Also read: Man in S’pore cries while hugging car he’s letting go due to COE expiration
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Featured image adapted from Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore on YouTube and Jamus Lim on Facebook.